We hopped on the bus in a drizzly rain at around 8:30 this morning. We knew that Animal Kingdom had opened at 8, and usually, we are eager to get there when it opens, but we decided to give ourselves a little more time this morning. When we got there, we walked right in and headed straight to the Safari. We've always done the Safari first thing because first thing in the morning is feeding time and the animals are most active at that time of day. We walked right on with absolutely no wait at all.
As soon as we got on our Safari vehicle, a pretty steady drizzle/rain started falling. I'm not sure if it was the time of day or the rain, but the animals were more visible than they'd ever been! Especially the giraffes..... the GIRAFFES were everywhere and VERY CLOSE! I counted 8 in a little herd at one point, including a new baby giraffe. So great.
By the time we finished there, it was time to use our Fastpasses for Expedition Everest, so we headed to the other side of the park. We had enough Fastpasses among the 10 of us that the boys got to ride twice (I joined in on the first ride, too!) On the ride, I sat next to a guy whose son-in-law works for Disney as one of the workers who builds the roller coasters. Currently, he's working on the new mine train ride in the new Fantasyland at Magic Kingdom. It won't be ready for us this trip, but it's close, so we'll be looking forward to that for next time!
We then walked over to Dinoland and the whole hee-haw gang rode that Dumbo-type-dinosaur-flying-around-in-a-circle-thing. I can never remember the name of it......
Mary rode with Aunt Paige and Night Night and was the pilot. She gave them quite a ride..... up and down, up and down. Aunt Paige said her little heart was beating ninety to nothing. Sweet thing.
At 11:00, it was time for the Nemo show! We ate a quick little snack on the way (boys are always needing a quick little snack) and then it was showtime! This is always a favorite, and since she's been watching the movie in the car during carpool a lot, Mary recognized the characters and the jellyfish and such and kept pointing and laughing. I didn't even have to feed her any gummies during the show to keep quiet! (Cause all of our gummies are stragetically hidden in the backpack for such a time as this.... showtimes..... to keep her quiet..... did the same thing with the boys when they were little.....)
After Nemo, it was time for our Primeval Whirl Fastpasses. This time, NightNight accompanied the boys on the first ride, and then they used the extra bands in the group to ride it again. That system seems to be working well for us and has helped alleviate a LITTLE bit of our frustration with the new system. But have I mentioned that I DO NOT LIKE the new Fastpass system? Boo.
Mary and I took some time while the boys rode to do some artwork. We spread out our towel-blanket and got out some magic markers that Aunt Paige had brought as a surprise. There may also have been some stickers distributed out to everyone, too.
After a yummy lunch at Flametree BBQ (where two ducks walked ACROSS MY FOOT to eat the slaw that Mary had dropped on the floor..... she kept telling them NO NO), we were ready for our third Fastpass selection of the day - the Minnie/Mickey character greeting. Yes.... we used a FP for that.... cause the choices for FPs at AK are not good. Again: FP system = Bad. (Although I must admit: the option to have a Fastpass for a character greeting worked VERY well for us today. So there's that.)
Mary, once again, was THRILLED to see her pal, Mickey. She is doing unbelievably well with her character greetings..... even when it's time to leave (which could trigger a bit of a come-apart in ANY two year old), she just blows them a kiss, gives a final hug, and waves goodbye. The most precious part, I think, is when she turns her back on them and looks at us and points behind her like, "Hey! Do y'all see who I found? Do you SEE them??? Look who it is!!"
We bid Mickey goodbye and then walked up just in time to see the 2:00 show Flights of Wonder. This is a BIRD show....a GREAT bird show (even though I normally DO NOT like birds.).... but as long as the birds are trained, I'm fine.... no worries.... cause I already had DUCKS pecking on my ankles (they maybe didn't actually touch me, but my anxiety with them right at my feet made it FEEL like they were pecking on my ankles).....but it was fine. I'm pretty sure Mary knew there were birds in the show, but right before it started, Aunt Paige had showed her how to TRACE HER HAND on paper, so she pretty much spent the rest of that 25 minutes tracing her hand.... and Aunt Paige's hand.... and maybe NightNight's hand......
By the time that show was over, we decided to call it a day. Mary fell asleep in her stroller on the way to the bus and slept in my arms all the way back to the room. She is currently STILL asleep beside me on the bed as I type this. Our plan tonight is to just relax and enjoy spending time as a family. Everyone gets to do something they like: NN, Paige, and Josh have gone to another Braves baseball game, Max is gonna go to the arcade, Jack wants to swim some more, Will wants to learn how to play Rook, Mudger is gonna watch Mary sleep, and Joe is doing laundry (I think it relaxes him). I plan on shopping and maybe trying to catch some more fireworks off our balcony tonight.... or watch the movie by the pool, maybe?
I think so.
I think so.
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