Animal Kingdom

On Thursday we went to the Animal Kingdom.  It's fun because it is different and we had a way different experience this year than we did last year.  Last year we spent most of our time walking the animal exhibits (like a zoo) and Lily had fun with the Wilderness Explorers learning stuff and earning badges.  This year, we didn't have time for every animal or the Wilderness Explorers and spent more time on rides and shows.  Both great, but different.

The area around the Tree of Life was under construction -- a downside to going in January, but totally worth it in the end.

Character breakfast at the Tusker House

Outside the restaurant, in "Africa".

We wanted to get Lily to try a new ride at every park (Mine Train, Star Tours, Test Track) and now Dinosaur.  It is just like Indiana Jones at Disneyland, but with a Dinosaur theme.  She didn't hate it.  :)

The dude in front of Lily cracks me up.

This is the best show.  An amazing production.  We saw it last time and had to spend the 40 minutes to see it again.

It really is a beautiful park.

Then we went on the Safari, which is the best part of the park.  It's a ride through the wild animal park and we were lucky this time -- there were a lot of animals out and about today -- and up near the road!

Last time the one section we didn't get to spend any time in was the Dinosaur USA area.  It has a Dino, Dumbo-like ride, carnival games and a big play area.  So this time we made sure to have time left for it.

In typical Disney fashion, they were amazing with the games.  They made sure you won a stuffed animal and didn't load the games with adults vs kids.  It was very nice.  Dani won at Wack-a-mole.

They let Dani win at Basketball.

Lily won two at the above game and won a race during the little "skeeball" like horse races.  They had fun and got 3 new toys each!

Then it was off to the play area.  When they ran around and found the sand pit.

Lily is so funny.  She was all into taking fun pictures this trip.  Made me happy!

Last we went to the Lion King celebration show which was really cool.  They had floats, dancers, songs, acrobats, fire jugglers.  It was a mini circus.

Animal Kingdom closes at 5pm to give the animals a break.  So the day went by fast, but this also meant we had time to go back to the hotel and sneak in another swim!

Considering they had snow flurries at home this morning, the pool was pretty awesome.  Chip got (partially) in with them tonight.

I relaxed by the pool and watched "The Adventures of Winnie The Pooh" which was playing poolside.  Not a bad way to spend the evening.

Dani getting her bed ready. She's collected 5 new friends so far this trip!!