Is it a vacation? It's a whirlwind 10 days of fun,no dining plan, Universal - Oct 16 COMPLETE 11/30

Day 6 – Universal Studios. This was our first time to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure and we only did limited research so it was really a new experience. I was not very good at remembering to take food pictures here though! We got up early. We finished off anything breakfast like in the room. We ordered an Uber driver and headed out to Universal. It was our first time using Uber and that worked out fine. We had only one day with hopper tickets. So I’ll try to be brief but wanted to share what we were able to do with two parks, rides in one day. We did our chosen highlights, nothing with too long lines, too wet, or too extreme. I also think going on a Monday helped a little. I didn’t want to have to purchase the express pass, so we did the best we could. We were let in right at 8am. People staying onsite were allowed in at 7am.
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We rode Minions first, Shrek, Transformers, Mummy. Then we got coffee, a cherry Danish, and a blueberry muffin at the San Francisco Pastry Company. Sorry no pics. It was really good and a lot shorter line than the Starbucks.
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We rode Gringotts, explored Diagon Alley and took the Hogwarts Express to Hogsmead, We split a Butterbeer. I forgot to take a closeup picture of the Butterbeer. I liked it, but the kids wouldn't even try it and DH thought it was going to be real beer so he was disappointed.:( We rode Hippogriff and then headed into Jurassic Park, rode Jurassic Park River Adventure, and explored the Jurassic Park Discovery Center a bit.
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Then we ate at Thunder Falls Terrace for lunch. DH and I split a plate of ribs and chicken, with corn on the cob and the kids split a bacon cheeseburger and fries. Again I forgot these pictures! I guess I was out of my element not in Disney. Here are pictures from Google. I don't remember the corn looking like this with the husks on there, but it was good. It was plenty to share. The ribs and chicken were pretty tasty, but needed salt. The boys enjoyed their burger and fries too. This was a nice place to sit and watch people getting soaked on the Jurassic Park ride's big splash finale.
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We tried for the King Kong ride, but it was so long, 90 minutes. We did Jurassic again, Spiderman, and the Cat in the Hat. We rode the Hogwarts Express back to Universal. We had a duff beer and pink donuts. The big pink donut wasn’t available. How can they run out??? At least DH finally got some real beer. :drinking1
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Universal_pinkdonut.jpgWe met Doc from Back to the Future. We did Men in Black, ET, and Terminator. We tried to meet SpongeBob, but not there so kids met Squidward. We left Universal and walked down to the entrance to get back into Islands of Adventure (rather than the long line on the Hogwarts Express). We bought the Universal popcorn bucket too, so we refilled for snacks occasionally. We rode Jurassic again. Kids love dinosaurs and then King Kong was a shorter line of 30 minutes, so we rode. It was really cool! :cool1: Of course Jurassic and King Kong were some favorites. We like Harry Potter but we aren’t huge fans. I wish we did that castle ride, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. It was a wait and DH was concerned it might be too extreme? My 9 year old DS really wanted to do the Hulk ride though. Next time, we’ll spend more than a day, stay onsite, and maybe have express passes. But it was a good first time to Universal. I think they do a better job at security and bag checks (like the airport scans) than Disney. A lot of the ride cues/intros are really long, no wonder the ride waits are long. And so many rides have water squirting you! The Mummy was a fun ride! Terminator was a really cool show and the only one we did! :cool2: DS13 wants to see the movies now. The 3D interactive rides are pretty good. We would have liked to ride King Kong again, Skull Island: Reign of the Kong. Also it’s annoying that bags or anything aren’t allowed on rides. We got away with the fanny pack on the rides we did though. The only ride that gave us trouble was Men In Black. Really? DH had the popcorn bucket clipped to his fanny pack and they made him put the bucket in a locker. Annoying but whatever. We left right after the King Kong ride, as the park was closing.

