Animal Kingdom

BubbleShare: Share photos - Powered by BubbleShare

Today we ventured out to Disney's Animal Kingdom along with what seemed like a million of our closest friends. So far, this has been the craziest and most crowded park. We had heard that the Kilimanjaro Safaris ride was really great, so we decided to head there first. We only had to wait in line for about 20 minutes and then we were off in this long jeep/bus type vehicles scouting for animals. Tucker decided that he was the safari photographer, so all of the pictures were taken through his eyes. There were many times that I wanted to rip the camera from his little hands to take pictures, too, but I didn't! Not that my picutures would be any better than the 5 year old's, but it just that I was no longer in charge (which just drives me nuts!).

There is also a humongous tree called the "tree of life" that the park is centered around. It is amazing to look at becsause it has all of these intricate carvings all over it. We took time to take some pictures with us and the tree. We also saw a "Its Tough to be a Bug" show right that went under the tree. I guess it is part of the experience, but every show throughout the Disney parks make you squeeze into a tiny waiting area to wait for the doors to open before going into a show. I don't know about you, but 500 hot, sticky, sweaty, and stinky people in one tiny enclosed space does not make for a good time. Anyway, the 3-d bug show was great. They are really good at involving all of your senses so that you really feel like you are part of the show. Water spurted at you when a bug was squirting us and even short bursts of air hit our bottoms and legs to mimic bugs running through the auditorium. This made Tucker mad at his daddy because he thought John was doing something to the seat, but then he figured out that it was part of the show.

The next stop was Mt. Everest. John and I loved this ride, but Tucker... not so much. Let's just say that there is no need for me to buy season tickets to Six Flags. He is not a fast ride kind of kid. If you talk to him now, he will tell you that he really like the ride, but not so much when he first got off of it. After a few more rides and watching Finding Nemo-The Musical, it was about time for our daily dose of rain. We decided to leave before the dark clouds opened up on us, so back to the condo we went. Once we got there, we decide that the day was still young, so we packed up an ice chest and headed to Cocoa Beach. It was nice to play in the sun, sand and water. Tucker was one happy kid. He loves getting muddy and then rinsing off with a swim. As we played, we watched these huge black clouds develop. We decided to go eat in a local restaurant and let the storm pass over. It rained REALLY hard and the restaurant actually lost electricity for a moment. Finally the thunderstorm stopped and then we tried to get to the car. The water was high, but we splashed our way to the car. I also talked John into taking us to a Ron Jon surf shop. The store was huge and we picked up some really cool t-shirts. John and Tucker tried to also buy Speedo skimpy men/boys bathing suits, but I put my foot down. However, we did get pictures! It was a very busy day and I was glad to get home and go to bed!