Someone pinch me,this trip must have been a dream UPDATED 7/9/10 Boats at the Poly

[mirandag819]

For those of you who don’t know my family, or haven’t heard me discuss the details I had planned for the trip, let me give you a brief overview.
My husband, my daughter Taylor, my mom, my sister, and I all went to Disney World together in Sept. 2008. It was our first time all vacationing together, and it really didn’t go great. Everyone had a different idea of what we wanted to do, we got tired and grumpy at different times, and my mom and sister didn’t bring good shoes so they were uncomfortable most of the trip. We did have a lot of fun, but DH and I vowed never to take them on vacation to Disney World with us again. There was just too much bickering and too many moody women for my husband to keep his sanity.
Fast forward 2 months after our trip last year and my husband was deployed to Iraq, shortly after he deployed, Disney announced the military promotion for 2009. It was a tough deal to pass up, I tried to convince my husband that he wanted to go back to WDW on his 2 week leave. He didn’t want to; he wanted to go somewhere more relaxing on his leave. After discussing it with him I decided it would be a nice way to spend mine and Taylor’s birthdays if I could get my mom and or my sister to go back with us (since I wasn’t brave enough to attempt WDW alone with a 3 to 4 year old). The trip would cheer us up since we were missing him, and since our birthday’s are the same week as each other we would both get a birthday fun card. My husband really liked the idea of us still going, he knew it would be good for me and Taylor. He didn’t have to go, and could go on a different trip with us whenever he came home for a couple weeks. Both my mom and my sister said they wanted to go, so I called and booked us a room at the Poly for 8 days with the 40% military discount.
I am a very obsessive Disney Planner…. So I started working on all my spreadsheets and binder right away. We had stayed at Shades of Green last year, and were looking forward to the Poly. I had all my ADR’s picked out and got what I wanted on my 90 day mark.
About 5 weeks before our trip DH started saying he was trying to get his 2 week leave for the time period we would be in Disney World, and that he really wanted to go. It bounced back and forth between he could go and no way would he be able to come home for the next couple weeks. Finally 2 weeks before the trip he said it was a definite and he should be home about 4 days before our scheduled departure. We were all so excited he could go with us, everything felt perfect. I was sad he wasn’t going to be with us, and now he was, and to top it all off it was mine and Taylor’s birthdays.
Now at this point all the plans had been made, ADRs booked, flights booked, ect. I was able to call right away and book him on our flight (of course since it was a last min fare his cost about twice what ours did), when I called to get a 2nd room at the Poly, there were no more military discounted rooms available. After a lot of debating, I finally decided to get 2 rooms at Shades of Green. I was able to get 2 rooms at shades of green for less than 1 at the Poly with the 40% discount. I didn’t have any luck adding him to any of our ADRs, but was hopeful they could still fit us in if we showed up at the podium. I adjusted everything that could be adjusted and we were just anxiously awaiting him getting home. I was very nervous about going with my husband and my mom and sister combined. We said we would never take them again, but it was too late to uninvited them just because my husband was coming home.

I guess I should go ahead and introduce the cast for our trip report.
There is me, Miranda. I am the biggest Disney lover of the group. I am the one that plans everything . I am also the photographer of the group. I am not great at it, but I love pictures so I keep a camera attached to my face all the time, and drive everyone a little photo crazy.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/me.jpg
There is my husband, Dee (His real name is Sonny in case I ever use that, but he is a 3rd so we usually use his nickname, Dee). I call him the Disney hater, but he really isn’t. He likes Disney, but he burns out quickly at Disney World and hates having everything planned out in advance. He use to be active duty army, but has been a reservist for the past 5 years. He is currently deployed for the 3rd time, the 2nd as a reservist. He is an amazing father, I love nothing more than just watching him play with my daughter for hours on end.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/Dee.jpg
There is my mom, who my daughter calls Mimi. Her and my dad divorced last year after a 2 year separation. She has really clung to my daughter since then, which is great 90% of the time because they have a great relationship, but this gets in the way when my husband is around because she lets her get away with murder and it drives Dee crazy. My mom really is great, she has been a huge help while my husband has been away. She comes a few days every month when I have to work real crazy hours. She lives 5 hours away, but I really do get to see her a lot.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/mimi.jpg
There is my sister, Morgan. My daughter started calling her MoMo as a baby, and now we all seem to call her that. She is 2 years younger than me, and we have always been incredibly close. I really love getting to hang out with her, and her and my husband get along great (except when my mom is around….which we still haven’t quite figured out why). A little over a year ago my sister met her husband and got married a week later. He is active duty in the army and is currently deployed to Iraq as well. She is bipolar, but hasn’t taken medication for it in years, she does have frequent mood swings, which can add some tension to our trips at times. She is my model though so I love her for that, I don’t even have to tell her what I want, I just point and she goes there and smiles for me, she is the only one who never complains about pictures being taken, and you will see lots of pictures of her.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/Momo.jpg
Finally there is my little girl Taylor. She turned 4 during our trip this year. She loves everything Disney too. She will watch any movie as long as it starts with Cinderella’s castle and she knows almost every line to every Disney film ever made. She is a very girly girl…. She hates winter because she can’t wear many dresses. She is a character freak, she wants to meet them all, and thinks they are all her best friends.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/s41804cb115224_10-1.jpg



My husband got in safely from Iraq 2 days before our departing flight, he was delayed numerous times in Ireland and Germany coming home, but at least he made it with some time to spare. My mom and sister arrived the night before our flight.
I stayed up way too late the night before our flight finishing up last minute packing, but we did wake up and get out of the house around 5:30 am. Our flight was at 8 o’clock and we had about a 45 min drive to the airport.
We had an amazing trip (for the most part), and I can’t wait to tell you all about it, but first I have to get some sleep, so coming up tomorrow I will fill you in on our departing flight and hopefully get to tell you all about our amazing first night at Disney World!

[terri910]

I am anxious to read about your Disney dream trip!

[reyasmommy]

I'm excited to hear about your trip! :banana:

Your daughter is absolutely adorable! I love that picture of her! :cutie:

I couldn't imagine what it would be like to go to WDW with someone that is Bipolar and not on meds!! :lmao: I myself am Bipolar and 24 weeks pregnant. I haven't been on my medication since I found out I was pregnant and am not the most pleasant person to be around some days! My poor daughter and husband... The combination of pregnancy hormones and not being on my meds is NOT pretty! ;) Luckily when we go on our trip in March I'll be back on it! :thumbsup2 My husband is very thankful for that. :woohoo:

I look forward to hearing more about your trip. popcorn::

[mirandag819]

We got to the airport with plenty of time to spare. We did have to drive two separate cars, because we couldn’t all fit into 1 with the massive amount of luggage we had. We pulled up to Southwest’s terminal and unloaded all of our bags and then Morgan and I drove our cars to the parking garage. We wanted to park in the parking lot instead of the garage since I hate paying $180 for parking, but we couldn’t seem to find the parking lot. We met everyone else by the ticketing counters and headed for security. There was no line at all, so we got to our gate very quickly.
Once we got to our gate we found out our flight was delayed an hour and a half. So we now had a 3 hour wait. We decided to get some breakfast while we waited and I was able to get plenty of airport pictures.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/airportbreakfast.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/airport1.jpg
While waiting at the airport, Taylor spent the down time teaching Aunt MoMo and Mimi how to pose for pictures, she is a big fan of the hands on your hip pose.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/airport2.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/airport3.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/airportmimitay.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/airportmomotay.jpg


The obsessive planner in me was trying not to get upset about the brief delay, but I couldn’t help but think of how it was going to cut into our plans for the day.
We got delayed another 25 mins as our flight time approached, I was really not loving that. I love having the first flight of the day, and getting to Orlando nice and early. Once we finally boarded we were able to get 5 seats together at least, so that was good (we fly Southwest and there is no assigned seats).
Here is Aunt Momo being silly while waiting for the plane:
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/airportmomo.jpg
As we are getting settled on the plane, Taylor announces very loudly, “DADDY, WE ARE GOING TO CRASH (in an excited voice)” People started turning and looking at us worried that we had some weird psychic child. Apparently Taylor remembered her last plane ride and the little safety booklet where she saw the inflatable slide exits. She thinks they look fun and she really wants a crash landing so she can ride them. However no one else on the plane thought that was a good idea.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/planetay.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/planedeetay.jpg
The plane got in the air pretty quickly. Shortly after we took off Dee decides he has to go to the bathroom, I had to make fun of him a little bit, what grown man can’t go to the bathroom on hold it for an hour long flight. The problem with him going to the bathroom is now Taylor knows there is a bathroom on board the plane (it never occurred to her before). So of course she had to go potty now too and it was an “emergency”. In case you hadn’t noticed yet, her dress is huge! The pettiskirts take up so much room in the suitcase, and since she needed 3, I packed 2 and had her wear one on the plane. BAD IDEA! Do you know how hard it is to fit a little girl, a mommy, and a pettiskirt into the tiny tiny bathroom on the plane? So not fun!
The rest of the flight was pretty uneventful, and we landed in Orlando around 10:45 am.
Next up….. Finding our rental vehicle on the Emerald Isle….. Can we find one to hold all of us 9 bags and 5 people???

[emcreative]

I'm here and can't wait to read more! :)

[MousekaMaddi]

what a lil cutie u have!! and 3 pettiskirts! OH MY! Cant wait for more pix!!:lovestruc

[Mirb1214]

I am SO excited that you are starting your trip report!! I can't wait to see all your beautiful customs "in action".

[woodkins]

Soo excited to hear all about your trip....and see all of the cute boutique fashions ;-)

[reyasmommy]

cute dress :cutie:

[mirandag819]

So we land at MCO and head to baggage claim. Our bags were brought out very quickly and we headed straight to the Emerald Aisle. Now when I booked our trip DH wasn’t going, so I knew it was totally safe to book the Emerald Aisle. For those of you who aren’t familiar with National’s Emerald Club, you book and pay for a mid-size, but can choose any available vehicle on the aisle. We now had 5 people and 9 huge bags, so we defiantly needed a van, which I have had no problem getting in the past when I booked Emerald Aisle. However, our flight was now delayed so we got there later than usual. There were no vans, and no large SUVS available on the Emerald Aisle. So I went to the counter to see how much it would cost to upgrade to a van. Turns out National was totally out of them. I decided to check with Avis and Enterprise to see if they had any. They did, but it would be $1500 for the 8 days with a military discount, I did not like the idea of that. I decided we would get a cab for 1 person and some luggage and meet with a car at the resort. The 5 of us could fit in a car, just not with luggage.
By the time I get back to National’s section, DH has decided he can make a small SUV with a 3rd row of seats work. The SUV had noooo trunk at all, but he has folded down the 3rd row of seats and packed our luggage to the roof. The only problem was the 2nd row of seats only had 2 seats, but MoMo volunteered to sit on the cup holder. Shhhhh don’t tell anyone that my police officer husband broke the seatbelt law.
We crammed into the car like sardines and headed for Shades of Green. We get out of the garage and DH remembers he turned off the GPS function of his blackberry while he was in Iraq, and we needed it to get to SoG, so we pulled over briefly while he called Verizon to get it turned back on.
We finally made it to the Magic Kingdom gates! YAY!
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/MK.jpg
Then we headed straight to Shades of Green to check in (although we were hours before check in), and get our military tickets.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/SoG.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/SoG2-1.jpg
While checking in, Taylor sat down to watch a movie in the children’s movie area, I thought it was odd to be on Disney property and them having a non-Disney movie playing.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/madagascar.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/SoGkidsarea2.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/SoGkidsarea.jpg
After a min or two she ran over to me and asked me where the Mickey Statue was, I can’t believe at her age she remembers that from last year, but she did. I walked her over to the statue and she was hugging and kissing on it like it was the real Mickey Mouse.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/mickeystatue.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/mickeystatue2.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/mickeystatue3.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/mickeystatue4.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/mickeystatuekiss.jpg


I was bored, so I snapped a few pics around the lobby and since Taylor was already telling me no more pictures Mommy, I decided to step outside and snap a few pictures of the grounds.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/SoGlobby.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/SoGlobby2.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/SoGoutside2.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/Sogoutside.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/Sogoutside4.jpg

Our rooms weren’t ready yet, so we moved our bags to SoG’s storage room….and headed over to the attraction ticket sales. In the past we could buy our tickets right away, but because of the military promo this year, there was a huge line that spilled out into the hallway to get tickets. We ended up waiting over an hour to get our tickets, once we were at the counter it only took about 30 seconds, but everyone in front of us was not prepared and still had a million questions. They all really needed to read the DIS before their trip, if they had they could have bought the tickets in 30 seconds too instead of 5 mins each.
Morgan was having a meltdown about the fact Dee had taken her bags to storage, she had gotten sweaty while waiting for the rental car and wanted to change clothes (did she not realize it would take all of 2 mins to get sweaty again when she went outside in FL in August?). She went and got her bags out and changed….and then we decided to head over to DTD and check out Disney Quest.

[WDWAtLast]

I in! Can't wait so see pics of all your beautiful customs!!!

[MouseTriper]

:goodvibes I am here too and loving it so far!!! I loved the airport pictures, she looked adorable in her pink Minnie outfit. Can't wait for the next part!!

popcorn::

[2cutekidz]

You forgot to mention that you learned to sew for this trip!! ;)

Can't wait to see all of your pictures and hear about your trip!!

[mirandag819]

You forgot to mention that you learned to sew for this trip!! ;)

Can't wait to see all of your pictures and hear about your trip!!

HAHA yeah that is true, and the outfits were such a hit on the trip! I can't wait for you to hear all about the outfit you made though, it was a HUGE deal and I have such a great story about that night coming soon. Feel free to swipe any pictures when I get to that part, or I can email some to you. The outfit really made for the perfect night!

[ireland_nicole]

Hi Miranda! I made it; am can't wait to hear all about your fabulous trip! And, of course, to see all Taylor's awesome customs in their natural habitat!!

[karebear1]

I'm here too... and wanted to say thanks for posting pics of Shades. I've heard a lot about it, but never have I seen 1 picture of it! It looks like a great place!

Can't wait to hear and see more!!

[mirandag819]

We jumped into the SUV which now had plenty of room for us without our bags and headed on over to DTD. We had 7 PM ADRs at 1900 Park Fare, so we decided to grab a bite to eat and hang out at Disney Quest for a little while. We had never made the time to check it out before, so I was looking forward to it.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/DQ.jpg
We had to activate our military tickets and guest relations, which was super easy and only took a min or two, but in that two mins Taylor had already passed out in her stroller. The child never naps at home, but now she sleeps and we can’t even take the stroller in!
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/DQTaylorSleeping.jpg


Dee was mean and woke her right up, but she didn’t seem to mind.
Taylor loved the elevator ride up into DQ, the genie thing was pretty neat. She loves Genie (I will explain more of her love for Genie later in the TR).
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/DQelevator.jpg

We grabbed a quick bite to eat at Food Quest while we checked out the map.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/DQFoodQuest.jpg
After we ate Mom and Taylor headed to Sid’s Create-a-Toy, while Dee, Morgan and me went to Virtual Space Mountain. Morgan and I designed an awesome coaster with lots of inversions, it ended up being a level 5 (the craziest you can get). Dee designed his, but it was a wimpy level 4. We did a rider swap of sorts and I got to ride both Dee’s and mine and Morgan’s in the simulator. Ours was defiantly cooler. The simulator wasn’t as real on hills as it was inversions and Dee picked a lot of big hills. It was still very neat and both Morgan and Dee enjoyed watching us ride while they waited.
We went to find Mom and Taylor, but they were not where we left them, which happens a lot during the trip so thank goodness for cell phones.
We ended up finding them at the virtual jungle cruise. My sister and I got a big kick out of seeing my mom on a “boat”, mom is terrified of water and won’t go near a boat normally.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/VirtualJC.jpg
Dee, Morgan, and I decided to take a turn riding with Taylor since when she got off she said, “I wanna do it again!”
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/virtualJC2.jpg
Taylor enjoyed just watching everyone with the Virtual Reality helmets from the top balcony, so we decided to take her to ride the Virtual Magic Carpets.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/DQ2.jpg
There was a bit of a wait, but everyone is line was complimenting Taylor’s dress so much, that she and I kinda enjoyed the wait. Several moms asked if I bought it there in DTD, and then went on and on about it when I said I had made it. It was my first real compliment in person about my sewing since I just learned to sew for this trip, so it made me feel very good.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/DQMomTayMo.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/DQTayMo.jpg

I don’t know what Taylor was doing to Aunt MoMo here:
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/DQmowierdface.jpg
Taylor was sick of pictures in line, so this was her first of many pictures of her telling me, “No more pictures Mommy” during this trip (you will see this hands up pose a lot)
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/DQnomorepictures.jpg


The helmets were a little tough to fit to Taylor’s tiny head without getting it over her eyes
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/DQhelmet.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/DQmagiccarpet.jpg

Dee looked normal in the helmet, I guess I have seen him in the military helmets too much.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/DQDeehelmet.jpg
I decided just to watch and take pictures while they did the virtual ride since there were only 4 seats together. Here are all of them looking silly in the helmets:
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/DQDeecarpets.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/DQTaycarpet2.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/DQmocarpets.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/DQmomcarpet.jpg



When they were finished Taylor was in a posing mood so we took some pics in front of Jasmine’s castle. Actually we took a lot since she was being a camera cheese, but here are just a few of them.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/DQTay2.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/DQTay3.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/DQTay4.jpg

We waited in another long line for Virtual POTC, and then decided to go ahead and head back to Shades of Green to get ready for our dinner at 1900 Park Fare. Here is Dee while waiting, I am not loving all of his Affliction shirts, I need to learn Photoshop so I can learn how to edit them and make them more Disney like.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/DeeDQ.jpg

[mirandag819]

When we got back outside in the bright sun (which seemed so blinding after being inside DQ), several CM’s were complimenting Taylor’s dress, so she put on a bit of a twirling show for them.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/DQTwirl.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/DQTwirl3.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/DQoutsideTay.jpg


On the way back to the car I first discovered my sister was so much easier to get to pose for me then Taylor was on demand.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/DQmomo2.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/DQmooutside.jpg

[MouseTriper]

Oh my goodness, I am loving all the pictures. I've never seen pictures of Shades of Green either. That place looks cool. Also, we have never been to Disney Quest, that place looks amazing. I need to plan a trip just so I can take DD there....hahahah!!!

[lovesdumbo]

Loving all your photos! Can't wait to see 1900 Park Fare!

[emcreative]

I can't wait until 1900 either! I have never been, but really want to go next time. You know this is my vicarious do over trip, right? I'm so glad it looks like I'm having a GREAT time! :rotfl2:

[WDWAtLast]

DisneyQuest looks like a blast! Although we made it to DTD for some World of Disney shopping, we did not make it to DQ this times - I guess we will have to plan another trip! :rotfl:

[NiniMorris]

Love, Love the pictures of Shades of Green. We 'visit' each trip. We've only stayed there once...if only they would add the dining plan....

Nini

[disneymomof1]

I'm here and so excited to read your report !!!!

[Dreamer & Wisher]

Wow great trip report so far!

[johnad]

That dress is adorable!! Great job! Can't wait to read the rest of your trip report!

[VBAndrea]

I'm here too and I'm am so dying for you to post about 1900PF and the stepsisters outfit. Wake up and post!!!!

[mom2rtk]

Hi there! I'm signing on too and can't wait to hear about your stepsister fun!

