Animal Kingdom

I was on the phone with my Mom one day in January and she was telling me about their upcoming cruise – Caribbean, round-trip from Florida. I was like, “I should come after your cruise and hang out in Florida.” And then, she was like, “Yeah.” And then I said, “Yeah.” So I went.

I was fearing the Olympic mayhem that was primed to descend on February 12th, so I booked my flight out on the 14th, gone for a week. By the time the opening ceremonies came and went, I was almost sad to leave as I had caught the fever. However, the show must go on and at the most unreasonable hour of 4:30 AM, I arrived at YVR and boarded a flight over to Minneapolis.




Oi! That’s a lot of snow covering the land.

As the fates would have it, I got seated next to a crazy person on the plane. Before the flight, she was having some mental breakdown and was demanding something with sugar from the flight clerks working the departure area. Then, once we were on the plane, she spilled juice all over herself before takeoff, put her feet up all over the place, draping her blanket all over me and not realizing it (what a dope), and randomly began cackling at some serious high decibels when listening to her iPod. Yipes. I high-tailed as fast as I could to an empty row at the back of the plane and enjoyed the rest of my flight free from her crazy.

Minneapolis was a three-hour stop. I hadn’t been to this airport since my honeymoon, so I lazily ate, sat, and took the lengthy stroll around all terminals.



Once I had arrived in Orlando, I was quickly met by my parents and we headed to the hotel to settle in. From there, it was off to the crazy-cheap Cici’s Pizza – all-you-can-eat for $5.99.





The pizza there was nothing special of any sorts. It was also full of American peoples (which makes sense) and some of them were quite…ahem…sizeable. Their cinnamon rolls were actually quite amazing though. I saw one lady pork down not one, not two, but seven of them in a row. Color me impressed.

The next day was our first day off to the corporate machine that is Disney. YAY! I peeked my head out of the window and saw the sun, palm trees, and pool – yes, this is Florida.





I was feeling a bit sad to be away from the excitement in Vancouver, so I brought along a little bit of the excitement with me:

I love Quatchi-kun.

After driving several miles to just get into the Disney parks area, we finally arrived at the parking lot for the Animal Kingdom. $14 later, we were parked and grabbed the trolley for the park entrance. At last, I am going to see what the hub-bub about DisneyWorld is.





Today was a stat holiday in America - President’s Day. Bearing this in mind, I assumed the park would be quite full today and dead tomorrow. We picked the Animal Kingdom for today as it is the least popular of the four major parks; it was still swarming with people though. Gahhh!




This is obviously Dinoland we are in. I wanted a Fastpass for DINOSAUR to kick things off right.

We wandered around for a while and took in the “broke-down shack” look this park was going for, before heading back to cash in the Fastpasses.









The ride was so damn loud and screechy, but I loved every second of it. It reminded me of the Indiana Jones ride at DisneySEA. As you can see, I plugged my ears the whole ride:

But Pappy was having a great time! Grinning from ear-to-ear.





The park was actually really nice and lush, full of greenery and scenery. Around lunchtime though, the crowds reached a fever-pitch and it was body-on-body in some areas. Sigh. But this is Disney, so it’s expected.




This is a $10 meal – water, a pita, and some apple slices. Kind of sad. I longed for the home-cooked meal sets back at Tokyo Disneyland.


The parents, in anti-bac prep mode, before feasting.



Each Disney park has a kind of focal point which the park centres around – for the Animal Kingdom, it is The Tree of Life.



A lush panoramic of the view (click to enlarge):



I decided to be brave and venture on the Kali River Rapids – a eight-person raft that sends you down the inevitable path of wetness. I got so wet…my entire back and butt were soaked – I am now glad it was a hot day.







Next stop was the ‘A Bug’s Life’ theatre. Papa-chu donned his finest bug eyes for the occasion.



A word on Disney park theatre shows – they really know how much potential the realm of 4-D has! I want to get splashed in the face, smell freshly-baked apple pie, have bubbles in the air surrounding me, and feel the breeze of the ocean on the screen. GOSH! Best fun. I love virtual reality.

We headed onto the Kilimanjaro Safari – my first real safari! Well, real without going to Africa actually. This one had the benefit of knowing you weren’t going to get mauled by some random safari animal though. There were many friends along the way to see.








Crikey! These guys are looking real surly and mean! (Said in Aussie accent. Just try to imagine it. Please.)







For the most part, you can see they were keeping me a safe distance away from the animals. You never know when an Erin might lash out and try to bite someone.










Here I stand, as my safari vehicle drives away. So I started off on foot.


I went running with the Cheetahs in the picture above. Can you spot them? There are three. (Hint: look at the far left and kind of the dark middle/right.)

I met Mufasa, of Lion King fame:


And here’s Nahla, peeking from behind a rock:

Where’s Simba? C’mon people – this is Disney. You know these are the animals’ names.

Once I’d made it back to the port of Harambe, unscathed and one with the animals, we boarded the choo-choo train for a fun little ride to Rafiki’s and back.





After that, I stood in the miles-long line for Expedition Everest, the roller coaster with the mostest. Here’s a picture of me as we zipped away from the Yeti.


Clearly, I am not being terrorized.

My favourite moments at the Disney parks are usually always after the crowds dissipate and darkness falls. The lights go on, and really, it becomes a magically-ish place.





After a coffee break, we were back outside, aiming to take another shot at DINOSAUR.






AHHHH! Terror (and screechy high-pitches) had me again. My goal in life is to have the coolest faces in Disney ride photos. In this one, I believe I’ve accomplished it. Mother looks absolutely mystified.















One Disney park, down. We finished the day by gorging ourselves at America’s feeding trough, the Golden Corral.



Then, it was off to Super Walmart to pick up some supplies.



I embody America today.

Tomorrow, we will enter the Magic Kingdom, the mutha of all theme parks. Since it was a holiday today, the childrenz will be back in school, right? RIGHT?!?