Tuesday was our off day from the parks for Tess. I always like to schedule a completely non-park day for a first visit. I felt the big kids could easily handle several days in a row at the parks but Tess needed that time. I wish it’d been a day earlier since we did have a rough time with her at Epcot! It is such a blessing that Mrs Charlotte comes with us for first visits! Not only do we ALL love having her there (and it’s so precious that she’s part of such special memories!) but she doesn’t mind hanging back and keeping the youngest if we have some plans that only the older kids can handle.
Even though it was a “day off” it didn’t mean we didn’t have plans! We had breakfast at Chef Mickey’s!!!
Chef Mickey’s is a GREAT experience. You get to meet the fab 5 (Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, and Donald) and it’s a HUGE buffet with TONS of choices. The environment is bright and colorful and fun. It’s a great way to meet the characters without long lines in the parks (although we actually ended up meeting Mickey a total of FOUR times on this visit!). I’ve never eaten there at any meals other than breakfast. I’ve heard only negative about the food at dinner but we love the breakfast options!
All of our shirts are from mega clearance at Disney Store. Such clearance that few sizes were left…hence mine being more of a tunic than a shirt 😉
FINALLY! Successful pic of G-Mama with the kids!
Tess was pretty attached at the hip with her water bottle and little Elsa (who she kept calling Cinderella). She wanted to carry both items everywhere we went the entire trip. Daddy loved it.
Enjoying some cartoons while we waited for our table
Heart. Melted.
Each restaurant does different things for birthdays. Some do cupcakes. Some do cards. Some sing. Some don’t. I always make sure to point out at check-in who is celebrating what and just roll with it and see what happens! We’ve been to Cape May before where they gave Casey a card for her bday but haven’t ever gotten a card at Chef Mickey. They did a card, cupcake AND they do a big celebration song. Def a great place to go if you have a birthday celebration in your group!
Tess was MUCH happier!
(I know you can’t tell. Child looks SO SERIOUS in every single pic haha)
I’ve heard a LOT of people don’t like Chef Mickey because they say it’s too much chaos. I have never, ever felt that way until this visit. Usually the characters are VERY well spaced out but this time it was literally one right after the other and you couldn’t even catch your breath. It was too intense. Too much. Too fast. I didn’t love the pace and it made me feel anxious and like we couldn’t really ENJOY each character b/c there was another one coming right behind them. This experience won’t change my overall opinion of Chef Mickey…I still love it and fully recommend it. I’m not really sure if there is anything we could have even done to make it different. I guess if it happens again I will just try to take a deep breath and not let the circumstances make me feel stressed 😉
Minnie loved that she and Tess had on matching shoes!
Mickey!!!
Tess straight up wanted nothing to do with Mickey. She wanted her food!
Daddy and Goofy always get a pic together!
Even though it was rushed and crazy, Donald was one of THE best character experiences ever. He was amazing and awesome and really made Britt so, so happy. He LOVED that he’s her favorite and that he is the ONLY boy character who got to sign one of her bedroom letters 😉 He also was so excited that she had a Donald Duck party! He was really all about some Britt and even made sure to come over to dance near our table when it was the birthday song 🙂
Tradition: we always get a pic of Britt kissing Donald!
Excited to get the honor of being the only boy to sign a letter 😉
Everyone loves Donald!
Tess loves food 😉
Tess was very drawn to Minnie and Pluto!
Britt being silly with Pluto 😉
Britt plays “doggie doggie” non-stop at our house so she’s a natural
Kye LOVES to grub. He grubbed out hardcore at Chef Mickey. I want him to learn how to balance portion control but I also want to trust him to know that limit. It’s tricky at his age because he wants independence and we were sitting RIGHT next to the buffet so I let him go and get whatever he wanted. He had a couple plates of food AND a massive bowl of cereal (the cereal thing is JUST like my brother growing up. Kid ate cereal non stop).
Kye was still eating when the girls were well over it so Zach took them to watch more cartoons while Kye finished up. It gave Mommy and G-Mama some special Kye time!
I just adore the love all our kids have for each other!
They look SO ALIKE right here, right???
On our way out we happened to see the Frozen gingerbread house! Each Disney resort decorates for Christmas and this was REALLY neat! I’m so glad we happened to see it and the kids enjoyed hunting for the hidden olafs
Ready to play and rest with G-Mama for the rest of the day!
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My work has been featured on Love What Matters, Today Parenting and Babywise.Life. I'm also honored to be a member of the Babywise Friendly Blog Network.
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