BIL has to go back to the lobby this morning to have his parkhopper pass fixed since it didn't let him into the park yesterday morning and he was issued a temporary park pass. We take my mom, sister and the twins with us to Animal Kingdom via bus this morning but they don't have their park hopper passes when we arrive because BIL had taken them with him. We agree to meet in the park later when BIL gets back to join them so we head into the park with almost no wait at all, make a pit stop at the bathrooms, and DH goes into the photo store to find a battery for his camera. We're a little late for my RideMax itinerary (about 10:30 am) so we skip the Discovery Island Trails and head to Kilimanjaro Safari first to get fast passes for us. DH, MIL, FIL, and the kids head into the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail while I wait for my sister and her family to meet us. We get them all fastpasses and wait for my family to get back from the Exploration Trail which they thought was very cool. I'd never been on this trail and didn't get to this time either. Oh well.
We finally re-group at Rafiki's Planet Watch where the kids stop to do a "scavenger hunt" at the kids' station and the adults relax for a little while. The scavenger hunt is cute - the kids are given booklets and they must find each creature listed by looking around on the ground, on rocks/bushes/trees, etc to find the "animals" which are little pastic animals cleverly placed all around.
When they finish their scavenger hunt and find all the animals, their booklets are stamped. We move on to the Conservation Station where the kids explore for quite some time. DS is fascinated by the video monitor stations where you can control the actual monitors in the animal enclosures of AK zooming in and out and moving them about to see the animals. It's hard to tear him away from this station.
The kids find a demonstration given by a CM with a large rabbit. As she explains about the rabbit, she pulls DD from the audience and asks her to hop like a bunny rabbit as far as she can to demonstrate how far a human can jump vs a bunny rabbit. For being the CM's "helper", DD receives a certificate and a special Conservation Station button. She's happy as a clam for being picked not to mention her impressive jumping ability.
DS wants to go into the Rainforest sound booths so DH, DD, DS, MIL, and I all pile into the booth and listen to a narrative about the Rain Forest. When the door is shut and we've put on the headphones, we push a button and the lights dim. DS suddenly gets a little frightened but we convince him to stay and leave his headphones on. The program is very well done, of course, and reiterates the importance of conservation and recycling. We all enjoy the presentation. Soon, we head outside and visit the petting zoo. After washing hands all around, we head back to the train to get some lunch at the Tusker House restaurant.
We had eaten at Tusker House 2 years ago and I really enjoyed the roast chicken with mashed potatoes and green beans. There's a ton of food to go around including dessert of chocoate cake and cheesecake.
At this point, my sister is tired and heads back to the resort. We take our time with lunch and get done after 2 pm then head to Kilimanjaro Safari to use our fastpasses. The wait is very short and we board our expedition vehicle and the kids are laughing hysterically at every bump (and there are a lot of them!) the bus hits. It's a fairly warm day especially compared to the very cold evening we had last night. The animals, though, are not terribly active but we do see a lot of them.
After Kilimanjaro Safari we walk through the Maharajah Jungle Trek which is also something that I've never been on before. The fruit bats were fascinating but it's hard not to be a little repulsed by them - they are huge and dangling by their toes with their wings wrapped around them resembling a caccoon.
We see a beautiful tiger on this trek too and DH stops frequently to take pictures of the various plants and trees.
At this point we are ahead of my Ridemax itinerary and as we scope out a spot for the Jingle Jungle parade at 3 pm, we decide to leave the kids with MIL/FIL and my mother so DH, BIL, and I can go check out Expedition Everest. Ridemax suggested getting in line at 4:50 pm (10 minutes before park close) but DH and BIL don't want to wait that long so we find Expedition Everest and decide to wait the 40 minutes in line to ride it. The ride was thrilling - especially the backwards part and we enjoyed it a lot. We meet up with everyone else at the Boneyard in Dino Land and leave all of our bags with the grandmas so that DH, FIL, and I can go and ride Dinosaur. BIL has decided that he wants to try and rent a car to drive down to Cape Canaveral for the launching of the shuttle so he leaves the park. After the Dinosaur ride, though, he calls back to tell us that he's changed his mind and we meet up with him at the exit of Dino Land. We head out of the park along with all of the masses and see CM's standing on a bridge over Dino Land waving goodbye to everyone.
We make a bathroom stop outside the entrance and stay to watch a show put on by some musicians from the Andes who play Christmas tunes on their pan flutes. We really enjoy this performance and appreciate that even though the park has closed, Disney still provides entertainment. It's not quite 5:30 pm and our Hoop De Doo Revue show doesn't start until 7:15 pm.
We get on the bus for Fort Wilderness which is quite crowded. As we get off at the bus stop, I have to ask several different drivers how to get to the show. We catch another bus that's even more crowded and after multiple stops, we finally get off and head towards the show. The ride is interesting to me because of the Christmas lights scattered throughout this campground - all provided by the people staying here. Some of the lights are really extravagant complete with lighted characters/yard art and decorated golf carts - more than the lights that I have on my whole house!
We are very early for our show so we take the kids to the playground where they quickly meet new friends and expend some energy on the equipment. At about 7 pm we head back over to where the show is and I have the CM at the window credit back 2 TS credits because my sister isn't up for dinner this evening. We find the CM to check in with and take our group photo. Our table is assigned so it doesn't matter where we are in line. The cast soon come out and ring the dinner bell and invite us all in for "vittles". Our table is very close to the stage and the show is very cute. The kids love the corny jokes.
The food is quite good and I especially enjoy the ribs and the corn bread. I'm definitely not a cornbread fan but this is the BEST cornbread I have ever had and I can't seem to get enough of it. During the show, the CMs announce DH and my anniversary coming up on Tuesday to the audience and we are given special "Happy Anniversary" buttons to wear. They also announce birthdays and any other special events during the show.
The show was very good but our server is a dud. He seems rushed and not at all friendly during the show. I'm disappointed after reading about CMs who really get in on the act and play along with the show cast. The server at the next table over is quite funny and when the singers are performing while the food is being brought out in buckets, this server literally plops the food down on someone's plate with a loud "CLUNK" and we're rolling on the floors because it's so funny. For dessert we have strawberry shortcake which is very good. For the finale, the servers all hand out washboards to the kids and they "play" their washboards with their spoons. They have a great time being a part of the act.
We find the dock and take the boat back to the Magic Kingdom where we then catch a bus back to SSRS. This is much better route to take. LESSON LEARNED - take the boat to Fort Wilderness and avoid the buses.
After 2 nights in a row of DS vomiting, I'm a little worried that he's going to throw up again but my working theory is that he is waking up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and getting disoriented. I make sure he empties his bladder before going to bed and, this time, he gets through the night without incident.
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