Lions, Tigers, and Mom on a Rollercoaster

I don't do rides much. I used to. As a teenager I did all the crazy loopty loop rides at amusement parks. Since then, I've developed a bit of anxiety over these sorts of things, and I get motion sickness really easily in my OLD age. Usually I let Manly do all the crazy thrill rides with the big kids. I sit happily with the babies, camera in hand, trying to catch a glimpse of the fun the big kids have on their ride.
On our first day in Disney World we decided to go to Animal Kingdom. The big girls asked me to ride Expedition Everest with them. We'd watched the video of the ride, so I knew it was a BACKWARDS rollercoaster with parts of it in pitch blackness. After debating if I would live through it I decided to take a chance and do it! It turned out to be really fun! The girls and I screamed our hearts out! It ended up being the only rollercoaster I did, but I was proud of myself for doing it! The girls couldn't believe how loud their old momma can scream. Ha!
We followed it up with my favorite, the river rapids ride, which ended with me and Bubby being COMPLETELY soaked! I should have gotten a picture because I was dripping for about 3 hours.
Animal Kingdom has proven to be our favorite park each time, and this year we loved it even more. I've always thought of it as a glorified zoo, and basically it is, but it's home to two great shows, and lots of fun rides.

Momma and Eli on the safari. This is the look Eli had on most of the trip! He was fascinated the entire time! He'd just sit and watch and laugh and chatter.

Beautiful scene of the Disney "African Savannah."

We got to see two of these cuties. SO sweet!

Beautiful Elephant

Rhinos.

Olivia(who was also VERY wet from the rapids ride) LOVES this safari ride so much!

We went to Tusker House for lunch. It's home of Donald's Safari, where you can meet Donald, Mickey, Goofy, and Daisy.

Goofy is always the kids favorite character to meet and greet with. He always does silly things and plays games with them. This time he sat in Manly's seat like he was going to eat with us.

Mia Jane LOVED Daisy.

Eli liked Mickey.

As did the rest of the crew.

Love this one of Mia. She really liked getting to meet the characters.

Goofy came back around to our table and played peek-a-boo with Eli.

My favorite show in all of Disney is the Finding Nemo Musical. This is a scene from it where Nemo just got thrown into the tank. Each fish puppet is manned by a person who sings their part. SO good.

Another amazing scene with Crush and the other sea turtles.

Letting the kids play in the boneyard digging pit.

KK LOVES this area.

Mia always looking like she's up to something.

Brubbs loving a rare occasion of playing in the sand. His wrist band tells the park that he's safe to ride the 40" rides.

My Lucy Louise having the time of her life. She LOVES Animal Kingdom.

My second favorite show is the Lion King. There are lots of cool acts that are part of this four part show. Lots of great singers too.

We found a GREAT spot for the parade, then everyone got ice cream to beat the heat.

Mia obviously HATES ice cream. HA!

Bubby looking so cute with his shades on his head like a big boy.

Eli Jones out COLD! He woke up just in time for the parade though.

We love the Jammin' Jungle Parade because there is so much interaction with the characters. It's also a lot of characters you don't see anywhere else. Like Baloo and the animals from the Jungle Book.

Mia said, "HI BEAR!"

The kids have learned if you go nuts in a parade the characters will come see you. They'd just jump and yell each time a character was coming by and it worked EVERY time.

Minnie dropping by to say hi!

Brer Rabbit(one of my favorite childhood stories) stopped by for a while. 

Mia giving ice cream high fives.

 

After the parade we stopped by the baby care center to freshen up and change diapers. Eli was happy to be down on the floor.

The kids were happy to have cold water and be out of the heat. They had a movie playing, so they sat and watched that while we changed diapers and got things ready for dinner.

Manly was happy to be out of the heat too. He said, "This baby center is my new favorite place in Disney World!"

The kids in front of the "Tree of Life." You can tell by the pictures that we basically had the park to ourselves! It was a really low crowd day, and we were thrilled to be able to ride the rides without a wait.

After the parade and a potty break we went over to Rainforest Café at Addison's request. We had great service, and a very short wait time even without advance reservations.

The kids loved their huge fish tanks.

My bookend girls sporting their frog hats. The last time we tried to eat here Olivia was so scared we had to leave mid meal.

Eli with a frog hat. He isn't as pleased about his as the girls were...

Me and my BOYS.

Eli GRABBED a HANDFUL of my DESSERT! Little monkey! I tried to get it from him, but he wasn't going to let go. It was just whipped cream and a little chocolate syrup, but he LOVED his little taste. You can see he knew just what to do with his hand. Ha!

This picture cracks me up! I was standing at a funny angle so that Eli's face would be visable, and it looks like I'm trying to bonk Mia in the head with my rump. Ha! This is another shot where you can see just how empty the park was! This is at the front gate!!

 

The first day was GREAT! We all had fun, and got to do a lot of cool things. We jumped on a bus and headed back to our hotel to get our things unpacked for what we thought would be an early evening...