Sunday - Magic Kingdom!

Sunday was check-out of the hotel day. We loaded the bus at 9am with all our luggage under the bus, once again, and took off for Disney. We had park hopper tickets, so we could go where ever we wanted. The kids just had to make sure a chaperone was in the park where they were and they could explore any park they wanted. We headed to Animal Kingdom in the rain, no less. We donned our ponchos and headed out. Eli wanted to know what we do in the rain. The same thing you do in the sun! It rained all morning and finally quit a little before lunch. The weather was pretty cool and very comfortable all week!

I think one of our favorite things of the entire day - maybe the entire trip- was the African Safari ride. You board a large jeep-like truck and your guide drives you through a safari. We saw all sorts of animals - elephants, tigers, alligators, lions, all sorts of animals you see at zoos etc.. and some we'd never seen before. Eli loved it! There was one part in the "staged" performance where the guide talks on his radio about the broken bridge we were about to cross. Eli got very worried that it wouldn't hold us. I forget how literal they are at this age. I don't know how many times we explained that it was just pretend, but from then on, every ride we got on, he asked several times if there were any broken bridges. Seeing all the animals so close-up was worth it, though. He really liked that part.

We also did Bug's Life (which he did NOT like) and a petting zoo. The petting zoo was a little bit of a let-down. I wanted to find it b/c it mentioned exotic animals that had been domesticated and you could pet them. We rode a train to Rafiki's Island and were a little disappointed to find the goats a little less exotic than we'd hoped for. He still enjoyed it, though.

The jungle trek was cool too and Eli really had a great time at Dino Land. We didn't ride anything in Dino Land, but he did play a carnival type game, like Whack a Mole, except you whack a dinosaur in the head and win a stuffed dino (who has been named Ralph). Definitely one of his more favorite times of the day.

We ate lunch at Rainforest Cafe and then headed to Magic Kingdom. Rainforest was really neat. I'd heard about it, but had never had the opportunity to go there. It was pretty pricey for lunch, but the atmosphere was cool. Eli did not like when the "storms" came though. He still doesn't like loud noises.

What did we do at Magic Kingdom....... I'm not sure that Eli's most favorite ride wouldn't be the Monorail! He thought it was so cool and wanted to know how it worked. We watched them take off and he was amazed at the wheels being on the very bottom of the train.

We stood in line for Peter Pan, which was OK. Keith and I rode Pirates and then we all did It's a Small World. We all rode the Merry Go Round and ate dinner. Eli and Papaw rode the Teacups - I thought they might make Eli queasy, but he loved them.

Right before it was time to leave, we found Mickey and Minnie at Toon Town and had Eli's picture made with them! The fireworks started and we were very close to where they were being shot - Eli hated them - waaaaaay too loud. He's never been a big fan of fireworks anyway. Keith's parents took Eli to the park entrance to wait while we ran in a couple of stores to buy a few last things before heading home. Amazingly, all students were on the buses by 10pm and we were headed home.

Monday morning, we ate breakfast in Oxford, Alabama and ate lunch in West Memphis. We were home by 4pm.

Eli was exceptional the entire trip. He had some moments, but overall, I was so impressed. He was so tired and there were so many different people around to impress - it was a lot to take, but he did it. And had a most wonderful time! He can't wait to wear his shark Florida shirt to school on Wed.!