Some people ARE worth melting for ….. 40 Disney days – the trip of a lifetime updated October 10

I am very sorry this update took so long, especially since I have several updates ready to post, all that is missing are the photos. Photobucket was having problems these last few days and I never got it to work until today. :thumbsup2



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Day 5, August 07

Even Sundays are busy at Disney - Part 1


Finally we had adjusted to the time change and were able to sleep in a little. We had planned on having a lazy morning, but by 7.30 we were up and after having showered, breakfast was on the agenda.
We had a Brunch reservation for 12.30, so we wanted something a bit on the lighter side. Since the Yacht Club does not have a quick service location we had decided to pick something up from the Beach Club Marketplace and there was another reason to head that way. We wanted to spend some time at the pool and the way through the lobby was pretty long, so, since our room was over where the Yacht and Beach Club join, would we find a shorter way. There was an emergency exit right down the hall from us and we tried it, but you could not get back inside from that door, so that didn’t help at all. So off we went and tried another hallway and yes, the door opened from the outside as well, so we headed down the stairs and the exit was right next to Yachtsman Steakhouse. And that was close enough. So we went over to the Beach Club Marketplace and checked out the menu and there was not really anything that we liked too much. Well, apart from the children’s menu. Why not try that. So we both ordered from the kid’s menu and took our food back to our room were we enjoyed the

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Scrambled Egg Sandwich, Tomato and Cheese on Gold Fish Bread with Grapes and a Parfait and the

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Mickey Waffles served with bacon. They were just the perfect breakfast and enough to hold us over until brunch. A few minutes later we were on our way down to Stormalong Bay. We had our Magicbands scanned and were given wristbands and then we were handed towels and off we went to find sun lounges. Not sure where we wanted to be we walked all around the area and finally ended up close to where we had walked in. There we applied a little more sunscreen and sat on the lounger until the skin had absorbed it before we finally headed to the pool. Once inside we realized that we had forgotten our waterproof camera in the room, but we did not want to waste precious time going to get it, so we swam along the lazy river, drifted in the side pool and enjoyed the Jacuzzi. We changed from one to the other a few times until 11.30, when we had to go back to our room and ready for brunch. Shortly after 12pm we left our resort and drove to the Grand Floridian, where we were told to park over in the DVC section of the resort.
We were surprised to see the area half empty and found a spot right away, then walked over to Narcoossee's, for the Waterfront Brunch. It was quite a walk over, but it was a bit overcast, so we did not mind that much.

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When we arrived and had signed in we were told that there would be a 10 to 15 minute wait, which seemed odd, as there were only a few tables occupied. But we took it as it was and took a seat. And no sooner as we had sat down, a cast member came over to greet us and take us to our table. Thankfully not all our vacation time went by that quickly. We ended up at a nice table by the window, our server introduced himself, asked for our preferences when it came to hot drinks and then left us to study the menu, while he went to get tea and coffee for us. When he came back he brought two press pots,

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one with coffee for Tom and one with Earl Grey tea for me, and he brought out

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Pastry Basket, which was filled with Freshly Baked Croissants, Mini Muffins, Cinnamon Twists and Danish filled with cream cheese and strawberry jam. It also came with

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Hibiscus Flower Butter and homemade Strawberry Jam. The menu was discussed a bit, more drinks ordered and when the server left, we started to taste the baked goods. Let’s just say, I’ve had better croissants, but the Cinnamon Twists were to die for and the Danish were nice too. Tom tasted the Mini Muffins and gave them the thumbs up. And while we were still eating our way through the pastry offerings, our server brought out our other drinks. I had opted for the

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Mimosa and only later found out that they were bottomless and I had even more than I had planned on. Tom had opted for the

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Bloody Mary, which came loaded with a celery stick, some bacon and a blue cheese filled olive, a prawn and a crab leg. It was kind of a meal in itself. And then our starters arrived. Tom had ordered the

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Brentwood Corn and Crab soup, while I wanted to try the

