When I left off, we had just seen the still-under-construction Toy Story Mania attraction, and after that, we split up to walk around Hollywood Studios for a while. Cooper and I left the line at Pirates of the Caribbean (I rode it in California) to go shopping for souvenirs, which we found in the Pirates gift shop. From there we walked back to the beginning of Main Street to meet up with our group and go back to the hotel. We had just over an hour to freshen up and change our clothes for the next phase of our adventure.

We met in the lobby and walked outside to find that instead of our motorcoach bus, there were LIMOUSINES waiting for us, and the drivers were standing there holding bottles of champagne! We all squealed like high school girls, and I said it felt like we were going to the prom! I hadn’t rode in a limo since I went to my WEDDING. I climbed in with Tracey, Jo-Lynn, Stephanie, Lori, Mia, and Maria, and we drank a toast to Disney and to Maria, our wonderful host! The limo took us to the Contemporary Hotel, which was the first hotel built on the property, and now is the site of the amazing California Grill.

We walked into our private dining room to find an open bar (yay, Cosmos!), a waiter passing trays of deliciously fresh sushi rolls (ever had shrimp tempura sushi? delicious!), and we met Karen Hanes, head of Food and Beverage Marketing for the parks. Also dining with us were Christine Weissman, the first female Executive Chef who works at Epcot, and Joel Schaeffer, Master Chef and head of Special Diets and Childrens’ Dining. I heard there was another Disney person there, Julianne, but I didn’t meet her.

Our menu was chosen for us by Michelle and Leanne (the Disney P.R. ladies who hung out with us and got us where we needed to be all weekend and who are also beautiful and fun and should totally be bloggers if they had time for it). We started with goat cheese ravioli in broth with shitake mushrooms and sundried tomatoes, then a salad made from shredded hearts of palm, avocado, and oven-cured tomatoes. After a small, palate-cleansing scoop of Mango Passionfruit sorbet, we were served the main courses, which were delicious Snapper with julienne vegetables on beds of jasmine rice cake, slices of beef tenderloin with roasted potatoes, onions, and asparagus, and pork loin over cheesy polenta. All three were absolutely divine!

We were then served coffee and dessert, which was molten lava cakes with raspberry puree and blood orange sorbet, but we had to hurry up to get to our next destination, so there wasn’t much time for dessert. There were groans all around as we had to leave that beautiful chocolate cake! BUT, we got back in our limos, and were driven to Downtown Disney, to go to…

CIRQUE DE SOLEIL! I could not believe it! I have ALWAYS wanted to see a Cirque de Soleil show, and I was beyond excited about it. The show we saw is called “La Nouba” which means “the party”, and it was a dazzling spectacle of funny clowns, performers on tightropes, swinging from trapeze bars, men running on giant wheels and doing amazing stunts on bikes, and trampoline tricks that had us all gasping. Everyone’s favorite part of the show were these four tiny girls who were holding what looked like jump ropes, with big wooden spools in the middle, and they were tossing the spools back and forth and in the air, doing flips and somersaults and catching the spools, they got a huge ovation at the end.

When the show was over, we were treated to something very special-two of the performers came out and sat on the stage and talked to us about how they balance being Moms with working in the show! If you’ve seen “La Nouba”, the performers we met are Sassandra who is the Singer, and Natalya who is the Ballerina. They were both so sweet and friendly, and we had lots of questions about how they manage their jobs and their families. It was very kind of them to take the time to talk to us.

After that, we rode the limos back to the hotel, finishing up the champagne on the way. I know I went straight to bed when I got back, I assume everyone else did, too. I could hardly believe everything I had done in just one day! It was sad that it had to end, too. Every single person I met or encountered at Disney gave off this vibe of positive energy that left me feeling happier just for being in their presence. Disney truly does want every guest to have a “Magical” experience, and I know I certainly did!

Coming up next-Sunday’s character breakfast, hanging out at the hotel, heading for the airport, and the beginning of my “airport adventure”. Thanks for reading!

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