I must confess that I was a little apprehensive about pushing her. I had memories of Tee pushing my other sister in a wheelchair to the parking lot on our 1994 visit. They were not pretty memories. However, the chair moved easily and she wasn't tough to push at all. In fact, Hoot had developed a nasty little habit of putting his feet down to stop his stroller and she was much easier to push than him. Of course, as soon as we were off, I leaned down and whispered in her ear that if she put her feet down to jolt us to a stop like Hoot, I would pull her out of the chair and whip her *** right there in public. She laughed and demonstrated that she couldn't even touch the ground without leaning off the front of the chair.
We headed back to Hirambe to pick up our fast passes for Kilimanjaro Safaris. We had a small wait, so DH took Hoot through the Pangani Exploration Trail. While they were gone, I wheeled Tee over next to Tusker House to sit in the shade while I found us some refreshments. While I was gone, Brian, Tee's hubby, called her and laughed because even though he was back home from Africa, the rest of his traveling party had arrived in the real Hirambe that morning. When I returned with our iced coffees, the drummers came out and we enjoyed a great show. They had several dancers that were coercing guests out to dance with them and we watched an old man really get down! It was a great show and in no time at all, the boys were back from seeing the animals.
Kilimanjaro Safaris is one of our favorites at WDW. The trucks have a real driver because the animals, or at least the safe ones, roam on their own around the Safari. Never before had I seen such a demonstration of this.
We were in the truck and moving along quite nicely enjoying the animals and the sights. We came around a corner and saw a herd of giraffes on the move. We were very excited because one of the babies was out and about with them. The truck in front of us had stopped to let the giraffes meander down the road. Then, the baby had a change of heart, stopped, and just stood in the road. We waited patiently for about five minutes, but still the baby stood there. At this point he was maybe fifty yards in front of us. After almost ten minutes, a green pickup came driving down the road and stopped near the baby. I think something was said to the giraffe by a handler, and the baby began to back up off of the road. Then, the pickup turned around and went off a ways in the distance to watch. As soon as the ride truck in front of us started to inch forward, the baby went back to his original spot in the road. This caused a lot of laughing among the guests.
Once again, the green pickup drove down and the driver appeared to speak to the animal. The giraffe backed away, the truck left, the ride truck began to inch forward, and the baby returned to the road! We all thought it was terribly delightful! The next time the green pickup returned, the driver positioned herself between the ride trucks and the baby giraffe. As we were passing by them, the baby was beginning to inch around the back side of the pickup. I suspect she was trying to get back into the road.
After our Safari, we moved on to Asia. DH had mentioned riding Expedition Everest, but he never got around to it. We also considered Kali River Rapids, but the line was about 45 minutes long. (Yes, I know that's not really that long, but we are off season people.) The boys went off in search of tigers and bats, while I parked Tee beneath an umbrella for a photo or two.
Ha! She couldn't even complain! After all, I had been pushing her all afternoon! However, one doesn't really know what she'll think about it being posted online! HA!
After Asia, we dined at the Flametree BBQ, where Hoot had fowl issues. He refused to stop feeding the ducks that were gathered around our dining area. Eating with ducks underfoot is even more annoying that eating with bad mannered dogs under foot. I still don't know for sure, but I'm pretty sure he fed chicken to the ducks! Did my son make these poor innocent ducks into cannibals?
Dinoland USA was our next destination, but we were feeling pretty tired. Hoot kept sneezing and was a little on the surly side. The boys took a few spins on Triceratops Spin (Dumbo, but from the Cretaceous Period) while Tee and I enjoyed poking around the delightfully cheesy shop there. Honestly, I love Dinoland. It throws you back to the wonderful world of roadside tourism in the fifties.
DH really wanted to take Hoot on his first ride of Dinosaur, but I was concerned that the storyline might be a little too much for him. Just because he is physically big enough to ride a specific ride, it doesn't mean he could emotionally handle the ride. We did decide against it, though. And, we decided to throw in the towel. Hoot was sneezing, we were bushed, and there was laundry waiting back at the Pop Century.
As we left Animal Kingdom, we detoured outside of the World to pick up some cold medicine for Hoot. No sense in a runny nose making him miserable on his birthday. So, we stopped at Walgreen's, where I spent way too much time trying to figure out the new guidelines for kid's cold medicines. I eventually settled on an allergy medicine and we gave him a dose as soon as we got back to the room.
Can I just say how much I like laundry at WDW? You get to leave the boys behind in the room. The laundry rooms are always very clean. Oh, the resorts all have bars! Sadly, it was too dark to read by the pool as I waited, so I just kind of zoned. It's a nice little midweek mom break.
When I got back to the room, I was a little upset to find Hoot still awake. We had plans to be at Magic Kingdom at 7:45 for morning extra magic hours so that we could have Fantasyland under our belts before the birthday lunch. I put him in bed and laid down with him a bit, but he wasn't falling asleep. The DH kept going on and on about how the medicine wasn't doing anything and how Hoot was going to be miserable on his birthday. (I was thinking "I'm miserable now with all that bitching!") But, Hoot was obviously still awake and leaking. Eventually, at around 11:30 pm, I got dressed and went down to the gift shop to find a different cold medicine. On my way down, I stopped and told Tee what was going on. I promised I'd let her know if she needed to drive me back to a drugstore.
I bought Hoot some Tylenol Cold, but the label did not state that it was safe for him. However, I knew that I had used it before and that at home, I had a half full bottle in the medicine cabinet. I made sure the ingredients wouldn't conflict (that is most of the problems with children's cold medicines) with the allergy medication we had given him hours before. On the way back to the room, I talked with Tee and we agreed that we would not be able to have an early morning. We would plan our arrival just before our early lunch reservations. Then, I tip toed back into our room.
And, you know what? Hoot was sound asleep!
Up Next: Day Six: The Birthday! Don't Feed the Bears!
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