[mirandag819]

We returned to Shades of Green and got our room numbers. We were in the older section this time (our last trip was in the new wing). Our request for connecting rooms was honored. We were on the 3rd floor overlooking a lake and some tennis courts. I took some pictures of the view later in the week and I will post them later. I took over 10,000 pictures on 4 different cameras, so it is a little tricky to find the ones that aren’t in order.
Our room was nice, I love the size of the rooms at Shades of Green, you just can’t beat the size and location for the price. We were also very close to the Mickey shaped pool, just an elevator ride down and out a side door.
I had made special t-shirts for my mom, sister, and myself for 1900 PF and before I learned to sew, Leslie (who is a disser, her user name is 2cutekids) made Taylor a fabulous outfit. We were all excited to get changed and head over to 1900 PF.
We decided to go ahead and drive over instead of walking to the monorail. I hoped it would help keep my hair straight (I should know better than to even bother straightening my hair with the humidity, because just the walk from the car to 1900 PF was enough for it to frizz up and try to get wavy).
I was a little nervous about checking in, I didn’t want to have a problem adding Dee to our ADR since I wasn’t able to do it on the phone in advance. When I let them know he was in from Iraq and joined us at the last min they said it was no problem at all, and of course they would find a bigger table for us. They gave me a pager and told me it would be about 10 mins.
I decided to try and get some pictures of Taylor from the lobby.
Everyone in the lobby kept pointing and talking about her dress, I heard several people on their cell phones commenting about it, and several people stopped and asked me where I got it (I gave them your Etsy ID Leslie). By the time I was able to stop talking about her outfit with others, I only got 1 picture in and our buzzer went off.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/1900lobby.jpg
Taylor did have her picture made in front of the castle mural, I didn’t think it was a very good picture, but Dee liked it and bought it, once I get my Photopass CD I will add that picture.
We were seated at a table for 6 right by the door, I believe we were the closest table to the door. While we were being seated I heard the greeter telling someone over her earpiece about Taylor’s outfit and that we were coming in now. We could see some characters in the back room and Taylor did spot Drizella in the back of our room and was very excited. We told her not to worry that they would come see her soon and convinced her to go pick out some food. We got her seated and were able to get her to eat a little bit even through her excitement. It took about 40 mins before anyone came to our table, which was actually good since we were able to eat before being interrupted.
This is a horrible picture since Dee’s beer was in the way when he took a picture, but Taylor pretty much stayed this way pointing for the first 30 mins in the restaurant. She just kept pointing and grinning as if none of us knew the characters were there.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/1900pointing.jpg

The first person to our table was Lady Tremaine. Taylor was so excited she stood up so Lady Tremaine could get a good look at her outfit.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/1900LT1.jpg

She stayed very in character, but was so kind to Taylor because of her outfit. She kept saying spot on Taylor, this is a beautiful outfit. She asked Taylor who made her outfit, her fairy godmother? Some mice? Taylor laughed and said, no my mommy got it for me and my mommy made their shirts and pointed to Mimi, MoMo, and me.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/1900LT2.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/1900LTautograph.jpg

Lady Tremaine signed her autograph book to Taylor, the best dressed girl at Disney and then took Taylor by the hand and told her she just had to show her girls Taylor’s outfit.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/1900LTwalk.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/1900LTwalk2.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/1900PFLTwalk5.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/ladytremainewalk3.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/ladytremainewalk4.jpg



On the way across the room Lady Tremaine pulled the prince away from a table and told him this was the way a child should dress for Disney, and that this girl would make a much better princess then that one over there (she pointed at Cinderella). Cinderella wandered over our direction and Lady Tramaine told her she needed to start using Taylor’s seamstress.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/1900ltwalkcindyprince.jpg

Everyone is the restaurant was watching Taylor go across the room and telling her they liked her outfit. She was just grinning ear to ear while walking hand in hand with Lady Tremaine.
When they got to the entry way to the back room, Lady Tremaine yelled loud and sternly for Anastasia and Drizella to come over. Anastasia came right out. She squealed so loudly when she saw part of Taylor’s outfit. She said, “Oh my Mother, you are on her dress!!!”
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/1900PFana2.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/1900Ana.jpg
Once Anastasia got a little closer and spotted herself on the pants, she fainted. Man she went down hard without even looking behind her first…. She must have really practiced that before.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/1900PFAnafaint.jpg

Taylor was all sweet and asking her if she needed help up and if she was okay.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/1900anahelpup.jpg
Anastasia just sat in the floor discussing Taylor’s outfit for like 5 mins. She then asked if Drizella had seen it yet. Lady Tremaine told her no, and to go get her sister. Anastasia stood up and in the loudest shriek yelled, “DRI-ZEL-AAAAA, Mother needs you!”
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/1900PFAna3.jpg

Drizella instantly started jumping for joy when she saw herself on Taylor’s outfit. She just kept screaming, “It’s me, It’s me, look mother it’s you, it’s me, it’s me… oh yeah it’s you too (to Anastasia).”
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/1900PFDriz.jpg
Then Drizella spotted my shirt and said, “Oh my gosh mother look…..it’s my baby picture, did you give her my baby picture” Then all of the Tremaines started going on and on about the shirts we were wearing too.
I love the look on Drizella’s face here when she first spotted my shirt.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/1900Drizbabyshirt.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/1900Driz2.jpg
After spending a long time just talking and laughing with the step sister’s, Lady Tremaine takes Taylor by the hand again…..where could she be taking her this time???? The step sister fun is not nearly over yet!

[MickeyisBeast]

popcorn:: I'm LOVING your TR! Can't wait for more! I want to know what happens next... :]

[WDWAtLast]

How fun!! But don't leave us hanging!!! Great pics - the Stepmother and Drizella (she was our fav) are the same as when we were there on August 14. I think that we had a different Anatasia - but they were all very fun an in charater!!!

[mirandag819]

How fun!! But don't leave us hanging!!! Great pics - the Stepmother and Drizella (she was our fav) are the same as when we were there on August 14. I think that we had a different Anatasia - but they were all very fun an in charater!!!

Oh wow we only missed each other by a day.....we were there on the 15th

[luvdumbo]

What a cutie! I bet she loved all the attention she got from the lady tremaine and the stepsisters!

Cant wait to read more!

[Rebecuberduber]

This is wonderful! It's so fun to see those outfits in action! Your daughter looks soo adorable. I chuckled at the picture of her riding the bike in her pretty, poofy dress with that big VR helmet on her head. So cute. I love all the attention you guys got at 199 Park Fare, too. I can't wait to hear what happened next!

[mirandag819]

So Lady Tremaine had taken Taylor from the step sisters and led her by the hand to where Cinderella and Prince Charming were dancing.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/PFdance.jpg

She broke up their dance and told prince charming he needed to dance with the prettiest girl at the ball and handed Taylor over. Cinderella asked if she could please dance with Taylor instead. She must have heard the comment Taylor made before our trip, and didn’t want Taylor trying to steal her prince. Taylor announced to me while trying on one of her dresses that Prince Charming would tell her she was more beautiful then Cinderella and she should be his princess instead and move into his castle.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/PFCindyDance4.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/PFDanceCindy2.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/PFDancewithCindy.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/PFcindydance5.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/PFdancecindy3.jpg

So Cinderella danced with Taylor for a few minutes and then Dee motioned for us to come back to our table. Our waitress had been by and told him to let her know when we were ready for the surprise. Dee didn’t know what the surprise was, so he was anxious for us to come back.
We got back to our table and our waitress asked if we were ready. I told her we were and she said she would be right back out. She came right back with the cake I had ordered for Taylor’s birthday (her birthday was actually the next morning, but we were eating at CRT and I didn’t want to have to deal with left over cake in the parks, and the GF seems to have the best cakes).
Here are a few too many pictures of her cake
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/PFCake.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/PFCake2.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/PFCakeTaylor.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/PFCakeTaylor2.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/PFTaylorCake4.jpg



Taylor loved the cake! She was so excited and was convinced the step sisters made it for her (not sure where she got that idea, but it was cute) It was everything I could do to keep her fingers off of it for a few mins while we got some pictures.
Anastasia was close by, so she came over to check out the cake. She was so very excited to see herself on Taylor’s cake. She played along when Taylor thanked her for it, and told her how hard it was to make a cake as beautiful as her and Drizella were. She quizzed Taylor for a bit, with how old are you today? How old were you yesterday, how old will you be tomorrow?
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/PFAnaCake.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/PFAnahowold.jpg


While I was still trying to get some pictures, the most wonderful CM came over. Her name is Heather; she was the character handler (I think that is the right term). She really was the greatest, most wonderful, full of pixie dust, CM I had ever met. She had a surprise up her sleeve for Taylor and told us if Taylor could wait just a min to cut into her cake that she would…… to be continued soon.
Here is Taylor waiting for and watching for her surprise
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/PFCakeTaywaitingforsurprise.jpg

[emcreative]

OMG CLIFFHANGER!

The Husband, Draykey and I are all waiting!

[VBAndrea]

OMG! How awesome! Everything so far has been perfect. Taylor must have felt like she was in heaven. And do post some pics of you, your mom and sis in the t-shirts please! And quit it with all the teases. Maybe I should just wait a week so I can read everything at once!

[MrsSpratt]

OMG! How awesome! Everything so far has been perfect. Taylor must have felt like she was in heaven. And do post some pics of you, your mom and sis in the t-shirts please! And quit it with all the teases. Maybe I should just wait a week so I can read everything at once!

Ditto. :goodvibes

Mrs. Spratt

[Dreamer & Wisher]

Oh No! You can't stop now. What is the surprise???

I can't believe the stepsister fainted!!!:faint:
I love all your pictures, especially the one where they are pointing at your shirts.

Don't leave us hanging off the cliff for too long. . . . :surfweb:

[mirandag819]

Okay, Heather the super fabulous CM came back with the step sister’s and Lady Tremaine again. She told Taylor they would sing Happy Birthday to her, but the song would sound much better if they sang one they had been practicing. She asked Taylor if she would like for the step sister’s to sing “Sing Sweet Mocking Bird” to her for her birthday. Taylor loved this idea!
Here was Drizella admiring the cake, she squealed and said it had all her favorite colors.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/TremainesDrizellacake.jpg
Now forgive me, I will have to update again later….. I only carried my SLR to 1900 PF and it doesn’t have video, my mom got them singing on video but her memory card doesn’t fit into my laptop and she didn’t have her cord with her, so I have to wait a couple weeks until she gets back or until I can walk her through how to upload the video for me.
I haven’t got to see the video yet, I am hoping it is good, but if anyone knows anyone who was at 1900 PF around 8 at night on the 15th of August who might have recorded some video let me know!
Here are some pictures of them singing to Taylor, they were horribly fantastic. Taylor just loved all the attention and she tried to sing along.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/TremainesSing.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/TremainesSing2.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/TremainesSing3.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/TremainesSing4.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/TremainesSing5.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/TremainesSing6.jpg
I really wish I had the video now, but I promise to upload it as soon as I can.
They wished her a lot of Happy Birthdays and then continued around the room. Taylor cried for a min when they walked off because we started to cut the cake and she said they hadn’t even got their piece yet. My sweet little girl so badly wanted to share her cake. We told her they probably didn’t want to get their dresses messy but she could offer them a piece when they came back.
As soon as we cut into the cake Prince Charming stopped by for a bit, we were just starting to put her napkin on, but she was willing to step down for a few pictures…. Taylor told him to help Drizella find a prince (I guess this was something she and Taylor talked about when I couldn’t hear what they were saying).
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/ParkFarePrince.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/ParkFareprince2.jpg


He signed a quick autograph and told her to have a wonderful birthday tomorrow.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/parkfareprince3.jpg
After she was done chatting with the prince she dug right into her cake….she was making lots of yummy noises. The cake was really really yummy. I didn’t expect it to taste so great, besides we had already enjoyed the cake so much, but the taste of it was a BIG WOW! Even Dee loved it and asked for more, and he isn’t a big sweets eater.
Just as Taylor had started to dig into her cake, Cinderella stopped by. Cinderella is Taylor’s favorite princess, but even she took a back seat to the Tremaines that night, and the cake was so good, Taylor didn’t want to stop eating it to talk to Cinderella.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/ParkFareCinderellaCake.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/ParkFareCindyCake2.jpg
She finally quit eating for a min when Cinderella mentioned that Taylor seemed to be her step family’s new best friend.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/ParkFareCindy3.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/ParkFareCindy5.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/ParkFareCindyAuto.jpg

Oh yeah, here is the inside of the cake, it really was delish
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/ParkFareCakeInside.jpg
Just when I think our wonderful dinner is winding down and it is almost time to go, that wonderful CM Heather shows back up with more surprises!!! It just kept getting better and better.

[2cutekidz]

OMG!! Miranda I am balling! I'm thrilled with all the extra pixie dust you were getting!! Talor looks soooo happy!!

[WDWAtLast]

What a magical birthday celebration!!!! And yet another cliffhanger! :rotfl: At least you don't make us wait to long!!

[mom2rtk]

Of course you KNOW I am loving this! I'm so glad your family got to have such an amazing night for your daughter's birthday!

The Tremaines are the BEST!

[MouseTriper]

:banana::banana::banana::banana:

That cake ROCKED!!! What a cool surprise for everyone!!! That is awesome how great all the character interactions were.....I can't wait to see what comes up next!!! Taylor looked ADORABLE!!!

[mirandag819]

So the absolutely fantastic CM Heather returned to our table with something for Taylor. She gave her a birthday card signed by all the characters at 1900 PF as well as Mickey and the gang.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/posingwithbdaycard.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/posingwithbdaycard2.jpg

Taylor asked Heather if she would take her picture with her, so here is a picture of Taylor and Heather
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/posingwithHeather.jpg

Heather gave me her email address and I promised to send her some pictures. While we were talking somehow my mom or my sister brought up all of Taylor’s other outfits for the trip and Heather mentioned she would love if I could email her some pictures of her other outfits. I happened to still have pictures of some of them on my camera, so I showed her a few of them. Suddenly she was asking where we were going on which day….and she started taking notes about what outfits Taylor had. She started mentioning trying to get her into the parade with Boo at Hollywood Studios and meeting harder characters from her outfits like Cruella. She said she would call us at Shades of Green if she could put something together.
Heather and Taylor had a really nice conversation. Heather pulled out what looked like Mickey’s checkbook. She started telling Taylor about how much money Mickey mouse had….Taylor said, “Is he rich? Does he have 30 pennies?” Heather laughed and told her how they could fill the room with pennies and still not have as many as Mickey Mouse. She told us all how Mickey made 460 billion dollars a year. Taylor said, “How many pennies is that?”
We still weren’t sure what Heather was holding. She started asking Taylor what her favorite ride was last year. Taylor said, “Well last year I loved Goofy’s rollercoaster, but guess what? My doctor said I am 40 inches so I can ride Splash Mountain now!”
Heather explained to Taylor how Mickey’s checkbook could buy things that were not normally buyable, like getting to skip the line for your favorite ride. She filled out a piece of paper and gave it to Taylor. She explained she could pick any ride she wanted and give this piece of paper to the attendant at the ride, and they would take her to the front. She told Taylor she hoped she had a happy birthday in the morning, and reminded her to stand really tall when they measured her for Splash Mountain.
Here is the pass she gave her: http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/posingfrontofline.jpg

We were all in complete awe at this point, but were getting ready to head back to Shades of Green after a wonderful night, when the step family showed up at our table again to teach us how to pose.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/posingwithann1.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/posingwithann2.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/posingwithann3.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/posingwithdriz2.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/posingwithdriz4.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/posingwithdriz5.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/PosingwithAna.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/posingwithanaauto.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/posingwithdrizmo.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/posingwithmomo.jpg


Drizella started asking if my husband was available (he wasn’t wearing a ring….he forgot it at home. He didn’t wear it in Iraq since he had to replace his after it got badly damaged on his last tour) When she realized he was married she said, “Oh well…. I guess I will have to accept the proposal I got earlier this evening from a wonderful prince named Chris, he told me he will take me to the magical kingdom called Walmart and buy me a beautiful big stone called a Cubic Zirconium”
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/posingwithdriz1.jpg

They taught us all how to pose pretty, and lady Tremaine tried to teach Taylor how to look mean (she kept smiling through her mean face though).
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/posingwithLTmadface.jpg
After hanging out for a little while longer, we finally said goodnight and headed back to our resort.

Do we hear from Heather? Are we really done with the Tremaines just yet? We will see….

[SunnieRN]

Oh my gosh, what a wonderful trip and it's only your first day there!!:goodvibes

Your daughter is adorable and her outfits are outstanding!!

I loved SOG when we stayed there last Sept. It is so pretty and the rooms are huge!!

Looking forward to more!!

[mirandag819]

Okay now I must confess what a total disney dork I am....while scrolling through my own post to make sure I posted the pictures right.... I spotted a hidden Mickey on her cake in several pictures. Can anyone else spy it? It isn't visable in all the pictures, but I see it in some of them!

[athomemom20646]

Oh my goodness. She is adorable. You were really sprinkled with Pixie Dust that day :)

Love the outfits BTW! Can't wait to read more.

[pocahontasgal87]

awesome trip report!! looking forward to moreeee

[terri910]

It sounds as if this really WAS a dream trip!!

[DevonsDisneyMom]

Such a wonderful report Miranda!!! So glad your little girl, who is simply adorable by the way, had such a magical time!!! Both you and your family deserve it!!!

[Miz Diz]

Loving your TR!

Great pics of SOG - never been there.

DD's outfits are gorgeous.
What fun at the dinner with all the characters!

Can't wait to see more pics and read more.

[jessica52877]

Coming along for the ride! Sounds like 1900 was fabulous! The outfits really seem to get attention there! I just loved this one Leslie made!

I also enjoyed seeing all the pictures of DQ. I have never been inside and that outfit is darling too! I don't even know if I can pick a favorite out of all of them you have made! I can't wait to see more in action!

[PiperGirlInWondrland]

I'm really enjoying your trip report, can't wait to hear more!

[jham]

Fabulous TR so far! I love how Taylor interacts with the characters, even the ones that are statues! :lmao: She is SO cute! That is some major pixie dust! I love it. Thanks for a big dose of Disney magic! I can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip.

[lovesdumbo]

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/posingwithLTmadface.jpg
WOW!!!! What a night! So glad you DH was there to share all that with his little princess!!!!

[mirandag819]

We really had a magical night and a wonderful start to our vacation at 1900 PF. We were all pretty tired from getting up so early for the airport so we headed back to Shades of Green to get some rest. The AAFES shop inside SoG was already closed, so we stopped at the soda machine to get a few drinks for the room. This is my only real complaint about SoG….both times we have stayed there the soda machines are not well stocked. It took a visit for 5 different machines that night to find a diet coke for me and regular coke for Dee.
It took no time at all for us to fall asleep, and we had to get up bright at early for Taylor’s 8 am BBB appointment.

I woke up at 5 am and showered and got ready. It was like pulling teeth to get Dee out of bed at 6:00 and Taylor (who is normally an early riser) out of bed at 6:30.

I planned to leave the room by 7 so I would have some time to get some pictures on an empty main street with Taylor in her Cinderella work dress. I wanted lots of “before” pictures before heading to the BBB.

My mom and sister were not ready at 7:00, but we got out of the rooms around 7:10. We walked over to the Poly to catch the monorail. It is about a 5 min walk from SoG to the Poly. When we got to the monorail platform we were informed the monorail was down and we needed to go downstairs to catch a bus. ACK! I hate buses, especially with a stroller. We got to the bus stop around 7:20, there were several other families waiting to catch a MK bus, we saw lots of buses (several for Epcot, AK, and HS), but none for MK. About that time we saw a monorail go by….we start to wonder if it is working and should we go back up, but we decide along with all the other families to wait for the MK bus we were told was coming. Around 7:35 when we still haven’t seen a bus, we decide to ask one of the other bus drivers. They inform us there is no bus for the MK, since you are supposed to take the monorail. Well we know that, but we were told there would be a bus coming since the monorail is down. He drives off without telling us anything else. We ask the next bus driver who informs us the monorail is working again so no bus is coming. So we head back up to the monorail platform, where they inform us the monorail is still not working that they are just running tests.


Another bus driver comes for the TTC, but he confirms the monorail is still down and we won’t be able to take it from the MK parking lot, but we decided to go ahead and get on his bus. It was 7:50 and he can tell we were worried about getting to the MK in time for our appt, so he was very kind and dropped us at the gate anyways since no one else on the bus really needed to go to the TTC.
Since we were now running late, I didn’t really have time to stop along Main Street for pictures like I planned. I did manage to snap a few while we were walking though. After all, Taylor would be changing in a few mins and I had to get a couple pictures in the work dress.

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/mainstreet.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/mainstreet2.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/mainstreet3.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/mainstreettaydaddy.jpg


Taylor was pretending to be cleaning Main Street in her “cleaning dress”, but you can really see the sweeping motions from the pictures.


http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/mainstreetcleaning.jpg


This picture Dee took is really off-center, but I love the silly grin on her face
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/mainstreetsillygrin.jpg



I also got a few pictures of the castle without anyone in front of it.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/mainstreetcastle.jpg
Morgan had one of her many many meltdowns on the way down mainstreet. I stopped for 2 seconds to snap a picture and she was huffy with me about how I was rushing them and now I was stopping and making Taylor late. When I told her we were here and it would be fine, she started crying hysterically saying how she felt she was in the way and no one wanted her here. I don’t know where she got that idea from, but I didn’t want her crying during Taylor’s appointment so I tried my best to cheer her up. She seemed fine a few mins later.

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/mainstreetmomo.jpg


We got Taylor checked in and I had booked the castle package so they took her over to pick her dress and accessories. She quickly choose Cinderella for everything (She has like 5 Cinderella dresses at home, I thought she might pick something different, guess not). They didn’t have the glass slippers in her size, but that is what she really wanted so we got them 1 size too big. I really would think with their small selection they should be able to keep every size in stock.

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/BBBbefore.jpg

They handed her the pamphlet and told her to choose her hair. My little girl is very decisive. She opened the pamphlet for about 3 seconds….said the bun, and closed it.

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/BBBentry.jpg


Everyone who worked in the BBB kept coming out to see Taylor’s dress. Several people whined and asked why in the world we were changing her when we went to the dressing room to get dressed. HELLO….. that outfit was for before pictures, now she needed to become a princess.

Taylor’s Fairy God Mother in Training was waiting outside the dressing room once we got dressed. Several other FGIT were waiting in the hall to see her work dress….so we had to pull it back out of the bag for a few minutes. Once everyone got a good look at her work dress, she headed to her chair for her makeover.

[momto2GAgirls]

loving your trip report! I can't believe how great the stepmother and stepsisters were at dinner! That is such a hoot!! Can't wait to keep reading more!:thumbsup2

[Rebecuberduber]

Wow, this is incredible! I can't believe all the special treatment you guys are geting, already! It's wonderful! Your little Taylor sounds so sprightly. How adorable! She's certainly not shy, is she?

[heaven2dc]

What a magical trip so far! Your daughter is so adorable - what memories she will have of this trip :cloud9: You have done an awesome job with her dresses - such forethought and planning :thumbsup2

[mirandag819]

I probably need to back up and fill you in on a little back story here….
This past January, Taylor was having a rough day and was missing Daddy bad! I had been looking at the BBB thread on the Disboards, so I decided to try and cheer her up a little by showing her what we would go do for her birthday.

