Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios

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I woke up a bit late this morning, probably because I walked so much yesterday. I can honestly say that I needed the rest. I started my day off taking the Monorail to Animal Kingdom. Animal Kingdom opened in 1998. "It is Disney's largest theme park, covering more than 500 Acres. There are more than 1,000 animals in Animal Kingdom and about 250 different species (Jones, J)". When I arrived at Animal Kingdom the first thing I saw was the Tree of Life and this thing was huge. Towering 14 stories high and 50 feet wide, it features more than 300 animal carvings. Although I saw the tree during the day, I was told that it comes to life after dark. I'm not quite sure what I liked most about Animal Kingdom, the animals or the rides. Animal Kingdom has over 41 different attractions and I tried to experience all of them. After viewing the attractions and admiring the animals, I headed back to the hotel to eat lunch and take a rest.

Fully rejuvenated, I set out to experience the last theme park, Hollywood Studios. Hollywood Studios was originally named MGM Studios back in 1989. When it was first created it was a theme park that could be experienced in half of a day. Now, it takes a full day to soak everything up. Unfortunately for me, I only had a half day left, so I had to do as much as possible in a short amount of time. My first set of rides were Tower of Terror and Rock n Roller Coaster. After experiencing them, I found the Great Movie Ride and Star Wars. Next, I headed towards Indiana Jones. Although, I was very tired at that point, I continued my quest to experience all that I could. As I got ready to leave, the Fantasmic show was about to begin. Of course, I had to stay and watch Mickey encounter the villainous Jafa in the form of a 100-foot long and 16-foot high cobra! The show was "fantastic" I also learned some cool secrets from one of the employees. I learned that the lagoon where the Fantasmic show takes place is only 1.5 feet deep! It looks much deeper than that during the show. By the time I got to the monorail, there was a huge line, if you are going to doing Disney, don't leave when everyone else does, it can take hours to get out of the theme parks.

Once I got to the hotel, I realized I had to pack. Tomorrow I would be boarding Amtrak once again to go from Orlando back to New York. Although I enjoyed the different places I had rode through. I dreaded taking the train again. Sitting in tight seats, showering in a tiny shower, getting on and off the train, and the worse, a 21 1/2 hour ride! The whole time during my trip I was perfectly fine being alone bit the thought of riding the train alone again saddened me. At this point, I wished I had a friend that would be traveling back with me. All I could think about is how long it was going to take to get back home.

As I laid across my bed in deep thought, the hotel telephone began to ring. When I answered, my mother was on the other end. I told her all about my train ride and the fun I had at Disney. We talked for over an hour and she ended the call by telling me that she had purchased me a one-way airline ticket, leaving Orlando going to New York, at 9:00am tomorrow morning. I was happy beyond belief. She ended the call by telling me that if I missed my plane, I would be stuck on the train. I hung up with her and went straight to bed.

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