For several weeks I had been obsessed with making a plan for Disney. I read the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World 2012 in a day and had signed up at http://touringplans.com/. Best. Decision. Ever. It was well worth the money. It gave you the inside track on what parks are the best to go to on what days and it also gave you different schedules and plans to choose from for rides at the park. We somewhat followed their plan/advice all week except for one day and that one day was the most frustrating day for us at the Magic Kingdom. Unbeknownst to us at the time of purchasing tickets and hotel, was the fact that the week in between Christmas and New Years is the busiest time of the year for Disney. However, because we followed a "plan" we never waited more than 20 minutes for a ride.
When we got to Animal Kingdom, we went straight back to ride Kilimanjaro Safari. As a family, I think this one of our favorite rides because we all enjoyed it. Here we are getting ready to leave...
Some of the animals and scenery we saw as we rode...
Taking a picture after our safari
When then left the Africa portion of the park and headed over to the Asia. The girls stopped to play some bongos in Africa along the way. They had the best time!
The Tree of Life. It was gorgeous!
Emma posing for a picture. If you look closely you can see her face is splotchy from crying. She was determined that she wanted to ride Expedition Everest with Jason. Expedition Everest is a roller coaster that the track had been torn up by a Yeti. At one point of the ride, the track ends and you begin to go backwards through a cave where you hear the Yeti roar and you see flashes of him. She was terrified!
Another favorite ride from the week was Kali River Rapids. I think we rode it 3 times that day. Here is Emma and Jason.
Ava was unsure if she wanted to ride it because she was not thrilled about getting wet. None of us got wet when we rode it, so we assured Ava that she probably wouldn't get too wet. Of course, she as sitting in "that spot". She got completely drenched. Fortunately, she loved every minute of it!
We had our first character experience that morning. Animal Kingdom was the least crowded of all the parks when it came to meeting the characters.
Emma and Mickey
Emma, Ava and Minnie
Emma and Goofy
Emma, Ava and Donald Duck
Emma and Pocohontas
Lila and Pocahontas (she was the only one Lila would take a picture with)
The girls with Thumper and his girl
On our way to Dinoland, we stopped to watch A Bug's Life show in 3D. All of the 3D shows at Disney were so good. This one, however, frightened my kids. At one point we had all 3 kids screaming. In fact, Ava was so traumatized that she refused to wear any 3D glasses in any other 3D shows we saw that week.
They do such little cute tricks in A Bug's Life to make you feel like it is real. They make it stink when the stinkbug come out. They spray a little water on you to make you feel like a bug is spitting on you. At the end, you have to wait for all the bugs to exit the show. You can feel them crawling behind you as they leave!
A happy girl!
Emma in Dinoland
Lila kept yelling, "UP, UP!" on this ride.
After we left Dinoland, we headed to the Finding Nemo show. It was incredible. All the shows are such a production. We all loved any of the shows we got to see. We could never find time that day to see the Lion King show which we were all bummed about.
The last thing we did before we left the park was watch the holiday parade.
Favorites:
Jason: Expedition Everest
Kelly: A Bug's Life 3D
Emma: Kali River Rapids
Ava: Kali River Rapids
Lila: Kilimanjaro Safari
As a family: Kilimanjaro Safari
