Disney World, Day 7

On Friday, the one place we hadn't been, ironically, was Animal Kingdom, where our lodge was. So we took the shuttle over to the park area. My notes are thin and this was a few weeks ago now, so I will do my best to recall what we did. (Emily reminds me I already missed one of our favorite rides from the previous day, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, a roller coaster that Kate did NOT want to go on, but at the end was like, Wheeeeeeeee!!!!" This also reminds me of the DoleWhip, which was a pineapple flavored ice cream snack that was fantastic. But I digress.)

Perhaps the coolest thing about it was this massive Tree of Life, a huge structure which looked real but had all these animals etched/carved into its trunk. Really cool. Then it was off to DinoLand, USA, where we did a couple of rides and blew some money on Carnival games. Eh.

But the day really picked up with the animal safari, where we rode a bus through a whole bunch of different animal areas, and lunch at Flametree Barbecue, where I ate some fantastic ribs (sorry, animals!) and had one of the week's better lunches. Then we did "Everest," a ride which was supposed to be scary and I figured, no big deal if Kate can't do it, I will let Emily go with Jack. Instead we both did it, and good thing because it was one of the best rides of the vacation. You felt a chilling wind in your, uh, hair, and seemed to be attacked by a Yeti that destroyed the track in front of you, forcing you to go backward. Great fun.

The safari was cool for the gorilla, and the climbing monkeys, and the elephants, and the giraffe that walked up about 5 feet away from us. And then we finished up there and went BACK to Hollywood Studios, so we could do the Toy Story and Star Wars rides again. And finally, done with all that, we had dinner at the 50s prime time cafe, where all the tables were like being in your grandmas kitchen or an old TV show, the waitress called you hon and cracked wise to you and your kids (Jack didn't know what to make of her; couldn't tell if she was serious or kidding when she took away his toy at the table and lectured him about his elbows). The menu, of course, had meatloaf, fried chicken, and chicken pot pie, or a sampler with some of each -- my choice.

We enjoyed colorful drinks, huge desserts which you ordered from a menu on slides in a old time Viewfinder, and the kitschy decor, which felt entirely authentic. I don't remember if we squeezed in one more ride...think we thought about Toy Story, but the wait was too long, and bed was calling. What do you know, I remember more about that last full day at Disney than I thought.