Hello everyone. I hope I didn't bore you all too much with my novel on BBB. It was just such a wonderful experience. I want to do it again right now! But I can't so for now, on with the TR.
After showing off her new do to daddy, we decided to head over to Jungle Cruise. Jason had gotten us FP's while we were in BBB and it was now time to use them. I know this ride is so cheesy but it's fun. I thought the kids would enjoy it more than they did but they really seemed that they couldn't care less. Oh well, I took some pics anyway...
It was fun but not completely memorable for us. It was now about 1:30 or so and it was time for Aubrey and I to leave the boys again and head over to the GF for our Afternoon Tea!!! I was sooooo excited about this. I had scheduled this twice before on previous trips and just never got around to going. I had forgotten my itinerary and couldn't remember exactly what time our ADR was for so I called dining to find out. Um, well, yeah.. they didn't have a reservation for me
I knew exactly what happened. I booked the tea at the same that that I booked BBB because I wanted Aubrey to be able to go to tea with her disney makeover. So I booked the tea first and then BBB. But when we went to book BBB, it wasn't available on the same day that I booked the tea. Sooooo, I had to book BBB then cancel the origial Tea ADR and rebook that for the same day as BBB. Whew. Got all that! So, what seemed to have happened is that they cancelled the first tea but didn't rebook it on the BBB day. I asked the CM on the phone what my chances were for getting in as a walk up. She said it would be worth a shot so we went, fingers crossed. Aubrey and I hopped on the monorail and were at the GF in no time. I had to ask where the tea room was because I had never noticed it. It's all the way at the end of the lobby in a cute little room surrounded by windows. I understood immediately why it was so hard to get an ADR here because of the size of the place. It was tiny. When we got there, there was a baby shower just ending. How awesome is that? Having a baby shower at the Grand Floridian Tea Room. Awesome! Anyway, it was still a little before 2:00 and that's when they open up for the day. I walked over to the podium which already had a line and held my breath as I went to check in. Ok, so here's where a little white lying came into play. In my mind, I had convinced myself that maybe my ADR did get moved but because of the craziness of the situation, the CM didn't see it. So I was going with that when the CM at the podium asked if I had a reservation. I reluctantly said "yes". Technically, it was TRUE! Not my fault people. So, this is when I realized that God was smiling down on me and wanted me and my beautiful daughter to get into this tea. The CM said, "Well, our system is down now but I trust you. Here's your pager." Did I feel guilty, yes. Was I thrilled to get a table, absolutely. Do I think I'm going to hell for this, not a chance. God was on my side with this one. Sooooooo, we still had a few minutes to kill so I got some cute pics of Aubrey...
Here she is posing on Mrs. Potts just outside the tea room. I had never noticed this before and it was extra special since just days before, Aubrey played Mrs. Potts in the Story Time With Belle show!
The only way I could get her to take a serious picture was to let her do a silly face after each silly one. So here ya go...
After just a few minutes of waiting, we were seated. Our waitress was great. I told her that we had never been there and I had no idea what to expect. She explained the menu to me and what teas would be good for Aubrey (ie: the sweeter ones and the ones with no caffiene) But she was still very sophisticated about it. She talked to Aubrey like she was a little lady, telling her to put her napkin on her lap and to be careful with the china. Yes, that's right, china. We would be eating off of and drinking out of REAL china! Ok, she can do this. I was a little worried but confident in my little princess. On the table was two beautiful tea cups and a pot of sugar cubes with pinchers to pick up the cubes.
Here is Aubrey "reading" her menu and deciding what to eat...
She (I) decided she would have Mrs. Potts Tea - ham and cheese sandwiches and chocolate covered strawberries for dessert. She absolutely LOVES chocolate covered strawberries and that had been all she was talking about and how she was going to get them at our tea! The only problem was was that the strawberries today were covered in white chocolate instead of regular chocolate. It took some convincing but eventually she said that that was ok. And of course, she ended up loving them. She was also able to choose her very own tea. She (I) chose the Princess Breakfast tea - with vanilla bean, South African organic rooibos, and a hint of strawberries.
