Day 9: Saturday, November 30 (Animal Kingdom and trip home)
We had left this last day blank on our itinerary figuring we would either go do things we missed, or go back and do some favorites. We decided that we hadn’t seen enough of Animal Kingdom, and we really hadn’t done much of anything in World Showcase. Since AK was a new park for us this trip and we thought the kids would like it better, we decided to spend our last day there. We’ll just have to make another trip and spend more time in World Showcase. As if I needed a reason to go back…
We took our time getting up this morning since it would be a late night. My DF and DB had a very early flight, so they snuck out long before we woke up. We slept in and had a leisurely breakfast at Roaring Forks. Another round on the mouseboats was requested, so the ladies headed back to finish the packing and send the luggage off with bell services, while my DH and DBIL took the kids to the boats. They went out for about a half hour.
With the luggage all stored, since we were getting such a late start we decided it was better to try the bus this time. We didn’t have to wait long at all, and after a stop for a few passengers at the Grand Floridian, we were at AK fairly quickly. The main items on our agenda were to see the shows we hadn’t seen in our first visit. Tarzan was starting in a few minutes, so we headed there quickly. Not too many seats left, and we had to split into two rows, but at least we got in. This show was pretty good. DS would have liked to see more of the rollerbladers, and DSIL and I would have liked to see more of Tarzan. [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]
When we left Tarzan, DS spotted Triceratops Spin, so we took the time for one last kiddie ride. No one was interested in doing Primeval Whirl or Dinosaur again, so everyone else just waited. Fortunately crowds were pretty light and the wait was only about 20 minutes.
It was time for lunch and DBIL and DSIL had lunch passes from a DVC tour they had taken that they wanted to use up. We picked Pizzafari simply because it was on the way to the Lion King show, which was where we were headed next. I didn’t expect the inside of a pizza joint to be so cool looking. The kids liked the wooden bats hanging from the ceiling. We got to the Lion King show in plenty of time and were seated in the lion section. I’m really glad we got to see this show as it was fantastic. The monkeys were a big hit with the kids.
We still hadn’t made it to Asia, but no one had the energy to make it all the way across the park, so we decided to grab a bench for the parade instead. We found a bench on the inside of the circle near one of the little trails. We took turns doing a bit of shopping and taking the kids to visit Stitch in front of the store across the street.
Here is where we have a very un-Disney moment (not that it was Disney’s fault). DH and DBIL were off doing something – I forget where they went. DSIL and I were sitting on the bench with the kids having ice cream, when a women parks her stroller containing a sleeping child in front of the line (which was fine) and plops her self down on the end of our bench (which had about all of 8 inches left) and proceeds to blow cigarette smoke on us. DSIL who was next to her gets up and remarks that she can’t sit next to her smoking as she’s allergic to smoke. Cigarette woman remarks that she can’t sit next to her eating ice cream (???). I let her know (as if she didn’t know) that this is a non-smoking park and she’d need to move. At this point she proceeds to curse out my DSIL and us holy-than-thou non-smokers in general [img]images/icons/mad.gif[/img] . I don’t know why she blew up at my DSIL instead of me, but my DSIL says it’s typical. Anyway she storms off with her stroller and her cigarette, still cursing and sits on the other side of the road. DSIL goes into the store to talk with a manager, who calls security. Last we saw her, the woman was being escorted out of the park. Yeah, for Disney security. The kids don’t seem to have picked up any new words from the encounter, thank goodness, and the other people around us were happy to see her go too. She could have just put out the darn cigarette. I have a feeling we weren’t the first people to tell her she couldn’t smoke somewhere that day.
So back to our Disney day…the Jammin Jungle Parade was probably my favorite parade of the week. Very colorful. We were caught by surprise when Donald came around on his float and kicked water at us. I barely managed to protect the camera. Who would have thought you’d get wet at a parade? We needed to head for the airport at this point, so we took our time and explored a few of the Discovery Island trails before heading for the car.
No problems at the airport, and a quick flight home. DD’s ears still hurt a bit, but it was much better this flight. We even landed a half hour ahead of schedule, which makes us nearly even for the long flight down…well almost. We debark the plane, and uh-oh, where’s the stroller? We wait for a while (me and all the other people waiting for their strollers), until someone from the airline informs us they are having a problem with the doors to the luggage compartment and our strollers would likely just be sent to baggage claim. So we head down there, all of us with visions of our suitcases having burst open and our dirty clothes having jammed the doors [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img] . It takes about an hour from the time we land until they manage to break into the plane and retrieve our stuff. It does all come out in one piece, and we pile our tired bodies and our overstuffed suitcases in the van for the ride home.