Day 7 - Part 7
After we left the Temple of Heaven replica in China, the sky still looked pretty dark so we decided to make a beeline to the exit. However, I think we may have stopped in Club Cool for a quick, refreshing drink of Coca-Cola products*. Its pretty hard to walk by there and not stop in for a freebie.
*
There are no paid product endorsements in this trip report. But thats not to say that there couldnt be
..for the right price. This is just an example of the kind of attention-grabbing promotion your product could receive. 
We left the park and went out to the bus stop, where we were the only people waiting for quite some time. We saw an abandoned fan mister at the entrance to the bus queue, and debated on taking it, but I dont know theres just something skeevy about taking pre-used, abandoned stuff. Within about 5 minutes, somebody else came along and we watched them walk off with it. James would have loved it though; I could just see him, perpetually misting himself for the rest of the trip. It reminds me of a time a couple of years ago when Judy had a PChef booth at a local festival. I took the kids to the festival to check it out and hang out at Judys booth for a little while. It was a really hot day, so James bought a fan mister from a vendor selling toys a couple of booths down from Judys, and found a seat behind all the booths on top of a rock wall. A lot of people were walkin past there since it was a good place to walk to avoid the main crowds looking at the booths. Within a few minutes he and Marlene were chanting to passersby, Misting twenty-five cents, fanning for free! He got several takers, which ended up paying for the mister. But even better, about a half-hour later, a group of teenaged girls walked by and each of them said, Hi James! He had apparently talked-them-up earlier when theyd walked past. He blushed when he saw that we'd seen what happened.
But I digress
have I told that story before? Am I getting that old that Im retelling and retelling the same stories? Reminds me of a time when James bought a fan mister at a local festival
Anyway, between waiting for a bus and the ride itself, it took us a little more than an hour to get back to Animal Kingdom Lodge. We got off the bus at Jambo House so I could look through the gift shop. I still had a few bucks on the gift card that Jordan had given me. (Actually, I did buy a pair of shorts, but I ended up returning them later (at the gift shop in Kidani, conveniently) because they didnt fit.) Then Marlene and I walked back to Kidani. When we got to the building, I let Marlene lead the way to see if she could find her way around. When we got off the elevator she immediately turned the wrong way and started leading us in the direction of Jambo House (although the hallway comes to a dead-end -- you have to go outside to get to Jambo House). Youve probably seen that Kidani has African proverbs written on the walls at various places around the resort. Well, this was the proverb we ran across.
My picture may be hard to read, but it says He who does not know the road, holds back the one who does. We had a good laugh over that, considering that we had to get lost to find it. We turned and took a few steps in the correct direction, and then I ran back to take a picture. I know good trip report fodder when it happens.
We eventually found our way back to our suite. Judy was in the living room area watching TV, Lauren was sleeping in the master bedroom where it was nice and dark and quiet, and not surprisingly, James was down in Community Hall. We told Judy some of the things wed done during our afternoon together and Marlene really lit up while telling Judy about our attempts to get someone to answer the phone in the UK and Morocco. After a little while she asked to borrow my phone. She found the UK phone booth in my contacts list and hit Send.
Someone answered.
She said Hello. Is this England?
They said, Yeah
.in Epcot.
Then I could tell that she didnt know what else to say, so I told her to ask what the weather was like.
Whats the weather like?
<pause>
Its kind of rainy here too. Im at Animal Kingdom Lodge!
And that was about the extent of it. She hung up and cracked up laughing.
Then we just relaxed in the suite for a little bit. Marlene went out on the balcony to look at the animals, and it gave Judy and me a chance to talk. I said, I like this savanna-view room, but Id be fine with a standard-view room like we had last year. I dont necessarily need the animals right outside my window. She said, I dont know how many times Marlene has said she loooves this.
Uh oh. You know what that means more DVC points may be required. We dont have more points yet, and I dont know if or when we will, but we came really close to purchasing an add-on last fall. I saw the perfect listing for an add-on for us: it was the same Use Year as our current contract, a nice round number of points, Animal Kingdom Lodge, and a decent price. We offered what they were asking, with the seller paying the dues and the closing costs. I just wanted to pay the price times the number of points. The sellers agreed and it passed Disneys right of first refusal. About this point in the story you may be asking, I thought you said you didnt purchase an add-on? Thats right, we hit a snag as we approached closing. Apparently the sellers were having some financial difficulties and a creditor wasnt permitting the sale of any assets. The timeshare broker tried to explain to the creditor that this was liquidating the asset to help the creditor get paid, but they werent letting up. We signed an extension on the contract allowing another week for closing to take place, to see if they could get it worked out, but they couldnt. The broker said shed never seen anything like this situation before. We could have kept extending and waiting, but to be honest, in thinking about the additional annual dues wed have to pay, we were feeling a little bit of buyers remorse over the purchase. So, we withdrew our offer and let it go. Now, with DVC changing some of their rules regarding contracts purchased on the resale market, I kind of wish wed have been able to get it before the change takes place, but I'll just have to be content.
Back to our story...Marlene poked her head in from the balcony to let us know that they were putting some food out for the giraffes.
When they put this giraffe chow out, they really come running.
I'm not sure if this guy had an itch, or what his problem was exactly.
I took pictures for another stitched photo of the view from our balcony. This is actually 20 pictures, stitched together.
Lauren emerged from her nap and was feeling quite a bit better. Marlene had to tell her about our afternoon and the call shed made to the U.K. phone booth a short while earlier.
Judys sister and her son, who live in Florida and visited us last year, came to visit once again. I believe I referred to them as DSiL and DN in last years trip report, so Ill stick with the same references this time around too. They arrived at 4:30 and we sent Marlene to retrieve James from Community Hall, where he was undoubtedly punishing some teenager or off-duty lifeguard at the foosball table. We caught up with each other and hung out on the balcony for a little while, and then I suggested that we go through the building and see what animals we could find on the Pemba savanna, since I was the only one who had explored over to that part of the resort. We walked over and of course I had to take a few pictures.
I think this was taken on the way.
These next pictures are from the Pembe savanna. Sorry, but I dont have the gumption to look up what these critters are.
It was nice to see an actual 4-legged okapi, not like that 6-legged one I had seen at Animal Kingdom the day before.
We thought this was one ugly duckling.
I think we need a caption contest for this next one. Maybe something that starts with Psst. Dont look now but,....
This was another strange looking bird.
Drat, I was really hoping to see some Red River Hogs. Oh well.
After our little indoor safari to the Pembe Savanna viewing areas, it was time to head back to the room and start getting ready for the evening.
Up next: We do the wave
Link to next chapter
I tried that with my Alice in Wonderland tie-in on my TR. So far no takers.
But I love your story about James at the PChef misting himself and others for a small fee! What an entrepeneur! And apparently the teenage girls thought him clever too!
and that I've really been enjoying your TR! You have such fantastic photos, I think that's so cool you were able to see the animals so close from your room! 
Why not take it back to the room, wash it with soap and water and enjoy it? After all, used mugs are all the rage. 
