Disney 2009 - Chapter 3.1 - Animal Kingdom

Sunday February 8, 2009



I once again woke up fairly early, but managed to fall back to sleep only to be woken a few minutes later by Dh’s alarm going off. It was time to start our first full day in Disney. Too bad I was still so tired from the previous day, and the 2-3 times of Clone2 waking me up with coughing fits. Bleary eyed, I looked at Dh and wondered how much of the asthma and cold meds we should take into the parks that day. We didn’t manage to leave our hotel as early as we would have liked, and as such arrived at Animal Kingdom around 8:35 to see 4 other cars already in Diamond parking and many people at the turnstiles already. No biggie. While waiting we got a text message from friends who said they were meeting us at EPCOT and sleeping in and swimming. I guess we really did wear them out a little too much on Saturday.

So, there we were, standing at the turnstiles at Animal Kingdom making our plan of attack for the day. I was going to take the stroller tickets and pick up the stroller while Dh took the Clones and Princess Peanut on ahead to the interior rope holding area. We were headed to Expedition Everest first thing, and Dh was our FPV for the day (like always). We manage to once again both be no further back than 5-10 people (that’s with the stop for the stroller), and Clone2 is able to go up to the rope to see the park opening show which he loved. When the rope drops, we all walk briskly behind the Cast Members holding the rope. The speed walkers ahead of us out pace us slightly as I tend to get cut off with the double stroller quite a bit. No worries as we have to get Rider Swap at Expedition Everest as well. We find out that we have to go through the line a little ways, but Dh takes Princess Peanut and the stroller through, gets our rider swap then high tails it back to the Fast Pass machines to get our future Fast Passes while I journey on ahead with the Clones. We make it into row 4 and 5 of the 2nd train. Not shabby at all. I sit with Clone2, while Clone1 is in his own seat.

But not for long! Clone1 had someone assigned to sit with him, a rather cute younger girl about his age ended up being his ride partner. Clone1 showing his age agreed with me when I turned to him and mouthed, “She’s CUUUUUTE!” He then blushed and has since refused to even comment on the rather cute girl that rode Expedition Everest with him.

Clone2’s experience, however, was much different. Remember the coughing and asthma fits? Yeah, well, the fast moving ride, the backwards in the dark, the higher levels of anxiety this ride produces created breathing problems for him. He survived, but told me that it was hard to breathe on the ride and it scared him. The backwards was really scary. The big hill was really scary. He did NOT want to see the Yeti again. When asked if he wanted to ride later with Daddy, he told us no rather emphatically but that he “maybe” would ride it later in the week. He said that he would ride it on our NEXT trip, well, possibly.

With all the excitement of the girl riding with him, the excitement of seeing if his brother liked the ride, Clone1 forgot his special Pirate Mickey ears! Yikes! We had to turn around and go back to see if they could find them, while Dh worked on catching back up with us. When they found them, the relief in Clone1’s eyes was huge. We quickly put the ears up in a safe location, and rushed to join Dh and Clone2 on their way to Dinosaur. I was taking Princess Peanut to get a seat for Finding Nemo the Musical as she adores the Nemo movie. We hoped that she would not bury her head, but I recognized that sitting near an area where anything might possibly come near her was not a good idea. The 10am showing of this was not crowded at all, and getting there early was nice because I could talk with the Cast Members and get a good idea of where to sit for Princess Peanut’s comfort.

The boys joined us, and Dh told me that he now remembers that he really doesn’t like Dinosaur. Clone2 tells me that he doesn’t want to ride it again, and he doesn’t like it because it’s scary. Poor Clone2 – 2 scary rides in a row for him! The show starts, Princess Peanut buries her head. It takes a little convincing, and a few lines from the movie she loves to get her to peek out. The rest of the show is spent with her alternatingly hiding her head and peeking out. Let’s just say I was greatly relieved they didn’t do the dark depths of the ocean scene were Dory reads the mask. VERY grateful they didn’t do that scene as the shark scene about did her in. While I know this is almost sacrilege, we did not care for Finding Nemo as much as Festival of the Lion King. Personal preference here, but the truth.

We exited the show and it was time for the FPV to rush ahead to Kilimanjaro Safari, only we were not going to subject the kids to It’s Tough to be a Bug this trip as we had FINALLY learned that it’s too scary (especially for Princess Peanut and quite possibly Clone2). We went as a family to get Fast Passes and learned that Princess Peanut could unbuckle herself as she flipped out of the stroller and ended up underneath (luckily I was moving slowly and she didn’t get hurt), then headed into the Africa animal trails. All was good until we hit the Monkeys and Clone2 had to go to the bathroom RIGHT NOW! I ended up speed walking with him in the double stroller to the closet bathroom (a good 5 minute walk away), and then we waited on the rest of the family to join us. Clone2 entertained himself with my point and shoot camera and I ended up with some of the only photos of ME on the trip!



It was finally time for Kilimanjaro Safari ride, and we hoped that all the kids would have fun. We were lucky to get in the front row, and I sat Clone2 next to me and Clone1 next to Dh on the outsides. Each had a point and shoot camera, and I thought “Hey this is working out GREAT!” It was, until Clone1 complained that Clone2 had all the better animals on that side and that Clone1’s side didn’t have many so he didn’t get very many photos to take. Princess Peanut was giggling and laughing at the bumpy ride, much as she had in China in the cars we rode in there. Success for one child at least. Clone2 didn’t complain any at all, and we ended up with some interesting safari photos from him. We kindly asked Clone1 to shape up the attitude.



It was just about lunch time, but really, what was there left for us to do? We had enough passes for Clone2 to ride Expedition Everest 3 more times. There would be no more Dinosaur rides, Triceratop Spin was down for refurbishment, we figured Festival of the Lion King would scare Princess Peanut, and neither Dh or I wanted to get wet. We had some shows to see possibly. Or we could eat a snack, do the Everest rides, and get to EPCOT where there was more to ride for the little kids. We chose to leave early and get to EPCOT. Dh and Clone1 rode Expedition Everest and we had 2 fast passes and 1 rider swap in our hands. We walked the Asia trails where in one building Princess Peanut who was refusing to ride in the stroller was trying to hold open a door . She took a step away and the door started closing and knocked her over resulting in a big bump on her forehead. We finished the trails with a crying little girl, and Dh decided he was ready to go. We handed off the 2 fast passes and the rider swap to others to use. It was barely 1pm at this point.