If you are interested in the beginning of this story, I highly suggest reading part one.
I left off with us arriving at the airport in Orlando. We got there fairly early and could not check into the house until 4:00 p.m. We went to IHOP for breakfast and then went to one of the multiple outlets in Orlando. We figured that was a good way to kill some time.
Great idea! Minus the fact that it was like 100 degrees outside. Go at the end of September, Florida is a little cooler. That is what all of those sites recommend. I call complete BS on that one. When we finally got to the house, we discovered that it was not ready, but the manager gave us permission to use the pool. We did some swimming and then eventually unloaded our stuff. After that it was time to eat and go to sleep. The day was over. The real fun would begin on Tuesday.
Our first day was at Animal Kingdom. Lindsey’s aunt gave us tickets for Disney that she had, but we were not 100% sure if they would work. Basically they sent her tickets by mistake. Disney probably sent a letter cancelling the tickets, but she may have missed it. Anyways, there were three tickets, so we would still need to buy one.
There was some confusion also because when I put the ticket on the app, I accidentally linked it to Lindsey, but when I went back to it, there was no ticket and the card would not work. We explained what happened and the ticket person brought a supervisor in and they looked into it. They said the tickets had been used a few years ago. We bought tickets, but since they felt bad, the lady added on a few more Fast Passes and added one for Payton to meet Mickey & Minnie.
We used our first Fast Pass for the Safari. That was probably my favorite thing. The cast member leading the tour was very funny and informative (how much of it is scripted?). I felt like we saw just as many animals and up close (or at least moving around) as we do at the Pittsburgh Zoo. Payton was super excited to see the zebras, giraffes, and of course a rhino.
After that we hit up the Lion King Show. Okay, it was pretty incredible. Payton loved it, she was clapping throughout, especially during Scar’s song. In fact, I think she identifies with the villains. Seriously! She loved Ursala’s part during the Little Mermaid ride and she was excited during the shark song/the little girl of Finding Nemo. She may be a sociopath.
After that it was time to grab a bite to eat. Lindsey and I grabbed food from some place in the Asian section. Payton napped. We met back up with Kayla & Adam, and went to the Finding Nemo Show. I feel bad for Payton because we have not watched any of these movies with her, but she still enjoyed the show, especially the end when they drop bubbles down.
Next was a stroll through the Asian part, where you can see more animals. We got to see tigers. It was funny because at this point, Payton and Em became very silly. They were running around and screaming. They had a great time.
After that we went through the Dinosaur part and rode some of the rides. I think we did one or two of them, I honestly cannot remember. It was so hot and after awhile my brain was pretty fried.
Next we stopped at the Mickey & Minnie Safari thing so the girls could meet them. Payton was so excited…until she actually saw them. Then she started screaming. I do not even know if we got any pictures.
I think at this point, it started raining while we were eating some dinner. We decided to try and wait in line for the Avatar ride. Not the big one, but the boat ride that the kids could do. It was a 75 minute wait. It actually went by fairly fast (unfortunately we never could use a FP for it, they were all taken). The girls were silly during the wait and probably entertained people in line. The ride itself was pretty cool, the animatronic Na’vi looked so life-like, I kept thinking it might be an actual person. Oddly, Lindsey has never seen the movie, so none of the stuff made sense.
As the night was ending, we made our way to the Tree of Life, to see it lit up. Then we went to the light show. I rolled my eyes and thought it would be stupid. I was thinking of some old light show, where they use neon lights and spell some words or something stupid. I was definitely wrong. This was incredible! They sprayed water, which created a screen that they projected images of animals onto. It was awesome.
The first day ended with us back at the house. We were all pretty exhausted. Well everyone except for Adam, Tip, and myself. We sat up for a bit and drank some beers. Adam and I may have stayed up a little long (like 3:00 a.m.) drinking. We paid for it the next day. We both felt like crap.
Fortunately, Wednesday was just a free day. We spent the majority of the day at the pool. We came back up after lunch and I gave Payton a bath, after which she fell right asleep. I actually took a nap too. We woke up and got ready for dinner at Disney Springs (I guess this used to be called Downtown Disney for some of you older visitors). We cruised around the shops for awhile, then went to eat at the Rainforest Cafe. The food there was pretty delicious.
After that we went to a few more stores and then went home. We were all pretty exhausted. Granted, we decided to put the girls to bed and come up with a plan for Magic KIngdom.
Alright, so that does it for part two. Stay tuned for part three! Also, enjoy a bunch of pictures.
I love reading your stories seems like you had a fantastic trip