Vacation Day 25: Boma: Flavors of Africa

Today was a rest day. We really needed a break from all of the activity. Maria found an Aveda salon and went to get a haircut. Andrew and his parents hung around the house with the kids. Uncle Howie decided to go back to Epcot for a bit to see Soarin’ and some of the movies in the World Showcase.

After Maria’s haircut, she hit the Disney Outlets. There are two of them here that are pretty well-known. There’s one in the Orlando Premium Outlets that is actually run by DisneyWorld. The employees even had DisneyWorld nametags! http://www.premiumoutlets.com/outlets/outlet.asp?id=17

There is another one in the Lake Buena Vista Factory Stores. It didn’t appear to be run by Disney. http://www.lbvfs.com/ It’s more like the traveling one that comes to Sacramento every winter.

The outlets were pretty good, but they are very limited in some respects. For instance, the clothes are often available in only one or two sizes per design. So you might find one shirt you like, but they only have it in Extra-Small. Then you find another and it’s only in 3X. So it takes a while to find a design you like in a size you like.

When Maria got home, the kids were playing “Captain Jack Sparrow”. Aiden was pressing himself up flat against a wall, looking back and forth all suspicious-like with his eyes. It was so cute and funny! He would then pretend to weild a sword and run it through anyone in his path. Of course, Jeremy was playing along, repeating the things Aiden was saying, like “I’m Captain Jack Sparrow!” and “I’m Captain Jack like on the ride”! Aiden really took to Captain Jack after last night when we rode the Pirates of the Caribbean and Maria was telling him to find Captain Jack (his character has been incorporated into the ride just like in Disneyland).

After naps, we took off for dinner at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. We got confused about the time and were late, but luckily we were meeting Uncle Howie there because he was coming straight from Epcot, and he arrived early. He checked in for us and got the electronic pager. It worked out just perfect because he checked us in on-time, and we arrived just as they were paging us to the table. Thanks, Uncle Howie! Also, thanks Dining Experience for the free valet parking! We are members of the Disney Dining Experience Club, which gives us a 20% discount at sit-down restaurants and free valet parking at the resorts. It has saved us hundreds of dollars.

Our dinner at the Lodge was at “Boma: Flavors of Africa”. We really wanted to try this buffet, because we ate at the other African restaurant next door during our honeymoon and really loved it (that one is called Jiko). And Boma didn’t disappoint! We all tried a little of everything, and it was all really good. It’s such a treat to try all of the different dishes we’d never have otherwise.

Some of the items we tried tonight were:
White Bean Hummus, Black Olive Hummus, Lavosh Bread, Carrot Coconut and Pineapple Salad, Fufu (mashed white and sweet potatoes), Pap and Sheeba, Falafel with Yogurt Sauce, Couscous Marrakesh, Nut Encrusted Salmon, Beef and Lamb Bobotie, Spit Fired Prime Rib, Mealie Bread, Potatoes with Afritude, and Zebra Domes and Pineapple Upside Down Cheesecake for Dessert. There was so much more, but it’s hard to remember!

After dinner, we walked around the Lodge to check it out. It’s one of the Deluxe resorts, so it’s really lush inside. The Christmas Tree was really neat, it was covered with woven baskets and other African decor.

There was an activity taking place in the lobby with the Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund. http://disney.go.com/disneyhand/environmentality/dwcf/
For a $5 donation, you could take the materials to make a Christmas ornament with dyed ostrich egg shells. It was pretty cool! So Maria took Aiden around the decorating stations to work on his. You choose an animal, cut it out, tie a string on it, and glue the shells on. Aiden picked a dolphin (that’s Vavo’s DNA right there!), and used a little paintbrush with Elmer’s glue to stick on the shells. He wrote his name on the back. It was such a small space to write, he kept running out of space. So the letters of his name appear to be scattered randomly over the back of the ornament. But he wrote them in order!



We went into the gift shop to look around. The kids found some drums up front and entertained themselves for a long time playing them. The drums seemed to be a favorite for most children who came in the store. They provided nice atmosphere – even though it was a *tad* loud. People got a kick out of it, though. It was pretty cute.





We finally got back to the house at a reasonable time today. We usually get in so late these days! When we got back, there was a police car and a bunch of people standing at the entrance to the community. We were a little startled at first, but as we approached the officer, he informed us that a key-code had been installed today on the community gate that would now require us to punch in a numeric combination to gain access to the vacation house. Luckily, we knew the owner’s name and the address of the house, so they gave us the code and let us through. Uncle Howie was driving seperate, but he used his charm to gain access! They keyed in a code for him.

Since we got home early, we had time to clean up the house a bit, watch some Christmas movies (National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation), listen to Christmas music, and play pinochle. Oh ya, and blog. It’s nice to have a break. And now we’re ready to hit the Animal Kingdom tomorrow! :-)

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The best part of day 25 was the food at Boma. Yum! For Maria, finally getting a haircut – she’s been wanting one for weeks.
The worst part of day 25 was hearing on the radio that the temperatures are going back up starting tomorrow. They are supposed to be up in the mid-80’s in a few days!
What we learned on day 25 was when Uncle Howie says, “Save”, he doesn’t really mean it. In Florida, just when you get your jeans out again, it’s time to go back to shorts. African food is yum-o!
The weather on day 25 was warm but not hot (hot is on it’s way).
Our character sightings on day 25 included hmmmm...ask Uncle Howie.
The crowd level on day 25 was see above :-)