OK, before getting to MK, we got our Photopass CD back so I have to add the AK photos. We were in a rush to get stuff done cause Suzy & her boys wouldn't be back at AK so we only took 2, both in the same spot.
Is it me, or is Boo the only one who looks truly scared in this photo? Her perpetually terrified to be at Disney look. And Charming cracks me up. Evidently in his world fear is the same thing as pain.
Our next stop was Crystal Palace. We also had evening ressies, Suzy & boys to the Whispering Cafe & Donald & our fam to the Grand Floridian Cafe. Because of this we would only have just a few hours in MK and we didn't want to see Space Mt. so McQueen wasn't disappointed (he needed to wait for Milo who would be VERY disappointed to miss out on Tomorrowland) and we needed to avoid Boo seeing Dumbo as she was to wait until Grandma visited it so they could share in that moment.
My first memory of MK on this trip is taking notice of the posters under the railroad when you walk in. You know, the ones right above the maps? No? Maybe everyone is more observant than I am but I had never noticed them before. They are essentially movie posters announcing what you can see inside MK. See, I read this book about Disney World secrets. And evidently Walt wanted MK to be a movie experience. The monorail/boat are arriving at the theater. And the railroad is the lobby (thus the movie posters) and then Main Street is the credits. That's why the creator's names of MK are on all the above windows as store proprietors.
Anyway, we were in a terrible rush so I simply took note & didn't actually look at them and never in our trips to MK this week did I have time to read them. But I did take note.
The second thing I recall is that I always tear up when I first face the castle at the beginning of Main St. Always. But I was halfway down Main St. before I realized there were no tears! It was so sad. I was just too caught up in checking in to Crystal Palace and people were still saying "Who-Dey!" So all of this made me miss my first tear up moment. But I barely missed a step pondering it as by that point we were at lunch & checking in.
Thanks to Boo & Jack-Jack seeing Pooh & gang at AK it was with confidence that I went to the Crystal Palace desk and checked in. This had been my most stressful ressie because I love it sooooo much and I was terrified that I would have to miss out if Boo went hysterical on me. It was probably a bigger fear for me than any other vacation fear. And after T-Rex and It's Tough to be a Bug, Boo had proven that she could be very frightened. But she had seemed completely fine with seeing all the characters as long as she didn't have to touch them.
So now the question was, where would we be seated? I was hoping to be somewhere similar to where we were last time which was against a wall with a great view. That way we could protect Boo before a character snuck up on her. And I really wanted Suzy to be close to us as she had her four boys alone. But she didn't want to make any special requests as with free dining going she was afraid we would have to wait a long time if we put in special requests.
So, I checked in & then I took off running (yes, literally) through Adventureland to go get FP's for Big Thunder Mt. Railroad. There were just a TON of slow moving people.
So I stopped running. And walked VERY quickly. A nice lady helped me with my FP's and then I dashed back through Liberty Square. My quick dash tour of MK. A few things of note. One, MK now has a shortish 3:00 parade and a bunch of little parades. This made traffic flow much more confusing than normal and I ran into it here. I liked the little parades because it was festive all the time. But irritating to get through. Also, I saw Princess Tiana & Prince Naveen for the first time on this jog. GORGEOUS!
So, as Crystal Palace was in view I got a text from Donald that we were up. So he grabbed me & we ran in, not forgetting the kids, of course. What a whirlwind! I figured with the march from KS to the front of AK and then the walk to our van and then the march from the van to Crystal Palace and then to BTMR and back I deserved to eat whatever in the world I wanted. I'm not sure this was a good plan since I gained 5 lbs on this trip, but it sounded good to me at the time.
Where were we sat? In the PERFECT place! If you are facing the buffet we were to the right all the way against the windows closest to the castle. It was soooo quiet. The lady seating us apologized because she said the characters don't always get a chance to visit and we don't always get the parade and I almost hugged her. Seriously? Could that even be any better?
This is where we were. The Castle is right out that window behind the girls & we were kind of in a corner so Boo was completely protected.
Suzy & her boys also got a great spot (for them) which was RIGHT next to the buffet. It was loud & crazy. But nice because she could easily let any of her kids go to the buffet at will since she could still see them. Plus, they (meaning the boys, not Suzy) don't mind noise & chaos one bit but just fit right in and naturally the parade goes right by that table.
Their placement:
We had said we were celebrating our anniversary and when we got to our table in had a confetti heart. Awwww.....
