So were on day 6, the day we begin our PChef portion of the trip. I dont remember the specifics, but we obviously checked out of our Sheraton suite (goodbye separate bedrooms, kitchenette, and dining table -- some very nice attributes I must say, despite the pain of the timeshare tour) and drove over to Port Orleans Riverside. This was our first time seeing this resort, and over the next few days Ill come to really, really like this place. We were given a room in the Magnolia Bend section of the resort, i.e. the mansions. Looking at a map, I think we were in the Magnolia building, because I know we were pretty close to the East Depot bus stop. Anyway, Magnolia Bend means no trundle bed, because they are only available in Alligator Bayou (I didnt even know to ask about this at the time), so James, being the smallest, was the odd-man-out and got to sleep in a sleeping bag for the remainder of the trip.
We settled in and made our way over to Animal Kingdom. Construction was still in progress on Expedition Everest, but the peak of the mountain was visible that summer. Unfortunately, the ride wouldnt open until April of the next year. We could only look and dream of what it would be like.
I hate to keep saying I dont remember, but Im having trouble remembering all that we did that day
.Im sure we must have ridden the safari ride, I cant imagine us going there without hitting that attraction, and we probably went on the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail.
Now Ill refer to a portion of the Animal Kingdom park map, below.
I think we ate at a counter service place in Asia, indicated by the black arrow on the map. When we were at the park last summer I noticed that there isnt anything in that building anymore except the restrooms. Am I crazy? There was a counter service place there back in 2005, right? This is the building with the fountain that all the kids like to play in -- the water looks like a sheet of glass until you put your hand into it and disrupt the flow. Anyway, I got some food for us here while Judy tried to get a table for us in the small courtyard between that building and where Yak and Yeti is now (L on the map, the courtyard looks like vegetation on the map). It had started to rain and she wasnt able to get us a table with an umbrella, so we stood there in our ponchos, trying to eat quickly. As it started to rain harder, a nice family invited us to squeeze under their umbrella. It was pretty tight, so I mostly stayed out from under it, relying on my poncho, but I was glad that the kids had a decent place to get out from the rain.
This is kind of a random aside, but the blue arrow on the map in Africa marks another good place that we have found to sit and eat, although I dont think we did on this particular trip. A lot of people walk right by this area, but it has a few tables and chairs and can be a nice place to eat and take a load off.
The yellow arrow in Africa points to a popcorn vendor booth. Now this is a story that I do remember pretty well. The family and I were outside of Flights of Wonder waiting for the next showing, and James wanted popcorn. He must not have eaten enough soggy lunch. So I walked with him along the path from Flights of Wonder to the vendor booth in Africa and as we got there it began to pour. I mean, the skies opened up. There was probably only about one foot of roof overhang on that building and we were squeezed up against it so tightly that even the cast member inside probably felt that his personal space was being violated. While there, I bought James his popcorn. Hey, why not? My rain poncho only went down to about my knees and I remember the rain hitting the ground so hard that it would bounce off of the pavement and was starting to soak my legs and feet. I reached Judy on her walkie-talkie (this was in the days before we had two cell phones, so we had walkie-talkies if we ever split up) to let her know that we were hanging out at the booth for a little while until the rain let up. She and the girls were taking similar actions at Flights of Wonder. James was happy just standing there, eating his popcorn.
Soon the rain started to let up a little
, so we started back down the path. I dont think James ever looked where he was walking, he was so intent on that popcorn. People walking the opposite direction would laugh as they saw this boy enjoying the absolute heck out of this bag of popcorn, in the rain.
At some point we saw Flights of Wonder (before or after the popcorn expedition -- who knows?). This is a pretty good show, and this was the second time wed seen it, with the first being in 2001. I remember thinking that I liked the guy who played the part of the lost tour guide better back in 01. Im not sure if that guy was really better, or if I liked him better because he was the first Id seen.
Here are the only two pictures I took of that show. I guess I didnt even attempt to get a shot of when the bird swoops over the audience, with the shutter-lag that I had to deal with on that camera.
Apparently we made our way over to Festival of The Lion King.
Another great show, although Ill always remember the awe I had when seeing it for the first time.
We had reservations for Boma that night, so Im sure we went over to Animal Kingdom Lodge and walked around a bit before our ADR time. Then, Im pretty sure I stuffed myself, tasting a sampling of as many buffet items as I possible could.
But since my memorys so bad, thats just a guess.
Link to next chapter
Those pictures of him playing the game are too cute!
Would have loved to see that.
And worse yet, it hangs for days!
That's a good one!
I'll be back on Monday, and will give it some well-deserved feedback. 
