ANIMAL KINGDOM- Day 4

Our fourth park day was Animal Kingdom.  I was so excited to see Pandora and ride Flight of Passage.  I was also excited because I felt like we'd done a great job with our fast passes this day!  We had fast passes for Flight of Passage, the Safari, and Everest.  We were able to ride Navi River Journey at rope drop with no wait.  The kids loved it.  After that we walked toward Africa for rope drop again, (the first rope drop was just for Pandora).  So we were able to ride Navi before the park even technically opened.

We headed to Gorilla Falls and did the bird watch area.  Some of the kids were more into it than others. 

We walked by the Hippo tank.  We couldn't see it very well though.  

We got the kids the Wilderness Explorers books and they were so into it.  

It was so much fun watching them get so excited about earning badges.

We took the train out to Rafiki's Planet Watch.  We earned more badges.

Barrett was so into it!

We made it to the "Affection Section" (petting zoo).  We didn't get to stay as long as the kids wanted because we had to make it back for our Safari fast pass.

The Safari was a huge hit as always.  

After the Safari we grabbed some lunch before our Flight of Passage fast pass.  We ate at Flame Tree BBQ.  I got the BBQ fries and they were delicious!  After lunch we headed back to Pandora to ride Flight of Passage.  I was so excited to ride this ride.  Hope and I rode together first while the guys stayed with the kids.  It was amazing!

While the guys rode we took the kids to earn more badges!  Barrett could have done this all day long!  It started raining while the guys were on Flight of Passage but we had one more fast pass for Everest.  So we threw on our rain gear and headed to Asia.

John and Hope rode first while we stayed with the kids.  Madelyn had been singing her little heart out and we had the rain cover on the strollers well at some point the singing turned into crying and I had no idea.  When I finally realized it her Wilderness Explorers book was in a puddle soaking wet and she was devastated.  I felt so bad because I had no idea how long it'd been in the puddle.   After they rode John rode it again with me since Patrick didn't care to ride.  After Everest, we decided to call it a day because the rain did not appear to be letting up.  We had early dinner reservations at 'OHANA.  (We found out later that Kylie Jenner and her family were at Animal Kingdom the same day but we didn't see them.)

We decided to grab a group picture in front of the Tree of Life before we headed out.  We just had to laugh because the weather had been such a crapshoot the whole week.

John and Me on Everest!  It was so much fun, even in the rain.

We left the park and headed to the resort to change into dry clothes really quick before we went to dinner.  We took the bus to the Magic Kingdom then hopped on the monorail to the Polynesian.   'OHANA was our favorite meal from the last trip.  The food was great this time but our server wasn't and it was so disappointing. We enjoyed it though.  After dinner we headed back to the resort for early bedtimes so we could rope drop our last day at Magic Kingdom and early morning magic hour.

Disney World- Animal Kingdom

We love the zoo so we were very excited about Animal Kingdom.  When I went to Disney way back in middle school Animal Kingdom had just opened. (I was so sick on that trip that I didn't do anything in Magic Kingdom, didn't even go to Epcot or Hollywood Studios.  The day we went to Animal Kingdom was the day I felt the best, so it became my favorite park.)  I was excited to go back because I knew a lot more had opened since I was there.

We got there around 10:00 and the first thing we had fast passes for was the safari.  We took our time entering the park.  We stopped to have our picture made in front of the Tree of Life.  The Moores went first and the photographer told them to make a "roar" face so Barrett was ready with his "roar" face.  AveryAnn was sound asleep.

This was easily the longest line we waited in all week and we had a fast pass.  The crowd levels were fantastic all week.  In fact, Patrick said he could never go during a busier time because we were so spoiled.

I loved the safari 18 years ago and I loved it just as much this time.  The animals are so close and the guides are so good at teaching about each animal.

Barrett wasn't so sure when the truck started going. It's a little rough.  He was also a little unsure when we got up close with the first animal.  It was a little close and he was sure it was going to get us.  We survived!  He was smiling by the end.

For lunch we ate at Harambe Market.  Patrick and I got the grilled chicken skewer.  It was delicious.
We walked through the gorilla trails.  Then headed to our next fast pass at Expedition Everest.   

Barrett opted out of our family picture in front of Everest.

We had fast passes for all four adults.  Well Patrick and Jessica aren't exactly thrill seekers.  So Jeremy and I rode it first to see if they would want to ride it. 

This is our ride photo from the first ride.  Jeremy's face says it all.  it's dark and we really had no idea what was happening.  We decided that neither Patrick nor Jessica would enjoy it so we got their magic bands and rode it again using their fast passes.  It was even better the second time.  One of my favorite rides.

We watched the hippo in this tank for a while.  It was so big the boys had a hard time even seeing it.

We walked around the tree just in awe.  It is so amazing. 

We went and rode another ride and AveryAnn slept through it.
We again probably didn't take full advantage of this park.  We didn't see any shows except It's Tough to Be a Bug.  Barrett didn't do great sitting through the shows.  In fact he was terrified in the bug show so I had to take him out.  I also wish we would have done the Wilderness Explorers program, I think the boys would have really enjoyed it.  We had dinner reservations at 'Ohana so we headed there around 4:30.
I'd heard wonderful things about this restaurant and it did not disappoint.  It was delicious.  I think it was my favorite meal of the week.  (I say that Be Our Guest was my favorite dinner and it was but 'Ohana is the one that I constantly find myself wishing I was eating. I loved the whole experience at Be Our Guest the most though.)

It's all you care to eat, family style and it's amazing.  This pineapple bread pudding was to die for.  I wish I had some right now.  We were done with dinner by 7:00 and we headed back to the room for an early night.  We were exhausted.  Jeremy, Jessica and Jackson hit the pool and we just hung out in our room.  We needed to rest because we were hoping to make rope drop the next day at Magic Kingdom.  (We're not morning people and we aren't those kind of people that function just fine on no sleep.)