We had 7:15 reservations for Margarittaville. We thought about the new Toothsome Chocolate Emporium, but decided to skip for quicker reserved dinner. DH and I only had been to one other Margarittaville restaurant in Vegas so it was nice to try it again. I ordered the steak tacos. These were really good. I ate it all.
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DH ordered the fish tacos. He always loves tacos like this, so it was good like he expected it to be.
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The boys split an order of the kids meal chicken fingers. They were happy.
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All of our food was great! It was a fun atmosphere with singing Jimmy Buffet songs and the balloon animal making people on stilts. We enjoyed it. We ordered another Uber driver, he quickly picked us up and we were back to our room at POR. It was a great long day and our first experience at Universal, but we were very happy back in Disney.
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Day 7 – Epcot. We slept in a bit and ate breakfast in the River Mill food court at POR. I ordered the make your omelet with potatoes. DH had the French toast plate. And the boys split a kids pancakes plate. By the time I got back to the table, the kids and DH already ate through and I forgot to take a picture of my omelet plate.
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We did the pool for a short time, then freshened up and headed to the bus for another Epcot day. We rode some rides, then headed back into the World Showcase. We stopped at Australia and got the Grilled Sweet and Spicy Bush Berry Shrimp with Pineapple, Pepper, Onion and Snap Peas. I really liked this but the kids didn’t try and DH only ate a shrimp. I liked the amount given and the veggies were fresh tasting.
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We stopped at China, and ordered the Black Pepper Shrimp with Garlic Noodles and Chicken Pot Stickers. DH and I really liked the shrimp and noodles. I felt like this had a lot of noodles though, but we ate it.
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The pot stickers were average. Good but a little tough on the outside. We added some sriracha.
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The kids were getting hungry and not into the food we were ordering in the countries so we stopped at the Refreshment Cool Post. This was the first time I felt the CM were not good service. I was in line waiting but they kept taking orders from other people. I was next in line! Then when I did order, they kept forgetting to bring all my items. They didn’t put the lid on well on one of the drink cups and lemonade spilled only a little but still enough to annoy me. Another girl refilled it and made sure the lid was on good. Anyway we ordered 2 hotdogs with chips and DH got a beer. The boys were happy.
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We stopped in Germany and ordered the Roast Bratwurst in a Hard Roll. We added mustard. This was good for DH and I to split. I never knew it with the pretzel roll, but I think it was probably better. I almost forgot to take a picture.
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We ordered the Kielbasa and Potato Pierogi with Caramelized Onions and Sour Cream from the Poland booth. This was really good, warm, nice size pieces of sausage. It was a nice amount even sharing too. DS13 had some of the sausage and liked it.
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Next we ordered from the Italy booth a cannoli, the Pinot Grigio and the Lager beer. Of course a cannoli is delicious. Not easy to cut in half though, so it was mostly DH and I fighting for a few bites. Drinks were good too. I can't remember thinking anything else. I think we took some time searching for Remi here.
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Our last tasting ended up with Hops & Barley. We ordered the New England Lobster Roll, Liberty Ale, and Chardonnay. Oh my gosh! That lobster roll was great! A nice amount of good tasting lobster with a little sauce. I know some reviews said it had too much sauce, but ours seemed like the right amount. It could have been bigger. Maybe it’s just that I’m coming from Colorado but it was tasty and fresh for us. Drinks were good too.
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We had planned to see Dennis DeYoung of the Styx, but he was out sick and Tiffany filled in. So we skipped this. DH was really disappointed. We completed the Remi scavenger hunt too. So the boys were anxious to get their Remy pin, not that we collect those, but it’s a fun souvenir. So we took the boat back again, to Canada. We were full and skipped eating anything else. There were other booths we planned on trying but never did, but I feel we got a good sampling of items we wanted. We picked up the Remy pin at Port of Entry. Shopped a bit, rode some rides, and headed back up to Norway and rode Frozen with those anytime fast passes that we got earlier in our trip and met Anna and Elsa.

Next is dinner at Via Napoli...
 
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Continued Day 7 – Epcot. We had dinner reservations for 6:30 at Via Napoli. We were seated quickly after checking in, a man who we thought was our waiter, brought us water. Then our real waiter came to take our order. We ordered drinks and I just had water, DH ordered beer, and the kids got coke and chocolate milk. I felt dehydrated from the alcohol earlier. I don’t drink usually so I needed a break. We ordered the make your own pizza. We did all pepperoni and on one half added sausage, artichokes, olives, and mushrooms.
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Our pizza came out even before our waiter came back with our drinks. I think he forgot about our drinks! The pizza was just okay for me. My pizza loving DS9 wasn't that impressed either. I don’t feel like it was cooked long enough. It was really soggy in the middle on the bottom. I would probably eat here again even though our waiter messed up a little with the drink service and the pizza was not as crisp for my taste. I’d try them again. Our waiter did take awhile to bring the check too. We did more rides since this was Evening Extra Magic Hours. I think we were riding Test Track during fireworks. It was fun. We left the park for the bus around 10:00. We didn’t have to wait as long this time, but we did have to stand on the bus back to POR. It was a good day, but I think my feet were killing me.
 


