Disney World - Day 4

  On Tuesday, we were headed to another park, Animal Kingdom.  The kids were all very excited to ride some new rides and see the animals.  We had a very fun and adventurous day there.
   We started our day bright and early like we did every day.  Animal Kingdom isn't close to the Yacht Club, so we had to take a bus.  

On the bus, ready for a day of fun

At Animal Kingdom

               
      The fist thing we wanted to do when we got inside the park, was go on the safari.  The safari is always so much fun and it truly feels like you are on a real African safari.  The animals and their habitats look like they are straight out of Africa.  They say the safari is different ride every time because you never know what animals you will see.  They have several animals that are so endangered there are less than 20 remaining in captivity.  It is a neat animal sanctuary. 
                                      

Gracie ready to ride

Dawson ready for his safari

You can barely see them, but this is the hippo area.  The people in the background where are a private tour. 

Closer of the hippos

I can't remember what these animals are called

I can't say I have ever seen one of these before

So much to see

Gracie was so excited by all the animals

Just like a real safari tour, the rhinos came very close to our car

The lion was actually up and moving.  Our guide said this is pretty rare for the morning time

      After our safari, we walked around the streets of Africa.  I think out of all the parks, Animal Kingdom has the best theming.  It really feels like you are in Africa.  It is so neat. 

You can see it was not crowded at all

Ella at an African market

She looks like a pro!!!

Ella was great on the drums

Driving a bus and eating a huge doughnut

      Next, we headed to the roller coaster Expedition Everest.  I love this roller coaster so much and I could not wait to ride it.  Dawson was actually tall enough to ride.  Poor Ella wanted to ride so badly, but she just barely missed the cut off.  I was a little worried what Dawson would think of the ride.  It has some scary parts with a Yeti that looks like he is about to grab you.  Dawson rode with Joey, and while I think he was a little bit scared, he loved it!  He immediately wanted to ride again.  There was no line at all, so I think we rode 2 or 3 times. 

Waiting to boared

Time to ride

He looks a little nervous

I love this picture.  Joey and I are so excited and Dawson and Ashlyn look a little scared. 

My dad and Katy riding in the back

My turn to ride with Dawson

The big hill you go up in the begining

I am holding on to my sunglasses and Dawson

   After our fun Everest adventure, we wanted to ride on something that all the kids could ride.  We rode on Triceratops Spin which is very similar to Dumbo.  Gracie loved it and had to ride twice in a row. 

   We then spent some time walking around and exploring.  We had lunch at one of our favorite quick restaurants, Flame Tree BBQ.  The food is always really good and we always have a great meal there. 

I think she was trying to decide which way to go

She may have been getting tired

In front of the tree of life

Some friends joined us

   The guys decided to take the boys and Gracie to see the Finding Nemo show.  The girls wanted to play at the dinosaur park which is really neat. 

Waiting for Nemo

Dawson really liked it

Photo op with Papa

The girls doing some digging

The dinosaur playground

     After the girls played for a bit, we decided to head over to Nemo to meet up with everyone else.  While we were waiting it started to pour.  It was like an instant flood.  It was raining so badly.  Luckily, we were prepared and covered the strollers and put on ponchos.  The rain didn't last too long, we were back on our way to having fun.  We were all getting kind of hungry, so we decided to take a break and get some yummy ice cream treats. 

Best ice cream sandwich ever

Ashlyn's Mickey Mouse sundae

Gracie really liked hers

She even had to lick her fingers

We had some very worn out kids!

Nap time

  While everyone took a break, and some kids napped, we used our Fast Passes for Expedition Everest again.  Dawson was so excited to ride again.  We got to ride twice in a row.  He wanted to ride again, but I promised him we would ride a lot more after dinner.  Unfortunately, Mother Nature had much different plans for us :(

   After Everest, the kids were all awake and a bit more rested.  We had some time before our dinner reservation, so we decided to go on the safari again.  It was just as fun as the first time, and we saw some animals we hadn't seen earlier that day.  After the safari, we walked around an animal sanctuary and saw some more animals. 

An African animal of some sort

This was a bird area where they had bird guides to identify the different types of birds.  Ashlyn is looking for birds. 

 
  As we were waiting for our dinner reservation, it started to rain again.  We weren't too bothered by it since we were going to eat inside for dinner.  We tried a new restaurant, Tusker House.  We were all very excited when they seated us and told us that it was a character meal.  I was not aware of this when I booked it.  It was buffet which is always nice because we don't have to wait a long time for food.  I really liked the food, but I think it was a little too adventurous for some (it was a lot of curry and the like).  The kids had such a fun time meeting Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and Donald Duck.  I am glad that we picked this restaurant.  Gracie was dying to meet Goofy, (she called him Doofy which was too cute).  We got some great pictures. 

Smile Ella you are in Disney World

Meeting Donald Duck.  Jameson really liked Donald Duck and his face is so priceless

                                                                   

 

  After our dinner, our plan had been to go ride some rides some more.  When we walked out it was a torrential downpour.  It was raining so hard.  We checked the weather app and saw that it was not going to be moving on anytime soon.  We sadly decided to call it a day and head back to the hotel.  The walk through the park to bus stop was miserable!!!  It was raining so hard and the wind was blowing.  There was so much rain on the ground that our feet got soaked!  We finally made it to the buses, and headed back to our hotel and rooms for some dry clothes.  While we didn't want to leave, we were very glad we did because it rained all night long.  I don't think it stopped until the middle of the night.