Hey, look, the blog’s not dead! Thanks to business travel, a hurricane, and an out-of-state family emergency I am far more behind on blog upkeep than I’d like. Sorry! In any case, let’s get back to recapping our epic September WDW trip, especially since we’re off on another WDW trip next month!

Friday, September 14

Another day, another early rope-drop wake-up call. We get ready and head out the door around 7:40 for the walk to the MK. It’s a nice morning, but humid again. (Little did I know that later in our trip we’d be praying for the relatively low humidity of these first few days!) We arrive at the MK and head in through the far left gates, and are welcomed by Mouse-hand-clad Cast Members onto a virtually empty Main Street. Even CP is pretty breathtaken by the morning calmness. We snap pictures and have our Photopass pics taken, including some right up at the Castle.

A beautiful sight.

Orange bird!

Postcard perfect.

A beautiful MK morning.

We check in for breakfast at the Crystal Palace right on schedule;  after a brief wait we are ushered to our table. Our server, Eric, explains the basics of the buffet and of character interaction. Before getting food we have a nice meet and greet with Piglet. Then we sprint off to the buffet –  it’s Mickey Waffles and eggs and lots of fruit for CP, and I have a made to order omelet with ham, cheddar, green peppers, and onions; fruit, puffed french toast, and a taste of bread pudding. The coffee is terrible, the orange juice ok. CP gets seconds of tons of fruit. I get seconds of bread pudding and breakfast lasagna, a terrible yet amazing dish that I still can’t stop thinking about! (Pancakes! Waffles! Pound cake! Pastry cream! ALL TOGETHER!)

We have a nice interaction with Pooh but miss Tigger and Eeyore. We could have waited, but we were in a hurry to settle up and head back out to the empty Main Street. Overall, I’d say we were pleased with our Crystal Palace breakfast, although I’m not sure I would have paid for the meal out-of-pocket. We did learn, however, that we have zero problem interacting with characters, meaning we don’t feel at all like awkward dorks just because we’re adults. (Maybe we should. But we don’t. I’m owning it!)

We head toward the front of the park, reveling in the emptiness:

This is how I like my Main Street – clean and empty.

We hop in line to be first to meet Pluto, and have more Photopass pictures taken while we wait. Suddenly, the rope drop crowds stream in, a fun experience to watch from the perspective of *not* being one of the many trying to get in as quickly as possible.  We have a great Photopass photographer to meet Pluto:

Meeting one of our favorites.

We head back up Main Street, pin trading all the way. It’s still quiet, and the Halloween decorations are lovely:

Boo to you, etc.

And you and you and you, etc.

We then walk through the Castle to ride Peter Pan while it’s still a walkon.  Here, happy Japanese tourists wave at me in line – it is, I think, the the second time I’ve been mistaken for a cast member in two days. We walk leisurely through Fantasyland, taking pictures of the new construction, and then through Tomorrowland to see the Carousel of Progress, a first for us.  With visions of progress dancing in our heads it is off to the Peoplemover, from which we spot Stitch. Emboldened by our Crystal Palace experience, we wonder: do we meet him? I’m hesitant, but we decide to anyway. He’s AWESOME, very friendly, interested in CP’s Orange Bird ears, and so we put them on him for pics. The character attendant with Stitch loves our pins, and remarks that she wishes she had the Tinkerbell pin to complete her cupcake collection. We think we don’t have it, but after about 100 yards we realize we do, so we return to gift it to her. She won’t accept, but happily trades us a pin for it.

Someone likes Orange Bird ears!

Happy that such an simple act could make someone’s day, we decide to head out, back to the Contemporary for rest and refreshment (and pin restocking). We are still trying desperately to use our snack credits, and so we stop at Joffrey’s (also known as Contempo Grounds, but it’s really a Joffrey’s coffee location) in the lobby to get iced mochas for a credit each. The lobby is MOBBED with loud Royal Prestige participants and their families, and we can’t wait to get out of there. Soon we’re on our way out again, headed to the monorail for the quick trip to the TTC.  Our next stop? Epcot. We transfer to a waiting Epcot monorail, and are at Epcot around 12:30.

Hey spaceball!

