Animal Kingdom and a Silly Bear Named Pooh

The day after the big race I somehow managed to get Jeff out of bed so that we could spend the day at Animal Kingdom. Daniel had never been there and Allison was only 2 last time we went so I was looking forward to doing something different with them. It turned out to be a picture perfect day - the weather was mid-70's and sunny. The first thing we did when we entered the park was race back to Asia so that we could go on the safari ride. The kids had funny seeing rhinos, hippos, elephants, cattle, chimpanzees and various other animals. Although since Lion Country Safari is just down the street from our house it really wasn't anything new. Nonetheless Allison had fun taking pictures of all the different animals. After the safari ride we did a few walking paths and saw various birds, fish and more chimpanzees (my favorite!). Here are a couple of pictures:
Then the kids and Jeff had fun playing drums:
Next we ran into some characters, like this guy...
And Baloo and King Louie:
Then the kids got to meet some people from Thailand who showed them how to write their name in Thai:
Then they hopped in a carriage:
...and off to Dinoland USA we went! This was definitely their favorite part of the park. They climbed through nets, went down slides, jumped on big dinosaur feet to hear the dinosaur growl and dug for dinosaur bones. They also got to go on a ride (pretty much the only ride there that they could on - or were willing to go on in Allison's case). I hung out here with the kids while Jeff rode the Everest Roller coaster, twice!

But I would have to say that the highlight of our day was when we went to meet Tigger, Pooh and Eeyore. They are somewhat hidden at this park and you have to walk down a long path to get to them so I don't think a lot of people realize they are back there. So when we went to say hi, there were a few people in front of us but no one came behind us. Since the characters had some time to spend with us, Pooh became playful. He took Allison's green pail and shovel and put on a little show. The kids were cracking up at him, as were Jeff and I. Wish I had taken video but at least I got a few pictures of his silliness:

And here's the kids cracking up while watching Pooh and all his silliness:
And a few more shots:

Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to see the Lion King show which everyone tells me is spectacular because we decided to head home around 4pm since both kids had school the next day and we were all exhausted (especially Jeff who was still recovering from his race). The kids and I will be back up at Disney in March with my mom so we'll try and catch it then. Can't wait to go back!