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Shrimp and Grits, creamy antebellum grits, green tomato chow-chow and Cherrywood bacon, and needless to say, we wanted to share, so we could try as much as possible. I had seen pictures of the Shrimp and Grits, but I was not prepared for the explosion of flavours in my mouth. So good. Tom was as impressed with his soup and once we swapped over we both wholeheartedly agreed to each others comments. We had just finished our starters when our mains were brought out. Tom had opted for the

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Steak and Eggs, black Angus hangar steak, two fried cage-free brown eggs,

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marble potato home fries and truffle aioli. And I went with something that I really wanted to try, the

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Chicken and Waffles, crispy fried boneless breast and thigh with creamy collard greens, onion jam, house-made apple butter and candied walnut crumble. And the server had decided that this was not enough, he brought out the

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Lobster Eggs Benedict, toasted English muffin, butter-poached Maine lobster, pit ham, soft poached eggs and citrus hollandaise. We both loved our choices and the Eggs Benedict and after swapping plates found out that the other dish was equally good. I really loved the marble potato home fries with the truffle aioli. So good, but we were getting so full. Neither of us was able to finish the dish. And while we worked on our food, the server came by ever so often, refilling my bottomless drink and he brought fresh coffee and iced water for Tom too. By now the restaurant was getting really empty, with only two other tables occupied. We still had to tackle dessert and there was no way we were going to finish it, but the server insisted on serving it. So he arrived and put a plate

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with a

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Valencia Orange bar, a

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Triple Chocolate Cake and a Lemon Blueberry Timbale in front of us. There was also a

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white chocolate Minnie on the plate, but when the server put the plate on the table she snapped in half. After he had explained the different cakes, we took pictures of the food and Tom held Minnie up and when the server saw this, he went and got us a new one in a little cup. Tom refused to try the desserts, he is not too much into sweets in the first place and he was just too full, but I wanted to at least try them all. The Orange bar was a bit on the sweet side, the chocolate cake was to die for and the Lemon Blueberry timbale was the thing that impressed me the least. But I only took one bite each and then put down the fork. And there was our server asking if we wanted him to box up our desserts. Well, now that was a great idea and we happily agreed. He brought the bill out together with our to-go box and we left him a nice tip before we finally rolled out of the restaurant. We were too full and too tired to walk around the restaurant, so instead we slowly crept back to the Grand Floridian Villas, while taking a few photos along the way.

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Took us a few minutes to get back to the car, but soon we found ourselves driving out of the resort

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and back to the Yacht Club. When we arrived there we went right back to our room, got changed and then went out on the balcony with a drink to chill for a while.


To be continued ....
 
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I can't believe thy brought you three entrees! We had the Eggs Benedict and chicken and waffles and that was way too much! I can't imagine adding in the steak and eggs too!

I'm so glad you enjoyed it!
 
That brunch was the most delicious looking meal I've seen in a long time! And endless mimosas....:cloud9:
 
What a lovely brunch. The food looked delicious.

It was as yummy as it looked. And we were very happy we had only had that small(ish) breakfast. :thumbsup2

I can't believe thy brought you three entrees! We had the Eggs Benedict and chicken and waffles and that was way too much! I can't imagine adding in the steak and eggs too!

I'm so glad you enjoyed it!

I was glad I had booked it after seeing your photos. And I knew about the amount of food - but we had NO idea the server would just serve even more food than we had ordered. It was definitely too much food, but I can tell you it was delicious!

That brunch was the most delicious looking meal I've seen in a long time! And endless mimosas....:cloud9:

We were so happy to have booked that brunch. The food was really good and to sit there with the lovely view of the castle while enjoying the food was the icing on the cake.
 

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Day 5, August 07

Even Sundays are busy at Disney - Part 2


When we arrived there we went right back to our room, got changed and then went out on the balcony with a drink to chill for a while.
We didn’t stay out there long though, as it soon started to rain. So we just lay on the beds, watching a little more TV. Soon the sun was out again and around 5pm we walked over to the International Gateway, went through security and scanned our bands and we were back at Epcot. I had made a few late FP+ and we did not want to miss them, but we still had a little time, so we decided to walk around World Showcase. So after entering the park we turned right and headed over to France.