The pizza was just okay for me. My pizza loving DS9 wasn't that impressed either. I don’t feel like it was cooked long enough. It was really soggy in the middle on the bottom. I would probably eat here again even though our waiter messed up a little with the drink service and the pizza was not as crisp for my taste. I’d try them again.
I would encourage you to try Via Napoli again. My family has been there three times and enjoyed it. I also like thin, crispy crust and the pizzas we had were not soggy. I think you just hit a bad waiter too.
 
Your pizza looked so good! Sorry it wasn't as great as you were hoping. Via Napoli is a family favorite--I would definitely give them a second chance :)
 
I got so behind! I agree HS could use new or different CS, nothing stands out. We've done breakfast and cupcakes at Starring Rolls but that's it; your sandwiches looked good though!
Last time we tried SciFi we also were seated at one of those back tables and the kids were disappointed :(
Sounds like a really good day at Universal! We went last summer, first time for the boys and first time back for DH and I since 2000 so it was way different. Gringott's is awesome and we aren't big HP fans either. I laughed that your DH thought Butterbeer would be actual beer, and yes HOW can they be out of the big pink donut :confused3 I'm sure the small ones tasted the same (the big one was delicious) but still, a big donut is a big donut!
 


I would encourage you to try Via Napoli again. My family has been there three times and enjoyed it. I also like thin, crispy crust and the pizzas we had were not soggy. I think you just hit a bad waiter too.

Maybe it was a little more soggy because of the amount of toppings, but we will probably try them again.
 
I got so behind! I agree HS could use new or different CS, nothing stands out. We've done breakfast and cupcakes at Starring Rolls but that's it; your sandwiches looked good though!
Last time we tried SciFi we also were seated at one of those back tables and the kids were disappointed :(
Sounds like a really good day at Universal! We went last summer, first time for the boys and first time back for DH and I since 2000 so it was way different. Gringott's is awesome and we aren't big HP fans either. I laughed that your DH thought Butterbeer would be actual beer, and yes HOW can they be out of the big pink donut :confused3 I'm sure the small ones tasted the same (the big one was delicious) but still, a big donut is a big donut!

The sandwiches were fine at Starring Rolls, but hopefully HS will have a few better options coming soon with the Muppets PizzeRizzo, Star Wars and Toy Story lands. I think we'll probably skip Sci Fi next time and try something else. So HS will probably include new restaurants for us next time.

Yes, Universal was fun, but we could spend another day or two there. DH was happy to get that beer at Moe's though. :tongue: I know on the big pink donut! It was good, but two donuts cost more than the one big one. :confused:
 
Day 8 – Magic Kingdom day - Polynesian's Kona Cafe. We slept in a little and then took the bus to MK. It took a lot longer wait this time for the bus from POR, about a 25 minute wait. But once to MK we took the monorail to the Polynesian Resort for our breakfast ADR at the Kona Café at 9:30. We made it just in time. We visited Kona Café on our last trip to Disney World, but it was for dinner so this was nice to try for breakfast. We were seated quickly after our check in. Our waitress was really nice and the service was great!