It worked like a charm she was smiling and happy again. The only problem…..she wanted to go now! I should have known better, after all she was 3 and had no concept of time. All I heard for 2 weeks straight was, “Is it time to go to the Bippity Bobbity Boutique now??” Finally she started waking me up at 2 a.m., coming into my room fully dressed telling me she was ready to go to the Bippity Bobbity Boutique. For the sake of my sanity and sleep, I decided I had to trick her somehow.

So while we were visiting my mom in West Virginia that weekend, my mom’s hair stylist agreed to “pretend to be the BBB”. We took her to the Disney Store to pick out a dress, shoes, ect….and then we went to the normal hair salon. They did a good job of satisfying her desire to go to the BBB, and as far as she was concerned she had already been.
Here are a few pictures from that day:
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/s41804cb115224_11-1.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/s41804cb115224_4.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/s41804cb115224_10-1.jpg



In Disney World, Taylor’s FGIT, Megan, was very sweet to Taylor. Several times her and Taylor would whisper back and forth, I wasn’t sure what they were talking about but it was making Taylor smile every time. Taylor started off kind of in awe of the experience; she had a real serious face and was just taking it all in. The real BBB was defiantly bettered themed, and Taylor really noticed. Sure at the “fake BBB” Taylor was the only little princess in the room and really stood out, but now she was in a castle getting it done.
I was surprised that Taylor never once complained about it hurting….she yells at me whenever I pull her hair up, she loves to have pigtails and big bows, but she sure isn’t pleasant while I am putting them in.
Here was Taylor getting her hair fixed, I will have to update once I get my photo pass pictures, I hated most of her “portrait session” pictures, but the photographer inside the boutique did a good job.

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/BBB1.jpg


Here was Megan showing her the crown she was going to put on her bun, Taylor was a little confused since she picked out a big Cinderella crown up front, but she agreed to the crown and then explained to me, the big Cinderella one was a crown, this was a tiara, and that tiara’s look prettier with buns.

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/BBB2.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/BBB3.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/BBB4.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/BBB5.jpg


At this point Taylor kept trying to lean over backwards to see herself. Megan was distracting her a bit by talking about her nose, and if it would be a good place to put her glass slippers.


http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/BBB6.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/BBB7.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/BBB8.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/BBB9.jpg


Aunt Momo had finished calming down at this point so she came inside to sit with me. I was showing her a few of the pictures I had taken, when Taylor started saying, “I wanna see!” She tells me this all the time right after I take a picture, so I wasn’t even thinking about the fact that she was trying to be sneaky and get a look at how she looked. Her FGIT caught on though, and explained to her she would get in trouble with the real FGM if she let Taylor see what she looked like before she was all done. She told her she would have to stay a Fairy God Mother in Training forever and wouldn’t be able to become a Fairy God Mother if she let Taylor break the rules. Taylor bought it and quit trying to sneak a peek after that.


http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/BBB10.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/BBB11.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/BBB12.jpg


More secrets being told


http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/BBB13.jpg

Now her 2nd FGIT came over to do her nails. This FGIT was Meghan, just different spelling…go figure (it made it easy to remember huh?)
She had heard about Taylor’s work dress but hadn’t seen it yet, so she had to take a look before she could start too. Meghan started talking about the mice; Meghan told Taylor Jaq was her favorite. Taylor told her, “Mommy was going to put Jaq on my apron, but I said NO BOYS” Taylor started to get more chatty at this point.

Taylor debated for a long time between pink and blue nail polish. Pink is her favorite color, but she was wearing Cindy’s blue dress. She finally decided on pink. She loved when they told her she could take them both home.

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/BBB14.jpg


She loved picking out her eye shadow colors, and the choice was easier since they said pick 2, naturally she picked pink and blue.


http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/BBB15.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/BBB16.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/BBB17.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/BBB18.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/BBB19.jpg

Continued in next post because of too many pictures....

[mirandag819]

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/BBB20.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/BBB21.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/BBB22.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/BBB23.jpg


Time for a little pixie dust


http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/BBB24.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/BBB25.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/BBB26.jpg


Taylor really liked her banner….she quickly pointed out it was like mine. I was miss Teen WV when I was a teenager, many years and pounds ago. Taylor is all the time asking to wear my crown and banner. She told me she has her own now and doesn’t need mine anymore.


http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/BBB27.jpg


She liked the birthday pin a lot too:

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/BBB28.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/BBB29.jpg


I didn’t get any good big reveal pictures, I was trying to stay out of the way of the photopass photographer, luckily he got some good reveal pictures I will add later.


All done and ready to go ride some rides:

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/BBB30.jpg


Taylor loved all the goodies in her bag when we checked out

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/BBB31.jpg


Now I wanted to go ahead and get her portrait session done before she got too hot and sweaty, but it was almost 9 o’clock and I was suppose to meet our VIP tour guide in front of CRT at 9. The VIP tour guide was still a secret to my sister….so I sent Morgan, Mimi and Taylor to the portrait session while Dee and I waited for our VIP tour guide.


Up next….meeting our VIP tour guide and Taylor’s portrait session.

[lovesdumbo]

Taylor was pretending to be cleaning Main Street in her “cleaning dress”, but you can really see the sweeping motions from the pictures.


http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/mainstreetcleaning.jpg



The magic continues!!!!!!!!

Next time you'll have to bring a broom for photos.:laughing:

Can't wait to hear about the VIP tour!

[ireland_nicole]

Ooooooooohhh, I am so loving this! Can't wait to hear what happens next!

[revrob]

WOW! What a magical trip! I can't wait to hear more!

[DevonsDisneyMom]

Oh my goodness Miranda!!! I absolutely love the before Cindy dress!!! What an excellent idea!!! Waiting patiently for the next installment!!!

[mirandag819]

When we had entered the Magic Kingdom that morning, I had told Dee about the barber shop on Main Street. He had been complaining that he desperately needed a haircut; he hadn’t had one since he got home from Iraq. He had gone to see when they opened while we were in the BBB, he came back and told me 9 am, and that he was going to go ahead and be there when they opened. Well the Disney Nazi in me came out and told him he couldn’t do that, that we were starting our VIP tour then, and that he could go later.
Mimi and Aunt MoMo took Taylor down Main Street to get her portrait session done, I told them to hurry back because the “surprise” was coming at 9.


I had been told to meet our guide in front of CRT at 9:00, and that VIP guides wear plaid vests. I checked my blackberry for the time and I realized it was 9:05…. Seemed odd our guide wasn’t here yet. Then I realize there is a woman in a white CM’s uniform who is looking around and has been there since we came out of BBB. So I asked her if by any chance she is waiting for me, she responds, “Are you Miranda?” Turns out our guide had been standing beside us for at least 15 mins, but it never occurred to me that it was her since I thought they only wear plaid. She explained they can choose between the white and plaid and since it was a very hot day, she opted for the white.

Our guides name is Angela, she was very sweet. She has been working for Disney for 3 years since she left the college program. Magic Kingdom is her home park when she isn’t doing VIP guides, but she would also be with us later in the week at Hollywood Studios.

I explained that half our group had gone for Taylor’s BBB portrait session, and I would give them a call and see if they were done yet. Apparently my mom and sister don’t understand hurry back. When I called them they were just starting the portrait session. Apparently they stopped for Photopass pictures for 20 mins on Main Street. At the time I was a little ticked off they didn’t listen when I said hurry, but now I am glad they stopped because they did get some good pictures on a still empty main street (and Dee isn’t the best about letting us stop for Photopass often) I will add the photopass pictures when I get the CD.

Dee, Angela, and I decided to meet them at the Exposition Hall since they were just starting. They were finishing as I walked in. Angela got all of our park tickets from us, and said she would be back in 10 mins….just enough time for me to pick out the pictures I wanted. After Angela walks off, my sister shoots me a confused look, like who was that woman and why did I just give her my park ticket. I forgot that my sister wouldn't just realize what the surprise was, I needed to actually explain it a little.

It took me at least 15 mins to pick out pictures, not because I was having a hard time deciding between good ones (like I usually do when Taylor gets her picture taken), but because I was having a hard time finding 3 decent pictures. Taylor looked very washed out in most of the pictures they had taken, she had a weird smile in most of them, and they were shot from weird angles, like below her chin). I really wished I had taken her, at least I could have gotten her to smile natural, but oh well. I took over 10,000 pictures this trip, I am sure I have plenty of good ones in her princess dress.

Angela was back right on time, while they were printing my pictures, she presented Taylor with another birthday button, another birthday card signed by the fab 5 with an autographed picture of Minnie (this wasn’t quite as cool as Heather’s card the night before, but Taylor still loved it) and a Happy Birthday Minnie stuffed animal.

Here is a Angela in case you are wondering what she looks like, there are better pictures of her later in the TR.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/angela.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/angela2.jpg


Here is the stuffed animal Angela gave Taylor for her birthday, and apparently someone got her a banana from somewhere to hold her over until our CRT brunch.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/BBB32.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/BBB33.jpg

Angela decided to take us straight back to fantasyland and get a few rides in. On our way back to Fantasyland, as we are passing the castle, we suddenly hear a loud but familiar shreak……”TAYLORRRRRRR…………. OH TAYYYYYYYYYYLOR” We look over and who do we see????

Hmmm…. This would be a good place to leave you hanging, but since I haven’t had many pictures to add to this post I guess I will go on.














There to our right is Anastasia, Drizella, and Lady Tremaine….. they already have a family with them, who didn’t look real thrilled that they started shouting to Taylor. We let them finish up their picture with the other family, and then Taylor ran over to say hello. Of course they had to give her a hard time about her gown….. They asked her who in the world tricked her into wearing such a dreadful dress and told her she needed her fairy god mother to come back quickly and replace it with something with them on it.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/MKTremaines.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/MKTremaines1.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/MKTremaines2.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/MKTremaines4.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/MKTremaines5.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/MKTremaines7.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/MKTremaines8.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/MKTremaines9.jpg


They also asked Mimi, MoMo and I where our shirts went, they told us it would be better to be stinky and look good then it would be to wear normal clothes all week and that we should rush back to our room to get them.
Drizella noticed Taylor’s glass slippers were too big…..she exclaimed, “Look Mother! Taylor is smart! She is trying to trick the prince into thinking the shoes fit!” Anastasia then asked Taylor if she would let them move into the castle with her when she married the prince. Taylor told them I would love for you to move in with me! Maybe we can find you a prince too!
Lady Tremaine gave Taylor a hard time about not sharing her cake. This made Taylor get mad at me…..she told me, “Mommy! Why didn’t you give them cake, I told you they still needed a piece.” Ooops my bad, I thought I had gotten away with Taylor not noticing that they never had any like she wanted.
We had lots of rides to get in, so after 10-15 mins we finally we able to drag Taylor away again. She was a bit sad to go though; I think she would have been happy with Disney World if she could have just stayed with them all day. She has referred to them as her best friends ever since.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/MKTremainessadtoleave.jpg

So are we finally done with the Tremaines now? Well I guess we will have to wait and see….. For now we are off to see how many rides we can get in before our 10:30 brunch at CRT.

[Mirb1214]

I am absolutely LOVING your trip report!! And WOW, 10,000 pics:worship:, and my husband thought my 2,000+ was a lot last June!

[MaryAz]

What a great report. So much pixie dust! Can't wait to see what happens next.

[WDWAtLast]

What a wonderful birthday - and it isn't even lunch yet!! I am glad she had such a wonderful time at BBB!! And what a hoot that the Tremaine's called her over - great pics of them together!! Can't wait to hear more about the VIP tour!

[terri910]

What fun!

I absolutely love your "before" in Cinderella's work dress!

[mirandag819]

As we enter Fantasyland, Taylor spots the teacups, so that was our first ride. Dee hates spinning rides and normally sits out the teacups, but he couldn’t miss Taylor’s first ride on this trip, so he decides to join us for once. Angela said she wasn’t a fan of spinning rides either, so she sat out and took some pictures for us.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/RidesMK816.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/RidesMK8161.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/RidesMK8162.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/RidesMK8163.jpg

After Mad Tea Party we headed over to The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Taylor was a bit concerned about getting honey on her dress, what a diva!
Toontown wasn’t open just yet, but Angela took us in and we headed back to Mickey’s house.
Taylor liked Mickey’s mailbox. For some reason she has to touch every Mickey statues’ nose.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/RidesMK816MickeyHouse.jpg

As soon as we got into Mickey’s house Taylor starts yelling for Mickey and searching for him.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/RidesMK816mickeyhousesearching.jpg
Taylor asked us in a very confused voice, “Does Mickey have a baby?” She thought those were baby gates blocking off all the rooms in his house.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/RidesMK816mickeyhouse2.jpg
When we got to the backyard Taylor said, “Nope, not here either, where could he be? Oh…Pluto isn’t in his dog house, maybe Mickey is walking him”.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/RidesMK816mickeyplutohouse.jpg
Taylor then starts scanning the yard and says, “Hey, where is the clubhouse?” They really should put a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse in, it would be way cooler then the country house IMO.
Taylor runs over to the judges’ tent where a CM informs here there is a very long wait to see Mickey. We walk through rows and rows of empty ropes. The CM was only joking of course since The Judges Tent wasn’t even open yet.
Taylor took off running arms wide open when she saw Mickey and Minnie.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/RidesMK816Mickeythereyouare.jpg

This is a bad picture, but it just shows that she drove straight into Minnie’s arms like they were long lost friends.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/RidesMK816minniehug.jpg
She has to show Minnie her Birthday Minnie doll and tell them it is her 4th birthday.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/RidesMK816Minniedoll.jpg

Mickey leaned in and gave her a birthday kiss.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/RidesMK816mickeykiss.jpg
Taylor posed for a picture with Mickey and Minnie when we finally got her to quit talking, and then we all grabbed a group shot. The only downside to entering before it was actually open was the photopass photographer wasn’t there yet. We actually passed her on the way out, my camera wasn’t loving the lighting in there (well actually I had it on auto since I couldn’t seem to get the settings right for that lighting, I guess I need to read my SLRs book a little better) so it would have been nice to see if Photopass got a better shot.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/RidesMK816TayMickeyMinnie.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/RidesMK816MickeyMinniegroup.jpg

After we left Mickey’s house, we were the first over to Goofy’s Barnstormer. They actually let us ride it twice in a row since Taylor loved it so much.
Later in the day I learned it was better for pictures for me to sit in front of them and not behind, but here are a few pictures on the barnstormer.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/RidesMK816Barnstormer.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/RidesMK816barnstormer2.jpg
After our couple rides on Goofy’s rollercoaster, Taylor just had to go to Minnie’s House. Dee, Mimi and Angela took her in while MoMo and I grabbed and drinks.
It is always hard to get Taylor out of Minnie’s house, she LOVES Minnie’s kitchen.
She is always so amused with the cake in the oven and the popcorn in the microwave. I should have known better then to expect Dee to take lots of pictures for me, but he did take a few.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/RidesMK816minniehouse.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/RidesMK816minniehousecake.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/RidesMK816minniehousekitchenmicro.jpg
Next up, we still have time for a few things back in Fantasyland before our breakfast with the princesses.

[VBAndrea]

Awesome thus far! And I love all the pictures you are posting -- keep them coming!

[luv2go2disney]

This is an AWESOME TR!!! I love all the customs & pictures from the world! I have been luking on the boutique thread the whole time you have been making your customs & I just loved all of them! Keep up the good work on the TR!

[acellison]

I can't wait to see all of the outfits your precious girl is going to wear:yay:

[MrsSpratt]

I am just loving this TR!

First off, thank to your husband for all he does for us. We really appreciate it!

Secondly, HOW COOL IS IT that the Steps remembered Taylor?!?!? To me, that is the most magical 'moment' of the trip so far, and it didn't cost a thing! (Well, except the custom clothes, the cost of the cake and Park Faire....) ok, so it wasn't free, but it wouldn't have happened if you hadn't done all of the planning to ALLOW it to happen - GOOD MOMMA!

More, please!

Mrs. Spratt

[WDWAtLast]

My girls loved Goofy's Barnstormer, too! Love the pics of Taylor and Mickey and Minnie!

[phins_jazy]

I'm loving your trip report! I can't wait to hear more.

[mirandag819]

We headed over to Fantasyland to get in a few more rides before going to Cinderella’s Royal Table. First we rode Snow White’s Scary Adventure.
I tried to snap a few no flash pictures on a dark ride, I really needed practice; these didn’t come out very well. Note to self…. Read more of the manual for my new camera.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/snowwhite.jpg
Next we rode Peter Pan’s flight (I didn’t even attempt any pictures here.)
While we were on Peter Pan’s flight, Angela ran over to CRT to make sure they were ready for us and we wouldn’t have to wait, and to get Dee added since he wasn’t going with us when I made our ADRs.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention it earlier….whenever Angela didn’t ride a ride with us, she would be waiting at the exit with the stroller ready. I know it isn’t a very far walk to get the stroller, but it was still a nice little touch. She would always tell Taylor, “Your carriage awaits princess” Taylor loved that, and referred to her stroller as her carriage the rest of the week.
Angela went ahead and took us over to CRT and we were immediately taken in for pictures with Cinderella. I actually like the photopass pictures from CRT better than the ones Angela took on my camera. Again, I will update when I get my CD. I could scan in the couple I have, but that would require using the desk top, and I am being lazy today and watching Taylor and Dee play Wii from the couch.
Here is Taylor hugging Cinderella, the photopass version of this and the group shot is better though. Notice she still won’t sit her Minnie doll down? Angela made a good choice with that one!
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/CRT.jpg
Here is our group shot… I think this may be the first picture with all of us in it….. it is hard to get Dee to pose for pictures, but since Taylor told him he needed to, he did. I should really get her to say that to him more often!
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/crt2.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/crt3.jpg


We were then whisked up to the dining room and pastries and juice were already waiting at our table. Taylor wasn’t interested in the wand they gave her at CRT, she said it wasn’t as pretty as her one from BBB.
Last year my mom and sister decided to join us after I made ADR’s at 180 days, and I wasn’t able to add them to CRT, so this was their first time dining in the castle. They both agreed that the dining room was lovely.
The first princess to come to our table was Snow White. Taylor’s autograph book had a page for each princess with 3D stickers and some lyrics to their songs. All of the princesses really enjoyed looking at her autograph book.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/crt4.jpg
Taylor was still in awe of meeting the princesses here, she hugged snow white but was in a bit of a trance.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/crt5.jpg
I love this picture…. Snow White page in Taylor’s autograph book said…”Someday My Prince will Come” Snow White and Taylor had a nice long chat about when Taylor could meet her prince. Snow White asked Dee if she could have a prince at 16? Daddy responded, “More like when she is 30” Snow White and Taylor laughed and joked about this for awhile.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/crt6.jpg
I like the big smiles and the faces smashed together here too. Taylor was just so happy in the castle. She really was enjoying her birthday.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/crt7.jpg
After Snow White left it was time for the wishing star ceremony. Taylor was very into this, she shushed us a couple times when we tried to talk softly during it.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/crt9.jpg
Next up was Princess Aurora. She told Taylor how comfortable her shoes looked, and how she was lucky to have a nice King and Queen who would let her wear sneakers with her dress. She said she wished she had a pair of nice comfy shoes too. Taylor had to do some stomping dance to show Sleeping Beauty how her shoes lit up.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/crt10.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/crt11.jpg

Aunt Momo wanted a picture with Aurora too, I think she has a thing for the blonde characters….Alice is her favorite, but she also really likes Aurora and Tink too. Morgan said her dream is to play one of them someday.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/crt12.jpg

Belle came by next….
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/crt13.jpg



After Belle left, Taylor asked why Belle was wearing her blue dress instead of her pretty gown. I wasn’t quite sure what to tell her, why is it she is the only one who doesn’t get to dress up? It is the castle after all, I would think that is a good occasion as any to wear a gown.
Our final princess that day was Jasmine. Taylor had to tell her how her Daddy found Aladdin’s’ lamp. (I will tell that back story later in the TR).
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/crt14.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/crt15.jpg

After we finished eating breakfast, our waitress told me she was waiting for Daddy to get back from the bathroom and she would bring out Taylor’s surprise. No sooner than Daddy gets back, then Taylor has to go to the bathroom. We finally had everyone at the table after like 10 mins, and our waitress brought out the chocolate slipper dessert I had ordered for Taylor.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/crt16.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/crt17.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/crt18.jpg

There were not any candles in the cake at 1900 PF (Which Taylor noticed and was not happy about), so luckily Dee thought to ask our waitress at CRT if they had any candles. Taylor was very happy to have the 4 candles in her slipper dessert. Taylor blew out her candles and then blabbed her wish. She told us she wished she could be here every day….. only after telling Daddy she already got her first wish, “For him to come home” I was fighting back some tears after she told him that.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/crt19.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/crt20.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/crt21.jpg

[ibesue]

Wow, what a great trip so far!!! I can't wait to hear the rest of it!!

[DSNY4ever]

Loving the report! I can't believe that you learned to sew just before this trip. Those outfits are amazing! The "before" Cinderella outfit was the cutest idea. Now that I just sat and read all of this I can't remember if you said- did you take a sewing class or just learn on your own?

Anyway, your daughter is adorable! Can't wait to read more.

[mirandag819]

Loving the report! I can't believe that you learned to sew just before this trip. Those outfits are amazing! The "before" Cinderella outfit was the cutest idea. Now that I just sat and read all of this I can't remember if you said- did you take a sewing class or just learn on your own?

