The Festival of the Lion King

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A trick I’ve learned from having back problems is that if you rent the electric chair to get around that you survive the parks much better than walking. Call me lazy but I like ending the day with a little energy left instead of exhausted , hot and aching.

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Anyway, I had rented the electric scooter at Animal Kingdom so when we arrived to the Lion King show they asked me if I wanted to keep it or walk in. I said I’d keep it and boy was I glad I did. There are no bad seats in the Lion King Theater but with the scooter I was floor side, practically on top of the performers…or maybe they were on top of me!

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Perfect for low light shots.

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So rather than try to describe the action I’m going to share a few of my photos.

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Simba:
I’m gonna be a mighty king
So enemies beware!

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Zazu:
Well, I’ve never seen a king of beasts
With quite so little hair!

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Simba:
I’m gonna be the main event
Like no king was before
I’m brushing up on looking down
I’m working on my roar!

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Zazu:
Thus far, a rather uninspiring thing

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Simba:
Oh, I just can’t wait to be king!

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Simba:
Oh, I just can’t wait to be king!

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Everybody look left
Everybody look right
Everywhere you look I’m
Standing in the spotlight

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The Lion Sleeps Tonight

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In the Jungle. the mighty jungle

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The lion Sleeps tonight

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In the jungle , the quiet jungle

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The Lion Sleeps tonight

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AND HEREEEEE’S SIMBA!

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Ebates

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Have any of you used the web page Ebates.com?

I’ve been using it off and on for about a year. I use it when I think of it. Sometimes I’m shopping and find the item I want and forget to go to Ebates first. That’s my mistake. There are so many stores in Ebates that chances are you’ll find the same store you just searched there.

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I’ll give you an example. I like to buy diabetic crew socks. They are so comfy but they can be expensive and hard to find. I used to get them a Walmart but they haven’t had them the last couple of times I looked.  I tried my local CVS store and struck out too. Anyway, Saturday I had a list of things I was going to try to find but before I went out in the cold to shop I decided to search the internet one more time.

I found some rather expensive diabetic socks…$9.99 for 1 pair. Walgreen’s online also had diabetic socks. They were $5.49 for 1 pair. Armed with that information I moved over to the Ebates site and entered “Diabetic socks” and bingo, there they were. I placed my order through Ebates. That particular order carried a 2% rebate. That goes on my account.

In about a month I’ll get a check in the mail for all the rebates I’ve earned since the last check. I think they send it monthly but I really haven’t paid that much attention. The cost to me was the same whether I ordered direct or went through Ebates so why not go for the rebate?

But what I really want to mention is that I also ordered from another store. I ordered some slippers. They have a hard sole so they were not inexpensive. I got an email from Ebates Customer Service saying they had tracked me to the store but did not receive the order from the store. That was a surprise. They asked me to send them a copy of my order receipt. I followed their instructions and copy/pasted the info in the form.

Believe it or not I got an email right back explaining that they still didn’t have the order from the store but that with my documentation they were adding my rebate to my account. If they did not get the order from the store , they would follow up with the store! WOW, a pro-active customer service department.

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I’ve always enjoyed getting Ebates emails saying “Your Big Fat Check is on the way” and opening the mail to find a check waiting even if it’s only $9 or $10 but throw in this customer service and I think I will make an effort to use the website more often.

Have any of you had any experience with them?

Animal Kingdom At Christmas

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With the Orlando Eye down for the count  Joe and I put our heads together to come up with a plan B. Now when you are in Orlando and your BFF works for Disney World, what is the most logical conclusion for a Plan B?  Why, go to one of the parks , of course!

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My very favorite park is Animal Kingdom because of the animals.  We figured we could get The Kilimanjaro Safari ride in and maybe the Lion King Show before the park closed for the day.

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I love the bridge where we can see the Mountain. I always have to stop and take a picture there. Usually there’s a park photographer too because its such a popular vista.

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The park was pretty slow so we were able to get on the safari ride pretty quickly.

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A lot of the animals were out of sight waiting for the evening feeding but that meant that I got to see some that I’ve missed in the past.

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There was a lovely bright colored bird. The driver told us its name but I don’t remember it now.

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Of course the elephants can’t hide

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and there were giraffes.

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The best were the big cats and of the big cats, the lions.

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We even got a roar out of the male before he laid down for his nap!

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Too soon it was time to move on if we wanted to see the Lion King Show.

 

 

It’s a New Year After All…

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Happy 2016! It’s a new Year, a new beginning, a new calendar, a new, well you get the idea.

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Did you make resolutions? I did not. Too much of my life is like hanging onto a run away train and I don’t know any way to change that.

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Although I’m told that I work  9-5 Monday – Friday once the busy season starts that kind of goes out the window. Until we get going for this year I really have no idea what my personal time is going to be like.

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They are adding more staff this year. Most will be starting in February or March and they will be changing the teams so I can’t begin to guess what my work load will be like but glad to have more folks on board.

I got my summary from WordPress about my posts last year. I only added 90 new posts. Well, if you are one of my followers you probably know that already. That’s not very good. Part of the reason was that I was working 7:30 am  – 11 pm and weekends for most of the spring and summer and even if I’d had the energy to post a story my mind was too overwhelmed with work to think of anything to write. I try not to write too much about work because I don’t want anything mis-interpreted, good or bad!  I love my job but it got out of control last year.

So with fingers crossed that I will have a bit more time here are my hopes for 2016

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#1. I’d like to say that I am going to make a real effort to increase my posts this year. If I can’t think of anything to say maybe I can share a picture of Rocky or Buddy.

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#2. My team gave me a membership to a photography museum and part of the membership is a portfolio review. I am totally an amateur who gets lucky sometimes with my photos so putting together a portfolio that can be reviewed by real professionals is going to be a challenge.  But it will make me move out of my comfort zone. So that’s a another goal.

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#3. No goals about losing weight. By now I know its not gonna happen. Besides, I don’t look so bad for somebody who’s almost ready for medicare but I do have some financial goals.

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I raided my savings account to upgrade my time share. It was the smart thing to do but now it’s time to start paying myself back.  I feel much better with a healthy emergency fund.

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And that’s about it for goals..note I did not call them resolutions. So wish me luck and I will wish you all luck with yours too. Have a happy, healthy and prosperous 2016!