Disney World - Part 3 - Rest Day and Animal Kingdom ---April 2018

Thursday April 4, 2018

Day 3 - Rest day

 After two full days in the park we desperately needed a day off.   So on our 3^rd day we slept as long as we wanted and took time getting ready for the day.  What this really means is that my kids were up at 7 but we couldn't get them out the door until 9:30 am.

We took an Uber to Animal Kingdom Lodge for breakfast at Boma.  The girls had never used Uber before and were a little confused that a random person was picking us up to take us somewhere like a taxi.    But, they thought it was pretty fun. 

We took the bus back when we were done which takes twice as long and as we were waiting for the bus to come, Elin said  “can’t we just get an Uber?”   She learned quickly.

Boma is a breakfast buffet at Animal Kingdom Lodge. The lodge is enormous and gorgeous and honestly felt like being in Africa (James and I went to Africa in 2006). Boma had good food including Mickey shaped waffles.  The only problem,  it is a little expensive for people who don’t eat much. Our kids each ate a donut and a few strawberries….and some juice….for $15 each.   James tells people that we paid $15 for a donut.  We tried a lot of things and had a great breakfast.

After breakfast we went to the observation area to look out on the savanna and see the animals.  We were looking at the flamingos and Elin accidently dropped her sunglasses in the enclosure.  Luckily, we were able to get a staff member to retrieve them. This is what Anikka remembers most about that morning and she loves to tell people the story especially because it makes Elin embarrassed.  

The staff member told the girls about a craft they could do at the other lodge so we took a little shuttle there and they worked on building a “snack ball” for the animals on the savannah while they learned about conservation.  Then an animal keeper took the balls out to the animals.   We saw giraffes and zebra’s from the viewing area. The girls were given a giraffe bead for their efforts.

On the bus ride home, Anikka fell asleep (it was 11 am).   Poor little one was so tired from all the walking and our late night in the park.

Back at our resort we spent the afternoon in our pool.  

My sister–in-law,  Laci, flew in that morning and my brother, Erek, flew in that evening from Kentucky.   They came to spend the rest of the weekend with us.  My cousin Keith lives about 45 minutes from Orlando.  Laci, came and picked us up at our resort.  Keith and his family picked up Erek and we all met up at the condo Laci & Erek were renting.  

We had a BBQ ...

Angie, Keith, Laci, Erek, Maija, James

Carson, Kale, Anikka, Elin, Ian, Ty

and swam in the pools at Bonnet Creek Resort.  

It was so nice to see family and to just have some time to hang out.

Friday – April 5, 2018

Day 4  - Animal Kingdom

James sister Laurie and her family flew in from Maryland early that Friday morning (5:30 am flight). We caught up with them just as we were getting ready to leave our resort. They stayed at the same resort as us.  So we all rode together to Animal Kingdom. My girls were so excited to see their cousins.

Erek and Laci met us at the park. Our first fast pass was the Festival of the Lion King.  WOW!  It is a show with songs and animals from the movie.  It is hard to even describe how amazing it was.   

Disney really knows how to make it worth your time and money.   Everyone loved the show.

 The area where the show was (Mombasa Marketplace) looked and felt exactly like it does in Kenya.  It was kind of remarkable.   We had a quick snack 

before going on Kilimanjaro Safari.  

The ride was great.  We went in a big safari open air jeep and there were lots of animals around.   I was surprised at how much it looked like Africa.   They even cut the trees to make them look like acacia trees.  

We saw lots of animals including giraffe, hippo, zebra, antelope, flamingo, elephants, lioness, rhino, and cheetah.   The kids had a great time. 

We stopped for lunch then headed over to Avatar: Flight of Passage for our final fast pass of the day.  

It’s kind of hard to describe this ride.  It’s not so much of a ride as a virtual experience.  

 I’ve never seen the movie (gasp!)  so I had no idea what to expect.  The ride makes you feel like you are riding on the back of a banshee.  You put on 3D glasses and the screen in front of you makes it look like you are flying on the banshee’s back through several different places.  You sit on a seat that is kind of like a motorcycle and a cushion comes up in the back to hold you on.  The seat moves up and down, back and forth, wind blows and at one part when we were over water there was a misty spray.  It was really quite amazing. 

 This ride was very concerning to Elin even before we got on it. She had no idea what to expect, neither did I.  We thought it would be fine because she had gone on the rollercoasters at Magic Kingdom with no problem.   Well, it wasn’t fine for her.   We convinced (basically forced her) to try it and she was very nervous.  Elin did OK until the images started and the first drop really felt like you were falling straight down.  She FREAKED out and started crying.  So, I had to hold her hand and I told her to just close her eyes and wait.   

Anikka loved every minute of it….she giggled and grinned through the whole thing.   She will tell you it was her favorite ride we did on the WHOLE trip.  She later told her Dad that she had to keep looking down at her seat to make sure it was still there.  

It was an amazing ride. I loved it but wish that I could have enjoyed it more fully.   My attention was divided between trying to enjoy the experience and trying to keep Elin calm.  It really wasn’t a good ride to take someone on that gets motion sick.  She cried for about 10 minutes after it was over. I had to find her a frozen lemonade to get her to calm down.

Aunt Laci saved the day while we were having a snack and got us fast passes to meet Mickey and Minnie! Anikka was really excited because we had not met Minnie yet and that was one of the things she wanted to do most. She had even saved the very first page in her autograph book to have Minnie sign it.

This was her face when she saw Minnie

While the girls met characters the Bakers and the boys (Erek and James) went to ride Expedition Everest.   

We met up with them afterwards and headed out of the park.  

By then it was already 4:30. We had planned to only stay until 2 ish.

Back at the hotel we had a quick snack and got ready swim with the Bakers.  My brother, Pentti, and his wife Amy (who live in Wash DC) had driven down that day and arrived at Erek & Laci’s condo.  The 4 of them picked up pizza 

and we had dinner at the pool at our resort.  It was so nice to see my brothers and their wives.  It had been about 3 years since I had seen any of them.  We had a nice time catching up.