Whirlwind Trip to WDW Day 4
Because it is too hard to return to the hotel to check out, we decided to check out before leaving this morning. We slept in, skipping Extra Magic Hours this morning. It didn’t take long at all to check out and we were on a bus to Animal Kingdom by 8:30. We were shocked when the bus dropped us in the middle of nowhere, leaving us with a very long walk to the park entrance.
As we entered, the boys went to get fastpasses for Expedition Everest while I walked to the Safari. I got a glimpse of the Tree of Life and fell in love. It was incredible. As I walked I really enjoyed the beauty of Animal Kingdom. This was unlike any theme park I had ever been in. Because it is a rainforest the heat and humidity here were even worse so I was happy to see fans strategically placed throughout the park. I stood under a fan near the entrance to the safari while waiting for Andy and Alex.
When they got there the three of us entered the queue for a short 20 minute wait. It was nice that strollers and wheelchairs could be used in the queue. It seemed like no time at all before we entered our Jeep for our African Safari. This is an incredible ride. We saw animals I had never heard of before as ones well-known to us such as Lion, Elephant and Rhinoceros. The Ostrich eggs were huge!
Once the Safari was over we decided to skip the walking trails in deference to my horribly swollen ankles and feet. Instead we headed for Dinoland. Here we grabbed Fastpasses for Dinosaur and then went to Primeval Whirl. Alex had been warned he was too short, but he still cried when he wasn’t tall enough to ride. Instead the boys rode Triceratop Spin. I refrained due to the issues I had been having with motion sickness. After they were done, Andy rode Primeval Whirl and I took Alex to the Boneyard. He loved this place. Alex and I climbed the rope ladders, he went down the slides and I was dying of heat exhaustion. A cast member sent me over to the dig site which is cooler. That is where we met Andy. The dig site is little rocks instead of sand. These rocks stick to everything and are very hard to get out of shoes.
We decided on lunch then, and ate at Flame Tree BBQ. I had the chicken, Andy the beef sandwich and Alex a hot dog. I loved my chicken. It was incredible. Andy liked his sandwich. Unfortunately we fought with Alex to eat his hot dog. He finally ate two bites. I also had a piece of Key Lime Pie that was delicious.
After we ate we were on our way to Dinosaur when we saw the entrance for the Pooh Characters. We decided to wait since Alex really had not seen any characters. We saw Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore and Tigger with only a 10 minute wait. It was nice to finally have a picture of Alex and Piglet together.
Dinosaur was next and we used our fastpasses. The wait was longer than expected. It seems that someone had thrown up on the ride so that delayed everything for a few minutes. This attraction is just like Indy with Dinosaurs. Alex really enjoyed it, Andy and I liked it too. It made me a bit sick, but not enough to stop us from heading to Expedition Everest. We were all very excited for this ride, and Alex couldn’t wait to see the broken track. Our fastpasses here were almost like using front of the line passes. We didn’t have any wait at all before getting on the ride. Alex rode with me while Andy rode alone. I noticed while climbing the hill that you could see laceType w:st="on">TowerlaceType> of laceName w:st="on">TerrorlaceName> from the top. That is one big hill! Alex screamed his way through the ride, but does want to ride it again. I was incredibly sick after this ride. It was at this point that I started crying. I realized that I would not be able to ride laceType w:st="on">TowerlaceType> of laceName w:st="on">TerrorlaceName> or Roller Coasters ever again and was quite upset. We were very far from a first aid station, so I sat on a rock while Andy and Alex shopped. I was half dead I was so sick as we walked toward the first aid office.
On the way we made a detour to see the Tree of Life up close. It is stunning. Even while very sick I could enjoy the beauty.
Andy went into laceType w:st="on">CamplaceType> laceName w:st="on">MickeylaceName> and Minnie to video tape while Alex and I went to first aid. I asked for Dramamine and the nurse looked at me and said “but you are wearing a patch” I said yes, but it didn’t seem to be working. She explained to me then that it was working better than I thought. I was showing symptoms of heat stroke and dehydration and those could contribute to the motion sickness symptoms. She did give me Dramamine to help and told me to stay in air conditioning and drink lots of water. We went into a little shop next door where I picked up an Animal Kingdom magnet, then met Andy at the preselected benches for meeting. I about died as we walked out of the park. We quickly caught a bus to the laceName w:st="on">MagiclaceName> laceType w:st="on">KingdomlaceType>. It was packed. I almost threw up. Not good.
