I woke up at 5:29 AM a full minute before my alarm was scheduled to go off. My parents, sister, brother, brother-in-law, nephew, and girlfriend all ventured over to the Contemporary Resort for our 7:05 AM reservation at Chef Mickey’s. Although we stumbled in like zombies, we were quickly invigorated by the food and the characters. Armed with still and video cameras, there was quite a bit of photography going on during this meal. At the moment, I only have access to the photos that I took.
Before I get into the photos, a few quick thoughts on the meal:
- Overall the buffett had a great selection
- Minor request – I would love for them to include pineapple
- I felt compelled to have a couple Mickey Waffles and they didn’t disappoint
- The best item in the buffett was the cheesy potatoes
- My sister was disappointed that they didn’t have an omlet station
As for the characters (in the order they appeared at the table)
- Goofy: Far and away the best of the characters. He came up behind my father, put his hands on his shoulders to show him that he was there and then started making fun of him. Goofy patted my father’s stomach, then pointed at his plate of food before pushing it away and indicating that he doesn’t need any more. Afterwards he was very personable with both my nephew and my autistic brother.
- Mickey: Was willing to accomodate pictures, and was probably the second most animated character. However, after Goofy Mickey was a bit of a let down on the energy department
- Donald: Like Mikey, Donald went straight to my nephew which was to be expected, however we had to ask him to get pictures taken with some of the other people at the table. My brother gave Donald a kiss, and Donald did a good job of hamming it up for us.
- Minnie: Was probably the least personable of all the characters. She went straight to my nephew, allowed time for a picture or two, and then quickly moved on to the next table.
- Pluto: Pluto did a decent job as well, but I think we were all just about done with eating at that point and weren’t as interested in him. He also went over to the adults in our group as well as my nephew.
My Brother-In-Law, Goofy, and My Father
My Mother, Goofy, and My Brother
My Nephew and Mickey
My Nephew and Mickey
My Nephew, Girlfriend, Donald, and myself
My Nephew, Girlfriend, Donald, and myself
My Parents and Pluto
After Breakfast, my mother, girlfriend and I walked over to the Magic Kingdom while everyone else took the monorail. We wound up arriving right at rope drop, so the three of us had a quick ride on Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. My girlfriend dominated as usual, but I maintain that my gun had no range – in the second room, my gun couldn’t reach the back wall.
The three of us made our way to Dumbo to meet the rest of my family. I hopped in line while they were a few minutes away, and my nephew wound up joining me midway through the line. When I was a little older than my nephew, my aunt volunteered to wait in line for Dumbo with me. After about an hour, I told her that I didn’t want to go on anymore while we were next in line. Part of me was hoping that my nephew would pull something similar, if for no other reason than to have the parallel story.
My father is never one to pass up a photo opportunity with his favorite character, Uncle Scrooge McDuck, so he and my nephew stood in line for the opportunity.
After Dumbo, my brother, girlfriend, brother-in-law and nephew all went on the Tomorrowland Speedway – unfortunately the photos of the Speedway and Dumbo were either too blurry or two sunsplashed. Hopefully some of the other cameras that were in use were able to get some better footage.
Following the Speedway, my father, brother, brother-in-law and nephew all went on Goofy’s Barnstormer. While we were in Mickey’s Toontown I encountered a fellow Patriots fan that started chanting, “Wilfork!” in recognition of the Vince Wilfork jersey I was wearing. Unfortunately as I write this, the Patriots are losing 31-17 to the Saints.
We continued our tour of Fantasyland with trips on The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan’s Flight, “it’s a small world”, and Mickey’s PhilharMagic. After this, we met up with my aunt, uncle, and cousin and all said our goodbyes to my sister, brother-in-law and nephew who had to leave for the airport.
My brother, cousin and aunt all went in to see Stitch’s Great Escape, and then the eight of us went on Space Mountain. Before leaving the Magic Kingdom, my mother and I went on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority while everyone else went on Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. There’s not much to see when inside Space Mountain while riding the Tomorrowland Transit Authority as it’s very dark now. I did notice an asteroid projection that looked quite similar to the old “cookie” projection that was in Space Mountain before the refurbishment – perhaps they decided to keep it.
We made our way over to Hollywood Studios after this, and our first stop was the Backlot Express for a late lunch/early dinner. After eating, everyone but my father and myself went on Toy Story Mania. I walked around the park for a bit while my father looked around at the pinshop underneath the big blue Studios hat. My walk led me to the Tower of Terror area where I found the bellhop that is most often featured on the Travel Channel specials for the parks. We had seen him before, but it had been several years. I made a point of shaking his hand and commending him on a job well done.
