A royal meet-‘n’-greet with Princess Tiana!
Previously on Midlife Crisis Crossover:
Each year Anne and I take one (1) road trip to a different part of the United States and see attractions, wonders, and events we didn’t have back home. One thing we rarely do is fly. We’d much rather drive than be flown unless we absolutely have to…or are given some pretty sweet incentives to do so. Fast-forward to December 2022 and a most unexpected opportunity: The Powers That Be at Anne’s rather large place of employment recognized her and several other employees nationwide for outstanding achievements in the field of excellence. Their grand prize was a Disney World vacation! We could at last announce to friends and family, “THE GOLDENS ARE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!”
For Anne it was officially, legally a business trip. Much of the time, she’d have to work…
…but the rest of the time was ours for frolicking around Disney World and our Disney Resort. Sadly, the magic eventually had to end. We had one more bit of mixed business and pleasure on the itinerary before takeoff.
DAY FOUR: FRIDAY, MARCH 10, 2023.
Despite spending all of Thursday running the lengths of two complete theme parks, somehow we both woke up in time to catch the sunrise across Seven Seas Lagoon.
Our balcony view at 6:20 a.m.
Our last glimpse of the Magic Kingdom’s lights.
Our last look at Tomorrowland.
Our last look at Cinderella Castle.
I guess sunrise looked cool toward the other end of the lagoon, too.
We packed our bags, exited Boca Chica, walked across the Grand Floridian’s grounds, through the Main Building and over to the Convention Center. We caught a few more details we somehow missed on our first several walkabouts.
Still more faux-Victorian art with a Mar Poppins sheen of unreality.
A children’s cartoon lounge!
My Fair Lady plates! I mean, uh, Mary Poppins plates.
Before our scheduled departure, our hosts had one last special event planned: a Disney Character Breakfast! The Disney Resorts offer clients a high-end option for dining and palling around with cast members costumed up as assorted beloved Disney IPs. All employees and their plus-ones were invited, with the proviso that the meal would involve some “closing ceremonies” — i.e., concluding bits of official business largely uninteresting to us non-employees, unless you love hearing how other companies’ HR departments frame their motivational business-speak.
One last Mickey-tastic party.
The meal itself was a straightforward breakfast buffet, most of which was the same catering that was provided for Anne’s Wednesday morning shift. It was all new to us plus-ones, though.
One new menu item stood out to Anne: Mickey mini-waffles! Our final edible mouse-heads of the trip.
Last chance to grab a free souvenir Mickey cup.
You may have noticed the best part of a “Character Breakfast” in our lead pic: photo ops with the Disney all-stars! The unmasked ones talked in character; the masked-up furries rocked some excellent mime-work. The lines moved more slowly than your typical comic-con photo ops, so Anne was more than happy to take advantage of the opportunities while I stayed at the table and nursed my Disney Coffee.
To be fair, they didn’t have jazz in Cinderella’s century, let alone jazz hands.
WHO LET THE DOGS OUT? (Gawrsh! Gawrsh gawrsh gawrsh!)
Baller in-character move: right before the pic, Donald reached over and pushed Anne’s hat back to hide Mickey’s face from the camera.
Of course I wasn’t gonna miss my chance to hang with the world’s most famous mice, the stars of all that food we ate this week.
Once the final speeches from The Powers That Be stopped coming and the characters rode off into the sunrise…now it was time to say goodbye to all our company.
To be concluded!
* * * * *
[Link enclosed here to handy checklist for other chapters and for our complete major trip history to date. Follow us on Facebook or via email sign-up for new-entry alerts. For further signs of life between entries, wave hi to me on . Thanks for reading!]
Discover more from Midlife Crisis Crossover!
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Midlife Crisis Crossover! 