Well it’s our last full day today so we went off to see what we could see at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. The day was very overcast as we left the hotel on the bus, but I insisted that we take our waterproofs with us. Good thing I did, because not long after we arrived at the park, the heavens opened. Quite appropriate really for being in the jungle. After a couple of minutes of rain, I suddenly realised that my waterproof was no longer waterproof, and I was getting wet in all sorts of embarrassing places.

4 wild beasts….grrrr!

Our first port of call was the Kilimanjaro Safari, which was totally brilliant. You get driven round in a Jeep, and get to see loads of different animals from elephants, to rhinos, to giraffes, warthogs and emus. Our guide was fantastic and pointed out all the animals for us.

We saw black and white rhinos.

When we had finished our safari ride we then did the Pangani Forest Exploration. This time some of it was inside where you saw all sorts of reptiles, some very ugly naked mole rats (I’m sorry but they aren’t very pretty), a very large toad and a tortoise, (although the lady behind me told her daughter that it was a turtle). If felt like reminding her that turtles spend a huge amount of their time in the sea, and tortoises live on land and don’t go near the sea. Still never mind!!

What a lovely pair of TORTOISES!!

We also saw a huge tank that had masses of fish in, and some hippos. As I watched the fish swim about, suddenly right in front of my eyes floated past a hippo as graceful as anything. The fish didn’t mind one bit, but I’ve never seen that before, and they’re so lumbering on the land. We also saw some zebras and some adorable meerkats, that kept popping up out of the ground. We also saw a silver backed gorilla, which was a little on the moody side. He’s most probably fed up with people staring at him all day. Then it was time to get wet again. So we went on the Kali River Rapids. Now I’m very glad I went on this, as it sounds worse than it is. There are a few gentle drops, some gentle spinning, and lots and lots of getting wet. Make sure you put your feet up on the bar, otherwise your shoes will get soaked. It’s a very short ride, and I would have gone on again if the queue wasn’t quite that long. After looking at some more animals and drying off we then came across the tigers. George got out the camera again and was fascinated with the tigers behind the glass. He took some amazing pictures.

They are so beautiful, but I wouldn’t want to get too close.

Then Mark and the kids went on Expedition Everest!! This clearly wasn’t for me, so I waited by the photo point so I could see them whizzing past. We had 4 fast passes for this, but they only used 3. Well, this isn’t for the faint hearted because at one point you stop in the dark, and then go backwards!!! Apparently you are at such an angle that you feel like you’re upside down, but aren’t!! Sounds like hell to me. They all enjoyed it, but George wanted to go on again. He got through very quickly as he was on his own. Mark, Emily and I waited to see him. Then having done it twice he wanted to do it yet again!!! So he used my Fast Pass to get through. I think he would have gone on it all afternoon if we’d let him. I was then convinced to go on Dinosaur. You go back in time to rescue an Iguanodon. I was rather apprehensive about this, nothing to do with the loud noises, or scary dinosaurs, but the violent way the Jeep would be moving about. You had a seat belt on, and a bar in front to hold onto. I kept one hand on the bar and the other was holding Mark’s hand very tightly. During the ride, Mark asked if he could have his hand back, and very quickly I replied “NO!”. We had to prise our hands apart when the ride had finished. This ride was rather out of my comfort zone, and I WILL NOT be doing that again. We ended the day with “It’s Tough Being and Bug”, which is based around the film “A Bug’s Life”. You sit in a theatre and watched a 3D show, which was very good, but some parts were very scary, and 1 child had to be taken outside because she got scared. We then headed back to get the bus back to the hotel, all very exhausted. Oh and I met Russell from “UP”, lovely chap.

Where’s his Ellie badge?