Disney Surprise: Days Four and Five

We had an early morning our last full day at Disney. I scored a breakfast reservation at Chef Mickey’s for 7:45am, which meant we needed to be up and out by 6:30. We let the boys sleep as long as we could but eventually had to wake them up so we could catch a bus in time. They were tired from their late night at Disney Springs but woke up in decent moods

Our bus driver was super nice; he was only supposed to stop at Magic Kingdom and from there it was a short walk to the Contemporary. However, he ended up calling his dispatcher and getting clearance to drop us off right at the Contemporary entrance. So nice of him!

We checked in at Chef Mickey’s, took a family photo, and only had a short wait until our table was ready. The boys spotted some of the characters walking around right away; they were so excited!

We were seated on the upper level, which gave us the perfect view of the restaurant. We filled our plates and sat down to eat while we waited for Mickey and friends to stop by our table. Rory (and me too!) loved the Mickey shaped waffles. So buttery and delicious.

Donald came to see us first, then Minnie, Mickey, Goofy, and finally Pluto. Rory clung to Kenny and wouldn’t stand by any of the characters on his own, but he seemed a bit in awe to see life-sized versions of the friends he sees on tv.

 

 

About 20 minutes later, as we were finishing up and getting ready to leave, all of the characters came back out to dance. Pluto came up on our level, and we were the only family still there. Riley didn’t hesitate and jumped right up to dance with him. So cute!

 

 

After breakfast, we headed out to enjoy our last day in a Disney park. Since the monorail goes right through the Contemporary Resort, we decided to hop on and take the trip around instead of walking. It was still a fairly short ride and we got to the Magic Kingdom entrance just before 10am.

We went straight to Tomorrowland, where Riley bought a Haunted Mansion glow-in-the-dark skull keychain. Then he and I rode Space Mountain one last time while Kenny took Rory to ride the racecars again. We met inside the play area of Dumbo and let the boys run around for awhile before riding the ride.

 

 

After Dumbo, it was back to Tomorrowland to use our fast passes for Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, a ride very similar to Toy Story Midtown Mania in Hollywood Studios. Lots of fun.

 

Then Rory wanted to go on what he later declared his favorite ride, the People Mover. We actually rode it twice since both boys liked it so much. The line was super short and it was a nice, relaxing trip around Tomorrowland. Plus, during our second time on it, the lights inside Space Mountain were on, so we actually got to see some of the tracks. So cool!

 

Rory wanted to go a third time, but it was close to lunch so we left in favor of eating. We headed to Main Street (pausing for yet more family pics in front of the castle…..my favorites of the trip!) and decided to really embrace the vacation frame of mind and got ice cream for lunch. But we did supplement with chips, grapes, and beef jerky, so it wasn’t all bad.

 

Next, we wandered over to Adventureland. We climbed up the Swiss Family Robinson tree house and then used fast passes for Pirates of the Caribbean. Then we walked over to Liberty Square and took a ride on the riverboat before going back to Fantasyland to use fast passes for Winnie the Pooh.

 

 

While we were over that way, I stopped by the insanely popular Be Our Guest restaurant to see if they happened to have any last minute reservations. I had been checking for weeks to see if anything opened up, but it never did. I figured it couldn’t hurt to ask in person, and this time I got lucky. However, the only time they had left was 9:45pm. Ugh. I took it anyway to guarantee we had a table and was told I could check back around the time we wanted to eat and see if they could squeeze us in. Fingers crossed.

Then we went back to Liberty Square because Riley wanted to ride Haunted Mansion again. We may or may not have left with a new friend.

Rory kept asking to go see Mickey, so next we walked all the way up to the front of the park to see how long the meet and greet line was. It was 45 minutes, so I got in line while Kenny took the boys to ride their coveted People Mover again.

They joined me about halfway through the wait. To kill some time, they got out the sheets of Mickey and friends stickers that I brought with us. Riley proceeded to cover himself with stickers. He even put stickers on each of his fingers and said he wanted to meet Mickey that way. Knock yourself out, wonk potatoes.

When it was finally our turn, Mickey asked (yes, he talks now) if we wanted to pretend like we were choo-choo trains and chug around the room. So unexpected and fun! And I love the smiles from my boys in our family picture with the mouse.

We said goodbye to Mickey and hightailed it back over to Fantasyland to use our last fast passes of the trip for Peter Pan’s Flight. Then I went to check with Be Our Guest, where cast member Alyssa made dreams come true and told me they could seat us within an hour. Score! I waited there while Kenny took the boys on the carousel and for one last ride on the People Mover. They made it back to the restaurant just in time: our table was ready a bit early and I worried that they wouldn’t get there fast enough!

We were led to our table in the Grand Ballroom, where our waiter Joseph took great care of us. It was so pretty, and the food was good. The boys shared chicken skewers, a really tasty steak, broccoli, and French fries, while Kenny had a pork dish and I had a shrimp and scallop dish, with wine to go with it all. Then it was time for dessert, and I of course chose “the grey stuff,” which was, in fact, delicious.

We took a peek at the other two dining rooms (the West Wing was really spooky and cool) and then went to greet the master of the castle, the Beast, before heading out. The whole night was such a fun experience, and I thank my husband for putting up with my craziness so we could eat there.

We left dinner around 8:30pm. Our intention was to go back to our resort and let the boys swim one last time. However, we had forgotten that Rory still had some money to spend in the gift shops, so we passed through the Emporium on Main Street as quickly as we could to get him a toy monorail and a set of three small Disney buses. We took one last set of family photos and then said a fond farewell to Magic Kingdom.

We arrived back at Pop Century around 9:15pm and were in the pool by 9:30. The boys only had a half hour to swim, but they had a blast. Then it was back to our room to shower, change, pack, and sleep. Our surprise trip was just about done.

We boarded the Magical Express the next morning at 7:25am, and we were in the airport less than an hour later. We had no issues getting through security or with our flights, and the boys did great on the plane.

It wasn’t the perfect trip, but we had a fantastic time and I think both boys really enjoyed themselves. They are already asking when we can go back.

I failed to mention that Mama is going back without them in January….shhh!