8 Nights at the Contemporary with Memere

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Day three - cont.

We made it to Mama Melrose’s a few minutes early, so we checked in and checked the lobby out. Looks like Olaf decided he belonged on the wall of fame.

It took a while, but we were eventually seated – this was probably our longest wait for a meal all week. And the wait continued once we got inside. It was still fairly busy, but there seemed to be enough servers. Our drinks came quickly once we ordered, and our waitress kept them refilled. But the kitchen was horrendously slow. We don’t usually linger at our meals – the kids get restless, plus we have a whole park to explore still. This meal took us almost 2 hours. We were doing the Fantasmic package, so we got the tray of desserts, but then our waitress also brought us a meatball cupcake to make up for the delays. Of course, we were all too full to each much of them, but we packed them up for later in the week.

When we finally got out of Mama Melrose’s we headed over to Muppets 3D. We all really enjoyed this one – the girls have gotten into the Muppets by watching the newer movies that have come out. Now that they can all read, they had fun pointing out the jokes in the pre-show area.

 

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Day three - cont.

After laughing a lot and returning our glasses, we looked across the way to see 2 brothers who we hadn’t yet met – Phineas and Ferb. The girls wanted to stop, so we jumped into a short line, and less than 15 minutes later, we were next.

We had one more FP+ to use – Star Tours. There really wasn’t a wait, but we used them anyway. And lo and behold, once we were all strapped in, it turns out we had a rebel spy in our midst.

We checked out the dump shop, and Rachel found a Yoda sweatshirt that she loved. But I always hate to buy something like that right at the beginning of the week, so I told her if she didn’t see anything else by the end of the week, she and I would come back and get it on our last night. Of course, I may have already been thinking about the fact that if we did that, we’d also be able to check out the Osborne Lights.

It was getting close to time for Fantasmic, and there really wasn’t anything else with a short enough wait, so we made our way to the theater. This was all of our first time seeing the show, and we made the rookie mistake of sitting down close to the water. Luckily, it wasn’t as cold this night as it was on our first night, though, so the mist didn’t make us freeze.

 

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Day three - cont. (more Fantasmic)


We all loved the show. I was worried the two younger girls would be scared, but Sara was enthralled, and Josie managed to watch it all while clinging to my arm. She especially loved the princess barges. Once the show ended, we shuffled out with the crowd and stopped for what would turn out to be our last ever photos in front of the iconic hat.


Well, that's all I have pre-drafted. I hope to get at least our next day drafted and up tonight, but we'll have to wait and see. Enjoy!

 

[ksinniger]

Day Four – Three Parks in One Day!

Memere decided to have another relaxing morning – she has a hard time sleeping when she’s not at home, so I think she enjoyed being able to just lounge around, drink some coffee, and get moving at her own pace in the mornings. So we made plans for her to meet us at the Magic Kingdom bus stop later in the morning so that she could join us for parks 2 & 3 in our 3 park adventure.

I don’t really remember why I decided to plan our day this way – I think I got the ADR first, then as I started planning our days, I realized 3-4 more hours at both the Magic Kingdom and DHS would get us to all the rides we wanted at a more relaxed pace. So I set up our FP+ at DHS for the afternoon, and we set off from the Contemporary bright and early, to see the opening show and hit Tomorrowland.


We stopped for the signs for the MVMCP – we’d be here for opening night later this week.


It was crazy – all these flowers had been fall themed just 2 days before when we were here, and now it was pointsettias and Christmas lights.

We settled in for the show, with the girls entertaining themselves on our electronics.


Now that the fences are up on these walls, we won’t be getting shots like these anymore.

Anticipation started to build, and then the Fire Chief got the show started.

 

[ksinniger]

Day Four - cont.

And with a burst of fireworks, the gates were open! We grabbed each other’s hands and as soon as we could, we broke away to the right towards this gorgeous sight.

First up? Well, there really shouldn’t be any doubt – Space Mountain. We walked on, and then rode again right away. We even have the photos to prove it:


Yup – we got to experience both sides!

