day 4

wednesday...our last full day. we woke up & ran to the animal kingdom. in fact, we ran so fast we thought we hadn't brought enough warm clothes so barb & don walked back from the bus stop to retrieve some winter gear while clay, luci, gus & i took the bus to the animal kingdom. we went right in & got fast passes for the african safari. then we walked along a trail to look at some more animals while waiting for granmda & grandpa.

on our way to meet up with with grandma & grandpa we ran into meeko, pocahontas' raccoon friend, so luci waited in line to see him. we had been hoping to see pocahontas herself, and despite my asking around i wasn't sure we were going to get to see her. truth be told, clay wanted to see her more than luci did i think! anyway, when luci got up to meeko clay & luci turned to go and meeko stopped clay & raised one finger as if to say, wait one minute. and as clay turned around there she was, pocahontas!

then we were off to the lion king show. it did not disappoint. we all loved it...including gusgus! after that we had pizza at pizzafari...since we had promised the lu pizza the night before & didn't deliver. after lunch we went on our safari (saw TONS of animals...luci & gus really seemed to enjoy it) and decided to head back to the magic kingdom in time for the 3p parade.

safari animals

back at the magic kingdom we scouted out a spot for the parade. we had a good time & got to see all of the princess & whatnot. it was really neat because the characters in the parade really singled out luci & walked up to her, waving, etc. it seems that the performers work really hard to make the kids feel special. and it works.

after the parade grandma & grandpa took a well deserved break at a coffee shop for some people watching while we went on a few more rides. luci & clay went on the barnstomer again while gus took a nap in the stroller & i bought gifts for a few friends back home.

clay & luci created a chant...barnstormer, barnstormer, barNstorMeR! meeting mickey & minnie

we met back up with grandma & grandpa just in time for dinner at cinderella's castle! it was by far my favorite character dining. cinderella, belle, ariel, snow white & aurora all make an appearance. luci got a wand & a star and gus got a sword & a star! it was actually real table service instead of a buffet, so that was a nice change.

cinderella

snow white

belle



ariel



aurora

and gusgus :)

after dinner grandma & grandpa took gus back to the hotel for the night while clay & i convinced luci to 'stay out after bednight' since it was our last night. best decision EVER. the park was virtually empty after 6:30pish! we were seriously running through open waiting lanes to get to the empty rides! we even got to go on the peter pan ride that had had ridiculously long lines every other time. it was awesome.
see clay in the red on the dumbo ride?

her limited experience with fireworks left her skeptical & anxious about watching them, but we had stayed at the park so late there was no real way to avoid them...and not surprisingly, she LOVED them. they know how to put on a good show.

and then it was off to bed!