The Real First Day (February 27th, 2010)

Check-in at the Contemporary was nothing short of stellar. Everyone was perfect! Our room was not ready (as we had expected, given that it was well before check-in time) so we opted to wait for a text message. We debated walking over to the Magic Kingdom (yeah, walking. This hotel is awesome) but decided to just lay low around the resort since we'd need to come back and change before dinner in the park anyway. Zach and the girls watched a few minutes of cartoons while I made sure all of the room and dining details were squared away, then we went upstairs to burn off some energy (from where, you ask? no clue) and freshen up in the locker rooms. The girls enjoyed running up and down a third-floor hallway until it was time for lunch.

We headed up to the Grand Canyon Concourse to eat at the resort's counter service option, Contempo Cafe. The food was excellent (we chose honey-lime chicken and mahi mahi sandwiches), and oh-so-filling. I mean, check out this cupcake for crying out loud!

It was really too cold and wet to explore much (about 40 degrees and pouring), so we were hoping our room would be ready fairly quickly. The girls desperately needed to nap, so we tested out whether or not The Cave was going to work for us this trip. It did, though neither girl was sleeping very soundly with all the noise.

By about 12:45pm, the room was ready. Not bad at all! And wow, was the room fantastic! One of many complaints I had had about our previous resort, as you may recall, was the lack of storage. The room at Bay Lake Tower was pretty much what we had come to expect from a DVC studio, but the storage! Oh, the storage! Pull out (and stealthily hidden) pantry, drawers and cabinets GALORE... I didn't even come close to filling that sucker up, despite unloading our suitcases, the crap we had along for the drive, the owners locker, etc. The decor, while much less-themed than most WDW resorts, was definitely my speed. Oh - and one more minor detail... we had a view of the Magic Kingdom. We were only on the third floor so it wasn't spectacular, but considering we hadn't "paid" for such a view, it was a wonderful upgrade.
My biggest complaint

After unpacking, Zach and I showered and felt a trillion times better. Emmersyn only slept 20 minutes and Hartley, despite sleeping well over an hour, was still having all kinds of fun mini-meltdowns, so I was pretty nervous about dinner with Pooh & friends.

Around 3pm, we walked over to the Magic Kingdom. We wanted the girls to rest a bit more (if at all possible), so we mostly just walked around some shops, took everything in, grabbed a fastpass for Space Mountain, etc. It quickly became evident that the girls weren't going to sleep, so we decided to make the best of the afternoon. We all went on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority (which the girls always love) and Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. Hartley "drove" our vehicle, which resulted in pretty crappy scores.... but with mine slightly less crappy than Zach's! I never win those darn rides, so I gave Hartley an extra kiss for her "help".

I ended up riding Space Mountain that afternoon, and - while it's an enjoyable ride - was a little disappointed in the "refurbishment" which was pretty much not noticeable. We stopped for a quick photopass picture and froze our butts off without jackets. If there was one outfit of the girls' that I loved most, it was to be worn that first day. Of course, it was too cold and the cutest little flowered capris had to be nixed in favor of jeans, and even still it was frigid... Hence the jackets you'll see in nearly every picture going forward. So much for the hours I spend tracking down, purchasing and coordinating outfits! ;)

At the Crystal Palace it took nearly 15 minutes to check in, but we were seated pretty quickly thereafter. The wait was kind of nice though, giving the girls a chance to peek in and be reminded what was going on. Hartley was hilarious knocking on the window and hollering for the characters from the porch. (And no, we didn't let her knock when someone was dining on the other side!).

Inside though, Hartley was in full meltdown mode. If we offered her food (some of her favorites, mind you), she would freak out like I had not seen before. The only way she ate anything was to set a chicken nugget or piece of fruit barely within her reach and then ignore her. :rolls eyes: Still, the meltdowns ceased and she got something in her, so we hardly cared. As usual, Emmersyn cared more about the food than the characters. Both enjoyed them, but didn't go crazy over them that first day. I'd take that over being afraid of them any day, though, and they were both more receptive than last time even... so we counted it a success. Piglet continues to be a favorite, and - for whatever reason (6.5' tall, perhaps?) - Tigger not so much.

Somehow, we had finished dining and had been missed by Eeyore. The entire staff worked very hard (and quickly!) to make sure to remedy this. We waited a minute for the characters to march on parade (which the girls loved), all the while calling for Eeyore. Emmersyn was convinced he was going potty. :) Shortly after the parade, he was visiting us and giving the girls lots of love.

By about 6:30pm we were finished. It would have been perfect timing to grab a spot for Spectromagic, but it was just too darn cold. We instead hopped on the monorail (since our resort is the first stop after the MK) and headed to our home for the week, hereafter known as "Botel". ;)

We heard Wishes (MK nighttime firework show) outside our room but were too exhausted after being up for 2+ days to check it out. The girls cried for about 4 minutes, talked a couple more, and then all four of us were out cold by just after 8.

Next: February 28th, 2010 - WDW Day 2