Today we checked out of our hotel and went to eat at The Contemporary Resort at Chef Mickey's (7:00 am reservations). It's a character breakfast buffet that has Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and Pluto. The Contemporary Resort is the pyramid shaped resort where the Monorail travels through the inside. It's the only Disney Resort like this. We got some great shots and autographs with the characters and ate some yummy food!
A nice lady sitting next to us offered to take our picture as a family. 
Chef Donald Duck and the Kids. This is one of the rare times you ever get to see Donald Duck.
Chef Mickey Mouse and the kids. They are all so lovable! Yes, even Chef Mickey!
Chef Goofy was trained VERY well in knowing where to stand for pictures because he's so tall. You can BARELY tell that he and the boys are about 3 steps BEHIND where Taylor is sitting!!! 
I even got in on some Character Breakfast picture action. Tony took our picture with Minnie Mouse. Hee hee, I guess I can't always hide behind the camera.
The kids have full bellies and they are getting anxious to go to the park. Fortunately Pluto came around just in time before we started some meltdown/crazy kid mode.
Jackson decided to use the back of his chair as a picture frame! What can I say...CLASSIC Jackson...my goofball!
Anthony reluctantly followed suit. He's sometimes so reserved, it amazes me.Disney's Hollywood Studios.
Picture Universal Studios, California but Disney themed. There are shows and rides that are completely movie based. It was another warm and very humid day. The kids did great though! Tony and I were a bit tired but the excitement of the morning kept us going. We got to the park right at the opening. What they do is have a small stage show, pick a family from the crowd and use them to help "open" the park to all guests. Once the park is "opened" you see 2 massive crowds of people. The first set headed towards the right to the newest ride in the park Toy Story Mania. The second set headed to the left towards The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror and Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Staring Aerosmith.
We followed to the right towards Toy Story Mania. It amazed me that the line to the Fast Pass stations and onto the actual ride were equally long. Toy Story Mania is the newest ride in this park so of course everyone wants to ride it first and get their Fast Passes as soon as they can. Some locals told us that when the ride first opened a few months prior, all the Fast Passes would be gone for the day by 9:30am. What we did was split up. Me and the kids stood in the ride queue line while Tony stood in the Fast Pass line. Believe it or not, we made it at the same time to enter the building where the ride is housed.
Picture Universal Studios, California but Disney themed. There are shows and rides that are completely movie based. It was another warm and very humid day. The kids did great though! Tony and I were a bit tired but the excitement of the morning kept us going. We got to the park right at the opening. What they do is have a small stage show, pick a family from the crowd and use them to help "open" the park to all guests. Once the park is "opened" you see 2 massive crowds of people. The first set headed towards the right to the newest ride in the park Toy Story Mania. The second set headed to the left towards The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror and Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Staring Aerosmith.
We followed to the right towards Toy Story Mania. It amazed me that the line to the Fast Pass stations and onto the actual ride were equally long. Toy Story Mania is the newest ride in this park so of course everyone wants to ride it first and get their Fast Passes as soon as they can. Some locals told us that when the ride first opened a few months prior, all the Fast Passes would be gone for the day by 9:30am. What we did was split up. Me and the kids stood in the ride queue line while Tony stood in the Fast Pass line. Believe it or not, we made it at the same time to enter the building where the ride is housed.
The inside of this ride is very colorful and decorated up like a big toy store...Actually it's supposed to be Andy's room. Everything is big and it makes you feel like a kid again. You have the Barrel of Monkeys, a Scrabble board decorates the ceiling and so do Blocks.
Jackson loves sharks and ocean life so naturally I had to get him posing by the Shark card from the "Go Fish" game.
Candyland anyone? Me and the boys love playing this game! In fact all of our favorite games are set up inside this ride.
