Day 4..2 parks in 1 day

Remember, you want to scroll down to see our trip in order!



Oh, we were craving a day to relax but that was not to be! We were running out of time and we still had so much to take in. We decided that we would start the day at animal Kingdom and than Jamahl was in charge of choosing whether we did Universal Studios or Hollywood Studios. He spent an hour the night before pouring over maps and reading tour guides of both parks. He was still uncertain when we left that morning. So, our first stop was Animal Kingdom. As we got through security and than went through the ticket booths, Keyan was not looking or sounding very good. We were just trying to get to the stroller station so that we could suction her and make sure that she was going to be alright. We find a place to sit and check her out, but when we go to suction her, we realize that the machine is full and it is GROSS!!!! I quickly scan for the nearest bathroom and it is on the other side of the ticketing booths. I was about to cry. She needed attention a lot quicker than I could find a bathroom. All I could think was, "what in the world are we doing?" Right when I am about to cry, we spot two cast members walking by. I reach out and stop them so that I can explain the situation and ask for help. They must have sensed the panic in my heart because they were both so helpful. They sent Paul to the nearest bathroom, helped us find some water for our machine, and did not leave until they knew we felt settled. I can not express my gratitude to all of those people who helped up through our scary moments. It made our trip so much better. The fact that we could count on so many people made it beyond wonderful.
After we got the first crisis of the day resolved, it was off to the Lion King show. We were all looking so forward to this show. Disney recommends that you arrive 30 minutes before the show starts. We only had about 12 but we thought we would try it anyways. We explained who we were and we were escorted right in to the second row. They were great seats. The actors start the show by giving each section of people an animal name. The very fancy girl came over and asked Jamahl if he wanted to help her out. He jumped at the chance to be in the spotlight. It was her turn and she explained that our group would be the giraffes and that her friend Jamahl from Michigan would tell us what a giraffe says. She puts the microphone right up to him and asks him what does a giraffe say? "Well, I have NO idea" he says and starts giggling. It was so cute.
Pumba and Timone come out a start the show and McKenzy just started screaming...."Hakuna Matata! Hakuna Matata!" She was jumping up and down and dancing the entire show. There is so much to look at that the other girls sat with their mouths wide open. Near the end of the show, one of the actresses came over and asked the kids if they wanted to play a game with her. Off they went to play Pumba's favorite game, "Follow the leader." Before we knew it, they were following her through the whole arena shaking maracas and dancing. Once again, I was balling my eyes out watching my 5 kids have the time of their lives. The zebra helped Keyan navigate around since she was concentrating so hard on dancing. It struck me at that moment that it would be a long time before the kids completely understood all the magic they were taking part in. We all had a blast.
When we left the show, we searched out a first aid so that we could give Keyan some water. While we were in there, the nurse offered us some Tylenol for her. Am I the only one who did not know that you could get medicine from them at the first aids? It was so helpful. After that we headed to the Safari. Now, if you have already watched the slideshow, you may be thinking, "there are no pictures of a safari??" Well, my exact words to Paul were, "we have done this safari several times and we are always worrying about getting pictures....let's just put the camera away and just enjoy the animals." So he did, and let me tell you, I have never seen a better safari. We could have literally reached out and touched a rino, the baby giraffe so close we could see his blue eyes. There were two baby elephants both nuzzling their mommies right in front of us. Wouldn't it figure that we would have the camera packed away? That is just my luck. Jamahl really liked seeing the animals. I think that he would have ridden again and again.
Next it was off to Dino land in search of some lunch and to dig for some bones. The ride that Jamahl had most waited to go on since he was three years old was closed for remodeling. Truth be told, I don't think that he was too disappointed. I don't think that he remembered how big it really was! We did a few more things but all too quickly it was time to say good-bye to Animal Kingdom.
