>Commando Relaxation

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John showing us years ago how to relax!

  Relaxing on a Walt Disney World Vacation is sometimes tough to do. We try to never be Disney Commandos. We figure if we don’t get to something this trip, we’ll do it next trip. But most people don’t have the luxury that we do of getting to Walt Disney World yearly, or just about. So they try to fit so much into their day, that sometimes they not only go Commando, they make themselves tired and miserable. So how do you experience as much as Disney has to offer and still, take a break during the day? Well, it may sound silly, but you go on another attraction. I know some of you just stopped reading looked at the screen and said, “What are you talking about? How can I take a break by going on another attraction?” Well, it is actually kind of easy to take a break and experience another attraction all at the same time. What you do is pick the attractions that will let you rest, while you enjoy the Disney Magic.

One of my favorite Attractions to experience and take a well needed sit is at the Country Bear Jamboree. The show for the Country Bears is seventeen minutes long. It is also in an air-conditioned theater. This makes for a nice

little rest, and it is a fun attraction besides. Another great place to take a rest in the Magic Kingdom is the Hall of Presidents. This is a great show/experience and it is twenty three minutes long. I especially like going here mid-afternoon when it is really hot.

In Animal Kingdom a great place to take a break with young children is the Affection Section of the Conservation Station. This is basically a petting zoo, but they do not have any food for you to feed the animals, which makes it nice

for the kids, since the critters won’t run at the kids to get what is in their hands. Another place to take a rest in Animal Kingdom is at Finding Nemo the Musical. This is a sit down attraction/show that is about a half an hour long and will also thrill the kids.

In the Disney Hollywood studios, there are a few shows that you can see that will give you a chance to take a break. You can experience the thrilling, such as Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show or the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular! Or a Broadway Musical type show, like Beauty and the Beast – Live on Stage. Each of these shows is twenty five minutes or longer, but only the Beauty and the Beast show is inside.

In Epcot, you can go to the American Adventure and not only enjoy an uplifting Patriotic show, but you get to sit down for thirty minutes. The building for the American Adventure is a nice place to relax even before you get into the theater. In the building’s rotunda, you can have the pleasure of hearing a small choral group (called the Voices of Liberty) sing different patriotic songs.

But the best attraction to take a break on and still enjoy the show is Ellen’s Energy Adventure. This ride takes place in Ellen DeGeneres’ dream, as she falls asleep watching Jeopardy. In her dream, next door neighbor Bill Nye teaches her all about energy and helps her to learn enough to win at Jeopardy, against her old college roommate (Stupid Judy). The reason this is a great place to take a break and get your energy back (no pun intended) is that the ride itself take almost 45 minutes; what a nice amount of time to relax.

So, you see even if you are going Commando in Disney, you can take a break and still continue on your quest to get as much done as possible. Just make sure when you are leaving any of these attractions, that your entire group is with you; I have seen some people fall asleep in each of them.

>A Petting Zoo Disney Style

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A History lesson today with your Unknown Magic. In 1989, President George H. W. Bush started officially pardoning Turkeys as part of the White House Thanksgiving Tradition. Before that, other presidents had “pardoned” the turkeys, presented to them, but unofficially. In 2005, when President George W. Bush pardoned a Turkey named Yam and another named Marshmallow, the birds were sent to Disneyland to live out their days. The reason for this is because animal activists were upset that the pardoned turkeys were not living very long after their pardons.

Marshmallow became the grand marshall of Disneyland’s Thanksgiving parade, and the sign above his float read “The Happiest Turkey on Earth.” The turkeys then retired to a coop at the park’s Big Thunder Ranch, where three of the other pardoned birds — “Courage” and “Carolina” from 2009 and 2008’s “Pecan” — still live. Florida’s Disney World got the birds from 2007, when they arrived on a United Airlines flight that was renamed “Turkey One.”*

This year however, the turkeys that are to be pardoned are not going to a Disney Theme Park they are going to Mount Vernon, the former home of our first President George Washington. But that doesn’t mean you still can’t see a domesticated animals in Walt Disney World. In Disney’s Animal Kingdom, there is an Unknown Magic that is fun and can create Magical Experiences, especially for the kids. This Unknown Magic is found at the Conservation Station.

The Unknown Magic known as the Affection Section is the Animal Kingdom’s version of a petting zoo. It is located out the back of the Conservation Station’s main building. It is a fenced in area where the animals roam. What is very different in this area than most petting zoos is that the animals do not rush toward you when you first enter the pen. This usually happens in other parks, because the goats and sheep are rushing to you to see if you have food. Here they don’t do this, because you cannot feed the goats and sheep. This is a wonderful thing, especially if you have very small ones, because the children don’t get spooked or even knocked down and hurt by the animals. Disney does however provide you with brushes, so that the kids, or anyone for that matter, can brush the sheep and goats. It is kind of a neat experience, in that you actually have to follow the goats around until they stop moving to brush them. The goats are very tame also and allow you to walk over to them and pet them. They just lay there and let you pet them. Besides the goats and sheep, there are pig, llamas, chickens, and other animals that you can pet and feed.

Compared to the rest of the Animal Kingdom, this is a very small area, but it can create many Magical Experiences. Along with the Conservation Station, this area could help children and even adults to enjoy and understand more about the animal life on our planet.

So, now you know, the Affection Section is the place in the Animal Kingdom to get up-close and personal with some animals, The kids will enjoy themselves and you can too, because although it is a petting zoo, it is a Disney styled petting zoo, making it nicer than most and more enjoyable, too.

Information on the turkeys was taken from Wikipedia article: National Thanksgiving Turkey Present


And the ABCnews article: *George’s House, Not Mickey’s, for Pardoned Turkey

Picture of President Bush from the White House Archive website.