Day Six - Animal Kingdom, The Dream Team, and Epcot Part 2

Yikes! We had an early reservation for breakfast at Donald's Safari at Tusker House at Animal Kingdom this morning so we were up before the sun! Both families travelled there together and we arrived at the park around 7:45am. They let us into the park and we made our way to the restaurant. I love being at the parks before they open!! We were in for another beautiful day and Animal Kingdom is just plain breathtaking without the crowds at this time of day!

We had a short wait before we were called in. What a fabulous breakfast buffet! One of our favourites from the week. There were just so many yummy things to eat, and yes, Mickey waffles!! This was another character breakfast and this morning we met Donald, Mickey, Goofy, and a new one for Erin to meet, Daisy Duck! She simply loves meeting the characters!

We finished up breakfast just before the park opened. We decided to go straight to the Safari ride, since it was right next to the restaurant, the animals are most active in the morning, and this ride can just be plain busy! I couldn't believe the mad rush of people making their way to the ride as soon as the park opened! We were able to get on really quickly though because of being in line so early. It was awesome to see the animals this early in the day. We got loads of great pictures. This is by far on top of Gord's list of favourite rides!

We got off the ride and were making our way out when we got stopped by some Disney Cast Members. For the past 2 years, Disney has been running a promotion - Year of a Million Dreams. Visitors can be stopped by the Disney Dream team and given special things as part of the promotion. You guessed it, we were stopped by the Dream Team!!! We were all told we were in the right place at the right time and were all given Dream Fast Passes for all of the Animal Kingdom rides for the day!! Sweet!!! We were all excited about this and were on quite a high for the morning!!

We made our way to Camp Mickey-Minnie. We were told by one of the Cast Members at Hollywood Studios that we could meet Chip and Dale here, and they were on Erin's list to meet. Not to mention Aidan and Cole were excited when I told them they would be there too!! On our way, we ran into Pocahontas too, so Erin got another special surprise by this, another picture, and more importantly, another autograph!

We hopped into line to see Chip and Dale when we arrived. We only had a short wait there. The kids were really excited to meet them. They kidded around with the kids and made it really fun for them! Yes, Erin got two more autographs too!!

We next all went to see the Lion King show. Erin, Grampa, and I went to see this show in May and were so impressed with it that we wanted to see it again. It did not disappoint. Aidan and Cole loved it too! Again, another professional and amazing production put on by Disney.

Next stop was It's Tough to be a Bug. Erin got a bit gun-shy when we got in and sat on Gord's lap for the show, but I think she giggled the loudest when the bugs sprayed everyone!! Jo, Chris and Aidan went on Dinosaur next, and we took Erin and Cole on Tricerotops - Erin's favourite ride last time we were here!! We met back up a short while afterward and the guys headed over to ride Expedition Everest. The Dream Fastpasses were handy for them here, as the line was pretty long. Chris, Aidan, and Gord rode this once, then went again, less Aidan. He told me the ride was great, but he was never going on it again!!! Jo and I treated the kids to a lemonade float (yummy!!) while we waited for the guys to get back. The next spot was to use the Dream Fastpasses at the Cali River Rapids. I really wanted to go on this when we were there in May, but the line was way too long. The ride did not disappoint. Most of us got soaked and Erin screamed and laughed the entire ride, she just loved it! She told us that was her favourite ride of the trip! After this, Jo, Chris and the boys decided to head back to the hotel to freshen up as they had early dinner reservations at Epcot.

We had reservations at Epcot as well that night, but they were fairly late, so we decided to stay a while longer. We did a bit of shopping, rode Tricerotops again, grabbed some yummy bbq for lunch, did the Safari ride again, and caught the Jungle Jammin parade before heading to Epcot for our dinner in Italy.

We arrived at Epcot shortly after 5:00pm. We stopped at Innoventions, where Erin did a colouring activity before we headed back to the World Showcase. We had dinner in Italy - Tutto Italia. It was amazing! The service was fantastic and they sang Happy Birthday to Erin in Italian - yes, another note on the reservation showed up here!! With very full tummys, we headed over to Japan where Gord wanted to pick up a tee he saw when we were here the other day. Erin wanted to pick out a pearl from the oyster display, so we let her do that. She picked out her oyster, and they opened it for her. She picked one out that was oversized and they made a big fuss over her! Naturally, she loved it! While they were setting it, we sat outside and listened to some jazz from David Sanborn, who was playing there as part of the International Wine and Food Festival. It was excellent and so nice on such a beautiful evening! We picked up Erin's pendant (the pearl set in a horseshoe, of course) and while we planned on staying for Illuminations that evening, Erin was crashing hard from her two (yes, two) very rich, chocolate desserts from dinner and she told us she wanted to go to bed. Maybe next time!

We headed back to the bus area and were able to hop on a bus right away. We all took quick showers and Erin had a bath after our long day of two parks, and we all went to bed pretty quickly! Tomorrow is the last full day we have at Disney. We have a late breakfast reservations, so we will sleep in and have a slower paced day!

Erin, being serenaded to - Happy Birthday to You in Italian, with one of her two desserts!!!!