It was about 2:30 when we got to the laceName w:st="on">MagiclaceName> laceType w:st="on">KingdomlaceType>. By this time I was still feeling sick and didn’t want to do much. The boys did the Swiss Family Tree house while I went to get Splash Fastpasses. I got held up by the afternoon parade, and then got lost on the way to Fastpass distribution. I ended up getting a Big Thunder pass. Oops. They told me I could trade it in for Splash, so I headed over there and sure enough, that worked.
I met the boys at Country Bears. Inside the waiting area was a very sick little boy getting lots of attention from security, dream team members and so on. I was starting to feel a bit better by then thank goodness. We saw the Bears and I really enjoyed them. It has been years since they have been at Disneyland and it was nice to visit old friends.
We got Jungle Cruise fastpasses next and then had dinner at the Village Haus. Alex ate his pizza again – the only thing aside from fruit that he would eat this trip. By the time we were done we would be able to get Peter Pan fastpasses in about 10 minutes. They boys went to Toontown while I stuck around. Once I had obtained the fastpasses I joined them in Toontown.
Today was Gay Days at the laceName w:st="on">MagiclaceName> laceType w:st="on">KingdomlaceType>. They had decided to wear red for this day and there was a sea of red shirts wherever you looked. Once I got to Toontown I was shocked to see a young boy wearing a red shirt too. His said “I am a Southern Baptist”. Talk about hypocritical! The Southern Baptists have boycotted Disney, yet they will enter the parks and ride the rides to protest Gay Days. Something was wrong with that picture, and to see a young boy wearing that shirt was even worse.
While waiting for me the boys had done Barnstormer and Donald’s Boat. I found them in the water park outside the boat. We all did Mickey’s house which is just a walkthrough here (at Disneyland you can sit on the furniture and play around). Next we did Minnie’s House and it was packed with people having fun in there.
We didn’t spend long in Toontown because we were running low on time. We left there and headed toward Sleepy Hollow for some Funnel Cake. It was yummy!
Then my poor feet protested as we walked back to laceName w:st="on">SplashlaceName> laceType w:st="on">MountainlaceType>. This ride is very different than the one at Disneyland. Here the logs have seats 2 across where at Disneyland they are single seats. Also at the laceName w:st="on">MagiclaceName> laceType w:st="on">KingdomlaceType> there was Brer Frog (we don’t have him at Disneyland). The music is much better at Disneyland too. Andy is the only one who got any water on himself. Alex and I were bone dry when we got off Splash. We were sad because the heat was killing us and we wanted to be wet. Disneyland gets the win for the ride, Disney World get the win for the ride vehicle.
Up next we had time for a quick boat safari and used our front of the line pass – oops – Fastpass for Jungle Cruise. This ride is vastly different than at Disneyland. We had a whole Temple scene that is not on the Disneyland attraction. Here there were no piranhas like at Disneyland. I like both versions. Our guide, Crystal was great. I also noticed that even sitting in the back of the boat she could be heard. At Disneyland the boats are so loud it is hard to hear. I would have to give the win to WDW for this ride.
We had decided to leave then. It was 6:15 and we had a pickup for the airport at 9:00. We really wanted to sit and relax, grab a beer and some ice cream and so it was time to head back to the hotel. It was about 6:25 when we reached the loading area of the Monorail. And we waited…..and waited…..and waited. The monorail, it would seem, was broken down. By this time there were 300 or more people on the platform and no way to get out. We sadly watched the ferry come and go without us. Finally the Monorail came. We easily caught our bus to the hotel. It was us and a large group of men in Red Shirts. Alex fell asleep almost immediately. They talked amongst themselves and then asked me a question. That got all of us talking. We had a blast. I gave each of them my card, and asked them each to write an article or two for our site. Because of these men, I didn’t get upset when our bus stopped at Animal Kingdom, nor did I get upset when we finally pulled into our hotel at 8:00. They had really made the ride fun for us.
We relaxed for about 45 minutes then went to get our luggage and watch for our airport transportation. We were picked up a few minutes early and shuttled to the airport Hyatt. What a beautiful hotel. And we could sleep in the next day until 4am since we didn’t have to catch airport transportation!
We left at 6:00am the next day and all 3 of us slept on the plane.
Up next: Final Thoughts
May All Your Days Be Filled With Magic! And your nights full of Disney Dreams!