You're almost the same type of handsome as Flynn Ryder, Daddy! 12/28 update

[msmith1026]

Welcome to my Princess Palooza trip report!! We just got back from 8 days in the Magic Kingdom, and if you're in to characters and princesses, this is a good trip report to read.

Our cast of characters are:
Melissa: That's me! I'm the organizer of this vacation, and a total planner. I booked our vacation over a year ago and meticulously laid out our park days and restaurants. I went into our trip happy to have a plan, but also was going to do my best to go with the flow and be open to changing things up as we went along.

Zoey: Our daughter, she just turned 5 and before this trip, meeting characters was not her favorite thing at all. We weren't sure how she was going to do, but it turns out, she was a huge fan of meeting them and getting autographs. I think we created a monster!

JP My husband and Zoey's dad. He's Mr. Laid Back, go with the flow. He was happy to go where ever I said we were supposed to do next and was the one in charge of the map, as I am very directionally challenged.

We were staying at the Grand Floridian, and our days, as planned before our trip looked like this:

10/21 arrival day, flight and check in
(http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43111932&postcount=5)
10/21 Arrival day, MK Sneak Peak
(http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43120705&postcount=11)10/21 Dinner @ 1900 Park Fare (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43125671&postcount=16)
10/22 Animal Kingdom, now with 100% more Giraffe Butt sniffing
(http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43130122&postcount=22)10/23 Magic Kingdom--It's time to get off of Main Street!! (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43141029&postcount=27)
10/24 how to visit Epcot and not ride a single ride (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43164779&postcount=31)
10/25, bibbidi bobbidi boutique
(http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43214321&postcount=39)
10/25, MNSSHP
(http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43224075&postcount=40)
10/26 DHS
(http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43262534&postcount=44) 10/27 Magic Kingdom (http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43335221&postcount=45)
10/28 Magic Kingdom
(http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43557952&postcount=49)10/29 departure day

While at the park, we were celebrating my birthday and our 9th wedding anniversary.


Hope you enjoy reading our trip report!!

Me and JP:

http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/79af1194.jpg

Zoey:
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/945ba0c6.jpg

[tlenzendorf]

I'm here!! :goodvibes

[exwdwcm]

I'm here too!!! Can't wait- you guys are just too cute!

[lbuzz52]

Love the title! Sounds like she's a sweet daddy's girl:goodvibes

[msmith1026]

After so much planning, it is finally time to get this vacation started. We had a 7:00 a.m. direct flight from Syracuse to Orlando on Jet Blue. Factoring in last minute packing, travel time to the airport, clearing security, and the little detail that we were surprising our daughter with this trip when we woke her up, JP and I were up at 3:00 a.m. to get showered, organized and ready to go. We woke Zoey up at 4:00 a.m. JP filmed me waking her up--i started rubbing her back to wake her up and when she looked sort of awake, I asked her if she would like to go to Disney today. There was probably a 10 second delay, and then she bolted upright, fell over, grabbed her favorite blanket, jumped out of bed and started frantically running around her room. She went into immediate overdrive, so getting her focused on getting dressed, brushing her teeth and her hair was not easy. She was in 'manic' mode for the next 45 minutes. My dad got the job of bringing us to the airport, and he's not exactly a morning person. He spent the whole car ride entertaining the questions of an overhyper 5 year old, it was pretty funny.

We got to the airport, checked our one bag and then made the long journey to security. Zoey was a bit freaked out by having to go through it, but she did fine. One of our bags got pulled out and had to be hand searched, but it only took a few minutes. At 5 a.m., the airport was already jumping, and it took about 30 minutes to get through security. We started walking to our gate and I was looking everywhere for coffee. I was out of luck, so i knew it was going to be a long flight. We got settled at the gate and pulled out our ipad to keep Zoey occupied until we could board the plane.

I paid for the Extra Leg Room seats, more for the convenience of being able to board first, and boy was I glad we did, our flight was totally full. Once we boarded, and got settled in our seats (Zoey in the middle) we had to do a round of musical chairs because Zoey wanted to be by the window. I looked at JP and said "we are going to be THAT family on the plane, aren't we?" and he just laughed. Zoey has never flown before, so I wasn't sure what to expect. I hate flying, I am deathly afraid of it, but maybe because I had so much to focus on just making sure Zoey was fine, I didn't stress to much over it until take off.

Our flight was smooth, and we landed at MCO at 9:50, just a few minutes late. We navigated MCO and got to the Magical Express check in, where we waited a few minutes to board our bus. We had a pretty empty bus and soon enough we were going through the gates at the Grand Floridian.

Zoey and I were met at the bus by the manager of the GF and he escorted us into the hotel and to the front desk. As we were checking in, they noted that it was our anniversary, and Zoey's birthday. It took me a minute before my under caffeinated brain caught the mistake, it was my birthday, not Zoey's--her's was in September. The man checking us in said the reservation had listed it as Zoey's birthday and not mine, and was happy to give me a button in addition to Zoey's. I declined, as I'm not big on drawing attention to myself, and had to promise JP that I would wear our anniversary pin. Zoey already had her pin on, and I figured she could wear it today around the hotel and then that was it. We finished checking in, and got upgraded to a theme park view. I was so surprised and couldn't wait to check out our view.

Off we went to our room, and the view was amazing!! We had a great view of the castle--it was spectacular. It was nice to know we could walk out on our balcony and watch the fireworks. Perfect start to our trip!

Checking in at the airport:
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/478b2846.jpg

Passing time on the flight:
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/61b95b09.jpg

Taking the shuttle at the airport:
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/4810fd92.jpg

Our View:
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/964cd0a8.jpg

Zoey's reaction to the hotel:
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/af25c2df.jpg

[msmith1026]

I'm here!! :goodvibes

Yay!! I'm so nervous, so i'm glad my FB peeps are here for moral support, even if you've already SEEN most of the trip! :laughing:

I'm here too!!! Can't wait- you guys are just too cute!

Thanks! I wish our trips overlapped a bit, would have loved to have meet up in person, something tells me Will and Zoey would have hit it off!!

Love the title! Sounds like she's a sweet daddy's girl:goodvibes

Thanks lbuzz52 That was what Zoey said as we stood in line to meet the Princesses and the Princes during MNSSHP. She was very serious when she said it too, she has quite the crush on Flynn! Welcome to the TR, i hope you enjoy!!

[archdandy]

I'm subbing! I can't wait to hear about the rest of your very Princess vacation! :goodvibes

[caaraa]

It was nice to know we could walk out on our balcony and watch the fireworks. Perfect start to our trip!
http://www.primeaffiliate.com/track/images/20.creation.jpg

[LJD2143]

Joining in on the fun!:yay:
It was so nice to meet up with you in EPCOT, if only for a short time!

[DWGal210]

Great start!

Your daughters face at seeing the GF is precious. :) What a sweetie!

[msmith1026]

After checking into the hotel, we started to make our way to our room. If only it was as easy as that sentence made it sound. Remember that part about me being directionally challenged? Well, two crucial mistakes were made at check in. 1. The person behind the desk gave me a map and told me how to get to our room. BIG MISTAKE. 2. When he asked if we had luggage, I said no (again, my caffeine deprived brain was not able to process things quickly). Technically, we didn't have luggage, we had our carry ons--1 for each of us, and our personal bags. So, off we went, with me guiding us and all our luggage. Clearly, it wasn't going to end well. After several wrong turns, we ended up at Big Pine Key and in to our really awesome room.

We unpacked what we could and asked Zoey what she wanted to do. In no order, she said "ride dumbo, meet princesses, go swimming, ride a monorail and meet mickey and minnie." We told her she needed to pace herself, that we were there a long time and asked if she wanted to go to the Magic Kingdom or swim. She picked the Magic Kingdom, so off we went. I knew it was going to be crazy busy that day, I had checked the crowd calendar and knew we should probably avoid going, but I also knew we weren't going to be there that long as we had 4:30 dinner reservations. We walked to the monorail (got lost, naturally!! Um, GF is SO BIG!!), got on a train almost immediately (only time that happened all trip) and were at the MK.

The 3 of us went through the turnstile and were on Main Street. It was madness--more crowded then i expected. We wandered down Main Street looking for a quick bite to eat. The line at Casey's was out the door, and I could see a melt down from Zoey rapidly approaching. So, we backtracked over to Main Street Bakery and hopped in line. We were on the Deluxe Dining Plan, but didn't really have a good grasp on what that meant we could get at the Bakery. And being in there while hungry is sort of like going to the grocery store hungry, it wasn't pretty. We picked up 3 turkey sandwiches, grapes, a cinnamon roll and a brownie plus beverages. We went to pay and found out all of it was covered by the dining plan, which was a bonus because it was 47.00 if you were paying cash for all of that! We found a table, and started eating lunch. Zoey is a very picky eater, so we just pulled the turkey off her sandwich and then JP took what was left and made his a double decker. She inhaled her turkey, plus her grapes and a good amount of the cinnamon roll. After that, she was like a new kid, ready to explore. We asked where she wanted to go and she asked to meet the Princesses. So, off we went back to Town Square Theater for our first meet and greet.

On our way, we passed Mary Poppins and her penguins. Zoey asked if she could stand in line to meet her, so we said yes. I'm so glad we did, as we never saw the penguins out with Mary Poppins again. After that line, we passed Pinocchio, and Zoey jumped right in that line. Both of the lines moved fast so we were back on our way to meet the Princesses in about 15 minutes.

Into Town Square Theater we went, and the wait time was a manageable 15 minutes. Zoey was so excited waiting in the line and when it was her time to go in, gasped when she got her first glimpse of Cinderella. The look on her face was priceless and I knew every minute of planning paid off in that moment. She turned to me and JP and said "They're real! I always knew they were real!" We picked up our Photopass Card when she met Sleeping Beauty and i managed to take a quick photo of the back of the card and our number with my phone before things got too crazy. She met Sleeping Beauty, then Belle and finally Cinderella. I was surprised with how much time they each took with her, chatting with her about her dress, showing her how to pose with the dress pulled out at the one side and asking her about her trip. When she finished with Cinderella, I figured it would be a good time to go back to the hotel and get ready for our dinner, which was scheduled for 4:30 at 1900 Park Fare. Knowing that we were up early, i thought a early dinner was the best option. Zoey was excited to take the boat back to our hotel, so even though we were only at the park a little over 2 hours, they were 2 hours well spent!

Next up: Dinner with Cinderella, Prince Charming, the Stepsisters and Lady Tremaine. One of our dining hosts wouldn't make it that evening. Stay tuned to find out who!!