When they were walking back to the central hub after the ride, my aunt and cousin saw that a showing of the Voyage of the Little Mermaid was about to be let in, so they went in to see that while the rest of us went on The Great Movie Ride. Our guide was relatively bland, but I think that may have been the product of having to strictly stay with the script. The girl playing Bugsy made no efforts to speak in character (no accent, no attempt to act intimidating) and was more or less just going off of memorized lines.
At this point we headed towards Fantasmic (for the 6:30 PM showing), but we each stopped to grab a snack for the wait. The ampitheater wasn’t full, and even though we didn’t arrive at our seats until 6:13 PM, we had very good seats. We were about 10 rows up, 1 secton left of center.
My parents and my uncle let the rest of us run off to Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster before everyone but my aunt walked on to Tower of Terror. At that point it was time to head out so we could be home for kickoff on Monday Night Football.
Some times and Fastpass Distribution info I acquired throughout the day:
Magic Kingdom:
9:05 AM – Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin – 5 Minute Wait, Fastpass Distribution 10:05 AM-11:05 AM
9:12 AM – Space Mountain – 30 Minute Wait, Fastpass Distribution 10:35 AM-11:35 AM
9:15 AM – Tomorrowland Speedway – Walk On
9:16 AM – Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh – 10 Minute Wait, Fastpass Distribution 10:05 AM – 11:05 AM
9:18 AM – Dumbo – 20 Minute Wait
10:00 AM – Dumbo – 30 Minute Wait
10:36 AM – Space Mountain, 30 Minute Wait, Fastpass Distribution 12:45 PM – 1:45 PM
10:42 AM – Tomorrowland Speedway – 20 Minute Wait
11:00 AM – Goofy’s Barnstormer – 10 Minute Wait
11:15 AM – Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh – 30 Minute Wait, Fastpass Distribution 12:05 PM – 1:05 PM
11:40 AM – Peter Pan’s Flight – 45 Minute Wait, Fastpass Distribution 1:40 PM – 2:40 PM
11:52 AM – “it’s a small world” – 20 Minute Wait
12:25 PM – Mickey’s PhilharMagic – 10 Minute Wait, Fastpass Unavailable
1:00 PM – Space Mountain – Down, Fastpass Distribution 6:30 PM – 7:30 PM
1:01 PM – Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin – 40 Minute Wait, 3:15 PM – 4:15 PM (I think this surge was because Space Mountain was down)
1:02 PM – Stitch’s Great Escape – 5 Minute Wait, Fastpass Unavailable
1:02 PM – Monster’s Inc Laugh Floor – 20 Minute Wait
1:09 PM – Stitch’s Great Escape – 15 Minute Wait
1:13 PM – Stitch’s Great Escape – 5 Minute Wait
1:50 PM – Space Mountain – 40 Minute Wait, Fastpass Distribution 7:15 PM – 8:00 PM
2:19 PM – Tomorrowland Transit Authority – Walk On
2:19 PM – Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin – 15 Minute Wait, 4:05 PM – 5:05 PM
Hollywood Studios
3:43 PM – Tower of Terror – 20 Minute Wait, Fastpass Distribution 4:25 PM – 5:25 PM
3:50 PM – Toy Story Mania – 70 Minute Wait, Fastpass Unavailable
4:43 PM – Tower of Terror – 10 Minute Wait, Fastpass Distribution 5:20 PM – 6:20 PM
5:56 PM – Tower of Terror – 13 Minute Wait, Fastpass Unavailable
7:27 PM – Tower of Terror – 30 Minute Wait (Listed), Fastpass Unavailable, The wait was only in the boiler room and it was less than 5 Minutes.
FanBoy Loyalty Program
For every $1000+ in combined purchases you spend per calendar year through our Amazon link, we will give you a t-shirt of your choice. Our new shop is up and running, and we have t-shirts available with our current and classic, regular and uncensored logos. All you need to do is send us a list of the items that you purchased, we’ll verify it against our records and then we’ll send you the t-shirt of your choice.
Project Fan Boy Contest
Win a chance to appear on our show in a short segment where you can talk about a topic of your choosing with us. Winners will also receive WDW Fan Boys swag, and Brett will record a custom outgoing voice mail message for you.
To enter the contest send us an e-mail, video, or audio file explaining why you should be on the show. The funnier the better. All entries should be submitted to questions@wdwfanboys.com.
On this week’s episode of the WDW Fan Boys Podcast we are joined by Jim Hill of JimHillMedia.com and the Magical Definition podcast. Jim joins us to discuss the press event held on Tuesday January 18th that included an update on the Fantasyland Expansion as well as the opening date of Star Tours. We discuss the newly announced Seven Dwarf’s Mine Train attraction, Star Tours 2.0, the Mysterious Cheese Coaster and of course Ariel’s butt. We also discuss some of the other changes coming to the parks over the next few years.
PixieVacations.com: Making Magical Memories Disney World Sweepstakes
