Day 1 - Animal Kingdom

Thank goodness for GPS systems! I'm sure we'd end up with the gators if we didn't have them. These handy devices got us to where we needed to go each day. It sure beats reading a map!

For our first park, we visited Disney's Animal Kingdom. It took us nearly an hour just to enter the park, as we were distracted by a few characters at the entrance that we needed autographs and pictures from. After purchasing the sunblock we needed because ours mistakenly got left at the hotel, we were lathered up and ready. The first major attraction here was the Tree of Life, which contained carvings of animals into the trunk of the tree. It was amazing!

We headed off to DinoLand - which seemed like a theme park in itself. The kids could spend all day here! Dominic, Rudy and I rode the Dinosaur ride, then met the rest of the family for more fun. Bianca, Dominic and Donovan rode TriceraTop Spin and played in The Boneyard. They got Pluto's autograph before we headed out for more adventure.

Next we visited Asia, where Dominic, Donovan, Bianca, Rudy and I rode the Kali River Rapids. Yeehaw! Rudy got the most wet of our group. Time flies when you're having fun, and it was approaching dusk as we walked through the Jungle Trek and the animals knew it was the end of the day. There was no way we could cover the entire park in one day, so we immediately decided this was one park we'd have to come back to on another day. We definitely wanted to go on a safari in Africa!

Bianca and Dominic with Brer Bear at the Main Entrance.

Some carvings in the Tree of Life.

Slightly wet!

Our crew: Devin (under cover), Rudy, Bianca with Donovan, Dominic,
Grandma Carmen and me (you can always spot a tourist!)
Not pictured are Papa and Grandma Gertie (taking the picture!)

Next up.... Grandma Carmen's birthday at Hollywood Studios, a Fantasmic Show and an unexpected detour in our schedule!