Today we journeyed to the Animal Kingdom. None of The Three of We had been there, so had no idea what to expect. Damian's cold is in full-force and he's coughing, nose-blowing, and can barely speak.
We did find a couple more Hidden Mickeys, tho.
The centerpiece of the park is the gigantic Tree of Life. It's a huge (fake) tree "carved" with various animal representation.
Underground, in the "roots" of the tree is a theatre which (this year) was playing a 3-D movie It's Tough To Be a Bug, starring many of the cast of A Bug's Life. It was funny and cute.
The first thing we did, however, was dash off to the rollercoaster Expedition Everest. It is a great runaway-train coaster that runs around a gigantic mountain. However, the train gets attacked by the yeti, who tears up the tracks. So after zooming around the mountain the train comes to a halt at a section of track that's all torn up and bent out of shape. Then the train zooms backward! Down a different set of tracks that have been moved into place while we worried about the twisted tracks. It was great fun.
Next we got tickets to a safari-type truck ride. While waiting for that we took a train ride out to a conservation station where more pictures were taken.
(Garry Demonstrates How To Do The Rhino)
(Honestly. He's Just a Big Kid)
(Need I Say More?)
(Umm....)
(Some of the Scenery Attacks Damian's Foot!)
While waiting for the safari ride, there were more shenanigans.
(Nope. Still Hasn't Figured It Out...)
(Ummmm......)
Then we went on the safari ride. It was in a large truck, rumbling over the fake Serengeti. But it was filled with all sorts of wildlife.
We discovered that Russ had lost Damian's park ticket. There was much scurrying trying to located it as we still have one more day's credit on it. But....it was not to be found.
After the Safari, the simulated rain forest effects really kicked in and it started to rain. And rain. And rain! We huddled under cover and waited for it to end. The cold downpour really did a number on Damian's cold...
Eventually the rain ended, although it continued to drizzle on and off all day. But we still wandered around and saw some exhibits.
Before we left, we caught two amazing musical shows. The first was The Festival of the Lion King which was essentially a miniature Cirque show featuring acrobats, trapeze, "flying," fire juggling, stilt walking, song and dance, animatronics, and audience participation....all in an amazingly compact space. It was truly amazing.
Then we dashed off to see Finding Nemo the Musical. Which was a compact 20-minute version of the movie. This show used live actors wielding puppets to play the parts of the fish in the movie. Once again, it was amazingly effective.
The park closed at 6pm, so we all decided to get one last thrill in. Half of us returned to the rollercoaster, while the other half went to the Kali River Rapids inner tube ride. As if the constant rain weren't enough, they decided to get on a boat ride that guaranteed a drenching. And it worked, they came back absolutely soaked.
We headed back to the entrance and stopped at Guest Relations to see if Damian's ticket had been turned in. They couldn't find it, so they printed up a spare for him. Saturday's trip is saved!
We piled our cold, wet carcasses in the van and drove to the resort. We all changed into our swim wear and trundled down to the hot tub where we spent about an hour just boiling and getting heat back into our bones. Damian insulated himself with a huge bottle of Smirnoff Triple-Ice Vodka (thanks to brother Joe!) and finally returned to human form, although his voice is completely gone.
Back in the room, we quickly processed pictures, then collapsed in bed. Another day done!
