Our journey was a three-hour trek from start to finish which included gearing up and the mini-training.  Walt Disney World Moms Panelist and blogger Suzannah of Zannaland has a terrific summary of the experience on her blog – here.

For me the most terrifying  (and yes, I mean terrifying) part were the two walks across the shaky, swaying rope bridges.  First over the hippopotamus river, then once you catch your breath from that it’s on to crossing over the crocodile pit.

Yes, those are real live 20-foot crocs below sunning on the island and swimming in the water.   Oddly, I was so nervous being so high up and concentrating on the swaying bridge that I never looked down at the ground.  I was holding on to both sides of the ropes so hard and focusing on where my next step would go.  As you look closely at the bridge you can see the planks are unequally spaced and purposely broken so you have to walk very slowly and carefully to not fall in between them.  UGH!!  I have no idea how those other people managed to stop and shoot photos while on the bridge.   The cool thing about Disney is they have the trek guides taking professional photos of you all along the way.  So when I download my Disney Photo Pass pictures later today there will be some of me actually on the bridge making the terrifying journey across.

The good news is – I did survive.  I made it across both bridges albeit with quite a few more grey hairs on my head.

And from there the trip was a piece of cake.

My biggest challenge with this experience will be the high-in-the-air rope walk over the crocodile pit.  Yes, the height scares me some, but my bigger fear than that are the crocodiles.  Living in Florida my whole life I have a huge fear of alligators and reptiles in general. Huge fear!  So, if I can overcome this I think I’m going to have an amazing time!

Wish me luck!  Check back here for post-trip pictures.

Today I was at Disney’s Animal Kingdom meeting up with someone I’ve had an online connection with, but hadn’t met in person yet. Allison from Texas and I have been communicating through Twitter and Facebook for several months and today we finally said hello – face-to-face. 

After spending time saying hello, I used the next 30 -minutes in the park (before my next conf. call) to head over to see my tiger friends.  Last time I was there I captured a great shot of one yawning.  I was hoping for the same spontaneous photo moment today. While the “action” shot didn’t happen, I still managed to take some great pictures of these magnificent beasts.

Aren’t they just gorgeous creatures?  And to think I’m a dog person. Huh.

Have a tiger-riffic weekend!