We woke up early, packed the car, and headed to the Grand Floridian for breakfast at 1900 Park Faire.
Perhaps we were just tired from lack of sleep or perhaps inattentive because we weren't ready to go home but for some reason we couldn't figure out the Grand Floridian parking lot. We were spoiled at V&A's because we had complimentary valet parking. Anyway, we drove around the front of the Grand Floridian for 20 minutes until we finally decided to read the signs and realized the Grand Floridian makes their guests park across the street unless they shell out $10 for valet parking. We were too cheap that morning so we parked in the west boonies and hiked back to the front of the Grand Floridian for breakfast with my favorite characters.
Breakfast was good but crowded, crowded with clueless people who took way too long to make food choices. I was hungry so I just weaved and darted around people and quickly filled my plate. Donald on the other hand wasn't as good at dodging clueless people. I am pretty sure I was done with my first plate by the time he made it back to the table.
The character interaction was great. Awesome.
You all know who this fellow is, right? I guess Alice in Wonderland is not a well know movie because the family next to us had no idea who he was. The mother happily admitted her cluelessness and asked the Mad Hatter what movie he was from and then proceeded to ask the Mad Hatter if he wanted to marry the girl running around in the blue dress.
Oh my goodness, all I could think was no the mad hatter is not a pedophile. Speechless for a moment, the Mad Hatter replied Alice and him were just good friends and then he quickly moved to my table where I inflated his ego back up. Poor guy.
Hmmm...I'm pretty sure the clueless mother greeted this guy "Hi Tony." Ok maybe not but it wouldn't have surprised me.
After breakfast we took the monorail to the Magic Kingdom.
Yep, I'm on a roll with my flammable acts. Instead of driving the car to the Magic Kingdom parking lot, we took the monorail. And I am happy to report that our car did not get towed nor did we get banned for life from the parks.
We were on a quest for paint brushes. I made the mistake of telling Donald about the hidden paint brushes on Tom Sawyers Island. Or I should say the rumored hidden paint brushes. Anyway, Donald can't resist a treasure hunt so we were first in line for the first raft over to the island. Two teenagers tried to edge us out but I gave them the evil eye and they backed off.
The raft quickly filled up and we were off to the island. The raft was strangly quiet. I'm sure all the families were divising game plans in their mind because as soon as the raft docked, everyone spread out in different directions. I followed Donald around as he searched every nook and cranny of that island.
We had a lot of fun exploring the island but Donald started to think the supposed paint brushes were an urban legend. I told Donald my sister had found one on a past trip but I don't think he believed me. I was having too much fun watching Donald to throw a fit about him implying I'm a liar. He was like a kid in a candy store at the fort. Donald played with every gun and climbed every ladder. Even kids stopped to watch the crazy grown man run around the fort.
We scanned every group we passed to see if they had a paintbrush. Everyone was empty handed. After about 45 minutes, we decided ghost hunting would be more fun so we headed to the raft. Guess who else was on the raft. The two teenage girls empty handed. Donald can find a needle in a haystack. Yep, I'm quite sure there were no paint brushes on the island that day. Yeah, I know, I should have asked the cm to see if they had hid any that day.
If only I would have thought of that then instead of now. We still had a great time on the island even if we didn't find a paint brush.
Pop Quiz. Which bird is real?
We stopped by the frontierland trading post to trade in our snack credits for rice krispy treats and cookies. Yum, Yum. ***I actually still have one pumpkin shaped rice krispy treat left sitting in my work desk drawer. I've been meaning to eat it but all my co-workers have been bringing in great Halloween Candy.
We then headed for the last ride of our trip.
We dragged our feet to the monorail and then headed back to the Grand Floridian. We stopped by their quick service area and used our last counter service credit for some sandwiches to take on the road. The sandwiches were awesome and the cm's were very helpful in making sure we got the most out of our credits.
I think we finally left around 1pm.
Our 15 hour drive turned into a 17 hour nightmare because of the whole gas shortage thing. I mentioned in the beginning of my trip report. Let's just say we won't be driving our next trip.
Next trip...Yep...Next trip.
Donald and I upgraded our tickets to an annual pass during this trip. Well I will have to say being an AP does have some great perks. We got a code for $49 room a night in February so now we are going back for the first week of February. And we are flying. Southwest has $200 round trip tickets at the moment so we are snapping those up and going back to Disney. Yeah!!!
, there will be other threads starting up now talking about you! 
AND the Feb trip.
We scored airline tickets round trip with no stops for $225 each. Since we got such a great deal on our hotel ($50 a night at Pop Century), I didn't mind spending a little extra for airline tickets. Flying just makes me nervous; security, arriving early, delayed flights, sitting around waiting, sitting next to hairpulling babies, etc. I just need to remind myself Donald wants to fly, he asks for so little so the least I can do is agree to it. Can you tell I am trying to convince myself?