Eating Lunch
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/7c328ace.jpg

Meeting Mary Poppins and her penguins:
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/d2b49d5c.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/cb899225.jpg

Seeing Sleeping Beauty for the first time:
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/7621afd4.jpg

Zoey and Belle:
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/132b747d.jpg

Zoey and Cinderella:
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/51102254.jpg

[KatieCollette]

Another FB person checking in :) Pretty pictures with the princess! Can't wait to read more.

[lovethattink]

I'm in!! I've been having problems posting today, so hope this goes through...unlike the rest.

I love Zoey's reaction to the hotel, it's priceless!! Beautiful view!

Love the Mary Poppin's AND Penguins. I don't think I've EVER seen them all together in the park! Way to go!!

[steelerfan87]

Joining in. We just got back ourselves and looking at your itinerary we were actually at Epcot on the same day (Mon 24th). Was it crowded that day or what? I think the entire week regardless where we went was more crowded than I have ever seen it for October. Can't wait to here how your trip went and keeping my eyes open for pics of us in the background.

[msmith1026]

I'm subbing! I can't wait to hear about the rest of your very Princess vacation! :goodvibes

Welcome!!! We met Princesses everyday!! By the last day my husband was a little Princessed out, but Zoey couldn't get enough. Thanks for reading!!

It was nice to know we could walk out on our balcony and watch the fireworks. Perfect start to our trip!
http://www.primeaffiliate.com/track/images/20.creation.jpg

I loved at the end of the night being able to walk out and watch the fireworks from our patio. I was so spoiled, and I know the next time we go, I will get a TPV room so we can do it again.


Joining in on the fun!:yay:
It was so nice to meet up with you in EPCOT, if only for a short time!

I wish we could have met up longer, but it was so nice to finally but faces to FB and DIS names!!

Great start!

Your daughters face at seeing the GF is precious. :) What a sweetie!

Thank you!! She was so in awe of our hotel, the first day we had to keep promising her that we truly were staying there, and then she kept running back to make sure the castle was still out her door.

Another FB person checking in :) Pretty pictures with the princess! Can't wait to read more.

Welcome!! Thanks for joining in!! Love that my FB peeps have my trip report writing back!!

I'm in!! I've been having problems posting today, so hope this goes through...unlike the rest.

I love Zoey's reaction to the hotel, it's priceless!! Beautiful view!


Love the Mary Poppin's AND Penguins. I don't think I've EVER seen them all together in the park! Way to go!!

Yay, you finally got it to work!! That is probably one of my favorite pics from this trip. I think JP saw the penguins before Mary Poppins, and every time we saw her after that, I was SO glad Zoey was able to get her picture taken with them. I had no idea it wouldn't be a common thing!

Joining in. We just got back ourselves and looking at your itinerary we were actually at Epcot on the same day (Mon 24th). Was it crowded that day or what? I think the entire week regardless where we went was more crowded than I have ever seen it for October. Can't wait to here how your trip went and keeping my eyes open for pics of us in the background.

It WAS crowded. We headed over to the World Showcase pretty early in the day, and i felt like we were always a few countries ahead of the crowd. I backtracked at one point to meet up with a couple of DISers and the walk from Moracco to China was insane! The food and wine booths were crazy!! Let me know if you see yourself in any of my pics!!

[msmith1026]

After a very quick visit to the Magic Kingdom, we went back to our hotel (didn't get lost this time, go Team Smith!!) changed and went down to check in for our dinner at 1900 Park Fare. At first Zoey wanted to wear her Cinderella costume, and I told her that I didn't think very many kids would be in Princess costumes, and that I thought the step sisters would joke around with her if she had her Cinderella Dress on. Zoey was going back and forth over whether she wanted them to talk to her, so I wanted her to be prepared. After much thought, she wore a blue dress, reasoning that it was "Blue like Cinderella, but not her dress, so they won't talk to me, but Cinderella will get it." Gotta love 5 year old logic!! I had read a lot about this dining experience, from the food was the best buffet ever, to it was the worst ever so I had no expectations on the food at all. We were all tired from our trip and I really just wanted to survive dinner without any meltdowns, from Zoey or from me!

We went to check in and were the first ones there. This is when I discovered that I left the mini m&m tubes that i filled with quarters and pennies at home. Whoops!! Luckily, we had enough change between the two of us for Zoey to start squishing some pennies. After she did that, we checked in and they asked if we wanted to take a family photo, which we did. Then they asked if Zoey wanted to open the restaurant. The manager told her what she would have to do, and after saying yes, she realized she'd have to do it in front of other people, so she changed her mind. No big deal for me or JP, Zoey tends to get very shy when she's overwhelmed and I wasn't going to push her into doing it. Another family with 2 girls who were going to the MNSSHP party and were dressed in costume opened the restaurant, and were seated first. We were next, and we got seated at the table that the characters go to first. Everyone made a big deal of how great this was--and JPs first comment was "Does this mean we can't eat right away?"

About this time, Zoey is starting to get REALLY fidgety and nervous. I ask her what's wrong and she starts to cry and say she doesn't want to meet the stepsisters or Lady Tremaine. I felt SO bad for her, you could tell she was really scared. Part of me wanted to just leave and eat someplace else, but I knew that really wasn't the answer. So, we talked it over, and I pointed out a few babies that were there and how they didn't seem nervous. Then I pointed out little girls wearing their Cinderella costumes, and how they were probably going to be talked to more because of their dresses. Zoey was a little more calm, but still on the verge of a breakdown, so I did what any Mom does in those situations--I bribed her! She wanted to go swimming so badly, so i told her if she got through dinner with no tears, a little night swimming would be the reward.

So, off we go to the buffet, where she loads up on pizza, mac and cheese, and pasta. I throw a bunch of random different food on my plate and get back to the table just as they announce Cinderella. JP and I were so thankful she was the first one out. She stopped by the table, chatted briefly, took a picture and was on her way. I have to say, if she was at our table for more than 30 seconds, I'd be shocked. It was so quick, and when reading other people's reviews you read about how they thought the interactions were fast. I have to agree--it was super quick. It didn't really matter what I thought though, this meal was for Zoey, and she didn't seem to think it was fast at all.

We kept eating, all the time Zoey kept eyeing the door and then they announced Lady Tremaine. She came over to the table, snatched Zoey's autograph book off the table, and as she was singing it, asked Zoey if she should sign her book. It was priceless. Zoey LOVED her and ended up chatting with her for a while-a nice surprise from meeting Cinderella. When Zoey stood to take her picture with Lady Tremaine, she commented on Zoeys blue shoes, which Zoey informed her she got at Target. It was priceless to watch the actor playing Lady Tremaine try to not crack a smile at Zoey's response.

When Lady Tremaine left, Zoey was grinning and laughing, saying she had no idea she was going to be funny. JP and i were beyond relieved!! After that, Anastasia and then Druzilla came out, each commenting on Zoey's shoes as well. When Druzilla visited the table, Zoey was eating just a bowl of the vanilla sauce you are supposed to put on the bread pudding, so she made a big fuss over that, and demanded the waitress we had bring over extra napkins and spoons and asked Zoey why exactly she wanted to eat just the sauce. The step sisters really were very funny with their interactions with all of the tables, they made our meal.

After a bit, the three of us were ready to go to our room and Zoey asked where Prince Charming was. She was patiently waiting to meet him, and he had yet to be announced. We asked our waitress and she said he was sick, but that they were hoping to get another Prince Charming there. JP and I debated whether we should wait or go, and decided to just go back to our room. We told Zoey Prince Charming wasn't going to be there, and when she asked why, I explained he was back at the castle watching Bruno and Lucifer so they didn't get in trouble. She looked at me wisely, nodded her head, and went "Like how we had to leave Boutros with Papa?" (Boutros would be our dog!) JP laughed and said "Exactly" and on that note, we headed out to our room. When we got there, there was a bottle of champagne, chocolates and cards wishing us a Happy Anniversary and Zoey a Happy Birthday (never got old during the trip, no matter how many times we corrected them they still kept noting it was Zoey's birthday.)

Since there were no tears during dinner, we let Zoey do a little night swimming. We checked out the pool and let her stay for about 10 minutes and then went back in and called it a night. Getting up at 3 a.m. made for a really long day, and we were all ready for bed. JP and I stayed up to watch Hallowishes and crashed pretty soon after.

Saturday, 10/22 was our Animal Kingdom day. We had no breakfast plans, but early lunch ADRs at the Rainforest Cafe in the Animal Kingdom, and then 7:45 dinner reservations at the California Grill. I didn't think we would be at the Animal Kingdom a full day, so I was hoping to get Zoey a nap in before we had a late dinner. You know what they say about best laid plans, right???

Here are some pics from the rest of our day:

Penny squishing
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/3616deb3.jpg

Zoey and friends:

http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/9aae08fe.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/682754f1.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/9bc00e61.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/e6555321.jpg

Mmm..dessert
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/f9d302a5.jpg

Me and Zoey kicking back at the hotel:
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/e4184bd6.jpg

Waiting for us in our room:
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/d32b04e6.jpg

Pool:
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/33a73809.jpg

Nightswimming:
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/431ff639.jpg

[Catira]

Melissa... I'm here too! Love the look on Zoey's face when she see's the hotel! Isn't it priceless to experience disney through our children's eyes?:lovestruc

[lovethattink]

Great choice of blue dress for 1900 PF! The interaction with the characters sounds great! I'm sure it was a huge relief that she loved them! Sounds like a very magical evening for your daughter.

[tlenzendorf]

I'm glad Zoey liked the dinner! We had really great characters our night, too. It's a lot of fun, even though we think the food is just kind of ok. We eat there for the stepmother and sisters, not even for Cinderella and the Prince, lol!

[LJD2143]

No princesses for my family of 4 boys.:laughing:
So I am living vicariously through all you for my "girly-girl" fix!princess:princess:princess:

[tlenzendorf]

No princesses for my family of 4 boys.:laughing:
So I am living vicariously through all you for my "girly-girl" fix!princess:princess:princess:

Maybe if we are there at the same time again Brent can go with the boys for some manly time and you can come with us for some girly time :lmao:

[msmith1026]

Saturday was our first full day in Disney and our plans were as follows:
Animal Kingdom for the day with 11:00 lunch at Rainforest Cafe. We had dinner ADRs at the California Grill at 7:45.

I woke up around 5 a.m., for no apparent reason. I thought I would have slept really well after our long day, but I found myself having a really restless night sleep. I didn't want to get up and wake anyone else up, so I grabbed my laptop and iphone and did some work. This was the first time I closed my cupcake business but I still wanted to check my emails and respond to any messages so I took some time early in the day to do that. Around 6:30 JP woke up and soon after Zoey was moving too. I took my shower and got Zoey dressed and we waited for JP to get ready. We weren't trying to make Rope Drop so I wasn't in a huge hurry, but Zoey was saying she was hungry so we decided to grab some breakfast at the hotel before heading out.

