Celebrate!

And what are we celebrating you ask?  My birthday!  The day started with a call from my sister with her very special birthday song (she makes up a new one every year).  I decided to wear the special shirt she sent me a few years ago, and Russ and I headed across the street to Denny’s for my free Grand Slam breakfast (you know it’s free to everyone on your birthday!) 
Now the last few years we’ve gone to one of the Disney parks for my big day, but this year we broke with tradition and met Paul and Anne for dinner at Red Lobster.  Our server, Billy, was great and even brought a small bowl of ice cream with a candle...and everyone sang!

 

A couple of days later we headed to Animal Kingdom for my birthday park visit, and right after coming through the gates we spotted DiVine leaning against a pole.  This performance artist appears throughout the day as a living vine, covered head to toe in leaves, vines, and even clusters of grapes (click on the photo to enlarge).  Performing on stilts, and without words, she becomes part of the jungle as she gracefully twists, bends, and then begins to walk.  Many were walking right past her without even noticing which is easy to do.  What a treat to see her! 

Every so often we experience something at one of the parks that we haven't before, and as we made our way towards Kilimanjaro Safaris, we spotted a group of people watching a cast member feeding a flock of macaws.  I took a quick picture and just as I turned away, the entire flock took off over everyone’s head, but I already had turned off the camera!  As it turns out this is a relatively new show that we didn’t know about called Winged Encounters - The Kingdom Takes Flight.  The macaws swoop in over the crowd, land on the perch, and while getting fed, a cast member educates the crowd about them.  It only lasts 3 - 8 minutes depending on the birds. J

Once on the Safari ride, we had a couple more new experiences.  As the vehicle made its way out onto the savannah area, we suddenly came to a stop.  Our guide (driver) was hearing over her headset that there was a giraffe standing in the middle of the road, and nobody was moving including her!  Several minutes later help finally arrived to
move her along, but as we passed, she seemed to want to come back to the road.  As we continued our ride through the savannah, there on one of the very top rocks was the king of the jungle himself.  This was the first time we’d ever seen him lying there with his head up looking so majestic.  Usually he’s all stretched out and sound asleep, or nowhere in sight.  What a thrill to see him this way!  Quite a number of animals were out so I was able to get some good photos.

 

 

Afterwards we strolled along the Discovery Island Trails that take you around the base of the Tree of Life. With over 300 critters carved into its trunk, it’s possible to find something you hadn’t seen before especially since they’ve added some new roots like the elephant and buck (at left). We love looking to see how many we can find in the tree's trunk, and just looking at a section from different angles can be enlightening.  For instance looking at the owl from one angle (below left), you see the bats, kangaroos, scorpion, etc., but walk a little further around the bend, and now you see the bear, octopus, etc. just below it (below right)!









 

It’s been a few years since we rode Expedition Everest and decided to get a FastPass for some reason.  Towering nearly 200 ft. high, this roller coaster ride is not for the faint of heart, and in fact we had forgotten just how intense it is!  The entire ride only takes about 3 min., but we were definitely ready to get off when it was done!

 

From there we headed over to Finding Nemo-The Musical, a live stage production that merges puppetry with live performances.  It’s a fun and entertaining 30 min. show that I always enjoy seeing.  Flash photography is not allowed, but I was able to get a couple of halfway decent shots.

   There are lots of character greeting opportunities at all of the parks, and as the characters move from their designated spot to take a break behind the scenes, they always remain in character until out of sight.  What a thrill for this little girl to see Donald Duck walking past her!

 

When we arrived at Animal Kingdom on this morning, we saw a pile of sand and several guys setting up to do some work.  As it turns out, there’s a new Disneynature film documentary opening in theaters on April 17 called “Monkey Kingdom”, and they were creating a sand sculpture to promote the film.  Narrated by Tina
Fey, it’s about a family of monkeys living in some ancient ruins in the jungles of southern Asia and their struggles to survive.  When we got ready to leave the park 3-1/2 hours later, we could see the progress they had made.  Disney always hires very talented folks!