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We walked through the stores and then decided to have a look how long it would take until the French movie was about to begin. Well, it was only 5 minutes, so we stayed and waited. We found seats towards the back and watched the little movie and enjoyed the air conditioning. Once the movie was over we walked further on towards Morocco and Japan

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and then on to Germany, where, as always, we checked prices on some of the articles that were sold there

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and were shocked at the price of a bar of chocolate, which is sold for under a Euro here and was priced 5.95$!!

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After that initial shock we moved further on to Norway

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where we were shocked to see how long the line for the new Frozen ride was. No way would we hop into that line. We finished our round and went towards Spaceship Earth, which was our first ride at Epcot that day. This time we made sure Tom had enough space for his knee and leaned back and enjoyed the ride.

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After getting off the ride we walked over to Starbucks and got some drinks. Tom opted for the Java Chip Frappuccino, while I ordered my trusted Iced Black Tea Lemonade.

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We found a table outside and sat down there and discussed our trip so far and were dreaming about the things that were still to come. Once we had finished our drinks, we slowly walked over to Mission Space and were stopped after a few steps by some cast members who drew Disney characters onto the ground with their brooms.

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That was so much fun to watch and we stood and waited until the characters were done completely before we made our way over to Mission Space. We scanned our Magicbands and walked right onto the ride. And it did not take long and we were already back from our mission. By then we had found out that your names are announced on the screens at the wall at the Advanced Training Lab and we hotfooted it there, and low and behold we caught both of our names being posted.

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We had one more FP+, so we walked over to the Land. Again we had a little time before our FP opened, so we decided to take a little break and have a snack at Sunshine Seasons. Tom got himself a liquid snack, a

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Yuengling, while I picked up a bottle of water and a

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Carrot Cake cupcake. We found a table towards the back of the restaurant and took our sweet time to enjoy the snacks and when we finally left our table we were way inside our FP+ time. So we headed over to Soarin, and walked through the FP line.
For us it was a walk through up to the point where the regular line and the fastpass line join. We were then sent straight down to the new theatre and it only took about 10 minutes until we were divided into groups and we got a spot on the far left glider in the top row. It was the first time for us to see the new Soarin’ movie and it was great, but sitting so far to the left, all the buildings seemed to bend in one direction. But it was so impressing, that we did not mind too much and hoped to get into the middle section the next time. At the exit we stopped and checked the standby time and it was only 10 minutes, so we hopped in line right away. And were stunned to find it a walk up close to the point where the two lines match. Again, we were sent straight down and this time we were seated in the right section, but close to the end.

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Once we got off, Illuminations was in full swing, but we did not stop and walked towards the International Gateway again. We left Epcot and slowly strolled back to the Yacht Club and when we were in front of the Beach Club the fireworks at the Hollywood Studios just started. Within minutes a lot of people were gathering and watching the fireworks and so were we,

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but since they are really long, we did not stay till the end, but left about halfway through and went back to our room, where we packed up all the things that were lying around, then watched a little more TV and finally fell asleep and it was good we did, as we had an exciting day ahead of us.


To be continued ....
 
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Day 6, August 08

Welcome to Kidani - Part 1

We got up around 7am again and it was moving day again. We were not in any particular hurry, so after getting ready we went to get some breakfast.
Again, we went to Beachclub Marketplace and got the kids breakfast. Once back in the room we enjoyed the

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Scrambled Egg Sandwich, Tomato and Cheese on Gold Fish Bread with Grapes and a Parfait and the

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Mickey Waffles served with bacon, which we again shared. Bellies filled we sat out on the balcony for a while enjoying the view and discussing what we were going to do this morning. Around 10am we called bell services to transfer our luggage and within 10 minutes someone came to pick up our luggage. One last walk through and we were ready to leave the Yacht Club. Before leaving we went through the gift shop one more time and then walked to self-parking, put our carry-ons in the boot and off we went.

