disney day seven :: chef mickey's and home

I got up that morning and packed up all our stuff.  Our boarding passes and Magical Express ticket were hanging on our door.  Jody and I took our bags down to the lobby where they weighed them and checked them into the airlines.  So convenient!  Something they have added since our last trip.  Disney does a great job making airplane traveling easy especially with 3 kids and 5 bags of luggage!




I had us an 11:30 reservations for Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary.  Jody and Wesley opted out of Chef Mickey's but the rest of us went!  Mary Reese, Banks and I took a bus to the Magic Kingdom and then rode the resort monorail over to the Contemporary.  The rest of the crew ended up taking a taxi from the resort because when they went to check their bags a huge baseball team was in front of them. Owen was excited because he was with Julie and William and got to experience his first taxi ride!



We checked into Chef Mickey's. and waited for our table to be ready.  They called our party and we got our picture made which was linked to our photo pass account.

We were seated and hit the buffet. Mickey Waffles were a favorite along with the soft serve ice cream machine!

We ate and visited with some iconic characters...

Donald Duck

 

 Goofy

Minnie Mouse

Daisy

and of course Chef Mickey!!!

The kids had a ball doing the napkin dance...

The lobby had beautiful Easter Eggs made by Disney employees because Easter was that Coming Sunday...

We hopped back on the monorail riding through the Polyinisan and Grand Floridian Resorts...

I think they were all over my picture taking by this point!  We got off at Magic Kingdom and caught a bus back to the Caribbean Beach Resort. We got off at the bus stop near the lobby and had a few minutes to spare before our Magical Express bus arrived to take us to the airport.



We got to the airport, went through security and made our way to the gate. We ran into several friends who were on the same flight as our party of 12.



Uncle David and Aunt Stacey had picked up our car at the airport Thursday night. David picked us up curbside and we headed to Davenport's Pizza to meet Stacey, Weezie & Hartman. We enjoyed pizza with them before heading north.



We made it home and I immediately got the washing machine going! I was very thankful we still had Thursday and Friday of Spring Break to get everything unpacked, washed and put away! And for a few days to recover! Disney is so fun but very tiring. We went until we were Disney tired everyday but I wouldn't have it any other way!!!  We are all ready for our next magical vacation!  We hope to see the gang real soon!

disney day six :: magic kigdom

Last day of our Magical Spring Break!  We spent it in Magic Kingdom...

We kind of slept in a little and casually made our way to the park.

We grabbed a quick lunch at the Tommorrowland Terrace.  Originally I had us a late breakfast at Chef Mickey's but we decided to do that the next day before our flight out.

We had 4 fast passes for today {thanks to our friend Barbara with Disney}.  Originally I had a Meet & Greet with Anna & Elsa, 7 Dwarfs Mine Train and Splash Mountain.  The girls were not into Anna & Elsa so we swapped for Space Mountain.  We opted for Big Thunder Mountain for our 4th fast pass...so we had a great day of fast passes...all 3 mountains + 7 Dwarfs.  We did not have any set dining reservations since I cancelled Chef Mickey's.


After lunch, we jumped on the 7 Dwarfs Mine Train using our fast pass...

Then we headed to Adventureland because we had not really be there this week.  We got in line for Pirates of the Caribbean because it was short...

Then we headed to The Magic Carpets of Aladdin...

Then we moved onto Frontierland.  We used our fast passes for Big Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain.  They asked us in the queue if we wanted to fit all 12 of us in the same log.  We all said yes which meant we were 3 to a seat.  Jody, Owen & William were on row 1.  Justin, Ben & Banks were on row 2.  Kathryn, Sarah Kathryn & Mary Reese were row 3.  Wesley, Julie & I were sandwiched into the back row... 

I couldn't feel my legs by the time the ride was over but it was totally worth it for this picture!  Owen was dabbing in the front.  He was mad because he got covered up by Jody and William.

We grabbed us a snack on the way to Liberty Square...

My absolute favorite!  Chocolate Covered Frozen Bananas were also a big hit with the crew.  We stopped by and watched the Country Bear Jamboree {exactly the same as I remembered from my childhood} before getting in line for the Hall of Presidents.

The were having issues with the Hall of Presidents so we moved onto Fantasyland.  All the moms and kids jumped on It's a Small World...

The dads totally bailed!  It was a favorite for the moms and so fun to ride with all our children!  We watched the Mickey's PhilharMagic show while we were still in Fantasyland.

We were all starting to get a little hungry for dinner.  The Roberts family were on the dining plan so they had booked a dinner at Crystal Palace because they had a table service they needed to use.  The Murphrees and Perrys were not on the dining plan.  We debated about trying one of the resorts in the Magic Kingdom area {we really wanted Ohana again} but decided to hop over to Epcot for some Chinese. We cut through Cinderella's Castle and headed to the monorail down Main Street.

We really took advantage of our hopper tickets this trip.  After a quick monorail ride we arrived at Epcot...

We had the most amazing dinner at Nine Dragons in China...



We ordered several appetizers and entrees to share.  We had potstickers, spring rolls, honey sesame chicken, peppered beef and some amazing shrimp.  Even the Chinese beer was delicious!  It was well worth the trip over to Epcot for dinner!  We decided to head back to the Magic Kingdom to ride until closing!

