Best Thursday Ever.

So, as you can see, by Thursday of our trip, we had been to each park at least once.  Whatever will we do??

Oh, right.  Go back for more!  Wooooo!  

Thursday morning we had early breakfast reservations at Chef Mickey's, which is at the Contemporary resort.  Since we weren't sure we'd be able to catch a bus that would get us over there by 8:05, we decided to drive.  We piled into Bestie and C's rental car and were greeted at the parking lot by a lovely British man.  Bestie and I agreed that he had the best accent ever and we wanted to take him with us, but alas, it wasn't to be.

The Contemporary, unlike Caribbean Beach or even Coronado Springs (where Hubby and I stayed for our honeymoon), is all indoors.  Once we got in, it was escalators ahoy!  They have the really skinny ones, so we had to go up single file (suddenly I'm thinking we should've pulled a Brady Bunch and started singing...).  

Once we got checked in, it wasn't too long of a wait to get seated (it may have felt like forever because we were hungry and could smell food).  Bestie and C hadn't been there before (or, at least not for breakfast; I can't remember for sure), but Hubby and I were seasoned pros at this point (er, yeah... after having been there once...  a year and a half ago... whatever).  I loaded down my first plate with every tasty thing I could find: fruit, cottage cheese, breakfast pizza, bacon, croissants, and - best of all - grits.  

I may be a yankee (Wisco born and raised!), but dammit, I have southern blood running through my veins, and you just cannot get good grits in the north (with the exception of Cracker Barrel; they do a pretty good job).  So when I find them, I go nuts.  My second trip up to the buffet was for a doughnut and a bowl full of grits.  Nom nom nom.  (In case you care, I'm a butter and salt kind of gal; I take after my daddy.)  By the time we left, I probably had grits coming out of my ears, but I was happy as a clam!

Chef Mickey's, like Tusker House, is character dining, so we had Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald and Pluto all stop by our table to say hi!  Bestie wanted pictures with them all, so I took on camera duty.  I told her it wasn't a problem, but that I wouldn't be getting up for any pictures because I had food, and nothing was coming between me and my food (particularly my grits).  Thankfully, I have a bestie who wasn't in the least bit offended, and was just happy I was willing to take pictures for her.  :)

After breakfast, we decided to take a ride on the monorail, since it comes through the Contemporary (yep, through it).  We hopped on and just rode that darn thing around in a loop!  From the Contemporary, your next stop is the TTC (Ticketing and Transportation Centre).  Then it's on to the Grand Floridian and the Polynesian.  Last stop is Magic Kingdom, and then you're back at the Contemporary!  

We drove the car back to our resort, and then after a short break, hopped a bus to Animal Kingdom.  As we were approaching, I went to grab my Key to the World and...  uh...  Crap!  It wasn't where it was supposed to be.  I freaked out, but Bestie, ever the optimist and Disney queen, just suggested we go to Guest Relations to see what they could do.  A few questions later (my resort, where I'm from, etc) and I had a brand new card.  Phew!

Our main goal was to hit up the Dinosaur ride, since we had missed it earlier in the week, but we started by checking out some nature trails along the way.  Once we got to Dinosaur, Hubby opted out, but C hadn't been on it before, so the 3 of us headed onward.  I, for one, love this ride.  1) I've always had a thing for dinosaurs.  Blame my dad.  2) On my honeymoon, I totally realized that it was Hodges from CSI that does the intro and voice!  3) I know when the picture is coming up, so I can be properly prepared with a thumbs up.  

The rest of the AK experience is a bit of a blur.  I don't think we did any more rides, but we did go check out the nature trails in Asia.  We got to see flying foxes, tigers, and all sorts of animals just hanging around.  I had to go see my hippos on the nature trail, so Hubby and I left C and Bestie to sit and chill while we hoofed it through the African jungle so I could visit my hippo friends.  Thankfully, they were being pretty playful, and kept swimming past the window.  It's murky, and there are a TON of fish in there, but it's cool to see it anyway.  Especially when they seem to be playing tag or follow the leader, and both wander past!  

