Our second day of vacation was at Animal Kingdom. It was a little rough, mostly due a specific child’s lack of sleep from the previous day. Jameson had a melt down, Coraline fell asleep during a show (though that part was sweet and not any hardship).

But the day started great: Meemaw has giraffe Mickey Ears which were the hit with both kids. Before the end of the trip, Jameson had his own pair!

Things got rocky when we arrived and Jameson didn’t want to do a photo. The photographer was very patient with us though and even offered to do a magic shot with the kids.

The kids, having only done their first attempt the previous day, still didn’t understand what they were for, and tried to hold out their hands like tinkerbell was going to land on them as they had done yesterday. Instead, he was trying to get them to look surprised. So here are the kids, sad, next to Stitch, ha!

We always try to do the safari ride first! So off we went. Unfortunately, the new magic bands and fast passes work a little differently now than our last vacation in conjunction with Uncle Tyler’s employee benefits, so we weren’t able to all go on the ride together, but Coraline got to go twice and the rest of the crew went later (and the giraffes were out the second time, lucky ducks)

Meanwhile during the second ride I was with Jameson who was in the stroller and insisting he didn’t want to do anything. So we stared at this hippo for 10 minutes.

Brian and I escaped the kids while Meemaw and Grandpa took the kids to the Finding Nemo show. We got a photo to prove it!

At some point around here Jameson threw a complete tantrum and he and I almost left the park. Instead I got him calm and we went to see the 3D Bug’s Life show, which, was totally terrifying for him. So he ended up a little traumatized. We were at the end of the row though so we were able to escape.

We really enjoyed lunch at the new quick service restaurants they had in the Africa section of Animal Kingdom. It was probably the best quick service meal we had our entire trip, it was light, healthy, and tasty.

“The lion goes in for the kill”

Animals just weren’t Jameson’s jam overall, but he really enjoyed the next little animal walk we did and he took photos of the bats. Coraline on the other hand was enjoying every activity we did. How nice to be three years old!

We spent some time in the kids area, and then it was time to wrap up for dinner! I scheduled us for the Rainforest Cafe which is right outside the park, and on our way out we decided to try the short-looking line for Mickey and Minnie. Turns out, it was not so short. However, it ended up being our only opportunity to visit with Minnie and really didn’t put us out of the way for dinner in the end, so it was worth it.

Rainforest Cafe was the perfect decision for our wound up kids. There was so much to watch in the restaurant that no one was bored, and the food was just excellent. I was actually pretty surprised at how much we all enjoyed the meal.

After another full day, it was time to get to bed! While Brian stayed at the hotel with the kids, the rest of us set our alarms for 2:30 am for our half marathon! After a disappointing race that was cut short last year, we were all pumped up to finally run a successful half at Disney! And run we did! Even Meemaw and Grandpa!

It loops around Animal Kingdom, which was a bit of deja vu from the previous day. Jameson got a kick out of seeing my shirt and medal, because they were Star Wars themed. And I got a kick out of finishing the race, exhausted, happy and ready for the real vacation to begin without the stressful anticipation of the race. We planned to spend the day at Epcot (but first, some caffeine please)