Disney World - Day 12

EPCOT AND ANIMAL KINGDOM

Character watch!

We started off at EPCOT to find out where I would be working. EPCOT actually stands for Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow and it is dedicated to international culture and technological innovation. It was one of Walt Disney's final park ideas before he died. He actually wanted people to be able to live there, but that idea obviously changed. There are two buildings that hold "Innoventions" where you can sample and see new inventions that companies are experimenting with and several futuristic rides near the park entrance. EPCOT holds what is called the "World Showcase" as well. It runs along the entire south side of the park and different characters can be found in their respective countries. Themed shows, bars, rides, and restaurants are also in the showcase.

I work in The Seas with Nemo and Friends with the marine mammals.

Right next the The Seas is The Land. The Land has a few rides as well and a virtual show with Timon and Pumbaa about conservation issues. We went on one called Living with the Land. It's really cool for nerdy farm people like us. You are on a boat that takes you through the history of farming and then tours through the Disney greenhouses. The greenhouses are even part of the future. There are tomato "trees" that produce record holding amounts of tomatoes, eggplant "trees", nine pound lemons, all kinds of herbs, giant pumpkins, and multiple other fruits and vegetables hydroponically grown. Then they harvest the food and serve it in the cafeteria.

Then we skipped back over to Animal Kingdom - the tree of life!

On our way to the Pangani Forest Trail, we found some other really cool animals throughout the park.

Clean me...

Kangaroos

And on the Forest Trail there were even more.

My mom also made me take a picture of this elusive hairy anteater

Temperature: 100+ degrees F

Favorite Part of the Day:

Mom: Seeing the gorillas and Beast

Annie: The baby elephant on the Safari

Favorite Quote:

Mom: "Look! There's Beast!" (and then she took off running without me)

Annie: "I'm sweating from my eyeballs"

Disney World - Day 11

DISNEY WORLD - ANIMAL KINGDOM

Character watch!!

We spent the majority of our day at Animal Kingdom, which turned out to be my favorite overall park (sorry EPCOT!). Aside from riding the safari a million times, we walked through the park and spotted some cool animals. Like....komodo dragons!

The Maharajah Jungle Trek in the "Asia" portion of Animal Kingdom was cool for several reasons. We spotted some BATS!!! These were awesome. They were a lot bigger than I thought they would be and we were lucky to watch them after a thunderstorm. After it rains, they open up their wings and clean themselves like cats. It made me a little squirmy and I had visions of Dracula, but it was something I'd never seen before.

I think this guy was trying to figure out if he could jump the distance.

Reminds me of Raja the tiger:

Safari vultures:

For the Illuminations night show (my mom was ticked that Fantasmic was only on Thursday and Saturday - this is our favorite from Disneyland) we took a bus to EPCOT.

This giant ball has a ride in it. The ball itself can fit into the tank that I'm diving in with ten feet around the diameter to spare. Cool!

Illuminations of Earth:

Temperature: 100+ degrees F

Favorite Part of the Day:

Mom: Going on the safari in a torrential downpour. It added an element of authenticity.

Annie: The second time on the safari when the cows with giant horns were fighting and charging the safari truck.

Favorite Quote:

Mom: (said with a severe twang, no pauses, taken from a conversation behind us in a line) "So, what part a Carolina you folks from do any huntin' in those parts we got rabbit, we got sqrll (no vowels) we got berr, don't use berr much we barbeque we roast we marnade (limited vowels)" etc...

Annie: "That thunder sounded like a T-Rex"

On a side note from my mom, we were advised that if we missed the Matterhorn we should go on Expedition Everest in "Asia". Although it looks similarly themed - large mountain, roller coaster, yeti, my mom had this to say in my notebook at the end of the day:

"Expedition Everest: VOMIT, not the Matterhorn"

Intermission

Before I post Day 2 of Disney World, I wanted to share some pictures from the Kilimanjaro Safari. It's one of my favorite things to do in Animal Kingdom. We went on it a bunch because the animals behave differently every time. The safari takes you on an actual open ride through an African savannah and these animals really live there.

