[Lemap760]

I had promised Andrew yesterday that we would take a ride on the boat, so we headed to the boat launch for a ride to the TTC then transfer to a bus to the Animal Kingdom.

We just missed a boat. And by just missed I mean it was pulling out just as we got onto the waiting platform. I sat down to relax and Andrew pushed the stroller around until it got too crowded for him to do it safely.

Soon a boat pulled up and we made our way over to the TTC. The ride wasn’t nearly as exciting as Andrew had thought it would be. I hate to say I told you so, but you know how well kids listen.

We made a quick pit stop and found the bus heading for Animal Kingdom. We didn’t have to wait long for one to arrive and only had a couple of other families on the bus with us.

We got to the Animal Kingdom around 4:30. Again later than I expected, but we lost track of time at MK. Andrew was willing to get his picture taken at the park entrance and struck up a conversation with the photopass photographer about if there were any water slide type rides at AK. We were soon discussing Kali and Andrew was convinced this would be the perfect ride here. We were also discussing EE and came to the conclusion that Andrew didn’t quite make the height cut off for this one.



We headed into the park and grabbed a times guide. The only shows I really wanted to see were Finding Nemo and The Lion King. We had enough time to get to the next show of Nemo so we headed in that direction first. I tried desperately to get Andrew to stop and eat something without any luck. I’m glad he was drinking water continuously if he wasn’t willing to eat.


Andrew had enough of getting his picture taken. He wouldn't even get in the picture with the promise of a "magic" picture from the photographer.

Andrew had been asking to get his face painted so we found a place to get that done right by Triceritop Spin. I think this CM was ready to go home or he just didn’t have the patience to be dealing with squirming kids. He seemed to be a little rough with trying to get them to keep their eyes closed or sit still. Andrew was handling it well so I didn’t bother to say anything. When it was all done Andrew wanted to give him a thank you card which seemed to really soften the CM up quite a bit and then he actually smiled. Perhaps he was having a bad day and this made him feel better.



The final result.

Now that my “superhero” had his face painted we went for a ride on triceritop. Simple ride, but my thrill seeking child still likes the calmer rides too.

We found Pluto standing around by the restrooms so we went to visit. This particular Pluto was a camera hog, as can be seen by the progression of pictures. He just keeps getting closer and closer to the camera while blocking more of Andrew.





Getting closer
Closer
Whoa. Too close. Pluto is not camera shy.

When we had gotten Andrew’s face painted the first thing I said to him was “Don’t spray your face with water.” I had gone into the rest room and came out to find Andrew’s face wet and dripping red paint. Yep, as soon as I wasn’t there to stop him he sprayed his face. Now he wanted the rest of it off. The face paint lasted maybe 15 minutes before it was a victim of the mister fan.


He insisted he could wash it himself and went into the men’s room to wash it off. After what seemed like forever he came back out with about ½ of it still on his face. I remembered that I had packed a washcloth from the hotel room in the backpack so I took him into the restroom to give his face a good scrubbing.

I think that red paint may be the hardest color to get off of skin, especially around the eyes. I got it all off except around his eyes. He looked a little scary. My little devil child with the red eyes. Either that or he had some horrible disease.


Now that we basically dyed a hotel washcloth red, we made our way to the Nemo theatre. We had good timing and got to the theatre with about 5 minutes before show time. Andrew wanted to sit toward the front, but after I looked I knew there was no way we would find seats there. We found some empty bench space towards the back corner and settled in. Great show as always and it felt great to sit and relax in the air conditioning.

Andrew still wouldn’t eat anything so we headed for Kali. This would be Andrew’s first time on a raft ride like this and was excited about the possibility of getting soaked. I on the other hand was hoping we would just get a little bit wet like we were lucky enough on Splash Mountain.


It had been a few years since I’ve been on this ride. Since there was no line I got a little confused in the line que and headed in the wrong direction. Why don’t they rope off the sections they don’t need? I led us and everyone walking behind us into a dead end.

We were seated in a raft and everyone was kind of looking at Andrew strangely. Remember the red eyes? I just laughed and didn’t bother with any explanations. Andrew had fun telling everyone, quite loudly, that we were going to get wet.


Anyone care to guess who got the brunt of the water dumped on them?


Yeah, that would be me. I still have no idea how this huge wave managed to get me completely soaked and left those sitting next to me slightly damp. Everyone had a good laugh at my expense (ok I was laughing too). After the ride Andrew decided he wasn’t wet enough and played in the fountains.
Andrew had changed his mind about seeing the Lion King show. Don’t know why. He had been looking forward to it. We, rather I, decided it was time to head out of the park. I was starting to get that “I’m walking around in wet clothes” rash and wanted to change.


We stopped at the DVC booth and took some silly pictures.





A bus was waiting for us when we got to the bus stop. A wet and chilly ride later we were back at Coronado.


coming up: would we make it to MK EMH?