Next we crossed over to the Astro Orbiter – we hadn’t ever had a chance to ride this one, due to long waits or the ride being under refurbishment. We loved it – the views were amazing. Definitely one we’ll ride again, and I’d love to try it at night, too.


After we made it back to solid ground, we decided to help out everyone’s favorite Space Ranger and defeat Zurg. Sara was excited to ride alone, so Josie went with DH, and Rachel and I battled together. Very serious expressions from everyone in these photos.

 

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Day Four - cont.

More photos from Buzz.


I can’t ever get the hang of aiming these lasers – my score was pretty miserable.



We exited the ride, and saw a very familiar looking alien hangout out all alone, so we decided to say hello.


From there, we split up. Rachel wanted to try the speedway with me, and the other two wanted to go back on Buzz. We had each been given 3 FP+ that would be good for almost any ride (no mine train or Elsa meet and greet), any park, without having to schedule them, for listening to the DVC sales pitch. So Rachel and I used one to avoid waiting in line (which wasn’t too bad anyway).



It was nice to be able to sit back and enjoy the sights while she drove. That said, I won’t be handing over the keys to my car any time soon. And while we were tooling around the speedway, DH had fun spinning Sara and Josie around in their ride.

We met back up, and Josie & Sara decided they wanted to try the speedway too. Rachel decided she could handle a car on her own, so we got into the regular stand by line, which didn’t take much longer than our fastpass wait had a few minutes before. This time, I rode with Josie while DH rode with Sara.

 

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Day Four - cont.


After our ride, it was time for a snack break, but everyone wanted something different. Once they were all full, we hopped over to the TTA for some more great views of Tomorrowland.


We were getting close to the time when we were to meet Memere, and we knew we wanted to grab some lunch too, but there was one more ride we wanted to take the kids on before heading back to main street –


We were lucky – we didn’t get stuck, we didn’t have to ride twice, and Josie was able to keep eating her lollipop. Once done, we were able to jump into the Monsters, Inc. Laugh Factory with very little wait. Our jokes didn’t get picked this time, and none of us were asked to participate, but the people that did really got into it, so it was a great show. Once done, we went over to Casey’s and had a quick meal. It was prime lunch time, and Memere had called to let us know she was waiting at the bus stops, so we wolfed down hot dogs and fries before heading out to the bus stop for DHS.

 

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Day four -- cont. (park #2)

We were leaving the Magic Kingdom a little later than I had planned, so we were butting up right against our FP+ times at DHS. We really pushed that 15 minute grace period this afternoon! First up – the one headliner we hadn’t gotten to the day before – Toy Story Midway Mania.


My score on the left – I forget who I rode with, but I’m guessing it was Josie, since she usually begged to ride with me. From there, we booked it to the back of the park to catch the Lights, Motor, Action show. We had FP+ for it, but were too late for that seating. No problem though – that stadium is huge. We were fairly high up, in one of the far right sections, but we were in shade and we didn’t have to wait for the show to start for very long, so it all worked out!


I’m glad we got to see this show – it was really neat when the cars were out. But the set ups were boring and long. Rachel had fun videotaping the action shots and sending them to her cousin back in RI.

From there, we split up again. Rachel and I went into One Man’s Dream, while DH and Memere went to Playhouse Disney. We met in the animation courtyard and switched off, with DH and Sara deciding to use some Fast Passes from the DVC presentation on Toy Story, so Memere headed with them while Rachel and Josie & I headed back to the Tower of Terror. It was a bit of a wait, even with our FP+.


Rachel sporting a Magical Ribbons park map bow for park #3.


Are we really doing this again?!

Yes we are!
When we exited, we found a lonely Photopass photographer, so we had a mini photo shoot.

 

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Day four -- cont.

More from our mini photo shoot with Photopass.

Apparently, DH and Sara had the same idea on the other side of the park.


Once we had used all of our FP+, it was about 4 pm, and time to head over to our third park of the day for dinner – EPCOT. We decided to take a friendship boat, even though we knew it could take an hour, so we’d get a chance to relax for a bit. Plus, I wanted to see the Boardwalk and Yacht/Beach Club resorts. We waited a little bit for the boat, maybe 10-15 minutes, but were able to get a nice seat in the back.


