#WDW2017 - A little R&R, and food

Today was a relatively relaxing day.  AA started the day earlier than the others as he had to take two phone calls from Germany for work.  By the time he got back to the room at 10:15, the crew was up and eating breakfast at the table.  Two were topless, pantless but full of smiles.

After everyone was done eating and dressed, we wandered around the resort looking at all of the Disney props and characters.  We saw:

Ariel

Prince Eric

Rafiki

Simba

Mater (T is all up in his grill)

Lightning McQueen

It was then time to head to the bus to make our way to the Magic Kingdom so we could go for lunch at Contempo at the Contemporary Resort, just outside the gates.  We weren't sure if RR1 was going to make it without falling asleep, she was pretty chill.

RR2 made a new friend - Keith who has a little brother "about 4 or 5" who actually is almost 6 according to the older kid who was with him.  We also learned about the pin swap program from Keith, who himself was probably 12 years old.  The pin swap program consists of a lanyard and a bunch of pins.  When you find someone who has a lanyard with pins, they are likely part of the program and you can trade pins.  Keith was wondering if MbMell was a program participant but she was not.  We were all very impressed with how social Keith was and he obviously talks with a lot of people at Disney World.

We found Sorcerer Mickey outside the Contemporary Resort

Once at the Contemporary Resort, we made our way to the 4th floor to the Contempo Restaurant.  The hotel was very fancy with "contemporary styling" (I wonder where the name came from).  Lunch was delicious - meatlovers flatbread for AA, Lola had a turkey club (sans bread), MbMell had the same (avec bread) and the twinkies ate off of plates.  With our dining plan, we also got a dessert or a drink - Lola elected for a drink and the others shared two cookie sandwiches (to chocolate chip cookies sandwiching a layer of icing with chocolate chips).

As we ate, we could watch the monorail enter and exit the hotel one floor above.  We decided to make our trek back to Magic Kingdom by monorail, but instead of taking the direct route we chose go the long route around the Seven Seas Lagoon.  And by chose, I mean we went up the wrong elevator and that was our only option.  Had we gone to a different elevator at the other end of the hotel we would have gone the direct route.  That's ok, everyone enjoyed their monorail ride.

 On the Monorail!

Once back at the Art of Animation hotel, we got changed into our bathing suits and went to the pool.  Everyone had a blast.  Missy loved running around the splash pad trying to catch the water shooting up while Baby Bear enjoyed using the life jacket and floating on his back in the pool.

At around 4, we started to pack up - perfecting timing as the pool had to be closed for an emergency cleaning.

RR2 telling us that they have to "clean the pool"

We stopped outside our hotel for a quick group photo:

After a brief nap, it was time to make our way for supper.  We loaded up in a bus again and got off at Hollywood Studios.  We were hoping to take a boat ride to the Beach Resort but they were unfortunately closed.  Instead, we took a bus and go there a little bit early - enough time for a quick bum change and short exploring adventure around the beach front to see the French Quarter opposite us and a beached ship.

Looking in on the pool

Dinner was unreal.  The kids ate the combined equivalent to a full (full) grown adult.  The adults ate their fair share too.  We got our moneys worth...

Yes, they had crab legs.  All you can eat crab legs.  Lola was happy.  So was Missy.

The kids enjoyed their corn on the cob:

The way back we were in luck - the boats were now running as the rain had stopped.  We boarded the Friendship Boat and made our way back to Hollywood Studios.

Waiting for the boat to arrive

Our boat

On the boat

Once back at HS, we made our way to the buses, just in time to catch the last buses back.  Not to worry - one of the rules at Disney is that no one will be left behind.  We got on the bus which we called "our bus" since there was no one else on it.

On Our Bus

Back at the hotel, we attempted to find ears for the kids but no luck.  We did find some pretty cute hats though:

After a short bath and a quick Daniel Tiger episode to keep the baby tigers occupied while MbMell cut finger and toe nails, it was bed time.

Reading books

It was a nice relaxing day - we still saw lots and did enough, we just weren't run off our feet today.  Tomorrow we are heading back to the Magic Kingdom for more magical memories.  The girls are re-working our itinerary for tomorrow to maximize our time at the park.  It sounds like it will be another full, long day - we should get a good nights sleep.