Happiest Place on Earth: The madness continues

The next park we went to was Animal Kingdom. I was really excited about this park because I'd heard great things about it, but I was a little disappointed. It was the busiest park we went to so it was hard to squeeze through the press to see the animals. I can see most of the same animals at the zoo here in Knoxville and it's a whole lot less crowded. The safari was kind of lame; the animals weren't very close. At no point did I think I was on a real safari. I think the younger kids liked it, but whoever said Disney World is all about the kids?!?

The most I can say about Animal Kingdom is that they serve a tall cup of sangria:

Get it without ice to get you through the next line

I didn't learn my lesson and brought the blender, again. We left it at the first aid station near the front of the park and never used it. I had a Real Food Blend for lunch at one of the cafes.

With a sangria chaser

As I mentioned, the animals in Animal Kingdom were disappointing. The roller coaster they had, "Expedition Everest" was definitely my favorite of the whole trip though. It's the only one I went on twice. Betsy's favorite was "Space Mountain". I went on that one when I was a kid, but I was afraid to go on it this time because I thought it might jerk my head around too much.

 Video of "Expedition Everest" I pulled off youtube

Grace tried "Thunder Mountain Railroad" in Magic Kingdom then decided to opt out of roller coasters. While she waited with one of the adults for the rest of us to hit the scary rides, she discovered her talent for the "Whack-a-Mole" game. She is crazy-good at "Whack-a-Mole!!" If only that had some bearing on her education.

The cane was a big help to me, or maybe we didn't walk around as much

Grace's favorite ride was the "Kali River Rapids." It's one of those rides where a large group faces each other in a circular tube as it careens down a river. The tube was large enough to hold our entire group. There were ten of us--five kids and five adults--on that tube. We all knew some people would get really wet and others would get to watch it happen as one side or the other went under a waterfall or was at the front on a steep decline. The Liebenow's were fortunate because Matt and Kerrie got soaked and we got to watch as the wall of water engulfed them. Grace talked about it the rest of the trip.

That night, for dinner, we picked up from Bonefish Grill and brought it back to the house. So, I really didn't need to bring my Vitamix out the whole day.

Bonefish Grill, good friends, and copious amounts of wine

For our final day in Orlando, we decided to go to Hollywood Studios. I finally chose not to bring the Vitamix into the park so that was one less thing to worry about.

Grace and Anders at the Hollywood Studios entrance

For that last day, we were really missing the other adult in our group, Matt's sister Melinda. Ah, I've just realized I don't have any pictures of Matt's totally cool sister on my camera! Sorry about that, Melinda, or maybe you're just as happy I don't lampoon you on here. She was a HUGE help with us corralling the kids and very fun to be around. After she went home to Chicago, the rest of the adults realized we had to be parents again.

In Hollywood Studios, I was determined to bring a Real Food Blend on a ride--maybe even eat a Real Food Blend on a ride. It was a photo opportunity too good to pass up. The "Tower of Terror" was too dark and I couldn't possibly imagine trying to pour a RFB while getting bounced around in that elevator. So, I set my sights on the "Rock 'n' Roller Coaster."

Eating a Real Food Blend at the entrance wasn't nearly enough of a thrill

I slipped the bag into my pocket as we waited nervously in line. Betsy and I planned out the photo. It looked like the shoulder restraints would prevent any kind of tube feeding plus there's no way to hold a camera while the thing was moving. So we decided to snap a picture as I jumped in, right before we took off:

Nailed it.

The ride itself was fun, especially the first part. The bit at the end jerked my head a lot though and wasn't too comfortable.

Once again, I had a Real Food Blend for lunch. And once again, I flushed it with a very large cup of sangria.

With all these little girls around, I see why Matt is bald

Wait for it...

"Happiest place on earth" indeed.

We'd heard great things about the "Toy Story" ride, so we bit the bullet and waited an hour in line to get on. It was our longest wait time of the 3 parks we visited. Having a lengthy wait time is much more fun with a group than it would have been with just the Liebenow's. We managed to pass most of the time playing an iPhone app called "Head's Up" where one person holds the phone to their forehead displaying a word and the rest of the group gets him/her to guess the word. I'm not so good at explaining it but there's a free version and it's very fun to play if you have time to kill. Everyone else in line was asking us for the app name. When we finally got to the ride, it was pretty fun but I don't think it was worth such a long wait. You sit in pairs and shoot different targets with a laser-tag-type gun. It took two hands so I was a little handicapped. That's my excuse for getting demolished by Matt at the game anyway. Plus I'm pretty sure he was cheating.

Toy Story photo op.

Can you believe there were no costumed characters (Mickey, Minnie, princesses, etc.) walking around in Magic Kingdom??? Only a few in Hollywood Studios.

We went out to eat at a really nice restaurant in Downtown Disney that I'll discuss in a separate post.

So that was the trip. The Dunker's stayed a few more Liebenow-free days but we felt the need to get Grace back to school.

Oh, I should also talk to you about this little monster:

Yeah. Those are his actual eyes.

The morning we were about to leave, I woke up and took a fast shower. This was the end of our journey. I was thinking fondly of the time we spent with the Dunker's and of how much I admired their children. No bickering; very little complaining; very respectful, responsible kids. I can't say enough good things about them. If Matt and Kerrie suddenly sent them to our house to live with us for 6 months, I would have no problem with it. You don't understand what that means. Did you know I can't stand kids? I mean I guess I could take in my sister's two boys for a few weeks but I'm contractually obligated to say that. Even my own kid is barely tolerable. But Matt' and Kerrie's kids are terrific. 

No gawking at my tube-feeding either. The other day, my neighbor's kid told me, "no offense, Brian, but your neck freaks me out." That's fine. I appreciate his honesty and I have no problem answering kids' questions but the staring makes me a little uncomfortable after a while. Avery, Sloane and Anders didn't do any of that.

So there I was, coming out of the shower, blissfully thinking about how fortunate I was to have been introduced to such wonderful children, contemplating how bright the future of humanity was with such an inspiring generation of youths coming of age. All of a sudden, I hear a blood-curdling scream as Anders leaps out of the dark to frighten me.

Scared the crap out of me. My heart stopped. I may have given a high-pitched squeal, cowered in terror and peed a little, but it all happened so fast I can't remember. The next thing I know, I hear fading laughter as the little bugger (actually, 'bugger' isn't good British slang to use, is it? No, screw it. Anders is a little bugger--I said it!) scampered off back to his room. 

All I can say is, your time will come, Anders. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow. But one day. One day.