Orlando Vacation: Installment #3

Disney Day #2: Animal Kingdom

 For our second day of Disney we visited the Animal Kingdom. This is one of my favorite parks and definitely Jared's favorite. It was/is a little more laid back and relaxing than Magic Kingdom and the Universal parks we visited. Also, the baby center was not near as crowded and had private nursing rooms rather than a community nursing room - which was really nice. (Looking back this was by far the best Baby Center of all the Disney parks).

 

 We got to this park a little later in the morning. We had started the previous day at Magic Kingdom very early and ended it pretty late, so most people slept a little longer in the morning. The first thing we did was go to the Festival of the Lion King while Judy ran to get fast passes for the safari. After that was over the whole family headed out to ride the Kilimanjaro Safari (including Claire). I'll bet you would never guess how Claire spent her time during this ride?!?!? She was actually awake when we got on the ride, but fell asleep quickly from the bouncing of the vehicle. We also rode Expedition Everest - which is a pretty fun roller-coaster and we ate at the Yak n Yeti (a restaurant in the Asian area of Animal Kingdom). 

Most of the family headed back to the condo for a break at this point, but Jared wanted to see some animals and take Claire around the park a little more. So we stayed behind to explore. We went through the nature trail and got to see some neat things. There were meerkats, baby gorillas, and a giant hippopotamus skull. It was a fun thing for just the three of us to do together as a family. Then Jared and I made a pit stop at the baby center and hopped a bus back to the condo. It was not as easy managing Claire and all of her stuff with just the two of us, but I think we handled it pretty well. There was a man with his son on the bus and he asked us how old Claire was. When we told him six months he responded with, "You guys are brave."

Photo reenactment from our 2008 Orlando trip:

Orlando 2008

  

  Another photo reenactment:

Orlando 2008

 I wish we had gotten to spend a little more time exploring the Animal Kingdom, but we had to go back to the Condo and get ready for a dinner. We ate at the Rose and Crown in Epcot and our seats gave us a great view of the Illuminations show they have in the evenings. Once again - while waiting to be seated for dinner - I had to resort to pumping in a bathroom stall. (All members of a party must be present to be seated for dinner). The things I do to keep our baby in breast milk...

Bathroom Incident #3:

Jared's mom sent me with a menu, so I could text my order to them while I was pumping. So I got all set up, covered the seat and set to work. About five minutes in to my 15-20 minutes session a lady entered the stall to my right. She then proceeded to take a very loud and smelly poo. (Thanks lady for picking the stall next to mine). Also, Kate (Jared's sister) came to check on me and pick up the menu - which was sweet, but also a little bit embarrassing to be sitting in a stall and have someone come and loudly (talking over the pump and my neighbor is no easy task) ask you if you need her to take anything or do anything for you. I wonder what those people who were using the bathroom around me thought was going on in my stall?!?!

This was one of the more humiliating and degrading trips to the bathroom. It didn't help that it was the end of a long day at the parks and I was tired and worn out. Also, it does not feel especially great to be sitting in a bathroom pumping while a lady does her business in the stall next to you. I think the fact that I knew the rest of my family was getting to sit around a table and talk about the day while I was isolated in the bathroom for twenty minutes was the worst part of it. (Fortunately, this was the worst pumping experience I would have to endure for the remainder of the trip) Although I did have to pump in a bathroom one more time at the airport because our flight was delayed...again...thank you Allegiant Air. : /

Also, do not expect to get to really enjoy any of the evening shows at Disney if you take a small baby with you. Claire was inevitably hungry, fussy, or sleeping during all of the fireworks/music shows in the evening. I spent most of the Illuminations show trying to eat and hold a sleeping baby. They turn the restaurant lights out/down for Illuminations, so it was really difficult to see your plate - suffice it to say I didn't get to pay very much attention to the show. However, I think my mom and the rest of the family got to enjoy it and ultimately that is what this trip was all about.