EPIC Neilson Family Trip to Disney World - Part X: Animal Kingdom

Tuesday, December 14th, was Animal Kingdom Day!

My parents stayed at the house with Hayden and Theo, while Missy spent a much needed day at the pool. Andie, Luke, Porter, and Kenna were supposed to come with us, but Andie was feeling sick, so they stayed home. Theo, Josh, and I had stuffy noses, but I didn't know if that was from a cold or just allergies.

Ryan, Kayleen, Brady, Dane, Cole, Teagan, Cason, Josh, Brodee, and I headed to Animal Kingdom in the rental bus.

["ROAR!"]

[I love their bond]

The lines for Pandora were insanely long when we got to the Park, so we decided to head to Dinosaur Land first to ride Dinosaur.

[Cason was too short to ride, so we did a rider swap]

Dane wanted to sit on the edge even after I told him it would be less scary in the middle. He insisted, but he ended up plugging his ears and closing his eyes for the entire ride. When we got off he said it was "THE BEST RIDE EVER!" 🤷‍♀️

Ryan and Josh then took the kids on TriceraTop Spin while Kayleen went on the rider swap for Dinosaur.

We then headed for my least favorite ride at Animal Kingdom: Everest. I guess I like most of the ride. I just don't like going backwards.

I volunteered the watch the three youngest kids (Cason, Cole, and Teagan) while the rest of the group went on the ride. I took the kids shopping and we bought a ton of treats! They REALLY liked the cotton candy! Cole finished his entire bucket in one sitting! 🤢

We regrouped and went to the Maharajah Jungle Trek to see the animals.

After lunch we got in the LONG line for Sarfaris. It was 1 hour and 45 minutes of waiting before we got to our truck. The kids had a hard time, but the ride was a lot of fun!

[Constant wrestling while in line]

[Group hug!]

Finally we headed over to Pandora to ride Flight of Passage.

The line was nearly two hours and it broke down (and a couple of kids broke down too) while we were in line. Eventually we got to ride and everyone loved it!

After the ride I bought two giant pretzels to share and I got a Night Blossom drink (layer of apple and desert pear limeade topped with passion fruit boba balls). It was perfect after a long day!

[Josh entertaining the kids]

We made it home in time for Chef Papa's spaghetti and meatballs.

Tyson flew in that night and the family was complete! All 20 of us under one roof! We celebrated "Christmas Eve" and Papa read "Twas the Night Before Christmas."