Day 2: The Animal Kingdom and Sparkly Lights

After a crappy sleep in our separate beds (even with a 3 hour time difference, trying to fall asleep around 11pm is impossible) we woke up with the goal of hitting two parks in one day. The first was the Animal Kingdom, which has safari tours (never did that) and a water-tubing ride (soaks you to the bone) and a freaky deaky rollercoaster that takes you up a trek to 'Everest' (then sends you back down the track BACKWARDS).This was the snackwagon just before the Everest ride. Better hit it up before you go on it, because you won't be doing it afterwards.

We're usually not into things like zoos and wildlife parks, mainly because we feel sorry for the animals. So many of these places are in it just to make a buck, and really, the animals come second. With the Disney park, they go out of their way to inform people in the park that the comfort of the animals are priority. They try to make the enclosures as close to their natural habitat as possible, and unlike other parks, provide enough shade and cover for the animals so that if they want to go and slink off for a rest and not come out they can do that. Other wildlife parks down there (Busch Gardens is one) takes away most of the brush and shade so that the animals are forced out on display, so that people don't complain that they didn't 'see' any tigers or whatnot. Disney puts it out there saying that you might not see anything, and that's just the nature of the animals. Another good thing is that Disney keeps the rides far away from the safari area (which, if I were an animal, would drive me bonkers to hear the screaming all day).

On the other hand, you're at the mercy of the wildlife. Literally. We went to have lunch under a shady tree next to a lake area and we thought, 'why this is a perfect little spot with dapples of sunlight, perfect!'. Well perfect until the mass of birds on the trees above you (which we didn't see) decide to POOP right on your lunch. We barely had the tray on the table when a BIG nasty poop splattered all over my lunch (and just MY lunch of course, Trevor's was untouched). My lunch, sans bird poop that came 4 seconds later.

I ended up having my lunch replaced (yay), but we spent the rest of the lunch warning people about their lunches being pooped on. And some people didn't listen to the crazy woman (me) warning them, and sat down anyways. And their lunch was pooped on too (well, more specifically, right in this one woman's drink). I will say one thing, Disney portion sizes are CRAZY. I barely made it through half...and the dining plan we were on gives you dessert with lunch. Phew...you would have to be an eating machine to get through it all.This is the 'Tree of Life'. Think of it as the castle in the Magic Kingdom...but more woody and leafy.

Next, we hit the Disney MGM park, which was fun. I was most looking forward to the Osbourne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights show that happened in the evening. I think I spent most of the afternoon willing the sun to set early! We went on a few rides and saw a really fun stunt show with cars (from the Disney park in France). But finally, the sun started to set, and the lights came on. I think this was the only time I felt really Christmassy down there. They even pumped out fake snow from the rooftops (strange chemical I think, lol!).Everything was covered in lights...ahhhhhh.
The lights would 'dance', but I preferred them just staying on, much nicer!

We went for dinner after that at a fake drive-in movie theatre at the park. We got to sit in little cars and eat our dinner in the seats while watching old cartoons on a big screen. And then we went back to our 'value' hotel and attempted to sleep for our next day...Epcot!

Next up: Day 3: Epcot and all things worldly.