The one where I start flipping out like a 5 year old over my new sippy cup...

Not long ago, over at Fresh Roasted Corn, Hoot posted about the Florida Orange Bird, some of it's history, it's past ties to Disney, and his possible return. You can read about he and Chief's shenanigans here.

He'd posted some pictures that suggested that Mr. Orange Bird himself may be lurking behind some metal covering put up to hide his presence for the time being. My friend and I made a visit to Magic Kingdom today and while walking through Adventureland, I decided to take a gander at the new Sunshine Tree Terrace sign for myself. Sure enough, there they were. What appear to be two little leaves hidden behind a metal cover. Why they would hide his cute little face is beyond me, but that's sure what it looked like. As we were walking back to take a look at the front of the sign again and I was shouting something about how someone needed to get me a broom to knock the damn thing down, I noticed an older couple doing the exact same thing we'd just been doing.

I made a comment to them, excited to see another Orange Bird enthusiast. We talked for a moment and that's when the woman pointed something else out to me. The torches that line the awning of the terrace were lit. She wasn't sure how long they'd been doing that, but they hadn't been lit for a decade. You may not be able to tell by the picture, but I assure you that those babies were burning away.

AND THEN! THEN! She pointed behind her towards the counter and remarked, "Today is the first day they're selling those too." And that's when I saw him, in all of his orange plastic glory. Little Orange Bird sippy cups on sale at the Sunshine Tree Terrace. We took a spin on Pirates and afterwards I promptly ran over to purchase one of my own. $7 for a poorly made, crappy, plastic little sippy cup that I'm sure was intended for children? Money well spent if you ask me!

Much to my dismay, the gentleman that sold me my the most amazing souvenir I've brought home from Disney in a long time had no idea who the Orange Bird even was! "I don't know who he is, but people sure seem to like him!" I just shook my head and walked away happily sipping my crappy lemonade out of the top of my new buddy's head. I'm just hoping there's more to follow!