Disney Animal Kingdom....

Tuesday was the day we visited Disney's Animal Kingdom and saw some amazing animals in very realistic environments. On entering the park we hot footed it across to the other side to go on Kilimanjaro Safaris, passing by the Tree of Life, which I did briefly believe was a real tree to Chris' amusement. We jumped aboard an open air safari vehicle which took us on an exciting expedition through an African-style savannah where giraffes, gazelles, elephants, rhinos and lions roam freely. On the safari vehicle, which had us all bouncing around in our seats, we were guided through the safari with comical commentary and drove very near to the animals whose habitats were extremely lifelike and plentiful. After going to several parks throughout the week we have got used to planning our routes in order to see the things we really want to see or experience as the day goes so quickly, especially with 2 small children. It was particularly important here as the Animal Kingdom shuts at 5pm in order to allow the staff time to care for the animals. We also visited the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail where we got to see several gorillas including a mum with a 2 week old baby - Fraser was very interested.

During the day Tegan and Fraser also had their faces painted - this was one of the best examples I have ever seen. We then caught the Wildlife Express Train over to the conservation station. After eating our lunch we went to the petting area or as called in Disney the 'Affection Section'. Tegan saw a handler holding a Rose Boa snake and was quite happy giving it a stroke and asking questions.




The next big thing that we did was to watch 'Finding Nemo The Musical'. This was a 45 minute production taken from the original musical - an amazing show to watch. The actors danced not only on the stage but came out into the audience and one of our favourites, Crush the sea turtle, appeared regularly saying - 'hey dudes'. By the time we had watched the show it was 4pm so with only 1 hour remaining we went into the Dinoland section and let Tegan and Fraser run around the Boneyard which is a play maze build around fun dinosaur fossils.

So with our final day at Disney parks over we headed back to the hotel for a quick swim and an early night to bed. Both Chris and I said we have loved visiting all the parks but we have had enough of being herded like sheep with the several other thousand people - dare I say it we are actually craving the prairie or better still Canmore and the mountains!

Today was a day of eating indulgence as first thing this morning we headed to IHOP (International House of Pancakes) for breakfast. This is an American institution by the looks of it as the restaurant was packed with everyone's tables fully loaded with pancakes, bacon, scrambled eggs and many a heart surgeon nearby no doubt!! Tegan was sensible and only ordered one pancake - however it was chocolate and even she couldn't finish it. Fraser went for the 5 pancake option - baby size luckily but again once covered with maple syrup even he didn't quite clear his plate. Chris went for the combo option - 2 pancakes, bacon, hash browns and scrambled eggs, most of the plate was left empty. I however went for the entirely healthy option blueberry pancakes - however 4 enormous pancakes came out loaded with blueberry compote and once I added some maple syrup was a truly awesome stack and yes somehow I did manage to eat all of them!!! We promptly paid the bill and went to play mini golf - phew some exercise! After a week of playing golf in Phoenix recently Chris had to lower his expectation levels and played crazy golf with the family. Once again like everything Disney, its built with quality and entertainment in mind - it was great fun. Needless to say with his recent intense golfing practice Chris won (and was the course leader that day he wanted me to mention!), both Tegan and Fraser loved it.

After a quick stop at an outlet mall to purchase the last few remaining items that we 'really' needed the remainder of the afternoon was spent in the swimming pool at our hotel along with a couple of Mojito's in the jacuzzi.

Tomorrow afternoon we leave Florida for our journey back to Canada after having experienced a really great holiday at Disney and Florida.