Let The Memories Continue! – Day 7
The one thing that you could never really plan for in a holiday is adverse weather conditions. Our original plan was to visit Disney’s Animal Kingdom today but the plan was thwarted by an impending thunderstorm. Flood and tornado warning up till 12pm were issued. And so, we decided to visit Downtown Disney instead. It was a wise decision as social media shared video later of the flooded park up to knee height.
While we were glad that we could rest our aching feet, we got hungry and were eagerly waiting for the rain to lighten as all our raincoats were in the car. We got ourselves ready and waited for this opportunity to dash to our car. What was meant to be a 10 minutes drive turned out to be an hour instead. The direct road leading to Downtown Disney was closed, we had to divert and there was a major traffic jam. Our car inched forward slowly. Besides our hunger pangs, the cars were orderly in what would have been a frustrating experience in Singapore with vehicles trying to cut in your way.
We finally arrived at our destination and made a beeline to Wolfgang Puck Express at Downtown Disney Marketplace. This is arguably the best quick service restaurant in the entire Walt Disney World. it serves a delightful lunch offerings of sandwiches, wood fired pizzas and many other entrees. ZA and Jarod queued at the counter while Ashley and I found ourselves a table. Orders were placed at the counter but this would be the last time we felt we’re at a counter service. A server immediately brought us our dinnerware. These were real silverware unlike most quick service locations which use plasticware. For our entrees, Ashley picked Macaroni & Cheese, Jarod ordered Bacon-wrapped Meatloaf, ZA had the Oven Roasted Salmon and I went with Spaghetti & Chicken Meatballs. For our dessert, Ashley had a cookie and the rest of us ordered Vanilla Bean Cheesecake. Ashley was so hungry she began eating her cookie which was picked up at the counter. Drinks were available self-service, and included soft drinks but tea varieties of tropical, sweetened and unsweetened were also available. Our food arrived soon and they were all delicious and we were all happy with our choices. Jarod could not stop raving about the Meatloaf he had. So, we decided to dine here again and cancelled Rainforest Cafe which we have a reservation for,
We made a stop at Goofy’s Candy Company after our lunch. This brightly coloured store is famous for their sweet treats. It serves up anything sweet you can think of: cookies, cupcakes, fudge, and caramel apples. The middle section of the store features a couple of large cases filled with wonderful delicacies. Goofy’s is also famous for its Create-Your-Own snacks. There is a fun little “assembly line” where guests can build a snack from the ground up! You decide what snack you want, what it’s dipped in, the topping and what it’s drizzled with. There are countless different combinations of flavors and snacks.Or, stick with the classics and dig into bags of flavored popcorn, fresh cotton candy and Frozen-themed items like Olaf apples and cake pops. We had so much trouble deciding what to get and walked out with some treats using our snack credits.
Our next stop was a huge toy shop called Once Upon A Toy. Upon entering Once Upon a Toy, we were bombarded with every toy imaginable – board games, plush animals, along with merchandise from ‘Star Wars,’ ‘Pirates of the Caribbean,’ ‘Toy Story,’ Playhouse Disney and much more! What makes Once Upon a Toy different from most toy stores, however, is the unique merchandise available. Guests can build their own light saber, make their own Mr. or Mrs. Potato Head from hundreds of different parts or even create a mini Walt Disney World with replicas of Cinderella Castle and the Monorail. We left after Ashley picked a Tangled book.
There is not only one, but three enormous toy stores in Downtown Disney. Our next stop was World of Disney Store. This is the world’s largest Disney character store, with 12 rooms brimming with apparel, collectibles, pins and more. As it was beginning to rain, the store was filled with shoppers and many others taking a shelter. Since the merchandises were largely similar to what we saw last year, Ashley did not get anything but had fun posing in front of the Disney Princess Magic Mirror, an interactive experience from Disney. With the help of a little Disney magic, Ashley virtually tried on a collection of authentic Disney Princess gowns and accessories, and saw herself transformed into her favorite princesses right before her eyes. It was really cool.
Next, we stepped into USA’s largest Lego Store. We were dazzled by life-sized Disney characters lovingly rendered in LEGO, from Maleficent to Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs and even Bambi. There is an outdoor play patio filled with tubs of Lego for kids to play with. Within the store, there is also a huge Pick-a-Brick Wall where you can select specific LEGO bricks, elements and mini-figures in a variety of colors and shapes. Ashley built a mini popstar Lego figurine.
By now, a thunderstorm was looming, so we hurried over to Starbucks to get coffee. Jarod had been craving for his Frappuccino since he failed to get it in Epcot two days ago. I also ordered a Latte to enjoy it in the comfort of our hotel room.
We made our way back to the hotel for a short rest and Ashley spent some time in the bath tub. Soon, it was time to leave for our dinner reservation at Chef Mickey’s Fun Time Buffet located at Contemporary Resort. Chef Mickey’s is insanely popular and difficult to book. We decided to include this in our plan last minute and were lucky to score a reservation. We decided to drive to Magic Kingdom and board the monorail to Contemporary Resort as I remembered that we have to walk quite a distance from guest parking lot to the restaurant.
When we arrived, our table was not ready and were given a pager and directed to take a souvenir photo which was included in our Memory Maker package. We were soon seated. The restaurant consists of colorful designs, Mickey Mouse pop-art, and a Mickey head motif. This is a character dining where Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto dressed as chefs mingle with guests for autographs and photos. Periodically during the meal, the festive tune Celebrate with Mickey Mouse will play over the loudspeakers. At that time, servers, characters, and guests will start twirling their napkins, dancing, and just celebrating in general. Since there was no place to hide, we joined in the fun. The food was decent but the highlight was really the dessert. There is a soft serve ice cream machine complete with toppings such as caramel and chocolate sauce and candy pieces. Both Jarod and Ashley were elated to find Reese M&Ms! All in all, we enjoyed the dining experience despite the many negative reviews we read.
After our meal, our original plan was to watch Wishes fireworks at the Observatory Deck, When we stepped out of the restaurant, it was raining cats and dogs so we abandoned our plan. We walked over to the monorail station and found the service suspended. We realised by now that we have made a huge mistake. We were directed to take a bus and there were long lines of people waiting to board. The buses had fixed capacity and could not accommodate more than that number. We were lucky that we managed to board the fourth bus and Ashley was already feeling cold and uncomfortable. As others have mentioned, Disney bus services were sometimes not reliable and we experienced it first hand. This is one of the reasons we decided to drive instead of using the Disney transportation service. Still, we were glad that we returned to our room safe and sound.