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Didn’t take us long and we arrived at the security booth to Animal Kingdom lodge and then over to Kidani.

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Since it was even before check out time we knew we would not get a room right away, but it would not hurt to at least check in and get our magicbands. We were lucky to find a parking spot very close to reception, got out and headed inside. There was no wait at all, we walked right up and the cast member pulled up our reservation, went to get our magicbands and told us that he had a letter for us as well. We kind of looked at each other not knowing what this was going to be about, but all too soon it dawned on us.
We had signed up for the Wanyama Safari and these were the details.

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But most surprising of it all was the fact that our room was ready, shortly before 11am. To say we were happy would have been an understatement and map and room number in hand we headed back to the car and were on our way to check out our room and its view. There is a garage underneath the Kidani villas and we followed the signs to the Pumba lot, which seemed to be the furthest one out. But finally we got there, parked the car, took the carry-ons and off we went to check it out. Again I had asked for a higher floor and we were on the highest floor available. It was quite the hike to our room being quite a walk down the corridor, but finally we got there. We opened the door and really liked what we saw.

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This was the first time we stayed at Kidani and it was lovely. The room décor was awesome and once we had made it to the balcony, we were in awe. We had a great view over the resort and animals were roaming the savannah.

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We unpacked our carry-ons, I had a look at the letter that I had been given at check in and it was instructions for the outing we had planned for the afternoon and evening. It was now around midday and since our luggage had not arrived yet and we were to stay for four nights we decided to head out and do some grocery shopping.


To be continued ....
 
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I was so behind, I'm sorry :(

Your meal at Boathouse looked so yummy! I'm one of the few who like the hightop tables I guess.

I still have not been over to the completed Disney Springs. I did however, go to the outlet you and Tom suggested and found so many treasures. Can't wait to go back for Christmas shopping.

The fireworks cruise sounded lovely. How cool you also got to see the SW fireworks as well.

Brunch at Narcooses looked sublime! popcorn::

How fantastic your room was ready at Kidani that early :) love the decor there.
 
I was so behind, I'm sorry :(

You have a lot of other things on your mind. Don't worry about being behind on my TR. :goodvibes

I still have not been over to the completed Disney Springs. I did however, go to the outlet you and Tom suggested and found so many treasures. Can't wait to go back for Christmas shopping.

We never made it through all of it either. We checked out bits and pieces, but never quite expored all of it.
But I am happy to hear that you went to the outlet store. They have a lot of awesome stuff. :thumbsup2


The fireworks cruise sounded lovely. How cool you also got to see the SW fireworks as well.

It was a wonderful evening. The family we shared the cruise with was really nice and seeing two fireworks was awesome.

How fantastic your room was ready at Kidani that early :) love the decor there.

I seemed to always get it wrong - when we arrived in the early afternoon I was sure the room would be ready, but it wasn't. This time we would have bet that it would not be ready, but it was and it had a great view as well. Loved the room as well. The decor was so nice, and so much attention to detail.

I'm glad your room was ready and you had such as great view!

We were happy too! We had not been to AKL in a long time and I had a hard time deciding between the lodge and Kidani. In the end we were very happy with our decision.
 
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Hi Karin! All caught up! Boathouse looks really good. I love how you are getting your fill of Mickey waffles too. You are just exploring all the resorts this trip LOL I love AKL. Such a good place to relax.
 
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Day 6, August 08

Welcome to Kidani - Part 2

It was now around midday and since our luggage had not arrived yet and we were to stay for four nights we decided to head out and do some grocery
shopping. So we said goodbye to our lovely Savannah view and went back to the car. It is quite the drive to our favourite Publix, but we made it there shortly after noon. And while we were heading there we remembered that there was a Five Guys restaurant nearby and last time we had wanted to go there they had already been closed for the day. So, since we had only had had a kid’s meal for breakfast we stopped there first. There was lots of parking available, so we parked close to the entrance, went in and got in line. We both ordered our food and our drinks, then paid for it, picked up my Diet Coke and went to find a table to wait for our food.

