Leaving Animal Kingdom, I stopped at The Outpost gift shop to have a look around. I quickly found a neat AK-themed scrap book layout kit, and apparently also purchased something else that I can't remember, nor can I decipher the receipt!! It reads: "TS WDW VL BLU YM." Hmm...something blue and yummy??! A table service?!....what's a "VL?"! Oh well, no matter I guess....whatever it is, I trust it's serving its purpose!
I was giving myself some down time this afternoon, before my Afternoon Tea and late night at the Magic Kingdom. I took some photos around POFQ and browsed around Jackson Square Gifts....
My building....
Courtyard looking towards the lobby....
Then, despite it being the heat of the day and quite warm, I went to the hot tub for a soak. It had been very crowded the night before. It still felt quite good, but I just didn't linger too long. Decided after that to have a swim in the pool, and
that was refreshing!
There was still quite a while before I had to be at the Grand Floridian Tea Room, but after my swim I was ready to venture out again so I set off for MK, stopping at Sassagoula to fill up on Diet Coke on my way out. I was early enough that I decided to go into the MK for a bit, and as I entered the park I just caught the end of this parade:
I love Sweetums!!
Heading to Tomorrowland, I went for the WEDway and got a front row seat!! I could ride this all day, I swear I could....
After a spin on the WEDway, I snapped that pic of my favorite little aliens and then bought a frozen Coke at the nearby Lunching Pad. I did a lot of just poking around Main Street, looking at this and that, listening to BGM..... When I determined it was time to head to the GF, I hopped on the monorail and enjoyed the trip around Bay Lake.
I was still a bit early but headed in to find the Tea Room and at least check in. I had never been in the GF before and it was quite stunning. It's not my style, and not someplace I ever aspire to stay at, but it is beautifully done. Realizing I was on the 2nd floor and needed to be on the lower level, I followed the signs for the stairs....as I came around the corner and started to descend, the staircase blew me away -- all I could think of was
This is the flippin' Titanic on land!!! Dude.....that staircase is HUGE! I guess when you think about it, the period is roughly the same as the Titanic, so there were plenty of details in the GF to remind you of it.
Anyway, the Tea Room was just to the right at the bottom of the stairs, so I gave my name and sat in a big comfy chair to wait. And wait. And wait. I was 20 minutes early, and the Tea Room was FULL....so I ended up waiting probably close to 40 minutes before I got seated. Maybe more, I'm not sure. But it was SO WORTH IT!! I was given another flower for Mother's Day, and didn't feel at all out of place being here alone. I ordered the Sally Lunn tea, only it turns out they had just run out of Sally Lunn bread! But my lovely server offered me two scones instead, which was fine with me and they were
delicious. For dessert I was supposed to have a choice of strawberries & cream or the trifle, but I was also offered my choice of two pastries, which I accepted with delight! These pastries are part dessert, part art form! SO delicate, and served on this fancy silver tiered tray! I got a fruit tart and a chocolate eclair. For tea I got the Floral Jasmine Green......and I nearly finished the entire pot!! OMG it was sooooooo yummy. Very light, and just sweet enough.
I lingered over my tea and morsels just long enough, and then it was high time to return to the MK and get some fun on! It was EMH that night and I planned to stay and play for as long as I could keep my eyelids propped open!
Before it even got dark I managed to take in Big Thunder Mt. RR twice, Pirates, the WEDway again, Buzz Lightyear and Philharmagic. MK is SO awesome after dark! I took this photo on the back of the castle....I had never noticed those windows before!! I also like the giant peeking in at the back of Sir Mickey's.
Just before EMH officially started, I decided to ride the Jungle Cruise. It's not a "must-do" for me but there was no line at all (matter of fact I'm pretty certain I was on the last boat of the night). It ended up being a good decision because we had a GREAT skipper! One of the funniest moments of this day was when we were about to go through the little tunnel formed by the Asian "ruins", and he said, in his best Gene Wilder Willy Wonka voice --
"There's no way of really knowing....." ALL the adults on that boat just roared!!! It was SO funny and SO appropriate....
By the end of that ride I was feeling some hungry, so I hopped over to Casey's Corner for my favorite meal of a Casey's dog with cheese fries.....At this point everyone was vying for position outside for Wishes, so I had no problem pulling up a corner table in the back. I think Casey's is the only place in world that I actually enjoy a simple hotdog, that much. Yum - O. But, being Casey's, and having the reputation it does among myself and a couple of dear friends, there was just no way that this was going to be "just" a meal....Oh no. I can't eat here without thinking of that one experience in particular -- fries up the nostril and all -- so those two dear friends were front and center in my mind as I sat down to eat. Now, Casey's serves their dogs in this nice little foil/paper wrapper to preserve maximum warmth from steamer to your mouth. As I opened the bag, I tilted it a bit with my left hand, which evidently caused some dislodging in there because my right hand reached in and grabbed nothin' but a warm, naked hot dog.....It was so unexpected and SO inappropriate that I laughed out loud and probably turned 5 kinds of red.....DED! OMG what IS it with this place?!!
Moving right along!.....
I spent the rest of the evening running around from this attraction to the next.....took in the Haunted Mansion at night! Also BTMRR.....fantastic at night!! I had a Fastpass for The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and a great CM who let me wait for a front row! I caught the end of Wishes from Fantasyland right after that....it was cool to be practically right underneath it all!
I think I finally called it night somewhere around 11:30pm, and headed back to POFQ and my comfy, fluffy bed.....
And THAT, was just about the BEST Mother's Day EVER.
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Up Next: I Will Finish this TR If It Kills Me!!!!!!!