[Jimbobpetemoss]

Day 3- (Saturday Jan. 11)

We slept in a little today since we didn't have any breakfasts to get to right away. At 8:20 we were at the bus stop ready to go the Animal Kingdom. I'd never been there before so it was a new experience for both myself and my nephew, JohnBen.

While we were waiting for the park to open we saw this talking palm tree zipping around and conversing with the guests. JohnBen thought this was the greatest thing in the world and just had to talk to it which he did. JohnBen was wearing a short-sleeved plaid shirt, the palm tree called him a "summer lumberjack".

At 8:45, the theme from the "Lion King" began to play and an announcement started about Walt Disney loving animals. Suddenly past the gates, all kinds of characters came out as well as a few cast members carrying animals and things. Then they started to let people in.

Mickey and Minnie and Goofy were all there but we went to the ones we hadn't seen yet: MUSHU, DAISY, and TERK. We checked out what some of the CMs were holding, one had an ostrich egg, another had a tarantuala skin, which I thought was only slightly less disgusting than actually seeing the real thing (Have I mentioned I don't like bugs?).

I figured we'd head to Dinoland USA first. We checked out a few of the animals in Discovery Island but all the birds were freaking out JohnBen (he doesn't like birds) so we kept on to Dinoland USA. On the way, we saw, by the Character Landing, WINNIE the POOH, TIGGER, and PIGLET. Everyone else must've gone right to Killamanjaro Safaris because there was no one around. We saw EEYORE on the bridge, which made me happy (Eeyore's my favorite Pooh character).

We checked out that little dinosaur trail with the big dinosaurs but JohnBen was getting freaked by being in the woods with the dinosaur sounds coming through on the speakers (rather loudly I might add) so we headed to Dinosaur.

Now since I'd never been on Dinosaur I wasn't sure what to expect. I knew it was a bumpy ride in the dark with dinosaurs popping out. JohnBen didn't want to go on it. Rather than argue with him, I asked if he could wait while I went on it. He wanted to know how long the ride was but if it wasn't long it would be OK. I went up to the cast member and asked, she said about 10 minutes total (including pre-show).

I told JohnBen I'd be right back and headed in. I was literally the only one in the briefing room. Eventually, a couple showed up and the three of us were put in a vehicle. I was in the front and the couple was two rows behind me.

I'm SO glad I didn't force John on that ride. Maybe it was because I was the only one in the front seat but this ride thoroughly freaked me out. That freakin' Carnotaur kept popping up. When it pops up and breathes on you I was actually scared.

After the ride I went to get JohnBen at the fountain out front. The CM I'd originally talked to was sitting on a bench with JohnBen talking to him. I thought it was really cool that she'd do something like that.

We went to Dino-rama next, which was kind of hokey but I guess that's the point. We went on the Triceratops Spin. We decided one of us should sit in the front and the other in the back. Now on the Aladdin ride, the UP and DOWN control was in the front. JohnBen remembered this and said HE wanted to sit in the front JohnBen doesn't like heights and didn't want me going too high. Although, on this ride the UP-DOWN control is in the back, which is where I sat.

We skipped Primeval Whirl and saw the Carnotaur character walking around scaring small children. We were hungry and decided to head to Pizzafari.

It was just ten and we were their first customers. John liked his pepperoni pizza much better than the one he had at MGM. I got the sandwich, which was pretty good.

We headed onto Africa and the Killamanjaro Safaris. We both liked the safari. JohnBen really got into it. Some gazelle were almost ten feet from the truck. On the Pangani Forest trail we got some good pics of gorillas. We then took the train to Rafiki's Planet Watch.