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Day 3 – Part 3 Thank goodness
for dinosaurs!!
After
dropping Fanlover off at the hotel, we made our way to Animal
Kingdom for EMH (extra magic hour). I
was excited to see the Animal Kingdom at night. After
parking the car, we started to walk towards the entrance. The adults were anxious to get there,
while the kids were busy playing with the pylons. Yes,
pylons. Here we
were in WDW with rides; rides, rides galore and the boys were
excited about pylons.
I
should remember that this Christmas and buy them a box. I’ll
keep the toy for myself.;)
We
entered the park and quickly got our wristbands for EMH. The vast vegetation amazed Cocoa bil
and ToT sis. It’s
hard to believe the park is only 7yrs old. First
stop was It’s Tough to Be a Bug. The
boys had fun pointing out all the carved animals on the tree. Splashboy
amazes me. I’ve
been to Animal Kingdom many times, but he showed me animals I
had never seen before. As
with the Haunted Mansion, I was worried about how frightening
this show would be for the boys. I should have been worried about their
father.
During the show, each boy was tucked in tightly next to
his parents. I’m
actually not sure if they saw more of the show, or their parent’s
armpits. But at any rate, they were happy. Just before exiting the theatre, we were
told to wait for the little maggots and cockroaches to exit the
theatre first.
I
think their nest was right underneath me: I felt too many to
count.
Just
then, poor Boomer was startled again, but this time by his father! Cocoa bil let out quite a yelp. Once again on this trip, I was surprised
to hear Cocoa bil react to something, while ToT sis sat quietly. Perhaps she still wasn’t feeling
well. Or, could it be that she was giving up
her Drama Queen ways?
Say
it isn’t so! :eek:
No – it
turns out her seat didn’t work and she didn’t feel
a single cockroach. Phew! All
was still right with the world.
It was dinnertime already, but none of us could even think about
eating. We were
still pretty full from lunch so we decided to skip dinner and
grab a snack when needed. Kali River Rapids was our next stop. The boys had been on a similar ride before
this trip and really enjoyed it, so it never occurred to us
that there would be a problem today. It
was still very hot so we also thought that getting wet might
be a blessing. It turns out that Boomer had different
ideas.
If
he doesn’t have a bathing suit on, he does not like to
get wet. Period. However,
if you throw a poncho over him, sometimes that will do. He knew from experience, that this type
of water ride can make you wet so he asked his mother for his
poncho.
His
mother left his poncho in the hotel.
Enter doting aunt – stage
right. I really thought I could be the hero
in this situation, and sweep in and give him my poncho. After
my experience in the Magic Kingdom yesterday, I was NOT going
to forget my poncho today. Of
course today, it doesn’t rain! :p My
fantasy quickly shatters when Boomer starts to cry and yells
to anyone who would listen that he was NOT going to ride. No
poncho will do, not even Goofy Gal’s poncho. A
full-fledged temper tantrum was starting to brew.
Now
it was Dapper Dad to the rescue! He
offers to stay back with Boomer. As
suddenly as it began, Boomer stops crying.
What
is Dapper Dad’s secret?? Sign
me up for his class.
The
rest of us get on the ride and thoroughly enjoy it. As per usual, I was the one who gets
soaking wet. I even
try to place myself in different positions each time I ride,
trying to increase the odds of staying dry. It
never works. I’m getting quite used to the feeling
of wet undergarments.
We
meet up with Dapper Dad and Boomer, and took the new path past
Expedition Everest. Now
THAT ride looks fantastic – and I bet you don’t even
get wet on it, intentionally anyway. ;) We continue walking along the path and
catch the last few minutes of Tarzan Rocks. The
boys loved the music and ToT sis loved Tarzan – the man. I emphatically agree.
We
appreciated his acrobatic ability you understand. We agree to come back later this week
in order to enjoy, ahem, his entire performance.
My
head must have been in a fog from seeing Tarzan because I made
the critical mistake of suggesting we go to Chester & Hester’s
Dino-Rama. I take full responsibility for this one
since I was the primary vacation planner. How
could I forget to check the height requirements in Animal Kingdom?? I call myself an obsessive planner? Puleeze! We
walk in and Boomer’s eye is immediately drawn to Primeval
Whirl. Had I been adequately prepared, I would
have known he wasn’t tall enough to ride, and immediately
brought his attention to Triceratop Spin instead.
But,
alas, I hadn’t done my homework. We
walked directly over to Primeval Whirl. Since
Boomer wanted to ride, Cocoa bil wanted Splashboy to come with
them. Here’s
a mathematical equation for you. See
if you can figure out the problem:
Boomer = 41 inches tall + wants to ride + Primeval Whirl
48-inch height minimum
Splashboy = 52 inches tall + does not want to ride + Primeval
Whirl 48-inch height minimum
The
logical solution is to switch the above formulas around so that
Splashboy DOES want to ride while Boomer does NOT. However,
we learned that real life does not necessarily mimic mathematical
equations. Class
dismissed.
In
reality, a true meltdown ensues. We
tried to distract Boomer by asking him to go on Triceratop Spin
instead. He wanted no part of it. However, Splashboy did. There was probably only a 5-10 minute
wait for the ride, but it seemed longer somehow. Our
deepest apologies to anyone who was standing nearby. I’m sure the 5-10 minute wait seemed
longer to you too. At
least we learned that Boomer has a healthy set of lungs. That’s
gotta count for something.
After Cocoa bil and Splashboy finish with Triceratop Spin,
we make our way; quickly I might add, to Dinoland. God Bless the Dinosaurs! Boomer’s meltdown was officially
over. We may have some future paleontologists
in our midst. Let’s
see – in one day we noticed Boomer’s natural stuntman
ability and now both boy’s love of paleontology.
Cocoa bil & ToT
sis need to start saving for college NOW.
The
boys never looked happier as they dug for dinosaur bones. They equally enjoyed playing in the bone
yard as they discovered all the slides, climbing equipment, etc. The Disney Magic was back! I pledged to Cocoa bil and ToT sis that
on any possible future trips, I will research height requirements
prior to arriving at the theme park. I
had learned my lesson.
It
was time to go. The
boys were exhausted. Back
at the hotel, Dapper Dad and Fanlover once again volunteered
to baby-sit the boys while the rest of us went to Jellyrolls
at the Boardwalk. Ah
Jellyrolls! Little
did we know that we were going to be there during Cast Member
night! The good news is that the bar was hopping
with activity! The
bad news is that we felt old. No
one else looked to be more than 25yrs old. Piano
Players Tommy & Jason quickly brought us out of our funk. It’s
a good thing too, because I was ready to buy us each a cane.
I
would classify the music tonight as “classic rock”. We all knew every song! We were singing along until we could
sing no more! What
an amazing night. We checked out the Atlantic Dance Club
next. It was music
video night, which I guess, isn’t very popular considering
there were only a handful of people there! We
considered teaching everyone the unicorn song and dance we learned
at Jellyrolls just moments before, but the call of sleep was
winning us over. Maybe
next year.
We
drove back to the hotel and relieved Dapper Dad and Fanlover
of their babysitting duties. Cocoa
bil went on a beer, er, hot chocolate run before calling it a
day. It was yet another wonderful Disney day. Even the mini meltdowns were short-lived
and were overshadowed by all the enchantment of the day. I must remember to make wallet-size versions
of the now infamous Tower of Terror picture.
It
will be the perfect stocking stuffer.
Tomorrow we were taking the boys to their first water
park experience: Typhoon Lagoon followed by the Hoop Dee Doo. We had no idea that we were about to
discover Cocoa bil’s amazing hidden talent….
Day 4 - Part 1...
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