The Welte's At Disney: AofA and Chef Mickey's!

We're back from our Spring Break Disney trip and trying so hard to recover! We had a fabulous week full of memories that will last a lifetime! Over the next few days, I'll be recapping our vacation and sharing a few tips that I picked up a long the way, as well as a few things I'd do differently next time around! Yes, I'm already planning a next time around! 

We woke up Monday morning in Memphis and surprised the girls with the news that we were heading to Disney World! I didn't get any pictures of our surprise! Adalyn had woken up in the middle of the night a few times, and ended up having a 101 fever, and we were rushing to get ready. DJ did get it on video for us. 

I made the girls a carry on bag, that I purchased from thirty-one gifts. The bags were their cinch saks and were red/white stripe with their names in yellow. I put a princess art kit, coloring book, notebook, princess water bottle, and their outfits for the day in the backpack. We let the girls open their bags, and Gretchen figured out right away that we were heading to Disney World! 

Our flight left at 10:30, and the girls did great! DJ sat with the big girls and recorded their reactions of our take off. Adalyn and I sat across from them, and thankfully Adalyn ended up with her own seat! She slept a while on the way there, and the big girls colored the entire time. 

Once we arrived in Orlando, we boarded Disney Magical Express and made it to the hotel! I'd highly recommend using DME. They took care of all of our baggage, and it was fabulous not having to deal with any of that! 

Unfortunately when we arrived to the hotel, our room was not ready. I'm not sure if it was because I forgot to check in online the day before or if they were just running really behind. We had packed our swimsuits in our carry on bag, but we didn't have sunscreen with us (it was in our suitcase) and DJ didn't want the girls to swim without having sunscreen. We decided to get lunch and then we walked around the hotel exploring for a while. 

The girls found fun hats and character ears in the hotel gift shop.

Reggie loved these Minnie ears. 

Adalyn slept most of the afternoon. She was pooped, and since she had been running a fever, and had a runny nose, she was less than stellar. 

We stayed at Art of Animation hotel. I absolutely loved staying on site, and I loved how well it was themed. If you have boys, they'll love the Cars area! 

Gretchen was really excited to be there and to see the cars!

Megan insisted on keeping on her jacket even though it was 80 degrees! It was hot, and I had no idea it would be that hot there! 

There was a great pool area in the Cars part of the hotel, and then we made our way over to the playground, which was not that fabulous, and we checked out the Nemo pool, which was amazing! There was even a little splash pad, and I really wanted to let the girls swim! DJ insisted that they not get sunburned the next day. Note to self, carry on your sunscreen!

Our room was finally ready and we were able to check in and rest for just a bit. We stayed in The Lion King family suite. I loved that we had a suite and had plenty of room for all of us. The girls loved that there was a bed that came out of the wall, and they took turns sleeping on the murphy bed or on the sofa bed. 

Next time around, I'd be satisfied with a regular hotel room on site. We weren't in the room very much and we were so exhausted by the end of each day that sharing a room wouldn't have been a problem. However, we were able to wake up the next few mornings without disturbing the girls. 

Once we relaxed in the room for a bit, we were able to freshen up (our luggage arrived!) and we headed to dinner at Chef Mickey's!

Chef Mickey's is located in the Contemporary Resort. We had to take a bus from our hotel to Magic Kingdom, and then we took the monorail over to the hotel. I had heard great things about this meal, so I had high expectations! We arrived a bit early, and thankfully we were seated within 5 minutes of arriving. We were starving!

 

There was a little photo op and I took pictures of the big girls. Adalyn was still tired and fussy, so I didn't take her out of the Ergo until we got to our table.

During the meal, the characters make rotations through the restaraunt and stop at each table. We had forgotten our autograph book, but thankfully DJ had a notepad and pen in his backpack that we used instead and the girls didn't really know the difference!

 

It turns out, the autograph books were still in a hidden bag, that we had left behind in DJ's truck at the airport in Memphis!

Once we were all seated, I took the girls up one at a time to fix their plates. They had salads, pasta's, sushi, mac and cheese, corn dogs, chicken nuggets, broccoli, mashed potatoes, amongst other assortments.

 

Find my shirt here.

Megan was TERRIFIED of the characters! She insisted on crawling in my lap or hudding right up against me, so I came up with the idea for her to hide under the table when the characters came around. And she was very happy under here. She'd come up when we told her the characters were gone, and she'd slip back down whenever they headed toward us. It was quite hilarious watching her reactions!

Gretchen with Goofy!

Gretchen with Pluto.

Gretchen with Donald.

 

Most of the time, Adalyn continued to eat and pay no attention to the characters. However, she did not like Donald!

Mickey came around and we were finished with our visits from the characters.

 

Megan relaxed a little bit and came up from her hiding spot and finished her meal!

Then it was on to desserts! Yum! I chose a little sampling, and ended up giving the mouse heads to the little girls (They were oreos, with a ball of chocolate on top, and little chocolate ears). I ate the cream puff, bread pudding, and chocolate dessert myself!

Adalyn loved the mouse head! I think she ended up eating two of them! And the other girls had ice cream with sprinkles.

 

Chef Mickey did have really great food! I ended up getting a salad, lobster macaroni and cheese, a dish of roast beef, and some carved meats. The lobster mac and cheese was my favorite dish, along with the roast beef dish. The desserts were really yummy too!

 

After we finished eating, we rode the monorail to get a peek at the other resorts, and then we headed back to our hotel, to begin the worst night of my entire life.... and that story will be shared tomorrow!

 

Thanks for following along with my Disney posts! I am by no means an expert as this was our very first vacation! But, it's always helpful to hear other's experiences so I wanted to share! Feel free to ask any questions or share your own experiences in the comments below!