Today was the Animal Kingdom. But first, we went to church at the Shrine of the something or another. It was huge! Loud bells rang at the beginning of Mass and there was a grand entrance with a bridge and water fountains and gift shop (yes, seriously, gift shop) and all sorts of surprising grandeur. It was definitely not your everyday run of the mill church experience! Plus, it was entirely designed around the tourist population of Orlando. As in, without Disney World, they never would've built said church.
After church and breakfast, we made our way to our first Disney park - Animal Kingdom. When I went originally oh 15 years ago, Animal Kingdom did not exist. So this was my first venture into Disney real life animals and I was not disappointed! We got a late start on the day but with smaller crowds we managed to do everything we wanted.
First was the Lion King show. Very awesome! They sang all the Lion King songs (Hakuna Matata twice... probably because it is their motto. What's a motto? Nothing! What's a motto with you?). Cue Becky rolling her eyes at me. They had different sections representing animals. We were the lion section. They had the warthog (Pumba), giraffe and elephant sections as well. Each section had to imitate the noise of the animal they represented. When they got to the elephant section, we felt that Kate H. should have been there to really give her great elephant impersonation since she has the best elephant laugh we've ever heard. But she was probably too busy rejoicing that Villanova beat Syracuse. ;-)
After the Lion King show, we saw the 3D movie about a bug's life (Apparently, "it's tough to be a bug"). It was probably the best (and most interactive) 3D show I have been to and it was my favorite attraction at the park. Not only was it in 3D but we got "squirted with acid" and "sprayed of stink bug" and "stung by hornets" which would normally be considered a horrible time, but it was wonderful! I am liking these interactive 3D movies and can't wait to see the one in Epcot!
After a bug's life and seeing all the carved animals in the Tree of Life, we went on the safari ride which was really cool. We saw all sorts of animals including elephants, impalas (not the Chevy kind), alligators, hippos, giraffes, lions and much more! From there, we walked around the trail nearby and saw an "Alpha" gorilla (It was all about him - 4 females and just him!) and more hippos including one that yawned for us. And I thought Becky had a big mouth :-)
Continuing on in our day, we saw Finding Nemo: the Musical. They basically boiled down the movie into a 37 minute live action (puppet and puppeteers) musical. It followed along with the movie plot and was enjoyable!
Finally, it was time for the grand finale. Becky dragged me on Expedition Everest, the new roller coaster at Animal Kingdom. I looked at it before we got on and it had a big drop, the kind I am not so fond of. However, it turned out fine. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and I just closed my eyes for the drop (Becky was brave enough to open her eyes and enjoy it!). Another cool thing about the ride was that when you were slowly making your way to the top of "Everest", if you looked out, you could see the other parks like Epcot in the distance. The "Golf Ball" has never looked so beautiful (at least that's what she said, I was too afraid to look!)
Before we left, we passed by carnival-like games in Dino-land. Once Becky saw the Whack-A-Mole game, it was a match made in heaven. She had to play. So we went over to the Whack-A-Mole and Becky grabbed the mallet with two hands ready to whack those moles like those moles had never been whacked before. 1...2...3...4... those moles didn't know what hit 'em! 5...6...7...8... Becky just kept going at them... and well... she won! I mean, those 10 year olds didn't stand a chance (but I thought the taunting was a bit much - "No really, I swear, I am really good at Whack-a-Mole," she says.) For winning, she got a cute little stuffed leopard-print dinosaur which I appropriately named Whackysaurus.
So that was our day today. We uploaded more pictures from today so check them out!
Next up: MGM
(And yes, I'm actually more verbose than Becky is at blogging, which has surprised the both of us!)
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