Because the girls had a 9am flight on Saturday morning, we decided to take it easy on Friday morning, pack, and then start our day. After getting things situated mid-morning, we drove to the Contemporary Resort for our brunch reservation.
When you dine at Chef Mickey’s, they take a PhotoPass picture with a Mickey status before they seat you, which they used to print and then bring to your table later to try and sell you. Now, we scan our Magic Band for PhotoPass, and it shows up in the app a few minutes later – a great improvement!
The food was great, and we all ate breakfast things, lunch things, and dessert things – we’ve always loved this place, and still do. You get five characters who come to your table in their “chef” attire:
- Mickey
- Minnie
- Goofy
- Donald
- Pluto
We got all five of them in quick succession, but then got a few bonus high-fives on our way out as the characters moved across the restaurant. Leah even had a brief dance party with Goofy on the way out:
We rode the escalator up to the monorail, then stopped by the TTC, Polynesian, and Grand Floridian on our way into the Magic Kingdom.
Just after passing through the tunnels under the train station at MK’s entrance, there’s a building on the right that used to have a theater, and now houses two character meets. Tinkerbell is one of them, and the other is one that we’d been trying to get a FP+ for the whole trip, with no success. The wait said 20 minutes, and it ended up being about 35, but it was definitely worth it:
Yep, that’s the talking Mickey Mouse. It was being tested on our last trip three years ago, so this was a first for all of us, and it was quite cool.
We had a FP+ at this time for another attraction that we’d passed up a few times on this trip, Enchanted Tales with Belle. During our last visit, we did this attraction for the first time, and we were looking forward to doing it again, and Leah was really hoping to be part of the show. We got right in as the pre-pre-show started, and Leah got right up in front by the mirror.
We then moved into the pre-show room, where they (spoiler alert) take volunteers to play roles in the show. Leah was hoping to be Chip, but didn’t speak up loud enough. Rachel ended up as the horse, because the lady near her refused to do it. Leah then got a role as the armoire and we moved into the actual show room.
The show was great! Rachel got to gallop across the stage, Leah was in the parade, and they both got pictures with Belle. Aly sat with me and we were loving it.
We then quickly made FP+ to meet Ariel right then, and we headed over for the meet n greet. Leah, who was expecting me to get another solo picture with a princess, was disappointed when I did not get in the picture this time, or kick my family out.
From there, we headed over to the Big Top tent area that used to be Toon Town, and found fairly short lines to meet with Goofy and Donald.
Since we were in the neighborhood, Leah rode the Barnstormer with Rachel again, while Aly and I had treats and slushies again.
After that, we snuck in one more Philharmagic show on our way to the back of the park.
While we were in line, we made a couple of FP+ that split our party, because Aly wanted to ride Haunted Mansion again and Leah didn’t, so she rode Aladdin’s Magic Carpets and climbed the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse with Rachel while I went to HM with Aly.
After that, we finally got our first Dole Whips of the trip. They were, of course, delicious, but even better than that, they were free! Apparently the register went down after we placed our order, but before we had paid, so we got the tastiest treat in all of WDW for the best price.
We took our Dole Whips through the walkway and straight into the end of a Country Bear dance party out in the street. It was dinner time, though, so we headed into Pecos Bills and ordered some fajita goodies for us, and corn dog nuggets for Aly.
Aly wanted to ride on Pirates, but Leah didn’t, so I took Leah for her first ride on the Jungle Cruise, the boat ride filled with corny jokes from the skipper.
Some of the jokes were low-level enough for kids to understand, though many were groaners. By the end, Leah tells me, “she’s always telling jokes!” while rolling her eyes.
We reconnected and then walked over to Tomorrowland for another ride on the TTA, and another spin on Buzz Lightyear.
We had just enough time to fit the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor show in before the castle show and the fireworks started. Last time, we had gotten Aly on screen briefly, but Leah had completely forgotten what was going to happen in this show. We filed in after a short wait and took seats on the aisle in the middle of the room.
The show is a lot of fun, but it’s more fun when Leah is on camera for the last several minutes. They asked for volunteers throughout the show, and they picked her during the third act. They came to her with a microphone, she gave her name and age, and then they asked her what she wanted to do for a job when she grows up. She basically clammed up, so they kept giving different examples that she would say no to. It was pretty hilarious and she loved it.
When we left, the Castle Show was just beginning, so we watched it with Leah on my shoulders. It’s amazing – they basically play movies on the castle itself. It’s hard to describe, but truly not to be missed.
The girls still had some gift card money left to spend, so we muscled through the post-show/pre-fireworks crowd to the Emporium on Main Street, and gave the girls 15 minutes to make decisions, which they mostly did.
We then popped out onto Main Street for the Wishes fireworks, which Leah watched from my shoulders, while a tired Aly watched while sitting in the street. As soon as the fireworks ended, we jumped back into the store and bought the stuff they’d decided on before the fireworks. Re-entering the store, I realized how hard the store staff works to restock between the two shows – empty hooks were now full and ready for the departing guests to empty them again.
We left the park and walked back to our car parked at the Contemporary for the drive back to our hotel. As the girls were packing up, they both laid our their plush friends for a picture. Yes, this might be a bit excessive, but those aren’t all new on the trip, many of them came from home.
These girls love their plush.
The next morning, I dropped the girls off at MCO, then went back to the hotel, checked out, and drove over to Hollywood Studios to catch a few thrill rides before starting the long drive back home.
Other than the nasty cold I caught there (which I’m still suffering from a week later), it was another great trip to Disney. There was less drama than some past trips, and we were all sad to leave, and felt like it was over far too quickly, which are good signs.
Sandy and I are heading for Orlando Feb 1st for 5 days. No way will we duplicate your adventures, but we may try.
Have had dinner with your mom on several occasions here at Siesta Key. She is pacing herself and in my opinion seems to be doing better that when we saw her last.