Sorry, bit longer than I thought getting this one out as it's been a very busy weekend again! Enjoy...
PART 8 – ANIMAL CRACKERS
So, here we were, it was Thursday and in 4 or so days we would be back in the real world. Even though I didn’t want them to and tried my hardest to block them out the thoughts of everyday life and work started creeping back in to my mind. I was determined we were going to make the best of the time we had left!
We grabbed a very filling buffet breakfast at Golden Corel on the way along the 192 and then headed off to Disney’s Animal Kingdom. My past memories of Animal Kingdom were quite vague and I reckoned that we should be able to do the park in half a day as I didn’t think there was that much to see.
When we passed through the entrance gates and spotted the Tree of Life it all became familiar again – we headed off to the ‘Bugs Life’ attraction first and then made a beeline for the Kali River Rapids.
There was about a 45 minute wait, but this was the one ride we wanted to do so we stuck it out. We boarded our craft, stuck the valuables in the centre pouch and sailed off. We got absolutely soaked and Jack sat there looking like a drowned rat with water dripping down his glasses – but he absolutely loved it and he and Ben both asked to go straight back on again. “Maybe later if we get time” I told them.
We were just too late for the bird show so ambled over to the Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore character spot. The line seemed reasonably short but we seemed to be waiting for aaaaaaages. The boys were getting a little restless and starting mucking about. In a very poor attempt at what I hope was meant to be a “just missed” swing Ben caught Jack squarely on the jaw and he started screaming.... and, as expected, I got angry with them both.
Then an elderly woman turned round from in front of us in the queue and asked what was wrong- by my VERY rough gauging of American ‘twangs’ I think she was from somewhere like Texas. Anyways, she chatted on to the boys and before long seemed to make everything better – a bit like Nanny McPhee does!
Before we knew it, we were at the front of the queue and it was then I realised, the elderly couple in front weren’t with the family in front of them – it was just them two...on their own!
The woman parked her zimmer frame and literally ran up to Pooh Bear and her husband shuffled along behind her. They both gave Pooh a massive hug; their faces were beaming like children. You could tell this moment meant so much to them. It was such a lovely moment to see and made me realise so much the magic that an amusement park with people in cartoon character costumes can bring to people’s lives of all ages; a truly magical moment. They then moved on to both Tigger and Eeyore looking just as excited and then headed off looking like their days (maybe even lives) had been well and truly made.
The boys got their photos done and we then rushed around to the bird show which was really good. Afterwards, we did a couple of the nature trail walks spotting giant fruit bats, tigers, monkeys and the likes and then headed into Africa arriving just in time for the 3pm Parade. Again, a very good, and different parade but I think I enjoyed the Magic Kingdom & Hollywood parades more. Just before the parade ended we sneaked off to beat the queues to do the safari.
Jack generally loves animals and he was looking forward to the safari. Watching his expressions as he encountered animals up close and personal, which he had only really seen before in books or on TV, was fantastic.
We headed over to Dinoland and Jack spotted the ‘Boneyard’ play area. I left him there happily ‘bombing around’ with Angela whilst Ben and I did ‘Dinosaur’. I think had Ben known about the content of this one beforehand he may well have decided against it and came off looking a little
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