Anyway, your daughter is adorable! Can't wait to read more.

Oh thank you.... there are many many more outfits to come, I made her 24 outfits for the trip. No, no sewing class.... I learned a lot from the disboutiquers thread and the patterns from Youcanmakethis.com are just like taking a sewing class, they are very detailed with lots of pictures. The rest I kinda learned with trial and error. One of these days I would love to take a sewing class, but while DH is in Iraq it is tough to find a class and a babysitter in the evenings (I work full time).

[disneygirlsanddrew]

i've been having fun reading your TR. You guys have had quite a trip! Your autograph book sounds fun. Did you make it or buy it? If you bought it, would you mind telling me where? :confused3 We leave in 2 1/2 weeks and still don't know what to do with ours.:scared1:

[mirandag819]

i've been having fun reading your TR. You guys have had quite a trip! Your autograph book sounds fun. Did you make it or buy it? If you bought it, would you mind telling me where? :confused3 We leave in 2 1/2 weeks and still don't know what to do with ours.:scared1:

Here is the autograph book I bought:

http://www.etsy.com/view_transaction.php?transaction_id=18055609

I got it from the seller timelessjourney on etsy. I just gave her a list of character pages I wanted and she asked me a few questions about what I wanted/needed the book to look like. It came out very nice... I will snap some pictures of it tonight if I get a few minutes.

[mirandag819]

When we finished eating Angela was waiting downstairs with “the carriage”.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/DSC_0619.jpg
I snapped a quick picture of the back of the castle while we waiting for the group to assemble. Apparently Aunt Momo and Dee had some gross bathroom competition going on (I won’t go into further details because they are weird and gross!)
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/MK2castle.jpg
Taylor asked if she could ride the carrousel after lunch, so that is where we went next. I decided to sit this one out with Angela, so I could get some good pictures. Then Dee stole my camera to take pictures while she was riding…oh well, at least he took some this time.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/MK2rides.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/MK2rides1.jpg
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http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/MK2rides9.jpg
Aunt MoMo seemed to think it was cute to teach Taylor to stick her tongue out at people, I on the other hand was not loving it…. Now my sweet little girl sticks her tongue out at me when she doesn’t get her way….darn you Aunt MoMo!
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/MK2rides5.jpg
One kind of cool thing for the Disney dork in me was something I got to observe while waiting with Angela. She was chatting with another CM, who is actually from a town near me in North Carolina and we are standing by the sword and the stone. Angela says to him that she has never actually seen the sword pulled before….he kind of responded with an, “oh really?” Next thing you know the sword is being pulled from the stone by a cute little girl. Angela’s CM friend came over and winked and said, “Now you have seen it!” Apparently part of his job included pushing a button to release the sword…. I always thought it was random. It was also pretty funny to see all the little boys trying to pull the sword right after the little girl managed to do it.


After the Carrousel ride, we decided to go into Mickey’s Philharmagic.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/MK2rides10.jpg
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http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/MK2rides16.jpg




Angela was pretty funny with Taylor while we waited for the doors to open, for a couple minutes she had Taylor convinced that when she took off her 3D glasses that Angela was holding 2 fingers up and when she put them on it became 4 fingers. They played this game for several minutes and then Taylor moved the glasses too quickly and caught on that Angela was playing a joke on her.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/MK2rides12.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/MK2rides14.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/MK2rides15.jpg


I had actually never seen Mickey’s Philharmagic, Taylor went several times with my mom last year, but it was while Dee, Morgan, and I were riding the rides Taylor was too short for. I really loved this show, and it was so funny to see Taylor grabbing for everything that came off the screen.

While we were still in Fantasyland we decided to ride “It’s a Small World”, I really don’t like that ride, but Taylor does, and it was her birthday.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/MK2rides17.jpg

Angela asked Taylor is she was ready for some big rides next. She said, “YEAH! I WANNA RIDE SPLASH MOUNTAIN!” So we headed over to Frontierland. We decided to get on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad first. I was still a little nervous about Taylor’s height; she was just over 40 inches at her doctor’s office 2 weeks earlier. We get in the fast pass line and start to measure her. Apparently either the Disney measurement is wayyyy off or her doctor was, she looked at least 42 inches when Disney measured her. Whew! That was a relief, because the first thing she said at her doctor’s office when he said she was 40 inches tall was, “YAY! I am big enough for Splash Mountain!” Her doctor just laughed. I didn’t want her to get upset if she didn’t stand just right and wasn’t tall enough, so I was glad to see she had a big cushion on the 40 inch mark.
As we walk up the path to ride Big Thunder Mountain railroad, Angela got a notice on her pager that the ride just went down. We decided to just hop over to Splash Mountain while we waited for BTMRR to come back up. My mom doesn’t ride any ride involving water (she can’t swim and is afraid of water in general, plus she isn’t a fan of big drops anyways), and Angela isn’t allowed to get wet in uniform, so they waited together while we rode.
Angela held my camera and got a couple of shots of us coming down the drop. I was pretty impressed….she got us as we were just starting to peak out, and she didn’t get any other logs before us.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/MK2rides18.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/MK2rides19.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/MK2rides20.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/MK2rides21.jpg

I did have to laugh a little when I saw Angela also took a picture of our picture on the screen, seeing as how she is a Disney employee. I would have bought the picture, but Taylor’s head was barely visible.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/MK2rides22.jpg
Taylor said she loved the big drop on Splash Mountain, but she was not a fan of Briar Fox. She was okay with Briar Bear; apparently she thought only the fox was bad.
Next up…. Is BTMRR working yet? What other rides can we fit in before the parade?

[disneygirlsanddrew]

Here is the autograph book I bought:

http://www.etsy.com/view_transaction.php?transaction_id=18055609

I got it from the seller timelessjourney on etsy. I just gave her a list of character pages I wanted and she asked me a few questions about what I wanted/needed the book to look like. It came out very nice... I will snap some pictures of it tonight if I get a few minutes.

Thanks Miranda! I checked out her listings and they look nice but I would love to see pics of yours to get a better idea! Did it hold up pretty well and will it continue to hold up after you put pics in it and Taylor looks at it over and over again? Just curious since I will have to buy two of them!

[Mirb1214]

Ahh, COOL! Your tour guide also served as your personal photographer too!!:cool1:

[mickimousemama]

I followed your T/R over from the disboutiquers thread (I'm a lurker mostly) haven't posted in MONTHS, but wanted to say that I LOVE your report so far, I can't wait to read all the details :)

Taylor is absolutely ADORABLE... but you probalby didn't need to be told that :)

~Micki

[mirandag819]

BTMRR was still down when we finished Splash Mountain, so Mimi, Taylor, Angela and Dee went to see Country Bears. Morgan and I were hot and thirsty so we go in line (a very long line) at a vending cart to get a soda. Right as we get to the front of the line, Angela walks up with 2 frozen lemonades…”Compliments of your husband”, she said. Awww he can be sweet sometimes… he saw the lemonade cart and knew how much I like those (the ones you can drink, not the ones in a cup you eat with a spoon). She told us he was sitting on a beach near Country Bears, so he headed over to wait with him while Mimi and Taylor saw Country Bears. When Angela let us know the show would be letting out in 3 mins, Dee jumped back in line and got 2 more frozen lemonades for Taylor and Mimi.
Taylor really liked the frozen lemonade too….she chugged hers and got brain freeze
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/adven.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/adven1.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/adven2.jpg
Ohhh a little bit sour
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/adven3.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/adven4.jpg
Can you tell yet how I took 10,000 pictures…. I can’t seem to just take one of Taylor at a time…..no wonder she complained of me taking too many pictures.
Since BTMRR was STILL DOWN…. We decided to head to Adventureland and ride POTC. Taylor finished drinking her lemonade while everyone stopped for a bathroom break and then we rode Pirate of The Caribbean.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/adven6.jpg
After POTC we hit up Jungle Cruise, I just love those corny jokes. The jokes all go over Taylor’s head so she spent most of the ride asking us what was so funny.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/JC2.jpg
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http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/junglecruise.jpg
Can you see here how badly Dee is covered in glitter from Taylor’s hair and dress? We kept telling him how much he had on him, but he didn’t listen. When we finally got him a baby wipe and he saw how much was coming off him, he realized he must have looked pretty silly
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/jc8.jpg
Here is the glitter all over his arm:
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/advenglitter.jpg
After Jungle Cruise Angela said we needed to head over to Aladdin’s Magic Carpets, and that there was a surprise for Taylor. The way she said it, I thought Aladdin on Jasmine or someone would be coming out, apparently the surprise was going through the exit and getting right onto the ride, which was cool, but Taylor didn’t really understand that this was anything special, she was a bit too young to realize she got out of waiting in a very long line. After all we hadn’t had to wait in lines all day, we either walked through fast pass lines or got there before a line formed.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/Carpets1.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/carpets2.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/carpets3.jpg
Again, I hadn’t caught on yet and should have gotten in front of them for better pictures!
BTMRR was still down so we decided to go over to Tomorrowland before it was time for the parade.

[AGPrincess]

Loving your trippie so far!! :thumbsup2 Sounds like you guys were having a really great time. I love your DDs outfits. What fabulous interaction at 1900 PF and how cool the step-sisters recognized you the next day! Definitely Disney magic! :goodvibes

[jham]

Great update! I love that the CM "rednecked" your Splash Mountain photo! :lmao: Taylor looks gorgeous all Cinderellafied!

[Miz Diz]

I thought Taylor's hair looked really good before she even went into BBB. I would not have made much of an effort for my dd if I were taking her to BBB. :rotfl2:

Having lots of fun reading your TR.

I also followed the link from disboutique thread. I can't believe you made her 24 outfits. I just started sewing and managed to do 3 shirts for dd (2 were just Mickey head appliques) and 1 mickey applique for ds. Your work looks like you have been sewing for ages.

[MouseTriper]

OMGosh, I am LOVING your TR. First I have to tell you there is NO such thing as TOO many pictures!!! Hahahaha...I am a photo freak too. I love all your pictures of Taylor!!!! She is such a cutie pie!! Ohh and I just love the interaction she had with the Tremaines!!! LOL...I have a feeling that is NOT the last we hear about them! Hahahaha.

And I loved the cake and now the chocolate slipper. Yummy.....

Looking forward to the next part and MANY MANY MORE PICTURES!!!! :banana:

[disneygirlsanddrew]

I was wondering what your DH thought of all that glitter! My DH didn't care for being covered in glitter last time we went. We have two DD's so we had glitter everywhere after buying those dresses. Everyone was teasing my DH about being covered in pixie dust.

What kind of camera do you have? It seems to take very clear close up pics.

[mirandag819]

I was wondering what your DH thought of all that glitter! My DH didn't care for being covered in glitter last time we went. We have two DD's so we had glitter everywhere after buying those dresses. Everyone was teasing my DH about being covered in pixie dust.

What kind of camera do you have? It seems to take very clear close up pics.

HAHA yeah once he realized how covered in it he was, he was not real thrilled with all that glitter!

My camera is a Nikon D40 SLR.... it is the one taking the best pictures. Some of my pictures were taken on my husband's Olympus Stylus 850 SW (I used this at the waterparks and whenever it was raining) Also some were taken on my old camera when my battery died... it is a Olympus FE280. I also swiped a few pictures from my sister's camera, they aren't as clear though... I still need to get copies of my mom's pictures too.

[mirandag819]

I thought Taylor's hair looked really good before she even went into BBB. I would not have made much of an effort for my dd if I were taking her to BBB. :rotfl2:

Having lots of fun reading your TR.

I also followed the link from disboutique thread. I can't believe you made her 24 outfits. I just started sewing and managed to do 3 shirts for dd (2 were just Mickey head appliques) and 1 mickey applique for ds. Your work looks like you have been sewing for ages.


Awww that is sweet of you, but really I made no effort to her hair that morning, just pulled it into a pony tail. I thought her air looked a bit wild, but that is sweet that you thought I fixed it.

[DevonsDisneyMom]

Love, love, love the report!!! You have such an adorable family!!! Can not wait to see more of taylor's outfits!!! So far they are awesome!!!

[emcreative]

HAHA yeah once he realized how covered in it he was, he was not real thrilled with all that glitter!


My girls seem to think glitter are living beings that run off to hide, live, and make glitter babies in our house~! I have no idea how but out of the blue suddenly I see one of the boys is covered in glitter- and I KNOW the girls have not worn anything even remotely glittery in weeks. So they'll say to me "Uh oh, glitter babies are coming out to play!"

[ireland_nicole]

Hi; loving the day w/ the VIP guide; I'm glad Dee took your camera for the carousel ride; that first pic of Taylor in front of the castle laughing is one of my faves from your trip so far!

[mom2rtk]

Hi; loving the day w/ the VIP guide; I'm glad Dee took your camera for the carousel ride; that first pic of Taylor in front of the castle laughing is one of my faves from your trip so far!

My favs are the ones where she's got her hand on her daddy. You could tell she wasn't letting him get far..... Just melted my heart.........

[swankybeth]

Really enjoying your report. The outfits you made for Taylor are unbelievable, you did an awesome job! Looking forward to more. :)

[WanttobeaCMagain]

Love the TR. It was fun being a CM and doing those Special things.

[mirandag819]

We passed the castle stage show on our way to Tomorrowland, Taylor wanted to stop and watch the show, it was almost over, but we let her stop and watch for a few mins. We were not real close so I didn’t get any great pictures.

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/stageshow.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/stageshow1.jpg
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http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/stageshow4-1.jpg


We got to Tomorrowland and we thought about tricking Mimi and Taylor into going on Stitch’s Great Escape, but I couldn’t be that mean and allow my baby to have her face burped in.

Dee rode Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin with Taylor, Mimi rode with Morgan, and I rode with Angela. I made the right call riding with Angela, I got my highest score ever- 895,000….she showed me lots of secret spots worth major points! No one else even broke 100,000 in our group….and none of them even caught on that Angela told me tricks! YAY!
Taylor wanted to see Monster’s Inc Laugh Floor, but we needed to head over to our VIP viewing area for the parade.


On our way back from Tomorrowland I realized Taylor still hadn’t changed out of her princess dress…. I couldn’t believe she made it so long in the August heat, I guess I underestimated her desire to be a princess when I thought she would change fairly quickly. I tried to persuade her to change into her birthday outfit I made for her, but she refused to take off the Cinderella dress. Here is the birthday outfit I made Taylor, now will we ever get her to wear it…..


http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/Bday.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/bdaynew2.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/bdayback.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/bdaytwirl.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/bdaytwirl2.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/bdaysmile.jpg

Angela checked us into the VIP viewing area…..they had us down for 4, but when she told them why we had 1 extra, Dee got a round of applause from several CMs and bystanders (this totally embarrassed him, but I thought it was sweet).

Once we got everyone seated, Angela, Morgan and I ran to get us all some snacks. We stopped at Sleepy Hollow to get Morgan’s funnel cake, and then I stopped to get Mimi and Dole Whip, and me a Dole Whip float, while Morgan and Angela went to grab Dee’s Turkey leg and Taylor’s popcorn. Dang…. Did no one want a snack that could be bought from the same place? Apparently not!

By the time we got back to the parade seats I had major melted Dole Whip running down my arm…..I so wanted to just lick it off but figured that wouldn’t be too civilized, I ended up using baby wipes….which was less fun then licking it I am sure.


Here we are waiting for the parade to start

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/preparade1.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/preparade2.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/preparade4.jpg


Here is that tongue again, bad Aunt MoMo.

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/preparde5.jpg


A funny CM named Lou asked us all if we should find someone to pick on…. We all thought that sounded like a good idea. There was a very sweet looking couple walking across the bridge. Lou stopped them and asked this gentleman if he knew the rule that said he had to do anything a CM said or he would be kicked out of Disney World. He told him they were going to play a trivia game…. He would ask him 2 questions and if he lost he would have to run across the bridge 5 times fast yelling, “I’m a Disney fanatic”….. and then climb the castle turrets and bring us a flag. The guy agreed to play along and they lead his girlfriend into the roped off viewing area. Trying to help the guy out I asked Lou what he would get if he got them right. Lou’s response was, “He won’t get them right”.

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/preparade.jpg

I thought the questions were fairly easy, he asked him to name the seven dwarfs (he left out Happy, but Lou cut him off because he didn’t say them fast enough) Lou then impressed us with his mad speed skills. He could do all 7 dwarfs in less than 5 seconds in alphabetical order. The 2nd question was, “Disney has princesses and royal princesses, name the princesses that are royal.” He even explained what a Royal Princess was after a min or two, but he still didn’t guess Pocahontas. Lou let those of us in the VIP area vote if we thought he should have to run and stuff….we decided it was a better idea to just let him come sit down with his girlfriend and watch the parade from the roped off area.


Next up….Taylor opens the parade, way too many parade pictures, and some surprise visitors.

[emcreative]

Miranda, I now dub thee Queen Cliffhanger!

[disneymomof1]

:thumbsup2I LOVE YOUR REPORT !!!!! Your pictures are fantastic!! I love the picture of Taylor and Snow White, so adorable, you have a great eye for photography. I love the idea of the VIP tour, I know it is costly but obviously well worth it. Can't wait for more updates:thumbsup2

[luvdumbo]

loving it! Can't wait for more! I cant wait to see all the outfits you made!

[jenandkids]

oh my! what an amazing time!

I have stayed up way past my bedtime reading!

Love the outfits (I soooo need a girl!)

Can't wait to read tomorrows fun! :goodvibes

[ireland_nicole]

Miranda; Love, love, love the report, but honey, you're killing me here. Everytime I think; this time she'll finish a story and I can get some good sleep...

Have you thought about writing as a career choice?

[mirandag819]

Miranda; Love, love, love the report, but honey, you're killing me here. Everytime I think; this time she'll finish a story and I can get some good sleep...

Have you thought about writing as a career choice?

Sorry.... it is an 8 day story, I can't finish it all at once ;)

I would have written some more last night, but it was Dee's last night home.... I was writing while he and Taylor played Wii. I just took him to the airport and Taylor is too sick to go to preschool today, so it looks like I will have some good writing time. Hopefully my boss doesn't kill me for needing to add another day to my already long vacation.

Thanks, I would actually love to write, but I am an accountant and much better with numbers. I love to tell a story, but I don't exactly write well. I tend to have way too many run on sentances and I use ellipses way to often. Thanks for putting up with my writing style though...and I'm sorry for all the cliffhangers. I've got to keep you coming back some how though, don't I? :cool1:

[disneygirlsanddrew]

Sorry.... it is an 8 day story, I can't finish it all at once ;)

I would have written some more last night, but it was Dee's last night home.... I was writing while he and Taylor played Wii. I just took him to the airport and Taylor is too sick to go to preschool today, so it looks like I will have some good writing time. Hopefully my boss doesn't kill me for needing to add another day to my already long vacation.

Thanks, I would actually love to write, but I am an accountant and much better with numbers. I love to tell a story, but I don't exactly write well. I tend to have way too many run on sentances and I use ellipses way to often. Thanks for putting up with my writing style though...and I'm sorry for all the cliffhangers. I've got to keep you coming back some how though, don't I? :cool1:

That must have been hard to say goodbye to your DH again, but I am glad he was able to come home for such a magical vacation! I hope taylor starts feeling better too!

[DevonsDisneyMom]

Another awesome update!!! Can't wait to read more!!! So funny, now that you pointed out the sparkles all over Dee, I now can see it in the pictures!! Too funny!!

Oh, and the outfits you made for Taylor are incredible!! You havea really TALENT!!!

[mirandag819]

Okay, let’s see where did I leave off? We were waiting for the parade, right?
We can see the parade approaching, it was in front of the castle. Lou, the very chatty and nice CM I told you about earlier was explaining to us, how he has a love/hate relationship with Captain Hook, and that when Captain Hook came by we all needed to say tick tock tick tock while clapping our hands like alligators. Everyone practiced for a minute and agreed to help Lou out.
Lou then came by and took Taylor by the hand….he asked her if she was willing to help him with something. He explained that he needed a little princess to help open up the parade. She happily obliged.
Here is Lou and Taylor dancing to open up the parade.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/paradeopen.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/paradeopen1.jpg
He then tells Taylor they need some more help for the next part and they find a couple more cute little girls from the VIP viewing area
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/paradeopen1.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/paradeopen3.jpg
Lou shows the girls how to do dance kicks
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/paradeopen4.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/paradeopen5.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/paradeopen6.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/paradeopen7.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/paradeopen8.jpg
I think the girls were starting to wear Lou out, luckily the parade is approaching the bridge
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/paradeopen9.jpg
Time to take a bow
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/paradeopen10.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/paradeopen11.jpg
They only opened the parade for our little section, but it was very cute and Taylor loved it!

I took a ton of pictures from the parade, so I know even after picking which ones I like best there is no way I can fit them all into 1 or 2 posts even. So I will be posting several more back to back, I think I have them all uploaded now.
The girls grabbed their seats and the parade began
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/parade.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/parade1.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/parade15-1.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/parade2.jpg
I wish I could get the expression on Taylor’s face a little better, but I was sitting to close to her, she was in heaven and loving all of the attention
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/parade3.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/parade4.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/parade5.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/parade6.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/parade7.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/parade8.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/parade9.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/parade10.jpg


More parade pictures to come!

