MGM Studios and Animal Kingdom

Our next day included visiting MGM Studios and Animal Kingdom. You know what? I'll just go straight into the photos, because I have quite a few and give commentary there.

The infamous Tower of Terror and also the boys' first ride of the day. Being that I had a very painful sunburn, I was reluctant to go on any ride that put straps over my shoulders. So I passed on this one. The boys loved it. It remains one of Kade's favorite rides.

This is Kade's other favorite ride. It's the Rock 'n Roller Coaster starring Aerosmith. Again with the straps, so I couldn't go *sigh*. It is one of the only coasters in the park that goes upside down. (My favorite kind of ride, too.)

Ok this one was a ride anyone could ride, young and old. Basically they put you in these mine car-like structures. You ride through animatronic scenes of classic movies.

Mary Poppins. I should note that these are all robotic. They look real when you're going through. It's pretty neat.

This one is hard to see (if someone would lighten this one up, I'd be grateful, because it's a great picture). We went through a dark section, when suddenly there was acid dripping everywhere and electrical wires exposed. Suddenly there was Ripley with her gun. We were so focused on her that we didn't see the alien coming out RIGHT NEXT to Chris. He spun and snapped this picture. The alien was less than a foot away from him. We had the best seats on this thing. Scared the piss out of him.

I put this one up especially for Chuck. Casablanca for those who aren't sure.

Ok, after the movie tour, we checked our time schedules and literally ran all the way to the stunt show so we wouldn't miss it. We have video of this. When it is edited and sent to me, I'll put it up. The skill and accuracy that these drivers drive these specially made stunt cars is absolutely amazing.

Next we entered the Star Tours area. This held my second favorite ride. You all know how much I love Star Wars, so I was excited for this one.

This is inside the building, where people would normally wait to get on the ride. Fortunately for us, there was no wait at all. Which was strange, because the park was packed. We zipped through this area, while Chris wandered behind to snap these pics.

They put you in a cargo ship (if you're a SW fan, you probably know the kind of ship I mean, it's just too hard for me to explain it). Once inside, you sit down, strap in and much like Soarin', you watch a movie while your seats move around to simulate flying in space. It's amazing and so much fun.

After that, we rode a bus over to the Animal Kingdom. This is the Tree of Life. If you look closely, there are animals carved into the trunk of this tree. Underneath the tree is where we went to see "It's hard to be a bug" starring all the characters from A Bug's Life. Kade rode every coaster available with no fear. For some strange reason, this movie scared the living crap out of him, even though it's meant for a younger audience. It's in 3D and trust me when I say that it really does pop out of the screen at you. Not only that, but you get squirted with water and when the "cockroaches" leave, you feel something move under your butt. There was this one part where one of the characters said something about mice and I know I felt something at my feet, but I'll be darned if I was going to look down and find out.

After that, we went on a Safari Ride. They load you up in these buses, which take you around to these different animal exhibits. These exhibits are not enclosed. When I say that, I mean, were you to get out of the bus, you'd be right next to whatever animal was there, no fences in between.

This baby elephant was the cutest. He was trying to play with that log and lift it in the air. So adorable.

Let me note that white rhinos are extremely endangered. There are only about 4000 living today. We were next to five or six of them. Pretty amazing, huh? This guy in particular made us wary. He actually turned and started coming toward our bus. The reason Kade has this expression on his face was because the rhino literally came right up to him.

Let me also note that we were going at thirty miles an hour on a highly bumpy road at times. Chris was still able to get some pretty amazing shots, like this one. He's pretty good with that camera.

The male was a little camera shy, so Chris was only able to get the female lion. Still amazing and beautiful though, isn't she?

After the Safari, we were wiped out. We went back to our hotel to relax. The next two days, Kade and I spent time running amuck at the hotel, while Chris went to his conferences. (He was technically there for work, hehe.) All in all, we had a fabulous time. Expensive as all hell, but I seriously want to go back someday.

I'll try to get those videos soon. They're pretty cool to see. If ya'll ever get the chance to go to Disney World, you should. I thought that I'd be disappointed because I wasn't seeing this all with the eyes of a child, but I wasn't at all. It's kind of funny that this place still appeals to adults too.

This trip was 24 years in the making for me. Ever since I was four, my stepfather promised to take me there. Each year came and went with more promises and each year he blew the money on other things. I grew skeptical and stopped believing him. So when my Chris told me we were going, I thought for sure something would happen that would prevent us. I remained skeptical. Isn't it strange that it turned out that my own Prince Charming would be the one to take me to the most magical place on Earth? I think it's quite fitting.