We decide against Photopass pics in front of Spaceship Earth because it’s too crowded, so we stop off at Art of Disney (where they are selling new great vintage poster signs) before heading to Club Cool. Then it’s off to Mouse Gears to browse and pick up a new retro Mickey shirt. As it’s only day three of our trip and my feet and back are starting to ache, we walk back to Club Cool for some soda with which to swallow prophylactic Advil. We then brave the midday heat and go to Duffy’s meet-and-great spot near the World Showcase, where we decide to be total dorks and meet Duffy. We stand in line behind some adorable Japanese tourists who are absolutely over-the-moon at meeting him. Duffy is lovely (not as nice as  the MVMCP Duffy we met in December, but still), but the Photopass photographer is creepy, awkward, and keeps referring to us as sisters. Umm. Partners, not sisters. We don’t even look alike!

Not pictured: Photopass picture in which we look awkward and scared of our photographer. You get this stock photo of Duffy instead.

We quickly run away and head into Duffy’s store to browse. A Friendship boat is at the dock, so we hop on for the ride to Germany. We browse the stores there, admire the  miniature train, and then head to Mitsukoshi in Japan. CP loves the Keroppi merchandise, and, of course, the Totoro merch – we break protocol and buy a big item before trip’s end, leaving with another Totoro.   Then it’s time for a kaki gori break, which is the perfect cooling antidote to the heat and humidity. We eat it at the Katsura Grill, resting our feet and people watching while we rejuvenate ourselves.  Feeling better, we make the walk through to France, stopping at the perfume store where a lady named Lulu shows us the new Givenchy scents. I’m almost tempted, but end up not pulling the trigger. We continue on to the UK stores, and then walk through Canada and back out toward the entrance, where we stop at the Pin Trading store. Totally wearing our dorkiness on our sleeves, we stop to meet Epcot’s Stitch, who is awesome and somehow conveys to me that he wants cake. His poses are terrific – claws up! Surfer pose! We manage to squeeze in a few Photopass pictures at the front, and then happy, we head back to the monorail for some downtime at the Contemporary.

Surf’s up, hot and sweaty Epcot visitors.

Back in our room we nap, shower, and change for our Le Cellier dinner.  Let me take this moment to point out again the beautiful view we had from our room at the Contemporary:

Ahhhhhh.

We came back for our afternoon rest and found this guy. Cuuuuute.

Let it be said I never got sick of this view, and even in the heat, it was nice to relax in the afternoon on the balcony listening to the sounds from the Magic Kingdom. Anyway, we decide to drive to Epcot to save time, and it’s a quick trip and easy park, close enough in the Create lot that we can walk to the entrance.  We do a little pin trading and Club Cool drinking on our way, and then CP spots a pin she would like to trade for with the representative at the DVC kiosk. He’s quite the talker, and before we know it we are signed up for a tour the next day, and we never make the trade! He’s kind of annoying and awkward, and doesn’t seem to listen well. Or understand that we’re running late for dinner. He also makes bizarre religious references (hello, not knowing your audience) and gives us incorrect information about making money off of DVC rentals. Again…awkward.

Finally, we break free and rush to Le Cellier, but as usual, they’re running a bit late. Why did we rush again? So, we sit in the lobby and make small talk about Barbies with the dad of a litttle girl who is trying to keep his daughter entertained in spite of the wait. Eventually we are seated in Saskatchewan and are told our server will be Marina, who was our server in December.  She’s as lovely as before and remembers us, and we end up having a rollicking good meal. She teases CP about being a lightweight and recommends she have a Pina Colava. I order the Pinot Noir that’s recommended for the filet, which we both order. For apps, I get the lobster chop salad w/o lobster (very good), CP the heirloom tomato salad. For dessert, she gets the chocolate trio and I the cucumber/melon sea salt sorbets.

The sorbets are unique and unexpected, and offer a light end to a meal that was otherwise very heavy. The food is good if a bit salty (but maybe I’m just not used to salty?), but the ambiance is such that it’s really hard to see Le Cellier as a signature restaurant. For one thing, there are no tablecloths on the table, which would be a simple way to add some refinement and distinguish the dinner service from the lunch service. Other diners are terribly dressed, and even as the time got later and later, families came in with lots of kids, adding noise to an already crowded, loud space. But Marina is great, happy we’re coming back for lunch and suggests we put our lunch in her hands, something no guest has ever let her do. We agree and look forward to seeing her later in the week.

Hilariously, CP is tipsy even after her “lightweight” drink, and so we for different reasons enjoy the walk back to the car. Once back at the Contemporary we do a little reading, watch a little Wishes, and we both fall asleep quickly. A long but good day!