Disney World Day: 5

Our 5th day at Disney World was our off day.  Up till now we were at a park just about every second we had available.  Today instead of going to EPCOT we decided to stick around the resort and enjoy the pool.  That being said we didn't ignore EPCOT.  I woke up early and went to that park for the open.  There is a ride there called Soarin that on average has a line of 100 minutes. This ride was on my to do list but I didn't want to subject the family to the line.  I got there when the park opened rode the ride and grabbed a Fast Pass so Mom could ride later during nap time. It was a neat ride and I'm glad I rode it but I don't think it is worth a 100 minute line.

Following my solo trip the family hit the big resort pool.  Like a few days before Luke rode the slide while Alyce hung out in the big pool.  After a bit I brought Luke over to Mom and Alyce and we hung out together.  We were having so much fun I wanted to record it and got a waterproof film camera at the the gift shop.  We haven't gotten those pictures developed yet but I think they will turn out great.  It's been years since I used a camera without a screen.  I had to reacquaint myself with a viewfinder. Hah!

We pulled the kids out of the pool to snag some lunch before naps and a return trip to the Animal Kingdom. This is where we had one of our nightmare moments of the trip. I'm guessing we had both kids in the pool too long and let their stomachs run empty. As we sat down to lunch both kids where crying. Maybe crying is being too kind, they were sobbing. Who knows what they were crying about but Mom and I knew if they would eat they'd be fine.  However, they wouldn't take a break to put any food in their mouth.  Then right when it couldn't get any worse Alyce accidentally dropped her food onto the floor. And just when you thought she couldn't get any louder Alyce kicked it up a notch. At that moment I don't know where this came from but I just started laughing. Laughing at how both our kids were crying at what was supposed to be the happiest place on earth.  Mom didn't share in my finding of humor. She confided in my later that she was about to cry at that moment. Luckily only a single chicken nugget was lost to the floor and the food falling on the floor kicked Alyce out of her funk and she started eating. Luke after drinking his milk regained composure enough to start and finish his lunch.  20 minutes after lunch was over both kids where laughing and having a good time. With kids you always ride the fine line between laughing and sobbing.

After naps and Mom's trip to EPCOT to ride Soarin we took the bus ride back to the Animal Kingdom. As written about earlier when we were there the first time we didn't get a chance to finish everything.  However, we almost didn't get a chance to hit the things we missed. On our way to the park some rain was moving into the area and all of the rides at Animal Kingdom were shut down. We weren't deterred, walked past all those leaving, and took the few free minutes to do a bit of shopping. While waiting Mom got a dress for Alyce and a shirt for Luke. I kept Luke occupied by rolling and bouncing back and forth. At one point the ball that hadn't been paid for rolled out of the store! I quickly retrieved and brought it back in but the employees were cool with it and even played with us for a few rotations.

Even though it was still raining we decided to look around to see what we could do from what was available. We ended up stumbling upon exactly what we came to the park to do. On the video we had at our house before we left for vacation it talked about how you could dig for dinosaurs at the park. Alyce fixated on that and repeatedly asked to do it. We knew that the dinosaur dig was accessed via a playground called the Boneyard which was closed. We walked passed an area that looked to be covered and protected from the rain; we decided to take a look.  Well it turned out it was the dinosaur dig and it was open! The slides and other parts of the Boneyard were closed but they let people in the back as long as they didn't climb on the steel structure.  Major win for us! We didn't even want the slides, just the dig, and we had it pretty much to ourselves.

The dig was as big of a hit as it was built up to be. Alyce and Luke both enjoyed themselves digging in the gravel unearthing the bones of a woolly mammoth. Really the bones were concrete copies of a mammoth's bones but Alyce didn't need to know that. Adults aren't supposed to help dig to leave room for others but it was so empty I joined in on the fun. It isn't every day you get to dig for bones. After a while the kids got kind of bored with the bones and we went off in search of a ride. We found one in the TriceraTop Spin.  The spin is a loose copy of the Dumbo ride in the Magic Kingdom however it doesn't carry near the attention as Dumbo. Throw in some light rain and we had the ride to ourselves.  After our first ride the workers told us we didn't have to get out and go around to the entrance. Instead we got to stay on the ride for another run. Alyce and Luke both thought this was awesome. I'd say this is the most fun they had on a ride up to that point. After a total of 3 turns on the spin we took our leave and headed for home. We had to get up early the next day as it was Alyce's big visit with the princesses.