Just The Four Of Us - On site at OKW - Day 1 Chef Mickeys, MK, Car and Blaze Pizza

[Kidd McFluff]

Kirsten and I woke up at 3;30 and forced ourselves to try for more sleep until 5am (when Dylan woke up and stayed up). Ordering a mini van was simple through the app and so at 6:50 our driver took us over to Contemporary Resort for our meeting with Chef Mickey and friends. We were escorted to our table where we met our server ‘Wendy’ who was bright and friendly. She took our drink orders and showed us to the buffet. We all filled up on the good stuff here, smoked salmon, carved ham, potato crunchies, fruit, yogurt, mickey waffles, bacon, scrambled eggs etc.

No pics of this mornings food as it’s the usual Disney breakfast buffet but the food was plentiful and tasty. A good way to start the food mountain ahead on the DDP. Great character interaction at Chef Mickeys with hugs and high fives from all of Mickeys Crew. Donald Duck and Goofy were the most fun and both Isla and Dylan enjoyed it when Donald tried to steal their hats. Goofy sat down with them for some breakfast.

I have been reminded to add that Minnie Mouse was Isla’s favourite (my editors Isla and Dylan are keen to point out that I get details and timings wrong sometimes!)

After Breakfast was over and the tip was paid ($27) we took advantage of the pre screening security at Contemporary Resort and hopped onto the Mono rail to magic kingdom. The gates were fairly quiet and as we stopped on main street for our first photo pass the couple in front of us proposed (and accepted) to a great cheer and applause. It was a lovely moment and really added to the magic of the first morning in the Magic Kingdom.

We had our photo taken (to less applause and cheering) and continued on our way to Big Thunder mountain for our traditional first ride of our visits to Disney. As ever it didn’t let us down. A great ride and only 5 minutes in the fast pass line before we were onboard. As we were heading over to Frontier land, Dylan mentioned that it was very quiet (ghost town Disney as he put it). Most rides were showing only 10 minute wait times and with so few people around it was as though we had the park to ourselves.

Tom sawyers island was something we had meant to do on our last visit and so we hopped onto the small motor launch for the 30 yard trip. It was nice over on the island with a little walking trail and a few cool things to check out. The underground lair was a favourite with Dylan (especially the wonky floors). We saw some huge yellow butterflies here which were fun to look out for on days to come.

Our Splash mountain FP+ was cancelled (due to problems unknown) and so we were able to book any other ride as an immediate replacement We did Space Ranger Spin instead and of course loved this one too. I wont tell you who won the shooting match but one of us takes this ride far too seriously winning by a margin of over 150000 points. Oh yes….Too much practice on fortnight and COD at home makes this rider a dammed good shot with a laser gun!
Once Daddy McFluff’s head had returned to it’s usual size we headed off to see the Hall of Presidents. We’ve never done this before and were keen to see what Trump would add to the mix. We were impressed with this show and even though the history was somewhat sanitised (no mention of Vietnam, prohibition, Watergate, native American genocide etc) it was a good show and even Trump sounded like a statesman. (That’s some real Disney Magic).


After the show it was off to Peco Bills for our first Quick Service meal of the holidays. It would appear that we chose well. Tacco’s and a Nacho plate (toppings toppings and more toppings) were washed down with some sprite and iced water. 2 QS credits used and we were all full.

After lunch it was time for the much anticipated 7DMT but alas this was also out of action. ( I hope this isn’t a re-occuring theme.) We had to leave the park then to pick up our rental car so after exploring tomorrow land for a while and checking out the shops on main street we headed to guest services to see if they could re-book the 7DMT fast pass for another day. They were brilliant and gave us an extra FP+ for this ride on the 12th (our next planned visit to MK).

Off we went back to OKW on the bus and booked a cab to the airport. (it’s really worth while having both the Lift and the Uber apps on the phone. Lift was 10$ cheaper for an airport transfer ) Our driver Isreal was lovely, from (venesuala) and a true advocate of the American Dream. (Hey, here I’ve got a 4 bedroom house with a pool, medical insurance and a great job. Back home it’s chaos). Our drive was uneventful as was picking up our rental car from Dollar. We chose a Nissan Quashqi lookalike and headed to Publix to collect beer, tequila, fruit, milk, cerials and of course Waffles and poptarts).

