Summer Vacation Day 8 - Animal Kingdom

Southern Wife was plumb wore out by yesterday's adventures - as was Gramdma - but Southern Man's mother bravely elected to spend another day with her granddaughter. The three of us had early lunch (we got up 'way too late for breakfast), picked up our tickets, and headed to Disney's Animal Kingdom. This time the name of the log was "Giraffe" and this time Southern Man had a bit of a scare with his second-hand tickets as this park used the fingerprint scanners, but they just waved us on through anyway.

Disney's Animal Kingdom was smaller and somewhat calmer than was yesterday's park and we had a more relaxed day there. Youngest Daughter was more interested in the attractions than in the animals, and we did the Kali River Rapids, a really neat 3D show called "It's Tough To Be A Bug" that plays in a theater hidden under the Tree of Life, and the Everest Expedition. Oh, boy, did we do the Everest Expedition, which is, hands down, the best roller coaster Southern Man has ever ridden.

The first time we rode it, the wait was about an hour. But then Youngest Daughter discovered the "single rider" entrance, where you could pretty much get on the ride with no wait at all. Southern Man rode four times and just couldn't take it anymore; she rode it nine times in the span of less than two hours. That's got to be some kind of record. And even the one-hour wait the first time we rode was fun, as the standby queue takes you through the fictitious "Yeti Museum" full of exhibits of artifacts and photographs and the remains of the Lost Everest Expedition. The Kali River Rapids wait queue was also richly detailed, winding through wonderful Asian and British Colonial exhibits, and the circular dock where we boarded the rafts was actually in motion so we stepped onto already-moving rafts. At Disney, everything is bigger and better.

That evening Southern Man and Youngest Daughter spent plenty of time in the resort's pool area and had a fine relaxing evening. Tomorrow we go home!