Merry, Magical, and Bright: Late Fall Adventures of Cam & Luke Updated 3/12 - Page 22 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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There are other changes as well.
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We go on to the joy and through the tears
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It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
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We enjoyed the Na'vi River Journey Ride also! It truly is a totally different type of experience from the FOP so you couldn't possibly compare the two. I would say though that if you only had the chance to get one day of FP's for AK on your trip, and you enjoyed virtual rides, you must use that FP for FOP over the boat ride. We ate at the Canteen for lunch but weren't all that impressed. Our meal wasn't hot when we got it but I would probably give it another try on one of my upcoming trips. You're right about the portion sizes big enough to share!
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Originally Posted by purplegal
Interesting comment about the Canadians in line, we also find it warmer in the winter in Florida, wearing shorts when the cast members are all bundled up, I guess when you live somewhere colder than Mars any other place is warmer.
We loved the food at the Canteen, its a nice change from burgers.
I love your description of colder than Mars. They really seemed to be enjoying the heat in Florida.
As we had planned this trip, we decided that lunch today would be at Satu’li Canteen, if it weren’t impossibly crowded. We’d been to the outdoor seating area, but we hadn’t walked inside yet. Once inside, we got into what appeared at first glance to be a short line. As we made our way along, we discovered that walls block enough of the few that guests don’t realize how long the line truly easy. It was long, but not extremely so. We also noticed as we progressed through the line that Disney has dealt with the issue of indoor seating here. A wall keeps folks from holding tables without food and Cast Members are stationed at the auxiliary entrances. Once you have your food, you exit into the seating area where soft drink machines, condiments, and utensils and napkins are set up at several stations along the back wall.
Great update! Pandora truly is a beautiful land! I had hoped to try out Satu'li Canteen on my trip, but the timing didn't work out for us. Hopefully next time. It's good to hear that Disney is trying to deal with the issue of people holding tables without food. On the one hand, that's great. But being Devil's Advocate, not being allowed to sit down pretty much forces entire families to stand in the tiny area after you order your food, but before it's ready, and I personally find it annoying when there are too many people jammed in that tiny area. My personal opinion, and many may not agree, is that you should be able to scout out a table once you've ordered your food.
Great update! Pandora truly is a beautiful land! I had hoped to try out Satu'li Canteen on my trip, but the timing didn't work out for us. Hopefully next time. It's good to hear that Disney is trying to deal with the issue of people holding tables without food. On the one hand, that's great. But being Devil's Advocate, not being allowed to sit down pretty much forces entire families to stand in the tiny area after you order your food, but before it's ready, and I personally find it annoying when there are too many people jammed in that tiny area. My personal opinion, and many may not agree, is that you should be able to scout out a table once you've ordered your food.
At least at Satu'li, anyone can claim tables in the outside eating area, so not everyone needs to enter the line for ordering.
Quote:
Originally Posted by DMA
Your lunch sounded yummy! I like the idea of choosing the various components of the meal.
I really like that option in choosing what made up our bowl.
Day 4 Part 4 Wednesday, November 8 at the Animal Kingdom
As we finished up our second visit to Pandora this day, I asked Luke if we could do some shopping in Discovery Island. I was tired of having to pull out my AP card every time we needed to enter a FastPass queue. I was ready to buy a new Magic Band. I had seen a limited edition one while in DHS that I hoped I could find here at Animal Kingdom. I hadn’t even considered getting a new one two days ago, but now I had an excuse. The first shop we came to was Island Mercantile. I didn’t find any Magic Bands, but I did find the cutest giraffe knee socks. I’ve told you that I became fascinated by socks on this trip. The only other purchase I made here was a bag of peanut M&Ms.