I chose for myself Buckingham Palace - traditional tea sandwiches, scones and jam tarts complimented by fresh strawberries & cream, or a selection of freshly baked pastries, served with your choice of tea. Yes, I am copying and pasting these things directly from the menu. The tea I chose was the Mad Hatter. I don't have its description but I remember it was red and yummy.
As we sat there waiting for our order, I looked around and noticed that the place was far from full. This made my guilt go away a little bit. At least I hadn't taken the table of someone that was now waiting on me. It was fine. Here is a shot of the restaurant. This is not where we were sitting, just a shot of the whole place. See, not very big...
Our tea arrived first. We each got our own pot!!! They were serious about their tea here, can I tell you! The waitress, wish I could remember her name, told us that she cooled Aubrey's tea down a bit so it was probably now a perfect temp for our little princess. She poured Aubrey a cup and added two lumps of sugar. I poured myself a cup and sat and waited to see Aubrey's reaction to her first warm tea (we drink iced tea here every day so having it warm was something new for her). She LOVED it! Seriously, she ended up drinking every drop out of that pot! And Mine was delicious too! I probably had too much!
You can see our sandwiches had made it out too. Aubrey was chowing down on hers and mine, oh wow, were so good. I can't remember exactly what they were but I do remember that the last one was roasted pears with gorganzola. OMG. Soooo good! There was also a carmelized onion tart and a scone with real whipped butter. It was heavenly.
And look at my baby girl holding her tea cup like a lady...
Then it came time for dessert. I guess Aubrey talking so much about strawberries made me want some too so I ordered the strawberries and cream...
And this was not cool whip or anything that came out of a can. This was real, heavy cream whipped by hand. And tons of it. I could have bathed in it!!!
And here is Aubrey enjoying her WHITE chocolate covered strawberries...
It was an amazing meal and something that everyone should do really, guys included. The food was delicious and the service was wonderful. Overall, it was just a really fun experience!
We finished up our meal and headed back out towards the monorail. One last pic of the princess overlooking the lobby. What a pretty place...
The plan was to take the monorail back to MK and then hop on the boat to WL. Aubrey wanted to take some pics while on the boat ride but before she stole the camera away from me, I managed to get a cute one of her...
And here are a few of her great shots.
First, me. Of course...
Now, her pictures look a little blurry because she was taking them through the glass side of the boat. She got really good at it. She was able to catch two boats that passed us by...
Now, this next picture is similar to the Tron Monorail picture accident. One of the boat drivers on an earlier trip told us that we were crossing over one of only 8 water bridges in the country. That means that there is a road passing underneath us as we float across a shallow bridge filled with water. Pretty friggin cool. Well, I kept forgetting to take a picture of it and when I was going back through all of our shots, I saw that Aubrey actually got one!
It's hard to tell but you can see the concrete barricade and space mountain in the distance. That's the road that runs down by the contemporary and passes under the water bridge. Pretty cool eh? Thanks Aubrey!
We actually brought a dress with us that she had picked out from the Disney website. I actually got it on sale, it play into the story of her big reveal. I don't think she'll want to dress up again but she would love to go back and get the crown package again. What girl doesn't like to be made to feel like a Princess.
Kind of glad I don't have a girl! BBB is expensive and I know I would be doing it for my daughter! 
So we just had to improvise. Thankfully, I had packed her blue sparkly skirt outfit. It worked out great! I may have to do like you did for out next trip and find one on sale. That castle package price is just crasy!
And I'm so tempted to do it myself. There was a mom and daughter getting the same hair when we were in there. They looked so cute. I don't know if I could pull off the Disney Diva look though
I threw my BFF's Bachelorette party there because I love it so much (and we live in Boston!)