We stopped at the Grand Floridian Cafe and had breakfast. JP got the Lobster Eggs Benedict, I had French Toast and Zoey had the Mickey Pancakes, with no sprinkles. Everyone's food was really good, Zoey's pancakes had sprinkles and so i had to make sure there wasn't a single one on there before she'd eat them, but she ate almost the whole pancake.

After breakfast, off we went to grab a bus. We had to wait maybe 5 minutes for one to come, and it was pretty empty. The ride went pretty quick and we made it to the park and through the gates easily enough. I had to do our stroller rental and got the slowest CM ever. I'm all about efficiency and organization so waiting for 15 minutes to get our stroller was killing me. It wasn't because we were missing anything in the park, it was more because I wanted to just do it myself and be done with it! Even JP, who is really laid back was giving me the "Um, really?" look. Finally, i had my 7 day stroller rental receipt and stroller in hand and we were ready to go.

We decided to do the Kilimanjaro safari first, so I got Zoey in the stroller, handed control of the map over to JP and off we went. We got there and there was no wait. The family in front of us had a little boy the same age as Zoey and he and she hit it off and discussed all the animals they were going to see. Turns out this family had rode on this a few days ago and were telling us how it was good to do the ride early because you tend to see more animals.

We got right on our safari and saw a lot of animals. When we got to the giraffes our guide started apologizing over and over again and said "You can be sure, no two safari's are the same." JP and I just started cracking up, there was some butt sniffing action going on, which doesn't make for very good photos!! Since I have the sense of humor of a 12 year old, i found this really amusing.

All-in-all, Zoey had a blast doing this, but the story of the poachers went right over her head. She did talk for days about how we "saved the baby elephant" but I'm sure she couldn't tell you from who or what!

After the safari we didn't have any plans, so we decided to just wander the park. We hit the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail and got some really cool pictures of the hippo that was sleeping underwater. We also got to see the baby gorilla that Zoey loved watching play. After that, we ended up finding a Kids Club area where the kids do a task, get a stamp and if they collect them all, they get a special stamp at the end. Well, after that first stamp, Zoey had a mission to get them all! So, it was off to DinoLand to get the next stamp. Once we collected that one, we walked back to the beginning of the park, checked in for our lunch reservation and sat down and planned what to do for the rest of the time in the park.

Zoey's agenda was to collect all the stamps, JP wanted to ride Everest and I wanted to get a picture of us in front of the Tree of Life (I have such simple requests!!) We all wanted to see the Lion King show, so we decided to divide and conquer. After lunch, JP went and got a fast pass for Everest while Zoey and I got another stamp. We then went back to the other side of the park and got seats for the Festival of the Lion King. This was about the time I realized if anyone from the Unofficial Guide to Disney saw us touring the park, they'd have a heart attack. We were all over the place, going from one end of the park to the other instead of going in an orderly fashion. It seemed to work for us so none of us cared.

We watched the Festival of the Lion King and right as the show started, I realized I forgot Zoey's noise canceling headphones at the hotel. She immediately covered her ears and told me it was too loud. She did great with the show though, she loved the acrobats and everything going on. It was nice to sit in the cool for a bit. Once the show was over, JP went to ride Everest and Zoey and I went to meet some characters. We stood in line for Minnie, and were in line for Mickey when JP called to say he was already done with Everest and didn't need a fast pass at all. He ended up doing the ride again and met us just as we finished meeting Mickey. Zoey met Donald and we skipped Goofy and then went to board the The Wildlife Express Train to go to Rafiki's Planet Watch. After a bit, we got on the train and were ready to go. We enjoyed the quick trip over, and once we got off the train, Zoey found the Kids Club area and got her stamp. After that, she discovered something even better! Chip and Dale and Pocahontas! Out came the autograph book and in line she went. We collected some more autographs and pictures and away we went. I have to say, the character lines were really short and we didn't spend much time in them at all. At one point in line for Pochahontas, I heard the cast member with her tell a gentleman that he could not take pictures if the child with her was not his. That was sort of freaky, and it would not be the last time we heard this during our trip.

Zoey had one more stamp to get, so we went to back to board the train to go to the Oasis and get the last one. We waited just a few minutes for the train, went over to the Oasis section and finally got a picture of me and Zoey with the tree. Zoey collected her last stamp, got her special stamp and a little workbook which she loved. By this time, it was almost 4, so we decided to head out and go back to the hotel. We waited just a few minutes for a bus and stopped at Typhoon Lagoon, then Wilderness Lodge and finally the GF. During the bus ride I tried to find an earlier ADR at the California Grill, because I could tell Zoey was tired. I didn't expect I would get one, and I was right.

We rested for a a bit and then headed over to the Contemporary for our dinner. We checked in and then waited a bit before our table was ready. We had a wonderful table, not right at the window, but close enough with a view of the castle. Zoey caught her second wind and was happy doing the games on the kids placemats. Our drinks and appetizers came out after awhile, and as we were eating them, our waitress asked if we wanted them to hold our dinners so we could go outside to watch the fireworks. I asked them to bring them out, as Zoey was fading fast. After they cleared our plates away, Zoey climbed in my lap and fell asleep. The restaurant made the announcement about dimming the lights and so many people left to go out to the observation decks, the restaurants noise level was considerably less!! Our meals were delivered just as the fire works started, and Zoey woke up in time to watch them. Zoey had pizza and was done after a couple of bites. I ordered the bison and really liked it and JP had Duck two ways. All of us enjoyed our meals but ended up taking our desserts to go since Zoey was once again fast asleep. Our waitress was so awesome, she went over the menu and told us which desserts would hold up being taken to go, and which would not. So, we went with her suggestions, got them to go and were on our way back to our hotel.

We waited awhile for a monorail (we never had much luck taking monorails back to the Grand) and were back in our hotel around 1030. We had no morning ADRs so we decided to let Zoey sleep as long as she wanted to on Sunday and head over to the Magic Kingdom when she was ready.


We really liked the Animal Kingdom. I know we didn't see as much as most people, but even just walking around and looking at how it was themed was fun. I was surprised at how long we were there, never did I expect that we would be there a full day! I would definitely go back and try to do more rides the next time we go. JP really liked Everest, he said he was glad he didn't know any of the story about the ride, so he was surprised when the ride went backwards and also when he saw the Yeti. I'm glad that he was able to ride it--he felt bad leaving me to do the Kids Club stuff and Characters with Zoey but I told him I really didn't mind and that we had fun too.

Up next: The first full day in the Magic Kingdom!!

Breakfast:
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/e434bda8.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/ce134e8d.jpg

AK:
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/1fb0e24e.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/32fa57ef.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/186e9d8f.jpg

No two safaris are ever the same. How many of you get to see this on yours?
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/e4bd08b7.jpg

Zoey and her meet and greets:
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/83e550bc.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/94124fcd.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/e4a795b0.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/ea593df8.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/d5a8d66e.jpghttp://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/1384cd66.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/0dd0628d.jpg

Asleep at Dinner:
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/287827ca.jpg

[msmith1026]

Melissa... I'm here too! Love the look on Zoey's face when she see's the hotel! Isn't it priceless to experience disney through our children's eyes?:lovestruc

Yay!! Welcome!! SO glad so many of us FBers are here. It feels good to just have the support, writing one of these things is nerve wracking! I agree with you, watching Zoey's reaction to everything was the best part of the trip.

Great choice of blue dress for 1900 PF! The interaction with the characters sounds great! I'm sure it was a huge relief that she loved them! Sounds like a very magical evening for your daughter.

I was glad she "survived" it. One of the bonuses of it was when later during the trip she'd say she didn't want to do something b/c it was scary, we pointed out she thought that about the dinner, and she ended up loving it. It helped her try other things, which was great.

I'm glad Zoey liked the dinner! We had really great characters our night, too. It's a lot of fun, even though we think the food is just kind of ok. We eat there for the stepmother and sisters, not even for Cinderella and the Prince, lol!

Oh, she loved the dinner, enough that we did it 2x!! Just wait, you'll see the Clay Aiken Prince Charming soon enough!

No princesses for my family of 4 boys.:laughing:
So I am living vicariously through all you for my "girly-girl" fix!princess:princess:princess:

By the end of our trip, JP was so over Princesses!! We are trying for baby #2 and he always said he thinks he'd just want another girl, since he knows what to do with one. Now he's rethinking that!! We stood in line for the Princesses at Town Square theater 7 times!!!

[lovethattink]

Great day at AK!

Where's the picture of the lobster benedict?! I have got to try that some time!! Was it good?

Oh yeah! I bet that was a great learning experience for Zoey about being scared.

[msmith1026]

Great day at AK!

Where's the picture of the lobster benedict?! I have got to try that some time!! Was it good?

Oh yeah! I bet that was a great learning experience for Zoey about being scared.

Here you go!!
Lobster Benedict:
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/40af8524.jpg

JP said it was really good. It has tomatoes in it, and he hates tomatoes, so he spent a good amount of time picking them out. He ordered them a 2nd time, which says alot because he is a huge fan of never ordering the same meal at a restaurant, he'd rather try everything. The 2nd time he ate them, he got them without the tomatoes and he said it was just as good.

Watching her actually enjoy that dinner, after seeing how nervous she was at the start is one of my favorite memories of that trip. Zoey is so proud of herself that she met those characters, she tells everyone she did, and follows it up with how funny and not scary they were. I'm very proud of her!!

[shan23877]

Joining in, followed you over from my TR! Our trips do sound similar minus the amazing theme park view! How great!

So jealous that you saw the penguins with Poppins--that's very cool.

We LOVED the character interaction at 1900. They were so much fun. My DD gets shy too, and was also nervous about Lady Tremaine, but they won her over.

How was Cali Grill for kids? We're thinking about doing DxDP next trip. We're thinking that we'll use two credits for CRT, SoA, and one signature. Not sure which one yet though, so I'll look forward to hearing what you thought and how you navigated DxDP.

[msmith1026]

Sunday morning we had no early breakfast plans, so when JP woke up he wandered over to Gasparilla's and picked up some breakfast food for Zoey. I was hoping to grab something quick in the Magic Kingdom. Once we were all ready, we headed over to the park via the monorail. Since I had done a length of stay stroller rental, once we were in the park, it took no time to grab a stroller. And, since we were in front of the Town Square theater, why wouldn't we stand in line (again) to meet the Princesses. The line was pretty short so we were in and out pretty quick. The interaction Zoey had here with the Princesses always ended up being so much better than any of the meals we had with them. They always took time to comment on her dress, or her shoes and to talk with her. We have so many great pictures from those meet and greets!

