Florida Vacation Day 4

Disney World Animal Kingdom

No hotel shuttle for us today. We packed up our bags, and Pat loaded the Toaster. We checked out and drove to Disney's Animal Kingdom Park. Disney has their own interstate type road system to all their parks. Here is the sign as you drive in.

The first attraction we did at the Animal Kingdom was the famous Kilimanjaro Safaris. They have a beautiful African wildlife preserve, and we rode in "Safari" trucks all around to see the animals. It was awesome getting so close to the animals. I thought we hung out at the Lion pride a little too long, since there are no sides on our truck!

Male Elephant

Female Elephants and Babies

Next we headed to Camp Minnie Mickey

I read it's the best place to see Characters, especially if you get there early. When we got there, there were no lines to some characters, and just a couple families for the others. Sweet! Honestly, when I thought about going to Disney World, I envisioned my kids hugging Mickey Mouse. I look at these pictures, and I tear up. I'm so happy we have these special family memories together.

Hugs for Thumper

The Girls & Minnie Mouse

Adia got everyone's autograph

Hugs for Adia and Mickey...awwww

John wasn't interested in interacting with any other characters, which was sad because I knew when we got home he wouldn't be in any pictures. He rallied at Mickey, to my surprise! Here he is "Giving Four" to Mickey

Even Hugs for Mickey from John!

The Higbie Family and Mickey Mouse

Hugs for Goofy

Next on the agenda was the Lion King Show!

Dinoland

I don't know if it was the three days of non-stop activities and people, or the call of the Ocean and our 3 hour drive ahead of us, but by the time we got to Dinoland we decided to let the kids run and play for awhile, and then hit the road for Ft. Myers!

This little kids play area was the first time in four days that Ella got to run around, and she LOVES slides. She was really a trooper being so good every day in the stroller and being carried around waiting in lines for stuff John and Adia wanted to do.

Adia and John played on the big equipment

We paused for this quick picture by the Tree of Life

This is so our kids. Adia always smiling, Ella (coping Adia) showing me her Minnie, and John lost in his DSi world. :)

As we hit the road we all yelled "Goodbye Disney World"!

Ella was sacked out minutes later...

It was a beautiful drive to Ft. Myers. We did stop at a Harley-Davidson store to get a few shirts for Pat and our dog watchers back home. Unfourtunatly, Ella woke up as we were leaving so all 3 kids were awake for the whole drive. They were really good, though, so it was fun. We saw orange groves, and cattle. Didn't realize Florida was into raising beef. They looked skinny compared to the corn fed WI variety!

We reached Ft. Myers Beach and it was a sunny 85 degree afternoon. Gorgeous. This was John and Ella's first Ocean visit, and Adia was too young to remember her first.

Here are a few shots of our hotel suite, and boy was it a SWEET!

I was hoping our travel agent requested an Oceanview, but we were not expecting the full kitchen, bath, and seperate bedroom. It was perfect. Ella could have a nap, and the kids could go to bed while others hung out watching tv. I also liked being on ground level. It was SO much easier for the kids. We had a swing set right outside our room, and the beach started 3 steps from our door.