Animal Kingdom & The Disney Studios

The last two parks of our Orlando adventure were Animal Kingdom and The Disney Studios (formally MGM Studios).

We went to Animal Kingdom on our 3rd FULL day there. This was the day we should have just stayed home....infact, after naps, we didn't attempt any other parks that day. This was Beth's overly tired and cranky-to-the-max day. We broke down and rented a stroller here and it was nice, but it WASN'T nice having to keep up with the darn thing after we got off each ride. The "cast members" move them around and keep them "organized" and the stroller was NEVER where we left it! Beth, on the other hand, was happy, and so were Bob's shoulders! We didn't do much at AK. We did the Kilimanjaro Safari, the Rafiki kid's area (Beth's favorite) and the Bug's Life show (we all hated it - will NEVER do it again!). We also ate at Yak and Yeti - which might have been the highlight for me!

Kilimanjaro Safari was nice -not what I had expected at all. I detected a little bit of "the Jungle Cruise" in it - as far as the "commical" guide and the part at the end about being chased by poachers. The animals were beatiful. I didn't realize that all the Safari animals are housed at night and AK closes earlier than the other parks because it takes 2 1/2 -3 hours each night to get all the animals into their enclosures and fed! WOW!

Beth LOVED the Rafiki kid's area, especially the "vet" center and petting zoo. That was a cool area.

We never made it into a whole section of the part - like the Dinosaur area - or saw any of the shows I really wanted to see- like The Festival of the Lion King or the Nemo stge show. We were just too tired and Beth desperately needed a nap. I think AK was my least favorite park and I don't necessarily feel the need to return...unless I'm headed to Yak & Yeti's!

The last morning we were there, we went to The Disney Studios.

This was mainly a show park for us - no rides. We saw the newly revamped Playhouse Disney show - which now includes Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Little Einsteins, Handy Manny and My Friends Tigger & Pooh.

NEW Little Einsteins set:

Beth screaming BLAST OFF!!

We also saw the Voyage of the Little Mermaid show (very cute - no pictures allowed!) and the Beauty and the Beast stage show - my absolute favorite! I took over 30 pictures at this show, but I'll only bore you with one!

We ate at the ABC Commissary and then let Beth play in the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground - her favorite!

Then it was time to go. Once the kids are older, there will be more to do there. Age 4 1/2 is not an easy age for The Studios. We rode no rides here. Beth wouldn't even THINK (nor would I) about the Tower of Terror and she was too short to ride the Aerosmith rollercoster. None of us are Muppet fans, so we skipped that show, but from I heard from other people around us - that was probably a good thing to skip! I liked The Studios. We all had a good time, despite being drop dead tired and working on a time schedule to make it back to the resort to catch the Magical Express to the airport.

All-in-all the trip was great! We leared A LOT about what to do/not to do next time and I feel a lot more educated! Disney has changed a lot since the last time I was there in 1996! Plus- this time, "I" was "in charge" and had my own child. I still absolutely LOVE it!

So, from here on out- its back to regularly scheduled blog business and I promise to post some pictures of Sarah soon! She's 21 months old now - wow- that happened fast! That is how old Beth was when we moved to Kentucky in Jan. '05.