[FONT="]Saturday Joe & I were up bright & early. He got up around 5 & headed down to the gym. I got up a bit later & met up with him in the gym about 5:45. I know it sounds obscene but when youre up that early 5 days a week, the bodys internal clock just goes off! [/FONT]
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[FONT="]Joe finished his run before I finished my walk so he waited out by the pool & hot tub for me. We headed up to shower & get dressed for the day. I think Joe had a pre-breakfast of my leftover ribs from the night before. [/FONT]
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[FONT="]This morning we were driving to Kekes Breakfast Café, about 15 minutes away from the downtown Disney area. Joe loves pancakes, so I had done a little online research and found Kekes. The menu looked awesome! We had a very pleasant drive, and found Kekes in a little shopping center. [/FONT]
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[FONT="]Joe already knew that he wanted the banana pecan pancakes. When I confirmed that the pancakes here didnt come with eggs etc as they do at many places, I asked if he wanted eggs I would order an omelet & he could finish it for me. I am trying hard not to pass off my food on my family but I know that he would normally order pancakes with eggs & meat so I figured this would be okay. [/FONT]
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[FONT="]The pancakes were pretty big here, so Joe ordered one. It was a good 8 across & more than ½ thick. I found a plain pancake photo to show you the size: [/FONT]
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When he was nearly done with this, he ordered a second! [/FONT]
[FONT="]I ordered a greek omelet fresh spinach, diced tomatoes, and feta cheese in a 3 egg omelet. I passed on the toast, but got the home fries because I knew Joe would like them. They were made with red potatoes and very nicely seasoned. I had to taste one, right! MMMM I found a photo online [/FONT]
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just imagine no toast and then twice the amount of potatoes. It was tasty! I stepped away to the restroom & when I came back, my plate was empty & Joe was halfway through his second pancake. He was in heaven. Till the meal was over, then he wanted a cart to be wheeled out in LOL![/FONT]
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[FONT="]Best of all, the meal cost us less than $20. HA! Even with tolls on the highway it was cheaper than a Disney breakfast![/FONT]
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[FONT="]If you have a car and feel like venturing off property, look up Kekes. there are about six locations in Florida, and 2 or 3 in the Orlando area. There were so many yummy things on the menu, we will venture back in April I think. I could see Katie enjoying the stuffed French toast on the menu for sure!(and maybe sharing a bit or two with dear old mom)[/FONT]
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[FONT="]After breakfast, we hopped in the car and headed to explore what we are anxiously waiting to be our home away from home Old Key West.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]While no rooms were available for us to tour (it was early yet and people were not even checked out yet alone housekeeping cleaning) we wandered the property and checked out the community room, game room, Olivias, the pool area everything. We just fell in love with the property. We walked along around a few buildings past a golf hole, just taking in the scenery and the feeling of the resort. So peaceful and calming, even though it really was very busy there. [/FONT]
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[FONT="]Not that wed had any doubts, but just walking around the property cemented for us that we had absolutely made the right resort decision. I have to give thanks to Mary Ellen, Kathy & Cynthia for their fabulous photos of OKW they really did do justice to the property, but you cant get the tranquility until you visit. [/FONT]
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[FONT="]Curiosity sated for the moment, we decided to move on. Time to visit another DVC property that had been on our wish list for touring. Okay, mostly on MY wish list for touring, but Joe was happy to go! [/FONT]
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[FONT="]After making a great big huge circle and stopping twice to google map where we were, we finally headed in the right direction Animal Kingdom Lodge. Now you may recall that it took three trips before Joe really fell in love with the Animal Kingdom park, where as I loved it the first time I visited. He just is not into that tribal, earthy décor, and frankly, he hates chant style music any chant style like the popular Gregorian chants too. Or some of the celtic music I listen to. Just not his thing.[/FONT]
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[FONT="]When we pulled up to the AKL gate house I just love the Jambo greeting. Its catchy! We parked outside of the main lodge. The outside of the building is structurally the same as the Wilderness Lodge (to us anyway), but of course the décor is totally different. Joe was not keen on the stick look to the outside , but I liked it and felt it really did make the resort feel totally different and in tune with the Animal Kingdom/African theme. Inside is just gorgeous! Joe commented that he wished hed had crayons & a paper to do a rubbing of some of the floor medallions -- I could not get a good shot but here is a sample of one from flickr:
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[FONT="]My favorite was the circle of live design: [/FONT]
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[FONT="]We were both drawn to this huge umm would you call this a statue? More like a 3D mosaic in my opinion, but very cool and interesting:[/FONT]
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[FONT="]We wandered around inside, checked out the fire circle and some of the africaan art displayed around the lobby. Then we went out to the observation area.
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[FONT="]WOW. So calm and serene to be out there just watching the animals eating, butterflies were everywhere. Did I mention that the weather was absolutely perfect? Low 80s, low humidity, warm breeze blowing pretty consistently. [/FONT]
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[FONT="]We thought this was funny we were watching the giraffes, when the wart hogs started heading in and caught our attention. I am telling you this one giraffe walked closer to us, as if to say hey, dont watch those wart hogs, we are more beautiful, watch us!! and as the wart hogs got closer and headed over to eat some grass just put out, the giraffe moved close to them, trying to reclaim our attention. It just struck us as funny.[/FONT]
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