Disney Trip: Day Three

Hey All!

So, I am sure that everyone is super excited about hearing about how things are going with the pregnancy, and we want to share that information too!  But the over-achiever and completionists in us insist that we finish out the Disney series before we move forward.  But I am vowing to be better about updating more often, and we're going to head through Disney a bit more quickly than we might have otherwise so we can get on to news that is a little more current.

We planned the second day at Animal Kingdom because we had Extra Magic Hours (because we stayed at a Disney resort) and were able to get into the park half an hour early.  After a tiny snafu getting through the gate, we went straight to Kilamanjaro Safaris.  "Jambo!" our guide greeted us, and we were on our way through the wild animal park.  We wanted to get in early, hoping that the animals would be more active in the morning when it was cooler, and we were able to see a number of different species on the tour.  One of the most interesting things is that, with the exception of the predators, the species are able to just wander through the provided habitat, and you never know where they will be.  It very much reminded Nate of Jurassic Park which was interesting since the book came out 8 years before the park! We had a great time!

After we wandered a bit.  Rafiki's planet watch had a number of smaller exhibits, and a lot of sustainability information.  We got to meet a Pied Falconet (see an example below), the smallest falcon on the planet.  The bird was a rescue, and took a long time for the handler to tame, so we weren't able to photograph it.  But this was the first of a number of things that day that reminded us that we want to get our falconry license!



Next was Asia.  The day was a bit cool, so we decided the skip Kali Rover Rapids.  Some of the people leaving the ride were decently dry, but others were soaked!  It was right about time for their bird show, Flights of Wonder, to start so we headed in and found seats.  The bird show was not only avian-impressive, but also made us laugh.  In the show various birds performed amazing stunts before the show was interrupted by a "tour guide" looking for his lost tour group (the audience). He was invited to help out with the show and his added banter was hilarious! After the show they brought out a few of the birds and we got to see them more close up.  Then the Maharajah Jungle Trek, a walking tour through the ruins of an old Indian palace that houses tigers, bats, gorillas and more.  The animals were amazing and the setting was beautiful.  As always with Disney, no detail overlooked.

One of the things that I was most excited about was taking Nate to Dinoland USA.  We checked out the Boneyard playground, and Nate got to rescue a dinosaur on one of the wild rides.  We grabbed a quick bite to eat, and realized that we were pretty close to Flights of Wonder and we has some time to kill before the parade, so we headed back and caught the show a second time.  They switched up the handler and the birds but the "tour guide" was the same excellent personality with slightly varied jokes, so we got to see some different birds and stunts.

We knew that we wanted to stay for Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade, which started at 3:45.  So we headed to Its Tough to be a Bug!, a fun 4-D adventure.  After, we realized that Flights of Wonder is just about to start again, so we hurried back to Asia.  And we watched the bird show. A third time.  It. Was. Awesome.

The Animal Kingdom closes earlier than the other parks and doesn't shoot off fireworks (for the animal's sake on both accounts).  Instead, they have an elaborate parade to close out the day. We grabbed a sweet spot for the parade and jammed with Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and the whole gang.  The whole park had a Lion King-esque feel, and the parade built on that in a major way.  Huge jungle animals danced their way down the streets, jammed to the rhythms, and Justine danced right along with them with Nate grinning and laughing.



After the parade we headed back to the hotel.  We intended to do more at the hotel, but we ended up just getting dinner at the cafe and relaxing, then falling asleep early.  Disney is both amazing and exhausting and we needed the sleep!

Whew!  Three down, two to go!

Love!
N&J