Disney and St. Augustine “Let Them Eat Cake” Vacation Part 4

Day 5 – Daughter's Birthday! Magic Kingdom, Cinderella’s Royal Table and Chocolate Shoe, Festival of Fantasy Parade, Elsa and Anna, EPCOT, San Angel Inn and more cake

We woke up and sang Happy Birthday to our daughter!  We started our day with a breakfast of birthday cake!  Hey, you turn 16 once; why not eat cake for breakfast.  Today she wore her blue sequined dress that we thought had a mermaid look, her tiara, sash and white knee high chucks.  Adorable as ever.

Merida and our daughter

This morning we were headed off to the Magic Kingdom with fast passes scheduled for Peter Pan’s flight at 9:15am, Enchanted Tales with Belle at 10:35am and an Anna and Elsa meet and greet at 3:40pm.  Daughter also really wanted to meet Merida this morning, so that would be our first stop.  We caught the bus to Magic Kingdom, caught the end of the rope drop show and headed straight back to the Merida Meet and Greet area.

Waiting in line to meet Merida

The Merida area is a large stone circle with cast members at the entrance to control the flow of people in and out.  After entering the “circle” there is a ramp to the right that serves as the queue for meeting Merida. The area is covered with colorful banners, "tapestries" and art from the movie. Merida was lovely wearing her green dress. She and daughter talked for quite a while. Merida told her that they celebrate her father’s birthday every night but tonight they would celebrate in honor of our daughter's birthday instead. Daughter asked how the queen and her brothers were doing and they chatted about them. The memory maker photographer took wonderful photos. I can’t say enough good things about the photographers at Disney. Then Merida and daughter hugged and posed for photos and they took a selfie together.  It was a great meet.

Meet and greet area

Tapestry

Merida Selfie

After meeting Merida you come down of the ramp and there is a table with coloring pages as well as an opportunity to shoot an arrow at a target.  The arrow has a soft end so no one can get hurt. Daughter got a bullseye! Must be from all of that archery at Girl Scouts. The cast member at the table gave a coloring page of Merida’s horse to her but we put it in our back pack for her to color later.  It was a really wonderful visit!

Merida archery

Next we headed into Fantasyland for our Peter Pan fast pass. This is my favorite ride at Magic Kingdom.  It was down for refurb when we were there in October so I was really happy to get to ride it this time.  The ride cars are sail ships and they are connected at the top so they sway as they move through the ride.  We start out in Wendie Darling’s room and Peter Pan’s shadow tells us to follow him then we are flying high over London.  We follow the 2^nd star to the right and end up in Neverland as we pass various scenes from the animated movie. This ride is all about nostalgia for me which is why I think it’s my favorite. 

We headed across the “street” and through the gates of new fantasyland to Enchanted Tales with Belle.  It is a combination of a show and meet and greet.  You enter through Maurice’s cabin and are then taken to the magic mirror room.  Since hubby was in a wheel chair they had us enter directly into the magic mirror room from the side, so we didn’t actually see most of the cabin.  The cast member talked to us about favorite books and Belle’s favorites. She told us about the magic mirror that Beast gave Belle so she could check up on Papa Maurice. She told us to chant “Take me to the day Beast and Belle fell in love”. Then we saw the mirror glow green, get bigger and turn into a door. I watched it, with my own eyes, and I am still not exactly sure what I saw.  It was truly magical!  

Fortunately there is another magical invention called YouTube that allows me and you to watch it over and over.

We walk through the magic doors into Beasts castle and are greeted by the magic wardrobe.  She talks to us and with the help of a cast member, picks people to play different parts in the story.  Daughter got picked to play Papa Maurice. 

Papa Maurice, cold and in Beast's dungeon, and wearing a dress.

We then entered Belle’s beautiful library where we are greeted by Lumiere. He was amazing to watch. He moves and talks and his face is animated, it was mesmerizing.  Lumiere wants us to surprise Belle so he dims the lights and calls her in and when she entered and we all yell Surprise! 

Lumiere and Belle

Belle thanks and welcomes us all and then we act out Belle’s story.  Here is a little bit of video from "the show". 

Each of the players gets a photo with Belle and she gives them each a bookmark with her autograph printed on it. There is a memory maker photographer there taking photos of the whole show and as we exit they pass out cards that allow access of the photo online for purchase or to download through memory maker.  It was really a very cute show and everyone should see it once.

Our daughter and Belle

When we exited we noticed the Seven Dwarfs mine train was doing test runs so we decided to walk around and see if we could board for a test run too. We tried several times but it just wasn’t to be on this trip. We have added it to our Disney bucket list.

So we headed to Mad Tea Party, the classic spinning tea cup ride. This is a daughter and dad ride.  I can’t even watch it spin without getting motion sick.  So I dropped them off at the entrance and told them I would meet them around the corner when they finished. 