[mirandag819]

The parade continued….
Pinocchio was really getting down on top of his float, that puppet can dance
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/paradepino.jpg

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/parade11.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/parade12.jpg
Abu had to come over and play a quick round of peak-a-boo with Taylor. I can’t believe at 4 peek-a-boo still makes her laugh like she did as a baby, and she still loves to play peek-a-boo with Daddy (although these days their goal is to scare each other with scary growls as they play).
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/parade13.jpg
Jafar did not like the boos that everyone was shouting
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/paradejafar.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/parade14.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/parade15.jpg
Taylor yelled to Aladdin, “I’ve got your lamp”…. I really need to get to that back story for those of you who have not heard it.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/paradealadin.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/parade16.jpg
Mary Poppins needs to wave lower…. I took lots of pictures but her face is blocked by her wave in all of them
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/parade17.jpg
Uh oh, Captain Hook is approaching, can you see everyone has started their crocodile hands and are yelling tick tock tick tock.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/parade18.jpg
Mr.Smee thought it was funny and Tweedledum & Tweedledee even joined in and were taunting Captain Hook
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/parade20.jpg
Captain Hook pretended to be scared, then mad….. I swear he pushed Tweedledee over… I’m sure he didn’t mean to make him fall, but it was kinda funny (I couldn’t get a picture fast enough before someone helped him up)
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/parade21.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/parade22.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/paradepeterwendy.jpg
Taylor squealed with joy when she saw the glow in Peter’s lantern….”It’s Tinkerbelle!!!”
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/paradetink.jpg
Alice yelled Happy Birthday to Taylor, which made her day!
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/paradealice.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/parade23.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/parade24.jpg
I’ve always loved the Cheshire Cat, but I didn’t get a great shot of him in the snow globe
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/parade25.jpg
Taylor spotted some old friends….
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/parade27.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/parade26.jpg
I don’t know if you can tell, but Anastasia and Drizella spotted Taylor and made a quick stop, turn and made a bee line in her direction
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/parade28.jpg
Of course they had to stop and talk more….even told her the prince was coming and to make sure she stole him from Cinderella. They were talking so long someone actually had to tell them they needed to go. After they left everyone around us asked how they knew Taylor’s name (she wasn’t wearing a button)….Taylor told everyone how they were her best friend’s.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/parade29.jpg
I swear it looked like the Fairy God Mother could fall off the float any second
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/parade30.jpg
Even more Parade pictures to come…..

[WDWAtLast]

I am so sad that Miranda didn't get to wear the beautiful birthday dress you made!!! Although I can understand wanted to remain a princess!! And I love that Dee got a round of applause!!! I so appreciate everything that he and the other service men and women do for our country!!!

[mirandag819]

I am so sad that Miranda didn't get to wear the beautiful birthday dress you made!!! Although I can understand wanted to remain a princess!! And I love that Dee got a round of applause!!! I so appreciate everything that he and the other service men and women do for our country!!!

She might still get to wear it.... it's only 3 o'clock.... I just couldn't believe she kept the princess dress on 7 hours already in the August heat.

[mirandag819]

Some of the princess floats were so tall and we were too close to get a good picture…
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/parade31.jpg
I loved the confetti falling from the sky here, and Taylor swore Prince Charming was reaching for her to come up.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/parade32.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/parade33.jpg
Cinderella told Taylor she loved her dress, which naturally made her grin ear to ear even if she was trying to steal the prince from Cinderella
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/parade34.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/parade35.jpg
Again it was tough to get a good shot of Belle as high as they were
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/parade36.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/paradebeast.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/parade37.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/paradeariel.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/paradeariel2.jpg

Stitch made a bee line from the other side of the road too…. He came over and bowed down to Princess Taylor. She told him she liked his ties and he got excited.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/paradestitch.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/parade38.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/parade39.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/paradestitch2.jpg

Stitch spent awhile playing with Taylor, but Jessie patiently waited her turn
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/paradejessie.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/paradejessie2.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/parade40.jpg
Someone sitting near us told Taylor they were all wearing party hats on this float for her birthday, man I would love to young enough to still believe that….but Taylor totally did!
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/parade41.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/paradekinglouey.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/parade42.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/parade43.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/parade44.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/parade45.jpg

We all really enjoyed the parade….Dee rarely goes to the parade. He enjoyed this one though. It was nice to have real seats, and to only have to get in our seats a few minutes before the parade started. Plus Taylor got so much attention at the parade, which was a nice birthday surprise. We really tried to do all the things she likes most this day since it was her birthday.

[stephie1012]

ok im going to stop lurking lol!! Love the steps...taylor is adorable!! DD is turning 4 while we are there and has been looking at all you pics with me, she asked last night "can that girl on the computer come to my birthday at disney world and have cake with me like she did at her birthday?"
lol i had to explain to her why ur dd couldnt come with us...i love this age!

Cant wait to read more!!

[mirandag819]

ok im going to stop lurking lol!! Love the steps...taylor is adorable!! DD is turning 4 while we are there and has been looking at all you pics with me, she asked last night "can that girl on the computer come to my birthday at disney world and have cake with me like she did at her birthday?"
lol i had to explain to her why ur dd couldnt come with us...i love this age!

Cant wait to read more!!

Awwww that is so sweet and cute..... you know I am itching for another trip already.... tell her we will be there HEHE J/K.

[Dreamer & Wisher]

Sorry.... it is an 8 day story, I can't finish it all at once ;)

I would have written some more last night, but it was Dee's last night home.... I was writing while he and Taylor played Wii. I just took him to the airport and Taylor is too sick to go to preschool today, so it looks like I will have some good writing time. Hopefully my boss doesn't kill me for needing to add another day to my already long vacation.

Thanks, I would actually love to write, but I am an accountant and much better with numbers. I love to tell a story, but I don't exactly write well. I tend to have way too many run on sentances and I use ellipses way to often. Thanks for putting up with my writing style though...and I'm sorry for all the cliffhangers. I've got to keep you coming back some how though, don't I? :cool1:

:hug: I hope Taylor is feeling better soon.
How long before your DH is back after this? I bet you miss him. . . I am loving the report. What an amazing trip so far.

[SunnieRN]

Oh my gosh, this trip just keeps on getting better!!! What a fantastic birthday for your sweet princess Taylor!!

I love the jungle cruise pictures of Taylor holding Dees hand, her hand on his leg. Too sweet!!:goodvibes When my son in law gets home from Iraq, the boys are stuck to him like glue! It's just so hard when they have to leave to go back!

My son in law got his leave over Easter and they spent the entire time at wdw, with a LOT of downtime. I joined them for 9 days and it was great to see them all enjoy their short amount of time together!! My daughter really wanted him to have a break and not worry about the house, cars or every day "stuff".

Looking forward to more pictures and the rest of Taylors birthday! Hope Taylor feels better quickly!!

[jenny.chester]

what a fantastic trip report, princess cinderella is so cute i loved her face in all the photo,
quick question if you dont mind me askin, what camera have you got, the pictures are so clear, you are very good with a camera
:cool1::cool1::cool1:

[mirandag819]

what a fantastic trip report, princess cinderella is so cute i loved her face in all the photo,
quick question if you dont mind me askin, what camera have you got, the pictures are so clear, you are very good with a camera
:cool1::cool1::cool1:

The good pictures are from my Nikon D40 SLR.... I am not very good with it yet, I just bought it before the trip and haven't spent as much time learning it as I should, sadly I left it on auto for the bulk of the trip. My goal is to really learn it and get better pictures with it by next year's trip.

[mirandag819]

Once the parade ended, Angela let us know BTMRR was up and running again if we wanted to ride, but I had promised Dee we could go take a break after the parade. Several times I called Dee the Disney Hater, he’s really not. He loves Disney, and he likes Disney World, but he doesn’t like crowds and he wanted out of the heat (I would think he was use to it from Iraq). The biggest perk to having the VIP tour guide was it kept Dee in the parks until after the afternoon parade, otherwise he is asking if it is break time by 11.
We arranged to meet Angela on Wednesday (my birthday) at Hollywood Studios turn styles at 9:30 (we had an ADR for 1900 PF at 8 am and I knew we couldn’t make it to HS by 9). Angela reminded me we still hadn’t gotten Taylor’s birthday fun card, so we did stop at guest relations to get it on the way out.
I was walking and thought I lost Dee and Taylor for a minute on the way out, but they had just stopped to get Taylor a balloon for her birthday.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/balloon.jpg
Dee and Taylor were worn out so they sat down while Angela got Taylor’s birthday fun card.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/balloon2.jpg
Tay was a bit tired while waiting to board the monorail. The monorail was broken in the morning, so this was our first monorail ride of the trip.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/monorail.jpg
She is yelling at me to stop taking her picture
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/monorailnomorepictures.jpg
Once we got on the monorail she started giving me the evil eye for not putting the camera down.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/monorailevileye.jpg
Then Daddy asked her if she wanted to play a balloon game
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/monorail2.jpg
They played bounce the balloon back and forth the whole ride back to the Poly.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/monorail3.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/monorail4.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/monorail5.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/monorail6.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/monorail7.jpg
When we are getting ready to exit the monorail she finally discovered she had glitter in her eyes, poor thing, but I think he had been there all day.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/monoraileyeglitter.jpg
We took the short walk (which always seems much longer when returning from the park) back to Shades of Green from the Poly and headed up to our rooms.
Next up Dee and Taylor head to the pool, and Taylor’s birthday surprise (I know it’s not like the kid has had enough of them yet, huh?)

[MrsSpratt]

I just lOVE this report! I'm sorry that your husband isn't at home anymore - he is in my prayers.

I don't think you are spoiling Taylor - she seems like a a very sweet little girl - so what is another surprise!

And boy, those VIP seats made the parade much easier! Would you do VIP again?

Mrs. Spratt

ps - LOVED the "cleaning" dress - and you made that? AWESOME!

pps - not surprised you were a beauty queen - you are BEAUTIFUL!

[SunnieRN]

You know, I always wonder about that with my son in law also. He tells us the temperature in Iraq and there he has all os his gear on. When he is home, he can't tolerate the heat at all. Maybe it is the humidity, as in Iraq it is so dry?

I was laughing so hard at the "evil eye". Good job Daddy, for makinf her forget the camera!! Can't wait to see the surprise!

[mirandag819]

I just lOVE this report! I'm sorry that your husband isn't at home anymore - he is in my prayers.

I don't think you are spoiling Taylor - she seems like a a very sweet little girl - so what is another surprise!

And boy, those VIP seats made the parade much easier! Would you do VIP again?

Mrs. Spratt

ps - LOVED the "cleaning" dress - and you made that? AWESOME!

pps - not surprised you were a beauty queen - you are BEAUTIFUL!

Thank you. Yes for the most part she is a very behaved very sweethearted little girl, she is the only child, only grandchild on both sides, and only great grandchild on 4 sides....so she is a tad spoiled, but at least she doesn't act it.

The parade seats were awesome.... but in reality MK wasn't really worth the hefty VIP tour price....everything else we could have done on our own (it would have just taken a little longer). Now HS I would probably do again, although I wouldn't do it every time because of the price....but you will see what I mean when I get to our HS day.

[mirandag819]

duplicate post sorry

[mirandag819]

Okay so if you have been reading since the beginning, you know we were originally booked at the Poly. Well I had booked the Mickey’s Birthday in Room Celebration for Disney Florist for Taylor’s birthday. In case you aren’t familiar with this, the florist comes into your room decorated with a banner and balloons and leaves packages from the Fab 5. Well 1 problem with changing to Shades of Green was it isn’t owned by Disney, so we could no longer do the in room celebration. I loved the idea of this though, and how many birthdays will she have that she will actually believe that Mickey came to her room and left a present??

So I decided I would try and fake it myself…. It didn’t look nearly as good as the florist version, but it had a lot more presents and gifts that were more useful and likable to Taylor. I packed a lot of the supplies and gifts, and picked up some more gifts from the gift shop. Again since I had to pack them, I had to resort to using gift bags… I just stuck stickers to them to match the character the present was from.

Dee and my mom took Taylor down to the pool, aunt MoMo either napped or talked to her husband on the webcam and I decorated the room and put presents out. Apparently Taylor went crazy and yelled at Dee in front of everyone at the pool for splashing her and "ruining her hair" trust me a little bit of water was not taking that hairdoo down. She got very upset with him and told him he was messing her hair up, Dee said everyone at the pool found it pretty funny that she freaked out so badly over her hair, when she was the one who wanted to go swimming.

I sent Dee down to the pool with the waterproof camera, but apparently he didn’t take a single picture, the only pictures before the water park ones I took were of him in Iraq…. I did get to see some of his Iraq pictures I hadn’t seen before though…

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/dee2.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/dee3.jpg

Someone really needs to clean his room….
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/deeroom.jpg


Dee came back up after awhile to see if I was finished and helped me finish up….we then went back down to the pool to get Taylor. Dee told her he had just seen Mickey, Donald, Minnie, Princess, Tink, ect running around the hallway near our room at to come see if she could help find them. The whole way up to our room she kept asking….what were they doing, are they still there? Were they looking for me? She is at such a cute age.
We got up to our room and he told her we better go check and see if they were in our room…here she is excited for him to open the door

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/bday-1.jpg

She was so cute when she got into the room; she was jumping up and down and telling us that the characters were in our room to bring her birthday presents.

Here are some of the decorations, nothing fancy, but enough to get a 4 year old excited

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/bday4-2.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/bday5-1.jpg

She just tore right into the presents dumping most of it on the bed (she went back and looked better later).

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/bday12.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/bday13.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/bday14.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/bday15.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/bday20-1.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/bday10.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/bday3-2.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/bday6-1.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/bday8.jpg

Oh there is still one up there….get it daddy!
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/bday16-1.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/bday17-1.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/bday19-1.jpg
Running around in excitement
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/bday23-1.jpg
Look Donald left feathers (Tink left Pixie Dust too, but that was hard to photograph)
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/bday7.jpg
Wow…that is a lot of feathers; I wonder if Donald has any left?
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/bday9.jpg
I think she was the most excited over the mickey party blowers
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/bday21-1.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/bday22-1.jpg

We finally got her birthday dress on her…. Now what to do for dinner before returning to the Magic Kingdom?
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/bday24-1.jpg

[ireland_nicole]

Sorry.... it is an 8 day story, I can't finish it all at once ;)

I would have written some more last night, but it was Dee's last night home.... I was writing while he and Taylor played Wii. I just took him to the airport and Taylor is too sick to go to preschool today, so it looks like I will have some good writing time. Hopefully my boss doesn't kill me for needing to add another day to my already long vacation.

Thanks, I would actually love to write, but I am an accountant and much better with numbers. I love to tell a story, but I don't exactly write well. I tend to have way too many run on sentances and I use ellipses way to often. Thanks for putting up with my writing style though...and I'm sorry for all the cliffhangers. I've got to keep you coming back some how though, don't I? :cool1:

Oh, I'm sorry; gosh the time Dee has been home has really flown by. I'm thinking about y'all and sending pixie dust tonight. I hope he'll come home for good soon; and that Taylor is feeling better tomorrow.

[luvdumbo]

I love the birthday dress!:lovestruc

[SunnieRN]

You did a wonderful job decorating the room and I think it's great you remembered the feathers!

The picture of her holding the Minnie headband is absolutely adorable!

[mirandag819]

Oh, I'm sorry; gosh the time Dee has been home has really flown by. I'm thinking about y'all and sending pixie dust tonight. I hope he'll come home for good soon; and that Taylor is feeling better tomorrow.

I know... it seems like he just got here! Thank you for thinking of me.... I'm trying not to get to bummed out tonight.... I choose to watch a comedy instead of the chick flick that would probably make me cry. The good news is he mentioned there is a slight chance he could get home by Christmas..... It was suppose to be next summer he came home, and he said most likely it will be Jan or Feb now.....which really is super good news!

Oh yeah...and I did get some other GREAT news tonight.... my BIL's girlfriend called to see how I was doing. Well after we got back from our trip and we were showing Dee's parents some pictures, it came up that they would love to go with us. Which then made Dee agree to another trip next spring/summer/fall not sure on the dates yet. Well both Dee and his parents thought it would be great if Jason (my BIL) and his girlfriend went too. Well when I mentioned it to her tonight, she said they definatly want to go with us, that Jason had even asked her if she would like to go to Disney World when he got home from Iraq, and she knew he would like it even more if his parents and us were going too. Dee and his brother have always been super close, so I know he will enjoy the trip soooooooooooo much more with his parents and brother with us. Plus he will finally have some guys with him at Disney World. None of his family or his brother's girlfriend (she is a big Disney lover too though) have ever been to Disney World, so I am so excited to share it with them. Plus I LOVE them.... I love my family too, but my family drives me a little crazy sometimes, his never does. I just know the dynamic will be even better with them, and Dee will be even happier.

[ireland_nicole]

I know... it seems like he just got here! Thank you for thinking of me.... I'm trying not to get to bummed out tonight.... I choose to watch a comedy instead of the chick flick that would probably make me cry. The good news is he mentioned there is a slight chance he could get home by Christmas..... It was suppose to be next summer he came home, and he said most likely it will be Jan or Feb now.....which really is super good news!

Oh yeah...and I did get some other GREAT news tonight.... my BIL's girlfriend called to see how I was doing. Well after we got back from our trip and we were showing Dee's parents some pictures, it came up that they would love to go with us. Which then made Dee agree to another trip next spring/summer/fall not sure on the dates yet. Well both Dee and his parents thought it would be great if Jason (my BIL) and his girlfriend went too. Well when I mentioned it to her tonight, she said they definatly want to go with us, that Jason had even asked her if she would like to go to Disney World when he got home from Iraq, and she knew he would like it even more if his parents and us were going too. Dee and his brother have always been super close, so I know he will enjoy the trip soooooooooooo much more with his parents and brother with us. Plus he will finally have some guys with him at Disney World. None of his family or his brother's girlfriend (she is a big Disney lover too though) have ever been to Disney World, so I am so excited to share it with them. Plus I LOVE them.... I love my family too, but my family drives me a little crazy sometimes, his never does. I just know the dynamic will be even better with them, and Dee will be even happier.


:woohoo::yay::woohoo: Planning a trip always makes the time go so much faster; especially with new customs to sew! Here's hoping the time will absolutely fly by!:woohoo::yay::woohoo:

[mirandag819]

:woohoo::yay::woohoo: Planning a trip always makes the time go so much faster; especially with new customs to sew! Here's hoping the time will absolutely fly by!:woohoo::yay::woohoo:

HAHA I know right! How sad is it I was debating tonight what size to make so I can go ahead and start sewing for the next trip now!

[emcreative]

HAHA I know right! How sad is it I was debating tonight what size to make so I can go ahead and start sewing for the next trip now!

*cough* I may know someone *cough cough* who MIGHT MAYBE POSSIBLY need some help sewing for a Disney Trip *cough* COUGH*

[mirandag819]

*cough* I may know someone *cough cough* who MIGHT MAYBE POSSIBLY need some help sewing for a Disney Trip *cough* COUGH*

hehe.... I know Christmas outfits sound so fun! Let me know when your ready to start working on them.... I haven't sewn in 2 weeks, I need to get back to it before I forget how!

[emcreative]

hehe.... I know Christmas outfits sound so fun! Let me know when your ready to start working on them.... I haven't sewn in 2 weeks, I need to get back to it before I forget how!

It will be awhile, for those, I'm scared the girls will have a major growth spurt past what I've guessed. I do need some help brainstorming something for Hannah to wear to The Princess and the Frog, though.

PS- the Birthday dress IS adorable. I don't think I've seen it with the Petti under it before- it really looks great under it!

[mirandag819]

It will be awhile, for those, I'm scared the girls will have a major growth spurt past what I've guessed. I do need some help brainstorming something for Hannah to wear to The Princess and the Frog, though.

PS- the Birthday dress IS adorable. I don't think I've seen it with the Petti under it before- it really looks great under it!

I still need to come up with something for Taylor to wear to the movie too.... Tiana is on her dress with 7 other princesses, but she needs something that is just PatF

[MrsSpratt]

Hi!

Good move on watching a comedy - I cannot imagine how difficult it is for you right now. You are ALL in my prayers!

The picture of your husband's "room" really touched me - I am awed by what our troops do on our behalf. Thanks for making it a bit more "real" to me. (Now that I'm done misting up, on to the fun things!)

I think it is AWESOME you had the gang come and leave Bday presents for Taylor! The gift bags were adorable, and it looked like "better" stuff than what I have seen in the Disney Florist version - I'm sure you saved enough to pay for half of a VIP day right there! I loved the feathers - do you have pics of what Taylor got? I'm sure it could inspire other Moms looking for Disney Florist alternatives...

When I was being "Auntie Tink" earlier this summer, my greatest allies were the incredible Atrium Club Concierge staff at the Contemporary. (They had things in the room upon arrival - were VERY excited to be in on the Surprises, etc...) If you can get a discount, (which my family did) the club levels become a great value - and then you could be swimming with Taylor and Dee while the Big Mouse is visiting and leaving surprises!

Can't wait for more!

Mrs. Spratt

ps - :grouphug::flower3::grouphug:

pps - :wizard: For a Christmas homecoming!

[lillylynnb]

OMG :rotfl2:that is too funny i have a picture of you guys at the VIP spot we were the Grand Marshalls in that parade and my daughter just loved the way your little beauty looked so i took a pic of you guys. Im reading this thinking i seen these people, now i know where. How was the rest of your trip. cant wait to see more pics. That is why i look on these boards it keeps me sane. HAVE TO HAVE MY DISNEY!!!!

