We decided to choose only one of the Disney parks. Having grown up in Southern California, I also grew up at Disneyland and know it like my own backyard. The rest of the family has also been to the Magic Kingdom at one time or place or another. So, we chose the Animal Kingdom.

It was definitely a hotter day and a more crowded park, but still quite pleasant. Disney is Disney, well organized and creative and clean. Good old fashioned family fun.

My impression is that the Disney parks attract families with younger children than the other parks we’d been to already. I saw way more strollers and backpack laden parents and fussy toddlers on the verge of amusement park meltdown, making me thankful that our eight and eleven year olds are much better travel companions at this stage in their development.

The Safari ride was better than any zoo I’ve ever been to. We piled into a huge jeep and drove through an African Savannah. It was hard to remember we were really at an amusement park and not on a true safari. We saw elephants and giraffes and an ostrich or two with a big pile of their eggs.

We did another raft ride and timed it perfectly for the hottest part of the day so we could enjoy being wet.

Probably my most favorite ride of the kingdom (and perhaps top three for the trip) was Expedition Everest. Wow. It was fast and full of surprises. The adrenaline rush was amazing, unexpected for Disney. That’s the one we went on twice. We got off the ride and went right back in line again, partly because there was no wait, but mostly because it was so fun.

And then came the rain. This time is was a major downpour. We waited about an hour crowded onto some covered benches with several other families making friends with the babies in the strollers and swapping vacation stories until the sun came back and we could go do our souvenir shopping and get on our way.

There were no meal deals at the Animal Kingdom, so we went out to dinner after we left the park.

These long days can be exhausting, even at a less than manic pace. My feet and legs are sore and tired by the end and our girls have just enough energy to bathe and go to bed upon return to our temporary home in the evening.

Without even trying, we developed a comfortable schedule/rhythm.

We left the condo about 9:30 am each day after eating a simple breakfast at home and packing up our things. We didn’t lug around a bunch of stuff in heavy backpacks, depending on lockers. We kept a rule that if you brought it, you carried it. It also helped to do any shopping at the end on the way out. I carried a small backpack that had a few snacks and water, but that was about it.

We were enjoying our park of choice by 10:30, eating lunch a bit after noon, souvenir shopping by 5:00 pm and dinner before 7:00, give or take an hour here or there. It doesn’t really get dark until 9:00 pm, which is about the time we put the kids to bed.

And thus, another vacation day is over.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 23rd, 2008 at 4:12 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.