One Day My Paycheck Will Match My Dreams...

Day 2 started with us at Animal Kingdom.  Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!

Animal Kingdom is 500 acres (Magic Kingdom comes in around 100 acres) and is home to over 1700 animals. Our first character sighting was Brer Rabbit and Brer Bear. Who?!?!  It took us a few seconds standing in line to figure it out.  

Who Dat?

Our first ride was Expedition Everest.  Unlike the Winnie the Pooh ride or the carousel, this was a real ride.  We screamed.  A lot.  

Our next stop was Maharajah Jungle Trek.  We saw a Komodo Dragon, bats, tigers, deer.  

I brought along one of my Moleskin notebooks to take notes because I know that as interesting as stuff is, I have an awful tendency to forget things 10 seconds later.  That, and knowing that between J-Unit and I, we'd have like 500 pics, I thought I'd start writing down what some of the pics were so later I'd remember.  J-Unit made fun of me because for the next pic, I labeled it in my notebook as 'deer.'  Because I wouldn't know a deer later when I looked back at the pics, right?  And just in case that wasn't bad enough, I was showing The BF my pics, and he points to the deer one and asks, 'what's that?'  So really, its not just me. 

A side note, deer randomly appear in The BF's backyard from time to time.  Don't ask.

I think it weirds people out when I take out my notebook and start writing in it when they're talking.  One of the guides even asked me if I was a teacher.  Me? Teach?  Gawd I'd feel sorry for whoever was in my class because there's nothing about me that screams quality education.  

This is a banteng.  What's that? Wild cattle.  I briefly thought about what it would taste like, but figured Disney World was not the place to be asking questions like that.

That was enough learning for the entire vacation.  We stopped by to hang out with Baloo Bear and King Louie.

Next up to bat was the wildlife reserve.  This is about the closest I'm going to get to Africa anytime soon, so I decided to video tape it.  Once again, I haven't gone back over it, but I'm sure its an insta-headache and also boring.  That, and its hard to zoom in and out quickly, so you'd probably think someone drunk shot the video.  

Although we had no food, the giraffe was still eager to greet us.  

Scary!!! Its real.

And then an ostrich blocked the road.  There was some cool facts about ostrich, but because I was too busy filming our fake African safari, I couldn't jot down notes.  

J-unit with Rafiki.  We learned that because of her height, she could actually be Rafiki (in the event that the energy industry goes down the tube and she wants to be hot and stuffy outside for hours on end.  Some people's Plan B is a bit more adventurous than others...)

We stopped at the Conservation Station.  According to Disney's guide map, the Conservation Station has 

"live animal encounters and interactive exhibits with interesting facts about animal habitats.  Plus, an in-depth look at the care our creatures receive through veterinary attention, nutrition and research programs."

It would have been helpful for us to have known this before we went in.  Judging by the pictures we took, the whole "live animal encounters part" was lost on us.*

I sure hope rhinos are carnivorous otherwise this just looks ridiculous

Pocahontas: That's a pretty necklace Princess!

J-Unit: Thank you!

Pocahontas: Did someone important give that to you?

J-Unit: Yes, my uncle did.

Pocahontas: My dad gave me mine and I wear mine everyday.  Do you wear yours everyday?

J-Unit: No, only on days when I meet Princesses.

Pocahontas: Okay, then can we take a picture together?

J-Unit: Yes.**

And that concludes our time inside the Conservation Station.  If you are wondering, "why the hell did they take pictures with a fake rhino and tiger when they saw real ones earlier?" well, now that I'm looking at the pics, I'm wondering the same thing too. 

*Obviously the "live animal encounters" took a backseat to cardboard cutouts.  

** Pocahontas' handler asked me if I wanted a picture with Pocahontas, and I politely declined.  Instead of that being that, she tried taunting me, saying, 'Oh come on Birthday Girl! You know you want to!' And I replied, 'No-I really don't' and walked away. Because duh-its just freaky.