Our 2014 Christmas Trip Report - Final installment and thoughts (updated 5/22) About This Page:

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Dec. 15-Animal Kingdom
This is my least favorite of the four parks. I had told DW all along I wouldn't be going to this park. But I did. Kinda glad I did as I have always loved the Lion
King show. Here's the breakdown of the day

Here's the customary picture to start the day:



We got up and out the resort by about 9 or so as we had our first FPs at 9:15 a.m. We watched several buses go by before an AK bus showed. Once we arrived at the park, we took a picture before going in.



We started as everyone does by checking out some of the animals in the Oasis. We ventured over to Africa to Kilimanjaro Safari, which was our first FP. We got on Kilimanjaro about 9:50, which was good because our ADR was about an hour away. My favorite animal is the Lions mainly because I was a Lion growing up (it was our mascot). We didn't see but 1 Lion in the safari, but saw lots of other neat animals.





Kinda had to show this one because I'm from Texas.



After leaving the safari, we watched a band play in the street and danced a little to the African music (I won't be showing those pictures as I can't dance).

We had ADRs for Tusker House and like before they didn't have our reservation. The guy said they couldn't do anything since we didn't have our reservation. Another guy was standing beside and stepped in. We showed him DW's phone and the confirmation # and he was able to put us on the waiting list. We didn't wait but maybe about 20 minutes before being able to go to eat.

However, by the time we got sat down they were starting to switch over to lunch. So, we only got one plate of breakfast. DW loves breakfast (her favorite meal) and she was very highly upset that we didn't get much breakfast before they changed to lunch.

Here's some shots of our breakfast time...









Our next FP was for Festival of the Lion King. Since we were at Tusker House, we just waited around and sat and passed the time. We got into line at 12:30 for our 1 p.m. FP for Lion King. We met this couple who was from Michigan and were on their first trip. They had a cute little boy we played with and sang songs with. The CM that was waiting to lead us in even started singing some of the songs from Lion King. We saw quite the show before the actual show itself. Then it was time for the actual show, and it was a great show as always. We were on the 3rd row.

About halfway through, a baby started crying on the row behind us. It took about 30 seconds for the CM to get there and ask the lady to take the baby outside. I felt bad for the lady because she had waited in line for FOLK and had FPd it like us.







We got out of FOLK and made our way to the Asia land. On the way over, someone hollered out "Ax Em Jacks." As you can tell by my pics, I was wearing an SFA shirt, and that's their slogan. It was so cool that we ran into someone from the same college that DGD and I both attended.

We moved on to Expedition Everest. I hate roller coasters, so I sat this out even though I had a FP for it. After a potty break, DW and DGD went into the line. The FP line was as long as the standby line, even though it moved quite a bit faster. I sat by the store outside Expedition and waited on them. I watched the cars come down the hill, listened to people screaming, etc. I was trying to look for DGD and DW but missed them.

Here's DW and DGD on Everest:



After leaving Expedition, we went to DinoLand and checked out one of the stores there. They were just finishing some type of show in front of the store, so we had to work our way around the people at that show to get into the store.

In there, we bought a 2nd autograph book for DW, some pins and some pens. From there we made our way to our next FP, which was Finding Nemo.

This was another show we hadn't ever seen. It was cute, but I fell asleep just a few minutes into the show (hence no pictures). DW and DGD also loved it. It was about 3:45 or so when we made our way out of there. We stopped for a few more pictures on the bridge with Expedition in the background and by the big tree outside the park.







We also saw some more characters. In fact, we ran into Pocahauntus and Tarzan, and DW and DGD about drowned in their drool at Tarzan. I am not lying. All they could talk about was his chest and stomach. Her's a picture of them.





This is the final photo of the day as we exited the park.



We took a bus back to our resort. As CSR, there are 4 bus stops. We were located at the 3rd. Well, at the first stop (the 2nd location) a lady lost her lunch. She got so sick, so everybody got off the bus there and walked to their respective rooms. As we were walking, we realized she was right in front of us. Luckily we made it into our room without any problem. We got back into the room about 6 p.m. or so and were trying to figure out what to do for the night.

I had intended to go to the Boardwalk to check it out. But DGD was tired and was asleep within a few minutes. DW and I sat for a little while and we knew we didn't want to waste the entire night in the resort. So, DW and I made our way to the food court.

We both ate supper there. She had a cheeseburger and fries. I had a bacon cheeseburger and fries. We got DGD a Texas burger (BBQ sauce, bacon and fries). Everyone enjoyed their meals. In fact, it was probably the best meal I had all week. I know that sounds awful, but I love a good burger more than just about anything besides mexican food.

After DW and I ate dinner, we headed back to the room to just relax. We were asleep by about 10 p.m. that night, the earliest we went to bed all week. But that was good because we had planned to open MK the next day, and it was extra magic hours in the AM.

Up next: The imaginary castle? An empty Adventureland and lunch with a lady AND a tramp.