Day 2 - Brunch at 1900 Park Fare

Okay, so when we left MK, I suggested that we take the water launch to the Grand Floridian instead of the monorail so we wouldn't have to do the full loop. There happened to be a boat for the GF at the dock when we approached it, so we had no wait. It was a quick two minute boat ride... nice breeze (very very hot outside).











We got to the GF and headed to the main building. It was so familiar. We couldn't quite remember where 1900 Park Fare was, so dad asked the hostess at the Princess Tea Party, and she pointed us in the right direction.







We checked-in. I had made this reservation at the same time as the one for San Angel Inn, so we were prepared for our ressie to not show up, but it was there. Rachel went to the restroom, but I saw the outrageous line and decided against it. Our buzzer went off while she was in the restroom, and we had to wait a good five minutes or so for her to come out.

They posed us in front of a wall with a mural of Cinderella's Castle. It was a pretty backdrop. After that, we were seated.

As soon as we sat down, Alice came over to greet us. She was quite chatty and wished Rachel and I both a happy birthday (we are frequently asked if Rachel and I are twins, so when we both had the birthday buttons on, it was assumed... we agreed in advance that we'd be turning seventeen).













Now, the food here was REALLY GOOD. Most people come to the breakfast buffets for the characters (I know we do), but this one actually had a great selection of food. My favorite was the breakfast pizza, which was actually at child's level. There were really good grits and eggs (southern girl needs her grits), as well as sausage and Rachel's favorite, Mickey Mouse waffles. To quote Rachel, "These are the most amazing waffles. I want to know how they get them so crispy on the outside, yet so soft on the inside." This buffet did not disappoint.

We also experimented with different ways to eat Mickey Mouse waffles... Mom put soft serve ice cream on top.

Once again, we celebrated our birthdays. I really liked 1900 Park Fare's birthday celebration. They gave us laminated posters with character signatures on them that said, "I Celebrated My Special Day at 1900 Park Fare."
They also brought us individual birthday cakes.




Since we'd already eaten alot, our waitress offered to box up our cakes so we could take them with us.

Day 2 - Magic Kingdom

We got into MK around 9:30, a half hour after park opening. It wasn't very crowded, yet. We headed to Big Thunder Mountain. Unfortunately, it was closed due to technical difficulty, so we just grabbed FPs.


Splash Mountain didn't have a long wait, but Rachel and I didn't feel like getting wet (although it was already super hot out).




So, we headed to the Haunted Mansion, which had no wait.

After the Haunted Mansion, we went to Fantasyland and set sail on the happiest cruise around the world.




Now, I remember they added the Disney character dolls to the it's a small world in Disneyland when they refurbished it, and I could've sworn I'd read that they added them to the MK version as well, but if so, I had little luck in spotting them. There was a bowing Chinese girl that looked like Mulan at the exit of the Asia room, but that's all I could locate.


After it's a small world, we went to Mickey's Philharmagic. It was cute, as always.

Then, it was time for us to head to the Grand Floridian for our 11:00 ADR at 1900 Park Fare.

Day 2 - Lovely Views at BLT

I woke up to someone else waking up around 7:30. I didn't feel like getting up from the not-so-comfy sofa bed. I was freezing because Rachel had stolen all of the covers and the air conditioner was set to 60 degrees.

I finally got up... to switch beds. Then I decided I'd get ready. I had to fight Mom and Rachel for mirror time.

But, I got ready before them, so I decided I'd go out on the balcony and admire the view.

Day 1 - Wishes Nighttime Spectacular from BLT

After IllumiNations, we fought with the crowd to get out of the park (it really wasn't that bad) and took the monorail back to the resort. We noticed people lined up on balconies (there's a public balcony on every floor), as well as the Skyway bridge, and we saw the people out on the patios of the Top of the World Lounge and California Grill. We raced to our room, and I recalled reading somewhere (I'm thinking AllEarsNet) that the music for the fireworks was on channel 20, so I blasted it so we could hear it on the balcony (I believe it was at Volume 72 ). It was pretty cool, having the sound and being able to view the fireworks privately, not having to fight the crowd or worry about people obstructing the view. My photos are even worse here: I got frustrated with the photos and decided to take video of the conclusion.


The fireworks are shot from behind the castle quite a ways, so we actually could see them from inside our room, but in order to see the castle, we had to be out on the balcony.

