Swart Life Continues: DisneyWorld 2017 - Post #6 - Animal Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, Magic Kingdom

Day 5 - BIG DAY - THREE PARKS!

First: ANIMAL KINGDOM

Standing in the bus line at our resort at 8:40 a.m. Excited for the day!

This was our hottest day yet. We were already "sweating" upon entering the park. Animal Kingdom's Tree of Life in the background

Our first ride, which we had a Fast Pass for, was the Kilimanjaro Safari

It was fun and we got to see a lot of amimals

In our safari jeep:

Our next Fast Pass was for Na'vi River Journey

We didn't get a Fast Pass for Avatar Flight of Passage and we are so sorry now! The wait time for that ride was 2-3 hours!! Evidently it's the most popular ride in all of DisneyWorld. It's a new one and similar to Soarin. I asked one of our church members who has ridden it to tell me about it. You sit on a device shaped like a motorcycle that gives you the sensation of sitting on one of the creatures from the movie and then you fly through all kinds of animation. He said it is the only ride he will stand in line for hours to ride. We definitely must go back to DW, so we can experience it 😀

Here are a few family pictures in the area of Avatar:

Next we went to the musical, "Festival of the Lion King"

It is very cute!

Then Andy, Carman and the girls rode Expedition Everest--Legend of the Forbidden Mountain

I think it was pretty scary! But the girls loved it!

We ate lunch at Restaurantasauris.

And then went to an area like a carnival. They had some really cute rides here. Laine loved this "mouse" like roller coaster. Ellie was disappointed that she wasn't tall enough (due to where the lap constraint hits). Laine rode it with Papa and then again with her Daddy.

Shepherd finally got to get a picture with his two favorite Disney characters: Pluto and Goofy!

No smiles for the camera, but believe me, he loved seeing them!

Another cute ride that we all got to ride: TriceraTop Spin

And then we did the Dinosaur Ride

Shep only got to experience it from the outside as he was too little to ride

Jeff and I, Carman and the girls rode it first - it was pretty intense (rough!)

Then Andy and the girls rode it

Laine and Ellie with Pocahontas

Our last stop at Animal Kingdom was to watch the 3D movie, "It's Tough To Be A Bug!"

It's in the Tree of Life and so, so cute! Definitely go see it when you are at Animal Kingdom!

We left Animal Kingdom at 4:50 and rode the bus to our next stop.

HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS - 5:15 p.m.

Andy wanted to return to Hollywood Studios to see the entire Indiana Jones show (since it had broken down when we were there a couple of days earlier)

Thankfully, everything worked this time 😃

We then returned to one of our favorite rides at H.S. -- Toy Story Mania

And for our last ride, Andy and Laine "braved" Rockin Roller Coaster!!

They loved it (and I love the look on Laine's face). Andy thought it was the scariest of all the roller coasters.

We ate a bite of supper at Rosie's All American Cafe and then left this park at 8:30 and decided we had enough energy within us for one more park (and the fact that the parks at night take on a whole different realm and the temperatures are so much cooler)! Also, this was the night that Magic Kingdom stayed open two extra hours for resort guests (instead of closing at 9, they closed at 11).

LAST PARK FOR TODAY: MAGIC KINGDOM - 8:50 p.m.

First stop: Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor

And then Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin (similar to Toy Story Mania--where you use the laser guns to shoot things and rack up ponts)

Since everyone else was all about a high score, DeDe took Shep and helped him as she didn't care about scoring!

We then rode the roller coaster in Space Mountain

I had avoided all the roller coasters thus far. So when Jeff said he would prefer to stay with Shep, I braved this one (but was SO glad when it was over!). I use to enjoy roller coasters, but not anymore!