The Roberts were finishing their dinner as we were getting back to the Magic Kingdom.  We decided to meet up at Space Mountain.  We used our fast passes and hopped on...

William bailed right before we all boarded.  The boys all wanted to ride Splash Mountain again and we had a little less than an hour before the park closed.  We ran back over to Frontierland.  The boys got on Splash Mountain for 1 last ride...

This picture totally cracks me up!  Justin has his light up Mickey's wand and Owen finally got his dadding in the picture.  He was so proud of himself!

The girls decided they did not want to ride Splash Mountain so Kathryn, Sarah Kathryn, Mary Reese and I jumped on Big Thunder Mountain.

When we got off, we saw the boys in line to ride.  We ran back through and got in line.  The boys were exiting as we were getting on again.  We did this cycle 3 times.  The boys barely got back in line for the last ride before park closing.  The girls were getting off and the boys were ready to board for the very list ride of the night.  We asked the workers if we could ride again with the rest of our party.  They said we could...so we jumped on for our 4 time in a row!

We decided to head to the castle to get our picture made before leaving for the last time of our magical Spring Break trip.  The park was almost an eerie empty!

We walked down an almost empty Main Street.  Bought a few last minute souvenirs at the Emporium.  Listened to the closing remarks called A Kiss Goodnight {if you have never stayed for these...you need to...chills and the perfect way to end our last night}.  It was the icing on the cake castle for our trip!  And headed to the gates and our bus stop.

Tomorrow afternoon was our flight home!  We still had a Chef Mickey's breakfast ADR in the morning to soak up a little more pixie dust...

disney day five :: animal kingdom

Last time we came, we ate an early morning character breakfast with Safari Donald at Tusker House.  We loved it so much, I knew I for sure wanted to repeat that meal.  I booked us an 8:00 am breakfast which sounded like a grand idea at the time.  I wish it would have been more like 9:00 because we were dragging slightly from our previous late nights.  But all 12 of us made it to Tusker House in time for our breakfast.  {We had a little pit stop in the gift shop for a sweatshirt or two because the temperatures were a little chilly that morning.}  We got seated and all the adults desperately ordered coffee!  We visited the amazing breakfast buffet line and anxiously awaited the characters. First up was Donald.

My camera was on some weird setting.  So all my pictures with Donald are a little blurry.  My biggest complaint with the Photo Pass is that the photographers are not in the character meals.

Then we saw...

Mickey!  Thank goodness I realized my camera needed some adjusting!  Then Goofy stopped by for a visit...

And finally Daisy!

The food was delicious and delightful!  American favorites mixed in with some traditional African cuisine.  But I think the good, strong coffee was my absolute favorite!

We were fueled up and ready for a fun day at Animal Kingdom.  The park opened at 8:00 that day so we were not ahead of the game like I thought when I booked out 8:00 am breakfast.  Our fast pass for Kilimanjaro Safari was an all day one {thanks to Barbara}.  Tusker House is right beside the entrance and the line was not very long so we opted not to use our fast pass incase we wanted to ride it again later in the day.

 

We walked down the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail and looked at even more animals.  Then we finally got a picture with the Tree of Life...

We headed over to Kali River Rapids.  We did not have to use our fast pass because of the chilly weather.  Only Justin and I rode with all the boys... 

Thankfully we did not get wet!  Justin still had all their ponchos in their bag from the day before so that helped a little.

Then we headed over to Expedition Everest.  Last time we were here, only Jody rode.  Owen was the most excited about this ride.  We did use our fast pass for this one {again it was an all day one so we were not tied to a specific hour}...

We all escaped the Yeti and loved every minute...

Mary Reese and Sarah Kathryn were mad because they were shopping while we were riding the rapid ride.  So Justin, Julie and Kathryn braved the rapids with all the kids.  Jody, Wesley, Banks and I stood on the bridge and watched... 

This time they came of soaked! 

$100 worth of beach towels later {they conveniently sell them near the exit of the ride}, we were kind of dry.  We decided to head over to DinoLand.  The line for Dinosaur was almost 2 hours so we decided to skip.  Jody, Banks, Owen, William and I rode Primeval Whirl because the wait time was not that long... 

They loved it!  The rest of the crew hung out in Dinoland while we rode.  We decided it was time for It's Tough to be a Bug! in the Tree of Life.... 

While in line you can see how detailed all the animals are carved into the tree.  Everyone was still cold and we had done mostly what we wanted in Animal Kingdom, so we decided to head back for a little rest before hitting up Epcot for dinner.  I made my family stop in front of the Tree on the way our for one more picture...

They weren't thrilled but they did it for me!  We went back to the hotel.  Mary Reese and Banks napped while Jody, Owen and I sat in the sunshine by the pool.  After about a 3 hour rest, we loaded back up for Epcot.  We wanted Mexican for dinner.

My family got there first.  We ordered dinner at the counter service in Mexico and found us a table.  Julie, Wesley and William were on the bus behind us.  The Roberts clan decided to stay in for the night and hang around the hotel.


We ate a delicious meal and decided to walk around the World Showcase.  Mary Reese was dying for  a crepe and I was dying for an orange slush.  Both could be found in France. 

We ate and drank while watching Illuminations again.

Here we are closing down a park again.  Tomorrow is our last day in the parks.  We are headed back to Magic Kingdom one last time!