Day Three: Walt Disney World January 2011 Trip

Lake Buena Vista, Florida: Sunday morning marked the final day of our weekend trip to Disney. We began the morning by packing the car and getting it ready for our departure this afternoon. The park on today's agenda was Animal Kingdom.

My parents and sister joined us for breakfast this morning at the Whispering Canyon. I learned from yesterday's experience and did not order soda, this time I chose a glass of OJ. My mom and sister did order a Coke but they were not surprised with a large glass like I was yesterday. I was looking forward to seeing their reaction. My wife chose the omelet again and this time I went with the Breakfast Skillet. The all-you-can-eat skillet contains eggs, waffles, bacon, sausage, potatoes and biscuits with gravy. Great choice and with all the food, one time through was enough for me.

After breakfast, we hit the park. We got to the park an hour after opening and it was starting to get crowded. We headed straight to Kilimanjaro Safari. The animals did not seem as active as they were during past visits. When we disembarked the safari, we took the walking tour through the Pangani Exploration Trail. During the trail, we got to see the baby gorilla, Lilly. Lilly interacted with her mother close to the glass, allowing visitors to have a close look.

We then headed to Expedition Everest. My dad and I were the only ones riding so my wife and sister took our soon to Dinoland to ride some more appropriate rides for him. Meanwhile my dad and I hit the line for Everest. The line was only 20 minutes, not bad for how full the park was getting. We breezed through the queue and just about got to the loading platform when an escorted group of approximately 50 girls were sent through the Fast Pass lane, pushing us all back in line. Once we finally boarded, we took the journey to come face to face with the Yeti. It has been over two years since I last rode the coaster and I forgot how far and fast you went while going backwards. It must just be a sign that I am getting older, but it made dizzy and sick feeling while going backwards. However, despite the brief feeling of being sick, Expedition Everest is still one of my all-time favorite coasters.

When we finished Everest, we met back up with the rest of the family who had been playing in Dinoland USA, riding the Triceratops Spin. We then went to ride Dinosaur. This was a ride we had been looking forward to taking our son on since he has a passion for dinosaurs. He didn't know what to think or expect on the ride and was scared in the beginning. But as the ride continued, he got more comfortable and by the end he wanted to ride again.

But we did not ride Dinosaur a second time, we continued to fast track through the park. We had a little over two hours to go until our lunch reservation and then a 3 hour drive home and work first thing in the morning. We headed towards the Tree of Life to watch the 4-D movie "It's Tough To Be A Bug". The brief 3-D movie combines the movie with smell and feelings to make the production come to life. One of the best parts of the show is the end when they ask all honorary bugs to remain seated while the insect guests leave the theater and then the seat moves in a pattern to make it seem like bugs are crawling out from under the cushions.

We then split ways with my parents who continued to Camp Minnie-Mickey to watch the Festival of the Lion King while we made our way to the park exit. We headed back the hotel where we picked up our truck and headed to Downtown Disney for lunch.

Lunch was the last surprise for our son and possibly his favorite experience from the entire trip. We had a reservation for T-Rex Cafe in Downtown Disney. He was mesmerized from the moment we walked through the door. Shortly after sitting at the table, he wanted to go around the restaurant and see all the animatronics dinosaurs. The meal was one of the best ones from our trip. My wife had fish and chips, I had the Stegosaurus Steak Sandwich and our son had the dino chicken nuggets. Every 20 minutes during the day, the lights in the restaurant dim for the meteor shower and the dines come to life. When we finished dinner, we toured the restaurant to see the different dinos and then visited the Build-A-Dino shop where he picked up a stuffed Ankylosaurus.

After lunch, we browsed a few shops and then hit the road for the three hour drive home.

We had a great time on the trip. This was our first trip back to Disney since 2008 and now our son is tall enough to ride most of the rides, making the visit much more enjoyable. We ended up getting a Florida Resident Seasonal Pass, so we will be sure to visit again throughout the year. I highly recommend the Seasonal Pass for Florida residents. There are black-out dates on the pass, but those are the times when the park is most crowded (Easter, Summer Break and Christmas/New Years) and not much fun in my opinion. Plus they now have a payment option on the passes, allowing you to split the cost over a 12 month period and not have to have the entire pass balance due up front, big bonus.

This was also our first stay at a deluxe class Disney resort. While the grounds of the Wilderness Lodge were the best of all the Disney hotels we had stayed at and the balcony was nice, the room was not much better then the moderate class. I was expecting a much more luxurious room, but was shocked when it was much like the moderate hotels we had stayed at previously. Don't get me wrong, it was still a wonderful hotel and I would definitely stay here again, but if I needed to cut some cost off the visit, I would go moderate. But both classes are worlds above the value class. My favorite thing about the Wilderness Lodge has nothing to do with the hotel class at all, but just the luck of the draw on room assignments, I enjoyed being able to see the Magic Kingdom fireworks from our balcony each night.

One other thing we used this trip that helped to negotiate the day and cram more fun into less times was the website Touring Plans. The site gives you specialized touring plans to allow you to choose what your goal for the day is and it will tell you how to get it done. It also has a mobile application called Lines, which will give you wait times for all the WDW attractions. A big plus when your trying to decide whether to hit a ride, eat lunch or call it a day. I highly recommend it if you are trying to create a structured day to ensure you cover all the bases.

So now that we are home and I am browsing the hundreds of photos and video I took on the trip, I am already looking at the calendar trying to see when we are going to go again. Can't wait for that next trip to the house of the mouse. Next time my wife would like to stay at the Grand Floridian, but not sure if the wallet will be able to afford that one. So Walt Disney World, if your looking to make a little magic, send it our way, a stay at the Grand Floridian would go a long way in making one little lady very happy. Otherwise, next one on the list is probably Caribbean Beach or whatever price is right and we haven't stayed at yet.

Over the next few weeks, I will be adding more articles from our trip. Check back later to read them or sign up via Face or Twitter to be notified when the new content is added. Below is the slide show from our final day of the Disney trip.