Disneyworld, Part 5

On the 5th day of our Disneyworld trip, we visited Animal Kingdom. This park is probably the most beautiful. It is basically a giant zoo with an incredible safari that makes you feel as if you are actually in Africa, and some really wonderful rides.

We arrived at this park a little too late though, and by the time we got there, it was time for an early lunch. Unfortunately when you have two small children with you, eating is not something that can be done quickly. So by the time we got to the park andf ate lunch, most of our day was already spent.

The maticulous detail that has gone in to the gardening and decorating at this park is breathtaking. It makes you feel as if you are in another world. The Disneyworld atmosphere is alive and well here. The Tree of Life in the middle of the park is amazingly beautiful and detailed! One cool addition was an African American woman who was dressed up as if she were a part of a vine system growing up a tree! Here face was painted beautifully to match the foilage and her arms and legs extended far into the branches and root system with green leaves covering every inch of her.

The last time I was at this park was the greatest for it was not busy by any means and we were able to walk on any attraction we chose to with no lines and had the abillity and time to do anything we wanted. This time, however, was insane. It was the busiest park that we visited on this trip. It was literally hard to even walk through the crowds.

Basically all we did was go on Expedition Everest- which took close to 2 hours, and ride on the raft ride with Zion. While Susan and I were on Expedition Everest, my mom took the kids into the Finding Nemo Musical. We were not able to make it there on time to see the show. My mom told us that during the show Zion helped himself by sitting in a teenage Asian girls lap whom he didn’t even know for the entire performance? He is a little too used to this at CCA I guess.

We tried to make it to the Safari, but the crowds from a parade literally made that impossible!

We left the park early to head over to the Polynesian Resort to have dinner at the Spirit of Aloha luau dinner show.

Zion was especially naughty by this point and becuase of his figitiness, he slammed his finger between his heavy rotating metal chair and the large table- which made the rest of the evening very stressful.

The food was great as was the entertainment, but the students that we brought with us hated it?? They kept trying to leave early. It was very annoying.

After dinner we roamed around the resort and did some shopping there. Once again, we had hotel envy.

Susan, my mom, and the children went back to the resort and I took the students to Downtown Disney. They went off on their own to do lots of shopping and I retreated to the back of Downtown Disney where a very large theater resides in order to see the much anticipated movie The Watchmen. I don’t care to take the time to give a detailed review of this film, however it was VERY weird, and very violently and sexually explicit. There were some violent and sexual scenes that I wish I did not allow my eyes to take in.

The Watchmen strangely made covert references over and over again to the September 11th terrorist attacks and showed the World Trade Center towers in every shot they could (since the movie was set in the eighties). They also explicitly implied that sometimes horrible things should be done to prevent the proliferation of even greater tragedies- as if they were saying that 9-11 was  orchestrated at a much higher level than it was in order to spearhead other projects (the Iraq war) or prevent greater otrosities? Afterall, and with no explaination, in a flashback sequence one of the films heroes is shown assasinating President JFK from a grassy nowel in Dallas.

One other strange message in the film was that it seemd to strongly condemn homosexuality: because a lesbian couple was murdered for their lifestyle, and the movies main character condoned that killing? This is strange for the world we live in today for a film to condemn homosexuality and almost condone hate crimes because of it?

I know this has become a rant and I will stop now.