Monday at Magic Kingdom

Our last day arrived too early!  The McCorkles hit up Magic Kingdom first thing while the Shields family slept in a bit longer and finished packing.   We met up around 10:30 for another ride on Seven Dwarfs.   We had time for 7D, Haunted Mansion, Small World, Dole Whips and the dreaded (just for Hannah; it was fun for the rest of us) Splash Mountain before our final meal at Chef Mickey's. 

After four character meals and completely filling the autograph book, those kids were pros at photos!  And Michelle and I were getting to be pro photographers, too!  Moms enjoying our Cold Brew XO:

The restaurant was clearing out since it was 2 p.m., so all of the characters had plenty of time to hang out with us.  Pluto is a fan favorite and there was some dancing and playing before a lovely shot.

Goofy decided to get an assist from John during the autograph book signing.   He took that in good fun!

At one point 3 or 4 characters were all in our room and it was always Donald getting shafted in favor of Goofy and then Mickey.   Since Donald always signs Donald Duck #1 we enjoyed making lots of jokes about this and they all hammed it up.

Minnie had a funny moment when she was trying to sign each kid's book with a personal message.  I've seen several characters (princesses and others) flip to the front of the kid's book to find out their name.  Minnie doesn't talk, of course, so when she flipped open Hannah's book she sort of scratched her head and showed it to Michelle.  Hannah had her initials - HBM - which she pronounces Huh-bum.  We all start giggling, but Minnie is looking at Michelle as if it say, "No seriously, what's this girl's name?"  So we get the Hannah out and Minnie stops a Hanna and then turns to "ask" about a final h.   I'm sure she thought William's would be easier but this was our last character and his book was full so first she had to find a spot to sign! 

 Finally Donald!   The kids rewarded him with a #1 pose.

The McCorkles had an earlier flight than we did, so they left the resort after brunch.   John, William and I went back to the hotel for another swim.  With our dining plan we still had a lot of snack credits left so we got some bags of candy and trail mix to take home.  I finally got my favorite snack:  a caramel apple!  I carried it to the pool to snack on during the afternoon.  I ate one quarter and then closed the box and went back to swim.   When I came back a few minutes later, the box was open, peanut bits were scattered everywhere and a piece of the apple was on the floor next to my pool chair with a squirrel and bird snacking on it!  Guess that squirrel figured out how to open the box and get a piece out!  I was impressed with its ingenuity!  I was also disappointed to have to toss out my apple, but I had another credit left for a Mickey ice cream sandwich from the pool bar! 

All in all, a fun-filled family vacation and amazing trip to Disney World!   I'm so blessed that my birthday squad was amenable to all of my plans and photo ops!  It really made my birthday very special.

#BirthdaySquad

I couldn't just call this post Sunday at EPCOT because it's my 40th birthday!   This morning was a little slower after three long days.   Our brunch at California Grill (a first time for any of us to have this meal) wasn't until 10:30, so we headed to Magic Kingdom first for photos.  Yes, we totally just went in for photos and left again!  Luckily we were on the monorail and it was easy to go Grand Floridian to Magic Kingdom and then to the Contemporary.   The coordinating birthday shirts are courtesy of my talented crafting friend and Disney lover, Chao!   She helped modify a design I found online and then print and cut all of the pieces and sent them to me for ironing on.

Brunch was amazing!  This restaurant has only had Sunday brunch for a year or two so none of us had been before.   Included in our meal was blueberry mimosas, sushi bar, a hot entree (I had lobster eggs benedict), meats, cheeses, deviled eggs, salad, pastries, yogurt parfaits and some warm bourbon bun served with ice cream.   Oh, and then dessert!  We had them box up our dessert of macaroons and tarts and snacked on them the rest of the day. 

