Disney World-Day 4 (Animal Kingdom)

Day 4 was spent at Animal Kingdom.  I love the idea of Animal Kingdom but my experience has just never been great.  I think it's because the park is just so HUGE.  A lot of walking is involved and there isn't a ton of shade at the park.  The large trees keep the heat in and do not allow for much breeze.

The giraffes were a hit!

The smallest elephant on the reserve

Despite this we tried to have a good morning! We started off making a beeline for the African Safari.  We didn't have fast passes and I wanted to get this knocked out before our other rides of the day.  PLUS from our time in Africa, I know that the animals were only going to get harder to see during the day as it got hotter.  The safari did not disapoint!  We saw elephants, rhino, lions, giraffe, and other safari staples.  Defintily nothing like the real thing but so neat regardless.  Maddy was going nuts as she is our animal lover!

Mara wasn't so sure initially about this hug

Maddy was just unsure in general

From there we split with Josh headed to Mt. Everest (rollarcoaster) and us to the new Pandora rides.  Oh my gosh let me tell you the hype on Pandora was crazy.  It was over 3 hours wait! There is no way that ride is worth it....We had fast passes for the river cruise and walked easily onto to that without any issues.  I'll admit it was done really well and I'm glad we did it.  

Goofy making sure mom was getting the bill correct

We met up with Josh who had a blast on the rollercoaster, riding it twice, at the tree of life.  He had to take a call so Mara and Grandma took this opportunity for a little shopping.  We then walked to the Dinoland and rode the flying dinos (not sure their actual name but its like Dumbo at Magic Kingdom just dinosaurs).

Daisy was by far her favorite

Duck says Maddy

By then it was time for lunch and I had made reservations at Tusker House.  I couldn't resist the nostalgic nature from our time in Kenya and secertly wished I could endulge in an ice cold Tusker Malt for old times sake.  This resturant is a character meal and buffet.  Unlike some of the other basic ones, I feel like the food here is so worth it.  We had a fun selection of flavors and tastes from all over Africa and Asia.  The girls got so into meeting the fab 5 as we saw Mickey, Minnie, Daisy, Donald and Goofy.

Tree of Life

After lunch we were a little lost as to what to do.  We decided to stick around for the finding nemo show and it did not disappoint.  I thought it might be a little weird with the combination of puppets and actors on stage together but it's really done well.

Blury but you get the idea

There weren't any other rides the girls could do and the rest of the park is set up like a zoo.  Despite wanting to see more animals we were exausted at this point and headed back to the hotel.  We took a long break this day hitting up the hotel pool and being lazy.

Finally we did decide to go back to the park, only of course to get stuck in a downpour again.  Our descisions kept backfiring as we made a mad dash to Lion King only to get seperated and soaked.  Screaming children aside the show was fabulous and I wish we had taken it in in better spirits.

Wet but enjoying Lion King

The rain had stopped when we exited the show only to start back up again as we headed to the buses.  Our luck this entire trip.  So we got soaked......That night we decided to cut our loses and just grab a quick dinner from the food court at the hotel and go to bed early!

Tusker House resturant