After we left the Princesses, we stumbled upon Pinocchio and Zoey got her picture with him again. We still hadn't left the Main Street area yet, and this was our 2nd trip to the park. I thought we were finally getting somewhere when we started walking, but Zoey saw the checker board outside one of the stores and sat and wouldn't leave until we played. It was hard to convince her there would be anything better than checkers beyond Main Street.

We finally were ready to move on from the checkers and made our way towards the Castle. Zoey stood for the obligatory photo in front of the castle and then we were off for her first ride ever in the Magic Kingdom--Dumbo! There was a 25 minute wait, and she wanted to ride just with JP, so while they waited in line, I consulted the map--for no apparent reason other than it gave me something to do. I certainly wasn't going to use it to navigate anywhere! Zoey LOVED Dumbo and wanted to do it again, so off in line she went with JP for a second ride.

After her 2nd trip on Dumbo, we started making our way to Liberty Tree Tavern for lunch. I never did end up eating breakfast when we got to the park, and Zoey started saying she was hungry too. It was not quite 11:15, so we couldn't check in for our 11:30 ADR yet. JP and Zoey explored the area outside of the restaurant while I waited to check in. We were the first family that checked in, which meant I got to open the restaurant. Normally, I hate doing things like that, but I thought it would be a kick for Zoey to see me to it. Before they started seating tables the waiting area was PACKED, I was happy that we had an ADR because I heard the CMs saying there were no walk up tables available.

We were seated pretty quick and sat down. We had a great waitress who was pretty quick with the refills and anything else we needed. Zoey had the chicken soup for an appetizer and the turkey. She ate all of the soup, the waitress kept commenting on how she couldn't believe she ate it all. She barely touched the turkey though--so I took my burger and cut it in half and she ate that. JP had the pot roast and it looked amazing. He said it was really good, and he ate every bite of it. We each got a dessert and once we finished those we were ready to go see some more sites.

Zoey wanted to see Tiana so we went off looking for where her meet and greet was. It is pretty tucked away, i feel like you have to be looking for it to find it. She wasn't out, and it turned out we had to wait about 45 minutes for her to come back. Zoey didn't really want to go do anything else so we browsed the shops right around the meet and greet area and then hopped in line. We ended up being first in line and there were not many people who joined the line before Tiana came out.

I find the lines for the meet and greets really fascinating--some of the parent reaction is really cringe worthy. One mom came up to the line and asked the CM when Tiana would be out. When she was told about 20 more minutes the mom blew up at the CM and said it was ridiculous that she wasn't out, and that they've come 3x now to see her and there was NO WAY they were waiting 20 minutes. Her little girl was crying because she wanted to stand in line and the mom was adamant it wasn't going to happen. I get it, standing in character lines is not what I envisioned my trip to Disney was going to be all about, but what is 20 minutes in a character line vs. 20 minutes in line for Dumbo? If it's what your child wants, why not do it at least once. And, honestly, 20 minutes is not long. I just felt bad for the little girl--she so badly wanted to see Tiana.

Tiana finally came out and Zoey was SO enthralled by her accent. The girl playing Tiana was stunning--Zoey couldn't take her eyes off of her. They had quite the conversation of New Orleans vs. New York, and Zoey got her autograph and hug and then we were off to ride the Magic Carpets.

We got waylaid on the way to the Magic Carpets by 2 things. The Fairy Meet and Greet and the Ariel Meet and Greet. I could tell JP was getting a little antsy about all of the character meetings and lack of rides, but i reminded him we were here for 6 more days, and we had 3 more days in the MK. I stood in line with Zoey for the Fairy Meet and Greet and the line went pretty fast. JP and I spent most of that time debating what that building had been before, neither of us could figure it out. We finally made it into the meet and greet area and our first Fairy was............Terrence. **Crickets chirping**

Zoey had no idea who he was. None. She was hoping to meet Rosetta and she was pretty unimpressed with who she got. She chatted with him and got his autograph but when she came back to me she looked at me and said "who was that?" It was pretty funny, i felt bad for Terrence! Next up was Tinkerbelle, and I totally thought it was Peter Pan based on the outfit she was wearing. So did JP, so I didn't feel to bad when Zoey admonished me later. Tink was cute, she asked Zoey to stand like a flamingo, and then Tink stood like one too. We finished seeing Tinkerbell and then went to check on the Ariel line. It wasn't too bad, and they said she'd be coming out "soon" so we hopped in that line. When Ariel came out, she was with Prince Eric--I don't know how common that is, but it was a surprise to us! Zoey was beyond excited. She went up and got to talk to Ariel first, and then Prince Eric. Ariel asked Zoey if she could stand like a flamingo (who knew that dress would be such a hit) and Zoey did, but was a little off balance, so Prince Eric took her hands and helped her stand. From that moment on, Zoey was HOOKED. Prince Eric stood like a flamingo too and held her hand the whole time she was with them. We got some really cute pics and then Zoey got hugs from both of them. When she went to leave, Prince Eric called her back and said "I have a secret to tell you". He went to whisper in her ear and gave her a kiss. She turned and squealed and ran away, it was such a cute reaction. Needless to say, that made her day. JP and I both thought that the interaction between Ariel and Prince Eric was really good, some of the best of the whole trip. They played off of each other really well, and the kids were just in love with them both.

After that we wandered over to the magic carpets and rode those and then went and rode the tea cups. After that we decided to head back to the hotel. We were going to the Coral Reef in Epcot for dinner that night, so I wanted there to be time to relax before dinner.

We ended up running really behind getting to Epcot, so it was stressful trying to get from the TTA to the monorail, then through the gates and then finding the restaurant. We checked in a few minutes late for dinner, but it didn't seem to be a big deal. We waited about 20 minutes to be seated--which didn't bother any of us. We were lead to our table and we were seated as far away from the tank as you can probably get. That didn't bother me at all, what bothered me was that we were in a corner "booth" so the seating was "L" shaped and instead of having a person on each side of the table, we were crammed into two sides. I don't think it would have bothered me so much, but our waiter never once cleared any of our cups or dirty dishes away, so by the time our dessert came, we had no space to put the dishes. This was by far the most disappointing meal of our trip. The food was good, but our waiter was so busy that we never saw him. He came and took our orders and asked that we order our appetizer, main course and dessert all at once. None of us were prepared to do that--i didn't even look at the desserts when i looked at the menu. Our food came out so fast, we had just started eating our appetizers when they were coming out with our dinners. It just felt like they really were pushing you in and out of the restaurant as fast as possible. It was not at all relaxing or enjoyable. We were all more than ready to pay the bill and leave by the time it was over. I don't even remember what we all ate--I think i had steak and JP had fish of some sort. By far, our least favorite meal of the whole trip.

After dinner we just headed back to the hotel since it took about 45 minutes to travel to EPCOT. When we got to the TTA and went to board the resort monorail, we were told that it was down, and we could either go to the Magic Kingdom and take the ferry or wait and see if they would arrange for a bus to come get us. After a few minutes, they told us busses would come and take us to the Grand Floridian. We walked back to where the busses would be and we were able to get on the first bus. They weren't crowded yet, but it was just before Hallowishes would be starting, so I knew it was going to get really busy once those finished and people left MNSSHP. The driver waited for awhile and then we were on our way--the bus was not all that crowded. We got back to the hotel when Hallowishes was in progress, so we stopped to watch them and then made our way back to our room.

We had early morning ADRs for Akershus the next day, and it was looking like it was going to be a long day for Zoey, so i checked to see if I could move our 7:30 ADR at the Rose and Crown to earlier, and was able to snag a 4:45, so I took that. We also were supposed to be doing the 8 pm Spirit of Aloha show on Thursday and I was starting to really doubt doing that, because we had early morning ADRs at Cinderella's Castle for breakfast and I just knew we would be pressing our luck at that point with an overtired 5 year old. JP wanted to think about it before canceling it all together.

Up next, more princesses than you can shake a stick at, and a Dis/FB group meet up!

Monorail time:
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/c9df26e2.jpg

Princesses:
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/3664b43d.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/f0337fe9.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/2bfd8124.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/d7796b39.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/0d4cf97d.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/4c3f410e.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/3407ddd5.jpghttp://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/aec50fe5.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/7b2a852a.jpg

Checkers on Main Street
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/69bfddb6.jpg

Parade Watching
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/c47f5cb9.jpg

Fairies
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/e9d3fd96.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/4534506f.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/4ee880f6.jpg

Tea Cups
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/9fe1b9cd.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/853e2044.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/becc3092.jpg

Prince Eric and Ariel Meet and Greet
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/fb3d564a.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/6c69bd20.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/f284f6a8.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/259fdd3b.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/0ded8dcd.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/3f1669b5.jpg

Just been kissed:
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/6043126c.jpg

[lovethattink]

Love the pictures!!! (and thanks so much for the lobster bendict picture!!YUM!!)

We love Coral Reef WHEN we have Ileanna as our server!! She is the BEST!!! The last 2 times we ate at Coral Reef we had the U table. I actually preferred it because it kept my son from being tempted to walk off from his seat. I wonder if they hurried your food through because of you having a child, or was everyone being hurried along? I love their rolls!!! And I'm not a bread person. We ask for extra butter, because that one pat just doesn't cut it. UNLESS we have Ileanna, and she knows extra butter and extra ketchup for ds. Our dining experience with her reminds me of being on a Disney Cruise. She is so attentive and anticipates our needs before we can even ask!!

Did you walk closer to the tank with ds so she could see the fish better?

My little guy loves the fairies. He thinks they are the funniest of all the characters. He would have loved to see Terrance! I'm glad the line moved quickly for you. When we went the queue was long and moved slowly, but the characters spent alot of time with each person once we got there!

The just been kissed pic is so cute!

[msmith1026]

Joining in, followed you over from my TR! Our trips do sound similar minus the amazing theme park view! How great!

So jealous that you saw the penguins with Poppins--that's very cool.

We LOVED the character interaction at 1900. They were so much fun. My DD gets shy too, and was also nervous about Lady Tremaine, but they won her over.

How was Cali Grill for kids? We're thinking about doing DxDP next trip. We're thinking that we'll use two credits for CRT, SoA, and one signature. Not sure which one yet though, so I'll look forward to hearing what you thought and how you navigated DxDP.

Thanks for coming over! I love your trip report, I wish I had seen it before we left--our daughters seem very similar! I have to say, I was spoiled by the TPV, but if when we go back, I will still book a regular room. I'm happy to stay at the GF with just an ordinary view.

