Jenn's Trip Report - Day 2 - Part 2
Continuation of Magic Kingdom & Chef Mickey's
After everyone got a good nap in and had some snacks (Mickey Rice Crispies Treats) we decided to head back to the Magic Kingdom. This time however, since we were having dinner at Chef Mickey's, we decided to park at the Contemporary and walk over to the MK. Let me tell you... this one the second best decision we've ever made (second to the morning bfast at MK). I'll get to that later though.
The tower at the Contemporary is steadily going up and the walkway between it and the "old" tower is just about complete structure wise.
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After taking the walkway to the MK we decided to hit the Exposition Hall... something I had never seen and something I promised everyone I'd hit and get some shots of. We walked back to the hall and found it completely empty (as expected - no one knows about this spot). Unfortunately the cartoons weren't showing but I did get some good shots while there. We got there with perfect timing too because they were just about to close it for a AAA event.
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Then we decided to head over to the Railroad. Aaron is train crazy so this was a lot of fun for him! Just as we got off our trip around the worlds we realized it was time for the 3:00 parade. We picked a spot and once again the timing was just perfect.
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(the guy on the right looks like he's related to The Rock -- just sayin')
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You'll notice in the above shot that Grumpy is giving a thumbs up. See, as he was coming toward us he was doing the "point to the eyes, point to the guest" thing... you know, that typical grumpy Grumpy thing... the "I'm watching you" thing. Well he did it to Bill. Bill, who is a huge Grumpy fan, pointed to his Grumpy hat and then back to Grumpy in return. Grumpy saw the hat and corrected himself with a thumbs up for Bill.
Then it was off to the Contemporary for dinner AT Chef Mickey's. As we entered we noticed a camera crew... a large one... setting up to film what we can only assume was a commercial. This was interesting because watching the "real" people walk into the way of the extra's was just plain hilarious.
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Chef Mickey's was good. It wasn't quite as good as I expected and it seemed the path for the characters wasn't quite timed right... or maybe something went wrong... but we nearly missed meeting Mickey. Apparently they knew this because most of the folks who were seated first (us included) had their checks in front of them and had seen everyone but Mickey. As a result he rushed from table to table. Pausing for one photo and moving on. We were really disappointed... especially seeing as the whole trip we had been telling Aaron about his dinner with Mickey.
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After dinner we took the walkway back to the MK and it was time for another first for Aaron... The Mad Tea Party. We weren't quite sure how Aaron would react to this one but he LOVED it. So much so that I think it's become his favorite ride. He kept saying "tea cup" over and over and now when he finds a chair in the house on wheels, he gets into it and yells "Tea Cup!" to have us spin him.
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After the MTP we decided to head over to POTC. As we neared the building we noticed quite a few people walking up to it and walking away. This marked the 3rd time that we've attempted to do POTC on a trip and were told it was down with no ETR. We made the best of it though and headed over to The Tiki Room (one of my favorites, though I really hate Iago).
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After the Tiki Room we headed over toward POTC again and sure enough it was open. We walked on with maybe a 15 minute wait. The day was just going so well! After POTC we hit the Magic Carpets of Aladdin.
After Aladdin we headed over to our favorite spot to watch Wishes... a little path between Main Street and the Noodle Station. It had some folks but we found a great spot to end the night.
This was by far the best day we had the whole trip. The weather was gorgeous, not to hot, and being one of the first in the park and walking onto nearly everything was just great. There isn't one thing I can say about the day that was bad.
Head On Over to Check Out Day 3!!
