flights of wonder

 All of the kids are stumped as to how the parrot is answering all of the math problems before they can.  (The bird had a cue word, so every time they said three, the bird would say four.  They would ask the kids what is twelve divided by three and the bird would quickly say four before the kids could even process the question)

This show was so fun!  The actors were hilarious and the birds were beautiful.  We especially loved the grey parrot that sang and talked.  He did a little preshow with the kids and said his name, answered math problems, and made funny sounds that had all of the kids giggling.  The birds also flew around the audience, and the owl flew so close to Grandma that I could saw her hair ruffle from his breeze.  Such a fun show!

yak and yeti

We had a DELICIOUS lunch at Yak & Yeti.  It was freshly made Chinese food, and the chef even personally came out to talk to me and then made me a special gluten free meal.  The food staff at all of the restaurants were exceptional and extremely knowledgeable about food allergies, but this meal stayed vivid in my memory... maybe because I haven't had Chinese food (other than vegetables and white rice) in about two years, so this grilled sweet and sour chicken was extra yummy.  I absolutely loved the ambience of the eating area too.  All of the condiment stations looked like little Chinese food carts lining the streets and the eating area included tables in a courtyard between buildings with gardens and fountains. 

that african beat

There's something mesmerizing about that steady broad beat of an African drum, and the kids loved taking their turn and finding their own rhythm.  After exploring Africa, we went back to the center of the park to the tree of life.  It is a huge tree with animals carved in it, and the pictures really don't do it justice because it's so big that they even have a theater inside of it.  Drew loved the bug show inside of the tree, but Maddi was terrified.  (This park had her terrified more than once)  In this 4D movie, bugs spit at you, stung you, crawled under your seat, and even fell from the ceiling.  Drew was in awe, and Maddi hated every second of it.  But Drew did stand in line after line so Maddi could see princess after princess, so I didn't feel it was too unjust, and I just cradled her until it was over.

petting zoo

 

This area was really neat.  Outside, the kids got to play with and groom animals, and inside, they had several animals, insects, and reptiles on display.  They even had some extremely unique species that despite all of the aquariums and zoos I've visited, I had never seen or even read about.  They also had a viewing area where you could watch the veterinarians doing procedures on the sick animals from around the park, and an area where you could watch them prep food for the animals. We didn't hang around for that part though because I'm sure Maddi would have melted when she saw a sick little duck who needed his airway flushed.  It was really need to get a little behind the scenes peek though.

safari