We started our great Disney World adventure at Animal Kingdom. After reading several blogs with multiple recommendations of staying away from Magic Kingdom on the first day, because that’s where the crowds would be the highest, we decided to go into a park with a low crowd expectation. Animal Kingdom ended up being a fantastic first choice.
Our first ride of the day was It’s Tough To Be A Bug. Now if you know anything about my girls then you know they are TERRIFIED of bugs! Several Friday nights ago our movie choice was A Bug’s Life. Our thoughts behind this strategic choice were if they saw a movie about “friendly” bugs then they would be less intimidated and also better prepared for this ride. Now I think it’s important to note we told them nothing about the ride so they had absolutely no idea what to expect. Things started out smoothly at first because Flick (the main character from A Bug’s Life) came out and narrated the whole 3D experience. However, once the “interactions” began (vibrating seats, sprays of water and air blasts) they started having less fun and once the giant spiders dropped from the ceiling Lexie was OVER IT! However for us as parents, we thought it was hilarious and had a great time on the ride! Addie’s favorite part was the butterfly at the beginning and end. As expected neither wanted to go for a second time.
Moving on from there we Fast Passed the Kilijamangero Safari. On this ride you board an off-road type jeep and go through an animal preservation. I have never been so up close and personal to so many different animals before. If you ever visit Animal Kingdom this ride is a must see. Both Addie and Lexie’s favorite animal was the Elephant.
From the safari we made our way to Dino Land USA. This section of the park had a very old school amusement park feel. We rode the Triceratop spin (similar to Dumbo), Primeval Whirl and the girls played in the Bone Yard, while Trey and I experienced DinoSaur - smart choice in not taking Lexie. She would have totally freaked out, especially when the dinosaur jumps out and scares you at the end! Super fun ride though.
Our last two rides of Animal Kingdom consisted of Expedition Everest and Kali River Rapids. Papaw sat out Expedition Everest with Addie since she wasn’t tall enough to ride, and afterwards Nana wished she had opted out as well! This was a fantastic roller coaster and I was honestly surprised how long the actual ride was.
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| We love this picture and I just had to make it big enough so you could appreciate the facial expressions! |
The entire crew was able to ride Kali River Rapids and let me tell you…smartest decision of the day was to ride this one last and another great use of our final fast pass+, because we went home drenched! Addie won the title of being the wettest.
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| Addie's prize for being the most wet was a Mickey Mouse Ice Cream, which she clearly enjoyed! |
We ended our first day in Epcot with dinner reservations at Teppan Edo, a habachi grill. Before going any further though, I have to point out that the rain clouds opened up and dumped on us just as the bus pulled into the park. With our ponchos on we braved the rain because seriously whose going to want to miss out on Japanese???
Aunt Allison and Nana just happened to mention to our waitress that both Mimi and Trey had birthdays at the end of the week and subsequently they got to end their meals with hats and the birthday song. If you know anything about Mimi then you know she absolutely hates being sung to in public! This was a priceless experience!
After finishing dinner we headed to Malestorm in Norway, which the kinds found scary. They didn’t really like being in the dark and the trolls kind of freaked Lexie out. Next we made our way into Mexico and road the Grand Fiesta, which is similar to It’s A Small World in Magic Kingdom. Both girls LOVED this one.
We finished the night at Spaceship Earth, which both girls loved so much they insisted going on twice. We stayed in the park late enough to catch some fireworks before heading back to Fort Wilderness.
Addie talked the entire way back to the campground to Teddy, Aunt Allison’s boyfriend. She seems to have become enamored with him, and it’s completely precious. The child didn’t stop talking until her head hit the pillow. We went to bed hoping they slept in a little the next morning because they were up at 6:00am, which is almost 2 hours earlier than they normally wake!
It was a GREAT start to the week!
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