Part II

Sunday morning began like almost any other -- EARLY.

You'd think after a night of traveling, Harry would have wanted to sleep in. Not so much. That said, the view from the balcony and the extra window afforded us by a corner room, was a great asset. We overlooked the "harbor" from which the shuttle ferried from the Swan & Dolphin hotels over to either EPCOT Center, or to MGM Studios. Regardless of where they were headed, we were assured of periodic entertainment for little man spotting boats and calling out their colors… every once in a while, he even got it right (he seems to have a penchant for "Ooornj").

So out we went to explore the immediate area… lots of running by Harry, chasing by Kim, and catching-up with the empty stroller by me. The weather was pleasant, although still a bit chilly in the early part of the day. Lunch by the pool, some swimming, a nap, more running around, and then dinnertime.

Monday came, and we headed off to Disney's Animal Kingdom. Harry seems to be quite fond of public transportation these days, as evidenced by an overwhelming desire to point out every single Bus, Train, Airplane, and Truck that crosses his field of vision. This is a plus, as we hopped on the shuttle bus after a brief wait.

Almost everyone we talked to recommended against Animal Kingdom. Mainly as they seemed to think it was boring, but we love EPCOT, which they also seem to hate, so we thought we'd give it a go. Aside from Harry's exceptional face painting purchase (a GREAT one of Simba from The Lion King), it wasn't much to speak of. Especially the Safari Tuck tour when we had to run down the poachers. Nothing like the denouement coming at the death of the matriarch of the elephant herd… great for kids I tell ya.

The other big attraction there was the Bug's Life 3-D movie. This was great until the first audience-scream-point. From there on out, Harry was a bit displeased. Then this huge animatronic grasshopper comes up out of the stage and starts yelling at the audience amidst a huge cloud of fog… then a bug shoots water at everyone… then everyone screams again.

Needless to say, bad idea.

Harry did have fun playing drums and looking for bears (right up there with the trucks & buses), but overall, I'd give Animal Kingdom a C at best.

Next day was the trip on the boat over to EPCOT. As I mentioned, Kim and I are big fans. This time was no different, as Home Depot had sponsored a Garden & Flower exhibition. At just about every other "country," there were these great backyard-playgrounds set up. Harry was in his element, and I think we were both impressed with what you could potentially build in your own yard (for a nominal cost of course).

Harry made it over to Mexico for lunch, and then we headed into the pyramid for the boat tour… he did quite well considering how dark it was. It's pretty mellow though, so a nice starter ride. We got ambitious and then got on the Maelstrom over in Norway. That one was much darker, literally and figuratively. This didn't go over so well, as the loud booming voice of the haunted tree stump that came up out of the water was only about 2 feet away.

So we're pretty much done with rides at this point.

Exhausted, Harry finally fell asleep for a nap, and since we had all-day passes, we decided to head back to the hotel for a swim, and try to come back for the fireworks/light show and parade later in the evening. Whilst at the pool, Kim got an awful migraine, so we headed back to the room, she took a nap, and Harry and I headed back over to EPCOT for dinner. Thomas the Train kept him entertained in the English toy store for a while, and we ate in Canada. Walked around for a bit, and spent the rest of the evening watching the toy trains and playing in one of the Home Depot playgrounds. As we headed back, Harry got good & tired running, until one of the little lizards in the underbrush by the Boardwalk ran across his path…

"Wahs dat?"

"that’s a lizard"

"neez-ird?"

"Yep. Did you see it"

"No … no neez … no leez … no neez-irds. No neezirds."

He repeated that for pretty much the rest of the night, with appropriate finger shaking as well.

When we made the clubhouse turn, I could see Kim watching for us from the 2nd floor balcony. We were still about 75 yards away, but thought it'd be a good idea to point this out to him, as he had been asking where she was for most of the evening. Needless to say, once he saw her, he immediately was telling her all about the lizards and that he wasn't very inclined to see any more of them. All while running towards her, past several other couples, from 2 floors below.

Quite the sight.