May 8, 2008 - Day 14: Shopping & Animal Kingdom

Another lazy morning here in Florida. I got up around 9 and puttered about for awhile waiting for the others and then went and did some laundry. Brynna was meeting up with Matt at 12:30 at World of Disney so we had a quick lunch in Pop’s foodcourt. Mine was chicken parmesan with pasta and carrot cake. It was filling and tasted good.

We dropped Brynna off and then headed out to a new shopping area we’d seen when we were driving up from Miami, the Loop. I dropped Gary at Best Buy and drove across the highway and checked out Old Navy and Kohl’s but didn’t buy anything. I picked Gary up and we drove over to a newer section of the Loop where there was a Circuit City for him and I went into JC Penney. There I picked up 2 pairs of capris and a top. We quickly buzzed back to Pop as we had get ready for our dinner ressies.

Brynna and Matt were hanging out, uploading photos from Brynna’s camera for Matt. Brynna did lots of shopping with Matt’s discount, mostly for me! Gary got a Buzz Lightyear figurine to go with the rest of the collection at home. I got a sweatshirt, Mickey egg rings (for fried eggs) and a Thomas Kinkade print of the Castle.

We left for Animal Kingdom kinda late so we had to rush to get to the restaurant on time. At least we knew where it was thanks to our quick foray into AK the other day. We also got our extra magic hours wristbands as the park was open til 8 for resort guests. We dined at Yak & Yeti and the food was pretty decent. Brynna’s was the best, she had ribs, Gary had duck, I didn’t try it, and I had Maple Tamarind Chicken with Coconut Ginger Rice. I also ordered a side of deep fried green beans, they were sooooo good. Dessert was the best though. Gary got this huge brownie sundae and Brynna and I both had the Fried Wontons. They were filled with cream cheese and deep fried on skewers along with fresh pineapple and served with vanilla ice cream. Had to be the best dessert I’ve tried so far.

After waddling out of the restaurant we went over to Expedition Everest. Gary didn’t want to try it so close to eating so Brynna and went on it. As we were going up the incline, we saw Nick Lachey and his gf, Vanessa, along with his bodyguard walking along a private path. That was cool. The ride was awesome as ever, one of my favourites.

Then we went over to Dinosaur. Brynna’s tummy was bothering her again (must be AK doing that!) so we took it easy on a bench until we spotted Nick and his gang so we headed quickly into the ride. Didn’t see them anywhere until we were loading and turns out they were in the car behind ours. As we were riding the ride went 101 (castmember speak for stopping/going down/breaking) but only for a few minutes unfortunately right where the giant monster of a dinosaur is, I kept my eyes shut that whole time! We went up into the gift shop to see our picture and of course Nick’s and they stood right next to us looking at theirs, kinda cool, but Brynna didn’t want to say anything to him although he did pose for a photo with another couple.

We then went to do Primeval Whirl, or what I call it, PrimEVIL Whirl. I always want to go on it but it scares me, kind of in a Mad Mouse way, you always think you’re going to go off track. So I pretty much cursed the entire way through it!

At that point we were done so we headed out of the park to get the car. Dropped Brynna off at the hotel and went on to Walgreens to pick up some bits and pieces, including sunglasses for Gary as he broke his 2nd pair this trip.

In fairly early tonight so we watched some TV and read again until 12:30 am or so.