ANIMAL KINGDOM - Day 4 - O.E.A.

We were a little late getting started today because first stop was checking in at our new on-site accommodations.  We decided to stay at the Fort Wilderness Cabins because they had beds for 6 people in each cabin.  So, Mom and Dad got one and we got one right next to them.  Then, each night one of our kids would get to sleep at Gpa's and Gma's.  It was great!  Plus, they have their own "beach" - man-made of course, but I'll take any beach I can get.  Plus, they have these great sing-alongs there with Chip and Dale and they have an awesome pool with a water slide, etc. etc.  And, they are supposed to have the best Christmas lights out of everywhere Disney.  Unfortunately, we didn't get to experience much of the place - too cold.  It never warmed up enough to go swimming unless it was during the middle of the day, which I was not willing to return from a theme park to check it out.  We did see the beach - which looked like so much fun (you could go fishing, paddle-boating, rowing, swimming, etc.) but it was freezing - the wind was breath taking - not in the good way!  We did get to experience the Florida forest which is really not much like ours, I thought the ground was spongier, needles everywhere, the trees were interesting - I wish I would have taken more pictures!  Always too busy running.  One of their cool traditions is that people who visit there bring Christmas lights and decorate their cabins, tents, etc.  It was so neat driving around and seeing all the lights up - some people really go all out - I figure they are the people who drive campers and don't have many kids, who else could bring all that extra stuff?!  We also got to enjoy Fort Wilderness' "Hoop De Doo Revue"  which I absolutely LOVE - will write more about that on the last day!  :)

Anyway, on to A.K.  We were so excited to finally be at Disney!  Gpa, Gma, Dad and I love A.K. and love what it has to offer - something different, yet so great!  Here we are enjoying the unique A.K. Christmas tree at the entrance.  You'll notice Jake is still happy at this point - it doesn't last long.  :)  Oh, and Josh, Jake, Jared, and I are in shorts!  Woot woot!

I love this picture because it shows how exciting Grandpa knows all things Disney are.  We were definitely ready to be here!  Cool ornaments, right?

So after entering the park, we knew we had to go to "Primeval Whirl" first.  I had pretty much read every single Disney tourist book and knew exactly what I wanted to ride and when, what shows we should definitely see and where to sit, where to get snacks, and of course, where to shop.  We already had all our reservations for food months in advance.  That was a chore in and of itself.  This day our sit down meal was in the Animal Kingdom lodge at a place called "Boma."  More to come on that.  

So, Jainie wasn't tall enough to go on the ride, Gma had run to get fastpasses to "Expedition Everest" (best ride ever, to some) and I decided to stay out with Jainie.  I didn't mind, unfortunately, I was still feeling sick from Universal.  This is a fun ride though.  In retrospect, I wish I would've tackled it just once.

 So, Josie, Jared, and Jake went together - yep, Jared was a bit sick afterward.  So worth it!

 Jaxon, Ry, Gpa, and Josh go in the next car - it is like a roller coaster that spins around in circles too.  Yeah!  Jaxon has been to DWorld before when he was 3 and Josie when she was 1 but none of the other kids.  Jaxon and Josie didn't really remember it, except for pictures, so it was a new experience for all.

While these guys were enjoying their ride, Jainie and I went on "Triceratop Spin" - which is basically Dumbo except you can not only control up and down but tilting.  Jainie loved it and convinced Grandma to go on it with her again before the big kids got off their ride. You can see it behind Jared in the next picture.

Jainie got these darling "earpuffs" for her birthday and wanted to wear them for a few minutes of every day, so we ended up taking them everywhere with us.  Usually they were on the stroller or in a bag - or on Jared.  He really liked them and I think he really rocked them - right?  Who's the coolest dad on the planet?  :)

Right off of the ride, Goofy and Pluto were taking time to meet people.  There was no line, so we totally took advantage, but first I had to run into the nearest store to buy some autograph books, of course, everyone needs their own - every time.  It is always fun to meet the characters.  The funny thing is the last time we went to Disney, about a year ago, we could still convince Jaxon to jump in the photos, but Jainie was usually nervous and would refuse to meet some characters, this time Jaxon was waaay too cool to get pics with characters, but Jainie was fine.  Kids!  The Dinoland sign in the background is there because we were in that section of A.K.

Everyone knows that I can't enter a shop and just buy one thing, especially if I see something I think is super cute, so while getting autograph books, I picked these up for Josie.  The rest of the trip, people would look at her and tell her how darling she was.  I think it is so cute that it is as big as her head!  :)

On our way over to Asia to Expedition Everest, Jaxon and Ry took the opportunity to get this great pic at the entrance to Dinoland.  I think they planned the blue tops - too bad we didn't get them embroidered with something.  

 Some fun pictures we stopped at on our walk.  It really is a pretty place, fun to just walk and enjoy.

