Lots of photos again today. I'm not apologising though as I know you all like to see other people's holiday photos really!
My back was in agony when I woke this morning and I barely slept a wink all night due to my inability to turn over. I managed to get up and take 2 ibuprofen and 2 Paracetamol in the hope that the pain would subside.
We all had showers and Amelia had a big jaccuzzi bubble bath. Hair washing was essential this morning. Although her BBB hair style was still in place, there were a few stubborn strands sticking out, and I thought she must be uncomfortable with it still up (I know how feel if I've had my hair in a ponytail all day!) So despite her protests, we washed it all out and got her dressed into her Animal Kingdom top and shorts. I made this as a dress for her for our 2012 trip and I couldn't believe it still fit her!
We had an ADR at Tusker House this morning with Dan, Sam and Sarah, so no need for breakfast. Sarah knocked on our adjoining door when they were all ready, and we were pulling away from Old Key West at 8:30am.
In the car on the way, we continued our new "thing". You know those things most families do on holiday, a word or phrase or something that just makes everyone laugh, like the Wizards sleeve on our 2012 trip.. Well this year it was the word "Squirrel!" (said in the voice of Dug from Up) and everyone had to stop dead in their tracks and do a silly pose. It was funny the first 5 or 6 times but it kept the kids entertained. Even more so when Amelia shouted it out in the back of the car as she couldn't pronounce it properly so it was "SKIWAL" all the way to Animal Kingdom.
No getting lost this morning (phew), and we parked up in Unicorn 26 and walked to the entrance.
Once we were in, there were a few people standing around looking up at something. On closer inspection, I realised it was DiVine they were all looking at. I'm so pleased we got to see her as we missed her on our last trip.
Our first stop was Kilimanjaro safari. We had a FP slot between 9am - 10am and it was already 9:30am, so we hot-footed it over to Africa, taking an obligatory Tree of Life pic on the way…
The line for the safari wasn't too bad. I think there was one truck in front of us, and then it was our turn. I was so glad we picked the earlier safari and there were lots of animals out this morning. Brace yourselves… the non-animal-lovers among you may want to skip this bit and come back later. Here come the boring animal pics.…
We saw Rhinoceroseseseseses…
Hippopotomuseseseses
These guys.. (insert name if you know it)
Giraffes…
Elephants…
Flamingos…
Lions…
Zebra…
And this pretty cool tree…
There were tonnes of other animals too but I won't upload them all here. For the animal enthusiasts though, feel free to check out my Flickr album.
Our ADR for Tusker House was at 10:10am, so we made our way over, parked up the strollers and waited to have our memory maker photo taken. Cue disappointment… Where's Donald? Has he stopped doing the photos now or was it just our bad luck on the particular day? Maybe he had bird flu?
We sat outside in the 'holding area' while we waited to be seated inside. Two CM's came over and asked the girls if they wanted to play an animal game, so they went off and did that. I think there was a bit of a language barrier with their strong accents, and Amelia's speech is not great (she's currently seeing a speech and language therapist), so it was a bit awkward. Thankfully we were called a few minutes later! We thanked them and said our goodbyes. They were really nice and so happy. Who wouldn't be though working in Disney?
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[/urlI never realised just how big Tusker House is. After a trek through the restaurant we got shown to table 523 in the centre of a little room. Table 523! Jeees. I dread to think how many servers they employ in that place.
Look at Oliver with his autograph book at the ready… I know he secretly loves meeting those characters!
Our server, Sylvia filled our glasses with jungle juice (Mmmmmmm) and told us the characters would be around shortly, and to hurry and fill our plates before they got to our table if we wanted to. So we went up to the buffet and filled our plates with delicious carved ham, bacon, sausages, scrambled eggs, mickey waffles, potatoes, etc.
As soon as we got back, Goofy made an appearance. Amelia was in her element. He still remains her favourite character since our 2012 trip.
Next up was Donald. It appears he just likes to stay inside in the air conditioning now then?
I do love Donald. He kept hitting me with his tail when he was with the family behind us. Hehe.
Next was Daisy…
And then the big man…
After lots more food, tea, coffee and jungle juice, we paid the bill which of course was zero to pay, apart from the gratuity which was $19.25 and left Tusker House at 11am.
Daniel, Sam and Sarah went off to do their own thing but we would be meeting up with them again later on.
We watched these guys for a bit…
And just took a leisurely pace around the park, did the discovery Island trails, looked in the shops, and I took lots of photos. We also had some memory maker ones taken.
We spent a bit of time looking at the Tree of Life, spotting all the animal engravings.
Amelia spotted a plush cheetah on one of the little carts they have dotted around the park and decided that was what she was going to spend her money on today. We promised her we could come back and get it later so we didn't have to carry it all day. ALL DAY, all she spoke about was that blimmin cheetah!
We headed over to Asia as our Expedition Everest fast pass was between 12:10- 13:10pm. I love the scenery here.
We did the Maharajah Jungle Trek which we all enjoyed. Amelia loved the bats.
More photos were taken …
And then it was time to ride this bad boy…
We got the kids some ice creams and they waited at the exit while Paul and I rode after receiving strict instructions not to move from that spot.
Up until now, my back hadn't been too bad, but as soon as I sat down on EE, it felt like I slipped a disc or something. So painful! Despite that, EE was as brilliant as I remembered. The ride photo is less than flattering though, so I'm not uploading it!
