A meal and a Mouse

Okay, it’s a few minutes before Noon. We’ve killed enough time to head back to the Land for our 12:20 lunch reservation at Garden Grill.

I laugh at a t-shirt I spot another guest wearing on the way in. It reads, “I’d love to help, but I can’t fix stupid!” Off-duty cast member, perhaps?

We walk up the ramp, into the automatic doors, and… whoa. I thought the pavilion was crowded earlier today, but it is packed now at lunchtime. The right-hand side of the upper level is two-thirds full, packed with a mass of humanity slowly moving around towards the stairs and down escalator.

I make sure our group knows not to follow the flow to the lower lever – the check-in for Garden Grill is… well, it’s on the other side of the upper level, and the way to it is roped off. Crowd control again, the opposite problem of when we were trying to get to Circle of Life. Will we have to go downstairs and back up just to get across to the restaurant entrance?

No, fortunately. There’s a cast member at the rope. We tell her we have a reservation for the Garden Grill and she lets us pass.

Whew. It feels good just be out of that big group of people and into a place with elbow room.

We have only a short wait after our check-in until we are escorted to our table, a booth on the lower, outer level, facing out. It’s currently pointed at the Living with the Land scene with the buffalo, but we can tell the restaurant is slowly rotating.

Our server, a friendly lady named Samantha, is promptly at our table, introducing herself and getting our drink order. And just as promptly, Farmer Mickey is there!

Samantha steps aside to let the Big Cheese visit with us. Our first encounter with Mickey! Never fails to make me feel like a kid.

We’ve taken a tip we read online and created “autograph shirts” for the boys. They have our “Dallas to Disney” snowflake Mickey logo on the front of an otherwise white shirt, and we have multiple colors of Sharpies. (Also important to have on hand – a small hard surface to write on. We have a rectangle of cardboard.) The characters won’t sign clothing that is being worn, but this way the boys can collect signatures on this t-shirt and wear it after the trip.

And the first signature is Mickey’s. Pretty cool!