going wild at animal kingdom!

our second (hot) day at disney was spent at the animal kingdom! i wish this park was open later... each time i've been, i've felt like 5:00 came way too quickly! :( this time, we did get to do pretty much everything we'd set out to see, but it just felt wrong leaving before sundown, you know!?

as soon as we got there, we headed over to africa to pick up fastpasses for the safari. while we waited for our fast pass time, we walked through the pangani forest exploration trail to try to get a good look at the gorillas. they must've been sleeping in some shade because we really didn't see any close up this time around. there were some off in the distance, but nothing worth getting out the camera for. i did get a great shot of a sign, though. :)


disney has done a fabulous job with the "feel" of the animal kingdom. granted, i've never actually been to africa or asia, so i can't say how authentic the disney versions are compared to the real places... but it's pretty amazing to walk around and look at the surroundings. and these guys also do a great job at making you feel like you're there...


i wondered how many animals we'd really see on the safari this time since it was significantly warmer than our last trip, but i am happy to report that we saw lots and lots! we even saw two lions this time!! we were in the back of the vehicle, which meant a pretty bumpy ride... but it also meant that i could turn around behind me and snap some pictures of the wildlife! here is ethan loving the safari in his leopard shirt. :)


caroline had a better view (and a more shock-absorbant seat!) in daddy's lap.


the beautiful (fake) savannah. again, i've never been to an actual savannah, but this is lookin' pretty real to me.


an ostrich struttin' its stuff....


and my favorite on the safari... the giraffe.


the safari is definitely one of our family's favorite disney experiences! after leaving africa, we headed to asia. though we knew we weren't going to ride expedition everest, we just wanted to get close to it and watch the people scream as they fly out of the mountain! brian found a great shirt in their gift shop on clearance (clearance! at disney! who knew!!), and i was totally entertained by observing all the everest riders who were catching their breath in the gift shop after their ride. :) while we were in asia, we went to the "birds of wonder" show. we'd never seen this show before, though i'd heard it was a great one. indeed it was! they show birds' amazing abilities in their natural environment--loved it! it was also a hilarious show. the cast had us laughing through the whole thing. most of the show was too swoopy and too quick to even try to take pictures of... but brian did get this shot of a bald eagle!


after the show, we visited the maharaja jungle trek, where we saw the really cool tigers last time. they were sleeping in the shade this time (don't blame them!!), but the kids still seemed amazed to see tigers! sleeping! from really far away! wow! i love this picture of caroline's sweet little hand on the glass as she peers at the snoozing tiger. can you see him!?


speaking of sleeping animals, we did see some really cool bats. we stood in front of a bunch of windows to look at a large number of bats sleeping upside down on trees and some banners hung like clotheslines across the habitat area. i wanted to take a picture of the bats (for nancy since bats are her favorite! just kidding, nancy!!!), so i got right up to the window... and then i realized there was no glass. i was momentarily freaked out at the thought of a bunch of bats being less than 10 feet away from me with nothing to stop them from eating my face... but i got over it and snapped this picture. (nancy, close your eyes and scroll down real fast.)


here are brian and caroline looking at some animals... i can't remember which ones they were watching at this point, but i can guarantee you it wasn't the bats... caroline was not smiling this big at those bats!!


my one hang-up with animal kingdom is that they talk ad nauseum about how endangered all these animals are and how their greatest enemy is (insert evil, sinister music)... MAN! (cue lightning and a wicked laugh.) the ironic thing is that right after the statement that we are the reason these animals are endangered, we listened as disney boasted about how they (men, remind you) saved these animals. ok...soooo.... man is the enemy... man is the hero... which is it?! it just got old. everywhere we turned, we were subjected to the glorification of these animals. now please, before you call the humane society on me... i know. these beautiful creatures are God's creation. they are amazing and gorgeous and i think they should be taken care of. however, i also know that God created us, man, in His image. we are different than the animals. no matter how smart an animal may be, God did not make them like us. We are the image-bearers of God. the animals are not. and i betcha 70 frozen lemonades that these same people who would have a fit if you hurt an endangered owl would not bat an eyelash at the millions of unborn babies slaughtered each year in this country. it really, really bugged me. and i can guarantee you that the people in front of me wherever we happened to be know my feelings on this. :) i'm a little outspoken, you know. ok, getting off my soapbox now. time for the lion king show!

the festival of the lion king was one of the kids' favorites again. you just can't help but singing along in this one!!! the costumes are such an eyeful-- there is definitely always something to look at during the show!!




children are chosen to dance with the cast in the finale, and our kids were asked to be a part this time! ethan declined the offer, but caroline gladly hopped down to dance. we didn't really get any good pictures of her, but i had to include this one to at least document that she was a part of a disney show. :) i promise she enjoyed it, even though she doesn't look like it in this picture!!


after the lion king show, we staked out a shady spot for the jungle jammin' parade. i hunted down the frozen lemonade stand, and we enjoyed our (now mandatory) cool treat while we waited for the parade to start. we'd never seen this parade, so i had no idea what to expect.... well.... let me tell you... this is such a neat parade! i expected the typical animal characters to come by... which they did... but i did not expect these ginormous puppet-like animal contraptions to come rolling down the street! how amazing are these!? i think the short video helps you see how cool these were in motion...






i read that these parade contraptions were designed by the same company who created the puppets for the lion king broadway show. quite an imagination. my engineering-minded guys were totally enthralled during the parade.

and never fear, mickey and all the gang were there as well!


each one of their floats were as if they were going to a safari... donald was taking a boat, and check out minnie's polka-dot ride! she's taking her bathtub! (which was blowing bubbles...) and a whole lot more! :)


just take a look at all the loot goofy is taking... a grill, golf clubs, a broom.. love all the disney details!


here's brer rabbit...


we ended our day with my very favorite... finding nemo the musical!


a family gave us their reserved seating tickets, so we were guaranteed a great seat with no waiting in line! we had literally a front row seat to the sea creatures that made their way through the audience. the swordfish jousted right in front of us! (it's hard to understand what they're saying in this video... but at least you can see how close they were to us!)


and here i am with my kiddos as we wait to sing "go with the flow oh oh oh oh oh oh!"


please do not go to disney without seeing this show!!! it was just as good the second time around! i can't help but share a little video from the final number with all the bubbles falling from the ceiling! (and i never said i was a good videographer...)


as much as i hated that animal kingdom closes early, it was good to get out of there before we were absolutely bushed. our condo was right outside the park, so we were able to get back quickly and get the kids in bed early. they got a very, very, very (much needed) good night's sleep, and they were up at 6 am wednesday morning ready to roll!!