Instead, we managed to snag a reservation for breakfast at Chef Mickey's in the Contemporary Resort. I enjoy a nice breakfast out, and we thought there might actually be some things Ellie would eat at a breakfast buffet, plus we knew the kids would love seeing all their favorite characters again. When we told her what we were doing, she got all excited to have breakfast with Mickey, and dressed in her most appropriate finery.
Off to breakfast, sporting her mouse best
Chef Mickey's in the Contemporary Resort—the Magic Kingdom monorail also goes right through the resort/restaurant, as you see here!
We arrived a little before our reservation time and got checked in. After a short wait, we were shown to our table. Our server let us know which characters would be coming by our table and in which order, and she also indicated that we had some time before all that started, so we should go ahead and hit the buffet. Helpful! So, I made the first pass through the food and filled plates for both Ellie and myself, and then Eric took a turn. I thought there was a great selection of food, including fruit, pastries, hot breakfast items, etc.
Team Eric at breakfast
The gals
The buffet
Oh hello there, pastries.
Ellie's plate!
While we ate, the characters came around for a little song and dance number. That got us excited!
Watching Goofy dance around
We didn't have too long to wait before the characters started stopping by our table. Minnie was first! She was great and played with the kids for a good while.
Look at those happy faces!
Dancing with Minnie
Adorable.
Get over here, mouse!
Next up was Mickey, who was also very personable. He loved Ellie's Minnie dress (as did Minnie herself, of course)!
That Mickey - what a gentleman!
Sweet!
He does that to me too, Mickey.
This kid.
Also, remember how I mentioned that we wanted to have Mickey autograph a baseball as E.J.'s souvenir, but the woman in the room with Mickey at the Town Square Theater wouldn't allow him to "endorse the brand" of the baseball we brought? Well, we stopped in one of the shops at Downtown Disney and picked up an ESPN baseball, which the Mickey at Chef Mickey's happily signed for us. Souvenir success!
Mickey autographing the sweet spot
E.J.'s souvenir!
Next up was Goofy, who didn't spend a whole lot of time at our table.
With Goofy
Donald was next...
Hugs for Donald
Watching Donald sign his name
...followed by Pluto, who Ellie later told me was her favorite.
Happy face!
Love the kids in this one—Ellie's rocking that natural toddler smile, and EJ is over it.
(Side note: I thought he was pretty fussy during breakfast. Days of poor/no naps were finally catching up with him! But still, a random stranger came over to me to comment on how happy, smiley and quiet he was. So apparently, he remains the World's Happiest Baby even when he is not happy.)
When all the characters had made the rounds, we had some time to finish our meals.
Giant brownie on a fork for breakfast. I'll be attaching this one to my Mother of the Year application.
My family!
The characters then did another song and dance number, which inspired Ellie to get up and dance. Apparently, her moves just totally stole Mickey's heart. He "gushed" over her during the song, then blew kisses to her at the end. Before we left, he had an employee accompany him to our table so she could tell us how smitten he was with Ellie. So sweet!
VIDEO: Ellie steals Mickey's heart
Ellie dancing away while Mickey and his "translator" talk about how much he loves her!
When we finished our meal, we posed for a picture on our way out - the last family photo of our trip!
What a great trip!
The rest of the day was pretty quiet. The thunderstorms rolled in during naptime, accompanied by torrential rain. We did hit the outlet stores nearest our hotel for a bit, just to get out, but that was it. Chef Mickey's was really the end of our Disney fun! What a magical weekend it was!
These two! Admittedly, they make trips like this a lot more work than they would be if it was just Eric and me, but man, oh man. They also make them so much more magical.
Of course, the park passes we bought were four-day Florida resident tickets, so we have two days of passes left to use. We're planning a return visit for spring break (read: before Ellie actually turns three years old and we have to buy her a ticket!), and we can hardly wait for more Disney fun with our kiddos!
(If you'd like to see the rest of our Chef Mickey's photos, there are a few more uploaded here.)
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