Team Groves are Florida bound - October 2017 - day 20

[berniegroves]

Day 20 -
Animal kingdom

Our last full day!

On our last full day we always ask the kids which park they’d like to go back to. Last year it was Islands of Adventure, this year it was Animal Kingdom. I think the Wilderness Explorers activities and the Lion King show were swinging it for them.

So off to Animal Kingdom we went, we were up early today and out of the villa by 8.25. As Animal Kingdom was close by we were parking at 8.50. Super.
We got out of the car and were immediately hit by how cold it was! The temperature had dropped quite dramatically overnight and it was far far colder today than it had been on the rest of our trip. Miley and Grayson jumped into the stroller to try and stay a bit warmer. Grayson had shorts and a tshirt on and he had a light hoody in the bag which we put on him and he seemed fine with that. Miley had a sundress and a thin cardigan and she was freezing bless her. I gave her my cardigan to wrap around her but again it was only a thin one. And I was also really cold!
In England this weather would have been positively balmy, but in Florida after 3 weeks of glorious sunshine and heat it was a bit of a shock! So we walked as quickly as we could into the park hoping it would feel a bit warmer when we were out of the open carpark.
Sadly once in the park it was still chilly, but Miley in particular was really struggling. She has nothing to her, she’s all long skinny limbs and so we quickly realised we were going to have to buy a top for her to wear as otherwise our last full day would be ruined.
So we went into the main gift shop with the express purpose of buying a jumper. As we entered the store, almost dead on 9am, the cast member smiled at us and pointed (with two fingers) to the back of the store, whilst she said “jumpers and hoody’s are on a rack at the back of the store”.
Sure enough a rack of hoody’s had been pulled out of the stock room onto the shop floor.
This still amuses me now!
I love that Disney are so hyper aware of their customers that they know when the temperature drops to get the warmer clothes out. They didn’t even need to ask us what we were looking for!

Anyway, there wasn’t a huge selection, but Miley found a hoody that she absolutely loved. It was a blue hoody that had a type of galaxy print on it and the castle embroidered on the back, she absolutely loved it.

When we returned home she wore it to the first gymnastics class she had after the holiday. She’d been struggling with her confidence in gymnastics previously but on this first class back she did really well and her instructor said it must be because she had her magic hoody on! So from then on she needed the hoody for gymnastics and it became her lucky magic hoody!
A year later when it was too small for her I had to spend ages searching eBay trying to find one in a larger size!

So we purchased the hoody and tried not to think about how much it had cost. It was worth it to make sure we had a good last day.

So today the kids wanted to meet characters (I know, I know! But it’s what they loved!) and do the Wilderness Explorer activity’s and also watch the Lion King show (again! ). Miley was still hoping to be able to take part!
So that was what we planned to do.
With everyone feeling a bit warmer we headed towards the Tree of Life and went to meet Russell from Up. Last year he also had Dug with him, so it was a shame that he wasn’t there this year. But the kids had a blast and Russell was great with them. He was super excited about his autograph page and was showing it to people.

He was so silly and really made it a lot of fun for them. I love watching them having so much fun.

Looking at my photos it seems we had a bit of a wander around at this point, I believe it was because Grayson needed a toilet break! He needs a lot of toilet breaks.

We had a fastpass for the safari so we went up and dropped off the stroller and were on the jeep after about 10 minutes.
The safari today was awesome. Loads of the animals were out moving around which obviously makes it more exciting.
Both Miley and Grayson love animals. Mileys favourite was the Wild Dogs and the soft toy she bought of one has been very well loved.
The lions were being very playful today which was cute. They were all having a clean or were rolling around enjoying the sunshine.

I was so pleased we’d had such a good safari on our last day.

We went on the animal trail that is outside the safari as we had some time to kill until the next showing of the Lion King.

I’d got fastpasses for the Lion King because Miley was so desperate to be in the show and so we knew we needed to be seated near the front. Normally I wouldn’t bother getting a fastpass for a show.
The show started at 11 and we were let in a little while before. We sat in the Giraffe section and managed to get two seats on the end of a row near the front and then two seats behind those. So Miley and I sat in front of Simon and Grayson. I was quietly hopeful as we were as close as we could get to the front without being in the disabled seats. But I prepared Miley that she might not get picked.
I didn’t really pay much attention to the show as I was so hyper aware of the cast members and when they were picking the children to take part. This might seem over the top, but if you knew Miley you’d understand. She was so full of hope that she’d get picked and had been talking about it all through the holiday. She’s so shy and unassuming but she loves shows and being on a stage so I knew how much she wanted it.
Luckily we’d seen the show many times this holiday so I didn’t feel like i was missing too much. I think Simon and Grayson had definitely had their fill of this show bless them, but Miley was enthralled again.

Towards the end of the show I could see the cast members doing the rounds and the lovely lady dressed as a Zebra came up and asked Miley if she wanted to take part.
I looked at Miley and she was just frozen to her seat not saying a word!
I told the lady she’d love to join in and gave Miley a little nudge towards the stage and off she went.
I worry I must have looked like a pushy parent, but I just knew how much she wanted it and I knew she’d be broken up afterwards if she missed her chance.

The Zebra lady was amazing with her and just seemed to understand she needed some extra reassurance.

The kids were given instruments and then they all walked around the stage in a big circle with the cast members whilst the main singers sang their song. I believe it was Circle of Life.