The Cali Grill was fine for kids. I was nervous about bringing Zoey, but there were so many kids there, it was no big deal at all. The food was great--they brought out goldfish for Zoey when they brought out bread for the table and they also brought out a fruit bowl--bananas, grapes strawberrys, pineapples and maybe apples. Zoey said to me that she only wanted bananas and I told her I would pick out the other fruit and within minutes our waitress came over with a whole bowl of bananas. It was such a nice touch--you could tell she was used to waiting on kids. I appreciated it because Zoey was so tired and I knew something that small could keep a meltdown from happening.

We did the DxDP and I was definitely very aware of when we ate how many credits we had remaining. I know a big complaint of that dining plan is you feel like you are always eating, but i don't think we felt that way too much. We spaced our meals out so we did a either a breakfast/dinner or early lunch/late dinner. We only ever had 2 sit down meals a day, and our epcot day we snacked our way through the world. We did have meal credits left (you'll see why later on in the TR) but we were able to exchange 1 meal credit for 3 snacks at Gasparilla's when we left, so while not getting great value, we were able to stock up on stuff for our car ride home.

Love the pictures!!! (and thanks so much for the lobster bendict picture!!YUM!!)

We love Coral Reef WHEN we have Ileanna as our server!! She is the BEST!!! The last 2 times we ate at Coral Reef we had the U table. I actually preferred it because it kept my son from being tempted to walk off from his seat. I wonder if they hurried your food through because of you having a child, or was everyone being hurried along? I love their rolls!!! And I'm not a bread person. We ask for extra butter, because that one pat just doesn't cut it. UNLESS we have Ileanna, and she knows extra butter and extra ketchup for ds. Our dining experience with her reminds me of being on a Disney Cruise. She is so attentive and anticipates our needs before we can even ask!!

Did you walk closer to the tank with ds so she could see the fish better?

My little guy loves the fairies. He thinks they are the funniest of all the characters. He would have loved to see Terrance! I'm glad the line moved quickly for you. When we went the queue was long and moved slowly, but the characters spent alot of time with each person once we got there!

The just been kissed pic is so cute!

JP did take Zoey closer to see the fish. I didn't want them to interrupt people's dinner, but they were able to get close, and she loved the tank.

I wish we had your favorite server! I really, really wanted to love this dinner, and i think if we just had a different server, we would have. I would give it another try next time we go for sure, maybe I would just pick a less "prime" time.

[shan23877]

Thanks for the info! Cali Grill might make it on the list!

Great update. Totally understand not being able to get past the characters and onto main street! :lmao: The princess at the theater were really great every time we were there too. Much better than at the meals IMO.

We would have been so excited to see Terrence! We got Rosetta twice! :laughing: Arial and Eric were awesome. That was by far the best Arial interaction we had on the trip.

Can't wait to hear more!

[msmith1026]

Monday we had 8:05 ADRs at Akershus. Traveling via the monorail from the GF meant we were up and out of our hotel right around 7 a.m. Zoey was moving really slowly, I could tell she was starting to get really tired. We caught a monorail pretty quickly and were on our way to the TTA. We got to EPCOT right around 7:45 and the line to go in to the park was pretty long--they were not checking anyone in yet. Finally we were able to go in and we just followed the crowd to Norway. We checked in to the ADR and waited maybe 5 minutes to go get our picture with Belle.

After Zoey's picture, we got seated and were told we could help ourselves to the buffet. I really liked the cold buffet, Zoey and I each got yogurt with granola and almonds and I am a huge fan of smoked salmon so I got a bagel topped with that. When our hot food was delivered to the table, we all grabbed the cheesy potatoes. So good!! The eggs were bland but nothing a little salt couldn't fix.

The Princesses came out pretty quickly and the interaction with them at our tables were very hit or miss. Zoey was dressed as Sleeping Beauty and when Sleeping Beauty came over to our table, she barely even glanced at Zoey--she just took her book, signed it, posed for the picture and was gone. She had a total annoyed look on her face while wandering the restaurant, i said to JP I thought she needed some coffee or something. Snow White and Ariel came over and each of them took a minute to talk with her, but they moved pretty quickly from table to table. Cinderella also came over and she chatted for a little longer but also moved on pretty quickly.

I had read a lot where people thought the interaction at Akershus was better than the interaction at CRT, so I was a bit nervous about our upcoming ADR at CRT. I found the interaction here not that good at all and I don't know that we would do this character meal again. Zoey didn't seem to care about how little she got to talk to them, and she ate a good amount of breakfast so I'd consider the breakfast a success. We did have a great waitress who was super attentive and kept refilling glasses and clearing dirty plates and refilled our food without asking.

After breakfast we asked Zoey if she wanted to change out of her Princess dress and she said no. I figured she'd be annoyed quickly by wearing her costume through the park, but she seemed to be really in to wearing it while she was touring the park She had already said that she wanted to do Turtle Talk with Crush so we started the walk back to the Living Seas. I needed to go pick up our stroller so I told them I would meet them both at Turtle Talk so we went our separate ways. The park had just opened so making my way to the stroller rental was sort of like a salmon swimming upstream. I grabbed our stroller pretty quickly and then set off for the Living Seas.

I got there pretty fast and when I met up with Zoey and JP, Zoey started trying to tell me something but just started crying. Turns out, JP wanted to wait for us outside of Turtle Talk and she wanted to go in, so it started a little battle of wills between a 5 year old and a 40 year old. I calmed her down and in we went to the show. I could tell today was going to be a long day and was hoping we could get back to the hotel for a nap.

We waited a few minutes to be able to go inside and sit for Turtle Talk and Zoey was happy to sit on the floor with the other kids. I thought this was really cute, the kids asked funny questions and Crush was funny with his answers. Zoey raised her hand to ask a question but wasn't called on and then must have decided she didn't really want to ask anything because she never raised her hand again. When it was over she was smiling and laughing--it was definitely a hit with her.

I checked out my Lines app to see what the waits were, and JP and I were hoping to get Zoey to do Soarin. She had no desire to do it and asked if we could go see Mickey and Minnie. So we set off for the Character Spot and found the line was 40 minutes long. It moved pretty fast and soon enough we were in front of Mickey. Zoey had a blast with all of them and we breezed through the meet and greet and headed over to World Showcase.

I was trying to meet up in Norway with the October FB group and was running pretty late at this point. I didn't see anyone when we got there, and Zoey was now on a mission to meet up with other characters so we kept going and I kept my eye out for lime green mickey heads. We met Mulan in China first, Zoey loved her and asked where her sword was. It was really cute. We started wandering from country to country, stopping in Germany for a huge caramel apple from karamell kuche, as well as a couple of chocolate dipped marshmallows. Zoey and I sat at a table as she ate all the caramel off her apple and JP browsed the shops while he waited. We were heading to Italy when i got a text from Tricia saying she was with Lisa in Norway. So, JP and I did a temperature check on Zoey and decided to split up. Zoey wanted to keep going, so JP and she headed towards Moracco and I backtracked to Norway. As I was passing Mulan again, I got another text from Tricia saying they were in China. After a couple of minutes we were able to find each other. It was so nice to finally put faces to names and we were able to chat for a bit and I was able to deliver vanilla beans to Tricia. We made plans to meet up at the Magic Kingdom later that night during EMH and I went back to see if there were any major meltdowns during while I was gone.

At this point, world showcase was packed. It was getting harder to navigate through the worlds and the food and wine booths had really long lines. I got a text from JP saying they were leaving Japan and heading to Morocco so I breezed through the worlds, and made it to Morocco in what felt like record time. I stopped right next to the Jamsine meet and greet, figuring that was a good place to meet. I spotted JP and Zoey pretty quickly and Zoey jumped in line with me. We didn't wait very long at all to meet Jasmine and we made our way to France, where I wanted to hit the boulangerie and patisserie. Zoey and I went in and we picked out a couple of treats to snack on and then grabbed a table and sat and ate some chocolate mousse and a huge cookie. After the sugar hit, Zoey was in a better mood (awesome parenting 101 right there!) and she did a little shopping in France and picked up a huge book of Madeline stories.

JP grabbed us each a couple of drinks at one of the food and wine booths and we used some snack credits for water for Zoey. We also burned a bunch of snack credits on some crepes and sat for a bit eating. JP noticed someone coming out with a bunch of chairs and asked Zoey if she wanted to go watch the Serveur Amusant show that was about to start. The went to get a better view of the show and while they were watching it, I called and cancelled our ADR for the Thursday Spirit of Aloha show. There was no way Zoey would be able to do an early morning ADR for breakfast and the 8:00 show for that. So, i made some quick switches to our reservations and by the time I was done, the show was over and we were on our way to meet Belle. We totally lucked out with this meet and greet, the line was super long, but a CM came and asked if anyone was here to see just Belle. Zoey had no desire to see Beast, so we said yes and were brought up to the front of the line and were the first people to see Belle when she came out. This was the first time Zoey had seen Belle in her blue dress and they had a good conversation about books. Zoey told Belle to say hi to the Beast for her, and explained to Belle she was too shy to meet him. We said goodbye to Belle and headed over to the UK where Zoey met Mary Poppins and Alice and then Tigger and Pooh in the toy shop. We had an hour to kill until our ADR at the Rose and Crown so we poked around the shops and went over to Canada--which I have to say, I don't really remember at all!

We backtracked to the Rose and Crown and checked in for our ADR. We waited a few minutes to be seated, and were seated at a nice table outside. We had another great server and our meal was not at all rushed. Zoey got the Potato Leek soup and fish and chips and loved all of it, even the soup. I got the shrimp cocktail and fish and chips, both of which were really good. JP got a salad and the surf and turf and he liked each of those too. It was one of the better meals we had while at Disney--both the food and the service were excellent. I would recommend checking it out to anyone who was thinking of going.

After our early dinner we headed back to our hotel. It was pretty early still but Zoey had an 8:30 reservation at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique and I really wanted her to have a good nights sleep. We settled her in bed right around 7 and she was sound asleep by 7:30. JP and I were going to head over to the Magic Kingdom so my mom who was with us for part of the trip stayed with Zoey while we went out.

We made our way over to the Magic Kingdom and rode all the rides we knew Zoey would never want to do. JP wanted to check out the Enchanted Tikki Room to see if Zoey would like it so we sat and watched the show. It was cute, and we thought Zoey would love it up until the thunder and lightening hit. We then hit the Haunted Mansion, which was a total walk on. We went through the cemetery line and played with some of the interactive things--JP thought they were really cool. After we did HM, we made our way to Big Thunder where we timed it so we were able to walk right on because we got there just before Wishes ended. We were hoping to ride it again but the wait was already at 30 minutes! We really lucked into being able to walk onto that ride, and decided that we had enough time to ride Pirates before making our way back to Aloha Isle where we were hoping to meet up with people from our FB group. We got seated behind one of those people who thought "No Flash Photography" meant everyone but them. After the second time this woman turned around and flashed her camera right into my face, I was done. I said something to her (which I never do) and she never turned around again, but she did keep taking pictures with her flash. I hope she enjoys those pictures of a fake Johnny Depp, I'm sure they're amazing!!

