Once we got back to POR we decided to go swimming. We quickly changed into our bathing suits and headed down to the main pool. We found some lounge chairs and unloaded our towels and stuff before heading in. First we sat on the side with our feet hanging in and it was cold! We have been to Disney in December before and I remembered the water being a lot warmer. So I asked a lifeguard. Turns out someone had accidentally turned the heater off the night before and it hadn't been caught until the morning. So even though it had been on all morning the pool was still really cold!
The kids were dying to swim though so we thought we would try our luck at a quiet pool. No luck, we had gotten so cold at the main pool our bodies just couldn't warm up. So back to the room we went for warm showers/baths.
After getting warmed up and dressed it was time to head downstairs for my big surprise! I had scheduled a carriage ride for us and no one knew! WooHoo! We were there right at 5 p.m., I had wanted the first rides of the night since we had a special dinner planned. I had reserved two carriages. My mom and the girls rode in one carriage and James, Christopher, and I rode in the 2nd carriage. We decided to take the trip around the French Quarter. What a lovely ride it was. The French Quarter is such a pretty resort, we really enjoyed the ride. Christopher almost fell asleep in our carriage at one point.
When we were finished we quickly made our way through the main lobby to the south bus stop. We didn't have to wait long until a bus to Magic Kingdom appeared. We jumped on and we were off. Once we arrived at Magic Kingdom we checked to see if the boat was on it's way in. We couldn't see it so we headed up the platform to the monorail. We were on our way to the Grand Floridian for dinner at the Grand Floridian Cafe.
We arrived several minutes before our 7:30 p.m. ADR time so we were given a pager and asked to sit in the lobby area. We were quickly called and seated. I didn't love our waiter, he wasn't very friendly but our service was alright. Christopher and Ashley ordered the kids steak and Haley ordered the grilled chicken. My mother, James, and I all ordered the steak. I had a cup of french onion soup that was good. Overall our meals were fine, not great, but decent. I had mentioned that I had ordered a cake when we were seated to our waiter and he brought it out after dinner. Haley promptly fell asleep after dinner and slept through the cake.
He brought out the Mickey cake I had ordered. The guests around us were asked to help us sing. We sang Happy Birthday to Christopher and then he was presented with his cake. He was thrilled! And what an adorable cake! It was still a little frozen, but his reaction was worth every penny. We took the rest of the cake to go and had some in the room later in the week.
After dinner we headed up to the monorail back to Magic Kingdom and then on to the buses to POR. I had planned to take Ashley to Magic Kingdom for a few hours just us two, but since Haley was asleep and Christopher was headed that way we decided to just call it a night. We were lucky that a bus was just unloading when we arrived and we were the only ones headed back to the resort so we had the whole bus to ourselfs. We got the kids tucked into bed while we watched a little bit of t.v. before heading to sleep. It was a wonderful day!
Up next, Christmas Eve at Magic Kingdom!
You must have been ecstatic! I think I could cry the first time I hear my future child read to me. 
Let me know when you start a pre-trip report! I would love to ehar about your planning!!
Looking forward to the next installment!
