Birthday at Magic Kingdom report

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Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2009 (actually a travel day for me -- am currently at Hilton Head)

Wow, it's sure hit and miss for me getting any blogs posted from this trip -- but it's not a very exciting read anyway. And some of the days won't mean anything to you unless you understand Disney jargon (I do try to translate, but sometimes that gets lost from day to day) I will eventually post photos -- it's been a fun trip for me. Here's what I did to celebrate my actual birthday day (the whole trip is my b'day present to myself).

November 15, 2009; Sunday

Today is my 65th birthday, which I am celebrating on this trip. Clear and sunny weather. Got off to a leisurely start for the day. DGS stayed with me in the Animal Kingdom Lodge Villa studio, and DD and her boyfriend (BF) stayed at All Star Sports. We had bkfst in the room and kept a lookout from the balcony for animals. Not too many early on, but a few. DD and BF arrived a little before ten to collect DGS and visit a little before they headed home. Just after they left, the keepers put out giraffe food, so lots more animals showed up; just had had glimpses of giraffes earlier. So I hung around and watched them some more. DGS had gone down to a lower floor viewing area earler, where he could see them thru the trees (better view than our 5th floor balcony). The balcony is larger than Saratoga Springs (another Disney resort), with better visibility thru the railing, and better furniture (nicer chairs and one footstool -- which I really like).

Disney is doing a birthday promo this year; you can get a one-day admission, a family fast pass, or a “fun card” in the amount of the admission (if you already have tickets) -- she checked my driver’s license and my annual pass, then issued me the gift card -- only usable for merchandise in any of the WDW stores. I went to Magic Kingdom to get it, and then spent some time looking thru the shops. We had gotten some Photopass pictures that were pretty good, so I decided to apply it to that, and proceeded to go around and get more photos taken. I rode the train a couple of stations, got a strawberry shortcake sundae, and rode Snow White -- that’s about all the non-shopping and photo-taking stuff I did.

I had an early dinner reservation at the top of the Contemporary Hotel in the California Grill, so I went over there to wander around and see more of the hotel. Checked in at 4:30 with the CG desk on the 2nd floor, and reported back at 5 to take the hosted elevator up to the restaurant. Started with a beer (they didn’t have a very good selection -- they feature an extensive wine list) in the lounge until my buzzer went off. I can’t eat a whole lot at once, so I just ordered an entrée (pork tenderloin, small serving of gooey mashed potatoes, some button mushrooms and a little bit of greenery) -- it didn’t look like much on its huge plate, but I didn’t finish all of it -- it was way too salty for me (and I like salt). The meat was good, very tender. I had a window table with a nice sunset view, and a view toward Space Mountain and the castle, and there was Mickey confetti on the table for my birthday. The service was quick so I was out of there fairly early. The server brought me a piece of chocolate cake in a nice box for my birthday (I was too full to order a dessert, and I’d had that shortcake earlier). Although I wasn’t impressed with the meal, overall it’s a really nice experience -- great ambience, beautiful view, and you get to come back to see the MK fireworks -- it was the holiday version this night. It was spectacular, even tho it was somewhat distant (I like to be as close as possible to them). After the fireworks, I made the walk from the hotel over to the front of MK, to catch the bus back to my hotel. It took me a little over 10 minutes from the 1st floor doorway, to the bus area -- would be a few more minutes to get into the park. The bus ride from MK to AK takes a while, and a lady decided she needed to sing Christmas songs to her kids most of the way (not sure why she thought the rest of us needed to suffer thru that).

Earlier, I took the bus from the Contemporary to Downtown Disney to shop (in between dinner and fireworks), and a 2 year old shrieked and screamed most of the way. Yet another reason to have my own car, and not use the Disney bus system (which is generally good for accessing MK) -- sometimes it seems like it’s a long wait for a bus to come. And they can be very crowded and noisy.

I don’t mean to dwell on the little negative things that happen -- lots of fun things happen also. Got lots and lots of cheerful “Happy Birthdays” today (they give you a button to wear) -- from “cast members” and other guests. Enjoyed the characters and parade performers and the decorations, etc. Everything is so bright and cheery and imaginative, and most people are enjoying it (just have to try to ignore the guests who are not having such a magical time, but unfortunately, there are fairly frequently annoying guests).

Overall, it was a pretty fun, and very interesting birthday day for me (I put some effort into making sure that it was): animals to watch in the morning, and fireworks at night -- plus colorful and pretty stuff to look at all day.

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