We headed over to Fort Wilderness and hopped on a bus to head back to Pioneer Hall for the Hoop Dee Doo Revue dinner show starting at 4pm. We only waited a few minutes for the doors to open and we were seated at a table in the second row from the stage, which was a great location for Lele. We had no idea how she’d react to the raucous song & dance show, but we figured with corn and fried chicken on the menu, she’d probably be fine. Aly was hoping to get picked for the finale and join the cast, but I warned her that she wasn’t likely to get picked, even with only 20 or so tables filled of the hundred-plus in the room.
The show was fun and the food was pretty good as always, but the surprise of the night was Leah going nuts over the stage performers. They leave the stage for breaks while food is served, and some of the numbers are done from out in the crowd instead of on the stage. Every time they left the stage, she complained loudly – it was a riot. Dolly came over and kept sticking her pigtails in Leah’s face, and she thought that was great and kept trying to call her back over for the rest of the night. Six Bits Slocum tried to steal Aly’s “taters”, and everyone had fun whipping our napkins around in the air – Leah standing on her high chair, with a quick save from Rachel keeping her from hitting the floor. Aly did not get picked for the finale, but was okay with it, to my pleasant surprise.
Strawberry shortcake was served and we ignored the kids for a few minutes – it was almost like a blackout, I have no memory of anything during that time except cake, strawberries, and whipped cream. Kind of like my second freshman year in college.
After the show let out, we wandered back to the Settlement Trading Post to pick up another pressed penny from Aly’s list and let the girls play on the Fort Wilderness playground for a few minutes. While we were there, dozens of hawks suddenly appeared circling above the trees overhead, presumably attracted by the strawberry sauce smell from the multiple places I spilled on myself. I shot a quick video, and then they disappeared nearly as quickly as they had appeared. I wandered over to the beach and saw them circling out over the old Discovery Island, which I assume is where they had come from. They probably have a regular schedule of showing up when each seating of Hoop Dee Doo lets out and looking for the weakest among the glaze-eyed herd as easy pickings.
We bussed back to our car (only at Disney), headed back to Art of Animation, and called it a night. I was exhausted, and pretty much asleep by 8:30. Thus no post last night.