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While we waited Tom went to get some

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peanuts and we sat and nibbled until we were called to pick up Tom’s

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Cookies and Cream milkshake. It was thick and sweet and he really liked it a lot. Soon after our burgers were ready. We both had ordered a

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cheeseburger, mine came with mayo, lettuce, tomatoes and ketchup and Tom’s had

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the same plus some additional pickles. We remembered that the size of their fries was pretty big, so we both just ordered

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small fries and they were more than we could finish. Both burgers were really good, nice and juicy, but a bit hard to eat for someone who is not used
to eating burgers out of hand. We enjoyed our burgers very much and after we had finally finished our lunch we headed back out to the car and drove over to Pubix. There is a liqueur store next to it and Tom wanted to have a look inside. A bottle of vodka caught his eye, but we did not want to carry it around all the time, so we decided that if they still had it when we got back from our cruise, it would be going home with us. We then headed over to the grocery store and bought a lot of our staples to fill the fridge and some Diet Coke and beers for Tom. Shopping done we headed back to Kidani.
They had told me that our luggage would arrive between 1 and 3pm and since it was shortly before 2pm we stopped at the front desk and I headed in to ask if it had already arrived. And yippie, it had. I asked for it to be delivered to our room now, as we were headed there now. We drove over to the Pumba lot, parked the car and started carrying up our purchases. Then Tom went down to get the rest, while I waited for our luggage to arrive and we were lucky I did, as shortly after Tom had left to go back to the garage again, there was a knock at the door and our luggage was delivered. When Tom arrived with the rest of our groceries he was stunned that all our suitcases and the Owner’s Locker box were already there. So we unpacked the groceries and stocked the fridge, then we unpacked what we would need for the four nights at Kidani. And before we knew it, it was time to head out again for our afternoon and evening appointment. We needed to go to the Lodge and I had thought that, depending on where our room would be, we might be able to walk over, but since we were so far out, we drove over to the Lodge, finally found a spot to park our car and then headed down to Jiko, where we were to sign in for the Wanyama Safari.
It seemed like we were a little early as there was only one other family sitting there and the young lady that checked us in had a lot of time to chat with us. But finally more people came and we were asked to take a seat. We waited for about 10 more minutes and then a cast member who was to inform us of what was going to happen, introduced herself and led us into another room where they had a buffet prepared.

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We all walked over to the buffet and we were told what everything was and then we were handed a plate to go and pick some food to try.

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They served tea or iced water with it and since there were only 12 people in our group, there was no rush and more than enough for everyone to try everything and go back for seconds. We both tried everything and even though some of it were new tastes, it was really good, but we were too full to get seconds as we were still full from our Five Guys lunch. We had more than enough time to finish our tasting before two cast members, who look after the animals, arrived and told us more about what was to happen next. Then we were all led outside and climbed onto the back of a truck, where we all found seats and off we went. First we followed the regular paved road before we got to a gate that let us into one of the Savannahs.

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The cast member pointed out things, talked about how the animals were kept,

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where their feeding stations were and everyday life with wild animals. In the beginning we did see the animals, but they were a few metres away,

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but lateron we got really close to them.

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We criss crossed the Savannahs, always seeing the Lodge or Kidani in the background and there were so many animals out there, you sometimes didn’t know where to look first.


To be continued ....
 
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Hi Karin! All caught up! Boathouse looks really good. I love how you are getting your fill of Mickey waffles too. You are just exploring all the resorts this trip LOL I love AKL. Such a good place to relax.

We really enjoyed the food at the Boathouse. I think I need to put that on the list of "have to do again" restaurants.
Somehow I never realized that I could order a kids meal and have waffles for breakfast. I often have a "sweet" breakfast (rolls, butter, jam) at home and they were just what I needed those days.

We had not been to AKL in a long time and really enjoyed our stay there. Tom and I loved sitting out on the balcony, watching the animals. So cool!
 

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