After Pirates we went to Aloha Isle and got Dole Whip floats. We sat and ate and chatted with the nicest couple who gave us some tips on things to do. They finished their dole whips first and went on their way. I didn't see anyone from our group and was about to leave when someone asked if I was from the dis! I wish I could remember who it was I met, but we sat and chatted with her and her family for awhile. They were so nice, and her kids were adorable. It didn't look like anyone else was coming, so we said goodbye and head in different directions. JP and I rode Snow Whites Scary Adventure because we knew Zoey would never do that. We hit the tea cups next, I have an awesome picture of JP on the tea cups from our honeymoon and I wanted to try to snap a matching one on this trip. JP was a good sport as I made him ride it a couple of times and made him spin it really fast but I was able to get a really close to matching shot!! I'm going to print them and frame them side-by-side to put out in our hosue. After that, we made a dizzy walk over to Space Mountain and waited about 20 minutes to ride that. When we finished Space Mountain it was just after midnight. I was getting really tired, and had to be up early the next morning so I told JP we should head back to the hotel. As we were walking towards Main Street I dragged JP to every Photopass location I could find, figuring it would be some of the only chances I would have to get pictures with JP. He was being such a good sport about it, he was more amused than anything. We did a few pictures by the castle then headed down Main Street. We were going to take the monorail back, but it was down apparently, keeping our streak of only going back to the GF via boat intact.

We didn't wait long for a boat so we were back to the hotel pretty fast. I loved taking the boat--I found it really relaxing. We got back to our room and set our alarms for pretty early so we could be up and hopefully grab some food before heading to Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique.

Up next, BBB, MNSSHP and some seriously bad character dining etiquette. (Oh my!)

Epcot, here we come:
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Akershus:
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Out and about in Epcot
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Date night in the Magic Kingdom
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[tlenzendorf]

It definitely was so great to meet you and thanks again for the beans! I think tomorrow is my day to roll the jar around :)

I am definitely impressed on how many characters you guys met! That one wasn't a huge priority for the girls this time and it made me sad we didn't get to see them.

Agreed on how fast the princesses went thru in Akershus! We really liked the meal, though. I would eat again just for that. And the potatoes?? Ummm I'll have some now please!

[msmith1026]

It definitely was so great to meet you and thanks again for the beans! I think tomorrow is my day to roll the jar around :)

I am definitely impressed on how many characters you guys met! That one wasn't a huge priority for the girls this time and it made me sad we didn't get to see them.

Agreed on how fast the princesses went thru in Akershus! We really liked the meal, though. I would eat again just for that. And the potatoes?? Ummm I'll have some now please!

Did you shake your jar yet? I'm making some guiness cupcakes tonight and am going to use my vanilla! Whoot, whoot!

We saw so many characters, and zoey honestly thought they were real. It was nice, because I bet the next time we go back, she will be less in to it.

[tlenzendorf]

Did you shake your jar yet? I'm making some guiness cupcakes tonight and am going to use my vanilla! Whoot, whoot!

We saw so many characters, and zoey honestly thought they were real. It was nice, because I bet the next time we go back, she will be less in to it.

Tonight is the night to shake my jar! Is there a special shaking the jar dance I'm supposed to do when I do it? Like this? :banana: Or this? :dance3: Or this? :cheer2: Hehehe

[lovethattink]

Enjoying your TR. Your daughters dresses are so cute! Great tea cup pics too!

[msmith1026]

Tonight is the night to shake my jar! Is there a special shaking the jar dance I'm supposed to do when I do it? Like this? :banana: Or this? :dance3: Or this? :cheer2: Hehehe

You know what kind of shaking you shouldn't do? This kind :dancer:

Enjoying your TR. Your daughters dresses are so cute! Great tea cup pics too!

Thanks!! Zoey only wears dresses, and she has quite the opinion on them! She's 5 and self styled. I fear when she's 16!

[tlenzendorf]

You know what kind of shaking you shouldn't do? This kind :dancer:


:lmao: That seriously made me crack up right at my desk this morning!

[cgerdon02]

We were at the world at the same time, and we were at Magic Kingdom and 1900 Park Fare the same night too!! And I totally agree about Magic Kingdom....It was way more crowded than I expected it to be!

[msmith1026]

Tuesday was probably the busiest day we had planned at the MK. We had an 8:30 appt for Zoey at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique and were heading to MNSSHP that night.

JP and I stayed pretty late at the MK the night before, so getting up was a little tricky. Zoey was super excited to go to her appointment, so we were up and on our way to the MK a little before 8. We got to the MK and were able to go through the reservations line and into the park before it opened. It was so nice to wander a pretty empty Main Street. I made Zoey stop for some obligatory pictures and then we were on our way to the castle for her appointment.

I splurged on her visit and got the castle package. Zoey wanted to be Belle, and that was a dress she didn't currently have, so she got to pick out the dress, shoes, wand, tiara and got a purse and gloves as well. A Fairy Godmother in Training took all of Zoey's pieces and laid them out in a dressing room for us. When it was time, my mom, who was in Florida with us, and I went with Zoey and helped get her dressed. The first pair of shoes that Zoey picked were too big and we had to get a smaller size, which fit perfectly. Once dressed, Zoey got to see herself in her new costume and was then brought out to be made over.

Even at 8:30, the place was jumping! Every chair was filled with very excited little girls. Our Fairy Godmother in Training, Raquel was amazing. She did a great job with Zoey. When Zoey was settled in the chair, she was handed a brochure to choose her hair style. She picked the bun style, and off Raquel went, getting her hair up in that style. Zoey was a trooper as her hair was tugged into position. Raquel kept chatting with her the whole time, so Zoey didn't seem to mind it. I love that she just kept asking Zoey what she wanted for the clip, tiara and all other pieces. She made the focus all Zoey and she loved it.

Once her hair was done, Zoey's makeup and nails were painted and then it was time for the big reveal. I had forgotten that she had her dress on already, so when they took the cape off, it was a surprise. She looked adorable, but at the same time, sort of unrecognizable. It was cute, but because she never wears her hair like that, i sort of missed my Zoey. She LOVED it though. When they spun her around to look in the mirror, her whole face lit up.

After a bunch of quick photopass pictures in the salon, we went to pay and then off to get her pictures taken that come with the Castle Package. On the way to Castle Couture, we ran into the Fairy Godmother, who insisted that Zoey come and get her picture taken with her. It was so cute how she got fussed over by the Fairy Godmother. After that, we headed into Castle Couture and Zoey had her photos taken. My mom and I picked out the ones we liked, got them printed and then were on our way into the park.

We hit the carousel first, and got some really cute pictures of Zoey on it all dressed up. JP really wanted her to go see Mickey's Philharmagic, so we did that next. There was virtually no line and we were able to move in pretty quickly to the next show. The no line thing ended up being our theme of the day, there were next to no lines everywhere we went, it was sort of crazy.

After Mickey's Philharmagic, Zoey started to say she was getting hungry, so i quickly booked an ADR for Tonys at 11:30. We had no lunch ADRs booked, as I had booked an early dinner at The Crystal Palace ahead of MNSSHP. JP had grabbed Fast Passes for Winnie the Pooh, but the wait was 10 minutes, so we didn't bother with the FP and just walked on the ride. The interactive queue area was super cute, Zoey loved playing with it. We started to make our way back to the front of the park, when Zoey spied the Rapunzel meet and greet. I had read how terrible this line could be and I was nervously eying the clock and trying to measure if we could do that and get to our ADR. We must have lucked out because we waited in line for just 15 minutes and we were maybe the 5th people line. In we went, and Zoey ran right over to the table and started coloring. Rapunzel came out pretty quick and Zoey was in and out of the meet and great in no time. ALl in all, it was a very cute meet and greet, the area itself was beautiful.

After meeting Rapunzel, we headed back towards Main Street and checked in to our ADR. We waited just a few minutes to be seated and once we were, I sent JP over to get a Fast Pass for the Princesses. One of the reasons Zoey picked Belle was so she could get her picture taken as Belle with Belle. I figured it would be good to do those pictures and then head back to the hotel for a rest as we were going to be at the park late that night.

Our waiter was Mark Anthony and he was wonderful. He made sure Zoey had anything she could have wanted and was sure to point out what he recommended for both the appetizers and main courses. Zoey got the spaghetti and meatballs and ate almost all of it. I had the tomato and mozzarella salad which was just ok. The tomatoes was really mushy and I ate barely a 1/4 of it. I had the baked ziti for my main course and it was ok. Not my favorite meal of the trip, but not horrible either. JP had the antipasto and chopped salad with chicken and liked them both. He was most excited that our waiter made him an iced cappuccino---JP had seen him drinking one but didn't see it on the menu. He asked about it and Mark Anthony said he'd make him one. After our meals, we got desserts and we asked if the ice cream sundae was make your own, because that has been the best party of Zoey's meals. He said they were not, but when he brought hers out, he made sure everything was on the side, so she could actually make her own. He was by far our favorite waiter of the trip, so nice and did so many little things to make the meal special.

We finished our desserts and by that time, our FP time was ready so we went back to Town Square Theater, where we were becoming regulars. There was no line as we went in, and they took us right in the back and then closed the door behind us. All the princesses made a big fuss over Zoey, and Belle spent a really long time with her. She had Zoey sit on the floor and pose exactly in the same way she did, and she helped fluff out Zoey's dress. It was so adorable, and we got some of the best pictures of them. Zoey was in HEAVEN!

After we met the princesses we headed back to the Grand via the boat launch. It was such a beautiful day and the boat ride was nice. We went back to the room and relaxed before we headed back to the MK for MNSSHP.

Up next, Bad Character Dining etiquette and MNSSHP.

BBB:
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Out and about in the park
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Princesses
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[msmith1026]

We spent the morning in the park and went back to our hotel to rest. Zoey decided to switch to Snow White for Trick or Treating in the park so I got her dressed and we all got ready to go back to the park for MNSSHP. We had 430 dinner reservations at the Crystal Palace, so we headed over a little before 4.

Once we got off the monorail and through bag check, the lines to get in for MNSSHP were insane. We went in through the normal line entrance since I knew we could get wristbands inside. We wandered over to the Crystal Palace and checked in. While waiting, Zoey did some hoola hooping and JP and I made plans for what we wanted to try to see during the party. We knew the Princesses were a must, and Zoey said she wanted to hit the trick or treat trails. We tried to map out a plan that included seeing the parade as well. I wasn't too concerned about seeing the fireworks, since we could see them each night from our room.

