And yet another Princess and Pirate Party .......... for Mickey, 

Well, with all the excitement of the day before it was hard to get out of bed. So we were up just in time to go to the foodcourt for breakfast. Yikes!! It was so crowded!

We had to queue up for the food, then queue to pay for it and then fight for a table.  I had the Croissant Breakfast Sandwich, while Tom had the Western Omelette. Because of the lines at breakfast we were late in picking up Mary Ellen, Kristy and Joe.They were already waiting for us in the lobby and we all went over to the MK. Since they usually use Disney transportation to get from the resort to parks this was a new experience for them.

Mary Ellen and I had been planning and dreaming about this vacation for about a year and there we  finally were, walking under the train station and entering the MK – what an wonderful experience for all of us.Once on Main Street Mary Ellen and her family went to check out the Emporium, while Tom and I went to the Hat shop on the other side to get us all personalised light up Mickey Ears. We presented them with their special “ears” when they exited the Emporium.After a few Photopass photos taken on Main Street, we checked out the piano lessons and saw the Horse drawn trolley coming down Main Street, together by the dancers.

What a start for our friends’ vacation! We strolled through the MK for a while and Kristy wanted to ride Splash Mountain! There was a 40 minute wait, so we picked up a FP for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad which was good about an hour later. We got in line and time just flew by until we were able to ride. 

Mary Ellen is not very good with heights, but bravely came along with us and we actually had a lot of laughs on the ride!

A few minutes later our FP for Big Thunder was ready to use, so we all got in line. Mary Ellen didn’t ride it and took photos of us all riding. A short while later it was time for our dinner at Liberty Tree Inn. Our table was ready within 5 minutes and we all enjoyed our lunch.

Kristy had the Maryland Crab Cake - pan-seared blue crab cake on fire-roasted corn succotash with tartar sauce, Mary Ellen and Joe had the Tavern Fried Cheese - with marinara sauce and Tom and I had the Declaration Salad - field greens and vegetables tossed with your choice of our tavern strawberry vinaigrette or roasted garlic buttermilk dressing as a starter. As a main course I chose the Fresh from the Harbor - cider-cured salmon on griddled pumpkin bread, spaghetti squash, and fresh field greens with butternut squash vinaigrette, while everyone else had the New England Pot Roast ... Our Tavern Keeper's Favorite - braised beef in a cabernet wine and mushroom sauce served with mashed potatoes and garden vegetables.

Everyone, but Joe had dessert. Can’t remember what Mary Ellen had, but Kristy, Tom and I had the  Chocolate Liberation Cake -- warm chocolate lava cake with raspberry sauce and cherry Chambord ice cream.

. We were really stuffed after our meal and decided that we were not up for a “thrill ride” so decided on riding through “It’s a small world” instead. We all had a lot of fun and after another short stroll through the MK made our way back to the resort to relax and freshen up for the Pirate and Princess Party.

When we returned home to our room at All Star Movies we found a really wonderful surprise from Mousekeeping. Not only were there three little towel birds in our room’s window, but we found a large “towel dog” on our TV. We relaxed for a while, freshened up and got ready for the party.

Mickey got into his pirate suite again – HE was ready for more treasure hunting!! We picked up Mary Ellen, Joe and Kristy and went over to the MK right for the beginning of the party.

Us princesses had all brought our pink princess handbags which Tom and I had bought at Disneyland Paris to collect treasure and we had a lot of fun walking down Main Street and seeing so many people dressed up. In Tomorrowland Joe and Kristy wanted to ride Space Mountain, while the rest of got in line for Pirate Mickey and Donald.After about half an hour we gave up because the line had not moved much and we would have had way to go. 

Instead we went over to a treasure spot to collect some treasure. While in line we saw that it was our favourite CM who we had had so much fun with at the other two parties, who was handing out the treasure. We needed to award him! After he had handed Mary Ellen, Tom and me some “gold coins and jewels” (by Hershey) I handed him a “Tinkerbell celebrates 15 years of Disneyland Paris” pin and told him that we had had so much fun those last few times and that HE had been outstanding and we wanted to return some of the magic. Well, he was one stunned pirate!!!

But I think he really enjoyed being rewarded, as he started showing around his pin right away. We then met up again with Joe and Kristy and “roamed” the park, riding a few rides and picking up treasure. We had missed the first parade, but did NOT want to miss the fireworks, so we went back to the hub and the beginning of Main Street to watch the fireworks.

There were still 20 minutes left and the Ice-cream parlor was empty, so we decided to have an ice-cream while we waited for the fireworks to begin. By then it was dark and Tom and I were wearing our LED name-tags, which spelled out “Yo-Ho, Yo-Ho A Pirate’s Life For Me” on Tom’s and “Mickey Mouse rules” on mine.

Tom wanted some water and I ordered a small ice-cream. Some of the CM’s behind the counter commented on my name-tag and my ice-cream seemed to take forever to be prepared. Then suddenly all the CM were clapping and the one at the counter handed me a giant ice-cream cone covered in chocolate and sprinkles with far more ice-cream than I had ordered, chocolate Mickey ears, whipped cream and a cherry on top!

I was so stunned I wasn’t able to say a word, but the CM at the counter who had just handed me the cone just said, “You were just chosen for a Magical Moment!” Well, I know Magical Moments happen, but to ME???? It was such a wonderful surprise – Disney sure knows how to sprinkle you with Pixie dust. (Even though I think my name-tag helped a little, since a lot of CMs commented on it!)

Thankfully I have photos to remind me this was not a dream. We all enjoyed our ice-creams outside the ice-cream parlor and had just finished them when the fireworks started. They were out of this world AGAIN!! After that we went to pick up more treasure and ride more rides and found a perfect spot to watch the second parade. Mary Ellen and her family enjoyed it as much as we did.We stayed until the end of the party and Mary Ellen, Joe and Kristy took the bus back to Port Orleans French Quarter, while we got on the monorail to get back to our car and back to All Star Movies.