Chicklings: Day 1: Animal Kingdom

Day one of our Orlando adventure began with breakfast bright and early at Grandma and Gramp's house. This would be the one day that everyone would be at Disney together, so we had a lot to pack in. With park hopper tickets in hand, we were off.

We were at the gates to The Animal Kingdom 30 minutes before they opened at 8:30 am. Donning our matching shirts, the entire Hunt clan looked like a sea of green. But there was a method to our madness and we ended up washing those shirts everyday to re-wear them. No one was lost and if someone accidentally separated from the group then all it took was a quick scan of the crowd to find everyone else. Another plus: it was totally obvious that we were all together so other people waiting in lines were very courteous and helpful when it came to making sure we stayed together.

After making it through the gates, it was a mad dash to the back of the park to hit the animal safari. All the animals were eating first thing in the morning, so we got a good view of most of who there was to see.

The tree of life is in the background. Isn't it amazing?

Dinosaur Land USA. Time to take a ride with the Triceratops.

While part of the group went on a little roller coaster, Grandma, J.T., Carrie, and I took the little kids to this play area. One adult may have had just as much fun as the little kids. Can you guess who it was?

Uncle J.T. gets to ride with the boys and he's getting them all psyched up! Luckily, Drue and Dallin are Hunts and jumped right into the excitement instead of looking at him like he was crazy.

I didn't get a picture, but Expedition Everest had to be my favorite ride of the day. A fast roller coaster that takes you through twists, turns, tunnels, and then backwards, it wasn't for the smallest ones, so we split up. Half the adults went to the ride and the other half snagged seats for the Finding Nemo show. When we were done we ran, literally, back to the theater and switched out.

Ava and Ari are ready for the show. Thanks to Gramps, Aunt LeAnn, and a carnival game in Dinosaur USA, they had these sharks to snuggle.

There was a dinosaur ride that took us back in time to collect a rare dinosaur. The problem was that we landed in the middle of a giant meteor shower, so there were shocks and scares around every corner. My girls had watched a special on Netflix about Disney that highlighted certain rides. After getting in line and right before boarding, Ava realized which ride she was about to get on and freaked out. Luckily, Grandma loves her and took her to safety. Grandma did get a turn after the first group got back. I know it's a bit blurry, but I took a picture of the screen showing the snapshot from our ride. We're easy to pick out in our green shirts. At this moment a pretty large dinosaur had popped out of the darkness with a pretty loud roar. It caught Grandma a little off guard, if you can't tell. (Front row, left, fists drawn up, and screeching in terror.) Priceless!

We were next on to the Lion King show. Maya finally fell asleep on the walk over, so JT stayed outside to allow her to get a little nap. This show turned out to be my favorite. The voices were amazing, there was animation, and amazing acrobatics. I had a few video clips, but I'm having a hard time getting them up here. Maybe later.