After about a 10 minute wait, we were seated at our table. The cast member who seated us explained twice that if we missed the characters when they came to our table they would not come back, you needed to wait until they did the whole loop of the restaurant before they came back, so you could be waiting up to 1.5 hours. They pointed out that Pooh was only 4 tables away and that we should not go to the buffet until after he and Tigger went by. Since we didn't want to wait if we missed them, we decided to wait.

As we waited, we started noticing the table next to us--it was 2 families, 5 kids and 4 adults. The kids were everywhere, jumping from one seat to the next and the parents kept getting up and going to the buffet. It was clear they had been there awhile, they were eating dessert. 3 of the kids were gone when Pooh got to their table, and only 2 adults were there. Pooh took pictures with them, and as he came over to our table, one of the Dad's grabbed his hand and asked him to come back to their table, since the rest of the kids had just gotten back to the table. There was no Cast Member with Pooh, and since he hadn't gotten to Zoey, Pooh went back to the table. He spent more time with that family then came over to ours. We were able to get a few pictures with him before the father came back over and asked him to come over to their table again, completely interrupting Poohs interaction with us. The father stood there the whole time Pooh was with us and then had him go back to his table--so Pooh could get pictures with the adults.

I was annoyed, because it had been made very clear to us that we were to stay at our table or we were going to miss the characters but either this family wasn't told the same thing or they just didn't care. We saw that Tigger was coming soon, so JP went up to the buffet really quick to get Zoey some food while the two of us waited to do pictures with Tigger. As we waited, I noticed that as Tigger got closer to the family next to us, everyone at the table scattered, again. When Tigger got to their table, hardly anyone was there. JP got back to our table just before Tigger got there, and as he started taking pictures with us, this family did the same thing they did with Pooh, they came over and interrupted his time with us. Only this time, they took him over to their table, explaining that Tigger was one of their daughters favorite and she had missed him as he came to the table. Tigger left and we didn't even get a picture with him and Zoey. When Tigger finished with that family, he skipped over us and went to the next family. I was trying my best to not be annoyed, but at this point, I figured we had no chance of seeing any characters if this family kept doing this. I wasn't sure if i should say something to a manager or not, but I didn't need to worry about it because when JP went up to the buffet, he explained what happened and said he was aware we'd have to wait for Tigger to come back, but that he hoped there would be a handler with the next characters to make sure it didn't happen again.

Finally we all had gotten through the buffet and were starting to eat our dinner. The family next to us packed up and left and a few minutes after they left, there was announcement for a parade with the characters. Zoey had no desire to do it, which was fine with us. The parade started and the next thing I know, the family that left was back, and the dad pushed his one daughter into the first position in the parade, right behind Tigger. He then proceeded to block other parents from getting pictures as he followed the parade through the restaurant. Once the parade was over, they left and never came back.

At this point, it was close to 515, and we were still waiting for Eeyore and Piglet, plus Tigger if Zoey wanted to get her picture with him. Piglet came over first (with a handler this time!) and it felt like he spent a ton of time with Zoey, but JP said it was probably just because it was the first time we hadn't been interrupted (he was pretty annoyed, and he's so laid back!!) Eeyore came next and that was really who Zoey wanted to see the most, so after she had her picture with him, she said she was fine to leave, even without seeing Tigger. She said she was fine not seeing him, since she had her picture with him at Epcot "even if he doesn't remember me, I remember him!" So, we paid our bill and got ready to head out to get our party wristband.

As we left, a manager stopped us to apologize for what happened. They asked if we would like to get a picture with Tigger and Zoey told him no, that she really wanted to go meet the Princes--especially Eugene! The manager then gave Zoey a stuffed Tiger and some cookies to eat while she waited in line at Town Square Theater. We said thank you and headed over to Tomorrowland to get our wristbands.

I'm glad we decided to get the wristbands there, there was no line and we had our wristbands and trick or treat bags in no time. We walked on to the People Mover and then headed back to Town Square theater to stand in line to see the Princesses with their Princes.

We were in line a little before 6:30 and we were probably 5 people back. I kept asking Zoey if she needed to go to the bathroom and she said no. I probably should have forced the issue, but I didn't. The wait went pretty fast, and a little after 7 they started letting people in to see the Princesses. The family in front of us was the last family let in, so they closed the rope and asked us to wait. Just as they did that, Zoey told me she had to go to the bathroom. I looked at JP in a panic. We were next, and now we had to get out of line. I went over to the CM and told him what was going on. He told me to take Zoey out of line, to go back to the CM at the front and to tell him that we were told we could go to the bathroom, and to let us back in to the front of the line. JP stayed where he was and Zoey and I booked it past everyone waiting and went back to the front to get her to the bathroom. i felt horrible because i was sure everyone would think I was cutting the line when we came back. A few mom's saw us leaving and picked up that we were having a bathroom emergency so that made me feel better. I got back out to the lobby and explained to the CM what was happening and he told me not to worry and that he would bring us back when we were done. Zoey was getting really nervous about missing the meet and greet and when we got to the bathroom, a woman let us go in front of her so we were in and out in 5 minutes. We went back the the CM and he sent us through the fast pass line. We got back to the first CM, and he had us go past the 4 families who were camped out in the fast pass line, and had me, Zoey and JP all go in to the room where the Princesses were. I kept saying Thank You to him, and he laughed and said it probably won't be the only time it happened that night. JP said we had really booked it because we were only 3 families behind where we originally would have been. The really nice thing was that those families asked if we wanted to go up to our original spot, and we said no, we were fine where we were. Everyone could empathize with a bathroom emergency, and most of us mom's agreed it was more stressful on us than anyone else!!

So, we were finally ready to see the Princesses and their Princes and I was a sweating mess. I was so hot and flustered, JP had to help me find our photopass and camera. Zoey met Snow White and Snow Prince first and they talked for a long time about her dress--it was super cute. Next up was Rapunzel and Flynn Rider, and Zoey was so excited to meet him! She kept correcting me when I called him Flynn, she would immediately say "his name is Eugene, mom!" She ran right up to Rapunzel and gave her a big hug and then chatted with Eugene for awhile. She asked where Pascale was, and they told her he was an excellent Hide and Go Seek player, so that she should keep her eye out for him during the night, they told her he'd be red. She was so excited to try to find Pascale for the rest of the night. After we met them, it was Cinderella and Prince Charming, and Zoey was really happy to meet him, since he wasn't at our dinner at 1900 Park Fare.

Once we finished the meet and greet, we headed out into the park. Zoey was on a mission to score some candy, so I took her down some of the trick or treat trails. As it got darker and she saw more and more people in costume, it became clear to us that she was never going to make it through the parade, so JP and I decided to just stick to seeing characters and getting candy. I was bummed, I really wanted to see the parade, but Zoey had no desire to see any scary people, and I wasn't going to force her to. We went through the candy trail at Splash Mountain--it was totally empty!! We breezed through that one and Zoey was pumped over how much candy she was getting. We made our way over to Cinderella's Carriage and Zoey said she wanted to get her photo in front of it. We hopped in line and waited about 20 minutes. Zoey wanted all of us to be in the picture, so i handed over my camera to the Fast Pass person, and they grabbed one with our camera and with theirs. After that, Zoey said she was tired, so we buckled her in our stroller and started walking towards tomorrowland. I leaned down to check on her about 5 minutes later and she was sound asleep. We decided to not push our luck and we headed out of the park. It was after 9 by this point and while we didn't get to do too much at the party, we did the few things Zoey wanted, so I thought it made the night a success!

Here are some pictures from the night:

Dinner:
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/bb58c82c.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/952a6ccf.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/2753aa3b.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/3c50263c.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/3639ed11.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/b6f046e6.jpg

Halloween Meet and Greet
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/8e3ad8aa.jpg
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/f37ee801.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/6cacb032.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/8d8c53d1.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/0b66e2a4.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/b58ccb23.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/4b4f31a6.jpghttp://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/8ef35347.jpg

Family photo
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/9fca1222.jpg

[tlenzendorf]

Total bummer about missing the parade, but that just means you have to go back! :lmao: It was a very cool parade. I would have emailed you the video I took(not like it's not on youtube :rolleyes:), except I couldn't get the dumb thing to work! Turns out I had the battery in backwards :headache:

And seriously what rude people at Crystal Palace!!

[msmith1026]

:lmao: That seriously made me crack up right at my desk this morning!

Creepy guy needed to be let out to bust a move!

We were at the world at the same time, and we were at Magic Kingdom and 1900 Park Fare the same night too!! And I totally agree about Magic Kingdom....It was way more crowded than I expected it to be!

I remember, at one point trying to turn left and it was just a wall of people. It was insanity--but that had to have been the worst of it for the whole time we were there!

Total bummer about missing the parade, but that just means you have to go back! :lmao: It was a very cool parade. I would have emailed you the video I took(not like it's not on youtube :rolleyes:), except I couldn't get the dumb thing to work! Turns out I had the battery in backwards :headache:

And seriously what rude people at Crystal Palace!!

I agree about going back, and we are! Sadly, not until 2013, but oh well! We are going to go around the same time again too, just because we felt it really wasn't bad crowd wise, and I don't think I'll survive the heat if we go in the summer.

Those people were beyond rude. I tried to condense the story, so there were more things I left out. I just refused to let it ruin the night for us. It did make me realize that some people just think rules do not apply to them, at all. They were not even one ounce apologetic that they were doing it, in fact, the dad kept laughing as he did it, talking about how much money they spent to eat there. As if we didn't spend any money. :confused3 Anyways, I would go back again, because it wasn't as if the reason I didn't love the meal had anything to do with the food or the restaurant itself.

And, um, can we celebrate your new ticker?????? :cheer2:

[tlenzendorf]

Creepy guy needed to be let out to bust a move!

It has been awhile since he has been let out!
I remember, at one point trying to turn left and it was just a wall of people. It was insanity--but that had to have been the worst of it for the whole time we were there!

I was very surprised by those MK crowds! I was :scared1: when I saw the crowd levels jump to 8's some days. And they sure felt like 8's!I agree about going back, and we are! Sadly, not until 2013, but oh well! We are going to go around the same time again too, just because we felt it really wasn't bad crowd wise, and I don't think I'll survive the heat if we go in the summer.

I really liked this time, but 2014 for the girls means that they will be 10, 14 and 15(OMG!). I think it's too iffy to let them out of school. Plus since we want to do Universal and the beach we are looking at a 2 week trip. That's too much school to miss I think.
Those people were beyond rude. I tried to condense the story, so there were more things I left out. I just refused to let it ruin the night for us. It did make me realize that some people just think rules do not apply to them, at all. They were not even one ounce apologetic that they were doing it, in fact, the dad kept laughing as he did it, talking about how much money they spent to eat there. As if we didn't spend any money. :confused3 Anyways, I would go back again, because it wasn't as if the reason I didn't love the meal had anything to do with the food or the restaurant itself.

