Walt Disney World! - Day Three - Chef Mickeys and Animal Kingdom

Tuesday morning rolled in.  The first night Tate and I slept in the same bed because he begged me to sleep with him.  I acquiesced though I longed for a bed of my own.  So Monday night I let him sleep in the queen bed all by himself and I relished in my own cool, comfy bed.  It was delicious!

He was up with the birds per his usual;  as we had a breakfast with Mickey and friends all was good.  We got dressed and caught the bus for our breakfast at Chef Mickey's to celebrate the twins' 5th birthday which was this actual date and to celebrate Tate's a week early!  I was unprepared for the hike from the monorail to the Contemporary Resort, but I persevered in the morning humidity and heat.  We arrived at Chef Mickey's ready for breakfast!

Goofy!! 

So much love!

There's that silly Donald Duck! 

Hugs for Minnie!

Everyone's favorite dog-Pluto! 

And then there's MICKEY MOUSE!!!

  

The kids had a blast and we got to meet Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy, Minnie Mouse and Pluto!  And the food was awesome!  There were even some yummy vegan waffles shaped like Mickey Mouse that Tate devoured.  We had a great time.

Then we were on our way to Animal Kingdom.  There was some kerfuffle with getting there..Gail, Marcus and fam opted to  drive over to Magic Kingdom and meet Tate and me, who would take the monorail.  We planned to then grab a bus to Animal Kingdom.  As Tate and I were mid-ride on the monorail, I realized that there was no bus at Magic Kingdom to take us to Animal Kingdom.  Therefore we quickly got off at the GORGEOUS Grand Floridian resort and waited for the bus to take us.  Gail and Marcus opted to then drive straight over to Animal Kingdom.

This misstep was the beginning of an unpleasant afternoon.  Well as unpleasant as it is when one is on vacation at the happiest place on earth.  Tate and I waited about 50 minutes for a bus.  We were hot and tired.  I was beyond frustrated, but he took it all in stride...not one complaint.  The cast member at the bus station tried to make the best of a bad situation as more and more people showed up to wait for the bus to Animal Kingdom; he juggled, told jokes etc.  I was concerned we were going to miss our window for our fast pass for Kilimanjaro Safari!  Finally the bus arrived and we were on our way. 

Animal Kingdom stood before us in all its glory.  Thankfully we ran right into our family as soon as we entered the park.  We made our way to our first ride...the Kilimanjaro Safari for which we had a fast pass.  What a lovely ride this was...the animals were gorgeous and the scenery simply breathtaking.  Early on in our safari we were waylaid as there was a giraffe on the road, so we had to wait for him to move for us to continue our journey.  The kids found this hilarious.

Cast member at Kilimanjaro Safari!!

Silly Faces!!! 

Enjoying the safari! 

Termite mounds...eewwwww!

While were on our safari the rain began.  First as just a drizzle, but it picked up quickly.  We donned our rain ponchos and I covered Tate's stroller with its rain poncho :).  We made our way to the Flame Tree Barbeque for some lunch and then the heavens opened up upon us and everyone else.  Luckily we had commandeered a table, so we were able to eat in relative dryness though the rain was spitting on us constantly.  We all, except Tate, started getting antsy and claustrophobic in the covered area;  thankfully after 30 minutes or so the rain died down.  We decided to brave the elements.

Tate eats lunch in the cover of his stroller
during the storm!

In the drizzle we walked to the Wildlife Express Train to venture to Rafiki's Planet Watch (yes Rafiki from 'The Lion King'. It was a lovely train ride with the seats facing outward instead of forward, so we could see the landscape.  It was a beautiful ride, and the kids were in hog heaven jumping up and down with glee.  We adults just needed a break in the rain.

We arrived at Rafiki's Planet Watch and walked through the park to the Conservation Center.  Through the trees dripping water all over us and humidity so thick it felt like you needed a knife to slice the air (much like our Houston mornings).  We arrived at the Conservation Center and ran into a gentleman holding a guitar who immediately made this entire day worth it.  See him here...

The kids were thrilled as were us parents.  That little song made my day.  We met Chip and Dale and Rafiki.  We let the kids hang out a bit and attempted to go out to the petting zoo, but it started raining pretty well again, so we scrapped that idea and made our way back to the train.

A hawk...I forget its name :(

Wanna know the difference between Chip and Dale?
Chip is the one with the brown nose, like a chocolate
chip!!! :)  Dale has the red nose!!!

Getting Rafiki's autograph!!! 

Once back in 'Africa' we opted to head back to our respective resorts.  We had had a fast pass for the Kali River Rapids, but it was closed the entire afternoon due to the intense thunder and lightning which lasted most of our visit to Animal Kingdom.  

Tate and I got on our bus and returned to our resort for a little downtime.  I had him take a nap...it took a bit to convince him to do so, but he finally did.  Then I ordered room service for us for dinner!!!  We noshed well, Tate played happily with his trains and new planes!

Dozing on the bus ride back to the resort!

Our cute puppy dog towel animal!

That evening an old high school friend of mine who lives about 45 minutes away came to spend some time with us. I haven't seen David since our 15 year reunion.  We were pretty good friends in high school, but  not the kind of friends who kept in touch.  Yet, when he saw I was in Florida on FB on Sunday afternoon he sent me a message asking if I'd like to meet up with him and his family.  He even invited us to their home!  I am always amazed by the specialness of this place I grew up and the wonderful people I was surrounded by as I grew up;  I've known David since junior high.  As we didn't have a car, I invited him to our hotel to hang out in the lounge where every evening 5-7 they had appetizers and wine and 8-10 they offered desserts, wine and cordials.  At 9pm you could see out the lounge windows onto the lagoon and watch the Electrical Water Pageant.  At 10pm you can see the Wishes Nighttime Spectacular (fireworks) that take place at the Magic Kingdom.  They even pipe the music in.  (You can even watch the fireworks from outside at the hotel at the beach, and the music is piped in there as well).  David, his wife and 2 daughters arrived around 745pm and we hung out and chatted for almost an hour and a half.  It was so very nice.  Really, just so nice to reconnect to a huge piece of my teenage years...both David and I were in band which was a huge part of both our lives in junior high and high school.

Unfortunately the Electrical Water Pageant didn't happen because of the bad weather...yes it was STILL raining, complete with occasional thunder and lightning.  David and his family left, and I ran Tate upstairs to take a bath.  We came back down to the lounge just in time to watch the fireworks.  Tate absolutely loved them!  The music was perfect and our view was awesome.   Maybe next time we come to Disneyworld we'll brave the park to watch the fireworks, but for that night it was just as magical in the comfort of our resort and the ability to go right upstairs to our room 1 minute later and have my sweet boy asleep within 5 minutes of the fireworks ending.

Wishing everyone a magical evening!