Disney Fun...Day 4 - Animal Kingdom, Swimming and Time To Go Home!

We were up early again wanting to make the most of every moment of our time that we could! Mickey called at 6:45 to wake the girls up. (Note: If you stay at a Disney resort, please be sure to request a wake-up call as Mickey or one of the other characters will be the one doing the honours! We used the speaker phone option in the mornings so that we could all enjoy it.) We got ourselves ready, finished packing and after applying about a dozen Band-Aids to assorted blisters on our feet :o) we were ready to go once again! They say the average person walks 10-14 miles per day at a Disney park and we don't doubt that for a moment! It's a ton of fun but I can't stress enough how important it is to wear comfortable footwear. Even with that you can see that blisters can be a problem.

After breakfast at our resort we made our way to Animal Kingdom. Rebecca had hoped to see Chip & Dale and so far this trip they had eluded us. I was going to check with the Character Hot Line to find out if they were going to be at Animal Kingdom but when we moved towards the gate guess who were there to welcome us? Chip & Dale! The girls were so excited and quickly lined up for autographs. As we left C&D Rebecca said to me, 'Auntie Cathy. Aren't you glad we didn't go to Epcot today because we would have missed Chip and Dale again because they're here!!' Yes they are sweetie...yes they are! (We had entertained the idea of going back to Epcot and skipping AK but the girls were sure that C&D were going to be at AK so asked that we go there instead. It wasn't an issue. It wasn't a demand. It was the simple request of 2 precious little girls and we couldn't say 'yes' fast enough!

When we entered AK we headed to Africa and Kilimanjaro Safaris. Rebecca and I had ridden this ride many times in the past but this day was one of the very best ones we'd ever had when it came to seeing the animals! This isn't Giraffe's best side but you get an idea of how close to our jeep he/she actually was! After leaving Africa we headed to Camp Minnie-Mickey where we enjoyed the amazing musical, Festival of the Lion King! Disney musicals are top notch and not only are they entertaining and well done, they're also a great time to give the tootsies a little break!

Dinoland was our next stop where we rode Triceratop Spin. The girls enjoyed running around The Boneyard while Grandma and I tried to catch all the sun we could before heading back home to the ice and snow!

Our final character stop of the trip was to visit our friends from the Hundred Acre Woods:
Pooh Eeyore Piglet and Tigger! All too soon our Disney trip was coming to a close. It was time for us to leave but we were thankful for all the memories that had been created and know that it will be a trip that we'll never forget!!! The look on the girl's faces in this pic seems to say it all...Do we really have to go?? Well, not quite yet! :o) A 'jog' in the 1950's sign of our resort, and a quick dip in the pool (something we'd been wanting to do but we just hadn't found time to squeeze it in before now) signalled the end of our amazing, whirlwind, trip-of-a-lifetime at Disney! If you're wondering how zonked he kids were when we took them home, here's a video taken in the car about a 1/2 hour before we dropped them off at their homes. Still laughing, still having a blast...and still entertaining Grandma and I!!

Was it hard for us to leave? I think I'll leave you with this one last picture taken of Grandma unpacking the car at home and let you decide!