Animal Kingdom

 The third Disney day was at Animal Kingdom! I had a cold most of the trip, but that day I had absolutely no voice at all...which was pretty frustrating and made it hard to holler at the kids to stay close by all day! It was still a beautiful day, and it was a smaller park, so we had plenty of time to see everything and get back to the hotel at a good time.

In front of the tree of life...the kids loved pointing out all of the different animals carved into the tree.

The kids took the Wilderness Explorer pledge (from UP) to earn a badge for their Wilderness Explorer Guide Book. Too cute!

 We saw the Festival of the Lion King show first, and it was so cool! We were running late to get there but ended up sitting in the second row. Yay for seating from back to front! It was almost like we were right on the stage. The kids complained that the fog machine smelled funny and were a little nervous when the performers came close and made faces right at them!

After the show, we headed over to the Safari ride with our fast pass. The kids were pretty excited to see all the animals.

Claire was really excited about the giraffes, her favorite! She also enjoyed pointing out all the rather large piles of poop. You can tell she's in preschool. sigh.

 Zebras! We saw quite a few animals, but no lions, which was a little disappointing.

 Lunch was at the Tusker House, and this was the favorite meal by far. Phil loved the variety of choices, especially the pulled pork. 

 Daisy Duck!

 Donald Duck!

 Goofy!

 Mickey! They were both so excited to meet this VIP! ;)

We really enjoyed the Nemo show, The Bugs' Life 3D movie (we felt bugs crawl under us!), and lastly the Kali River Rapids ride. Claire and Phil ended up getting completely soaked on it, while Dad, Avery, and I escaped staying pretty dry. 

The triceratops ride was fun for everyone and had a short line. Claire rode it again with Mimi and Grandpa, as Phil, Avery, and I used our fast passes on Everest. Check out Avery's expression! He was really excited about it and kept talking about seeing the Yeti and how he tore up track. Claire would have loved it, too, but she was a little too short. They also enjoyed running around the dino themed playground next door.

 We met Rafiki (his beard kept blowing in Avery's face)! 

As we ate our quick serve dinner outside by the lake, a pretty aggressive bird took a nibble on Claire's finger. She was so upset and scared to death of all the birds and ducks around after that. It was a good time to make our exit and get some sleep before our last day.