Another character we found on our walk was "Meeko" from Pocahontas.  He was pretty funny.  Jake was sick of not being on a ride at this point and refused to take any pictures.  Jainie did NOT like him.  He pretended to eat her autograph book and she didn't think it was funny at all.  She is still not sure if these characters are real or not.  (She asked me about them again the other day, "Mom are those things real?"  It is now the end of March.  Isn't childhood sweet?)   The rest of the trip she would ask me about any animal character, "Is this a nice one or one like that mean animal who tried to eat my book?"

 Okay, here it is - are you ready?  Expedition Everest - hands down favorite ride at A.K.  I think Jake's favorite ride of the trip.  We couldn't convince Grandma to try it and Jainie was too little (she wouldn't go on it if she were tall enough, not ready for these yet).  Jake is a daredevil, it is never fast enough or scary enough.  He looks hilarious on the rides, huge eyes, mouth shut tight, worried, then after we go on it he gets off and immediately declares it was scary and he won't go again.  Then, a couple minutes later, it was the best ride and "Can we go on that again?"  Unfortunately, after going on this ride, the older kids only wanted to do it over and over again, nothing else.  Too bad for them, they all dealt with it pretty well, except for Jake, who was a pain the rest of the day.  We did go on it a couple times at this point and went back to it at the end of the day and went on it a couple more times.  It is a thrill!

My mom took this picture when she and Jainie were by themselves, not sure where it is but it is a great pic of both Belle and E.E. in the background.

Grandma and Jainie were so patient with us, we decided we better go on Gma's favorite ride next - "Kilimanjaro Safaris".  It is over in Africa, of course, so off we headed.  On our walk in between Asia and Africa, we saw these playful - we'll call them monkeys/orangutans :)   We watched them for at least 10 minutes, they were pretty cool.  Animals are fun to watch, but personally, I like people watching better - until they notice you watching them and then, Watch out!

So, the Kilimanjaro Safaris is this cool ride through A.K.'s animals - they are all roaming around you with no fences - supposed to be like a safari - duh :).  Anyway,  we saw so many great animals here, I have only posted the favorites.

So many cool hippos hanging out in the water.

Some great termite hills.  (Are they real?  not sure.)

Jainie loved this ride - so many great things to see but no scare factor sitting on Mom's lap.

? Your guess is as good as mine - can't remember - the boys liked the horns.

I love this pic Jared got of a giraffe.  One of Jainie's favorites.

Who doesn't love elephants?  They are so interesting.  Jake pretends his hand
is a trunk daily and picks things up.  Too bad it won't work for getting jobs
done - I've tried it.

These are the craziest birds - flamingos.  They are so beautiful and unique - I love
their color.  But, boy, do they STINK!  Maybe that is their protection?

If you look closely you can see a leopard - I think.  Hanging out behind the rock.

This was pretty cool to see the ostrich eggs.

And, an animal that I am not particularly fond of.  But, Jainie LOVES it!
She even said when she just saw this picture, "That's mine."  What that means
I am not sure but there is definitely a connection there.  Maybe her husband
will be an ostrich farmer?  Let's hope not.

So, after all this, it was time to stop for a treat.  I knew what I wanted - some of these tasty treats.  I had read about them somewhere.  So, we stopped at the 1 place in A.K. that sold them - a brownie paw, a Zebra Cupcake, and a White Chocolate Elephant cupcake.  They were pure deliciousness.  I should really start a food blog - not one of things I make, but of food I like - wouldn't that be great?  Anyway,  they were scrumpditiliumptious!  My favorite was the hmmm - I really couldn't pick just one.  Try them ALL!  We all shared them together - it was just perfect!

 Jainie thought she would LOVE the white chocolate elephant on the top of the cupcake, she didn't like it too much - I think she prefers milk chocolate - smart girl!

We gobbled up our treats as quickly as possible to be able to get to "The Lion King" show.  It is supposed to be the best show there and Jared and I missed it last time because we were doing too many other things and ran out of time.  This time as we walked into the park, a lady stopped us and had us made early reservations so we could have priority seating at the 2:00 performance.  So, we were hurrying to get there.  Gpa, Gma, Ry, and Jake made it there before the rest of us - but we all got in and sat in great seats.  It is a really fun show - with singing, dancing, acrobats, you name it.  Our group was the warthogs so we would put our fingers up to our noses and snort.  Jainie did NOT like our group, she found it to be not only hard to do, but very gross and demeaning.  Next time she is hoping to get in any other group.   In the picture the blurry thing in the background is a bird (well, a girl dressed as a bird) that was hooked to a wire and would spin and spin - she must have been VERY dizzy by the end.  We all loved the show - except Jake and probably Ryan, who was sitting by Jake trying to get him to be quiet and not kick the people sitting around us.  Sorry Ry, thanks for being a trooper.  I am sure both Ry and Jake will enjoy it more the next time they see it.

Right outside the show, there was a meet and greet of Minnie and friends, unfortunately, no one was in the mood to meet anyone.  Everyone was getting tired and hungry for real food.  We did stop to meet Minnie, however, much to Jainie's delight - she and the princesses were the only ones Jainie was "dying" to see.  She and Minnie thought it was so cute that they looked so similar.  This definitely improved Jainie's mood - and made Jake's even worse!

