Commissioner's Academic Challenge - 2008
April 10-12, 2008
Sunday, April 6, 2008
The 23rd Commissioner's Academic Challenge, Tom's 12th, was at the Contemporary Resort at Walt Disney World. This annual event is a competition among the school districts of Florida and affords us another opportunity to enjoy the fine WDW cuisine. To learn more about the tournament, click here. We secured the convention room rate and drove down to WDW on Saturday, April 5, for a few days of frolic before the tournament.
| Animal Kingdom Park | ||||||
| We took a bus to the Animal Kingdom Park, arriving just after it had opened at 9. We walked through the entry way to Discovery Island and then onto Africa and the Kilimanjaro Safari Ride. From there we went back to It's Tough to Be a Bug. We followed that with a light lunch at Rainforest Café. It had just started raining when we back to the room. | ||||||
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| Kilimanjaro Safari Ride | ||||||||||||
This vehicle, holding 30+ people bounces its way through the various paddocks of the ride, with loads of wild animals available for capturing on the camera. The theme of the ride is to prevent poaching in Africa and culminates in the rescue of
Big Red and Little Red, a pair of African Elephants. |
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It's Tough to Be a Bug |
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| Deep underneath the Tree of Life, It's Tough to Be a Bug is a 4-D show with polarized glasses, and seating that plays a part in the show. Entree into the show goes past carvings into the roots of the tree and insect based show posters. | |||
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Rainforest Cafe |
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| The Rainforest Cafe is just outside the gates of The Animal Kingdom. It has a jungle atmosphere and a varied menu. | ||||||||||||||
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There were rumors of rain. Something caused our picture of Bay Lake to be a bit gray, but we dismissed the rumors of rain as just a Disney illusion. |
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| The Hollywood Brown Derby | |
| The Hollywood Brown Derby at Hollywood studios is patterned after the original Brown Derby at Hollywood and Vine, the 2nd home to the stars and the producers. menu | |
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| I had a Maker's Manhattan (8.25) and Lyd enjoyed a Derby Martini (9.25) | |
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| We each enjoyed the Mushroom Bisque with Sherry Vinegar Gastrique and Truffle crème frâiche. (8) | |
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| Tom had the Roasted Hatfield Pork Rib with white cheddar pappardelle and shaved Brussels Sprouts (27). This was accompanied by a glass of Fairview Primo Pinotage, Paarl, South Africa, 03 (12.50) | Lyd chose the Pan Roasted duck Breast and Venison Sausage with celery root puree, Natural reduction and currant-chili jam (27). This was accompanied by a glass of Edmeades Zinfendel, Mendocino, 06 (10.50). |
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| We split the Flourless Chocolate Cake with Port wine chocolate sauce, fresh berries, and sweetened crème frâiche (8) | |
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| Cecil B. DeMille and Nora Desmond were working the room. | |
| In the rumored rain, we went back to the hotel and settled in for the evening. | |
