Disney ~ Day 2 ~ Animal Kingdom

We tried to pack a whole lot into this first full day. We hit Animal Kingdom pretty soon after they opened that morning and headed straight for Kilimanjaro Safaris. It's a great ride for all ages and you can see wildlife up close like never before!

We passed some crazy pink flamingos on the way

We spotted some hippos getting their swim on

The idea of the Africa side of the park is to as closely recreate the African Savannah as they possibly could. It was amazing how realistic things appeared. The animals definitely appeared to be responding to something that would be present in their natural habitat.

I believe this animal is called an African Kudu (but don't quote me on that). We saw a LOT of different types of antelope/deer family animals and I lost track of all the different names. These animals were seriously sitting along the road like it was no big deal.

I love elephants. They're just so majestic.

But this guy, well, I almost peed my pants when we drove up and there he was, close enough for me to touch. White Rhinos are just gorgeous.

After our safari, Little A hopped on Daddy's shoulders for some personally escorted park time.

Thankfully, we quickly came upon some characters to meet. These are Kendi & Koda from the newer film "Brother Bear".

And then they were stunned to meet Goofy, dressed as Santa.

They eagerly waited in line to meet the illustrious Minnie Mouse.

However, nothing beat the excitement of meeting the main mouse himself, Mickey.

After our character meeting session, we grabbed lunch and tried another couple of rides. This was a "dumbo-like" ride that featured dinosaurs. The girls, especially Big A, ate it up!

Little A soon succumbed to all of the excitement and decided to catch a few zzz's.

We didn't want Big A to miss out, so we continued our search for more characters. Quickly, Donald Duck made an appearance, so Big A got his autograph for her & Little A's books. What a sweet big sis!

It was amazing that in the time it took us to get from Donald to Chip N Dale that Big A also fell prey to the nap fairy. So, hubby & I took full advantage of this moment and got an embarrassing shot for their dating years.

This is the Tree of Life. It's kind of the centerpiece of the whole park. It's covered in carvings of all sorts of animals and things. It's truly spectacular to see in person. I was just a little proud of this pic.

As the girls finally woke up, we decided to catch the afternoon parade. The girls are big fans of the Jungle Book, so we were excited to see Baloo and King Louie lead things off.

The parade was full of cool artistic interpretations of animals.

After a great parade, we gathered up the weary troops and decided to head back to the resort. But, not before stopping to admire the Christmas tree that stood outside the park entrance. I love how Disney goes to extremes to really theme out EVERYTHING. This tree had some great decor that I wanted to capture. It was the perfect end to our first day!

Check back tomorrow for a quick side trip to Sea World!