 We had to take a mandatory potty break at this point, which gave Jainie some much needed time to explore on her own and go where she wanted to go.  She loved looking over the bridge  at the cute little figures of Mickey and friends.

 I had bought this little passport book for A.K. thinking it would give the kids something extra to do, in case we got bored.  A.K. has the least amount of things to do out of all the parks.  I did not need to do this; it would be fun, if you had time to do it, but it just caused us more run around time.  While we were trying to find a stamp, Grandma happened upon Pocahontas, who we had never met before.  It was so fun and Jainie loved her hair - so did Josie, she just wasn't as vocal about it.  I wish you could see her hair better, it went clear down to her bum!

Here Josh is modeling in front of the place we went to for lunch.  It was really good - I think the men enjoyed it particularly.  We used the Disney Dining Plan this trip, because it was free if you stayed on-site, which is why we splurged.  The plan we were on had each person have a snack everyday, a quick-service meal, and a full-service meal (sit-down) per day.  That was a LOT of food.  Especially because we are used to sharing and cutting to minimize the crazy Disney cost.  Needless to say, we ate really well.  Jaxon and Josie were both considered adults too, so we had a LOT of food.  I can't remember what everyone ate, but I know Josie and I shared a fruit platter and a salad.  I wanted to save my appetite for desserts!  :)

This cute nameless bird followed us at lunch time hoping to get some scraps.  All he got was chased around by the kids.  All of them were willing to chase him, not catch him though.  It was a great break, I think they all needed some down time.

Jake, like Jaxon, has a hard time not letting others know what he has to eat.  You can see here, he really enjoyed his chocolate mousse he had after his lunch.

At this point, we decided that there was NO way we were going to get everything in.  So, one of my top priorities was getting to watch the "Jingle Jungle Parade,"  pretty much the only Christmas parade in all of DisneyWorld - what a sham!  Good grief it is Christmas!  Anyway, I knew Jainie would love it so I wanted to go.  The other kids were not too excited about a parade.  I knew they would want to go on a ride called, "Dinosaur" that we had skipped before in DinoLand.  So, everyone but Grandma, Jainie and me went to the ride.  We decided to head back over to Africa because Mom saw a shop there she wanted to go to and it was on the parade route.  On the way there, look who we ran into - "Turk" from Tarzan.  Jainie was not about to go meet another animal character by herself - so I got to go with her.  Good times!

 As predicted, Jainie LOVED the parade - seeing the characters was so great, so was the dancing and the cool A.K. float- things.

Both Mickey and Minnie waved right at Jainie.  While watching the parade, we sat by a couple who were drenched!  We avoided the super fun "Kali River Rapids,"  I would have loved to go, but boy, it was too cold for soaking wet.  

The older kids loved their ride and I think rode something else as well.  And, we enjoyed what we did - so all is well.  Although I really like the ride Dinosaur!  Too bad I like too many things - I am WAY too easy to please - or maybe not - since I like to do and see EVERYTHING!

After the parade, we ran over to DinoLand again to catch the "Finding Nemo" show.  It was pretty good too, but "Lion King" was much better.  After we got out of the show, it was dark and everything was closing up.  We didn't even have time to explore the shops.  It was a bummer - I thought, like Disneyland, they would all stay open an hour after the park closed, but no such luck, well, a few did right by the entrance.  But, the really neat ones were all closed.  We still had an hour and a half before we could check in for our dinner reservations, so we decided to check out the "Tree of Life,"  it really is so neat.  We didn't get to the "It's Tough to be a Bug" show inside it, but since we get to see it at Disneyland every time, no one was disappointed.

It was so dark, we couldn't get many good pictures of the tree, but this one turned out great!

As you can see, no one else was even left in the park, I don't know when they kick people out, there were a few workers milling about, emptying trash, etc.  (The magic of Disneyland is just not there - it seems everything happens by ghosts there.  Here, no one cares to hide the manual upkeep of the park - well, better than some, but not like Dland).  So, Josie took the opportunity to get this picture with this cool camel.  Yes, I teach my children to break rules as long as no one is watching.  lol

Another great pic of the tree of life - you can see it, right?

 So, after getting to the front of the park, Grandma and I had to check out the open shops, of course.  Once again, we were the only ones in them.  It was a little eery, walking around with no one else in a dark, Disney park.  Anyway, while I was looking for something memorable - I did get an ornament - Jake and Dad took the opportunity to get some great pics.

Convincing Pirate, eh?  I guarantee you, looks will trick you - he would eat
and attack every one of you, if possible.

Yeah, I don't know how he pulled off this Goofy look - does is so naturally, I guess.

Don't you love his hook - he is so cute - I would've bought him at least one of
these hats, good thing, Jared knows me well, and had him outta here before I saw.

Hmm - not sure about this look - I think he looks better as a blonde!

So, that was the end of our exciting time at Animal Kingdom!  It was a great day!  We loved it!  I didn't see much of Jaxon, as you can tell, he is definitely a teenager.  Good thing he had Ry to hang out with.  But, we all had fun together and hopefully made some great memories cause that is what it's all about!