Three Mousekateers | What Do We Do?

This morning the sun rose in the bright clear crisp cold sky. The kids queued quietly as we waited for the bus and took turns snuggling up quietly for warmth. This morning actually felt cold and I looked forward to really exploring Animal Kingdom for the first time. I never really gave it a fair shake in high school, to the extent that by the time I graduated college, we swung in for exactly two hours to ride Dinosaur during our Disneymoon and that was it.

Oh, what a beautiful morning; oh, what a beautiful day! I've got a beautiful feeling, everything's going my way.

After our early night the evening before and sleeping in a bit, the kids and I chomped at the bit to head off for our breakfast at Tusker House. We toured around the buffet with the chef, who promised Kylee a steaming plate of vegan Mickey waffles, then headed back to our table with plates brimming full. Something about the  cool morning air and walking across the park made us all dig in quite quickly.

How gleefully she seems to grin, how neatly spreads her paws, and welcomes little Mickey in with gently smiling jaws. 

Yes, it was a lovely morning of carb loading for everyone.

Mid-breakfast Hot Dog Dance break!

After a few visits with our oldest pals, we took a spin on Primeval Whirl and doubled back through "It's Tough to Be a Bug!" On leaving we ran across our first Wilderness Explorer Badge station, so the children learned the Wilderness Explorer call and headed off with their handbooks to seek badges along our path.

Earning their badge in the shadow of Expedition Everest

Kylee felt the pull to seek out the mystical Yeti, so we wound through the "Himalayan Escapes" travel agency and on to the Yeti Museum.

Traveling to the Forbidden Mountain

Kylee got more and more excited as we neared our date with the mountain while Chris grew quieter, but nonetheless, introduced himself to his ride buddy (a slightly older boy who also did not particularly want to ride on Expedition Everest) and hopped into our train.
I'd never ridden this attraction before, so it surprised and amazed me. Kylee wanted to ride it again immediately. I sat on the large flat rocks at the exit and examined the map for a bit while Chris and I collected ourselves. A few more Wilderness Explorer badges under our belts and we headed off to explore the Big Blue World.

What do we do?
We swim!
La la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la!

Protip: Do NOT let your child look up at the bubbles in the last scene.

Despite bubble eye, this is everyone's new favorite stage show at Walt Disney World. I *may* have purchased the soundtrack on iTunes while we were washing Kylee's eye out at the water fountain. Yeah.

Just keep touring...

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This is Part 9 of an Ongoing Trip Report "The Three Mousekateers."
Additional sections will be found on the Trip Reports page after they are posted!