[disneygirlsanddrew]

I know... it seems like he just got here! Thank you for thinking of me.... I'm trying not to get to bummed out tonight.... I choose to watch a comedy instead of the chick flick that would probably make me cry. The good news is he mentioned there is a slight chance he could get home by Christmas..... It was suppose to be next summer he came home, and he said most likely it will be Jan or Feb now.....which really is super good news!

Oh yeah...and I did get some other GREAT news tonight.... my BIL's girlfriend called to see how I was doing. Well after we got back from our trip and we were showing Dee's parents some pictures, it came up that they would love to go with us. Which then made Dee agree to another trip next spring/summer/fall not sure on the dates yet. Well both Dee and his parents thought it would be great if Jason (my BIL) and his girlfriend went too. Well when I mentioned it to her tonight, she said they definatly want to go with us, that Jason had even asked her if she would like to go to Disney World when he got home from Iraq, and she knew he would like it even more if his parents and us were going too. Dee and his brother have always been super close, so I know he will enjoy the trip soooooooooooo much more with his parents and brother with us. Plus he will finally have some guys with him at Disney World. None of his family or his brother's girlfriend (she is a big Disney lover too though) have ever been to Disney World, so I am so excited to share it with them. Plus I LOVE them.... I love my family too, but my family drives me a little crazy sometimes, his never does. I just know the dynamic will be even better with them, and Dee will be even happier.

You are lucky to have such great in-laws! I so wish I did!!!! It's nice that you'll have something else to look forward too!

[disneygirlsanddrew]

OMG :rotfl2:that is too funny i have a picture of you guys at the VIP spot we were the Grand Marshalls in that parade and my daughter just loved the way your little beauty looked so i took a pic of you guys. Im reading this thinking i seen these people, now i know where. How was the rest of your trip. cant wait to see more pics. That is why i look on these boards it keeps me sane. HAVE TO HAVE MY DISNEY!!!!

Oooooo...how did you get to be the grand marshalls?:confused3

[mirandag819]

OMG :rotfl2:that is too funny i have a picture of you guys at the VIP spot we were the Grand Marshalls in that parade and my daughter just loved the way your little beauty looked so i took a pic of you guys. Im reading this thinking i seen these people, now i know where. How was the rest of your trip. cant wait to see more pics. That is why i look on these boards it keeps me sane. HAVE TO HAVE MY DISNEY!!!!

That is too funny! I didn't grab my camera quick enough, I only have a cut off picture of the grand marshalls car, but I think there is a good one on my mom's camera if you want a picture of yourselfs in the parade. That is so cool that you were choosen to be Grand Marshalls....I bet you had a great time. Are you writing a TR? The rest of our trip was GREAT for the most part...how about yours?

[Rebecuberduber]

You did a fabulous job with the presents and the room! How fun! I love that you added feathers and pixie dust that they "left behind". That is just precious. Still loving your trip. I just can't believe what a time you guys had. All that special attention is so remarkable. I'm so happy for you guys that you'll have these memories forever!

[emcreative]

I still need to come up with something for Taylor to wear to the movie too.... Tiana is on her dress with 7 other princesses, but she needs something that is just PatF

Oh! Pm me and we'll talk, I may know a great idea that no other little girls will be wearing that will be PERFECT!

[mirandag819]

I hadn’t made ADRs for dinner this night, mostly because I knew Taylor would need a break at some point, but I wasn’t really sure when we would fit it in this day, so I had kinda figured we would just grab Counter Service this night. After we all got cleaned up, we never did get Taylor to take a much needed nap, we decided we would just grab dinner at the Garden Gallery buffet at Shades of Green, it is nothing fancy, but has to be like the best value on Disney property….and it sounded better to Dee then fast food.
Taylor was still very obsessed with her party blowers. She blew this one the whole way down to the restaurant.
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It was a fight to get Taylor to each much, she wanted to go ride more rides and was too excited to eat. Somehow Dee always manages to get her to end up eating well. (I swear none of his tricks work for me).
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After she ate she had to go snuggle up to Daddy for a bit. Taylor told Dee he had big muscles….she then proceeded to show him her big muscles and debate whose were bigger.
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We decided to take the Shady Shuttle (a large golf cart that will take you to the end of Shades of Green’s drive (right at the entrance to the Poly) instead of making the walk over to the monorail.
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Taylor was still blowing her party horn while waiting for the monorail, don’t worry I took it from her as we got on so she wouldn’t blow it loudly in people’s ears. Her dress was a big hit in our monorail car, everyone was telling her happy birthday, and 1 lady told Taylor she heard they were going to let fireworks off tonight for her birthday. Again, Taylor totally thought those fireworks were just for her.
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I was a little bummed we got back to the MK after dark, so I didn’t get any great pictures in her dress. Oh yeah… remember Dee wanting to go to the main street barber shop this morning? Well… I felt bad, I really didn’t know it was only open from 9-12. So when he tried to go, he wasn’t happy that it was closed now. We did stop for some photopass pictures on Main Street while we were waiting for him, so I will add those later.
The parade was getting ready to start when we got back, but we decided to just go ride some rides instead. We should have gotten our fast passes for BTMRR when we left Angela, but I wasn’t thinking about it, so Taylor decided she wanted to use her front of the line pass that Heather had given her at 1900 PF to ride her first real rollercoaster. The line said 130 mins for BTMRR in standby. Since BTMRR has fastpass, you actually just get in the fastpass line with the FOTL pass. When Taylor went to hand over her FOTL pass in the fast pass line, the CM told her since it was her birthday he thought she should keep it and use it for a non fastpass ride, he told her it was even more fun to just walk up and ride without any line at all. So he let us ride in the fastpass line, but still let her save her pass for later. (We met so many sweet CMs on this trip).
The whole time in line, Taylor kept telling us she was going to ride a BIG BIG rollercoaster (we know BTMRR isn’t really BIG BIG), but she was excited and that was all that mattered. I do have to admit that I like that she has no fear of rides, growing up I loved rollercoasters as soon as I was tall enough to ride them too (my sister wouldn’t ride them until she was a late teenager). We told Mimi BTMRR wasn’t that big of a rollercoaster, so she agreed to ride it too (she usually won’t ride roller coasters, but since Taylor was, she wanted to ride too). The fast pass line only took about 5 minutes. Dee wanted to ride with Taylor, and I finally caught on that I could get a better picture from in front of them.
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Taylor looked a little nervous to start off (or maybe just tired)….
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She stayed pretty quiet, until we got to the top…..she screamed, “Look I can see Cinderella’s Castle!” She loved the ride after that.
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She kept her arms up for the 2nd half of the ride. Sorry the pictures aren’t great, it wasn’t easy shooting backwards while going fast
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You can tell that Dee and Taylor got way to much sun today. I am sure it makes Taylor look more tired than she already was….poor thing, I swear I put tons of sunscreen on her.
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When we got off she said, “That was good, no, that was GREAT!”
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[Mirb1214]

Dee and Taylor looked like they had so much fun on the BTMRR! What a great moment for them!

[Rebecuberduber]

Woohoo! Her first roller coaster! I'm so proud of her!:cheer2::thumbsup2

[MouseTriper]

Awww Taylor is just adorable!! I love the pics of her with her Daddy at dinner showing off her muscles...too cute!!!

[ibesue]

I am so enjoying your trip report!

I would enjoys someone else's if I was invited too....

[emcreative]

I am so enjoying your trip report!

I would enjoys someone else's if I was invited too....


LOL All ya gotta do is PM me your email address so I can add you to permissions :thumbsup2

Miranda I just have to tell you, The Husband and I are having such a fantastic time reading your report! We keep saying how nice it is not only for Taylor to have her Daddy home, but to be at that age when the magic of Disney is REAL to them!

[luvdumbo]

Great update! Taylor looked so cute holding her hands up on BTMR! :cutie:

[DevonsDisneyMom]

Such a great report!!! So glad you all had fun!!! Sorry Dee had to deploy again so soon, I will keep you all in my thoughts for his safe return.

[swankybeth]

Great updates, so glad that Taylor wore her birthday dress finally, definitely my favorite. Very cute pics on BTMRR! :)

[dinkerbelle]

Love your trip report! Your daughter is adorable and I LOVE her dresses! I think the Cinderella work dress and the birthday dress are my favorite so far. You are very talented!

[canadianjovigirl]

Wow....glad you had such an amazing time...i can't believe you learnt to sew for your trip, the outfits are amazing!!! I am wanting to just learn to sew a simple pillowcase dress for our trip :lmao: Cant wait for more updates on your trip report........

[Mickey_Mom]

Hi there! :wave: I'm part way thru your TR (Taylor just finished at the BBB) and I really have to say how freaking ADORABLE she is! Seriously, one of THE cutest little girls EVER!

Your time at 1900 Park Fare was incredible! I love love love Lady Tremaine and the stepsisters. They are so funny and sooo in character. I hope I can see video as I get farther along!

I really do think I ran into your mom at the CRT bathroom because I remember telling Ariana how beautiful the little Cinderella was! I'll catch up on more later but I wanted to comment on what I've read so far!

[MouseTriper]

popcorn::popcorn::popcorn::popcorn:::goodvibes:goo dvibes:goodvibes

[mirandag819]

popcorn::popcorn::popcorn::popcorn:::goodvibes:goo dvibes:goodvibes

HAHA is that your way of telling me to hurry up an update.... I swear I am trying.... my photobucket uploads keep getting to like 90% and my wifi glitches for 2 seconds and I loose it all.... I am trying smaller batches now...I've gotten a bit written, just need the pictures

[MouseTriper]

HAHA is that your way of telling me to hurry up an update.... I swear I am trying.... my photobucket uploads keep getting to like 90% and my wifi glitches for 2 seconds and I loose it all.... I am trying smaller batches now...I've gotten a bit written, just need the pictures

Aaaahaw.....I see my subtle hint worked.....laughing!!!!!:rotfl2:

YES your loyal fans are waiting for more!!!!!

[emcreative]

LOL I was just posting to say hey...waiting...waiting..waiting.

The Husband and I read the updates every night!

[MouseTriper]

LOL I was just posting to say hey...waiting...waiting..waiting.

The Husband and I read the updates every night!

Hahahaha....see I told you MORE fans are waiting!!! We want to see more of your sweet Taylor (btw, that is the PERFECT name for a girl..hahahaha)

[ireland_nicole]

I agree with the others, I can't sleep without an update:lmao: but I'll try very very hard to wait patientlypopcorn::surfweb:

[mirandag819]

I'm sorry.... I'm trying I swear! It was my first day back to work today (YUCK!)... it was hard going back after being out 2.5 weeks. So I got a late start and photobucket/my internet connection is just not liking me.... It is coming, even if I have to leave out a few pictures

[emcreative]

(insert Jeopardy theme music here!)

[mirandag819]

Okay with all my photobucket problems tonight, this is shorter than planned and I am hoping I actually got the right pictures:


The plan was to head over to Fantasyland again after BTMRR, Taylor said she wanted to ride Dumbo, and that would be a good thing for her to use her FOTL pass for. Taylor was looking pretty worn out by this point, but insisted she wanted to stay and see the fireworks that Mickey was going to let off for her birthday.

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Just as we were about to ride Dumbo, Aunt Momo pointed out there wasn’t much of a line for Ariel’s Grotto. Taylor immediately jumped on this idea….she really wanted to go meet Ariel!

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The CM’s at the entrance confirmed there was a very short wait….. so we got in line. They were right; there were only 2 groups in front of us. So we waited, and waited, and waited. Apparently Ariel was on a break, and this was one of the longest breaks I’ve ever seen. Maybe it just seemed long since Taylor was a little tired and grumpy….and Dee kept coming and poking his head over the wall to see if we were done yet.

I tried to at least get a few pictures of Taylor while we were waiting, but she was in no mood to have her picture taken….she just looked tired and grumpy, except when she was looking at and talking to aunt MoMo.


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Do you think I can embarrass her when she is older with these pictures of her picking a wedgie? (I swear I didn’t realize that was what she was doing while I was snapping pictures.

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Once we entered the Groto the CMs inside were ohhhing and ahhhing over Taylor’s birthday dress. Ariel was actually ready and waiting for us, but the photographer and character handler didn’t let Taylor go up just yet (not in a mean way, but they wanted to fully admire her dress).

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Once Taylor got up to see Ariel, Ariel told her how much she loved her dress too, and even asked for a twirl.

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Taylor, the little sweetie that she is, can’t take a compliment without giving one too, so she went on and on about how pretty Ariel’s tail and shells were.

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Ariel loved Taylor’s autograph book, she even spent a few minutes flipping through it to see other character’s pages and talking about it with Taylor.

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While we were waiting to meet Ariel, Taylor heard Sebastian singing, so she insisted on going to “meet” him when we exited the Grotto.

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She wasn’t very happy that he didn’t move though. “WHY ISN’T HE MOVING OR SINGING MOM???”

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Up next…Wishes…everyone is starting to get tired and grumpy….and Someone gets LOST!

[MouseTriper]

She wasn’t very happy that he didn’t move though. “WHY ISN’T HE MOVING OR SINGING MOM???”

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/DSC_0092.jpg

Up next…Wishes…everyone is starting to get tired and grumpy….and Someone gets LOST!

Okay well worth the wait...LOL....she looks so cute but definitely exhausted while waiting to see Ariel. Hahahaha....too funny about the wedgies!!! Hahahaha!!! I love the pic by Sebastian too. Hahaha.

Ohh I can't wait to hear who gets LOST??? YIKES!!!

[Tweevil]

What a great trip report and you write wonderfully!

Thank your hubby for all that he does for us!

Your family is beautiful!

AND I am on the edge of my seat waiting for the next installment.. :rotfl:

[WDWAtLast]

Great update!! My girls had to wait in a long line at Ariel's Grotto, but it was worth it (for them) to see her in her tail. And I can relate to the tired and grumpies!!! We saw Wishes our first night. All Kendall (5) talked about all week was seeing Tinkerbell fly again (she was so mad that Tink wasn't at Illuminations! lol) So on our last night, we got curbside seats for Spectromagic and planned to see Wishes, too. The girls were so wiped out, that after the parade, they just wanted to go to sleep! We even tried to stay just to see Tinkerbell fly, but just couldn't make it!

I hope whoever got lost was found quickly!!!

[SunnieRN]

Awww, what a sweet birthday Taylor has had so far!!! We ate at the buffet in SOG for breakfast and for dinner. I think I liked breakfast better as they had the waffle makers and you could make your own fresh Mickey waffle. Very reasonable!

The pictures of Dee and Taylor at dinner and on BTMRR are fantastic! What great memories.

Love the Ariel pose!! Lol, just don't show her boyfriends the wedgie pictures.:lmao:

[Sapper383]

Lovin your trip report...and the fab dresses!!!


It sounds like such a magical trip and to have Dee home on your birthdays must have been the icing on the cake. My DH went to Iraq for 6 months when my son was 4, it was such a bad time for my son, he did not understand and had no concept of time.....but we also went to disney when DH came home....it's such a magical place to celebrate.

my thought are with you xx

Anyway, I'm on pins for the next installment...did the CM contact you????

[mirandag819]

Dee was cooling off with a drink outside of Pinocchio’s when we finished seeing Ariel, so we joined him for a few minutes and then just moved out into the walkway to see Wishes. Defiantly not the best viewing area, but we planned to see Wishes several more times on this trip, and it was much less crowded back there.
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I tried to get a few fireworks pictures, but again…really need to learn to use my camera better.
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Poor Dee in the heat with all of that pettiskirt around his head.
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MK was having extra Magic hours this night, but we were all tired and ready to head back to the room. So we battled the crowds down main street and towards the monorail. The resort monorail station was PACKED….it always is at closing, but wow it was backed all the way down to the bottom of the ramp. The Poly boat launch didn’t have many people…..so I suggested we wait for the next boat. This clearly would have been the faster option, but Dee said the monorail line was moving fast and insisted we wait for the monorail. I knew he was wrong, but was tired and didn’t feel like arguing. About 5 minutes later the boat launch was taking off towards the Poly and we were still very very far from the monorail….I kept quiet about it, but Morgan did argue with Dee about it a little.

About 45 minutes later we are at the top of the monorail platform. The CMs were instructing everyone to move all the way to the end (as they always do). There were far too many people pushing and shoving (I know people are tired, but come on and be civilized). When we get to the end, I glance back to make sure everyone is together. Mimi and Momo were right with me…. Dee is on the other side of a large group of people with Taylor who has passed out in the stroller a long time ago.

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Everyone in the crowd seemed grumpy, and no one was letting me slide back to get with Dee and Taylor, despite several attempts. We were lined up to be the first through 1 monorail door and it looked like Dee and Taylor were lined up to be between the next set of doors. I didn’t like it, and wanted to find a way to get back to them, but Momo figured we would be able to see them through the little divider once we got on board, and kept telling me it would be okay.

The monorail pulls up and we pack in like sardines. At that point I realize we can’t see them through the divider because we are the first car and connected to the driver, not the 2nd car. I wanted to get out and make sure Dee and Taylor were in the next car, but no one was moving and then the doors closed.

Here was the part the bugged me…. 90% of the people got off at the TTC. Why take the resort monorail, the express monorail had a much much shorter line??? I was so relieved to have some space to myself again at this point and be able to sit down.

Even my go to person when I wanted to take pictures was too tired to have her picture made on the monorail

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My mom managed to smile for me, but wasn’t happy about it

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/DSC_0162-1.jpg

See this is why I need Taylor, I could have just taken pictures of her sleeping or something!


We arrive at the Poly and exit the monorail….only to not see Dee and Taylor. I was a little freaked out at this point. Mimi and Morgan seemed to believe that Dee was trying to be funny and had just raced inside. We go in, and there is no Dee. We go downstairs, no Dee. The path to Shades of Green, no Dee. I tried to stop and wait for them. At this point my mom and sister were driving me crazy they were moaning and complaining and telling me how Dee was a big boy and he could get back by himself. I however did not feel right just leaving him. I tried to call his cell phone over and over but he wasn’t answering. I wanted to just wait by myself for him, but apparently I was 10 years old and couldn’t stand in front of the Poly after dark alone. I went ahead and walked with my mom and sister since it beat listening to them complain and not leave me alone. I kept calling Dee’s cell phone non-stop without success.

After 10 minutes back in the room I started to get worried, after 30 I was freaking out. I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone or something, how did they just disappear?

Almost an hour after we got back, Dee and Taylor (still sound asleep in the stroller) walked into the room. Dee was very very ticked that I “left” him. His cell phone had died, that is why he didn’t answer. People had shoved their way past him and then there was no room left for a stroller on our monorail. In fact, he said the 2nd monorail came and the wheels kinda locked up on the stroller and by the time it was fixed there was no room left on that monorail. He got on a 3rd monorail which then was just sitting for 20 minutes between the TTC and the Poly. I felt so so so bad, he was very tired and it took him an hour longer then us to get back it was now well well past midnight. I figured this was no time to rub it in that we would have been back a long time ago if we had taken the boat instead.

Taylor still needed a bath badly, so we woke her up and threw her into the tub. She was not happy about this at all. Add to the fact we had all the gel and glitter to wash out of her hair and it did not make for a fun end to the day. I think it took 30 minutes of scrubbing to get her clean and she yelled and cried the whole time. Poor little girl.

We finally got her into bed and we all crashed.

Coming very soon…. Do we get up in time for our 8:05 ADRs at Tusker House?

[Sapper383]

I can't believe your keeping us in suspence.....I'm lovin it!!!

It's 1.30am here...I can't believe I'm still up on dis boards

[Mirb1214]

I'm glad ya'll found each other! I know you were a nervous wreck. Don't you just hate it though when you're right but you have to keep quite to keep peace?

[luv2go2disney]

LOVE your TR!!!! You are a great writer & photographer!!!! Keep up the great work! Your mom sounds like mine...we went in February & my mom wouldn't let me go back to EMH at MK with my 8yo DD. HELLO I am 31!?!? It was easier to just go to bed than argue with her... I guess we never grow out of the "mother" stage...:rotfl2:

Christi

[Mickey_Mom]

Ok, all caught up! You have had so many experiences so far that a lot of people can only dream about having once in their entire vacation! :cloud9:

I darn near cried when Taylor's first wish of her daddy coming home came true. :lovestruc

[Lisa_Loves_Disney]

You have WONDERFUL pictures! I could not stop scrolling. They were just great! popcorn:: Lol. What type of camera did you use?!

My favorites were of Taylor is her birthday girl dress --adorable! :)

Keep 'em coming!

[SunnieRN]

Poor Dee. You showed GREAT restraint by not saying "I told you so."

Looking forward to more!!

[mirandag819]

Monday Aug 17th was our Animal Kingdom day. We had an 8:05 am ADR at Tusker House. My alarm went off at 5:15, and despite only getting about 4 hours sleep I was up and wide awake. I showered; got ready, got Taylor’s clothes ready…and even had a few quiet moments alone on the balcony before I had to attempt to wake Dee and Taylor up. While I was sitting on the balcony, I see a glowing light in the sky…. I thought it seemed unusual, so I snuck back in and grabbed my camera. When I got back to the balcony there was now a smoke like trail behind the glowing light… I thought gee that looks like a space shuttle launch, but I hadn’t heard anything about one this day, although I hadn’t been reading the news much in anticipation of Dee coming home and our trip.

Later that morning I overheard talk of a launch while watching the weather. I thought it was pretty cool that I accidently was at the right place at the right time and the right angle to see it. Here are the couple pictures I took.