There are some pictures when it was raining. There was a monsoon.

I spy with my little eye...

This is a black rhino. A white rhino picture is further down.

My favorite animal:

Disney World - Day 10

DISNEY WORLD

Unfortunately, we didn't take very many pictures during our first day in Disney World. We were a little distracted by how hot it was. As in, I was sweating from my shins, hot. To stand outside all day in lines really caught us off guard. I did notice though, that Disney World has a lot more drinking fountains and outdoor fans than Disneyland. Probably for good reason.

For the life of us, we could not figure out how to navigate the park at first. Disney World is split into at least 4 distinct areas: Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios (and 2 water parks). Because Disney is so large, you have to take monorails or buses to get from one area to another. Magic Kingdom was first on our list because it had a lot of the classic rides that Disneyland had, and we always get excited about Splash Mountain.

Cinderella's Castle is pretty impressive when you walk in:

I was disappointed at first because I didn't see Indiana Jones or the Matterhorn, but I found rides that were similar in Animal Kingdom (Day 2 of Disney). After riding Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain and Pirates of the Caribbean, we stopped for lunch. I was amazed that instead of seagulls stealing food (what I'm used to) Florida has a lot of cranes. They easily take the place of seagulls. I watched this crane physically remove a burger from a toddler's hand.

During the day, we were forced to take breaks because of the heat. Despite the hot weather in New Orleans, we were hideously underprepared for a hot day with no breeze.

We rode Splash Mountain 4 times and it was worth the lines and the water cooled us off. Also, I escaped sunburn!

Temperature: 100+ degrees F

Favorite Part of the Day:

Mom: Riding Splash Mountain during a lightning storm

Annie: Getting soaked on the ride

Favorite Quote:

Mom: "Hang on, I have to mop myself"

Annie: "Do they sell buckets of ice for your face?"

Day 9

The Last of LOUISIANA

We left New Orleans in the early morning on our way to Orlando, the final destination (thank god!). There wasn't a whole lot left of the state so we only noticed things falling into the "abundant" category.

Temperature: 88 degrees F (at 9 in the morning)

Abundant: Unidentifiable furry roadkill

MISSISSIPPI

My mom was set on seeing some oil tar globs, which led us down to the Gulf Coast of Mississippi...

Where we set foot for the first time in the Gulf of Mexico. It's too bad that there was a sheen of oil on the water in a lot of places.

The houses along the coast are mansion style homes. A good number of them are set on stilts and probably a third are still being rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina destroyed the area (Mississippi was hit especially hard). We also drove by countless empty lots. The abandonment paired with the oil spill was sad and I wished more people had the opportunity to stay after the hurricane.

Stilts:

Brand new houses next to empty lots:

Surprise! We found wreckage that had washed up from the oil rig. Shortly after this, we drove back up to the main freeway and continued on to Alabama.

Temperature: 91 degrees F

Abnormal Roadside Items:

White bucket

Black bucket

Stuffed teddy bear

Shoe

Full size mattress

Oil rig wreckage

Abundant: Glass beer bottles

ALABAMA

This sign was really hard to find. It was in between the exits for a rest stop and I trekked through long grass (rattlesnakes!) to get a picture.

We drove through the tail end of Alabama and didn't get to spend much time there, so I only have the welcome sign.

Temperature: 94 degrees F

Abnormal Roadside Items:

Armadillo (There comes a time when you see so many armadillos that you just start to refer to them as "dillos")

Enough clothing that it looked like someone lost a suitcase

Dog carrier

Patio chair

Bed pillows

White bucket

Gas can

Orange bucket

Abundant: Armadillos and garbage

FLORIDA

Funny story about this sign: I wasn't paying attention and I didn't get a photo in time. In order to turn around we attempted to exit, but it was a truck stop. The exit after that was a separate highway. The exit after that was a separate highway but had a clear turn around, so we took that. Forty minutes later I finally got the sign. On to Orlando.