Our Fast Passes for the day were at EPCOT so we took the monorail over after brunch.    We also met up with Bob's brother, Andy, and his husband, Luke, at EPCOT.  Both of them work for Disney and were gracious enough to spend most of their days off with us.   In continuing with the bravery theme that Hannah established, I rode the one ride that I hate: Mission Space: a claustrophobic nightmare!   In between rain storms we also rode Soarin' twice, Spaceship Earth, Nemo, Figment and got photos with Baymax.  Somewhere along the way (ok, we sent them away), the four guys disappeared into World Showcase while the girls plus William did the kiddie rides.   We eventually collected them in the UK pub en route to Japan for our dinner at Teppan Edo.  Did I mention it was during a downpour?  But we were rewarded with a double rainbow!

Teppan Edo is a McCorkle family favorite but new to us.   Hibachi style is infinitely more fun with a group filling out the entire table!   We squeezed 9 into a table for 8 and laughed and ate and laughed and ate!  The waitress was not impressed with our drink orders (try the plum wine; I dare you!) but we enjoyed watching the chef as he cooked up our food and everyone (William included!) loved the food.   During dinner the Illuminations fireworks went off.   There is no such thing as a window view hibachi, but I did get a peek at them when I was up to use the restroom.   We could have extended dinner an extra half hour because when we finished it was pouring down rain.  So much so that we didn't want to leave the restaurant!  Finally there was a little break (thanks Weatherman Bob for the close radar monitoring!) and we walked very quickly over to Beach Club hotel to call for a Minnie Van.   Since Japan is in the back of the park we didn't want to risk the LONG walk to the monorail in case the rain unleashed again.   Oh, but you may remember than the Minnie Van doesn't fit our entire party!  This time Bob and Hannah sat out - or I should say they hitched a ride home in Luke's car. They actually beat us back to the villa!

 

 Another night out until late with an early morning alarm clock (and the dreaded final day) coming!

Saturday at Hollywood Studios

After our late night at Cinderella Castle, we crashed back at the villa.   Our ride to breakfast was less than 8 hours away! 😉  Seriously.....it was.   We had a 7:30 a.m. breakfast at the Boardwalk for a character meal that included Rapunzel and Flynn and Ariel and Prince Eric.  Traveling hotel to hotel is not an easy feat using Disney's free transportation, so we used Lyft to get us to breakfast.  Or more precisely, I took a normal Lyft and the rest of the gang took a "seats 6" Disney Minnie Van (ordered through the Lyft app).  We got a good chuckle out of that!   One or two of the kids offered to come with me when my Toyota Corolla driver arrived but I said they wouldn't want to miss out on the Minnie Van!  I got a text a short while later that the castmember driving took!

Breakfast was fun though paced a big strangely with how the characters arrived.   The food was very good and filling (and not a buffet).  I had a calzone (yes, for breakfast) and bellini.  John had steak and eggs and a giant Italian coffee.   This time our table was right in the middle of the room and the spot where Ava was sitting (and her pre-teen facial expressions) made for an hilarious challenge for Flynn and his smolder!  We got a lot of laughs out of each of the characters trying to get a reaction from Ava!

After breakfast we took a few photos on the Boardwalk while waiting for the Friendship boat to Hollywood Studios to start the day!   I love this one where William is photobombing the McCorkles!

We walked on Toy Story Midway Mania (which was virtually unheard of a year ago), took some photos in the new Toy Story Land, and then rode all of the old rides....which is down to three (Rock 'n Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror and Star Tours).  We also waited in line for the new Alien Saucer Swirl which was fine.   Our FP for Slinky Dog dash was rained out so we watched the Frozen Sing-along and had a mid day break at the new tap house.   Finally giving up on Slinky Dog coming back online, we parted ways with Studios.  William and I returned to the Grand Floridian to rest (swim) while the rest of the group went to Epcot for a few rides plus dinner at Rose & Crown. 

The weather cleared and we were able to return to Studios after dark for our inaugural ride on the brand new Slinky Dog Dash (super fun!) and then watch the Star Wars fireworks before heading home to bed.