So excited to be staying here in August! I have a feeling we'll be using this boat dock and seeing this lighthouse quite a bit.

 

[ksinniger]

Day four -- cont.

We arrived at the International Gateway with plenty of time before our dinner reservation, so we took our time walking through World Showcase to the Land Pavilion.

We checked into Garden Grill, and the girls did some pressed pennies while we waited to be called. We didn’t have to wait too long, and we were escorted to our seats on the second level. We put in our drink order, and before we knew it, our fuzzy friends started coming by.


We really enjoyed this meal. The kids ate well both from their platter and ours, and we even were able to finish dessert. We had fun watching the restaurant spin around, and when we finished, we went down to the Living with the Land ride to see the scenes we spotted from the restaurant, and try and spy hidden Mickeys. But we gave the camera to one of the girls for this one, so there are no usable photos.

At this point, we were pretty much done. We took one photo, then dragged ourselves back to the monorail, got the kids showered and once again fell into bed – heh, I’m sensing a theme to our nights.

 

[ksinniger]

Before I get into the next day, I found this Photopass picture from Day Four -- I think from our walk between World Showcase and Dinner.


Day Five – Epcot & Hoop Dee Doo Review

After getting a taste of Epcot the night before, today was our day to conquer Future World. We left the Contemporary with plenty of time to get to Epcot before the gates opened. We had to transfer to a bus at the TTC, since there was something going on with the monorail, but it was an uneventful ride. On the way there, we realized Rachel had forgotten her magic band, so we stopped at Guest Relations to pick up a card for her to use all day long. They were really helpful, and we were in line with DH before the gates opened. Once through, we headed left for Test Track – something we hadn’t had a chance to ride yet. The wait was still short, even though we didn’t speed walk our way over. We paired off with the girls and designed three very different cars—



Soon, we were heading into our vehicle and zooming through the various testing rooms. It was great having a full car, but you could barely see Josie!

From there, we headed to Mission Space and used our FP+. DH gets motion sickness on some of these more intense rides, so he went back and did TT again using single rider, and Memere went over to MouseGears to check out the Alex & Ani bracelets for my sister. Rachel & Sara braved the orange side of mission space, while Josie and I went green. After that, we played a bit in the Space Lab until DH caught up. From there, we headed into Innoventions to build our own roller coasters on Sum of all Thrills. We headed over to the other side of Innoventions, where the girls had fun spotting fire hazards and playing the piggy bank game. I’m glad we stopped in for these, now that they’re going away. Hopefully, Disney will come up with some great replacements.

From there, we went over to redeem our next FP+ -- Soarin’. We all love this ride, and Memere did too. When we returned to the ground, we knew it was time for lunch, and we were certainly in the right spot.

 

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Day five -- cont.

Memere grabbed a table and we all found something yummy at Sunshine Seasons.



From here, we moved over to Journey Into Imagination. We had fun checking out the fountains, pin trading, and just generally being goofy before we rode.


Hidden Buzz?

 

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Day five - cont.



After everyone had enough time to visit the bathroom, get photgraphed, and build their own Figments on the computers, we headed over to the Visa Meet & Greet. Who would we see? Well, I won’t keep you waiting in suspense for too long –


Minnie & Pluto! This is always a fun greet – no one else is allowed in the room until we’re done, and you’re not rushed at all. I mean, look at Sara with Pluto and Josie with Minnie! They are overjoyed!

There was only one more pavilion that we wanted to hit this day, so we walked on down to the Seas, where I found another photopass photographer, and 2 girls to pose with me.



We rode through the Seas with Nemo, using our last FP+ for the day (not that we needed it). We waited to have a visit with Crush, and we just hung out, exploring the tanks and Bruce’s play area. Since we weren’t in a hurry, it was nice to be able to relax and let the girls follow their own curiosity.

 

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Day five - cont.

