Traveling with Little Ones to WDW – Day 6

We spent the day today at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. This is my favorite of the four theme parks at WDW. I love that it is only open until 5pm so you are not tempted to overdue your stay at the park. Some of my favorite shows are here and some great rides too. This was a great park to appease all in our group. When you are traveling with little ones, their different personalities really show through by what they prefer to do. Thankfully Disney offers something that appeals to all in our group.

We were fortunate that all five of the children in our group enjoyed seeing the characters. None of them were freaked out by them. My DS2 loved seeing them. He went right up to Stitch and gave him a kiss on the nose (Can you hear the “Awww” that came from the queue line?) Dawn’s DD4 loved searching for characters and getting their autographs. She also enjoyed seeing the shows (especially the new Nemo show) but didn’t want anything to do with the rides.

On the flip side my DS4 only wanted to ride the rides. He wanted to go on anything that was “superfast”. He did everything he was tall enough for from Kilamanjaro Safari to Dinosaur to Kali River Rapids. DS2 just made the height requirement for Kali River Rapids (38 inches) and was given a wrist band that allowed him to ride in a special seat on the boat that had an additional safety bar. You should have seen his face when the big wave came over his head. Big smiles all over the place! Because of the different interests in our four year olds we split up most of the day so that the kids could see what they wanted and were comfortable with.

We did make room for the “Big Kids” of our group to get on Expedition Everest – a first for Diane, Ed, Steve and myself. We all agreed it lived up to our expectations – a big thumbs up. DS4 was disappointed he didn’t make the height requirement. Missed it by an inch. It’ll be something to look forward to next trip.

Diane reported that while the Baby Center at Animal Kingdom was very nice, her favorite is still the one at Disney Studios. She said that the Studios BC is the smallest one but the way it was organized was more pleasing to her than any others. The Animal Kingdom BC did have private breastfeeding rooms with doors and that was a nice feature.

Dawn reported that while they were waiting to get on the train to go to Rafiki’s Planet Watch, her DD4 was picked to be a co-conductor and got to say “all aboard” to those entering the train. She was also presented with a certificate with her name on it for doing so. These little touches really add to the fun of the day.

We took the bus back to our hotel and had a very fun driver (Michael) who played a Disney Trivia game with us the entire ride back. He was a funny and loud guy and made for an enjoyable ride. Thanks Mike!!!

After dinner and getting kids in pajamas, Dawn and I spent a few hours at Downtown Disney shopping. It was nice to get a few hours to walk around and talk before heading back to the room. The guys have met up as well for some time at the ESPN restaurant on the Boardwalk. I feel refreshed and ready for our last full day at the parks. Tomorrow is round two at the Magic Kingdom . Send some nice thoughts for low crowds our way!