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After the fireworks, Rachel and I went down to the pool to sit in the hot tub. We had the pool to ourselves, and it was quite peaceful. We decided that we liked the view of BLT better from the back than from the front. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera to take a picture. But it was really nice being able to look out at the lake while sitting in the hot tub.

Day 1 - IllumiNations: Reflection of Earth

After dinner at San Angel, we realized we were just in time to watch IllumiNations. We headed towards the Future World side of the lagoon so that it would be easier to get out and stood behind some people. The people in front of us had their legs spread out, trying to reserve seats for more people. They were on the phone, and either they gave up in trying to save spots or their party had better ones (or wasn't staying for fireworks) because they finally gave up and left. So, we took their spots.

My camera doesn't take very good fireworks pictures, but I tried... then I just took video on my cell phone to send to people.

Day 1 - Dinner at San Angel Inn

I had made the ADRs online, but they were not showing up. I had read several warnings of this, which is why I printed out multiple copies of my ADR confirmations. However, Mumsy did not bring the San Angel ADR confirmation sheet like I had Rachel tell her to on the phone. She swears she didn't know. It was back at BLT and it would be at least 45 minutes to go there, get it, and come back. So, we're getting agitated, and I think the poor Mexican hostess was scared there was about to be a fight because she decided to take our word for it and give us a table (she turned several people in front of us without reservations away).



I was a bit surprised at the menu. The prices were very high, and there wasn't much selection. Rachel and Dad ordered entrees, and Mom and I got appetizers. My appetizer turned out to be three chips with lettuce and guacamole and crab meat piled on top. Not very filling. Luckily, Rachel and Dad had enough food to share. It was aight.

Our waitress noticed our birthday buttons, and they brought us both desserts and sang to us in Spanish. It was pretty cool.

Day 1 - Escape the rain at Epcot

Now, we had planned to go back to the room before heading to Epcot, but in all of our running and hiding, we ran to the express monorail instead of the resort monorail and certainly did not feel like running out around security to the resort loop (it is quite inconvenient how you have to exit the park to get to the resort loop). So, we rode the monorail to TTC and transferred to the Epcot monorail.

Rachel called Mom and let her know what we were doing. Apparently she was quite in a daze. She didn't even know that we were at Magic Kingdom. She figured we had gone to the pool or something. Rachel told her that she had an umbrella in her bag if she wanted to bring it. Mom asked, "Do I need it?" "Look out the window, Mom... it's pouring!" I had Rachel tell mom to bring the ADR confirmation sheet that I had laid on the table on top of my Unofficial Guide.











Lucky for us, it stopped raining just as we got off the monorail.



Rachel and I checked the queue times at that central board. We wanted to ride Soarin, and they still had FPs, but we weren't sure when Mom and Dad would get to Epcot and whether or not we'd want to FP anything with them. The queue time was only 45 minutes, which is actually pretty good for Soarin, but we didn't have that much time - our dinner reservations were in an hour.

So, we went to the Living Seas with Nemo and Friends.


Yeah, after this picture, I decided it wasn't worth wasting my battery life and memory trying to photograph this ride.







Rachel didn't want to spend much time in the aquarium. She doesn't do well in aquariums or museums. She doesn't have the attention span for that sort of stuff.

Rachel wanted to drink Cokes. (This is all she ever wants to do in Epcot ) So, we headed to Club Cool and tried out the different Cokes. I decided that the only ones I liked were the Mexican soft drink and the Ginger Ale from Mozambique. Everything else was too sweet or too bland. I am a Diet Coke drinker... I don't like a lot of sugary-taste.

After I coaxed Rachel out of Club Cool (I swear she could live in there), we went to Journey Into Imagination with Figment. Normally, we sing along on this ride, but we were sitting behind an elderly couple, and I didn't want to ruin their experience with my not-quite lovely singing voice.







We had about 20 minutes until our ADR at San Angel Inn, and Rachel and I decided to cut it close by doing Mission:Space (though it only had a five minute wait). However, I forgot to factor in the 10 minutes of instructional junk, so it was 7:30 when we actually boarded the shuttle.

I think I freaked out the other people in our spaceship. As soon as we got started, I grabbed the barf bag and started muttering, "Oh no, oh no." Ahh... and then we were pushing all of the buttons, and I didn't follow the directions. I always push my buttons too late, and autopilot takes over.

We got off Mission:Space and raced over to the Mexico Pavillion. Mom and Dad were already at the check-in booth.