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All these people were just standing there blocking our way.
Then I noticed that a PhotoPass CM was there, but people were just watching. I mean, come on people, it’s not like you have never watched someone get a picture taken before. So, with all these duh-headed people standing there, I walked up to the CM and said, I’ve got a PhotoPass card, please take a bunch of picture of us. And she did. They didn’t turn out that wonderful, but I still like them. My hair had completely “waved up” from the humidity and I never bothered to fix it to go back to the Animal Kingdom. I wish Alec would have smiled more ...
And then the CM told us to put up our paws and roar. I think Evan and I got into it the most. Oooh ... doesn’t Alec and Brooke look “kary”? And what’s up with Rob? Does he think he’s too cool to put up his paws? Let me tell you, sometimes he is all paws ... but that’s another story ...
After our bunch of pictures we headed over to Tusker House to get a bite to eat. But it was closed. It was closed? It was closed. Okay. Plan B in effect ... which was walk around until we found something else.
The kids spotted misting showers on the other side of Tusker House so can you guess what they had to do next? I’m sure you guessed that they had to get wet. Okay, after wetting themselves down, we all went over the bridge to Discovery Island and we found the area to place EMH wristbands on, so we went ahead and got them on. And proceeded to walk.
We decided on Flame Tree.
I’m glad we did because they really have wonderful outdoor seating here. We found a nice table by the water, and Rob went back up to get our food while I stayed with the kids. I wasn’t too hungry, but I wanted something. I saw that they had a fruit platter there, so I told Rob to get me that. Looking over at Expedition Everest, I just had to take a photo ...
... and then another photo looking slightly more to the left.
I looked up and saw the carvings, and guess I just had to take a picture of that too!
Now, the kids kept themselves amused whilst we waited for Rob. I can’t figure this song out, but they were singing it over and over and over and over again. Hey, at least they had fun! Click here for video of "Kids singing at Flame Tree".
Rob came back with our food. I don’t know what he did with the receipts for that meal, so I can’t remember what he had or the kids, but I do know that I had my fruit platter.
This was the best fruit platter ever. I loved it. The kids even helped me eat it. It came with a dipping yogurt, but I didn’t bother with that. Also, because it was on our DDP, I forgot that I was supposed to get a side and dessert, so Rob guessed what to get me. He got me fries for my side. Now, isn’t that odd? I want a healthy meal of a fruit platter and how about an order of fries with that? Needless to say I didn’t eat them, but the kids shared them. He also got me a key lime pie, which is my most favorite of all pies. But it was warm and didn’t taste good. So, guess who shared it once again ... the kids!
It was starting to get a bit dusky out. But we still were ready for more. As we walked up and out of Flame Tree, we saw that It’s Tough to be a Bug had only a 5 minute wait.
We walked right on up and into it and had great seats in the middle! How perfect was that? The kids really liked it this time. Back in 2003, Evan got scared right off the bat and hid his head into my dad’s arms. But this time they all thought it was hilarious, especially the stink bug! I forgot about the very end when we had to make room for the maggots. I let out a big scream on that one. I even shocked myself!
So, where did we want to go next? My feet were really aching at this point but I was not going to ruin anyone’s fun. We just had to go at a slower pace. I thought it would be great to go on Kilimanjaro Safari. Rob thinks it is boring and pretty much I do too but I thought the kids would like it. So we hiked on over there ...
However, I guess the heat got to my brain because I should have known that it was not open any longer. It was too dark. I wanted to smack myself in the head, but I didn’t need something else hurting me. We were getting a bit tired, and I knew it was another early day on Tuesday. So we started to head toward the exit when I glanced over and toward Camp Minnie-Mickey and remember that I had to see The Festival of the Lion King.
A show was starting at 9 pm and it was about 8:50 pm. Another great timing! We got pretty good seats and waited for the show to begin.
Let me say that this is the best show I’ve seen at Disney thus far. I had tears in my eyes when I heard this song ... Click here for "Festival of the Lion King".
And when I looked over and saw Brooke clapping away, I had to take this video. But a certain someone had to have a bit of fun with the video. Click here for "Enjoying the FotLK".
I sang to every single song whether anyone wanted me to or not! Remember people, don’t sit next to me unless you want to hear my beautiful singing.
After the show we decided to leave the Animal Kingdom. We returned our stroller and headed on back to our resort.
Then we all got ready for bed and anxiously awaited our day tomorrow. We would be splitting up - Girls Day and Boys Day!
We were well rested and where did we want to go? Back to the Animal Kingdom, of course. So we trodded on down to the bus stop and waited for our bus back to the Animal Kingdom ...
There was only a handful of people on the bus. Normally the bus goes to Blizzard Beach first and then Animal Kingdom. The bus driver asked if anyone was going to BB and no one was, so we went straight to the AK. We had no set plans on where to go. We really did not even care. We knew we were going to eat a light dinner there and go on whatever we possibly could since it was an Extra Magical Hours evening. We got to the AK sometime after 6 pm. We picked up our double stroller and headed over to Dinosaur. 
