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Sunday, December 21st
When
we woke up today we felt refreshed, but didn’t really want to
rush out anywhere. We took our time in our room and made a light
breakfast with what groceries we had. The kids watched cartoons,
I did laundry and we lazed around for a bit. Our original plan
was head to Hollywood Studios, have breakfast at Hollywood and
Vine and then lunch at Sci Fi Café. But we ended up switching
some things around and our plan for today was to get to the
Magic Kingdom for opening, ride some rides and enjoy the day at
the Magic Kingdom instead.
Since we weren’t up for rushing out the door this morning, we
left our villa around 8am and parked at Poly thinking we’d try
to get seated at Kona. We really enjoyed this the other day and
it didn’t seem crowded so we figured, “Why not!”
When
we got to the Poly and made our way up to the second level, I
realized that Ohana was down the hall. Would it hurt to take a
chance and see if there were any openings at this very hard to
get breakfast? Since it was right there anyway we thought we’d
take our chance. What did we have to lose? I walked up to the
podium a little embarrassed, knowing that this is a hard
reservation to get and usually unheard of for walkups. Taking
our chances, I asked the nice Cast Member at the Ohana check-in
desk and without missing a beat we were in! We were handed a
pager and waited only about 5 minutes before being seated.
What
a blast this breakfast was and there were empty tables all over
the place! The cinnamon bread was so good as was the juice. Yum!
We loved it and the kids enjoyed the characters. Amelia and I
joined in the parade and the characters came around to us a
couple of times.
After our surprise character breakfast we headed into the MK via
monorail at about 9:30am – just 30 minutes past opening. Even at
this hour, the crowds were beginning to build – darn those
holiday vacationers! Ha ha!
We
first headed to Fantasyland and Amelia met the Fairy Godmother.
We didn’t’ have specific plans for this morning so I didn’t mind
stopping so early for a character meet. This was her first time
meeting the Fairy Godmother, as well, so it was nice.
While we were doing this, EB headed to Peter Pan to get
Fastpasses for later. We then rode Snow White, Winnie the Pooh,
and the Tea Cups. I did not like the Tea Cups at all and have a
really rough time with spinny rides – Ernie didn’t seem to enjoy
it much either. But we knew Amelia wanted to ride so we all went
on as a family.
Afterwards, we retrieved strollers in Fantasyland. Ernie was
tired so we headed to Toontown to get the train, thinking he’d
fall asleep on there. The train was packed to the max after the
stop at Main Street. We made a complete trip around the park
and got off at Toontown. Ernie was still not asleep.
From
there we walked the back path (our new favorite shady and quiet
spot) to Tomorrowland, got a snack of popcorn and headed into
Carousel of Progress. Even Amelia loves this one and sings the
song. Then onto the Tomorrowland Transit Authority - another
family favorite! I must add here, too, that there were lines and
crowds everywhere!
By
this time we were ready for a late lunch and thought we’d try El
Pirata y Perico since we’ve not ever eaten there. We got black
bean tacos and a cheese quesadilla. Kids ate well – food was
so-so. Very cheap, though and that’s always a good thing.
Ernie by this time was really exhausted! EB walked him around
(he fell asleep right away) while I took Amelia on Pirates of
the Caribbean. We actually waited about 15 minutes to ride – you
can tell holiday crowds were here. It was getting busier by the
hour. Luckily we were almost done for the day. We’re so
glad we are early risers and like to get to the park either at
opening or as close as possible to opening.
After Pirates we headed back to Fantasyland to use our
Fastpasses for Peter Pan. While EB took Amelia on Peter Pan, I
called my sister Tammy and friend, Courtney. Because of the
crowds, even the Fastpasses took some time to use on the ride. I
thought perhaps he could take her on Philharmagic since Ernie
was still asleep, but even with the Fastpasses, the lines were
just way too long deal with.
From
here we headed again back over to Adventureland – yes, we were
park crossing – to get me a Dole Whip Float and Amelia and EB
some ice cream. EB got a strawberry frozen pop while Amelia got
a Mickey bar. We sat in the Storytime with Belle alcove and ate
our ice cream.
Toward the end, Ernie woke up and was very unhappy. We headed
out of the park, all the while, Ernie cried off and on out of
the park, onto the monorail and on the drive back to SSR. !
(below are some decoration photos I got as we entered the park)
We
went back to the room and rested for about an hour and half, got
cleaned up and headed to the Animal Kingdom Lodge for dinner at
Jiko. Although it was a decent meal and is typically our
favorite meal, it wasn’t so much so this time. The kids behaved
well enough throughout dinner, but the selections for
vegetarians weren’t that great. I got a salad I barely ate
because I didn’t care for it, but the soup was good. We ordered
a kids fish of the day meal, but it never came. Our server
wasn’t very attentive whatsoever. Even dessert was just so-so
this time. My chocolate cheesecake was too deep chocolately. EB
didn’t care for the spice cake in his dessert. We’ll try it
again, though, as we usually love our meal. Hopefully this was
just a fluke.
The
kids got to bed at a decent hour and I ended up grading papers
and working until nearly 11pm. That’s a very late night for me.
Even EB was able to fall asleep early!
Tomorrow would prove interesting as that is the day Ernie
succumbs to a stomach virus. Our poor baby!
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