I think that's about all we did (except for getting more frozen Coke/other pop; that was something we did at least once a day) at AK, and soon it was off to Epcot.  Our first goal was to find lunch, so we headed toward the World Showcase.  Upon entering Epcot, we found the Flower and Garden Festival in full swing.  There were flowers and plants everywhere!  And the topiaries were insane...  It was just beautiful.

We had lunch at the Cantina de San Angel, which is a quick service restaurant in Mexico that serves tacos and nachos.  Getting a table was INSANE at this place, and the food was only so-so (although, I did really enjoy my cantaloupe popsicle!) so I don't know if I'd go back again, but I'm glad we had the experience. :)

We wandered from country to country for hours, with my only real goal being to visit the wall of Pocky in Japan.  (OK, it's actually just a wall of candy and snacks, but there's a whole section of Pocky and it was calling my name.)  We ended up getting some really delicious ice cream in France (go figure) while Bestie looked desperately for the magic rose.  Sadly, we couldn't find it.  Our best guess is that it's going to be a part of the new Beauty & The Beast restaurant (soon to come!) and that it's just not on display until then. 

At some point I got my Pocky (and a bottle of watermelon Ramune; love that stuff!), and we encountered the Canada pavilion where a band was playing in kilts (the band name was Off Kilter - is that not hysterical?!).  It was a bit of a mindf*ck, so we stopped and watched for a minute or two.  We also stopped in at The Art of Disney, where they have AMAZING artwork to drool over.  

One of the funniest things that happened, happened while I was in the bathroom right around England.  There was a little boy standing there with his grandmother (mom was in a stall) and he was holding her hand, jumping up and down chanting, "Monorail!  Monorail!  Monorail!"  (Not like The Simpsons; more like a little kid excited for ice cream or a pony ride.)  From in the stall his mom says, "I spend the money, get the kids down here to Disney World, where they can do anything and what does my son want to do?  The Monorail..."  She didn't sound annoyed or put out; I imagine she was smiling and shaking her head instead.  I turned to the boy and told him that I rode the monorail this morning and it was pretty awesome, so I understood!  :)

Hubby was shocked (and a bit excited) that we didn't have dinner reservations that night.  When I suggested we order pizza (which we had thought about doing the night before, but we weren't ALL that hungry), I think he was downright giddy.  The four of us snagged our little table at the resort and Hubby ordered us a pizza and breadsticks.  We spent a few hours out there, eating, drinking and talking.  It was practically perfect in every way. :)

Animal! Animal!

Hey, ho!  Sicky McSickSick here!  Ugh.  I missed half a day of work yesterday and all of today (which, when you work from home, means you're either playing hooky or really effing miserable).  My throat is in slightly less pain today, but, now I can't lie down without having a coughing fit, so, yeah.  Fun!

Doesn't mean we can't continue our journey through Disney, right?

Our second full day (Tuesday, March 6th) was spent at the Animal Kingdom, quite possibly my favorite park!  If you've never been, parts of it are like a ginormous zoo, except you don't usually have to look through cages and wires (with a few exceptions, of course).  Other parts have rides, restaurants and shops like the other parks, and the whole thing is tied together by the magic of Disney.

We started at Tusker House for breakfast.  It was our first time there, and I'm already thinking for our 5 year anniversary (the next Disney trip we're planning) that we should go back.  Why?  Two big reasons.

1) It's Character dining that counts as only 1 table service meal per person (Cinderella's Royal Table was similar with the princesses, but it "costs" 2 table service meals per person).  You start by taking a picture with Donald (in his safari gear, of course) and then upon being seated, you can see Mickey, Minnie, Daisy and Goofy all making their rounds (and yes, they WILL stop at your table!).  Too fun!

2) It's a ginormous buffet.  For reals.  Bagels, fresh fruit, eggs, bacon, doughnuts, croissants, ham, quiche, and more await you, and for a 9:30 AM reservation, it really wasn't the madhouse that I had expected.  All the food is nice and fresh (warm when it should be, cold when it shouldn't) and, of course, tasty.  (Not to mention the super tasty juice they bring you!  Man, I could live off that stuff!)

