I should explain before this TR continues any further that, while on this trip, I was also on a quest. A mission, if you will.
A quest for a hat.
During our trip prior, in December 2011, I had seen the Muppets knit hats for sale, had strongly considered getting one, but had passed it up. They came in Beaker, Animal, and Kermit varieties (I, personally, had my sight set on Beaker).
I figured that since the new Muppets movie had just come out, there should be a plethora of Muppets merchandise around the parks, and getting the hat should be no problem
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Exiting the Haunted Mansion, we then deliberated on what to do next. It was still pretty early, and I suggested to Wingnut that if we wanted to grab any Fantasyland FP's while we were nearby, now might be a good time. (Namely, for Peter Pan's Flight. While we enjoy the ride, it's certainly not something that we'll want to stand in the usual long lines for.)
He declined, so we decided to backtrack to the start of our normal MK loop the Jungle Cruise!
Approaching the ride, we noticed a large tour group congregating around the ride.
WALK FASTER!!!
We passed around them and basically walked right onto the ride.
I hoped that these tour groups wouldn't be a sign of the crowds to come this week (foreshadowing: yes, they would). We had also noticed many of the people in the parks wearing shirts from the Marathon the day before, and feared that groups of people from that as well would populate the parks (more foreshadowing: yes, they would too, but to a lesser degree than the tour groups).
Unfortunately, there truly is no more "low crowds" season at Disney any more.
Anyways, back to our two-week-long Jungle expedition!
Wait. Is the Jungle Cruise 2 weeks long? I know the Kilamanjaro Safari is. Maybe it's 3 weeks?
We love this ride, it is in Wingnut's top 3 favorites (also including the Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean), and I love the corny jokes that accompany the ride.
("Ladies and gentlemen, your attention, please. Would the party that lost the roll of 50 $20.00 bills, wrapped in a red rubber band, please report to the turnstile...we have good news for you. We found your rubber band.")
Next, we completed Wingnut's Favorite Rides Trifecta by going on the Pirates of the Caribbean! It was still early enough that the rides had minimal wait times, at least in Adventureland. I wondered what Fantasyland looked like around now though
We boarded our boat and everything was normal until we reached the scene where you sail in between the two battling ships. The explosions went off, we heard the water cannons splashing (which are normally not that close to the boat), and suddenly Wingnut and I were soaking wet.
Wait. Since when does THIS happen??? I don't remember ever needing a poncho on this ride!
We continued on, sailing through the pirates wave of looting and pillaging and auctioning off the redhead.
(Also on this ride we happened to be sailing along with a Very Prolific Photographer With A Very Bright Flash. I actually started looking away from scenes as we would ride up to them, because he would inevitably take photos of ALL of them with his blinding flash.)
(No, unfortunately, the tidal wave that soaked Wingnut and I had not washed away his camera
)
After Pirates, of course, we played in the gift shop for a few moments with the swords before I instantly declared what our next ride would be.
Tropical Serenade!!! The original version!!!
Wingnut, of course, allowed himself to be dragged to the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki room. (He likes the Tiki birds too. Yes, really.)
Shockingly, the pre-show area wasn't crowded, and we were able to have a prime view of the entertainment.
A few minutes and countless corny jokes later, we were allowed into the theater.
Where there were many many more corny jokes. But this time, to song!
Your intrepid travelers:
Before the show had started, the usual "no flash photography" announcement was made. During the show, across from us, someone started taking plentiful amounts of flash photography.
Yep. Our Very Prolific Photographer With A Very Bright Flash from before!
Happily (at least, for me), he was very quickly told to stop by the CM there.
(Yay!!)
(I wonder how many rotations of the show the poor Tropical Serenade CM's have to sit through at a time. Hopefully not TOO many
)
I enjoyed the show (Wingnut declared "once was enough for this trip"
), and we then started to make our way out of Adventureland.
I am looking forward to seeing your pics later tonight!
I hope something comes along really soon! 
It really disturbs me when people have no idea how to use their camera and disable a flash. Really? That camera should have gotten washed away while on the JC.
i am all caught up...mindly reading and typing while holding a cranky baby 
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