Once we had seen all we could see, we walked over to MouseGears to make a couple purchases, and then over to the photo center to pick up our free print from the Meet and Greet. And then the girls wanted to have some fun and try to get photos of them “holding” the big golf ball. I did my best!

Once the trick shots were done, we decided it was time to head to the bus stop and make our way to our dinner location at Camp Wilderness.


This was such a fun meal! My mom and I remembered doing this during one of our trips to Disney when I was a kid, but I’m glad neither of us remembered the actual show. We laughed so hard – which is not always a good thing when you’re eating!

This guy was the best. There was one point where he started singing Do you want to build a snowman where I thought for sure I was going to die laughing. Definitely well worth the 2-TS credits we used!

 

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Day five - cont.


When the show was done, we visited the bathrooms and slowly made our way over to the boat launch area. Unfortunately, Josie tripped and fell, and had a bit of a meltdown, but she seemed to be OK by the time we made it back to the Contemporary.


We got the girls to bed, and sat out on the balcony for a bit. We watched the Water Pageant and saw Captain Hook & Smee lead those going on the Pirate fireworks cruise down to their boats. But of course, I didn’t get any photos of that. Pretty soon, I was ready for bed too!

 

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Day Six – Food & Wine

I was really excited that we were going to get to experience Food & Wine, and I had been talking it up to the girls for months. They were excited to be able to try a lot of different foods, and we had been pretty stingy with using our snack credits up to this point, so I knew we’d have plenty to try as much as we wanted.

But to start the day, DH & I had to go sign some paperwork at the DVC sales center. Memere took the girls to the pool, and they got to help the lifeguards open the pool for the day (wish I had pictures of that because it sounded cute)! We went through all the paperwork, but found a small error, so there would be no signing that morning. But they were good and kept going through everything with us, so when we came back it would literally be a “sign here, here, and here” affair. When we were done, we picked up the girls and got them dressed for the day, and jumped on the monorail to the TTC, where we waited for a very long time for a monorail to Epcot. There was one stalled on the tracks, or so it seemed. It finally got moving, and we were able to board our monorail and start out. We made it to Epcot, but were held here for a while. Not a bad view, but it was cutting into our Food & Wine time!

We finally got off the monorail, and headed straight to World Showcase. Well, by way of the Photopass photographers, of course.

We stopped at one of the Festival kiosks, and got the girls Passports for the countries, and a Food & Wine passport for me. And then we saw a special Disney Bear holding a meet & greet with a short line, so the girls jumped in while I grabbed our first food & drink.


I thought we were lucky to get Duffy in his Halloween gear, even though it was almost a week past the holiday! I was able to catch up with them as they were getting their photos taken, and shared the first items I’d grabbed – watermelon juice from the Terra booth, and a beef empanada from Patagonia. Both were hits with the girls.

From there, we went into Mexico to look for Donald on the Mexican Small World. It was nice to get out of the heat – yes, the weather that had started so cold when we arrived had definitely changed!


Donde esta Donald?


Close, but not the real Donald.


Here he is! He loved Rachel’s Magical Ribbon bow, since it was designed with him in mind.

 

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Day six - cont.


From Mexico we walked over to Norway, where we decided to sit down for a proper snack, since breakfast had been a long time ago. We got a couple pretzels and some chocolate covered marshmallows on straws. Then, we checked out the store, where a sword fight broke out.


Other than snacking, we didn’t spend much time in Norway. I know that’ll change in the future, though!

Next up was China, where we had another princess to meet – Mulan!


I feel like this is a pavilion that I have never really spent enough time in – I keep forgetting about the warrior statues and movie that I know are there! Oh well – if I saw everything, I wouldn’t have a reason to go back (not that I NEED a reason, of course).

Next up was the drums at the outpost. Can anyone avoid stopping here? I know we can’t.

Germany was next. I stopped at the F&W booth to get a Pasta Gratin for the girls to share, and the Bratwurst for DH. Memere went into Karamel Kuche and got each of the girls a roll of caramels, plus a few other things for herself.


