Orlando, Florida—Days 307/308/309

So if you think that you can’t handle three days in Disneyworld, you are probably right. However, if you do have the chance to swing by or find yourself here for any reason, you’ll find it all not that bad. In fact, you might even enjoy yourself or even have a really great time, just like I did.

Lyda and I hit up MGM studios, Cirque du Soleil, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, the Magic Kingdom AND Typhoon Lagoon all in three days. Oh, and through in two movies in there as well and you will have our itinerary. We had a great time, despite the fact that I was feeling sick the first day (who knows why but I was definitely ready to throw up at any point which is not like me at all). By the second and third days I felt fine and was actually impressed with my stamina on the rides. We conquered the Tower of Terror, let our jaws drop as we watched the amazing Cirque du Soleil performance, watched Canada in 360 degrees and traveled to the moon at Epcot, got knocked over by the wave pool in Typhoon Lagoon and plummeted down Splash Mountain at the Magic Kingdom, screaming all the way. It was great but I have to say that I won’t be ready to go back again any time soon.

Part of the deal was that we had to visit Disney’s Animal Kingdom so that I could actually see what the Disney hippos were all about. Lyda agreed, just as long as we could fit in the Magic Kingdom AND Typhoon Lagoon all in the same day as well. I agreed and we set off early on the third day to the Animal Kingdom. Since we had bought park-hopper passes, we were able to go from one park to the other without having to buy separate tickets. This worked out in our favor but I still wasn’t happy with the hefty admission prices. We headed in and walked over to the Africa area where the hippos were. We found one lone hippo in an underwater viewing area and since I knew that there were at least twenty hippos, I asked a man working there were the others were. He told me that they were on the safari ride and that we could see them on that.

So Lyda and I got in line for the safari and were soon on a bumpy safari tour through an “African reserve.” Sure enough, we passed the hippos shortly into the tour. They were on both or left and right sides and I scrambled to get some pictures of them. The jeep we were in couldn’t stop—this was an actually RIDE we were on—and so I managed what I could. We then drove through the rest of the “reserve” area, eventually finding and defeating some “elephant poachers” in the area. The ride was pretty impressive but I Wasn’t impressed with the lack of hippo access. Couldn’t it at least stop at the hippos so that people could get a good view?

When we got off I turned to Lyda and informed her that we would have to go on it again. Despite her groans and her “but why’s” she knew that she had to. We decided to get “fast passes” (a new Disney thing where you get a little ticket that allows you to come back at a certain time and not have to wait in line again) and had any where from a half hour to an hour and a half from now to go on the ride. So we decided to go on a river rafting ride and the dinosaur ride in the meantime, getting sufficiently soaked AND freaked out by loud dinosaurs. We then headed back to the safari ride where we bypassed the long line and were soon again on our way to the animal reserve. This time I videotaped the tour and I think Lyda really didn’t mind THAT much that we had to go on it again.

After we made it back safe and sound after capturing the poachers AGAIN (didn’t they get the point the first time?!?!) Lyda and I headed out and spent the afternoon at the other parks, then caught a movie and dinner before crashing back at the hotel. Phew.