Day 1 - Animal Kingdom

We started the first day bright and early, waiting for the first bus of the day shortly after 8am.  We packed the stroller with snacks/drinks and a few other things we thought we might need.  Okay, who am I kidding, we (meaning me) packed way too much in the stroller, from hats and sunscreen (useful things) to ponchos (also somewhat useful) to notebooks and other distractions for waiting in line (not so useful because we lucked out with minimal lines during our trip).

I won't do a play by play, but will just talk about the highlights of the day.

Best ride of the day had to be the Kilamanjaro Safari!  Now, John and I have been on a real African safari (in our pre-kid days), and we were very surprised by how amazing this "ride" was.  We joked that these animals hit the safari animal jackpot landing spots at Disney World :)  Giraffes, lions, hippos, we saw them all!  John Grayson had a blast at the Boneyard Play Area, digging for dinosaur bones.  Both kids really enjoyed the Triceratops Spin ride, which is the Animal Kingdom version of the Dumbo ride.

The low point had to be when the big boys went on the Dinosaur ride.  I'd heard that it was scary, but JGray is such a dinosaur fan so we figured that he'd be okay.  NOT SO MUCH.  He came out in tears, poor guy.  Next time we'll be sure to listen to the advice of others.

The highlight of the day (and possibly of the entire trip) was evening boat ride to watch the Epcot fireworks.  A huge THANK YOU to Pop for arranging everything.  The kids (big and little) had an amazing time.  Words like mesmerizing, enchanted and magical come to mind.  It was definitely a very very late night for the kids (we got back to the hotel after 10pm) and Delia cracked us up with her crazy, hyper, hysterical behavior.  I put my photography class to good use and managed to take pretty respectable pictures of the fireworks.  Having an unobstructed view of the fireworks was definitely an evening that none of us will ever forget!