I was determined to go on it no matter what. No way was I going to miss it again. When we got there, Evan said he would go on Dinosaur with me but Alec said, “Nope. I just don’t wanna.” Fine with me. I got to go and with a riding partner! Evan was not scared at all, and he warned me about every single “scary” moment coming up. Thanks Ev! Meanwhile, Alec was a pouty kid because he had to wait for Evan and I ...
After Dinosaur, Evan wanted to buy something for himself but I told him to wait until we met up with Daddy. When I approached the stroller, this is what I saw ...
So I offered to watch Brooke while Rob & Evan went back to the gift shop. Evan came back with a glow-in-the dark dinosaur. It was cute and it was on sale. Score! Let’s see ... where did we want to go to next? Oh heck, we decided to check out the line for Expedition Everest. But on the way we saw this cute little blue dino near Primeval Whirl and Brookie wanted to get her picture with it.
There was no real line and kids were running up here and there while I patiently tried to wait. Finally, I had enough and just walked Brooke right up to the dino and asked another kid approaching to please wait while I took a picture. I said PLEASE! Gee ... after all that you’d think she would smile at least. Or maybe she was just as frustrated as I was.
So onward to Expedition Everest and ... 
.... no way Jose! Line said 90 minutes, and I said not worth that long a wait. We already rode it so we didn’t really care. Then we heard the beating of the drums. Oh we had to stop there. And the kids had a blast playing with them! 
Trust me ... Evan did have a blast with it. It just doesn’t show. You mothers out there know what I’m talking about!!! Right all you mamas? Even little Brookie had to join in ...
And now it’s time to debut my newest professional drummer ... ALEC! Watch his most cool moves as he plays the drums ... Click here for "Alec plays the drums".So when we were all drummed out we kept heading toward Africa. But then we came to a complete stop before we got there ...
I had a great idea to post maps to show our trip around the park. I just wish I thought about it from the beginning.We left Primeval Whirl and headed to Dinosaur!
Time for Dinosaur. Man oh man, I was looking forward to this one. Some of you may know about this if you have Playstation but there is a Disney racing game that I absolutely love to play. And I am so good in the Dinosaur race. So, naturally, I have to compare the game to the ride. The wait time said 20 minutes. We grabbed the child swap pass, and I told Rob to take the boys on it first (it was his turn) while I tried to hunt down some water with Brookie. I started off in search of a water stand. All the carts were closed still. This was very irritating as it was so freaking hot, and we wanted some bottles of water. I will not drink from a fountain. I just have this thing for bottled water. I stock up on bottled water here at home. Plus I get grossed out by putting my mouth near where some other person’s mouths might have been, especially since I don’t know where that mouth has been. To quote Brookie in her new favorite saying, “Ewwwwwwwww!” So, to get out of the heat, Brookie and I went into Dinosaur’s gift shop and waited for the boys. When I finally saw their picture pop up on the preview screen, I rednecked it and waited for them to get off the ride.
From the picture I couldn’t tell that Alec and Evan had been scared by that dinosaur at the end. In fact, it scared the be-jeebers out of Alec, and he said he would not ride it with me. Evan said he did not want to ride it either. What? You bunch of freakin' wussies. I wanted to ride it but not alone. I don’t really like being alone on things like that. So, I moped, and we headed on over to Expedition Everest. I was still in search for bottled water. There were none on the way ...
I took Evan on Expedition first, and I told Rob to go hunt down some bottled water. The fast pass line was very short, and we boarded and took off. All I can say is WOW! We loved it. It was so much fun. I did not get to redneck the picture because there were too many people in the way. Bummer. Evan & I exited Expedition and started looking for Rob. I saw Brookie’s stroller still parked where we put it but Rob, Alec & Brookie were nowhere to be found. I called him on his cell phone. No answer. I had Evan get up on a rock and scan the crowd. Nope. Now I was getting ticked, mainly because I was hot and starting to get dehydrated.Side Note: I am prone to dehydration. At least I think I am. There have been many a times that I’ve been sick from dehydration. One interesting story was that I suffered from dehydration/heat stroke in Bermuda once and passed out in the middle of the street. Thank goodness a kind police woman saw me and rushed over and helped me out. She ordered me to go straight to my room and drink some orange juice or she would drive me to the hospital. I went to my room. Anywho, I always make sure now that I drink enough in the heat.Finally I saw Rob with Alec & Brookie heading our way, and I flagged them down. He was ticked himself because he said it took him forever just to find someplace to get a bottle of water. We both didn’t understand why they didn’t have anyplace in the morning to get some. I am positive people would be buying some. Rant over ... maybe. Rob went on Expedition with Alec while I stayed with Evan and Brookie. We went over to a nice viewing area, and I took a couple of pictures. I actually took a bunch of pictures hoping that one of the trains had Rob & Alec on it but in the end, you just couldn’t tell, so I settled on keeping the best two photos.