Daughter and Dad on the Tea Cups selfie

Alice and white rabbit topiary

I parked the wheel chair near the Alice in Wonderland topiary and went to the Cheshire Café and bought two gourmet cupcakes for us to share.  The white rabbit is vanilla cake and icing with white chocolate ears, a sugar daisy and edible pearls.  The Red Queen cupcake is vanilla cake with strawberry icing and strawberry gel, topped with a fondant queen of hearts card and a sugar rose.  They were both really good but my favorite was the all vanilla.  Hubby also liked the vanilla but daughter loved the strawberry.

Cupcakes!

While I was waiting and taking photos of the cupcakes several people stopped to ask where I got the amazing cupcakes from. They are pretty amazing.

After our snack we decide to go back to new fantasyland and visit Gaston’s tavern and the shops there.  We never did see Gaston himself but really enjoyed the area. 

Fountain in front of Gaston's tavern

Gaston's

Next door was Prince Eric’s castle and The Little Mermaid ride.  Wheel chairs go through the spacious, very intereactive queue but when we get near the boarding area we are taken through a wheel chair entrance that actually takes us to the offloading area.  This is a ride with a moving sidewalk that matches the speed of the ride vehicles.  Entering from the exit gives more time to board and get seated for those with mobility issues.  As a matter of fact, all rides with a moving sidewalk have those with mobility issues go through the queue and then taken past the loading area to the exit to board the ride. I talked with the cast member that helped us with boarding and he told me they also have the ability to slow the ride down if needed with little notice to other riders.  It was smooth and easy.

Prince Eric's castle

Ariel - Is she a ship ornament?

Go on and kiss the girl!

We checked the wait time to meet Ariel in her Grotto but it would have gone past our 12:10pm ADR at Cinderella’s Royal Table.  We decided instead to take a slow stroll toward the castle.  We checked in at the podium and were taken around the corner to meet Cinderella.  We decided to just have daughter in the photos with Cindy this time and of course she got that Cinderella selfie. 

Cindy and Daughter

Cinderella Selfi

The mice watching

After the photo you are taken upstairs to the dining room.  There are stairs but wheel chairs go up in an elevator.  We were seated to the left on the upper level.  They had hubby remain in his wheel chair and rolled him up to the table. 

Celebrating at Cindy's Place

Lunch begins with a chef’s tasting plate that includes salad, hummus, assorted cheeses, pita, crackers and grapes. Hubby ordered the fish of the day which I believe was salmon. Daughter and I both ordered the braised short rib with parsnip mashed potatoes and wilted spinach. It was all pretty yummy.

Tasting Plate

Fish of the day

Braised short ribs

We ordered a chocolate shoe dessert for daughter inscribed with "Happy Sweet 16".  Hubby ordered the cheese cake and I ordered their signature dessert “The Clock Strikes Twelve”. 


Daughter's Chocolate shoe

Cheesecake

Signature dessert

We met with Snow White, Aurora, Ariel and Jasmine.  Ariel really liked daughter’s dress and thought it looked like a mermaid dress too. Ariel was also thrilled that she was on daughter’s i-touch cover.  All in all in was an enchanting lunch.

Snow White

Aurora

Ariel

Jasmine

After lunch we all need to go to the restroom.  The regular restroom is accessed through a set of stairs so we were directed to take the elevator down to the companion bathroom on the main floor.  The doorway had about a 2” rise and try as I may I could not get the chair over it.  Fortunately there was a nice man sitting near and he was able to push the chair over the rise for me.  I’m not sure if this would be an issue for someone driving an ECV.  I don’t think hubby could have rolled himself over either.  It is something to keep in mind for the future and now you know too.  The more you know.

Daughter really wanted to find Peter Pan and the Fairy Godmother to get autographs and photos so this was our next mission.  While we were eating it had rained and the skies were still looking a little bit threatening as it sprinkled.  We went to where Pan meets and talked with the photographer there.  She said that characters won’t come out for outdoor meet and greets in the rain because it will ruin their clothes but if it lets up to check back.  We kept going back and forth between the Peter Pan area and the Fairy Godmother area via the shops in between.  While we were doing this the skies opened up and it poured.  We quickly pulled our dollar store OSU rain ponchos out of our back pack and put them on.  Several people were trying to fit under the overhangs.  The stores were doing killer business selling Mickey Mouse rain ponchos.  We realized that neither of these characters were going to do meet and greets so we added them on our “to do” for next time.  Eventually the rain let up even though it was really wet in the park.

We decided to hear toward Frontierland and try to find a place for the new afternoon parade Festival of Fantasy.  It was delayed about 15 minutes due to the rain but the parade did go on.  It didn’t dawn on me then, but there are handicapped viewing areas and we probably should have gone to one of those.  We will think of that next time.

We really enjoyed this parade.  The costumes and the floats are just amazing!  Here are a few highlights.  Notice those dark skies in the back ground. Yikes.

