Animal Kingdom

THE TREE OF LIFE

The main feature of animal kingdom was this enormous tree with carvings of various animals all over it.  

There were gorillas and a variety of interesting animals to see.  The animal in this picture is an Okapi.

Of all the things we did on our trip, Brooklyn seemed to enjoy this boring little train ride the most!

PANDORA, THE WORLD OF AVATAR

Disney did an amazing job creating an amazing world from the movie Avatar.  The lush landscape was gorgeous and there were weird creatures in the landscape that would squirt you if you waved your arms at them.

The "floating islands" were amazing.

These pictures really don't do it justice.

All of us (minus Brooklyn and Audrey who were too young to ride) voted Avatar, Flight of Passage as the most amazing ride of the trip.  Even after being opened for over a year there is sometimes a 6 hour wait for this thing.  Luckily we followed our friends' advice and got to the park 40 minutes early so we only had to wait about 2 hours.  It was worth it!  On the ride you wear 3D glasses and climb on what looks like a motorcycle seat.  You then spend the next few minutes feeling like you are flying on the back of a banshee through the magical world of Pandora.  When you fly by a waterfall, you feel droplets of water spraying your face.  When you fly past a stampeding herd of animals on the ground that are kicking up dirt, you can smell the dust, and when you fly past flowers, you can smell the flowers.  You can feel the "animal" you are riding breathing and moving beneath your legs.  It is truly an immersive experience!  The kids liked it so much they decided to come back early Friday morning to do it again. 

THE LION KING SHOW

We all really enjoyed the Lion King show, particularly the monkey acrobats and the special effects.

AN AFRICAN SAFARI

One of the highlights of our day was going on an African safari.

They put up invisible fences so you feel like you are riding through nature seeing these animals.

It was awesome to see giraffe and water buffalo pass right in front of our vehicle.

The baby elephant was absolutely adorable!

MT EVEREST

I forgot to take a picture of it, but by far the scariest ride I went on was Expedition Everest.  This fake mountain happens to be the tallest mountain in Florida.  

DINOSAUR

It was getting dark by the time we made it to the dinosaur section.  The main dinosaur ride was lame, but Audrey loved going on the Triceratops Spin ride because it was her first "big girl ride."