I was so emotional as I was so pleased that on our last day she was finally getting her chance to participate.
When it finished I saw that the other kids were going back to their seats but that Miley was still up by the stage with the Zebra lady. I was confused to start with but then I realised that the cast member was giving Miley a little bit extra Disney magic!
She stood by the stage with her and Timon walked over towards them. He was thanking everyone for coming to the show and he said ‘you’ve all been wonderful - especially you!’ And as he said that he pointed right at Miley!
I think my heart burst at that point, she’s so shy and quiet and so often blends in and so for her to have a moment that was all about her was magic!
Timon then crouched down infront of Miley and reached out and gave her a high five.

It was SO amazing and was hands down the best moment we’ve ever had in Florida.
She’d been hoping and wishing for it for so long and it had turned out to be more than she could have imagined.
She was literally beside herself with excitement and emotion when she came back to her seat. Such magic!

It was about 11.40 when we left the theatre and we decided to take the train out to Rafikis planet watch as we had never actually been out there before.
I think we were the only people on the train, but we found it really interesting seeing some of the backstage areas.

We really liked it out here, it was so relaxed and quiet compared to the rest of the park. The kids loved the mural with all the animals in it and Grayson was obsessed with the giant rhino in the main hall!

Doc McStuffins and Rafiki were doing meet and greets so obviously the kids headed straight for them.

Doc McStuffins was super excited about her autograph page, so the kids were very pleased. They enjoyed meeting her as they like her cartoons so they had fun.

But the Rafiki meet and greet was amazing. He was so funny. He walked up to Grayson and started looking through his hair as though he were looking for bugs to eat!

The kids were laughing so hard. He also loved his autograph page and he was really silly with them and made them laugh a lot, especially Grayson!

There were a few Wilderness Explorer activities to do out here so we did those and got them ticked off of Miley and Graysons books.

It’s such a clever concept as the kids were so engaged with the activities and loved searching them out and getting them ticked off.
They are already looking forward to doing it again on our next trip.

We finished up and hopped on the train back to the main park.
Miley and Grayson wanted to do more of the Wilderness Explorer activities as they knew this was the last chance to do them on this trip. There are a lot of them so we knew we wouldn’t be able to do all of them.

But first we took a pit stop to play the drums! I wonder how many kids can walk past these and not want to play them?

I also bought a jungle juice slushy and some caramelised pecans. Yum!

We decided to do the Maharajah jungle trek as we hadn’t done it yet on this trip and we knew there were activities they could tick off.
It was really interesting and good to do something different.

There was an aviary at some point and you could collect a sheet of paper with all the different types of birds to see if you could find them all. Miley really got into this! A castmember in there took a liking to them, I think because they were so enthusiastic about the birds and she went all the way around with us helping the kids to find different birds and talking to them about the different types.

They were literally fascinated the whole time! It was another high point from today as it was lovely she made so much effort with them and that they enjoyed it SO much.

Don’t let Mileys face fool you, she loved this and did not want to leave! But it was 4.30pm by this point, so it had been a really long day for us.

We made a slow walk out of the park, letting the kids look at things as we went and we managed another couple of the wilderness explorer tasks.
We’d really enjoyed this park this year, and I think when the kids are bigger and can do the bigger rides it will be even better.

We bid a fond farewell to Animal Kingdom for this trip, we’d really had so much fun here. Miley in particular was very sad to be leaving.

We drove to Super Target and did some last minute shopping, a few bits of clothing, a few toys and some snacks that we all liked. We all really love Super Target and I wish I could buy all the homeware stuff and bring it back with us! We also got a suitcase.

The obvious choice for dinner then was Olive Garden much to mine and Mileys delight. It isn’t Simons favourite but the rest of us really love it. What’s not to love about those breadsticks and salad!
I only have one photo from dinner and it’s of Miley (still wearing her new hoody!) and digging into the salad! She really loved that stuff!

We had a lovely meal but there was an element of sadness as we knew this was our last night.

Feeling very full, satisfied and happy after a lovely day we went back to the villa for our last night.

The kids fell asleep quickly for once and I spent the evening washing and packing.

We were heading back to the UK tomorrow after a truly awesome holiday.

[Sparksy72]

What a truly magical day. I had everything crossed for Miley getting picked in the Lion King Show, I’m so pleased her wish came true! A very enjoyable read, thank you

[berniegroves]

Originally Posted by Sparksy72

What a truly magical day. I had everything crossed for Miley getting picked in the Lion King Show, I’m so pleased her wish came true! A very enjoyable read, thank you

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Ah thank you so much. It was such a huge deal for her and for us and the extra bit with Timon was just magic.

Thanks so much for reading.

[Loobylou_82]

Reading about Miley at the Lion King Show brought tears to my eyes. How magical and special for her. Good report. Enjoyed reading.

[Tinkermom]

Oh my such wonderful experiences today, Miley and Timon just fantastic!

[Mel49]

What a fantastic last day and hearing how much Miley enjoyed the Lion King show and that she had the confidence to join in was lovely. I always have a tear in my eye when I watch that show and am going to the Liong King Show in Edinburgh next month so will need to remember the tissues !

[berniegroves]

Originally Posted by Loobylou_82

Reading about Miley at the Lion King Show brought tears to my eyes. How magical and special for her. Good report. Enjoyed reading.

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Thanks so much. It still makes me emotional thinking about it.

Originally Posted by Tinkermom

Oh my such wonderful experiences today, Miley and Timon just fantastic!

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Thanks. It was the highlight for us and was why I really wanted to finish the report as I wanted us to always remember it.

Originally Posted by Mel49

What a fantastic last day and hearing how much Miley enjoyed the Lion King show and that she had the confidence to join in was lovely. I always have a tear in my eye when I watch that show and am going to the Liong King Show in Edinburgh next month so will need to remember the tissues !

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Thank you. It was pure magic for her and she isn’t a confident kid generally but loves musicals. I’m so pleased she had her moment.
Enjoy the show next month :-)