Cindy and her Prince

Naveen and Tiana

Flynn Rider

Ariel

The Lost Boys

Pan and Wendy

Tink

Malificent

Mad Hatter

Minnie and Mickey

After the parade we headed over to The Haunted Mansion, another family favorite.  This is another ride that loads with a moving sidewalk.  We went through the regular line and instead of boarding at the regular load area we were taken to the exit to load.

Master Gracey's final resting place

The Captains Tomb

Assorted Tombstones

It was time for out Anna and Elsa meet and greet fast pass!  We headed over to Princess Fairytale Hall and entered the proper line.  We waited in a hallway decorated in the finest fantasy royal décor.  Several families at a time are let into the meet and greet area so we watched and listened as we waited for our turn.  Anna was really funny.  She said that her sister pointed out that she too has a special power, she can make chocolate disappear!  Elsa was very elegant and her dress is beautiful. Elsa thought daughter’s dress paid homage to her own and they spent some time discussing princess fashions. Daughter got a selfie with them, which they called a “snowfie”.  We all three had a great time visiting with them.

Snowfie

Her magic power is eating chocolate

Anna, daughter, and Elsa

Their visiting princess was Aurora.  Several people were just sort of saying hi and moving on without really spending time so daughter wanted to be sure to spend quality time with Aurora. They made eye contact and both smiled and daughter walked right up to her and gave her a hug.  Aurora was really wonderful.  She asked daughter how old she was, when she answered 16, Aurora told her to watch out for sewing spindles. Daughter was wearing green cupcake earrings and Aurora asked if Meriwether baked them and said her baking is getting better. Daughter really enjoyed her visit with Aurora and we like to think she enjoyed visiting with daughter too.

Aurora Selfie

Daughter and Auroa

We had a 6:30pm ADR at San Angel Inn in the Mexican pavilion at EPCOT so we decided it was time to park hop via the monorail.  We went straight back to the Mexican pavilion and checked in. We requested a seat by “the river”.  The cast member at the podium told us we would have to wait an hour. (I think she wanted us to get seated and be done with us)  I asked daughter if she was willing to wait and she said yes.  So we told her we would wait the hour.  We sat down in their little waiting area and 15 minutes later we were seated at a table by the river. 

San Angel Inn is modeled after a 17^th century hacienda and is in perpetual twilight.  (No vampires)  Across the river is an Aztec pyramid and a smoking volcano in the distance. It’s a really nice setting for dinner and daughter loves Mexican food.  We all ordered the Carne Asada which is steak served with a cheese enchilada, black refried beans, peppers, onions, Mexican rice and guacamole.  (I didn't take food photos, I was too hungry)

Daughter's cake

While we were eating dinner I kept waiting for the volcano to erupt.  I hadn’t eaten here in a while but I was pretty sure I remembered that the volcano erupts.  I asked our cast member and he said that it used to erupt but it frightened little kids so they just have it smolder now.

Pyramid and smoldering volcano

I had ordered one more birthday cake to be delivered for dessert at the San Angel Inn.  This is one of six EPCOT countries that are not bakery serviced by Disney.  The others are located in France, China, Morocco, Japan and Italy.  To order a cake from one of these you must call the restaurant directly.  You can order a 6”, 8” or 10” all vanilla or all chocolate cake and pick characters and inscription for the cake.  The characters are printed with edible inks and papers.  I ordered the 6 inch vanilla cake and requested Anna and Elsa with the inscription of “Happy Sweet 16” and was charged $21. 

We quietly asked our cast member about the cake and he checked and came back and said yes it was there.  Daughter and I were facing the river but hubby was facing the restaurant and he saw them bring out the cake and add a candle. A group of 5 or 6 cast members brought over the cake and sang a birthday song in Spanish then wished her a Happy Birthday!  It was the only true cake surprise I managed to pull off this trip.  The cake was really pretty and decorated based on the colors in the character image.  It was also really good.  It was her 2^nd favorite cake after the green cake that collapsed.  It had such a nice vanilla flavor to it.  Just Yum!

Daughter and her cake

After dinner we decided to look at the Mexican Market and ride the Gran Fiesta Tour starring the Three Caballeros.  It is a boat ride that features sights and sounds of Mexico with the Three Caballeros running around the screens.

"street" market

Market

Scene from the ride

Scene from the ride

We decided to head back to our resort, with cake, because daughter wanted to swim in the mermaid pool. I will be honest, I was tired and hurting and I was happy to go back to our resort. We caught the bus back to Art of Animation, went to our room, changed into swim suits, grabbed our beach towels and went to the mermaid pool for a relaxing evening swim.  I didn’t take any photos of us at the pool, but we enjoyed it.  We were all pretty tired and in bed by 10:30pm but daughter had a very Happy Birthday!

See all of our day 4 photos in our Flickr album