Shopping done, we were all beginning feel tired. Isla and Dylan began to bicker with each other and soon we were all in danger of a meltdown. “She called me a name”….. “He hit me” “I’m too tired to be nice” (that was mostly Mrs McFuff and I by this point!)

We decided that food might save the day and headed directly to Disney Springs . An easy drive from Publix and we made sure to take the Dibbers advice on which garage and which level to park on (Lime Garage, L3 near the escalators). This was our first ever visit to Disney Dprings but we didn't have time to explore as food was very much our mission. We had decided on Blaze Pizza after reading so many great reviews. We all love pizza and as it was a 'create your own' place I was confident that I'd find something for me and my allergies! It was impossible to get to Blaze without having to chase the kids out of the shops a few times but we made it eventually with only a couple of strops on the way.

Blaze Fast Fired Pizza….
Hardly any queue here and we were soon sat outside sipping beers (and fanta) and munching on some great pizza. It's a huge place with an almost industrail design. We all opted for the 'make your own' pizza's and shuffled up the counter (subway style) chosing our sauces and toppings. We all chose our favourites and once we had paid (4 x QS credits) we were given a buzzer and went ourside to find a table. The buzzer went off within minutes and we were soon sat in the evening sunshine munching on delicious, crispy pizzas.

Mrs McFluff is a pretty good judge of Pizza and has sampled the best Italy and America can offer but this was heralded as the best she’d ever had. I have to agree, the pizza was great, (even the Gluten free base was good) Loads of toppings and cooked to perfection. We were all very impressed and made use of the free takeaway boxes to ship some back to the hotel with us as we were all a bit tired to eat very much. We'd had a lovely meal and the food and drink had brought us back from the brink of the bickering meltdown that had started earlier

Back to OKW before we all collapsed but not before a visit to the Disney Store where we priced up plushies to buy later in the holidays.
We saw the MK fireworks as we drove home and by the time we arrived we had to carry/drag the kids up to bed where they were both snoring within seconds.

We packed away the shopping and were soon out to the balcony for a home made margerita (Jose Carrero margerita mix from Publix ) and to fine tune tomorrows plans.

It'd been a good, if somewhat manic start to the holiday. Chef Mickeys was the highlight of our day and we'd loved being back in the Magic Kingdom. Blaze Pizza had become our new favourite restaraunt. We were munching on the leftover pizza as we drank our margaritas and wrote our trippie notes out on the balcony. We turned in to bed at around 10pm and hoped/prayed for a good nights sleep. Off to Hollywood Studios tomorrow for Extra Magic Hours.

INDEX.
https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/sho... php?t=1100196

[Goldia]

What a fab day!

Thank goodness you have good quality control keeping you honest in your trip report writing, heaven forbid you mislead us with a dodgy piece of timekeeping.

The photo of a desserted frontierland is fab. It's so great getting into the parks early before the crush of people. It sounds like you really enjoyed your first day.

Blaze was a hit with us too, that pizza was yummy.

[Kidd McFluff]

Yes it can be tough making sure everything is in the right order. Isla and Dylan are keen to point out that any mistakes are mine alone!

Not sure they realise how hard it is to remember the who, what, where, when and how of everything over 15 days on Disney? They'll find me looking at notes with a blank face trying to remember what we did on any given day and then give me a full run down of the day as they remember things. Their memories are much better than mine!

[mick]

A great first day

Joan

[Forest32]

Looks like a great first day

[Jessika]

What a fantastic first day. Thanks for sharing.

[clubhouse]

Perfect start to your holiday, thanks for posting.

Blaze pizza is great!

I loved staying at OKW with it being so close to the Springs - it’s such a shame there seems to be so little availability now, I’d go back in a shot!

[Palm trees]

Fab first day, I definitely want to check out blaze pizza on my next trip!

[Kidd McFluff]

Originally Posted by clubhouse

Perfect start to your holiday, thanks for posting.

Blaze pizza is great!

I loved staying at OKW with it being so close to the Springs - it’s such a shame there seems to be so little availability now, I’d go back in a shot!

See more...

Yes, you have to be up early to get the OWK bookings. They don't open them up untill eleven months out for DVC bookings and nine months for others these days. We were able to book 13 months out for this trip but we'll probably end up somewhere else next time. Animal Kingdom looks nice!

[Cinderella]

Looking forward to trying Blaze!