Oh, well, we had to get up anyway.
Today would be an Animal Kingdom day. By the time we arrived at AK, we were hungry, so we went immediately to Tusker House, where we each secured one of their huge breakfasts. After breakfast, since we were already there, we rode Kilimanjaro Safari.
Kilimanjaro Safari, with the sun shining and the animals out, is the best (and has always been the most popular) attraction in Animal Kingdom.
There was one major attraction we hadn't seen yet at AK. Rafiki's Planet Watch, at the end of a cute little train ride, waited for us with vets, exhibits, and a petting zoo. So we went. I'm not much on petting zoos, but the animals in this one were cute. They must all have near-infinite patience, too, as they put up with hundreds of people per day petting them, feeding them, and generally making a nuisance of themselves in the animals' pens.
One cute little fellow was trying desperately to get into a small fence enclosure. He had his nose under the gate handle, pushing mightily, and if that gate hadn't been locked, the little fellow would have gotten in for sure. I took a picture of him, but the picture doesn't do the scene justice.
On a call home, I'd been instructed to search for a big plastic Pooh-bear cup for my niece. Well, the shop at Conservation Station had them. I'd been looking for a couple of days, and was near to giving up, when I suddenly noticed a Tigger cup on the shelf. Sure enough, the Pooh cup was on the shelf beneath it. Sometimes, you just have to keep your eyes open; what you're looking for may fall right into your lap.
When the bus pulled into the lot at AKL, we were immediately impressed with the sheer size of the place. The main building stretched five floors high, and the front facade was at least 300 feet long. We took a few pictures and some video of the outside before entering.
Once we entered, 'impressed' quickly turned to 'awed'. The main lobby of AKL is a five-story atrium, with an impressive faux suspension bridge stretching over it at the far end. The far end also sports a five-story wall of glass, looking out onto the savannah. Guest rooms and various lounges and observation balconies on that side of the building look directly into the animal enclosures of the Animal Kingdom park; it's not uncommon for guests in some of the better savannah-view rooms to awaken with feeding giraffes less than fifty feet from their windows.
We looked around the main lobby for a while, taking pictures and video of this magnificent place; we climbed up to the bridge, we checked out a couple of the overlooks, we walked past one of the restaurants, Boma, and still we only scratched the surface of the resort. I made up my mind that, sometime in the future, I was going to stay at AKL for at least two nights. I wanted to eat at Boma, I wanted to spend a leisurely evening on an overlook, reading a book and watching the animals, I wanted to explore the place thoroughly and get to know every meticulously-detailed nook and cranny. Since I go to Walt Disney World on vacation every year, this was certainly a possibility. And, since I was now an Annual Passholder, I'd be able to afford it... for a couple of nights, anyway.
We wandered around AKL for an hour or so before we felt ready to leave. Then we got on a bus to the Magic Kingdom; there was a particular postcard I wanted to buy, and I hadn't been able to find it all day, nor had I found it at Downtown Disney the previous night. I figured my best bet would be the Emporium.
When we got to MK, I shopped around the Emporium for about a half-hour, just long enough to assure myself that the postcard I thought I'd seen earlier in the trip was all in my imagination. But on our way out of MK, we stopped in the Art of Disney, near the park exit; I seldom buy things in this rather expensive shop, but I enjoy looking at the merchandise. The Art of Disney often has artists or animators working at a table, drawing characters and beginning animation cels. Today there was a guy named Eddie, with whom we spent at least 40 minutes talking about current events, Disney World corporate policy, the Readers Clubhouse web site, and nice places to live in the Orlando area. This was yet another example of true Disney Magic; there is nothing so pleasant in Walt Disney World as meeting an exceptional Cast Member who not only loves his job, but also loves meeting Guests from all over the world and exchanging information and opinions with them. Eddie was but the latest in a long line of CMs with whom I've had long, fascinating conversations. I also remember a young woman in Epcot a few years ago who seemed to know just about everything that was going on anywhere on Disney property. She'd worked in both MGM and Epcot, in several different capacities, and was nearing an employment milestone (5 years I think) that would allow her to stay at Disney resorts for 30% off. She and her husband were planning a very special anniversary at the Polynesian with that discounted rate.
After Sonnys, we cruised over to Old Town. Old town is a shopping center on Route 192; it has maybe two-dozen or so shops, and several carnival-style rides at the ends. Often, they have antique cars or muscle cars on display. I like Old Town, if for nothing more than a more relaxed, slow-paced evening than can be had in one of the Disney or Universal parks. I took a few pictures, and we browsed the many stores, most of which sell the same kind of geodes, t-shirts, off-brand electronics, and other tourist merchandise that you can find in any tourist area in the country. Old Town reminds me a little of the boardwalk in Ocean City, Maryland.
After we were packed, we decided to make one more trip to Melody Hall. We filled our refillable mugs for the last time, shopped in Maestro Mickey's for the last time (finally found that postcard I'd been looking for!), and walked through the lobby and the food court one last time. We enjoyed the walk back to the room, passing the two pools, the big drums of the Jazz Inn buildings, a beautiful, illuminated fountain , and the plain brick end walls of our own Broadway building. We enjoyed the quiet buzz of the unseasonably low crowds, as Guests from all over the country and all over the world returned from the Disney parks to conclude their days. All-Star Music can be a noisy, boisterous place, but it can, at times, also be the most peaceful and relaxing hotel, full of the quieter side of Disney Magic, which is my favorite kind.
As I fell asleep that night, I didn't think about the impending trip home in the morning; instead, as I did every night when I'm staying at a Disney hotel, I reveled in the knowledge that I was, in fact, spending the whole night inside Walt Disney World.
That, truly, is living the Magic.