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/DSC_0004-1.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/DSC_0001-1.jpg

Dee and Taylor were pretty hard to get out of bed, but both managed to get up and ready in time to leave by 7. However Mimi and Momo were not ready until about 7:30. I knew they were tired, but I was still not happy about the delay. I figured we should still have time to make it if we hurried through the park again (Dang doesn’t this family know half of why I like pre-park opening ADRs is so I can get pictures in an empty park, not race to the podium?)
We get into the SUV and head for Animal Kingdom….about this time Dee realizes he forgot his Blackberry in the room, and I realize mine’s battery is dead so we now don’t have a GPS with us. We figured it was okay, and we would just watch the signs.

Dee had told us to help him look for signs….. my mom says something about a very obvious sign several times thinking Dee didn’t hear her, he is then bickering a little with her about how he wasn’t blind and he saw it (HELLO… you said help me look for signs). I was a little worried about everyone’s moods this morning; too many of them were still tired and grumpy. Anyhow while he is complaining about her pointing out an obvious sign, he misses a turn. We end up off Disney property and on an interstate. We finally made our way back and found Animal Kingdom.

We arrived at Tusker House 20 minutes late, and we had 1 extra person (since Dee wasn’t on any of our ADRs). I was a bit worried they wouldn’t take us, but they gave us a pager and told us we would be seated shortly. It was after 9 before they buzzed us. Morgan and I were actually getting us to run and get fastpasses for the safari, but we were told we would lose our table if we weren’t all there when buzzed. Luckily our buzzer went off about 2 minutes later, so we were relieved we didn’t chance it.

Donald was posing for the picture package in front of Tusker House. Taylor immediately ran up and hugged him and then he started admiring her outfit. Something must have been wrong with my lens (which I am really bummed about because they were so cute together) I think since I had my camera out for a few minutes and it was so muggy that my lens fogged up a little.

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/DSC_0009.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/DSC_0010.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/DSC_0011.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/DSC_0012.jpg

After we had our pictures made we were taken inside, shown the buffet and then taken to a classroom on the left and shown our table.
Our waiter, who liked my name since his last name was Miranda brought us some of that yummy Orange Mango juice and told us to help ourselves to the buffet. He was pretty funny complaining about more tourists in the village, but since my name was Miranda we could stay.

I am really not happy with most of my pictures from inside here, there wasn’t a lot of room to move around and so there are lots of shots that include half eaten food that I can’t really crop out. My mom will be here next week so I can go through her pictures; I am hoping she got some different angles…. I was starving and the characters came so fast that I wasn’t positioned great for a lot of these (if I remember right my mom was standing for most of this time.

First to visit our table was Daisy. Taylor was so excited to show Daisy that she was on her shirt. Daisy also pointed out Donald on Taylor’s shirt and clapped.

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/DSC_0013.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/DSC_0014.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/DSC_0015.jpg

Oh yeah…and I should say, if you are the lady in the orange shirt here, if by any chance you are a DISer, I am very sorry for my sister’s rudeness. MoMo was getting food when Daisy arrived. Daisy and Taylor were talking while this lady walked up with her daughter to get an autograph from Daisy. Now Morgan didn’t realize Daisy had just been at their table and they forgot to get an autograph from her until they saw Daisy signing Taylor’s book. So Morgan kind of snapped something at this poor lady about how it was Taylor’s turn and for them to wait their turn. I understood they just forgot, and it was no big deal at all to me. I think if Morgan realized Daisy had been to their table already and they weren’t just intentionally trying to steal a character away she wouldn’t have been so rude (I hope not at least). So anyhow… if by chance you are on here, I am sorry.

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/DSC_0016.jpg

Next to the room was Mickey. Taylor had to quickly find Mickey on the back of her shirt and show him he was there. Taylor told Mickey her mom made the outfit and he gave me a big thumbs up….nice to know I had the Mouse’s approval! I did not love the pictures I was getting in here, so I made a mental note to be sure to head to Camp Mickey and Minnie to get some better pictures.

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/DSC_0017.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/DSC_0018.jpg

Oh yeah… for those of you who aren’t Disboutiquers, Morgan’s skirt was made for Taylor (and fit Taylor). We joked about how it looked like it would fit Morgan too…so she tried it on and liked it. Taylor then insisted they needed matching outfits, so Morgan kept Taylor’s original one and I made a 2nd one for Taylor (which hopefully she gets to wear later in the day). Oh and yes…. Morgan is wearing one of Taylor’s pettiskirts too. I really don’t think it is fair that she can share clothes with a 4 year old!

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/DSC_0019.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/DSC_0020.jpg

Next up…. More characters in Tusker House, Taylor gets yet another surprise gift from Disney, and the worst Aunt MoMo drama yet!

[ireland_nicole]

Sorry about the monorail incident and the driving issues; Taylor looks gorgeous though; glad you enjoyed your breakfast! I was really looking forward to hearing about the rest of your day until I read the teaser; but now I'm not quite so sure:scared1:

[mirandag819]

Sorry about the monorail incident and the driving issues; Taylor looks gorgeous though; glad you enjoyed your breakfast! I was really looking forward to hearing about the rest of your day until I read the teaser; but now I'm not quite so sure:scared1:

HAHA don't worry, we are use to her.... so I never let it get me down. The good thing is, most of her outburst are short lived. Her bipolar swings come and go hourly (which is actually a good thing, I have a friend who is also bipolar and her lows last for days or weeks...... with my sister it happens often, but usually doesn't last more then an hour). The rest of our day is still filled with lots of good stuff to come!

[HawkeyeMickey77]

Just joining in & getting caught up on your TR. Great so far! Love all of Taylor's cute outfits! Can't wait to read more! :thumbsup2

[mrsksomeday]

Fantastic report!!

Bless your husband for his service, I pray he will come home soon to both of you.

Your customs are beautiful!! Did you do the hair bows too? We are going in November with a 4 year old, I need to learn to make bows :rotfl:.

This trips sounds so magical, I can't wait to read more!

[mirandag819]

Fantastic report!!

Bless your husband for his service, I pray he will come home soon to both of you.

Your customs are beautiful!! Did you do the hair bows too? We are going in November with a 4 year old, I need to learn to make bows :rotfl:.

This trips sounds so magical, I can't wait to read more!

Thanks, yes I learned to make bows to match the outfits for this trip too. A lot of the techniques I ended up using came from the website girlythingsbows.com If you are looking for a tutorial, I thought the ones on their site were pretty good.

[mirandag819]

Ok, all caught up! You have had so many experiences so far that a lot of people can only dream about having once in their entire vacation! :cloud9:

I darn near cried when Taylor's first wish of her daddy coming home came true. :lovestruc

I know...and we are only on the 2nd day now. It really was so magical! I really felt so lucky to be having such an awesome trip.

I've been enjoying your TR too... maybe we cross paths again! I still am so amused by that.

[mirandag819]

You have WONDERFUL pictures! I could not stop scrolling. They were just great! popcorn:: Lol. What type of camera did you use?!

My favorites were of Taylor is her birthday girl dress --adorable! :)

Keep 'em coming!

Thank you, I am still trying to really learn my new camera, so I didn't do as much with it as I would have liked. I only had it a couple weeks before the trip. It is a Nikon D40 SLR.

[iluvcinderella]

I really enjoyed reading your trip report. Your daughter is so cute and your sewing skills are awesome.

I would like to make shirts for my daughter and myself for when we go to 1900. Where did you find the transfers for the evil stepsister shirts?

Thanks.

[mirandag819]

I really enjoyed reading your trip report. Your daughter is so cute and your sewing skills are awesome.

I would like to make shirts for my daughter and myself for when we go to 1900. Where did you find the transfers for the evil stepsister shirts?

Thanks.

Thank you. The shirts are actually appliques I made with my embroidery machine, and stitched onto the t-shirts. They aren't transfers, but there is a section on the Disboards called Creative DISigns (at the bottom) where there are people who can help design iron on transfers.

[mirandag819]

Okay loyal fans.... I need help with something. A website I am a member of is sponsoring a Disney Photo Contest. Anyone want to help me out and vote? You can vote once a day.... so feel free to check it out daily. If I see you voting I promise to post lots and lots more pictures...and maybe not leave you hanging with so many teasers :rotfl:

I used the picture of Taylor laughing with Snow White.... I know I have better pictures, but I really do like that one and I haven't had time to sort through everything yet.

The picture you want to vote for is called Lots of Laughs

http://apps.facebook.com/promotionshq/contests/4414/voteable_entries

[ireland_nicole]

Okay loyal fans.... I need help with something. A website I am a member of is sponsoring a Disney Photo Contest. Anyone want to help me out and vote? You can vote once a day.... so feel free to check it out daily. If I see you voting I promise to post lots and lots more pictures...and maybe not leave you hanging with so many teasers :rotfl:

I used the picture of Taylor laughing with Snow White.... I know I have better pictures, but I really do like that one and I haven't had time to sort through everything yet.

The picture you want to vote for is called Lots of Laughs

http://apps.facebook.com/promotionshq/contests/4414/voteable_entries

I voted for ya!

[Tweevil]

I voted for ya!

me too! i will again tomorrow :)

[Rebecuberduber]

I voted! Great picture, by the way. I don't know how you could choose one to submit. You have so many wonderful pictures!

[SunnieRN]

Voted!!:goodvibes

[jenny.chester]

Voted to hope you win

[ZeroToHero]

Voted! And joining in - read through all the pages last night!

[Mickey_Mom]

:thumbsup2 I voted too!

[luvdumbo]

Okay loyal fans.... I need help with something. A website I am a member of is sponsoring a Disney Photo Contest. Anyone want to help me out and vote? You can vote once a day.... so feel free to check it out daily. If I see you voting I promise to post lots and lots more pictures...and maybe not leave you hanging with so many teasers :rotfl:

I used the picture of Taylor laughing with Snow White.... I know I have better pictures, but I really do like that one and I haven't had time to sort through everything yet.

The picture you want to vote for is called Lots of Laughs

http://apps.facebook.com/promotionshq/contests/4414/voteable_entries

I voted for you! I also sent this to friends and family to vote1 I was raised an Army Brat and know all to well the sacrifices the families have to make. Hope you win!:thumbsup2

[emcreative]

I voted!!! :thumbsup2

Hopefully by now you've got your wine and the chic flick cued up...now don't forget about us waiting here (im)patiently for the next update!!

[ireland_nicole]

um, now that you mention it Emcreative, some of us are vvvvvvvveeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyy patiently waiting for more than one trip report; like, um, you know, ah, "cough"(yours)"cough, cough":lmao:

[mirandag819]

um, now that you mention it Emcreative, some of us are vvvvvvvveeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyy patiently waiting for more than one trip report; like, um, you know, ah, "cough"(yours)"cough, cough":lmao:

HAHA yeah Marah....we are waiting on yours too! I have had a couple crazy days.... I fully intended to write a ton last night, and then out of the blue my best friend from the time I was 3 called and we talked for 5 hours last night....which was nice, it had been far too long, but I didn't get to write anything.

My 2nd excuse is I really needed to scan a few things in for the next piece, and I wanted to do it at work (My scanner at home is hooked to my desk top which I disconnected and kinda moved to hook up my sewing machine)....but then I have been so crazy at work, my boss has been riding my butt all week.

After my movie is over I will go ahead and write the next part, if I can figure out how to hook the scanner back up I will, if not I will add the missing piece Monday.

[ireland_nicole]

enjoy the movie, but then get on the stick woman, you can't leave us hanging here til monday, we've been patient for ages already! (seriously, it has been a couple of days, and that's a long time.):rotfl2:

[SunnieRN]

You have to work on labor day?? Bummer!

[emcreative]

HAHA yeah Marah....we are waiting on yours too! I have had a couple crazy days.... I fully intended to write a ton last night, and then out of the blue my best friend from the time I was 3 called and we talked for 5 hours last night....which was nice, it had been far too long, but I didn't get to write anything.

My 2nd excuse is I really needed to scan a few things in for the next piece, and I wanted to do it at work (My scanner at home is hooked to my desk top which I disconnected and kinda moved to hook up my sewing machine)....but then I have been so crazy at work, my boss has been riding my butt all week.

After my movie is over I will go ahead and write the next part, if I can figure out how to hook the scanner back up I will, if not I will add the missing piece Monday.


I didn't think people were checking it anymore!!! LOL I'll go upload some!

[mirandag819]

I didn't think people were checking it anymore!!! LOL I'll go upload some!

Of coarse we are!!!! I have left comments!

[emcreative]

Of coarse we are!!!! I have left comments!

I'm workign on mine right now...I sure hope you're working on yours! ;)

[mirandag819]

You have to work on labor day?? Bummer!

OMG you just made my night..... totally forgot it was a 3 day weekend whoo hoo!

[emcreative]

Okay, Miranda, I've got one post up on mine and I'm working on another.....YOUR TURN !! !:rotfl2:

[bentleygirl22]

i finally found your trip report .. I just read everything .. can't wait for more updates.. we leave in 4 more days !!

[mirandag819]

i finally found your trip report .. I just read everything .. can't wait for more updates.. we leave in 4 more days !!

Welcome....thanks for joining. Oh I wish I was going back in 4 days! HAVE A GREAT TRIP!

[Ciciwoowoo]

I absolutely adore your trip report and the beautiful star of the show, Taylor!!!

You did such a nice job making her outfits! I'm waiting to find out if I am having a boy or girl, but I am secretly hoping for a girl... Want to be able to dress her up for Disney!!!

[*Toadstool*]

I just spent an hour catching up on your TR!!! :scared1:
I was sposed to be sewing! Darn you Miranda! :rotfl:
Your TR is great! I am really enjoying all of the pictures.
I think all of your sewing work was worth it.
I got the go ahead from hubby that we can go to DW. I am thinking of doing another birthday trip.. especially after seeing how magical Taylor's was!
Can't wait for more! popcorn::

[Mirb1214]

popcorn::popcorn::popcorn::

[mirandag819]

Sorry for the delay….Okay back to our Tusker House breakfast where we left off.
After Mickey left a CM came in with some instruments for the kids and asked if they wanted to help her welcome a friend. Taylor ran over and selected an instrument (don’t ask me what kind it is, I am still not sure).
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/TH.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/TH2.jpg


Then Goofy entered the room and led the kids around the room in a musical parade.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/TH3.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/TH4.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/TH5.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/TH6.jpg

When Goofy came to our table after the parade Taylor started frantically looking for Goofy on her outfit (bad Mommy for not putting him on there I guess). She was a bit upset when she couldn’t find him, so she just started showing him the word safari since he was in safari clothes too.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/TH7.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/TH8.jpg

Taylor giving Goofy a hug and a kiss on the nose.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/TH9.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/TH10.jpg

Aunt MoMo wanted a picture with Goofy too…
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/TH11.jpg

We even got Dee to take a picture with Goofy…. It was kinda funny the way Goofy mocked the way Dee was standing.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/TH12.jpg

I don’t know if I mentioned it before, but once we were seated at Tusker House, Morgan and I did run and get everyone Fast Passes for the Safari, and at this point our time had arrived. Taylor and Mimi were still eating, but Dee, Morgan and I were finished. We went ahead and paid our bill and the 3 of us went ahead to go grab FPs for Expedition Everest while Mimi and Taylor finished eating.
I thought since we were done eating and all of the character’s had came by, it was safe to go ahead and leave, now I am a little bummed I did, because Taylor got yet another surprise. Remember how they took your picture with Donald in the front of the restaurant? Well apparently Donald loved Taylor’s outfit so much that he hand delivered her picture package and gave it to her as a gift (This is normally one that you buy for $29.99). Once I saw the pictures, I so would have bought them, especially since my camera didn’t take great shots that morning. There were 2 different poses included in the picture package, one with just Tay and Donald and one with all of us. Plus once I added it to my photopass with the number from 1 of the prints, several other posses were added to the photopass too.
I am sure my mom took some pictures of Donald delivering the pictures, so hopefully I can get those from her and add them. I have been trying to get my desktop at home set back up and scan the pictures they gave Taylor in, but I must be doing something wrong, I will try again this afternoon…if not I will add them when my photopass CD arrives (I finally got my borders added and ordered it yesterday)

Mimi and Taylor had finished eating and were shopping in a store across from Tusker House when we got back from getting EE FPs. Mimi got Taylor this little Simba stuffed animal, which stayed attached to Taylor the rest of the day.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/Simba.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/Simba2.jpg


We were then off to ride the Safari. On our way over to the Safari a very friendly CM stopped Morgan to tell her how much she loved her outfit….at which time Taylor immediately jumped out of her stroller to show off her outfit too. Taylor couldn’t let Aunt MoMo outdo her or anything. When Morgan told this CM that I made the outfits she ran over to me and put her arms out in the air and said in a very thick accent, “Take my Majamas…..take my majamas” I wasn’t sure what she meant, I thought it was a word for good vibes or something…and she looked like she was trying to hug me. She said, “No no….well hug me because those outfits are fabulous, but then you must take my majamas and make me one too!” I then realized she was saying take my measurements. I explained to her I just learned to sew and so far I only knew how to make like my daughter’s size and that somehow my sister’s waist just happens to be the same size. This CM told me she was going on a diet right away and to come find her next year and she would wear a 4T too! She was so friendly and fun… I wish we had taken a picture with her too.

Taylor and Morgan were told countless more times on the short walk over to the Safari how cute their outfits were. Taylor was attached to Dee most of the trip, but Aunt Momo was her dress up buddy now, she she stayed attached to her for awhile.
Taylor was dragging MoMo to the safari.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/simba3.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/simba4.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/simba5.jpg
Coming very soon….our safari ride…that Aunt MoMo drama I mentioned, and a big detour.

[ireland_nicole]

I didn't think people were checking it anymore!!! LOL I'll go upload some!

you have a loyal following! I've left comments on the last part too.:goodvibes

Wow, Miranda that is awesome on the pics! How exciting; can't wait to read about the rest of your day hint hint

[mirandag819]

I just spent an hour catching up on your TR!!! :scared1:
I was sposed to be sewing! Darn you Miranda! :rotfl:
Your TR is great! I am really enjoying all of the pictures.
I think all of your sewing work was worth it.
I got the go ahead from hubby that we can go to DW. I am thinking of doing another birthday trip.. especially after seeing how magical Taylor's was!
Can't wait for more! popcorn::

HAHA sorry about that.... I should be sewing too, but I am going to try to get ahead on my TR a bit today....maybe I can get some sewing done tonight.

YAY! I am so excited you all get to go now.... Are you thinking of going on her birthday in November? You better get sewing! Taylor's birthday was wonderful, if her birthday wasn't in August I would go every year on her bday, but I prefer to go with lower crowds and less heat.

I think I found some fabric I liked the other day to use the my hero wears combat boots applique you showed me, I think I am going to work on it after I finish the tink and halloween outfits I have half started.

[SunnieRN]

How cute that she was trying so hard to find Goofy!! Aunt Momo is so cute in her "dress up" clothes!!!
Looking forward to more updates!

[ZeroToHero]

She's a smart little kid to think to show him the word "safari" once she couldn't find him... I don't know if I could have thought that fast!

And I love the Aunt Momo skirt.... I really think you need to open up a business! :rotfl:

[VBAndrea]

Taylor was dragging MoMo to the safari.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/simba3.jpg


Where did Aunt MoMo get her shoes? I might *need* a pair of those.

I'm hopefully making myself a couple of skirts to match my dd as well. I tried a twirl one on and it fits me PRIOR to adding the elastic. I repeat PRIOR... I do not have Aunt MoMo's waistline.

And how hard was it to learn to use your embroidery machine? Please tell me it was really super hard b/c while I want one, I don't want to spend the money on one. I did look on Craig's List and believe me, I can buy a brand new one for cheaper than what they had listed there!

