Day 5 - Animal Kingdon and Magic Kingdom

We have only been to Animal Kingdom one other time and it was right after it first opened so I was really looking forward to this day. As soon as we got into the park, we headed for the Lion King show and character meetings. Believe it or not, this was our first Mickey Mouse sighting of our trip.



In addition to Mickey Mouse, we also got to meet Pocahontas (with a great Brooklyn accent), her friend Meeko and Baloo (who Jaelyn was just dying to meet) My favorite show, by far, at Animal Kingdom was the Lion King show. We got in the park early with Disney Magic hours so we were able to be first in line and get a front row seat. The show was amazing. The kids loved it and even got picked to participate. Caden wouldn't go, but Allie and Jaelyn got little rattles and paraded around the show. Later Allie told me they were playing Follow the Leader. The actors were totally in character. Towards the end, one of the monkeys danced up to Caden and picked a "bug" out of his hair and ate it. For the rest of the show, Caden pulled on his hair and the monkey kept looking at him and shaking his head like "yeah, I really did eat a bug out of your hair." It was so funny. He talked about it for the longest time.


I took the girls to the Bug's Life show and scared them just a little. I'm so glad we didn't make Caden stay for that show. We looked at the Tree of Life and I oggled all of the pretty plants. Next, we wandered through the Maharajah's Jungle Trek and rode the Kilimanjaro Safari to see animals. The Safari ride scared Caden just a little because of the story line with the poachers and the gun fire. He was okay though and did enjoy riding in the big truck.


DinoLand was a big hit with the kids. We rode Triceratop Spin (think the Dumbo ride at Magic Kingdom only with a three horn instead of an elephant). There was a fun playground with nets, tubes and slides similar to the one at SeaWorld. Jaelyn fell while we were there and skinned up her knee. I didn't have bandaids (for the second time, Jenn rescued us the night we saw her). We pretty much told Jaelyn to suck it up and be a big girl. Some moms sitting next to Dan gave him a bandaid and he said he got the funniest look when he thanked them and said "Bandaids are a luxury at our house." I wish I had been standing there.

Watch out, Caden. Your about to be eaten!!!

Leaving Animal Kingdom, a baby lizard jumped on our rented stroller (we finally rented another stroller on our last day and it was SO worth it). I thought it'd be fun to get him on my finger. Well...he hopped onto my finger and then ran up my arm onto my back. Oh my! Thankfully Dan caught him before he made it to my head or down my shirt! Oh the scene - I will never touch a lizard again! Promise!

We went back to the hotel and had naps before spending our last evening at Magic Kingdom. Someone gave up their fast passes as they were leaving so Dan and I were able to ride Space Mountain without standing in the hour line (it's a lot bumpier than I remembered). We visited Toontown again and the girls road Goofy's rollercoaster another 3-4 times. Dan took Caden on Dumbo's ride while I took the girls on Peter Pan. We even managed it's a Small World without Caden crying. We couldn't leave Orlando without riding it in honor of Baba! We finished out our night by meeting Goofy and letting Caden try to pull the sword out of the stone!