I was going to order the famous Tonga Toast that everyone raves about, but I had second thoughts. I like banana, but wasn’t sure I’d like it in my toast. It seems like mushy banana to me? I was also afraid it would be too sweet. So I opted for the Macadamia Pineapple Pancakes with sausage. I had something similar to this at a breakfast in Hawaii a few years ago, so I wanted to try it here. I did scrape off some of the pineapple sauce, asked for more macadamia nut butter, and I thought it was really good and I didn't think it was too sweet. I liked the nuts in that butter! The pancakes were hot and fluffy and nuts in the pancakes too. I ate more than half the pancakes and all of the sausage. The sausage had great flavor and I think it was probably better than the bacon.
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DH ordered the Big Kahuna. He asked for the pineapple on the side of his pancakes. He liked the variety and had no complaints. I think he did wish for more sausage though. He ate it all! I tasted his potatoes because I love potatoes. Good.
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DS13 almost ordered the adult blueberry pancakes but decided to just go with the Kids meal Mickey pancakes with bacon.
DS9 ordered his own Mickey pancakes with bacon as well (so same picture below). I thought about them splitting it, but DS13 seemed really hungry. He ate it all. DS9 didn’t eat it all and maybe he could have shared with others, but it was all fine. Obviously they liked their meal. It was all good.
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We didn’t do the fancy press coffee, just regular Kona coffee. We left the Polynesian and took the boat back to MK. So that was neat to take the boat from there for that experience as well. That resort looks so lovely. Maybe someday we can afford to stay there.
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We got into MK, did some rides, met some characters, etc. Then stopped for lunch at Pecos Bill...I will continue in the next post.
 
Continuing Day 8 – Magic Kingdom day - Pecos Bill.
This place was packed! I was still kind of full from breakfast, but others were ready for lunch. DH and I shared the Fajita Platter and that was plenty for two and I know we had both steak and chicken. The boys shared the Kids mac n cheese. And I ordered bite size churros. I thought for sure we took pictures of these plates. I feel like I remember, but I can't find them on the phones or my camera so either they didn't take or I'm remembering something else. So these are pics from Google.
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I wish we would have ordered a side of chips or something because there were plenty of extra chicken, beef, rice, beans, and all those fixings to eat up with something and they only give 3 tortillas. We ate more with a fork and then dug into those churros and chocolate sauce. Yum!
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It was really crowded and a table with a screaming toddler sat next to us so it was not a great atmosphere to eat in. Finally the people left with their screaming child. I totally understand tired cranky kids, but it was ridiculous how long they sat there with their child screaming at the top of his lungs and everybody glaring at them. Get up and walk out. Anyway our meal tasted good and that fixings bar was great. Maybe there’s a secret not as crowded spot we don’t know about to sit down and eat like Columbia Harbour House?

We continued with rides, Tom Sawyer Island, the Philharmagic show, etc. We had ADR at Be Our Guest for 5:30. We arrived a little early, and checked in. It took a while before they called us to be seated. I want to say 20 minutes, maybe more? It was one of the longest waits after check in. I even went up to ask, how much longer to make sure we didn’t miss something. We were finally seated in the ballroom. I thought it was nice. I liked the napkins shaped into a rose on our plates. Nice touch.
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I think the west wing might have been a better place to dine though. We ordered drinks. I just ordered iced tea, DH had a beer, and kids got chocolate milk. Our waitress brought us dinner rolls with butter. These were warm, soft and good. It's dim in here and I feel like my camera was getting worse so I apologize for not very good pictures.
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Since this is a little pricey we decided to share again. DH and I ordered the Potato Leek Soup and shared it. I think he wanted the French Onion, but he agreed and went with the Potato soup. I liked it and he thought it was good. Maybe a little on the thick side, but it was also good dipping the bread in. Maybe we should have ordered both soups.
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We ordered the Grilled Strip Steak and Pommes Frites cooked medium plus. It was cooked a little under for what I think medium plus, but we ate it. (The lady next to us sent her steak back, because it was cooked under). It came with green beans too, hidden under the steak. But still pricey for this meal. It was fine to split, they brought an extra plate and we split it ourselves.
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The boys shared the Kids Grilled steak, with fries and green beans. Their steak was a little more under done than ours! So our 9 year old DS had a hard time eating it after we had cut it up for him. 13 year old DS was fine with it and ate it no problem. We told the waitress about the under done steak and she took it back to the kitchen to cook up a bit longer. Several minutes later after we were all done, she brought it back out –same cut up pieces with another serving of the fries. So DS was happier. Sorry the pic is blurry.
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We ordered 2 cupcakes for dessert. The “Grey Stuff” and the Triple Chocolate Cupcake. I think both were delicious. It was just difficult getting off that outer wrapper thing. Everyone liked the Triple chocolate one better but the grey stuff was good too. It was enough.
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Of course as soon as we finished our meal, the Beast went to take a break. But we waited and were able to meet the Beast and take pictures. It’s a lovely restaurant, but really a bit on the pricey side. I was glad we split and shared. We stayed through the evening riding more rides, dancing in Tomorrowland, and we watched the Wishes fireworks (with popcorn refills). I was so happy to see double buses waiting for us when we left. We got back to POR pretty late, but it was a really fun day.


