Disney Day 4: Animal Kingdom on Thursday (5/29/14)

We enjoyed Disney Day 1 at Magic Kingdom, Disney Day 2 at Hollywood Studios, Disney Day 3 at Epcot, and Disney Day 4 was spent at Animal Kingdom!  Like all my Disney blog posts, it is really difficult to capture all the fun and memories in just a few favorite pictures so this is just a glimpse of such a great week and a huge, fun park like Animal Kingdom!

As we quickly learned about navigating Disney, getting to the parks bright and early pays off since lines are not as long.  This strategy worked well for the Kali River Rapids ride as we rushed to that ride first before the hot part of the day began.  So we were able to ride it several times with no wait time.  We figured as the day went on and only got hotter, the ride would get really busy, which was the case. So we rode it about 5 times (I rode it once, while my husband and the older kiddos rode it 4 times in a row). It was a blast and we were prepared with sandals and an extra change of shorts since we got soaked!   

Another fun ride was Expedition Everest-Legend of the Forbidden Mountain..."Ride a speeding Train through the Himalayan mountains while avoiding the clutches of the Yeti."  This was a dark, fast ride and we all loved it, even my 6 year old daughter who really has no fear :) 

Another money saving tip while at Disney is to ask one of the park's photographers to take your family's picture using YOUR camera.  I was surprised the photographers were so willing to do this since they are there to sell pictures.  Here are a few that the park's photographer took of our family and the picture below on the right was taken after the photographer said "Look like you are scared of the Yeti!"  Ha! Ha!  :) 

We also saw a wonderful, inspirational, educational show that our entire family really loved, even our 10 month old.  Look at how much our baby was taking it all in....

What show had her entranced and mesmerized?   Flights of Wonder, of course!  We watched exotic birds show off their gracefulness and intelligence.  It was memorable indeed!

We also rode DINOSAUR ride which was a lot of fun, full of dinos and loud! 

And while I waited with a few of my kids while my husband was on the DINOSAUR ride with a few of our other kids, we had a little fun taking pictures in the gift shop :) 

We also enjoyed seeing the Tree of Life, the icon of Disney's Magic Kingdom.  You can read more about this huge artificial tree HERE. 

Inside the Tree of Life is the 3D show called "It's Tough to be a Bug!"  We wore 3D glasses that looked like bug eyes and it was quite an impressive show!  I'm not sure if the kids behind us that were screaming and crying  were afraid of the dark, the "smoke" in the theater, loud noises or your chair that poked your back as part of the show. To get to the theater for the bug show you had to walk around, through, and inside the tree.  The theater was in the base of the tree.   The Tree of Life was like most things in Disney...things are alot bigger and magical than they appear from the outside!

Our family really enjoyed the Kilimanjaro Safaris that took us through the African savannahs to search for amazing creatures that were so close to our tour bus!

Our Disney Day 4 at Animal Kingdom was a great adventure and enjoyed by all!

Click on the links below to read more of our favorite memories during our Disney Days:

10 Things I Learned Going to Disney with My Family of 7
Disney Day 1: Magic Kingdom on Monday (5/26/14)
Disney Day 2: Hollywood Studios on Tuesday (5/27/14)
Disney Day 3: Epcot on Wednesday (5/28/14)
Disney Day 4: Animal Kingdom on Thursday (5/29/14)
Disney Day 5: Back to Magic Kingdom on Friday (5/30/14)
Disney Day 6: Downtown Disney on Saturday (5/31/14)