[mirandag819]

We loaded into our Safari vehicle, I did get an end seat so I could take better pictures, but a lot more animals ended up being on the end with Dee and Taylor then my side, so I didn’t get as many good shots as I would have liked.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/safari11.jpg
Up first were some Rhinos, the shot is pretty bad since they were on the other side though, a lot of times I couldn’t even get a decent shot lined up on this side so I didn’t take as many pictures as usual.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/safari25.jpg
The first thing I could get a shot of on my side was these couple of birds…. The black one looked fake until he moved, I guess he was just posing for the camera
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/safari.jpg
Hippos were just barely visible above water
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/safari2-1.jpg
I love waterfalls, I know it is nothing exciting, but I still took a picture anyways. About this time, Morgan’s husband Jon started texting her from Iraq. I thought this would put her in a good mood.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/safari3-1.jpg
The only thing that was really easy to photograph from my side was the Giraffes, so I took too many pictures of them, here are a few of them:
I really like this one, since it has a good shot of the safari vehicle in front of us in it, that way someone who has never been gets a feel for what you are riding in.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/safari4-1.jpg
More Giraffes:
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/safari5-1.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/safari6-1.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/safari7-1.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/safari8-1.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/safari9-1.jpg
Morgan went to put her phone away and when she did she was afraid something might have fallen out of her purse, so she started checking to make sure she had everything. All of a sudden she realized her park ticket and her fast pass for Everest were gone. She started crying and when I tried to calm her down she just started yelling and going off on a rant. I really didn’t want her to ruin everyone else’s safari ride (other families in our vehicle). She was freaking out (I understand being upset, but she was very very loud about it….and wouldn’t listen to me when I said it would be fine).
I really wasn’t trying to take a picture of her crying here, I was trying to get one of Taylor…. But you can see my mom searching Morgan’s purse for her, and Morgan looking very upset.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/safari10.jpg
At this point I think we all just wanted to get off the safari so we could check the stroller for her ticket, or look where we were standing when she pulled her fast pass out for the safari and could have dropped her ticket.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/safari12.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/safari13.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/safari14.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/safari15.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/safari16.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/safari20.jpg


I did take a few more pictures, but nothing fantastic since I was distracted.
I swear this ostrich is trained to follow the vehicles…..every time I have been on the safari…this guy walks up to the side of the vehicle and then starts following from behind.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/safari17.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/safari18.jpg

The lions were sleeping, as usual, anyone ever seen them awake?
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/safari19.jpg

A couple other water shots….and then YAY we saved the animatronic baby elephant. I really liked seeing the real baby elephants last year, but I am sure they are huge by now.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/safari21.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/safari23.jpg

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/safari22.jpg
As soon as we exited the safari we went to search the stroller for Morgan’s ticket. It wasn’t there. We figured it was a long shot but we checked the general area where we were standing when she pulled her fast pass out. It wasn’t there either. We were all telling Morgan it would be fine, worst case scenario I would buy her another ticket. She was in major meltdown mode though and wouldn’t calm down and listen to us. A nearby CM heard her freaking out and came over to see if they could help with something. They told us if the ticket was found, it would have been taken to that store Mimi and Taylor had been shopping in. If they didn’t have it would could go to guest relations in the front of the park and they could reprint her a new ticket with the information from one of the other tickets that were purchased together.
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/safari24.jpg

At this point she heard there was an easy enough solution, so she should have calmed down….but noooo she had to still yell and scream at us all to just leave her and tell us that she was ruining our trip and she would just go back to the hotel.
I went into the gift shop to check and see if a lost ticket was turned in, but they didn’t have any. I finally got her to agree to go to guest services with me and we would get her a new ticket printed. Mimi, Dee, and Taylor decided to go check out some of the trails and look at the Tree of Life while we went to guest services. Morgan had finally calmed down a little, but the whole way over she was still complaining of how the world hates her, and these things always happen to her and no one else.
Coming soon….are we able to get her ticket re-printed, does her mood change, and what rides can we get in before Dee is ready to go to the hotel and swim….

[mirandag819]

Dee, Mimi and Taylor were checking out several of the animal trails while we were at Guest Services. Dee had my camera and took a few pictures.

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/AK.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/AK1.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/AK5.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/AK6.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/AK7.jpg

Even with all the other animals around, Taylor was still obsessed with ducks


http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/AK8.jpg


They then went and checked out a lot of the carvings on the Tree of Life. Here are some more pictures of them near the tree and some of the carvings Dee liked.

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/AK2.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/AK3.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/AK9.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/AK10.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/AK11.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/AK12.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/AK13.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/aK4.jpg


They then went to see Its Tough to be a Bug…. I probably wouldn’t have taken Taylor to that one knowing how much Honey I Shrunk the Audience scared her last year, but Dee didn’t know any better. Turns out she really liked It’s Tough to be a Bug and told me all about it when we met back up.

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/AK14.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/AK15.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/AK16.jpg
http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/ak17.jpg

Mean while….MoMo and I walked all the way back to the front of the park and there was quite a line of people in Guest Services getting birthday FPs and giftcards. We waited our turn and explained that she had lost her ticket, and asked if they could recover her ticket information with my ticket. They told us they could, but they needed all the ticket numbers that were purchased together, duh I should have known that but I didn’t think of it. It took a few calls to Dee and Mimi before they answered and could give me all of their ticket numbers. All of our ticket numbers were in sequence….go figure Momo must have had the first ticket or the last one, it would have made it easier if her number was in the middle.

We got back in another long line with all of our ticket numbers….about 25 minutes later it was our turn again. With all of our tickets they were able to start looking up her ticket info. It did take awhile and we had to give them tons of info, what day was the ticket activated….what parks had we used it…approx. what time had we used it at each park. Luckily they were able to find it and re-print her ticket. YAY! Of course she now had a paper ticket instead of a card, but at least we didn’t have to buy her a new one.
Once we were finished getting her ticket, we called Dee and agreed to meet them in front of the Tree of Life, they were just coming out of It’s Tough to be a Bug.

Our time had now arrived to go ride, Expedition Everest, but remember Morgan lost her FP with her ticket. She told Dee and I to just go ride without her, but I could tell she was sad about it, and she was just starting to get in a better mood. We convinced her to walk over with us at least and see if they might let her still ride with us.

Mimi and Taylor were going to go over to Camp Minnie Mickey while we went on Everest. We figured asking if she could ride with us was a long shot, and really just planned to get her another FP and go back later, but the CM at the fast pass entrance was SUPER nice. They told Morgan they were sorry she lost her park ticket and FP and were glad she got the ticket replaced. They took mine and Dee’s FPs and gave us a group FP to ride together.
You can tell Morgan was in a better mood now that we were in line for Everest.

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/EE1.jpg

She even wanted her picture taken with Yeti poop.

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/EE2.jpg

I had heard reports of the Yeti being in A mode again on the DISboards, so I was really hopeful to see Betty in all her glory. Morgan and I rode together behind Dee… On the way up the mountain, we discovered why people put their hands in the air on roller coasters….we decided it was to air out stinky armpits from walking around sweating in a hot theme park. Someone near us had some serious BO and must have had their arms in the air…. We double checked our own to make sure it wasn’t us, and then stiffed Dee when we got off just to be sure.

I love Everest, it is such a fun ride, sadly the Yeti was in like C mode when we rode, she didn’t even have the strobe lights on her and there was no movement. I knew I shouldn’t have got my hopes up to see A mode….hopefully someday I will.

Next up…do we get to Camp Minnie Mickey in time to meet any characters with Taylor…

[mirandag819]

We stopped for a few pictures in Asia while Dee was using the bathroom and getting us some drinks.

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/Asia.jpg

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/Asia1.jpg

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/Asia2.jpg


http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/Asia3.jpg

We meant to stop and grab more FPs for Everest to ride again later, but we forgot.


http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/Asia4.jpg


On our way to meet Mimi and Taylor at Camp Minnie Mickey, Morgan and I realized Dee was walking like 10 feet behind us, which is so not like him…we usually have to race to keep up. He explained it was his entertainment for the day to walk behind us and see what people were saying about Morgan’s outfit. While a lot of people were saying it was cute, there were a lot of snippy comments about it being too young for her or too short or too dressy (well yeah it was young…it was made for a 4 year old, but she was being the fun aunt and matching Taylor like Taylor wanted, which was sweet of her).


Morgan didn’t really care what others thought of her, and just to embarrass Dee she started skipping and dancing along in front of us. She is such a dork, but I thought this picture was funny…


http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/Asia5.jpg


We arrived at Camp Minnie Mickey and started looking for Mimi and Taylor…

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/campminniemickey.jpg

We looked and looked and looked but couldn’t find them, so we gave them a call. Mimi said they were sitting at some tables outside of Camp Minnie Mickey getting frozen lemonade. Wow…they managed to meet those characters awful fast, or so I thought.

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/CampMinnieMickey1.jpg

Once we got over to them, turns out they hadn’t even been to see any character’s yet. I guess my mom thought we would be gone longer. I was kind of bummed; I wanted pictures of Taylor in her outfit with better backgrounds then half eaten food. Dee will never put up with standing and waiting for all those characters, and it was close to the time I agreed we could go back for a swim….so we decided to go ahead and go back to Shades of Green.

I wanted to stop for the photopass picture in front of the tree, but there were long lines so I decided to do it later when we came back.
I wasn’t feeling like I had taken enough pictures yet, so I took several of Taylor and Simba on the way out.

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/CampMinnieMickey3.jpg

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/CampMinnieMickey4.jpg


I love the look on this little girl’s face in the background…. I remember her telling Taylor she liked her outfit, but I didn’t see the look on her face until after I was looking at my pictures later.

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/CampMinnieMickey2.jpg

Oh yeah…the cutest little girl came up and tapped Morgan on the arm (it may have been earlier in the day, because I remember it being when Morgan was still a little upset)….this cute little girl who was maybe 5 or 6 tapped her on the arm and said, “Excuse me…. I just wanted to tell you how pretty you are, I really like your skirt and I think you look like an animal princess” It was sooooo adorable…and it suddenly put MoMo in a super good mood.


I was a little sad and felt like I hadn’t done much at Animal Kingdom so far between the late start, long wait for breakfast, and Morgan losing her ticket, but I promised Dee a break today and we had 5 o’clock ADRs at Rainforest Café, so if we were going to take a decent break, we needed to do so now.


I guess we had pretty good timing because about the time we hit the turn styles it started pouring the rain.

Taylor was more tired than she showed, she never naps really, but boy did she crash as soon as we hit the car.

http://i444.photobucket.com/albums/qq168/mirandag819/CampMinnieMickey5.jpg

Coming soon….does the rain let up for a swim? Do we get back to AK in time for our ADRs? Do we get much done during EMHs at AK….we will see!

[mirandag819]

Where did Aunt MoMo get her shoes? I might *need* a pair of those.

I'm hopefully making myself a couple of skirts to match my dd as well. I tried a twirl one on and it fits me PRIOR to adding the elastic. I repeat PRIOR... I do not have Aunt MoMo's waistline.

And how hard was it to learn to use your embroidery machine? Please tell me it was really super hard b/c while I want one, I don't want to spend the money on one. I did look on Craig's List and believe me, I can buy a brand new one for cheaper than what they had listed there!

I will have to ask her to confirm, but I think it would be a safe bet guessing she got them at Macy's.... I say that because she is the manager of a shoe department at Macy's. I think her shoes here are Coach, in which case she definatly got them there.

I think if I can loose the weight I want before our next trip I may make myself a few skirts too.... they are just fun! I had Aunt MoMo's waistline before I had Taylor, so hopefully someday I can have it again.

HAHA do you want the truth....or do you want me to tell you what you want to hear? In reality....the machine itself was really quite easy to learn....I still hate t-shirts though, it isn't the machine really, I just suck at hooping them. Using a plain piece of fabric is super easy, especially with HeatherSue's designs. Any time I had problems it usually wasn't my machine, but the designer....in which case it took a little while to learn how to use my machine to kinda fix the problem. (that is why I love Heather's designs, they always come out perfect). If you do decide to get the machine, let me know I have a discount code and stuff that should save you about $100 if you buy it new....also I like that HSN has a 5 monthly paymen thing on it, which makes it seem a little less rough.

[pocahontasgal87]

Hey! I am loving ur trip report, I so wanna learn now to make cute outfits for my nieces and i wanna steal ur sister's skirt! lol

[MouseTriper]

Awww I am all caught up and loving your TR!!! Sorry to hear your sis lost her ticket but so glad you were able to get it reprinted. Taylor looked adorable in her Safari outfit. I wish you could have gotten the pics with the characters that you wanted.

Looking forward to more....popcorn::popcorn::popcorn::

[mickimousemama]

Miranda,

What Machine do you have for Embroidery?

[Miz Diz]

Wow! Taylor had an awesome birthday.
Glad she got to ride BMTRR.

As far as Disney and Aunt Momo's outfit goes, I believe at Disney anything goes. It's the place where you can have fun and act silly. She looked really cute.

Oh - I voted for you. :thumbsup2

[mirandag819]

Miranda,

What Machine do you have for Embroidery?

I have a Brother PE700II

[mamaminnie]

[QUOTE=VBAndrea;33456263]Where did Aunt MoMo get her shoes? I might *need* a pair of those.

They are Nike Mary Janes-- they come in kids and women's sizes. My dd has them in brown and pink and I have them in a light green.

http://www.zappos.com/product/7370840/color/126457

HTH

[DevonsDisneyMom]

Great update Miranda!!! I am just loving this report!!! So sorry about the tickey mishap... Glad things worked out thou!!! Oh, and can I just say I am super jealous that Morgan can fit into a 4 year olds outfit!!! Some people have all the luck!! :rotfl:

[VBAndrea]

[QUOTE=VBAndrea;33456263]Where did Aunt MoMo get her shoes? I might *need* a pair of those.

They are Nike Mary Janes-- they come in kids and women's sizes. My dd has them in brown and pink and I have them in a light green.

http://www.zappos.com/product/7370840/color/126457

HTH

Ah! Thank you! I looked at Coach and Macy's websites and couldn't find them. I am a huge fan of Mary Janes and they looked really comfy. I have some cute sketchers, but I want to rotate shoes a bit. I also have Mary Jane crocs and boy do they give me blisters :P I can wear them with socks though, so if it's cold enough I'll bring them but they look much cuter without socks.

[3princesses+aprince]

Wow, what a great trip report, I read it all between yesterday and just now. Your daughter's outfits are gorgeous. I got a lot of compliments on the tank tops I made for my kids, so I can only imagine what everyone thought of those. Great Job!!!!

Your report is great. Can't wait to read more.

We were planning on going back next september/october, but was now thinking about end of August. Would you do Disney again in August or was it too hot. I'm a little nervous. And the funny thing is my dh is just like yours. He was ready for breaks within a few hours of being in the parks.

[Mickey_Mom]

Your updates are so fun! I'm so enjoying following along. :goodvibes

[DisGirl81]

I'm new here, but I just got caught up reading your TR.

Your daughter is adorable and I love all of her outfits. I wish I was creative enough to make some of those things for myself!

I look forward to reading more about your magical vacation!

[WDWAtLast]

Great update!! Love all the pics you took - and am glad that MoMo got a new ticket and a EE FP!!!

[Rebecuberduber]

Great update! I'm glad Aunt Momo got feeling better fast! I also liked that you sat on the wrong side of the safari car because I think it came out really cute having Taylor in the foreground of most of your animal shots. So sweet about Donald Duck giving you guys the pictures. Looking forward to more!

[Mickey_Mom]

Hey! I just realized that we were at AK that day too! First, MK together, now AK together... No Tusker House for us, but I'm going back thru your pics again ;)

[mirandag819]

Hey! I just realized that we were at AK that day too! First, MK together, now AK together... No Tusker House for us, but I'm going back thru your pics again ;)

HAHA that is too funny...wonder what other parks we hit on the same day.....you haven't gotten to AK in yours yet, what were you all wearing. We got back to AK some more, so there will be more pics soon.

[Mickey_Mom]

HAHA that is too funny...wonder what other parks we hit on the same day.....you haven't gotten to AK in yours yet, what were you all wearing. We got back to AK some more, so there will be more pics soon.

I haven't uploaded any AK pics to photobucket yet, but Alex was wearing a white shirt with a red Mickey head on the front and his fedora, Ariana was wearing a pink collared shirt with a black skort (with her pink lanyard holding her GAC card) and her Tink hat and Demetri was wearing a sleeveless Cars shirt with grey shorts and a tan baseball cap with a helicopter on the front.

George was wearing a green tee that said West Hamilton Youth Soccer and I have no idea what I was wearing because I'm not in any of the pics :rotfl:

[*Toadstool*]

HAHA sorry about that.... I should be sewing too, but I am going to try to get ahead on my TR a bit today....maybe I can get some sewing done tonight.

YAY! I am so excited you all get to go now.... Are you thinking of going on her birthday in November? You better get sewing! Taylor's birthday was wonderful, if her birthday wasn't in August I would go every year on her bday, but I prefer to go with lower crowds and less heat.

I think I found some fabric I liked the other day to use the my hero wears combat boots applique you showed me, I think I am going to work on it after I finish the tink and halloween outfits I have half started.
I am thinking of going for her birthday NEXT November. I'm not that nuts to decide now to go in November. ;) I'd have to give up all of my holiday smocking projects, and I am so not doing that. Plus we really need more time to save up so we can do all of the things that we want to do while there. We are talking a little about maybe going in January or February though. Do you know if you actually have to be there on their birthdays to get alot of the birthday stuff?? Hannah really wants to go on her birthday, but I really don't want to wait another year.

[mirandag819]

I am thinking of going for her birthday NEXT November. I'm not that nuts to decide now to go in November. ;) I'd have to give up all of my holiday smocking projects, and I am so not doing that. Plus we really need more time to save up so we can do all of the things that we want to do while there. We are talking a little about maybe going in January or February though. Do you know if you actually have to be there on their birthdays to get alot of the birthday stuff?? Hannah really wants to go on her birthday, but I really don't want to wait another year.

Nah....aside from getting the birthday fun card/Free Admission (which you have to show a birth certificate for) you can celebrate a birthday whenever you want. You just note it on your ADR if you want to celebrate something, or you can order a cake or something whenever..... you can also pick up the "I'm celebrating" button whenever. I think a lot of people "celebrate" their birthday on a different day because the timing just doesn't work out. You could give her Disney World as a present for her birthday....and then let her start counting down til you go.

[*Toadstool*]

Nah....aside from getting the birthday fun card/Free Admission (which you have to show a birth certificate for) you can celebrate a birthday whenever you want. You just note it on your ADR if you want to celebrate something, or you can order a cake or something whenever..... you can also pick up the "I'm celebrating" button whenever. I think a lot of people "celebrate" their birthday on a different day because the timing just doesn't work out. You could give her Disney World as a present for her birthday....and then let her start counting down til you go.
Oh okay. I didn't know how it works. Hannah's birthday will fall on the Thanksgiving holiday, so I don't think we'd ever want to go on that exact day.
I loved that cake you ordered for her. I definitely want to do the stepsister dinner thing. They seem more fun than the princesses! :laughing:
She already knows that we are going. She asked if for her birthday present we could stay in the castle. :rotfl: I don't think we can pull that one off.

[DCLbrideSept2009]

I'm only up to the beginning of your AK day but wanted to comment... LOVE the pics! Your little girl is adorable... adorable outfits too! It looks like we were there the same time you were! We got there the night of the 8/15 and our first park day was 8/16, but we went to AK on 8/16 and MK on 8/17 (opposite of what you did?!?!?) Oh, and tell your hubby THANK YOU for all he does for our country!! :goodvibes

[luvdumbo]

popcorn:: Great updates!

[ireland_nicole]

Miranda, I think you sat in exactly the right spot of the safari vehicle. Everybody gets the same generic animal shots, but I really really love the shot of taylor holding her simba w/ the elephants in the background- I guarantee nobody else got that pic!

[VBAndrea]

All right Miranda, didn't you that your first day back to work after a three day weekend should be relaxing and you should be busy posting more of your trip report rather than working?

[mirandag819]

All right Miranda, didn't you that your first day back to work after a three day weekend should be relaxing and you should be busy posting more of your trip report rather than working?

I know I know....sorry my mom got into town today and I have been busy looking through her pictures....gotta say I am pretty bumbed, her camera sucks 90% of her pictures are blurry, and the other 10% aren't great either. Her camera isn't very old, so either it is defective or she can't even use a point and shoot. Not to mention she managed to capture the grossest wierdest looks on our face (even aunt momo's pics are bad)..... now the even sadder news.... the video of the stepsisters singing to Taylor kinda skips bad....and even worse I was a dumb dumb and turned the camera side ways (like you can with a picture) I don't think I can flip video. I soooooooooo wanted that video. I am so sad.... I wish I knew someone else at 1900 PF that night with a video camera!

I am uploading a few of my mom's remotely decent pictures now from the days we have covered and then I will try and write some more. I am typing slow... I crushed 2 fingers in a car door today and they are swollen and gross.

[ireland_nicole]

ouch, sorry about your fingers; try to ice them and consider ibuprofen if you're not allergic or have an ulcer. Also bummed to hear about your moms photos- but remember, you got lots of amazing ones!

Try to get some sleep; I promise it will be better tomorrow.:hug:

[VBAndrea]

I'm sorry to hear about your fingers :hug: Let them heal up before typing more.

I think a lot of people have trouble with their cameras in FL due to the high humidity. I wonder if that's what happened with your mom's camera. We have a point and shoot and if the batteries are fully charged and it's bright and sunny it takes some really nice picutres. If it's hazy out, not so much. Also, if the batteries are nearing the end of their life and you don't hold the camera rock steady solid, it blurs. I am really contemplating asking for a new camera for an early Christmas present.

And there has to be a way to flip the video -- see if someone on the photography board knows what to do.

I'll wait patiently until your fingers get better :flower3:

[emcreative]

I know I know....sorry my mom got into town today and I have been busy looking through her pictures....gotta say I am pretty bumbed, her camera sucks 90% of her pictures are blurry, and the other 10% aren't great either. Her camera isn't very old, so either it is defective or she can't even use a point and shoot. Not to mention she managed to capture the grossest wierdest looks on our face (even aunt momo's pics are bad)..... now the even sadder news.... the video of the stepsisters singing to Taylor kinda skips bad....and even worse I was a dumb dumb and turned the camera side ways (like you can with a picture) I don't think I can flip video. I soooooooooo wanted that video. I am so sad.... I wish I knew someone else at 1900 PF that night with a video camera!

I am uploading a few of my mom's remotely decent pictures now from the days we have covered and then I will try and write some more. I am typing slow... I crushed 2 fingers in a car door today and they are swollen and gross.

Sweetie if you can figure out a way to send the video I know how to flip it! :)

And I'm sorry about your fingers :(

[ireland_nicole]

Sweetie if you can figure out a way to send the video I know how to flip it! :)

And I'm sorry about your fingers :(

Wow, you are a woman of many talents! I'm impressed; I still can't even figure out how to edit LOL.