Family Reunion Trip Redoux - Day 7

**Paiges** · 09-19-2015, 10:53 PM

Me and DH
DD – 15 and 14
DS – 12
And 24 more grandparents, siblings, aunts and uncles, nephews and nieces, and cousins galore!

This was our second MK day. We rode 7DMT, the tea cups, Space Mtn, BTMRR. We had lunch reservations at BOG – one for 11 at 12:15, and one for 2 at 12:20. When my family checked in at noon, they told me that if we all wanted to go in together, they would not be able to check us in until 12:15, so we went off to ride Ariel. Another group was independently told the same thing, so they headed off to ride It’s a Small World. However, the third part of our group was told they could check in and be seated as long as they were not paying for us all, so they went ahead. By the time we had all communicated and the rest of us made it through our rides and the line to order, they had been holding a table for 13 for quite some time. I’m sure it wasn’t their best lunch experience!

When we got to the kiosk to order, the CM that had been there left but said to let her know if there were any questions. We assumed that the condiments on the sandwiches were on the side, since there was no option to get them without. When they were delivered, we discovered that we were wrong – and had to send three sandwiches back. Other members of our party said that the CM at their kiosk went to a special screen to alter their special orders. I thought the food at BOG was excellent. The sandwiches were huge. I had the braised pork, and it was very good. The strawberry cheesecake and grey stuff cupcakes were delish! The atmosphere was very fun.

After lunch, we went to the big top to get character pics with Goofy and Donald. (I forgot to mention that at AK, we happened to encounter Tarzan on one of the trails and got pics with him. They are a hoot! He is smelling the kids and picking bugs out of their hair.) Then we cut through Adventureland and got our first Dole whip floats! We caught a bit of the afternoon parade, then ran off to get in line to meet Merida. DD stayed in line to wait for her return while I shopped on Main Street a while, and the rest of our party headed back to the hotel. I met DD just before Merida’s return, and we got some cute pics with her. On our way out of the park, I noticed Aurora without a line, so we got to meet her, also. We made it to the bus before the rain hit, and it rained hard for a while.

We changed into nicer clothes at the resort and headed to the Contemporary for dinner at California Grill via MK and the monorail. There were 11 of us, and it was an enchanting dinner. We had THE primo table for viewing the castle and fireworks. Our server, Roberto, was superb! He took special care of the kids, and made them his signature Shirley Temple. The food was beyond delicious, and viewing the fireworks from the observation deck was delightful. I had the filet; it was cooked perfectly and was so tasty. In fact, four out of five in our family had the filet. My DS ate more of his filet than any other meal the entire trip. One DD ordered the pork, and she loved it. For dessert, I had the chocolate pudding cake. It was very good; I was a little worried about the nutella filling, but I couldn’t taste the nutella at all. I also had a bite of the crème brulee and it was quite good as well. The presentation of the dishes was beautiful.

After dinner, we took some photos since we were all dressed nicely. And we had to say goodbye to most of our remaining extended family. Then our family split up. DH and DD went back to our resort to get a caricature, and DS, DD and I stayed to catch the electric light parade. It was about 9:40, and the concierge said that the parade came by the Contemporary at 10:12. I thought I’d be clever and we would jump on the monorail and catch the parade further up the line and save some time. However, once we got on the monorail, I realized that based on the times I had written down for the parade stops that we were going to miss it at the other resorts. So we rode the full monorail loop, got off again at the Contemporary, and made it to the dock just before 10:12. There were other people also waiting, and no one was sure how the parade worked. What looked like the parade came floating by, all dark, and we were convinced that we had missed it. Then it stopped, and suddenly the music started and the lights came on. It was such a Disney moment! DD and I were giddy! We enjoyed the show, then monorailed back to MK and caught a bus home.

We arrived back just in time to take photos of DD’s caricature being drawn. She had the artist draw her as the Inside Out character Disgust. It turned out very cute! Once the drawing was done, we packed most of our things to prepare for our next day’s departure.