We went through the entire panhandle and hit our first set of toll roads. While waiting in line, there was a large lightning storm. I had time to practice taking pictures.

Temperature: 97 degrees F

Abnormal Roadside Items:

Grey bucket

Blue cooler

Inflated pool air mattress

White bucket

Pink bucket

Yellow bucket

Large lizard like reptile

Turtle

Opossum

Raccoon

Gas can

Armadillo

Bag of charcoal briquets

Construction hat

Welcome mat

Blue blanket

Fox

Rubber boot

Blue rubbermaid bin

Milk crate (a black one and a grey one)

Nutria

Coyote

Hawk

Skunk

Tortoise attempting to cross the freeway

Abundant: Freeway call boxes

Favorite Part of the Day:

Mom: Traveling along the Gulf Coast

Annie: The successful rebuilds after Katrina

Favorite Quote:

Mom: "You know you're really badass when you drive a motorcycle with a side car"

Annie: "Mom, where did we see that gas can?"

mom: "Was that in Kentucky?"

annie: "...we were never in Kentucky..."

mom: "too many states, too many numbers"

New Orleans - Day 8

NEW ORLEANS #3

This was our last full day in New Orleans and we started it with a boat ride down the Mississippi River in the Natchez, which is the last steam powered paddle boat traveling on the river. Overall, the ride was fun, but heat radiated off of the floor of the boat so you either had to spend your time on the lower level outside or inside the dining room. We lasted almost the whole time outside so that we could see what the tour guide was pointing out along the banks.

After looking at big navy ships, old sugar factories, and plantation homes, we got to see where "Interview with a Vampire" was filmed. Now I want to go watch the movie again. Katrina damage was also prevalent:

We wandered for a while after the boat ride and looked at street art around Jackson Square. We had to retreat back to the hotel for a short time because there was a spontaneous thunderstorm with lightning right above us. It rained for about two hours...the perfect amount of time to watch a World Cup game and take a nap.

Finally, after finding a place for dinner where I could try alligator (at my grandma's insistence) we thought it would be fun to ride the street car around to the Garden District. Along the route was Loyola University and Tulane University and some really gorgeous old homes, but it was too dark to get any good photos of them. I would recommend doing this if you ever visit New Orleans. The street car is only $1.25 each way and the entire ride takes about an hour, at which you can get off at any of the stops and explore.

Temperature: 104 degrees F

Favorite Part of the Day:

Mom: Still the architecture of the French Quarter

Annie: Riding the street car through the Garden District

Favorite Quote:

Mom: "I'm a humid catastrophe"

Annie: Immediately following the lightning above our hotel "Oh look, everyone just jumped out of the pool"

New Orleans - Day 7

NEW ORLEANS #2

Day 2 was our favorite day because we went on the swamp tour. A shuttle picked us up at the hotel and drove us to the area where we boarded a 16 passenger airboat. My mom and I were in the front seat, 2 Canadian women were behind us, and the rest of the passengers were from Denmark. Our tour guide Felix was straight from the bayou complete with an authentic cajun accent and taught everyone cajun terms. For example: he gave us homework at the end of the day to find a good restaurant and eat something so tasty that it made you want to "lick ya ass". This was our boat:

About ten minutes into the trip we found a really big alligator. He was 13 feet long and weighed close to 800 pounds and had only one eye (that's how they tell the alligators apart that they see). Another boat passed us when we were feeding him marshmallows and the guide said that the gator had just eaten a smaller 4 foot alligator in front of his group...

Felix then brought us to a lagoon and "played" with his two favorite alligators.

In the marsh portion of the trip the guides had a baby alligator to hold and he was kind of limp. I think that he was hot.

And once again, we ended the night with a trip down Bourbon Street.

Temperature: 104 degrees F

Favorite Part of the Day:

Mom: Riding in an airboat through the Bayou with people from Denmark

Annie: Holding an alligator

Favorite Quote:

Mom: "Why does 98 degrees feel so hot on the outside and not on the inside?"

Annie: "This is my pet alligator, his name is 'son of a bitch'" - Felix the tour guide