Jamahl informed us that he had decided to go to Universal Studios next. Universal is actually two parks, one being Universal, and the other being Island of Adventure. Spiderman, who is Sidney's all time favorite hero in the world is in Island of Adventures so we planned that one of us would run her over there at some point and than go back to Universal. The day was going just as planned, and we were right on my time schedule in order to get 2 parks done in 1 day. (which by the way, people said could not be done!!!) We walk forever and finally arrive at the ticket booths. I leave everyone huddled by a waterfall and am off to but Mom's ticket to Universal. I get up to the window, politely ask for one adult park hopper ticket, and the girls just stared at me. She says, "Are you really going to pay that kind of money when Universal closes in one half hour?" What it is 3:30 in the afternoon. How can this be? One word...Halloween. It was closing for a party. Oh boy, I knew I was going to have one very sad little boy on my hands. My spirits were crushed and I didn't really even care to go to Universal. I walked back to the group with my head hanging low. How was I ever going to break the news? I delicately told Jamahl that Universal was going to close in just a little bit and we were not going to be able to go. However, we could go to Island of Adventure until 7pm. He was not happy. His shoulders dropped, his eyes glazed over, and the tears began to fall. He had put so much thought into where to go only to have it not work out. He was so disappointed. Part of the reason that He choose Universal was because that it where Barney was and he knew Keyan would love that part. How do you explain that even though he had great intentions, it was not going to work out? Why did he have to learn a major life lesson on vacation!! So much for my happy plan. We sat on the ground outside of Universal Studios, in hope of coming up with something great. The bottom line was that we had to get Sidney in to see Spiderman. In the end, Keyan was sleeping, and Abby didn't want to see Spiderman so the two of them and Mm stayed outside the gates while the rest of us went in pursuit of the hero.
Just as we arrived at the Spiderman ride to find out that it was probably to scarey for any of the kids, this officer starts screaming at everyone to clear the streets. All I could think was, great we had to come right in the middle of some emergency!" We hear the sirens before we see anything and were we ever surprised to see 7 superheros driving down the road on quad runners. There was spidey himself crouched on his red and blue 4 wheeler. Sidney about fainted. Paul put her up on his shoulders right about the time that Spiderman jumped off and took off running. "Follow him!!" I yell to Paul. Paul and Sidney take off and we ended up being about fifth in line to meet Spiderman. The timing could not have been better if I had tried to plan it. (which had I known was possible, I would have tried!)
It is our turn and Sidney runs right up to him and gives hims a hug. What happened to my shy Sidney? McKenzy and Jamahl join in the group and Spiderman asks where they are from. McKenzy boldly shouts, "Michigan". He then puts his hand out and asks her what part of the mitten do we live in and she looked at him like he had lost his mind! Spiderman than proceeds to ask Jamahl how his day was going. Big mistake...remember he wanted to go to the other park, and Jamahl is not afraid to speak his mind. He blatantly tells Spiderman that his day is bad because he didn't want to come see him! Does he have my nerves or what! Spiderman crossed his arms, moves closer top Jamahl, and stares him down. It was really funny. I don't think Jamahl fell for it at all though. We got some great pictures with Spiderman than went to the gift shop. Sidney wanted a stuffed Spiderman but I was not going to pay $14.95 for another stuffed creature so we finally convinced her to get a black t-shirt with the spiderman head done in jewels. She is so thrilled and so was I until I heard the total.....She had picked out a $30.00 t-shirt! After I got over the shock, I was very happy for her. She is never excited about anything and she was showing that t-shirt to perfect strangers. We were so happy it turned out the way it did, now if we could only get Jamahl to cheer up!
We head out of Universal trying to figure out what to do when we happen upon a Bubba Gump Shrimp restaurant. Jamahl LOVES shrimp. We decide to wait it out and it was well worth the wait. Jamahl ate four or five different kind of shrimp and by the end of the night, He was smiling once again. It does a mothers heart good to see all of her kids with smiles on their faces and giggles bursting out of them (even if it is from telling poo-poo jokes to eachother!) We stopped into the ice cream shop at the resort for a treat and than fell into our beds with happy hearts!