Day 10 - Mission: Disney World "Animal Kingdom"

Our apologies again for the delay in posting days 10-14 activities. We will make every attempt to catch up as quickly as possible.

Today we left Homosassa and made our way east across central Florida to Orlando - more specifically Disney World. We found our resort - the Pop Century Resort - themed around the 1950's - 1990's. In traditional Disney Style it was bright, fun, and loud!

We met my cousin Linda here (she had arranged our stay there - THANKS AGAIN!) and checked in. At check in, they gave us an assortment of buttons to wear. Most predominant was the "Happy Anniversary" button (so its a little early, but our whole Coast to Coast trip is sort of an anniversary expedition). Colby also wore a "1st Time" button, but it didn't seem to matter much that he had never been to Disney World before.

We had lunch with my cousin Linda & her husband Kevin at the Yacht Club Resort & they gave us a delicious anniversary dessert, some sort of chocolate truffle with fresh strawberries - hhmmm I think I might like this button.

Then it was off for a tour of Disney World property. After, we set off for Disney's Animal Kingdom theme park. We had a great time here and have some fun experiences to relate.

This is the "Tree of Life" in the Center of the Park (a bit ironic, I know)

This one gets its name from all the types of "life" forms carve into its trunk, look closely & you might see tigers, bison, fish, hippos, owls, whales, and other such creatures.

We first stopped at the Lion King Experience - a lively show, then we sort of were stuck watching a parade on our way to the Kilimanjaro Safari ride. We saw lots of animals...

a young elephant

a white rhino (literally, right next to the jeep)

and my personal favorite, reticulated giraffes.

Then a walk through the Maharaja Jungle - flying foxes, fruit bats, tigers, birds, etc. I got lots of amazing photos of the Asian tigers, but I will only post a few.

We rode the newest ride Expedition Everest twice - a forward & backwards high speed roller coaster, protected by a larger than life Yeti.

The craziest experience of the night - was the discovery made on the Dinosaur ride. Apparently, I am terrified of Dinosaurs - even the animatronic ones. I do not have access to the photo right now, but check back for the proof of me wanting off that ride as soon as possible.

Tomorrow's challenge: Epcot - my favorite!