The Bean Blog

Disney Day 3: Reporting from the jungle

Dec 3, 2008 Seeing the world

Today we went to Animal Kingdom. Animal Kingdom was brand new when we visited 10 years ago. And a lot has changed. But a lot stayed the same too. [What?!? I'm a little loopy from being couped up with five kids, one husband and one mother for almost a week.]

The first thing we did when we got to the park was send Lee and most of the boys to Asia (Asia the section of Animal Kingdom, not Asia the continent) to get fast passes for Expedition Everest. According to the nice lady who always pop up on TV every time we turn the TV on in our hotel room, Expedition Everest is one of the top 7 can’t miss things in Disney. And we always listen to our TVs.

Once they got the fast passes they met us in line for the Kilimanjaro Safari in Africa (again, not the continent…although it was a pretty long jaunt for them to get to from Asia to Africa). I took tons of pictures of elephants, giraffes, hippos, flamingos and more. However, you’ll have to wait for pictures because I’m just too tired at night to download and post-process my pictures. Instead you’ll just have to use your imagination to visual how spectacular all of these animals were.

On the walking trail following the safari we ran in to some gorillas. And I don’t just mean the black hairy kind. These gorillas were 20-somethings from the UK. There was a group of about 10 of them hollering out at the actual gorillas, cursing and making crude jokes. This poor 5 foot 2, itty bitty park employee had to tell them to quiet down and not disturb the animals at least three times. And they kept ignoring her. After all, what was this tiny girl going to do? Softly tell them to hush? She certainly wasn’t strong enough to kick them out. But if that gorilla could’ve found a way to the people he surely would have ripped those English boys to shreds. The gorilla was storming up to the moat keeping him safely away from us looking for a way to the morons. When he couldn’t find a way to them, he resorted to giving them the stink eye. Which just made the morons giggle like little bitch school girls. Some boys just never grow up.

Then we headed over to Expedition Everest. I was a little hesitant because you know how I am with roller coasters. But I have this rule that I have to try everything at least once. Expedition Everest isn’t a normal roller coaster. Yes, it goes fast like a normal roller coaster. And there is a big drop (where I clamped my eyes shut so hard I’m surprised my eyeballs didn’t pop right out the back of my head) like a normal roller coaster. But this roller coaster tries to be all “oh I’m normal” until you encounter a broken track. Then you sit there wonder how the hell you’re going to get off this thing when it starts going BACKWARDS. In to the DARK. And it twists and turns you and makes you feel like you are going upside down when you really aren’t. Then it stops again while the Abominable Snowman breaks some track right in front of you and you’re all “hells no” only to be off flying down the dark track again. But I survived. And, dare I say, even enjoyed it.

Then we made our way to DinoLand. We got Pooh, Eeyore, and Tigger’s signatures before heading over to the Boneyard to play, dig up a wooly mammoth and search for hidden Mickeys. Then we gave the Primeval Whirl a whirl. (Get it? A whirl. Oh I crack myself up.) Primeval Whirl spins you around as you go up and down the track. It’s an ok ride. If it went just a little faster it would be a great ride.

We ended DinoLand with a trip back to the Cretaceous period on the Dinosaur ride. Caleb declared this ride the “most scariest ride ever.” I thought it was fun, but not exactly scary. However, we zoomed through this ride 10 years ago when it was Countdown to Extinction so maybe I was just underwhelmed because I didn’t have that sense of anticipation that a new rider has.

We ended the night with a very filling dinner at Rainforest Cafe. We ate at Rainforest Cafe on our trip 10 years ago and Keaton and I ate at one in London, but this was Skyler, Spencer, and Caleb’s first trip. They were pretty excited about the decor. Well, at least until the elephant next to us wouldn’t shut up. I got an alcoholic beverage because, hello, I’m spending my days with 5 children, a husband and a mother. Bring on the damn alcohol. But the kids got these Icee things that came in a collectors cup with a toy included. I took a little sip of Caleb’s Icee and wow are they good. I highly recommend them. I think I should have gotten an Icee instead of my spiked lemonade. But I did get a cool flashing cup so all was not lost.

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Tags: Animal Kingdom, DinoLand U.S.A., Dinosaur, Disney World, Eeyore, Expedition Everest, family vacation, gorillas, Kilimanjaro Safari, Pooh, Primeval Whirl, Rainforest Cafe, Tigger