We crossed the trail over to Discovery Trading Company where I immediately found the Magic Band I was looking for, one with Chewie and the Porgs. WooHoo! I also found the BB-8 Santa pin that was gone when I went back for it the past two days. Then I looked over to see something that made me run off without letting Luke know where I was going. But before I get to what I found, I need to backtrack to Tuesday when we were at Magic Kingdom. When we were shopping in the Emporium, I saw a young woman with the cutest Christmas top. It was in the spirit shirt style that Disney carries right now, and in what Disney called an ugly Christmas sweater pattern. I don’t think it’s ugly at all, rather a kind of Fair Isle pattern. On Tuesday, the young woman had told me which room to look in, but also warned me that only XL sizes were left. She even added that a Cast Member had let her know that these were only available in smaller sizes at World of Disney in Disney Springs. Back to Wednesday. I had no idea when I sprinted over to the tops whether I’d find a small or not, but it was worth checking. Indeed, they had a few of every size. WooHoo! I immediately grabbed a small size shirt, hugging it to me. Luke finally noticed me and came over, and I’m glad he did because he saw the matching socks. Now I had those, too. Then as we neared the checkout counter, I found the Christmas dish towels that were sold out when we returned to the Emporium yesterday. I haven’t taken a photo of the shirt exactly, I did wear it during part of MVMCP (that one you’ll see way down the road on our second to last day), and I wore it for our Matthews family Christmas gathering. Here are most of us in the group photo I took that day (several were sick and didn’t make it and several had to leave early for work). For years now I have been the unofficial photographer for the Matthews family, a job I love. I love family and cherish our time together so by photographing it I preserve our family history.
Once back outside. we moved over to a stone wall and sat down to set up my Chewie/Porg Magic Band. Finally, my wrist did not feel naked. When we were done, I realized we were near the ring-tailed lemurs so we went off to find these furry fellows. The only problem was the two we could see were way up in a tree, one much higher than the other, making it a bit hard to focus on them.
After our lemur friends, we noticed the new habitat for the Small-Clawed Otters. I was in love with these very active little critters. Thank goodness for my long lens because they were playing way up in the back of the habitat. Without it, I wouldn’t have managed any clear 10 photos of my new buddies.
Next was a trek down Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail. First up were the Colobus Monkeys who are so adorable and made for some of my favorite animal photos of this trip. Don’t you think they are too cute?
From here we entered the area for viewing the okapi from the trail. There was already another gentleman in this area taking photos with a camera that made mine look like a toy. He heard me trying to coax an okapi out for a photo and kindly suggest I move into his spot. But just as I started to move so did the okapi, and I managed to get him. A Somali Wild Ass somewhat hidden in this area, so that photo is a bit blurry. My last okapi photo is blurry and that is totally my fault as I focused on the foliage instead of the okapi. But I love the way he/she is looking at me. The gentleman photographer even commented that he thought this okapi liked me.
Then we moved into the most incredible encounter with the meerkats who were being fed by one of the keepers. To say I was amazed watching these little critters as they vied for their turn in the feeding would be an understatement. Another keeper was up near the guest viewing area, and she was answering questions, lots of them from kids and adults alike. I asked her if the keeper doing the feeding was tracking which meerkats had been fed so that all had their share. Of course, she was, but I was amazed because the meerkats were in a frenzy. One of the kids present asked if the keeper every got bitten or scratched in the feeding process (I did say it was a frenzy), but she responded that she had not. The meerkats are very careful with her. Cool! As soon as all the food had been dispensed, the meerkats ran off in every direction. Our timing this day was absolutely perfect! Now for 17 of my best meerkat photos.
Oh, my heart! The meerkats are adorable. That keeper must love her job being able to interact with them. I love the Christmas t-shirt. I saw that very shirt on the Disney shopping site just the other day and considered ordering it, but refrained. I'm glad you found your pins and new Magic Band as well.
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Great purchases! Oh wow, what wonderful meerkat photos you got. We were watching a programme about Chester Zoo last night (the Secret Life of the Zoo) and there, the meerkats share their habitat with porcupines. The baby porcupine (I can't remember its proper name) managed to get into their den and got stuck there. That was amazing to watch and the meerkats were none too impressed! They did get him out in the end - it involved the keepers bashing a broom on top of him and I think it scared him out in the end.
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We ate at the Canteen for lunch but weren't all that impressed. Our meal wasn't hot when we got it but I would probably give it another try on one of my upcoming trips. You're right about the portion sizes big enough to share!
The only other purchase I made here was a bag of peanut M&Ms. 
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We were watching a programme about Chester Zoo last night (the Secret Life of the Zoo) and there, the meerkats share their habitat with porcupines. The baby porcupine (I can't remember its proper name) managed to get into their den and got stuck there. That was amazing to watch and the meerkats were none too impressed! 
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