Spending time with friends

We were up by 7am and after having taken showers and spent a little time on the balcony, we headed towards the lounge to grab some breakfast. I had some tea, while Tom enjoyed some Nespresso. They had quite an array of breakfast foods and Tom chose a bagel, which he toasted, with some cream cheese and some melon pieces.

I took a chocolate croissant and some pineapple. I do have to admit that the chocolate croissant was very good and I went for a second helping. After breakfast we went down to valet services and had our car brought around and quickly went offsite to do some shopping. It had started to rain, but there was only very light rain when we returned and we decided to go and visit the Magic Kingdom. So we went upstairs and put our purchases into our room, then went down to the fourth floor and went to the Contempo Café. We both got a drink and I wanted to try one of their cupcakes and therefore picked up a Chocolate Peanut butter Cupcakes.

It was huge, moist and sweet. Tom didn’t want anything sweet, so he ordered the Steakhouse Salad, marinated beef, mixed greens shaved red onions, goat cheese, and vine-ripe tomatoes with mustard dressing. It was quite a large helping, but very tasty. I needed something savoury after having eaten more than half of the cupcake, and since Tom was full and wanted to try the cupcake, we just switched plates. While we were still happily munching away, I heard a familiar voice and looked up and saw some friends we had gotten to know on the Disney Dream the summer before, Elaine, Howie, Scott and Rachel.

A few minutes later we all went up to the Concierge Level, they all had a look around and then we headed to our room. We exchanged presents and sat and talked and talked some more.  Time just flew by and we hadn’t even noticed it. So, after quite some time we decided to all head over to the Magic Kingdom and within a few minutes we were at the turnstiles. Many people must have chosen the same park that day, as the park was pretty full. We all enjoyed being in the park and decided to go on some rides together. What ride do you get on in this crowded park? Seems, we all had the same idea and the People Mover was our chosen first ride.

Even that had a line, but it moved fast and we were seated on the ride and enjoyed a nice view of Tomorrowland from above. Soon it was time to get off again and since we were right there and the line was only a 20 minute wait, we all got in the Buzz Lightyear line. We had a lot to talk about and quickly we reached the boarding zone. Howie had given me lots of tips on how to manage a high score, but sadly I missed all the targets. Once we had finished our ride, we admired our photos and then headed towards the new Storybook Circus. It was fun to check out the new area and once we were done we headed over to another fun show, Philharmagic.

There was little to no line and we found good seats and enjoyed the show with our friends. And after checking out the gift shop we walked towards the rose garden, where we found a friendly Photopass photographer who took a photo of all of us with a lot of different cameras. Then it was time to say goodbye for the day. Tom and I wanted to get some things done and headed towards the exit, while Elaine and Howie stayed at the Magic Kingdom.

We slowly strolled down Main Street, checking out a few more of the shops, then stopped at the Main Street Confectionary. The line was long and I was about to pass up on a treat, but they just looked too yummy. Since the line seemed to move pretty fast we got in it and only the people in front of us held it up quite a bit.They went back and forth on which fudge to buy and it took a long time for them to decide. Finally it was our turn and I ordered my treats, paid for them and then the CM behind the till offered everyone a sample of fresh fudge. You cannot say no to such a treat, can you? Nibbling our fudge we headed towards the exit, just to be stopped after about 10 steps. There was a veteran helping out in the flag retreat. We watched and when they were done we made it to the exit and walked over to the Contemporary. 10 minutes after we had left the Magic Kingdom we were admiring the view from high up again and since we felt a little peckish we headed over to the lounge. They had changed to appetizers and Tom picked up a Yuengling and a plate of cheese, crackers, olives, cucumber slices and tomatoes. I had gotten some Diet Coke, poured myself a glass of white wine and gotten some breaded chicken strips, some delicious steak flatbread and a bit of dipping sauce. Both were so good that I went back for seconds and Tom tried it as well. We then headed downstairs to the shopping area and bought a DVC backpack and a few other items before returning to our room.

I wanted to try one of my treats from the Main Street Confectionary and decided on trying the Chocolate dipped strawberry. It had been sitting out a bit and was fragrant, ripe and juicy. We put the chairs out on the balcony to good use and sat outside with a beverage for quite some time before we wanted to pay another visit to the lounge. Tom was fancying a drink and I was hoping for some desserts.

When we got there, we were both rewarded. First Tom took a few pics of the lounge and its offerings, then he picked up a Heineken and a Diet Coke for me.

I tried two different pastries and some green apple with caramel dipping sauce, which was just outstanding, while Tom tried a cookie and some apple with caramel as well. We sat for quite a while and Tom got some Brandy as well, while we enjoyed the view. It took quite some time until we returned to our room. I repacked some things and we relaxed for a while, then decided on a Monorail loop. We both got changed and headed downstairs to the Monorail stop. There was quite a line when we arrived and we had to wait for the third Monorail to get on. We got off at the Polynesian and walked around the grounds, checked out the shop and finally headed over to Captain Cooks to pick up some dinner to take back to the Contemporary with us.

Once our order had been filled we strolled back to the Monorail and got onto the next one and rode back to the Contemporary. There were some things we had still left in the car and when we got back we headed out to the car and picked them up. When we entered the room we saw that we had had turndown service and since we had left an extra tip, we had received a very generous amount of chocolates.

Having eaten we took another little rest before we headed outside onto the balcony again to watch the fireworks. We both had something to drink on the little side table, Tom had his camera handy and when the fireworks started we were all ready for it and enjoyed them very much. After the fireworks were over we still sat out on the balcony for a while longer, watched the Water Pageant go by before we headed back inside. Tom went and got another  beer, while I attacked the second one of my snacks, a Chocolate Covered Pineapple spear. Around 11.30 we finally fell into our beds and called it a day.