One of the great things is this giant animatronic Mr. Potato Head. He'll tell jokes and call out to people waiting in line and talk to them. The second attraction we did was Playhouse Disney - Live on Stage. The Disney shows that were incorporated in the attraction were Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Little Einsteins, My Friends Tigger and Pooh and Handy Manny. I hate to say it but I wasn't impressed. I liked the original one much better with Bear in the Big Blue House, The Adventures of Winnie The Pooh and Rollie Pollie Ollie. I was let down by this attraction this time around. I felt as though the second Playhouse Disney wasn't as energetic as the original one. The one with Bear had the right amount of energy. It got the kids excited, it calmed them down and then got them excited again. You left feeling really upbeat! The second one got the kids really excited at the beginning but didn't retain the momentum. I walked out of the auditorium lacking a bit of energy than when I walked in.
Fast Pass Time! We went back to ride Toy Story Mania and afterwards I took Taylor to see Voyage of The Little Mermaid while Tony took the boys to ride on Star Tours. There was a very low wait time for Star Tours so he had the boys try to do the Jedi Training Academy but they didn't get picked from the crowd immediately so they left. We then met up for lunch at the Sci-Fi Diner. This restaurant is themed like a huge drive-in movie theater. You sit and eat in booths that are made up like a car and can watch movies on the big screen. Anthony had on his "Happy Birthday" button and she offered him up an ice cream sundae. We sang to him and she was kind enough to bring all three kids a glow in the dark water bottle filled with caramel corn.
Taylor and I sat in the "front seat" of our dining car. She LOVED watching the movies they showed on the big screen.
Hi Boys! Anthony and Jackson were supposed to sit in the middle row and Tony took the 3rd row but after a period of time Jackson got cold and snuggled up with Tony. I loved the atmosphere of the restaurant but it was so dark you could barely tell what you were eating and couldn't see if you dropped any food on the floor.
Afterwards, I took Taylor to see Beauty and The Beast - Live on Stage show while Tony took the boys to see the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular. Taylor was really excited for it to begin but fell asleep in my arms about 8 minutes before show time and she was so tired that I couldn't wake her up so she missed the whole thing. Fortunately, I captured most of it on video for her. But of course in her mind, it never even happened.
We left the park early and checked into our timeshare at the Westgate Vacation Villas. We are actually staying at the Westgate Towne Center. It's AWESOME! It's a 3 bedroom lock off which means that there's a 2 bedroom and 1 bedroom units that share a common entrance hallway. We are staying in the 1 bedroom side while my aunts and my mom will stay on the 2 bedroom side when they arrive. I'm so glad we were able to get the 3 bedroom because the 1 bedroom side doesn't have laundry facilities inside the property so we have to continually jump into the 2 bedroom side to do our laundry. We come in, lock the front hallway door and then leave the A and B sides open and just let the kids run between the 2 rooms until it's time for them to go to bed. While Tony checked us into the timeshare, this is what the kids did in the car...
Afterwards, I took Taylor to see Beauty and The Beast - Live on Stage show while Tony took the boys to see the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular. Taylor was really excited for it to begin but fell asleep in my arms about 8 minutes before show time and she was so tired that I couldn't wake her up so she missed the whole thing. Fortunately, I captured most of it on video for her. But of course in her mind, it never even happened.
We left the park early and checked into our timeshare at the Westgate Vacation Villas. We are actually staying at the Westgate Towne Center. It's AWESOME! It's a 3 bedroom lock off which means that there's a 2 bedroom and 1 bedroom units that share a common entrance hallway. We are staying in the 1 bedroom side while my aunts and my mom will stay on the 2 bedroom side when they arrive. I'm so glad we were able to get the 3 bedroom because the 1 bedroom side doesn't have laundry facilities inside the property so we have to continually jump into the 2 bedroom side to do our laundry. We come in, lock the front hallway door and then leave the A and B sides open and just let the kids run between the 2 rooms until it's time for them to go to bed. While Tony checked us into the timeshare, this is what the kids did in the car...
Socializing
For dinner we met up with my co-worker Manuel and his family, wife Wanda and son Jean-Luc at Houlihan's for dinner. We had great conversation and a good meal. We don't have a Houlihan's in Tucson so that was a nice change of pace. I believe they are owned by the same parent company that owns Bennigan's because the interior looks similar. The kids really took a liking to Jean-Luc.
Then we came back to the timeshare, Anthony did more homework and we went to bed. Jackson had finished all of his homework so he got to watch some T.V. with Taylor before it was bedtime.
