Day 4 -- ANIMAL KINGDOM :)

Day 4 was sunny & beautiful -- not too cool & not too warm. It was a perfect day to visit
Disney's ANIMAL KINGDOM
Above is the amazing "Tree of Life" that you see when you first enter the park.

If you've never seen it or looked closely, it is truly incredible. Completely man-made (every leaf, every branch!), the trunk is made up of carvings & sculptures of every animal imaginable. Seriously, click on the picture and take a closer look... And this is just one, small section of the tree!

Natasha & Raisha with "Flick" from A Bug's Life

First up was the safari tour where we saw lots of real, live animals living on Disney's very own nature preserve!

I think this guy was checking us out as much as we were him!

Last time we were here, the wait for Expedition Everest was almost 2 hours long, so Natasha and I got a couple of fast passes and waited for our time.
Literally 20 minutes before our fastpass return time, it started raining.
And it wouldn't stop.
And Disney shuts down outdoor rollercoasters
when it rains.
(I don't blame them)
This time, however, we finally got to ride it: TWICE!
And it was definitely worth the wait. =)

The Dinosaur inside the queuing area of the ride, DINOSAUR

All in all, it was a great day... and when the park closed at 5:00, we were headed back to our hotel for a well-deserved evening of rest & relaxation.
Boy, would we need it!...