The Murphree Family: Disney Vacation

We caught a cab to the Animal Kingdom for our before-the-park-opens breakfast reservations with Donald {Mary Reese was infatuated with Donald the entire trip}! I was really excited about this day because it would be the first time any of us visited this park! We got some pictures made in a virtually empty park on our way to Tuskar House in Africa! The breakfast and the jungle juice were both delicious and delightful {just as Amy Jackson promised}! We got to see Donald, Daisy, Mickey and Goofy! This is the only opportunity we had to get Mickey’s autograph during our entire trip!

After breakfast, we grabbed Fast Passes for Kilimanjaro Safari before walking through the Pangani Forrest Trail! We then rode the Wildlife Express Train to Rafiki’s Planet Watch where we received another “Magic Moment” {special ears commemorating the “Year of a Million Dreams”}! We took the train back and hopped on the safari ride with little wait thanks to our Fast Passes! The ride was wonderful…we got to see so many different animals! Both the lions were asleep but we could see them perched on top of their rock!

After our safari ride, we decided to brave Kali River Rapids! We met a really nice family in line who we ran into again several times during the rest of our trip. All four of us came off the ride SOAKED! Jody grabbed him and Banks Fast Passes for another rapid ride and for Everest before heading to DinoLand USA!

The kids really enjoyed DinoLand. We rode TriceraTop Spin, played Fun-Fossil {carnival-style} Games and played in the Boneyard! {Primeval Whirl was closed for refurbishments.} After all this riding and playing, we had worked up an appetite!

We decided to try out Flame Tree Barbeque and snagged a great table outside with a wonderful view of the Tree of Life. After lunch, we had just enough time to catch the 3-D It’s a Bugs Life movie before the Jammin’ Jungle Parade!

We headed over to the entrance to Africa to watch the parade because we wanted to ride the safari ride again after the parade was over. It was the perfect spot to watch the parade…the kids sat in the stroller and Jody and I had a rock wall to sit on! After the parade was over, we headed for another safari ride using our Fast Passes! This time we got to see the black rhino {he wasn’t out earlier}, the male lion {he was awake} and a baby giraffe! Banks and Jody rode the rapids again while Mary Reese and I watched from the observation bridge. Jody then went to tackle Expedition Everest! We headed back to the Boardwalk to recharge before heading back to the Magic Kingdom to enjoy the extra magic hours {they were open until 1:00 am}! We got to the MK right before Spectromagic started, so to avoid the crowds we caught the last WDW Railroad to Toontown because Mary Reese was dying to drive an Indy racecar! Both of them got to drive cars…she about slung me out several times when she decided to turn around to talk to Banks {while still driving}. We then rode Buzz Lightyear and the Tomorrowland Transit Authority again. We decided to try out the Astro Orbiter for the first time! We were so excited we did because we caught the finale of Wishes while waiting on the observation deck to board our space ship! It was the perfect spot to watch the fireworks! I will admit that ride made me a little nervous but Mary Reese LOVED it! We then headed over to ride the carousel, Dumbo and It’s a Small World one last time before catching the bus back home! Mary Reese was acting like such a big girl on the way home. She looked and me and said “And what was your favorite ride today?” Hers was driving the race cars and Banks said his was Buzz Lightyear!