The next morning, July 29th, I headed over to the Contemporary hotel to meet up with Luke, Andie, Porter, and Kenna. They showed me around the resort pool area and then we went up to the skybridge so they could show me how close they were to Magic Kingdom. We then headed into the hotel where we met up with the rest of the Smith family for brunch at Chef Mickey's!
Brunch consisted of scrambled eggs, beef brisket, sausage links, bacon, Mickey waffles, loaded potato cheese casserole, banana bread French toast, and plenty of delicious food for our gluten-free family members (doughnuts, Mickey waffles, and eggs). Everything was served "family style" so there was plenty to go around 😋
While you are eating each of the "Big Five" (Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and Pluto) comes around to visit and take pictures.
[Goofy is too silly!]
[Luke and Rick (Andie's brother)]
Andie, Alysse, and Chasten were VERY excited when Pluto came around because they all use to "hang out" back in the day 😉
Best of friends!
After breakfast we took the monorail to Disney's Polynesian Village Resort. It's a beautiful hotel with a fun pool (which the kids promptly fell into) and over the water bungalows.
Alysse, who currently works for Disney as a travel agent (if you need her number let me know!), pulled some strings and got us a tour of one of the bungalows!
[Laila and Porter on the bungalow balcony]
[Magic Kingdom is just a ferry ride away]
The bungalow is BEAUTIFUL! I hope we can stay there some day!
After getting some delicious DOLE whip, we hopped on the monorail and headed over to Disney's Grand Floridan Resort and Spa. This hotel is modeled off of the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego. It's magnificent!
We walked around the grounds and then went out to the pier to take pictures.
[Luke, Porter, Kenna, Andie, Laila, Rick, Joani (Andie's mom), Ty (Andie's dad), Wyatt, Chasten, Alysse, and Annie (Andie's younger sister)]
We THEN took a bus to Disney Springs where we got drinks on the roof of the Coca-Cola Store, shopped at World of Disney, got dinner at Chicken Guy, AND got cookies from Gideon's 😋
I've only been to one (Beach Club) of the Disney World Resort Hotels, so it was nice to be able to visit some more of the upscale deluxe resorts. And I've been craving Gideon's since we were here in December, so I'm glad we were able to get some cookies!
The next day (July 30th) we went to my second favorite Disney World Park: EPCOT!
We got in early with the rest of the hotel guest and headed straight for Soarin' Around the World (another favorite)! Bravo One please! It was a perfect start to the day!
Next we headed over to the new Guardians of the Galaxy ride. It was amazing! I love that these rides just keep getting better and better! It was a rollercoaster, but it was so smooth and so much fun. I was just laughing the entire ride!
We then went over to Test Track where Kenna and Porter got to build their own cars!
We did most of the rides in the non-showcase area before heading to "Journey into Imagination with Figment." As we were about the board the ride we noticed that the Cast Members were using towels to wipe down the seats. I thought it was strange, since all the COVID restrictions were lifted, but I brushed it off and followed Luke onto the ride. I sat down on the bench and when I put my hand down on the bench I felt something wet. Ugh. So, that's what they were trying to clean up. I put my hand in someones chunky vomit. Luckily, only a little got on my pants. I stood up and asked for help. The Cast Member said they had some hand sanitizer I could use. I told her I had chunky vomit on my hands and I needed to wash them in a sink. The Cast Members didn't seem to care that I was standing there with SOMEONE ELSES VOMIT on my hand. I asked if I could use a bathroom in the building, but they said I had to leave the building and find a customer bathroom. So, I walked out of the ride and down the street to find a bathroom. As I was walking I glanced down at my hand and immediately started to gag. Luckily, I made it to the bathroom and washed my hands vigorously before I threw up. UGH.
To cheer myself up I went shopping and bought gifts for the kids and then got a tasty beverage.
I then headed to Norway to get a pastry while I waited for the rest of the family to catch up.
I got a sweet pretzel with almonds and relaxed by the Stave church building (fun fact: the church that this building was modeled off of is in Oslo and we are going to see it while we are there in October!)
After regrouping I gave the kids their gifts. I bought Kenna and Laila Princess Minnie Mouse dolls and I bought Porter and Wyatt stuffed Figment's.
[I love being "fun Aunt Courtney"]
[Figment]
We then walked through the rest of the showcase area; saw the France, China, and United States movies; got dinner in England; and dessert in Morocco.
[Delicious baklava]
We watched the fireworks show when the park closed and then hung out for an hour while everyone else left the Park.
Minus the vomit incident, it was another super fun day!
For my last day in Orlando (July 31st), we had another "Resort Day."
We started at The Contemporary where everyone gathered to go swimming. We then headed over to Port Orleans to get lunch, beignets, and swim at their pool.
[Delicious Mickey-shaped beignets]
[Porter]
[Kenna]
We then took the Skyliner to Disney's Beach Club Resort to get ice cream at Beaches and Cream. But they were completely booked up for the rest of the day! Bummer!
We walked over to the BoardWalk Resort and swam there for a while. The kids LOVED their giant slide!
[Beautiful sunset on the BoardWalk]
We then got dinner at a French fry shack. I got BBQ pulled pork fries, Luke got carne asada fries, Alysse got Parmesan garlic fries, and Chasten got the chili cheese fries. We all shared and everything was delicious.
We ended the day chatting and eating ice cream on the BoardWalk. I said goodbye to the Smith Family and then we took the bus back to the Contemporary.
[Saying "goodbye" at the Contemporary - I didn't realize how sun kissed we all were]
I just want to say thanks to the Smith family for letting me tag along on their family vacation! I'm bummed I wasn't able to stay for Magic Kingdom, but I missed my boys and I needed to get home!
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