The Adventure - Day 4

File Under: Princesses, Queens and Aunt Fay

Our fourth day began a bit differently from the others. During the previous day, it was decided that we would try to have breakfast in Cinderella's castle. Dan made the call and due to the weather, they had a cancellation and were able to accommodate a party of six. When asked how many children were in our party, Dan replied "none, we're all over 40." We laughed, the woman on the other end was silent but gladly took Dan's information and gave him a confirmation number. Breakfast with the princesses would happen at 9:00 am.

We arrived at The Magic Kingdom just a few minutes shy of 9. Since this was before the park opened it was fun to race through the park and see it nearly empty. We arrived just in time.




While we all posed for a group picture with Cinderella, Denise also posed for an individual picture with the Princess. They also had a lovely chat.


Our server approached our table and was quite pleased to see Denise and Tina. He announced "I see we've got a couple Princesses at our table." Dan quickly replied "and four queens, too!" Everybody laughed.

Assorted Princesses make the rounds and visit tables during breakfast. We enjoyed meeting them, and we're sure they enjoyed meeting us.

Here I am with Belle.


Tina, with Snow White.

Polo, enjoyed meeting Princess Jasmine.

Dan and Luis had the pleasure of posing with Sleeping Beauty.

Breakfast was a delicious meal of scrambled eggs, potatoes, bacon and sausage, juice and some delightful deep fried sweet rolls. These were very popular at our table.

Children are given toys at the castle. Boys get swords, girls get princess wands. Luis and Polo were pleased when they were offered swords.

After breakfast, we met the evil step-sisters. Dan felt a connection so he went right over to talk with them. They took a liking to him, too.

Polo, with his "cape" and sword.

The cool thing about being at the park during a storm is that the crowds were down. Coming from Chicago, where we have some pretty extreme weather, this was what I would call an inconvenience. But others must have decided it was not an ideal day to visit so the park was relatively empty. The longest wait for a ride was about 20 minutes. All of the favorites were visited - The Haunted Mansion, the Teacups, Peter Pan, Pirates of the Caribbean, Dumbo, It's A Small World.

Dan, Denise, Tina and Polo whizzing by on the Teacups.

Everybody's favorite ride "It's A Small World!" Notice Luis protecting us from whatever evil may lurk in the ride.

(wonder if Heidi Klum knows that Walt Disney stole her "Project Runway" catch phrase?)

Time for funny hats!

Their hats aren't supposed to be funny, but their patches and earrings are meant to make them look fierce.

Tina and Denise on the Dumbo ride, Luis and Dan are in the paciderm behind them. Neither of them ever got their elephant up.

Tina, with Walt and Mickey.


Rain or not, we decided to stay and watch the Main Street Parade.

Miscellaneous dancer. GAY! GAY!! GAY!!!

Brooms, or penises?

Mickey!

Minnie, Goofy, Chip and Dale:

Tina and Polo, on Main Street, at dusk.


Dusk created new photo opportunities, the castle was glowing and the buildings outlined in little lights.

Mickey balloons, blurred but a uniquely perfect photograph.

A purple/blue castle

A lovely turquoise castle.

With that, we made one last visit to the large gift shop on Main Street in the Magic Kingdom and we headed for the exit.

Tired but hungry, we headed back to Downtown Disney, again, for dinner. This time we dined at The Rainforest Cafe, where we were treated to a table-full of screeching kids sitting at a table in the bar. Thankfully we had a sympathetic waiter who poured us some strong drinks.

Fed and with drinks in our tummies, we went back to the villa for our final night of sleep in Florida.

The Adventure - Day 3

File Under: Auntie Fay Came a-Callin'

Tuesday morning we awoke to a sky different from what we had seen 24 hours prior. Once hurricane Fay (now categorized as a Tropical Depression) had reached the Orlando area and was going to present us with some challenges throughout the day. We knew we wanted to visit EPCOT center and decided we would go through with our plans, storm be damned!

Similar to Monday morning, our day began with breakfast at the Villa. Luis was busy in the kitchen, preparing eggs, bacon and toast. We sipped coffee and juice and waited patiently for our delicous meal.

Dan took the opportunity to climb on the furniture and take pictures.

One difference from the previous day's breakfast, Tuesday's breakfast included chocolate cake, left over from Dan's birthday dinner. When you've got half of a delicious cake in your refrigerator, it's an absolute crime to let it go to waste.

The sky went from the darkest grey to a varying mix of thick and thin clouds. Some peeks of blue were seen early in the day. My first order of business, while the rest of the group went on a ride, was to purchase rain panchos for each of us.

Gloomy grey sky.