I saved most of this confetti in a baggie I had brought for leftovers and then I used it later in the week to sprinkle in the girl's hair. It's OK if you say I'm crazy because you can't have me committed since you don't know me. That confetti gave me joy all week long. So there.
OK, so here are my family's photos & then I'll take you to Suzy's experience.
The big girls who have met the Pooh characters a ton still loved it. Even though they know they are people they are just soooo snuggly you have to be happy while meeting them.
Here's Boo's reaction to Piglet. She's mildly amused & very interested but not scared at all:
Here's a kid's plate:
And my first plate:
I'd love to say my second plate was full of veggies.
I forgot to take it until after I had eaten the savory things. My strategy was to get "real" food for my first plate & adventurous things on my second. But I got too full and did half a plate of adventurous things and the other half a "dessert sampler."
Then we got our anniversary cupcake. We don't do candles on cakes at our house so the candle in the cake was a bizarre thing to our kids. I mean, they knew it existed, but what to do with it? Boo never did get the thing blown out. I think Donald may have eventually done it.
And then Winnie the Pooh came. This was a particularly charming Pooh. We
this Pooh.
And he was very gentle with Boo. Pretending he was embarassed to meet her & shy and scared. She fell for him totally.
The Eeyore came (photo above) and then we were finished. I also wanted to mention that we LOVED our waiter here. He was just great. He told me all kinds of things about the
DDP and was just helpful in general.
Finally, as we were getting up, Tigger was in our sight. I didn't want to wait for him to come to our table because by the time we realized he was about 6 tables away we were already packed & ready to walk out. So I told the girls we would walk his way & wait for him to finish with the tables he was with & grab his photo after. As we wander his way he took note that we were headed for him & started bouncing (literally & very vigorously) towards us. Boo FLIPPED OUT and started yelling, "No, no Tigger!" This took Tigger off guard and he stopped bouncing but it was too late. Boo was screaming so she & I RACED to the door and Donald stayed with Mulan and Ariel. I don't have a photo (that I can find) but I'm pretty sure Donald has video.
OK, so now let's do this whole thing over from Suzy's point of view, which of course, she'll have to tell you about. But I can show you the photos.
Here Charming is eating a giant plate of mashed potatoes. That boy loves mashed potatoes, if done properly. His look of contentment must mean they were OK.
Also while we're on Charming, the Bengals' game was in full swing in here & Donald has an i-phone so he was going to keep Suzy & Charming informed of the score. But there was no need as with texting & be informed by strangers due to our wearing our jerseys, they always knew the score before we told them. The NFL: no need to stay on the couch, it's now totally portable.
Aw, dontcha just love Piglet?
Pooh:
Eeyore, and no, I'm not sure what Buzz is doing either.
Tigger:
Where is Jack-Jack in this story? Sleeping. He slept through one of the coolest meals of the week. Sorry, Jack-Jack. Even post-meal, he's still sleeping.
Here we are in the same spot:
And the big girls, "See Mom? There is a Tinkerbell!":
So the biggest fear of my whole trip was quite anti-climatic and ended up being relaxing and delightful. Who knew?
Do I still love Crystal Palace? You betcha. All the way love it.
And it was wonderful that Jack-Jack slept through. I was disappointed at first because he wouldn't see Pooh but I was a single mom that day and to have the 2 yr old sleep in his stroller through lunch was a godsend.
And he saw Pooh later in the week. We were so close to the buffet that the kids could just come and go as they pleased and we all had a great time. A couple things of note.....While we were waiting for a table to be ready, Buzz and Mcqueen walked over to the fence across the sidewalk from the restaurant to watch the "Dreams come True" show at the castle. I knew where they were and could see them. Well my buzzer went off and I went to get them to discover only Buzz!!!! Mcqueen was no where to be seen. I sat Buzz on the porch of Crystal Palace while Charming went looking for Mcqueen and I ran to the hostess and told her we'd be right there (Perla's family had just been seated so we were on our own.) Fortunately I had just bought Mcqueen a red mickey balloon and Charming spotted him within a couple minutes. He had gotten turned around and started walking the wrong way back toward Main Street instead of the Crystal Palace. But as anyone knows those couple of minutes seem like an eternity when you are searching for your kid.
The other thing you don't see here is Charming trying to control 3 GIANT Mickey balloons in the wind!
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