We wanted to ride again, but we felt guilty enough leaving the kids and by this time, the line was huge so we said we'd go back later on and see what the wait time was like.
Next was Tough to be a Bug which was showing a 5 min wait but closed for technical difficulties just as we got in line. Typical. We went back again at 2pm and it was still only a 5 min wait. I could really see why afterwards.
Amelia was all happy in the line…
…Until I stupidly told her something which JoJo88 told her boys on their last trip (It was you wasn't it Jo?); "If there's any parts you don't like, just shut your eyes". I wish I'd shut my mouth, as from then on she played on being scared. I may sound like I'm being harsh, but I know what she's like. And if I hadn't said anything, I'm sure she would have enjoyed it and found it funny. But she moaned and whinged through the whole thing. By the end she was on my lap with her head buried in my shoulder, refusing to watch. In a way it was a good job she wasn't in her seat for the finale. Those of you who have been on will know what I mean. I'll save the surprise for the rest of you though.
I thought it was quite good, but couldn't enjoy it because she was so scared. I probably wouldn't go on it again.
To console her, we decided we'd go and find her plush cheetah. We found one cart but they didn't have any, so we carried on walking and found it. However it wasn't the same cart from this morning and she knew! God knows how. Despite us explaining to her that the cheetah's are all the same, it was no use. She wanted the one from this morning and no amount of bartering with her was going to change her mind. So we ended up traipsing over to Asia to try and find it. As soon as the cart was in sight she yelled "there it is!" and ran over to it. She picked up the cheetah but then couldn't stop looking at all the other plush toys on the stall. Baby Simba's, baby gorillas… you name it. After 10 minutes she finally decided she was going to get a baby tiger wrapped in a leaf blanket instead and named it Lilly (Tiger Lilly) and she didn't let it go from that moment on. It came everywhere with us. According to the receipt it was at the Kali Cart and it was $25.51 with tax.
Oliver was still saving his money, but he did part with $9.54 for some star wars bandits for his magic band at Disney Outfitters.
The next showing of Festival of the Lion King was at 3pm, so we plodded over to the Harambe Theatre and got in the queue. Only a few minutes later, this happened…
She was sparko, and even through all the noise, walking through the queue system and finding our seat, she never woke up. I was worried she was going to miss the entire show. As we were waiting for everyone to enter the theatre, we saw Daniel, Sam and Sarah and they were sat a few rows down in front of us! If we hadn't have gone back to Africa for Tiger Lilly, we probably would have missed them! Such a small world.
As the lights went down Amelia woke up and she couldn't stop smiling. Obviously a little nap was just what she needed.
The show was as amazing as ever and still remains one of my favourite shows in Disney.
We met up with the others outside and decided we'd all go on Kali River Rapids together. Sarah was doing the Wilderness Explorer challenge so we stopped at a few places on the way.
When we arrived at KRR, Amelia was JUST tall enough to ride. She was given a special card that she had to hand to the CM at the raft station so they would know to seat her in a special seat with a seat belt. The wait time stated 20 minutes, but it was more like 10.
I think I was the only one who didn't get that wet. Oliver was soaked and Amelia was just in hysterics with laughter around the whole course every time someone got wet, and loved getting wet herself. Lol.
When we got around to Expedition Everest again, the wait time was only 10 minutes, so Oliver waited with the girls again and kept them amused while we rode one last time, this time with Daniel and Sam. They had never been on before and loved it!
We made our way around to DinoLand USA and rode the Triceratop Spin. We were all in agreement that this area needs to be removed! The whole area is just a waste of park space.
About three times throughout the day we saw a strange man wearing a long cloak and sorcerers hat with a big sign around his neck saying "free hugs". He looked very odd and not the sort person I would feel comfortable approaching. He didn't look like a cast member. Has anyone else seen him before? I vaguely remember reading something or seeing him before - maybe it was on our last trip. I don't know. But I definitely had a twinge that I'd seen him before. Kind of like de-ja-vu!
We were all a bit hungry by now so we decided to go to Flame tree BBQ for a quick service meal. I read on a trip report to sit away from the restaurant at the tables over-looking the lake, so that's what I did - much to the others annoyance having to walk so far. We had:
Me: 1/2 rack ribs and chocolate mousse. It was lovely! I couldn't finish mousse though as it was so filling!
Paul: Ribs and chicken combo and key lime mousse - He said it was really nice and chicken was lovely!
Oliver: Turkey sandwich and choc mousse
Amelia: hotdog, grapes and strawberry yoghurt.
I was glad we sat where we did. It was very quiet and such a beautiful view of Everest as the sun was setting. There was lots of construction work going on though which spoilt the photos a bit.
We made our way back to the car park after dinner. The sky was beautiful.
We went back to OKW via the general store where we bought half a gallon of milk ($3.49), a box of Entermanns cookies ($3.79) and two mouse head key covers ($5.95 each).
We went back to the room and I packed for our one night stay at Hard Rock Hotel and then had tea and cookies on our balcony with Daniel and Sam while the girls played and Oliver face-timed his mates back home on his phone.
I had a shower and we went to bed at 11pm, very excited about tomorrow, but panicking I'd forgotten to pack something!
Tomorrow: Hard Rock Hotel, Diagon Alley and Universal Studios.
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