How Many Days In A Row Will We Wear Tie Dye (or Disney 2009 review): Part 10.1featured

Hi all!

I’m going to start this back up again (and hopefully, FINALLY finish it soon). We’re…well…we’re all still alive :o) Grandma has thankfully evaded the H1N1 virus, Mom and Stephanie are almost back to normal and while I’m still having some breathing problems, I’m feeling SO much better.

We haven’t done any real cruise planning yet, but I really need to get a jump on that because we’re sailing in less than eight weeks! So keep emailing and posting your suggestions…we could certainly use them :o)

And you all know the drill re: the photos. If you want them, ask, don’t grab.

We woke up to bright sunshine and fogged windows, indicating the intense heat and humidity that was waiting for us outside. We only had two days left and so much that we wanted to accomplish, but we got a bit of a late start.

Originally, we had breakfast reservations at Whispering Canyon Cafe over at the Wilderness Lodge at 9:20. I knew when I made the reservations that as our week drew to an end, we’d be exhausted and we’d want the extra sleep. Since this day was totally dedicated to Magic Kingdom and we aren’t too fond of the table restaurants in the park, I planned all of our meals on the monorail or launch. But we really were tired and we weren’t hungry enough to get out of bed and find our way over to the Wilderness Lodge, so we decided to cancel our reservation and grab a counter service breakfast.

We ultimately decided to go to Captain Cooks because we didn’t care for the offerings at the Contempo Cafe (and having spent quite a bit of time at the Grand Floridian on previous trips, we knew that Gasparilla’s was nothing to write home about and probably has the weakest offerings of all of the quick-service places in all of the resorts), but thinking back, we probably would have saved a lot of time if we had just gone to the Main Street Bakery. Regardless, we hopped on the monorail and made our way over to the Polynesian.

It was busy, but not too crowded at Captain Cooks. While 9:30 am might be prime vacation breakfast time, it may as well be noon at Disney. We found no wait to order and I ordered all of our meals while Stephanie grabbed drinks. Mom went with the Tonga Toast with a side of sausage and loved it (but I think we’ve already established that Tonga Toast is a family favorite). The rest of us went with the adult breakfast platter (scrambled eggs, with bacon, sausage, breakfast potatoes, and biscuit), which had ample portions of rather bland food.

Adult breakfast platter

On the dining plan, breakfast (both counter and table service) comes with two beverages, so we all had one breakfast drink (chocolate milk for me, orange juice for grandma and I’ll give you three guesses…and the first two don’t count…for what Stephanie and Mom went with. Hint: it rhymes with shmiet shmoke) and grabbed a Vitamin Water or a Smart Water for later in the day. I don’t have the receipt, so I have no idea how much this would have cost, but we used four meal credits. It wasn’t the best use of four meal credits and it certainly didn’t give us the best value, but if you go through an entire week trying to maximize the value of the dining plan (especially the deluxe plan), you will be miserable and way overstuffed on steaks and lobster.

We did a little shopping in the Polynesian shops before making our way up to the monorail for the quick ride to Magic Kingdom. We spent the few moments we had waiting for the monorail admiring the theming outside the Polynesian before an empty monorail arrived for us.

The empty monorail was a sign of good things to come because as we got to the Magic Kingdom, we immediately noticed the lack of a crowd anywhere. It was hot, but not the hottest it had been all week, all of the forecasted rain was for after lunch and it was already nearly mid-morning, so it should have been packed. But it wasn’t, and we were super grateful.

I was missing my Minnie ears at home, and even though we only had this day and the next, I made a beeline for the Chapeau to get a sparkly new pair. There were so many choices: headbands or hats, personalized or not, sparkles or glitter…and then there was the create-your-own…a monster in itself. Being my indecisive self, after 10 minutes of contemplating the merits of rhinestones versus sequins, Stephanie came in to get me and force me to make a decision.

But you’ll have to wait until the next part to see which ones I chose ;o)