Two memories were made that morning.  The first was when I may have startled our waitress.  Every cast member's name tag shows where he or she is from, and our waitress just so happened to be from Wisconsin.  I was so excited I shouted, "Sconnie!"  Thankfully, the others were there to explain that we were all from Wisconsin (at least, in part) as well, so we bonded over the sad loss of the Packers and the awesomeness of being in Florida without snow.

The second was when they brought over the picture of the 4 of us with Donald.  Now, unlike Cinderella's, the picture they take at Tusker House is NOT included with the meal.  The package (one big photo and 4 smaller ones, I think) cost about $38, and since Bestie had a cast member take the same pic with her camera, we declined.  But, before it was taken away, C noticed something interesting: "They covered my shirt!"  Indeed they had.  C was wearing a Coors shirt that day, and instead of blurring it out or (Heaven forbid) leaving it alone, they covered it with the Disney 2012 logo.

After breakfast, we went on my favorite AK ride, the Kilimanjaro Safari.  I won't bore you with tons of details, but on this ride, you get to go on a safari through the park, where you can see anything from giraffes to warthogs to hippos (yay!) hanging out in what looks like their natural habitat.  Again, sort of like the zoo, but seriously cooler.

We spent some time on the nature trails after that, checking out more animals from around the world and enjoying the beautiful day.  It wasn't too hot, but we decided we'd go on Kali River Rapids.  I freakin' love this ride, and I hadn't done it since high school, so I was all gung-ho.  The signs along the line say, "Caution: You WILL get wet.  You MAY get soaked."  Guess who got soaked...  Yep!  Hubby and I were pretty well drenched (at least from the back).  And since I refuse to go anywhere in shorts, I was wearing full length jeans, which do NOT dry out very quickly.  Or at all.  I had a serious case of wet-butt for the rest of the day.  

In an attempt to dry off (and since I'd never been on it, nor had Hubby), we headed toward Expedition Everest, the mountain ride in AK.  Bestie and her husband love this ride, so we were hoping Hubby would enjoy it, too.  Well, about 2/3 of the way through the ride or so, we came to a stop.  At first I assumed they were helping someone on or off the ride who needed assistance, but we just weren't moving.  At all.  And eventually a voice told us that the expedition was over for right now and to hang tight and wait for a cast member to arrive.  

Now, as much as I am curious about the last third of the ride, this was possibly one of the coolest things to happen.  We got to do an emergency ride evacuation at Disney!  Too cool!!  Hubby, one the other hand, was just happy the ride was over with.  It seems that no, this was not the kind of ride that his body could handle, and he was feeling pretty miserable by that time.  We did an evac through the mountain itself, and while we weren't allowed to take photos (even if some dumb girl did with her phone, ugh), it was an experience I'll never forget.  How many guests get to see the inside of a Disney ride like that?  

After grabbing Hubby some Dramamine, we parked ourselves on a bench and had some treats (mmmm... Mickey Ears).  I think that was when we decided we'd head back to the resort, change, and then hit up Downtown Disney.  By the time we were back at the resort, I asked Bestie if she'd kill me if I said a nap sounded really good.  We all agreed we could use a break, so we said goodbye and goodnight.  

Hubby and I wound up napping for a few hours before hopping on a bus to Epcot for our date night dinner at San Angel Inn, the table service restaurant in Mexico.  I'll probably end up doing some kind of review on San Angel later, so for now, I'll just say 3 things:  1) They did an amazing job making this place feel small and intimate.  2) Everything I ate was pretty freakin' awesome!  3) Beware: Tequila shots here can be expensive.  There's actually a $50+ shot you can get!  Aye yi yi...

Since we had a later reservation, we pretty much headed straight for the bus when dinner was over.  The wait for the bus was ridiculous.  Not because of the bus itself; it was there pretty promptly.  But we had to wait to load a scooter on to the bus (it was being shared by an overweight couple presumably on their honeymoon who just couldn't hoof it through the parks like the rest of us tubby folk), and then a wheelchair (which was being used by an elderly woman, so no grief there).  It actually took so long that a SECOND bus for our resort came up and parked behind it, and the whole line of guests actually cheered when the driver opened the door to let us on.  

All in all, it was another successful and magical Disney day!  Again, I encourage you to check out my Bestie's blog (The Disney Hippy) for a different perspective. :)