disney vacation - day 4: animal kingdom

May 15

Next up, the Animal Kingdom. I was really excited about this park. It's the one park I hadn't been to before and it's Mitch's favorite. Makenzie was just excited to still be at Disney World!

We decided to head straight to Kilimanjaro Safaris (which already had a good wait), while Matt ran to get us Fastpasses to Expedition Everest. The Safari was pretty awesome! Makenzie's favorite animal is still the giraffe.

Makenzie on the Safari.

She had to sit by Auntie Melis and Uncle Nate :)

Melis and I before Expedition Everest!

Matt photobombing in the back :) Love it!

Not everyone did the rollercoasters, so we were able to go a couple of times with the Fastpasses.

It's no secret that I love Disney and everything about it. The parks are just so magical! Plus, they have some of the greatest employees. Makenzie was having a hard time sharing. She wanted to sit in the stroller with Madyson, but Ryker also wanted to sit there. As we were getting ready to go on the Rapids I sat Makenzie down to talk to her about sharing. I told her that it's important to share and that princesses like to share. I then asked her if she was a princess. Through tears, she looked at me all upset and said, "No! I'm not a princess because you made me take my princess dress off!" Since we were getting on a water ride I had just made her take the Rapunzel dress off. I explained that a dress doesn't make her a princess, but if she was kind to others and shared that's what makes her a princess. She calmed down and we headed to get on the ride.

Before getting in line there is a cast member there to measure the little ones height. When it was Makenzie's turn he looked over and said, "Come on over Princess! It's your turn." Makenzie turned to me with a huge smile and said, "Mom, I really am a princess and I'm not even wearing my dress!" I know that all of the employees are suppose to call all of the little girls princess (I was even called princess several times), but it was the perfect moment that made Makenzie's day and helped my point. And it was definitely one of Makenzie's favorite things about the parks!

Kali River Rapids

The little girls loved this ride and were able to go twice!

And they got SOAKED :)

After the bigger rides we split up into smaller groups. We walked around and saw the animals, ate lunch and went to a couple of shows. This park was really nice and low key. Makenzie really enjoyed the show 'It's Tough to be a Bug'. She loved the 3D and all of the interactive tricks. Alex, surprisingly slept through the whole show. Makenzie and I then went to the Lion King show while Mitch hung out with a sleeping Alex. It was a fun interactive show with lots of fun music. Following the shows we met a few of the characters. We couldn't leave out characters!

One of Makenzie's favorite things,

pushing Alex around :)

Baloo and King Louis

Alex surprised us and was so excited to see them.

She kept trying to get pass everyone in line to see them.

Once close she would look at them and giggle.

Baloo was able to sign Makenzie's book, but King Louis wasn't able to because he never learned how to write.

Whenever she sees the pictures, she reminds us about that :)

Donald Duck!

Makenzie handed him her book and he noticed a picture of Daisy. He got really excited and "told" Makenzie that he loves Daisy!

Makenzie loved it!

Alex loved him too!

The Tree of Life

Makenzie was pretty tired by the end of the day.

After a fun day at the Animal Kingdom we headed back to the house for dinner and swimming. A few from the group decided to go back to Epcot for the evening. The house was definitely great for relaxing each night!

Alex can sit in a pool all day!

I think these are from the night before.
We swam most nights :) 

The ladies in the hot tub!