Day 3 Animal Kingdom

Day 3 was Wednesday and my least favorite park, Animal Kingdom.  Surprisingly it was also one of our best days.  We actually made it right at the opening this morning and first up was Kilamjaro Safari ride.  With a quick stopover to take the family picture. 

As we headed to the line, Dad took off and walked all the way across the park to get fast passes to Expedition Everest. I had never been able to ride it because of long lines and then being pregnant in the past, so I was super excited to finally get fast passes. We finally met up in line just in time to get on our safari adventure. Being Spring Break and a little cooler than summer temperatures, the animals were out in full force.

 No this picture was not taken far away, it was actually a baby elephant.  So cute! Another success story for Disney.

 After seeing the real lions, we decided to take it down a notch and catch the Lion King show.  This was actually a deviation from our usual plan of attack.  Normally we take the train to the Rafiki area and see even more animals.  But this takes up half the day.  Knowing the crowds for the week, we decided to head to the shows and rides before things got too crowded and come back later if we had time.  We never made it back, but that was fine with me.  The Lion King Show tends to be a really popular show and a must see! I LOVE this show.

 The Lion King show has everything.  Amazing singing, dancing animals, and amazing acrobatics.  Plus I leave singing "Accunamata- It Means No Worries for the rest of your days". 

 Stepping outside after the show was more character meet and greet.  Of course we headed for the Mickey line first. 

 Alex still wouldn't go up to the characters on her own, but notice she is now on the same side as the characters and smiling.  Definitely making progress...

 She begged to go see Minnie, but then got a little stage fright when the big moment came!

 Last up was Goofy!

 Now it was time to go ride some rides...more importantly it was time for the big one.  Expedition Everest the biggest ride at Disney World and Riley wanted to ride it with Mom & me.  We kept it real light and talked about maybe we shouldn't ride because we were not dressed appropriately in sweaters and heavy coats.  But he was still a go!

In the end, he loved it.  He did hide his head in my lap most of the time was but smiling.  Although he will tell you that he was more scored of the monster on the wall.  Disney does not believe in things being just a ride, they always have to tell a story and this has the imbomible snowman projected on the wall and it looks like he has torn up the tracks, so you reverse and go backwards.  That caught me off guard.  I had no idea, it went backward and just kept waiting for the big drop off.  Luckily there is no big dropoff, so we all stayed all smiles. 

While riding this, Dad & Alex headed over to get fast passes to Dinosaur and then get in line in Dinoland.  After our exciting ride, we joined them in line and all rode another "Dumbo" style Dinosaur ride.  Alex doesn't love these rides like her brother did but she tolerates them. 

 While standing in line to pose with these 2 character, Alex gave up and took a nap at the park!  WooHoo!  We can keep going this way!

 We headed over and rode Dinosaur.  This was another ride I had never ridden and no idea what to expect.  It turned out to be a bit scarier than I bargained for.  It was super dark and really loud.  Riley was sitting on the outside and my mom was next to him.  Then I was in the very middle of the car.  I was freaked out the whole ride because mom couldn't hear me and I didn't know if Riley was scared or having fun.  These huge dinosaurs kept coming out of the dark right up in our faces.  It was really cool, and Riley loved it.  My daredevil is back!!  After this ride we went over to the dinosaur dig to let Riley run off some energy while Alex slept a little more.  He had so much fun in this playground. 

Finally Alex woke up and we headed to the final ride of the day.  It's a Bug's Life.  This is Dad's favorite ride at Animal Kingdom and he hadn't got to do much this day.  He spent a lot of time running around getting fast passes and then waiting for us to get off the ride, so we felt it was important to catch this one on the way out.

My little nerdy bug.  Too bad he didn't have these 3d glasses to wear to school on "Dress Like a Bug" Day.  They would have been perfect!