We were wondering what we wanted to do next. We grabbed some fast passes for Kali River Rapids first. 
Then, I really wanted to go on one of the trails to check out some of the animals. So we went on the Maharajah Jungle Trek. Almost all of us enjoyed this trail. Almost means everyone but Alec, who was being a little grump. He just did not have any interest in looking at any of the animals. Well, too bad for him. We all enjoyed it and told him to just keep up and keep quiet. There was only one spot that I remembered to take pictures.
And this was just too good not to take a picture!
Now the time was 11:30 am. Yes, we accomplished all this in 2½ hours. That’s good for my family. As we were getting a bit hungry, we headed on over to Discovery Island to see what we may want to eat over there. We did circles around here but couldn’t quite decide on what to eat. This was definitely not in our plans. However, the ice cream stand was calling our names and we all stopped there. 
We used 5 of our DDP credits and what a good use of credits on this hot and sticky day. I had my very first Mickey Premium Bar. Yes people. My first! The kids have had them, but I never did. And, I didn’t have to share it. It was scrumptious on this sticky hot day. We all finished up and headed back to Kali. 
Rob took the boys first and Brookie and I made our way down to the end of the ride to take a little video of them ... Click here for video of "Rob & Boys on Kali River Rapids". And when they got off, I took the boys. It was so much fun passing the long long line of hot sweaty people. A lot of them gave us dirty looks. WhatEVAH. They could have gotten a FP so too bad for them. The CM sent us over to a raft, and at first I said that we couldn’t get in it because I only saw 2 seats. He said there were 3 in there and walked away from us. There was 1 seat on one end 2 other seats on the other end of the raft not even together. I was not comfortable with this arrangement, so I refused to get on and a CM rushed over. I said I needed to sit with my young boys. He scolded the group on the raft saying, “Come on people, move over, a mother and her kids need to sit together. Come on move!” It was a bit shocking, but the people moved over. It was not a big deal for them to move either. It was a case of people leaving 1 seat in between here and there. So, off we went. I did manage to get pretty wet as I was headed in the backwards position at the big drop. Good thing I had my sports bra that day as the white shirt would have flashed it all! Here’s the video Rob took ... Click here for video of "DM & Boys on KRR". By this time, we were all pretty tuckered out and needed a rest back at the resort. My feet were rubbing pretty hard on the Athens from the sweat. Did I mention how hot and sticky it was? I’m sure I did. So, back to the resort we went.
We finished with breakfast about 8:50 am, so we had 10 minutes until rope drop. We walked over to the rope area. I was immediately disappointed at where the rope was. I had no idea where it was going to be from Dinoland, but I was hoping it would be closer to Asia so we could get right over there and ride Expedition Everest. The plan was for all of us to get over to EE and ride it with Laura. We would then go our own ways from there.We are all right at the rope chatting away still. I figured the rope would be dropping soon and it did. We started our trek over to Asia -- all the while talking and talking away. We really did not walk very fast. But we should have. When we approached Expedition Everest, the line was so long already that my eyes bugged right out of my head. We all looked at each other. Then Laura said they weren’t going to ride because her son really wanted to go on Kilimanjaro Safari. So we said our goodbyes, and I went to stand in the line for the fast passes. I got us all FPs, and we headed back to Dinoland. The only thing we ever rode there before was Triceratops Spin, so we wanted to ride Dinosaur and Primeval Whirl.We saw that Primeval Whirl had no line at all. Now this ride had a 48-inch minimum, and Alec did not measure up to 48 inches at home, so I warned him that he may not be able to ride this. We walked up to the measuring stick and he just made the 48-inch mark!! Woohooty! I took the boys on Primeval Whirl while Rob stayed with Brookie. He snapped this picture of us going by ...
That ride really whips you around. I almost lost one of my Crocs flops! That would have been a tragedy! We got off the ride, and Rob quickly took Evan and Alec back on it while I took Brooke over to Triceratops Spin. I told her to smile for the picture but she said, “No. I don’t wanna.”
As we were flying high on Triceratops Spin, I snapped this picture of Primeval Whirl. But I don’t like it. It really reminds me of a dumpy amusement park. I dunno ...
Brookie really wanted to go on Triceratops Spin again and, because I knew we were going on Dinosaur and Expedition while she had to sit it out, Rob took all the kids on it. I stood below and snapped a couple of pictures. First picture - not so good ... well, maybe a good one of Rob!
Second picture not so much better, but it really is hard to get a good picture on this ride. And why are the boys looking the other way? What is so interesting that way?
Then we headed on over to see what the line at Dinosaur looked like. We still had some time before our fast pass return for Expedition Everest. I really couldn’t wait to go on this ride. Rob was excited too. Would the boys chicken out? Stay tuned ...
