Disney World part 2 - Hollywood Studios & Animal Kingdom

I'm back.  And boy do I have a lot to say!  I am really enjoying reliving our Disney vacation by telling you all of the fun details and sharing pictures.  I hope you are enjoying it, too.  Again, if you click on the collage you will be able to see it bigger.
Hollywood Studios was a great park. There were so many great things to do there. One of our favorite things, being big Star Wars fans, was the Star Tours ride. It was like being in a Star Wars movie! The setting around the ride was awesome, too. Disney really knows how to make great stuff. They had Jedi training sessions for kids. Unfortunately, my children did not want to participate. Had the age limit been higher Tim and I would have done the training just so we could be on stage with Darth Vader using the force. Tim rode the Rock n Roller coaster while the girls and I watched a Beauty and the Beast musical. It was great...but Tim loved that roller coaster. When the musical was over Eliana and I rode the roller coaster. Oh man, it's a good one! It's inside a building, in the dark, with really loud Aerosmith music playing. Oh and also, there is a loop in the ride. I did not tell Eliana that before we rode it...but she liked it! It's definitely a must ride! The one thing we didn't get to ride, which we really wanted to, was the Tower of Terror. The line was long and not moving. We should have gotten a fast pass for that one, but didn't plan ahead.
I feel like I am rambling - but there is so much to say.  The Indiana Jones stunt show was great. Everyone loved that.  Going to see the American Idol show was pretty cool.  The set was just like it is on tv, which was pretty amazing.  No Ryan Seacrest, but there were three judges and one was very critical.  The 3D Muppet show was cute and the Little Mermaid show was cool.  The singing was great.  We would all like to go back to Hollywood Studios.  It was a great park.

Now for Animal Kingdom.  Oh my, it was like a zoo on steroids!  Talk about feeling like you are in Africa.  The safari ride was so wonderful.  The guide was funny and informative.  We got to see so many animals up close.  They even had hippos! Most of them were under the water, but I did catch a couple of them coming up for air.  They also had animals in other areas, not just on the safari.  We saw an anteater for the first time.  Now that is a bizarre looking animal!  I had never seen one in real life.  They are really big-much bigger than I imagined since I had only seen pictures of them. There were kangaroos and porcupines, flamingos and macaws, meerkats and monkeys, gorillas and giraffes, lions and rhinos. At many of the animal habitats there were Disney folks to share interesting facts and details about the animals. Now, of course there were more things to see other than animals. One of the best shows ever was the Festival of the Lion King in Camp Minnie-Mickey. It was so great! The costumes and singing..the whole show - definitely a must-see. Over in Dinoland we loved Finding Nemo the Musical. The actors were in costumes and had to sing and act with giant puppets of the Nemo characters. A great show, we loved it! Now that I'm talking about Dinoland let me just say that the ride Dinosaur was like being in the movie Jurassic Park. It was super fun. Let's move on to Asia. The minute details to make it really feel like being in Nepal were amazing...the colorful banners, the clothing on the terrace by the river, Mt. Everest. Oh yes, if you are a rider of roller coasters you will love Expedition Everest. We all rode it. The Yeti was awesome and going backwards after running out of track...it is not a ride to be skipped.  We also took a train out to Rafiki's Planet Watch.  The had a petting zoo with sheep and goats.  Who doesn't love sheep and goats, right?  We got to meet Rafiki out there...that was fun.  We also got to see where the Disney veterinarians do their work.  Unfortunately we didn't get to go into the animal clinic areas, but there were window so we could see how and where the took care of all the animals.

There is so much more I could say about these two parks, but I don't think you could stand to hear it all.  Only two more parks to discuss.  Brace yourself because Epcot and the Magic Kingdom are next!
xoANG