Day 3- Animal Kingdom!

After a late night, we were still determined to get a early start. We made it to the bus stop by 8:10am. Plenty of time to get there before the park opened at 9am. Hurray!!

As we made a dash to Kilimanjaro Safaris to get fast passes the scenery was amazing! There was so much attention to detail, I just wanted to walk slowly and take it all in. We knew we would have more time later, so we just soaked in as much as we could and got our fast passes. We were lucky enough to make it for the first showing of The Festival of the Lion King, and get front row seats!

It was in-your-face, high energy, great singing, and just spectacular! I think this was Nathan's favorite show. Might have been mine too!

We stopped for a few character greetings along the way to the Kilimanjaro Safari.

Kilimanjaro Safari's was probably the this I was looking forward to the most, and the biggest disappointment. It was cool to see all the animals close(ish), but they tried to make it seem too real, which just made it obvious how not real it was. That dosen't make much sense, and anyway- the kids loved it so that's all that matters. It was still fun!

After the Safari, we decided to catch a showing of the Finding Nemo Musical. I had a tip that this show was great, and it did not disappoint! The music, acting and costumes were awesome! We had close seats, but they were off to the left. I think I would have rather been further back to get a better view. We found what WE think was another "Hidden Mickey". (I love how Saroya is pretending to hold her breath like she is under water!) It's funny, because even today April 30th- Saroya pointed out a "Hidden Mickey" on a picture in my room. They are all still looking, like Disney sprinkled Mickey heads all over the world!We took a break after the show to have lunch. Nathan & I ate at the Flame Tree Barbecue which had the biggest most delicious sandwiches. I can't remember what Nathan had, but I know I LOVED my sandwich! :)

The kids ate at Restaurantosaurus, which is essentially chicken nuggets and fries. Perfect for mot having to fight with kids to eat! :)

After lunch we walked over to Kali River Rapids to see what the wait was. 10 minutes. Sweet! We walked on and everyone LOVED it. Actually the girls and I went on it again while Nathan & Ethan ran over to ride Expedition Everest.

The girls and I had some extra time, so as we were walking around, we noticed that "It's Tough to be a Bug" only had a 10 minute wait, so we went to see that. YIKES!! It was horrifying for the girls...ok and a little scary for me too. It was the centipedes running across my back I think that got me!

We all found each other, toured the Tree of Life and then only had a few minutes before the park closed.

Since Animal Kingdom closed at 5pm, we decided to make dinner reservations at Hollywood Studios @ Hollywood & Vine for 6:35p. Only problem with that was that we arrived there at 5:30p, and Nathan had some work that he needed to do and the kids wanted to go swimming. I checked with the restaurant to see if there were any earlier times available and she said, "How about right now?" I about screamed I was so happy! I was shocked that they had an opening, knowing how busy the park seemed to be. It was great service, and a buffet- which is normally scary to me with my food issues- but the chef came out and pointed out exactly what I could eat, and offered to make me a few things too! In fact- she even brought me dairy free ice cream, two chocolate chip cookies and a brownie! Luckily the cookies and brownies were pre-packaged so I took them with me.

Sometime during dinner, I noticed the kids talking quietly and pointing. When I asked what what going on, Saroya said, "Jaleigh saw Gabriella from High School Musical!" I looked over, and a waitress did look shockingly like her! Jaleigh was absolutely star stuck! Finally she asked me to go with her to say, "hi". I walked up to a girl named Daniella whose badge says she is from Mexico.

"Um, excuse me... My daughter thinks you are Gabriella from High School Musical."

She turned and said very humbly. "Aww...she does??" And knelt down to talk right to Jaleigh.

"Do you think I am Gabriella?? You are so nice!" and gave Jaleigh a really sweet hug. I could have kissed her for doing that. For never crushing her by saying, "No, I am not her" but let her have her moment. Her dream! Before we left we asked if we could get a picture and she said, "Of course!!"

We left as her manager approached her to find out what was going on. I really hope she gets some kind of recognition for the way she handled the situation, because it really meant the world to Jaleigh. Magic again- the best!

We headed home after dinner and had plenty of time for swimming, homework, and an early night to sleep. The next day we were finally heading to the MAGIC KINGDOM!!!