The girls stopped to watch the trains while I ventured over to the Poland booth and got Rachel the Kielbasa & Potato Pierogi, and got myself the Frozen Szarlotka – Apple Pie. It was tasty, and certainly not strong.

In Italy, the girls spent a bit of time at the KidCot stop, coloring a Perry on a stick. DH was getting cranky because he wanted a “real” lunch, and not just F&W (grr.). The pizza window wasn’t open, so we stayed just long enough for the girls to finish their Perrys, then headed over to the QS at the American Adventure. Of course, just because DH wanted “real” lunch, didn’t mean I was going to stop my F&W adventure. Rachel & I split a Ravioli & a Cannoli from the Italian booth, and a Lobster Alfredo from the Hops & Barley Booth. I also had a Leinenkugel Shandy – this was really good, and something I’ll definitely be drinking this summer! Oh, and once they were done with their lunch, each girl got a Ghirardelli sundae from the Fife & Drum booth.

 

[KathyM2]

Loving your TR!! So many fun meals and so much park time...I stayed in the CR ages ago...would love to do it again...such convenience. Looks like you had a great time at Hoop De Doo....we did that recently. Also, you made me think some more about DHS...we have avoided it with our kids the past couple trips but maybe next time we will go...the animation class looks fun and especially now that our kids are a bit older too. The 3 bonus FP+ are a pretty good deal for doing the DVC presentation...especially since you had already decided to buy anyway!

 

[ksinniger]

Day six - cont.


With full bellies and melting ice cream, we decided to head up to the Chase Visa lounge in the American Adventure Pavilion. We found one seat for Memere, and let the girls veg out in front of the cartoons while eating their sundaes. It was fairly crowded, but it felt nice to just relax and recharge, even if we were on the floor.

Once we all got our second wind, we headed over to the Japanese pavilion to do pick a pearl – I had promised the girls we’d do this, plus I knew they’d enjoy checking out the Japanese Department store. We paid for the 3, then waited our turn. When it was finally our pick, we got a nice variety of pearls – Sara got twins, Josie a gray pearl, and Rachel a huge light pink one.

We took our pearls and headed on. I knew I could get the same pearl cages at a fraction of the cost by going on Etsy, so we didn’t have them set there. While we had been waiting, I checked the times guide, so I knew we could head over to Morocco and get in line early for a special couple.

This Aladdin was really good. One of the girls mentioned that we saw him with Genie when we visited in August, but didn't get a good picture because our camera broke. He immediately realized it must have been at DHS, and carried on like he remembered them!
Apparently we hadn’t had enough to eat yet, so we stopped at the Belgium booth for a couple waffles with chocolate ganache.

 

[ksinniger]

Day six - cont.

Next up was France, where the girls decided to get in line to meet Aurora. DH was also excited about this meet. I wanted to try the ice cream/brioche dessert, so I went and grabbed one while they waited, then shared the deliciousness. I had just enough time to clean everyone up before it was our turn with this lovely lady. She really liked her page in the Encyclopedia, as it showed her dancing with Philip when they met in the forest.

We had checked out the England pavilion the other night before our Garden Grill reservation, so the girls just got their passports stamped before we headed over to Canada. I had one last food item in mind, and Memere was kind enough to grab it for me while the girls and I got their passports completed, and Itook a few photos of the gardens. Mmmm – cheddar cheese soup.

I was officially done. I don’t know if we finished the soup, but it finished me. We had scheduled a bunch of fast passes for this night, so we headed over to Future World to use those up. First was a night time ride on Test Track, though Memere decided to skip this one. I'm still impressed at the fact that none of us got sick, too!


You’d think we would have learned after the first ride that Josie needs to be in front or on the right to be seen! We ended up skipping our FP+ for the Character Spot, since we had either already seen or would see everyone that usually shows up there.

Next up was Spaceship Earth. We had fun with this one, and let the girls play around for a while. Memere and I ended up heading back with Rachel and Josie a little before DH, so he got a few more photos with Sara before meeting us back in the room. We had an early morning ahead of us, with big plans, and we wanted to make sure the kids were fully rested!