Next up our last park day at Animal Kingdom...
 
Day 8 – Animal Kingdom day. This is our last park day. There weren’t too many things left in our room to eat, but we had some cereal and granola bars. The bus came quick. We got to AK at rope drop. We were all tired and this was our last full day. Looking back I think we should have went late morning or afternoon and stayed late. But anyway we powered through. We did the Safari ride, then we split a big cinnamon roll and got coffee from Kusafiri. This cinnamon roll was warm, huge, and delicious. It hit the spot!
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We rode a few more rides, watched some shows and shared another snack. We got a regular Mickey Pretzel and a Strawberry Slushie from Warung Outpost. DH got a beer too. I didn't miss any jalapenos. It was good and we were satisfied until lunch.
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We explored what we could in Dinoland. We were disappointed that the Dinosaur ride wasn't opened yet. It was supposed to be opened, but last minute it was delayed so that felt frustrating, but we made the best of it there. We had lunch at Restaurantosaurus. This place was pretty neat. It’s like Pecos with the fixings bar, but with burger and sandwich stuff. DH and I split the Grilled Chicken BLT Sandwich and the boys split the Chicken Nuggets. As I was eating my half, I was wishing for my own sandwich because it was really pretty good. I love the bun on that sandwich too and of all the fixings, but oh well it was fine. I totally forgot to take pics but here's what it looked like. I ate the southwest salad that came with the nuggets. It was okay. It seemed weird paired with the nuggets and no one else wanted it so I ate it because I was wishing I had my own sandwich.
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The other thing that happened here, so 13 year old DS actually turns 14 in a few weeks. The day before at MK we got him a birthday button to wear. So it was fun letting people wish him happy birthday. When we walked into Restaurantasaurus the CM taking our order announced his birthday and the whole place sang to him. It was pretty cool. He said he was embarrassed because it’s not his birthday yet, but it’s close enough to celebrate some at Disney. :bday:

We rode rides, watched shows, then we had Yak and Yeti for dinner reservation for 5:00. I had earned some credits from T-Rex café on my Landry’s card, so I decided last day, I’m having a fruity drink. I ordered the Big Bamboo. This was really good. DH ordered beer.
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We decided to order an appetizer too, because I can’t pass up shrimp, we got the firecracker shrimp. It fit my craving. My kids won’t eat seafood, so more for me. It seemed a little like Bonefish Bang Bang shrimp.
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I ordered the Crispy Honey Chicken with the Jasmine Rice. At first I thought it was a skimpy plate, but it was enough. It tasted like PF Changs Honey Chicken.
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DH ordered the Chef’s Fresh Catch, GrIlled Mahi Mahi with brown rice. He was so happy. He loves Mahi Mahi.
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The boys ordered the kids macaroni and cheese and split it. They were fine with it, although it seemed like just Kraft's version. We saved the kids cups for souvenirs.

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We didn't order dessert. I know some of you are shaking your head in disbelief for not getting that Fried Wontons pineapple dessert, but everyone was full and I'm the only one that likes pineapple. I guess I have to try it another time. We stayed for the evening rode Mt. Everest several times, watched dancers (filled our popcorn bucket) and watched the tree of life. Too bad no Rivers of Light. But it was still pretty all lit up at Animal Kingdom.
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Day 10 – Go home. Today we had to be on the Magical Express by 8:30 to be at the airport for our flight. So we were up early, and ate in the food court. The kids were wanting a cinnamon roll again, so they split this.
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I wanted one more, high calorie meal so I got the biscuits and gravy.
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DH finally got the make your own omelet. He ate into his before I got the picture, so this is off Google.
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We love Port Orleans Riverside. I’m not sure we can plan another trip to Disney World without staying at POR. Although Polynesian and Boardwalk are looking pretty good for the right price. Anyway until next time. Thanks for reading along.
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I have never seen that Mickey shaped cinnamon roll at AK, but if it's as good as the ones at Gastons I'll have to try it!
Enjoyed your report :)
 

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