Tuesday at Downtown Disney

We gave ourselves a break and took it easy on Tuesday.  For breakfast, we went to the Polynesian.  I had read food blogs about their Tonga Toast, french toast stuffed with bananas and then fried.  It was indeed delicious.  We ate out by the pool and Tessa and Ryan went swimming.

Our hotel has a cute new Alice in Wonderland splash pad but the main pool was under construction.  To make up for this, we could use other resort pools.  The Polynesian has a very cool volcano pool complete with a water slide.  Tessa and Ryan climbed to the top and then Tessa hesitated.  Ryan went first to show her how fun it would be.  But no amount of hollering encouragement was going to get her down that enclosed slide.  So I went up and tried to talk her into it.  No dice.  I could have given in but I knew she would love it once she tried it so I "helped" her get started.  She splashed out at the bottom and said "That was FUN!"  So I sat back down with my mom and enjoyed watching Tessa shoot down the slide over and over and over.

After our morning swim, we went shopping in Downtown Disney.  They boast the largest Disney Store and a Lego Imagination Center.  Tessa couldn't wait to get to the Legos.  She was fascinated with this Olivia made entirely of Legos.  I think we picked up every Lego Friends product in the store.  It was crowded and overwhelming so all we ended up with was a free Lego horse.    

We had better luck in the Disney Store where we bought clothes and gifts.  We had a nice lunch at the Earl of Sandwich and then headed back to the hotel.    

Technically this was our off day but it seemed like a good day to go to the nighttime parade in Magic Kingdom.  We rode the monorail over and had time for pictures as the sun set on Main Street.

 

We staked out a spot right in front of the Main Street Railroad Station.  While we waited, Tessa went to Tony's and watched the Lady & the Tramp movie.  As a bonus, we got Lady's paw print in our autograph book.  Disney's Electric Parade is beautiful with fun music and favorite characters.  We had the best seats, everybody passed right in front of us with the castle in the background. 

As soon as the parade was over we hopped the monorail for the Contemporary Resort, Chef Mickey was expecting us.

This is another great character buffet.  If you are looking for a calm, peaceful meal this is not your place.  But if you want to have a couple cocktails and party with the Fab 5, this place is perfect.  The food is good too and I'm not ashamed to admit I eat off the kid's table.  Sometimes you just feel like having a few chicken nuggets with your prime rib.  The characters made the rounds twice while we were eating.  I think Goofy had a crush on my mom, he danced and danced with her.  Pluto did tricks for Tessa.  It was a rockin', napkin swinging, dancin' in the aisle good time.