We then hopped on a bus to go to the Animal Kingdom Park. Now...I am going to say something that might upset some people, but...not only is Animal Kingdom my least favorite park, it's like the red headed step child (in my opinion) of Walt Disney World. There are many attractions to love there, but there are many areas that need to be shaded better (not the very front--which misleads you into thinking it's very shaded throughout).
Every time I've been there it's been sooo hot and the bus ride there seems to take much longer than to any other park. Despite this, there were a few attractions we wanted to make sure and hit.
First, we did the Triceratops Spin Ride. It's basically like Dumbo but instead of elephants there's dinosaurs. Reese loved it.
Second, we saw the Finding Nemo and Friends Musical.
The set and props were really neat and the actors all did a great job. Reese seemed to enjoy it, but it was a 45 + min show so she did get a bit restless during parts of it.
The last thing we did was the Kilimanjaro Safari Ride. I had ridden this before, but it was much better this time around. There were many more animals and they were all very visible from our jeep. We all really enjoyed this ride. Reese enjoyed it so much, in fact, that she's gone on a few pretend safari rides of her own since we've been home. She'll grab a few safari animals (from her Zoo toys), jump in her little tikes car and talk about "going on a ride to see animals." It's really sweet.
Doing those three attractions wore us out (lots of walking, hot, very crowded)! Maybe if I went on a less crowded day (it was Saturday after all) and it was less hot and humid I'd have more positive things to say about The Animal Kingdom park? I don't know--it's just not my fave.
We all napped pretty hard when we returned to our resort. We were suppose to go eat dinner at Sanaa. It's a restaurant inside the Animal Kingdom Lodge. I was really looking forward to eating dinner here. The food is suppose to be great and safari animals roam all around the outside grounds while you eat dinner. When it came down to it we didn't feel like taking 2 buses to get there (an hour + travel time) so we cancelled our reservations.
We instead went swimming (Reese was overjoyed), ordered in room service, watched the Thunder basketball game (Joe was overjoyed), and started packing for our trip home the next day. It may sound like a boring way to spend your final night at Disney World, but it was just what we needed after an exhausting day at Animal Kingdom and an overall full Disney trip. You have to know when to say no more and (for us) we made the right decision in taking it easy.
The next morning we ate breakfast at Chef Mickey's (again), finished packing up, and headed to the Orlando Airport.
The second set of flights went much better.
Thank. you. God.
Reese was able to comfort Eeyore, who was nervous about flying.
How sweet is that?
Reese's overall demeanor was night and day from the first set of flights.
Silly girl.
She also took a self portrait. She's a flying pro now--what else is there to say??
Got drool?
We did make it home. We all thoroughly enjoyed our Disney week together. It was our first family trip after all. Many great, great memories were made. I won't be forgetting them anytime soon.
Since returning home Reese only wants to watch one movie...Beauty and the Beast. Her favorite Princess (for now) is Belle.
She sleeps with her and goes on car rides with her (sometimes while sleeping).
I guess Belle made quite the impression on Reese when we met her.
We might have stayed at Disney a little too long though, because on the Monday, after our return, I asked Reese, "Who do you think you might see at school today?"
Her response, "Belle."
