Happy Birthday Fiona!

Beautiful Boardwalk area

We were due for a rest day and the whole Albany clan was relieved to sleep in until 0800. Shop, move to Boardwalk Inn and celebrate Fiona's birthday was the agenda for the day! Story Book Dining at Artist Point was a Snow White character dining. I loved it! Food was better than Cinderella's Royal Table. A bonus was the evil Queen who was magnificently scary!

Before I link Malcolm's FindPenguins post, I should clarify that I have included the intro to his post of the day. However to see more photos and read his take on various events or items you'll have to click through and click on each photo. So below is the blurb for today:

Today was moving day. We relocated from VGF to Disney's Boardwalk Villas so we made it a leisurely day at the outlets rather than hitting the parks. There was no intention to buy anything apart from a few gifts for relatives, but somehow Lara always seems to walk away with half a bag of stuff!

The main event today was Fi's birthday dinner at Wilderness Lodge. The signature restaurant is a Snow White themed character dining at Artist's point.

The characters were very charismatic - especially the evil Queen who seemed to enjoy her role a little too much! It was such a lovely evening. Happy birthday to a dear friend :)

Saying goodbye to our view at the Grand Floridan

Reviewing wetzel's pretzels

One of our favourite resorts!

Boardwalk Inn lobby

The studio of the 2 bedroom lock off

The living area of the 1 bedroom

Main bedroom

Our balcony facing the boardwalk

Wilderness Lodge

Dopey

Grumpy

She really was scary

Happy Birthday Fiona! 

Magic Kingdom Multipass

Disney's "Fastpass" system has undergone many tweaks and changes and this was our first experience with the latest iteration. All I can say is bring back the old paper fast pass system! We didn't do too badly but it didn't quite work out as planned. Perhaps the holiday crowds threw out the algorithm but we did miss out on some of the bigger rides. Not a big deal as we had many other days left but more annoying that we couldn't use the system as efficiently as we had hoped.

I'll stop the boring rant there. There are several websites that outline the process of how to book and use the multipass LL much better than I ever can so I won't even try...

Highlights were just spending time with family and friends and watching little ones experience their "firsts"!

https://findpenguins.com/80tbgmubyiyed/footprint/6778c42da6ea37-76918424

It has been years since we've been on a carousel!

Dumbo 

Wargaming the LL...

Trying and reviewing snacks

Dinner at Batuu never gets old

Just like an American child - American tenders and mac & cheese! Love it!

Still amazing even several visits!!!

Studying for Toy Story Mania

Ride photo of the day! Uncle Steve bossing it!

Looking for our favourite characters

lol

Hopping from MK to HS. Unfortunately Jonah was exhausted so opted to rest

Animal Kingdom

The day was so jam-packed but what a great first full day for the group! Today's highlight was trying Jiko at Animal Kingdom Lodge, a restaurant that has long been on Malcolm's list to try. It didn't disappoint!

Apologies but the photos were all out of order...

Here are Mal's thoughts...

Sunrise at Animal Kingdom

The whole group with our team T-shirts and sunnies!

Lunch at Harambe. Not bad

Cinnamon scroll and Vietnamese style coffee!

Giraffe bread at Jiko

Beef short rib

seafood tagine. The octopus was excellent!

Scallops

Melktert

Can't remember what this was

A good chunk of the "Ladies who lunch"!

We're collecting family photos

Uncle Andrew didn't get the assignment

Well done team for getting on the 0630 bus!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year from the most magical place on earth! Today was sold to the family as a "relaxed" day by Malcolm Albany but I still managed to rack up 28.000 steps. Enjoy the parks and take photos he says...

We did a little bit of everything. Rope-dropped Magic Kingdom, Virtual queued Guardian's of the Galaxy Cosmic Rewind over at Epcot, tried out a new restaurant Shiki-sai Sushi Izakaya, had our our obligatory dole-whip, welcomed our friends, and hit Animal Kingdom for extended evening hours. Not a bad days' work!

The most exciting part of the day was finally getting the whole group together. This trip has been planned for more than a year and it was always so much more fun experiencing Disney with friends. We will be here for the next 10 days together and super excited to be starting 2025 with bang!

Mal's post for those interested...

First monorail of the day at 0630

Why are there so many people in the lines already? lol

Walking fast and taking a selfie at the same time. Fail

First ride!

Gaston's Tavern

Our favourite - The Dapper Dans!

Snack time. Trying the Gingerbread cookie sandwich

Violet Yuzu mocktail

Gobo chips and agedashi tofu

Grilled eggplant. The food overall was satisfactory without being very good

Yuzu cheesecake

Dole whip

Dessert at Satuli

No Elliot :(

Hanging with Walt