Animal Kingdom & Disney Boardwalk

We awake early. Today is the day that we had decided to go to the newest Disney Park - The Animal Kingdom. Breakfast is consumed very quickly and we are off. It looks like it is going to be fairly hot. Brigitte and Russell are looking forward to this park, as it is the one that they haven't been to before, only opening earlier in the year. We go on the safari first. It is very Disney if you know what I mean. As the truck rumbles around the outback, there is a story being told by our guide of elephant poaching. We view a few elephants, and other African animals. As we go over a bridge it appears to struggle with our weight. We carry on, and defeat the poachers, and get to view the back end of a baby elephant, which is obviously plastic. The message preached here is conservation with a capital C. We go to the tree of life, which a carved replica of the tree of life from the film Lion King. The carvings on the tree are all animals, and it is really breathtaking. At the centre of the tree is a show called bugs, which is a 3-D show (sorry Andrew). This one is probably the best of all the shows of this ilk that we have seen. What appears to be a curtain, is a film of butterflies, which moves once you have the glasses on. There is stinkbug, which makes a really horrible smell. At the end of the show the compare requests that the audience remain seated until the bugs have left the building. As we sit jets on air pass behind us, and around our legs, as if there are things moving past us. Really great. Andrew and Lauren both felt a little scared, but survived to tell the tale. The temperature was climbing all the time. We went on a train ride, for which we had to queue for a long time. When we arrived at the other station there was not much there.

Andrew, Lauren, Russell, Brigitte and Gordon posing again!

It took us no more than fifteen minutes to walk around it, and then we queued for another half-hour to get back by the train. There was no other way out of this area. The train journey itself wasn't that good. Although we viewed a few animals most were in hiding, so all we got to see was empty compounds.

A favourite photo from the holiday of Andrew & Lauren.

Truthfully we felt that the Animal Kingdom was very poor indeed. We were hot and the kids were very bothered. For the first time we had had enough very early. We once again decided to return to the hotel for a swim. This time Anita and Brigitte go off and read their books while the rest of us enjoy the swimming.

As we are hungry after the swim etc we go and have a Macdonald's. I don't know what it is but it tastes the same wherever you go. My big Mac and fries costs a lot, lot less than back home, but is still brilliant. We decide to go and visit Disney's Boardwalk. We view a few of the Disney hotels, and look around a few of the shops. We watch some of the entertainment that occurs around the lake. There are a couple of really good street entertainers, who would put most of the entertainers in Covent Garden to shame. Still after the pleasant walk around the lake, we decide to return back to the hotel. Once again the Kids are in bed very quickly and almost asleep before their heads hit their pillows.