The chosen activity of the day was to drink our way around the world. We started in Mexico, with margaritas. There was German wine, French champagne and liquor, Saki from Japan, German beer and Ale from England. Some just had a couple drinks, others had a drink from every country. Towards the end of the afternoon, things were getting pretty silly.

Assorted pictures from the day:

Creepy doll heads at one of the Around the World Pavillions.

An Asian temple.

Mexico. This was one of those moments where we got to take off our panchos for a few minutes.

Inside the Mexican market.

The Netherlands. Luis kissed a troll!

Japan. Once again wearing panchos. Functional, yes. Stylish, no.

In the rain and gloom, there was beauty to be found in the lilly pond.

Ominous sky, again.

Taking a break in Morocco.

France. The French Bakery was a popular stop. We enjoyed pastries, delicious bread and assorted cheeses. Tres chic!

Gnome, making an appearance.

The worst of the weather came as we were calling an end to our day and leaving the park. The skies opened and we were walking in a downpour. The panchos were only doing so much to keep us dry. Our shoes were wet and squishy. However, the parking lot was empty and we found our van right away.

We ended our evening having dinner back at Downtown Disney. We went for sandwiches and went back to the big gift shop where Dan and I bought rain jackets. We returned to our villa exhausted from the day and looking forward to a day at The Magic Kingdom, all of us hoping that the weather would be more cooperative.

The Big Adventure - Day 2

File Under: The Big Day or 40 is FUN!

Monday August 18 was Dan's 40th birthday. We woke up to the smell of breakfast being cooked. Luis was busy in the kitchen scrambling eggs, frying bacon and SPAM (this was Dan's birthday after all!) and brewing a pot of coffee. One by one we assembled in the dining room, took our seats around the table and enjoyed a delicious meal. And yes, the first of the final round of envelopes was presented.



The envelope accompanied a gift, which Dan was told he would wear on our outing.



After the unveiling of the shirt, we all helped clean the kitchen and then we went to change for our day's adventure. Luis made all of us shirts to wear for the day, we surprised Dan with our shirts as we met him at the front door. Our shirts each had a Muppet character and Luis wrote clever comments below each one. The back of our shirts said "Dan's Big Four-Oh-Oh!"


Luis' shirt said "I love that pig." Sweet, huh?


The day started out absolutely lovely at Disney Hollywood Studios. We toured the park for the day, some went on rides (I'm not a rider, I'm a watcher), we all enjoyed some shows.



We were treated to an impromptu "High School Musical" production. Yes, we all stopped and watched.


Luis had to rest his head for a minute as Polo expressed a deep thought.

As is typical of Florida in August, clouds roll in mid-afternoon and sometimes it rains. It did. We sat out the storm while watching an extreme stunts show. Afterwards, the rain had stopped and we enjoyed the park for another hour or so.

Here we all are, in our coordinating shirts. Cute, huh?

The surprises continued. We arrived back at our villa and dressed for dinner. Dan did not know where we were going, he was just told we were going a little dressy. We arrived at the Contemporary Resort where Luis had made reservations at the very chic California Grill. The restaurant is on the 15th floor of the hotel and offers beautiful views of The Magic Kingdom, EPCOT Center, and the surrounding resort properties.

One of the bartenders took this picture of us. It's a great picture, unfortunately my camera did not flash so we're orange. Don't we look great though?

Dinner was spectacular. Dessert was equally spectacular, especially since Luis arranged for a cake to be delivered to our table. It was at this point that Dan announced that he was humbled by our efforts and was happy to be spending his birthday with us. Who wouldn't be? :-)

Still more fun and surprises. Luis arranged yet another spectacular event. A moonlight boat ride on a private boat around the resort properties. Our guide gave us a great tour, pointing out many parts of the properties that are no longer in use, showing us a bird sanctuary (trees filled with birds, fast asleep), and then parking the boat in the water, dead center in the lake behind the Magic Kingdom, where we had front row seats for the fireworks show. We were all silenced and in awe as we watched the show.

One thing I'll point out, even as late as dinner, the sky was still mostly overcast with clouds. By the time we went outside for our cruise, the sky was clear - it was a perfect night!

Envelope 40 was handed to Dan by Luis. It was a message from him, to Dan. After he read it, Tina presented Dan with 4 more envelopes, one from each of us, with our personal wishes for Dan on the occasion of his 40th birthday. Finally, we were finished with the envelopes!

One of the resort properties glowing, as seen from the boat.

Fireworks! That's Dan watching them.

Our boat, decorated for Dan's birthday celebration, all of us looking festive and relaxed.

After the boat ride, we got back into our car and headed back to the villa. It was a perfect end to a grand celebration.

Next up..."Auntie Fay" comes a-callin'.