Monday morning we headed to the Animal Kingdom. Thankfully, Timothy's fever was gone & he seemed to feel fine. Since the monorail doesn't go to that park, John decided to drive. Taking the bus would have been our other option but we didn't want to do that. We had a character breakfast at the Tusker House restaurant inside the park. It was a buffet with your standard breakfast foods....eggs, bacon, sausage, ham, potatoes, fruits, granola, muffins. They did have cereal & doughnuts for the kids as well.
As soon as we checked in, we stood in line to have our picture taken with Donald Duck. Timothy wasn't completely sure about that but he seemed ok since someone was holding him. You can see him checking Donald out here!
All of the other characters came around to the tables while you ate. They were all dressed in safari gear. Joshua wasn't happy about being in the restaurant so he didn't really care about the characters.
Timothy had cried when Mickey Mouse came by, so we skipped that picture with him! As you can see, he was still pretty unsure when Goofy stopped by our table.
By the time Daisy came by, Timothy was starting to get used to the characters. He was still keeping an eye on her though!
After breakfast, we went to Kilimanjaro Safaris, which is the bus ride through the wildlife refuge. It was really fun to see all of the animals, though most of them weren't close enough to get great pictures. The lions were the only thing we couldn't really see since they were sleeping in the shadows. The Guest Assistance Card was great for this attraction since it was really popular. We were able to enter at the Fast Pass return line & didn't have to wait too long.
Joshua checking out the hippos under water...you can see one of them right beside his face.
Giraffes out in the field.
Timothy taking it all in. He loves animals! After we finished that ride, we did two self-guided walking tours, Pangani Forest Exploration Trail - where we saw gorillas, hippos & birds - and Maharajah Jungle Trek - where we saw tigers, birds & Komodo dragons. One of the best pieces of advice I got was to use a sit-n-stand stroller so that Joshua could have a place to sit if he got tired of walking. He used that a lot! I found one at a consignment sale this spring & it was a great investment! We also rode the Wildlife Express train to Rafiki's Planet Watch where we visited the petting farm area.
We ate lunch at Flame Tree Barbeque (quick serve). It was great barbeque. It was busy but didn't take too long. If you eat there, it looks like there are only two areas to sit to eat. Both of those were packed but we got a table as soon as some people left. However, when we left, we walked further down & saw more places to sit to eat & there were only people at two tables. So, if you have a meal there, walk down further if you are having trouble finding a table!
Before we left, we rode Triceratop Spin. The boys were ok with it but they didn't love it or hate it. As you can see from the picture, it is basically like the Dumbo ride. Our Guest Assistance Card also came in handy here. That was all we did at Animal Kingdom. Some of the other rides looked to rough or scary for Joshua & Timothy was too small/young for them as well. We didn't think the boys would sit through the shows and it had gotten too hot to play in the Boneyard. It was also mid-afternoon & we wanted them to rest a bit in the room. Timothy fell asleep in the stroller as we walked out of the park. He slept in the car back to the hotel but as soon as we got to the room he was ready to get a snack & play!
John's mom went on the trip with us. Here she is enjoying the stream & waterfall with the boys. Did I mention how much they like water? I think they may have been watching the baby ducks swimming here too.
This was in the lobby of the Polynesian. So pretty! That night, we had dinner at O'Hana, which is the other restaurant at the Polynesian. They have a set menu that they bring to your table & serve family style. So, there is no ordering. They cook meat on skewers over a fire. We had bread, salad, wings, potstickers, chicken, pork, shrimp, steak, noodles, broccoli, & bread pudding with ice cream & caramel/banana sauce. It was also very good but we were all stuffed. If you eat dinner here, don't plan a big breakfast the next morning!
Every night at 9:00 there is a water parade on the lagoon. We went out the beach to watch. Boats float by & light up various scenes. Above is the sea serpent. Music plays during this & the boys seemed to really enjoy it.
This is the second half of the line of boats after the last one lit up.
After all of the boats are lit up, they change to this patriotic scene at the end before they float off. It was really pretty.
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