WDW Day Two

Surprise!  I'm back on the blog!

I understand if you have to pick your jaw up off the floor.  I'm just as surprised as you!

For any of you who are still interested, here's my take on day 2 at Disney World with a 6, 3 and 1 year old.  Today:  Animal Kingdom.

I will preface by telling you that we love zoos.  We are definitely zoo people, but Animal Kingdom is probably my least favorite of the four parks.  It just seems like a very expensive way to see animals that we can see in any of the many fabulous zoos around these parts.  It is still worth seeing, but in my opinion it is definitely a one day or even a half day park.

Nevertheless, we got there bright and early and headed straight to Kilimanjaro Safaris.  I will admit that it is a pretty awesome ride (if you can call it that).  For those who have never been, the ride is designed to imitate what it would be like to be on an actual safari.  Disney has designed it so that there are no visible barriers between you and the animals.  In fact, when John and I were there several years ago, I could have reached down and pinched an antelope had I felt so inclined.  So, as we are guided along the safari, our guide pointed out all kinds of animals including rhinos, elephants, giraffes, zebras and even lions.  Well done, Disney imagineers!

Next to the safari, we visited the gorillas in the mist near blinding early morning sun.

Since we'd just finished our African animal trek, we hit up the Maharaja Jungle Trek next.  This attraction is a walking tour where we observed different Asian animals including tigers, gibbons, bats and birds.

By this time, we were ready for our next fast pass for The Festival of the Lion King.  This is probably a great show.  I did not get to focus on very much of it on account of a certain toddler who had realized he was done, DONE for the day.  Unfortunately for me, and for everyone in our section of the theater, no one is allowed in or out during the performance.  le sigh  My sincerest apologies to anyone who may have experienced a less than ideal show experience due to my little stinker.  As soon as it was over, we decided that I would head back to the hotel with Mr. J and John would stay with the girls and see more of the park.

Some of the limited proof that Jackson was in fact at Disney World with us.  Clearly, he is overjoyed.

The decision for me to go back to the hotel was probably not actually the wisest one John and I have made as a parenting team.  It's not that John is incapable.  Quite the opposite, actually.  It's just that he is unaccustomed to being out and about with two little girls.  Getting lunch for everyone was a bit of a circus from what I understand.  And, then it dawned on him that there is no good and easy solution should any of the three of them need to go to the bathroom.  Live and learn.  From that point on, John would be taking the little man back to the hotel.  On the plus side, the final fast pass for Finding Nemo was a lot of fun.  Both John and the girls were quite impressed.

After naps all around, we headed to Epcot for our dinner reservation.  We love San Angel Inn for the food and atmosphere, but the wait, even with reservations, always seems long.  This was a bit too much for Jackson. Despite my best efforts and purchase of a ridiculous miniature donkey pinata, he was not interested in partaking of the festive atmosphere.  Thankfully, Yiayia and Dado rescued him from the torture and took him back to the hotel where I am told he was a complete angel.  This left us free to enjoy the meal in peace - or as much peace as you can have with 5 kids 7 and under.  To cap off an already full day, we hopped on the monorail to the Magic Kingdom for fireworks.  We like to get our money's worth from our park hopper passes!

So that's day two.  If you survived this post, stay tuned for day three where we enjoy dining with the Fab 5 and Epcot.