8/17 - Day Eight

Cast
Me - Jen
DH - Joe
DS - 5
DD - 2
Grammie - my mom
Grandpa - my dad
K - my best friend
J - her husband
J - their daughter, 5; my son’s best friend
X - their son, 2

Whose great idea was it to plan all these breakfasts?!

Today we were up and grabbing Minnie Vans to bring us to our breakfast at Trattoria al Forno. One of DS’s biggest and most consistent requests for our next trip to Disney World was that he wanted to meet Flynn Rider. He loves the Tangled series and finds Flynn amusing. So… Bon Voyage Breakfast it was. The night before, K, J, J5 and X2 decided they would skip breakfast and meet us in the Magic Kingdom afterwards.

The food at the breakfast was tasty. But the character interaction was top notch. All 4 of them were fantastic. When Flynn and Rapunzel were walking around toether to her enterance music, he pointed out DD in her high chair and commented that she was in her tower and Rapunzel gave her a very serious look and said “don’t worry, princess, someday they’ll let you out”. And after the parade, I was calling DS back over to our table, and Rapunzel swept over, called out ot me “Don’t worry, I have him” and took him by the hand and brought him back over and stayed and chatted with us. She was absolutely delightful with him. Prince Eric and Flynn had a conversation about his dance moves. And Prince Eric taught him how to do a fist bump jellyfish and then called Ariel over to our table and told her that DS had something to show her and had him do the jelyfish with her. It was all just so sweet and made him feel special. And they all took the time to interact with my DD, as well.

After breakfast, we took the bus over to Magic Kingdom and met back up with J, K, J5 and X2 and met Tinkerbell. She was also delightful with the kids. It was fun to watch her with them. We took a ride on the train and lucked into another short wait on the Ariel ride. We went to meet Cinderella and Elena after and had more amazing interactions. Elena had all 4 kids gathered around her, sitting on her skirts, and she was so engaging and engaged with them. As we’re trying to move them along, she’s pulling the curtain out from the wall to hide behind it with our two 5 year olds and their glow sticks so she can see how they shine. Cinderella was equally amazing… particularly when DS asked J5 if they could invite Cinderella to their wedding in Arendelle someday. As we were leaving … after far too long spent with her … she made a point of telling me how the four of them had just made her day.

A ride on the carousel for the littles who were asking, and then 8 of us were off to ride Winnie the Pooh and Grammie and Grandpa were off to get Dole Whips. After Winnie the Pooh, whcih I hadn’t been on in 8 years, we went to Tortuga Tavern to get a snack. The kids had hot dogs and chips and I had a dessert pear smoothie which was delicious. Sweet, but with a tang.

We rode Pirates again afterwards with the whole group, while Grammie and Grandpa rode Splash Mountain. After Pirates DS asked to go to the small play area by Splash Mountain, so we let the kids run off some steam there for half an hour. K, J, J5 and X2 left to make their dinner reservations at Sanaa. DS asked to ride the Haunted Mansion again, and the wait was short enough that we said yes. This time he really liked it. We rode Barnstormer one last time for the day and then head out. The Halloween Party was starting that night so the park was closing at 6 and we had dinner reserations at 7:55 and Grammie and Grandpa were going to watch the kids.

We took a Minnie Van back to the hotel and then all head over to Jambo House. Grammie and Grandpa and the kids went to Mara and DH and I had a date night at Jiko. Absolutely amazing. We shared the charcuterie and cheese plate, I had the filet mignon and the kilimanjaro, DH had the elk loin and the malva pudding and we both had delicious wines. It was a lovely date night.