It's been a while.....Part Three

[dolphinmickey9170]

Guess what? Today, we get to meet up with some folks we haven't seen since January. It's been far too long since we last saw them, but it is well worth the wait!

We arrive at MK and head straight to Tomorrowland, because John and Karen and the kids are waiting for us! WOOHOO!!! I'm so excited to see them again. We really have a blast with them, and it's only 3 days, so we will get all we can out of it! We go right to the new and improved Space Mountain, and the new interactive stuff makes the line fun. You get to shoot, catch and have a blast. Sure makes standing there much better. We ride while Ben doesn't and he tricks the kids into thinking there is some weird thing going on behind the black glass. He is waving cell phone so it looks like something is flying behind the glass. Too funny!!! After SM, we hit the speedway, Ben's first time on this one. I lose a pin, but Thank YOU Kaylee, as she notices "Zero" is in the seat and not on my lanyard. We then do the teacups...Me, John, Karen and the kids in one cup......SQUEEZE....it was fun. Then a walk through Mickey and Minnie's houses to see the decorations. and then hop the train to Frontierland. No one felt like getting wet, so we skipped Splash and headed for BTMRR, but it was closed...not sure why, but it was closed again later in the trip too. BOO! I had to take a detour and fax something from the front of the park, so we met back up with J&K at the riverboat to watch Princess Tiana....awesome music, cute show. Gotta go see the movie cuz I love the music.

We head for GF as we have lunch ressies at the cafe and we want to see the GBhouse in the lobby. I had to stop and take pix of the new tile floor in the back lobby by the cafe. The seating area in the middle is gone, but this floor is amazing. We had a fabulous lunch. This is what was consumed:
Crab Cakes - Pan-seared with Mango Relish $10.49
Ceasar Salad
Strawberry Salad
French Onion Soup

Rustic Chicken Sandwich - Herb-marinated Chicken Breast with Cold Smoked Vine Ripe Tomatoes, Cheddar, Pesto Mayonnaise, and Arugula Salad served on warm Ciabatta Bread with Marinated Cucumber Salad or Homemade Potato Chips $12.99
New York Strip - with Mashed Potatoes and seasonal Vegetables $24.99
Orecchiette Pasta of the Day - as a vegetarian entrée $13.99 with Shrimp $16.99 with Grilled Chicken $15.99
Grand Floridian Burger - Angus Chuck Burger, Lobster, Asparagus and Horseradish-Chive Hollandaise served with Tomato Salad $17.99
Fish of the Day - Tilapia $15.99
Then we were surprised with dessert from John and Karen. Mickey Domes for the guys, and Cindy slippers for the girls! They were fantastic. Thank you for TiW card, as this meal was over $300 for the seven of us!
After this fab meal and quick picture in front of the tree, we head back to MK. We get an unexpected meet and greet with Princess Tiana. Awesome. Tonight is the MVMCP so we adorn our hats and head on out. We get some great shots of the Castle Lighting show and listen to the crowds in amazement! We get to meet Abu and Genie, and do a quick ride on Small World for Keara (her fave). We catch some treats at Casey's and pull up curb space to watch the parade. We rode POTC, HM and walked around some more.....deciding to turn in since it was almost midnight and everyone was tired.

We meet up the next morning at AK and must hit Lion King....Colby was chosen to assist with the hand jive and I enjoy watching the Tumble Monkeys!!! Karen ran to get FPs and missed Colby's debut, but I got a quick pix of him. So we head for the safari...this driver was horrible. You couldn't hear her. Until she told people to sit, which they didn't. We sat for nearly five minutes waiting for a bird to get out of the road so we could continue but it gave us the opportunity to see this huge nest on the right...with two big birds in it. We do a few other things and head for DHS since we have Mama's for dinner. But we decided we had to try the cupcakes from Starring Rolls that we saw on the Disney Food Blog. OMGosh....they were so good. We tried a little from all four, pbutter, white chocolate, butterfinger and yellow cake. They were delicious with a carton of milk. We head for ToT and RnRC, but the waits were far too long. The crowds are starting to build as this is the last weekend before Christmas. What a difference in the the crowds from the rest of the week.

We go to Mama's and have some awesome food. They made an Alfredo for us that wasn't on the menu....yummOOOOOO!

We head for the lights and it's a bit early so we went to Pixar Place. The wait for TSM was 150 minutes. I don't think so...but we were treated to the Pixar lamp (Luxo Jr)coming out and coordinating the lighting of the trees on the street. It was quite cute. Search him...you'll see him on that website of everyone's videos. We go back to the Streets and start searching for the "cat" before the lights come on. FOUND IT!!! Everyone wanted to know what we were looking at, so we explained that they (Disney) hides a halloween decoration amongst the Christmas lights. Too cute. I believe we found all the hidden Mickey's and maybe even made up one or two...but it was fun looking.

We decide to head for Epcot to watch Illuminations. We road with Jessica in the car and J&K decided to take the boat. Bad choice as they waited an hour for a boat. They still weren't on the boat when we were already in Epcot. I had not been feeling well as I had "caught" a cold and I sat on a bench shivering and couldn't get warm. Once J&K came we headed back to the room. Since we were parked at the Beach Club, we went in the Beaches and Cream to warm up. The food smelled so good that I sat down and ordered some chili, and Jessica and Ben ordered sammies. We went back to the room, I took my nyQuil and I was gone.
Pages 3-18 for this installment!

[faline]

Except for not feeling well, it was certainly a fabulous day!

[SBETigg]

More good times, and cupcakes yum! Also love the GF Cafe. Oh no, the cold coming on!

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

Thanks for the report

[Jim&AngieMarriner]

I totally understand your sticker shock at the meal. Last year we had 11 people at the Biergarten over in Germany. I almost fainted when I saw the $500 bill. Granted we had a meal package that paid for our meal and our seats for the Candle light Processional (with Edward James Olmos). Still its hard to look at a meal bill and see 500 bucks without ill effects.

[KylesMom]

What a wonderful time - the meals you've had today sound fantabulous ! How cool that you can share Disney World with so many friends!

I hope that your cold doesn't linger and that you're feeling better tomorrow, Kristen! Thanks for posting yet another great adventure!

[pdrlkr]

Thanks for the Report!

[DisneyorBust]

Enjoyed your report! Except for the catching a cold part, of course.
We have enjoyed the Grand Floridian Cafe and plan to return during our next trip, your meal sounded wonderful. Thanks for sharing your trip.

[DWHUBBY]

[QUOTE=dolphinmickey9170;1997741]We decide to head for Epcot to watch Illuminations. We road with Jessica in the car and J&K decided to take the boat. Bad choice as they waited an hour for a boat.

Bad Choice? What other option did we have?