DiVine - if you stare long enough, she moves
On Day 3, we headed over to Animal Kingdom for morning Extra Magic Hour. Of course, we headed over to Expedition Everest first for a ride. We also hit Kali River Rapids - and pretty much everyone was soaked afterwards - we ended up buying DD#2 a new outfit. We then headed over to the Safari before it got too late in the day to see most of the animals. We also saw DiVine for the first time. If you are walking around, and there seems to be a crowd looking at something where there doesn't appear to be anything, look closely at the trees - one of them probably isn't a tree...DiVine - if you stare long enough, she moves
By 11:30 it was time for our reservations at Tusker House, newly converted in to a buffet. The food was great, with a wide variety. The trouble is trying everything, without ending up with a ridiculously piled high plate. The selections were kept well stocked, except for one dish that always seemed empty, although I can't remember what it was now. Certainly worth doing again.
We then hit a few more attractions, and had hoped to see Finding Nemo: The Musical, but the timing wasn't great so we opted for Festival Of The Lion King instead. A little later, we staked out a spot for the Holiday version of "Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade", called "Mickey's Jingle Jungle Parade". It's basically the same parade, but the characters are in some winter and holiday outfits and the music is a bit different. Prior to the parade beginning, DD#1 got chosen for a "wish" and got to help with crowd control during the parade - they gave her a cast member shirt to wear (temporarily - not to keep), and afterwards gave her one of the Tinkerbell pins given out as part of the "wish" program. After the parade we headed out.DD#1 working crowd control
Rather than go back to the resort right away, we decided to stop and take a quick tour of the Polynesian and Grand Floridian to see the holiday decorations. In addition, we had recently purchased a brick as part of the Walk Around The World program, and hadn't seen it yet. "Wait!" you say - the Walk program closed several years ago, so how did we get a brick? Well, as it turns out the program re-opened briefly in 2007 to try and fill in some of the blank bricks in various locations, especially in front of the Magic Kingdom. The price had also increased to $300 from the original $95. We filled out the form, sent it in, and then the program abruptly closed. At first I was told I would not get a brick, and couldn't get any information as to why it suddenly stopped (the CMs who worked to re-open the program weren't told). Then I heard I would get a brick, and it would be located near the Poly (by request - that was the first Disney resort we stayed at as a complete family). So finally we could see our brick in person.Mickey's Jingle Jungle Parade
The brick had a location code of "P1A" (which gives what section it is in), and it would be right by the Luau Cove, which is the extreme end of the resort towards the Grand Floridian. So we walked over there, looked around...and around...and around...and it wasn't there. There was no "P1A" section! I walked halfway to the Floridian and back to no avail. I knew there were some Poly bricks on the path to the TTC, but those were a different location code. Eventually, we gave up and I would ask at Guest Relations at the Magic Kingdom when we were over there. In the meantime, we checked out the decorations and hopped the Monorail to the Grand Floridian to check things out there. There was a big gingerbread house, which included a little store inside. Then it was back to the resort.
For dinner, we went back to Downtown Disney, and managed to get a walk-in table at Raglan Road, which we enjoyed before. I was dismayed to see Kevin's Heavenly Ham was no longer on the menu, so I opted for the Paddy's Pork, which was delicious. I forget what everyone else had, but we were generally pleased with the food, although the service was pretty slow, and we had a booth near the entrance so it was pretty loud with a lot of traffic. My FiL and I did the beer flights. No dessert this time...too full from the food.The Gingerbread House at the Grand Floridian
A little more shopping, and then we retired to the resort. On the way back on the bus from DTD, we stopped at The Springs stop before the Paddock. I overheard a daughter tell her mother that she left her denim jacket on the bench at the bus stop. The mother figured it was lost at that point. I said that since I was getting off at the Paddock, I would walk over to The Springs, and if the jacket was there, I'd bring it over to the front desk. Sure enough it was still there, so I dropped it off at the desk, and then began the long trek back to the Paddock (even with all that walking, I don't think I could come close to working off the calories gained during the week) and some rest.
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