That is just crazy about how rude they were! Good to not let it ruin the night for you! I love CP, we are even going to do it for breakfast for the adult trip. Pooh's Puffed French Toast OMG good! :cloud9:
And, um, can we celebrate your new ticker?????? :cheer2:

Ummm YEAH we can celebrate the new ticker! Woooo! :dancer:

[msmith1026]

Wednesday was our DHS day. Before we left, our itinerary looked like this:
8:00 Breakfast at Hollywood and Vine
11:30 JP Lunch with an Imagineer (my anniversary present to him)
12:15 Zoey and I had lunch at 50s Prime Time
7:00 Dinner at Narcoosees

On Monday, I cancelled the 8am breakfast ADR, figuring after a late night at MNSSHP the night before, there was no way Zoey was getting up to make an 8am breakfast. When we put her to bed Tuesday night, the plan was to just let her sleep as late as she wanted and then go from there. I went ahead and cancelled the ADR for 50s Prime Time as well, figuring once we were in the park, we could grab something fast instead of doing sit down. I kept JPs Lunch though, as that was a special thing for our anniversary.

Well, the first thing I noticed when I woke up was that it was late. Really, really late. The next thing I noticed was that JP was gone.:eek: Zoey was still fast asleep and it was 9:15!!!! JP had sent me a text saying he was up and eating breakfast downstairs, and was going to head to DHS because he wasn't sure how long it would take via the bus, and he didn't want to be late for his lunch. Zoey woke up around 9:30, so I got her dressed and we went to grab some breakfast. I asked her what she wanted to do, and she voted for the pool. I could see our DHS day slipping away, and I was shockingly ok with that. I'm total Type A, but i knew if i pushed Zoey into a park day, our trip could go downhill fast.

We enjoyed a pretty lazy breakfast and then headed back to our room to get ready for the pool. Zoey really wanted to try the slide at the GF, so I put her floaties on and off she went. I waited for her at the end of the slide and she came down quicker than i expected. She really liked it, but said she didn't want to do it again. We hung out at the pool for awhile, and then checked out the beach. JP was texting me giving me updates of what he was doing--I convinced him to ride Star Tours more than once, as it can be different each time. I had him check on the wait at TSM and ToT. He kept saying he would do lunch and come right back, but I told him to enjoy his day and not to worry about us.

After awhile, Zoey and I decided to head over to Downtown Disney. We waited a bit for the bus, and then were on our way. We grabbed a quick lunch at Rainforest Cafe and then explored the shops. I didn't get to do as much shopping as I had hoped, Zoey was tired and didn't want to look at anything. It was close to 4, so i figured it was just easier to go back to the hotel and get ready for dinner.

JP, meanwhile, was having a blast. He said his lunch with an Imagineer was amazing, he spoke with someone who spent the last couple of years in Hawaii, and who had previously worked on ToT and a few other rides. JP said it was cool talking to him, he loved it. After his lunch, he rode Star Tours 3x in a row, then hopped over to ToT and did that 2x. He said there were hardly any crowds but he didn't try to go to TSM. He headed to the hotel the same time we did, so we all met back at the GF around the same time.

We got ready for dinner and headed to Narcoosees. We had a lovely table right by the window with a view of Cinderella's Castle. Our waiter, Jerry, was amazing with Zoey--he didn't seem to care at all that he had an antsy 5 year old at his table.

We had a great dinner, everyone's food was really good. I had the calamari and then the lobster for dinner. JP had the mussels and the surf and turf. Zoey had the chicken soup and hamburger.

For dessert, I had ordered a cake for our anniversary. JP and I were celebrating our 9th wedding anniversary, and the cake was amazing. We got lots of comments from other diners.

It was a lazy day, but a fun one. Even if all the plans we had got scrapped, and the only things that were kept from the original itinerary were JPs lunch and our dinner, it was one of my favorite days of our trip.

Lazy Breakfast:
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/566d0a3a.jpg

Zoey and Buzz
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/15acbdf4.jpg

Anniversary Cake
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/b944a543.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/b6a4dd0f.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/d8f16250.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/9feab6c4.jpg

Happy anniversary:
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/5dded7d6.jpg

[msmith1026]

Since we had such a casual day on wednesday, we were all well rested and ready to go back to the MK on Thursday. We had 8 a.m. ADRs at Cinderella's Royal Table. Originally, the park was not supposed to open until 9, but they changed the hours and the park opened at 8 a.m. We were able to get in early and get some nice shots on main street still.

We checked in at the Castle and waited a few minutes to have Zoey's picture with Cinderella and then were seated in the restaurant. We were served drinks and our meal and then the first princess came out. Zoey had a great time, and the Princesses each spent a good amount of time with her. It didn't feel as rushed as I had read about, and definitely not as rushed as Akerhaus was.

After breakfast we hit Fantasyland again, with the Magic Carpets being our first destination. Zoey loved being able to control them, and wanted to always try to get her dad hit by the camel spitting water. After she rode that, we stood in line to see Jasmine and Aladdin. They were very cute together, although i thought that Jasmine looked sort of bored with it all. Aladdin was by far the chattier of the two, and almost always he sent the kids on their way with a mission for the rest of the day. He and Zoey had a conversation over where his magic carpet was hiding today, and also where Abu could be. She loved him.

After that, we wandered over to tomorrow land and did the tea cups again. As we were walking back towards the hub, Zoey spotted the White Rabbit and wanted to get in line again. As we were waiting, they told us that the Rabbit would be taking a break, so Zoey and I debated what he would be snacking on during his break--straight up carrots, or carrot cake, or carrot juice. A couple of minutes later the White Rabbit came back, and he had a guest--Alice. It was pretty fun to get to see them both together, we did not expect it at all!

After we got their picture taken, we headed back to the hotel so Zoey could do the Mad Hatter Tea Party. She was very excited to go to this, even more excited that she got to go without me or JP. We headed first to the Grand Floridian Cafe and got a table for lunch as they stopped serving lunch right when the Tea Party started. We figured we could eat while she was there. We checked in, got seated and i told JP what I wanted for lunch and then went to check Zoey in.

We got there right as they were going to open the doors (whoops!) so Zoey didn't get to color much. I walked Zoey in and she grabbed a seat and then happily bid me goodbye. I was a little hesitant to leave, but she seemed fine, so i went back to the GF Cafe and enjoyed lunch with JP. JP got the GF Burger, which has lobster on it, he said it was amazing. I had the reuben and it was also really good. We had desserts and timed it perfectly, as we finished our lunch when it was time to pick Zoey up. I left JP to pay the bill and headed back over to the Tea Party. They make a big deal of opening the doors and letting the parents back in, so it was very cute to see all the kids so excited to show off their stuff. Zoey was super chatty, telling me all about it--she loved the craft and said the cupcake was good (she hardly ate any of it, telling me mine are much better, she is SO loyal to her mama's business!!). They told the parents that the PhotoPass pictures would need to be added and that we could do it upstairs, so once JP met us, we went upstairs to take a look at the pictures. JP and Zoey went to check out the stores while I waited in line. I added all the pictures I could, and noticed that Zoey didn't have any pictures with the Mad Hatter. I was surprised by that, and also wondered if it was because she wouldn't stand with him, or if he didn't go around the table. Once we all met up again, Zoey was telling us about the Tea Party and proceeded to say how the Mad Hatter sounded funny, and he was crazy. I asked if she liked him, and she said yes, but that she didn't want to get her picture with him. Mystery solved!!

We went back to the room to relax for a bit before dinner. We were supposed to be doing the Spirit of Aloha show that evening, but I had cancelled it earlier in the week. I managed to get dinner reservations at 1900 Park Fare for around 6. JP and I figured since it was at our hotel, it would be easier to eat there than leaving. Zoey ended up loving the first time she went, so we figured it was a safe bet.

The difference between going right at 430 vs. a 600 ressie is crazy!! We were seated in the very back of the restaurant---which was no big deal--and it was a madhouse. The noise level was much higher than it was the first day we went. We couldn't believe the difference. We got seated and then went up to the buffet and when we came back Cinderella was almost to our table. She and Zoey chatted about her dress for a bit and Cinderella asked if she was going to a ball. It was very cute, Cinderella spent a long time at out table, which was nice. Prince Charming was next, and Zoey was super excited, since he was not there the first night we dined. Our Prince Charming looked a bit like Clay Aiken, JP and I couldn't stop laughing over it. He was very nice and asked Zoey where she was from and complimented her on her dress. After he left, Prince Charming and Cinderella waltzed, and Zoey loved watching it. She thought that was the best thing ever to see--she said it was like being in the movie!

The Step Sisters and Lady Tremaine came through, and Lady Tremaine was the same one as the first time we came. Both of the step sisters were different, but just as funny. Anastasia loved Zoey's dress and kept commenting on the pink sash, asking if Zoey took it from her room. Zoey had a great time, I'm glad we did it a second time.

After dinner, we had a low key night at the hotel, resting up for our last full day at Disney. Hard to believe our vacation was almost over.

Up next, our last day!!

In to the castle:
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/d1f4a9af.jpg

Breakfast at CRT:
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/969c51cc.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/f8fd3304.jpghttp://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/496eca96.jpghttp://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/a8f84dd3.jpghttp://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/3fe8df66.jpghttp://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/85cc0143.jpghttp://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/2db6fd07.jpghttp://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/609fe16b.jpghttp://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/2c9d9c6c.jpg

Character Meet and Greets
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/1ef049f7.jpghttp://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/60057758.jpghttp://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/99abde93.jpg

MK:
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/eacf435a.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/5bfd40de.jpg

Tea Party:
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/c031474c.jpg

JPs Burger:
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/8ebd04bb.jpg

Dinner:
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/39840999.jpghttp://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/2f72ded3.jpghttp://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/79d116df.jpghttp://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/2f83de8b.jpghttp://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/17f1c274.jpg

[tlenzendorf]

I think 1900 PF is my favorite character meal for interaction. The stepsisters and stepmother are just hilarious! When just Brent and I went Anastasia made a huge deal about how he could propose that night and it was just hilarious! I think his face turned a very lovely shade of red, lol.

[exwdwcm]

I can't believe I missed your TR! Life's been so busy. I read it all today! :)

amazing. I love all of Zoey's dresses, she has fantastic taste. I hope you are saving up for her teenage wardrobe. ;)

It sounds like you guys had a great time overall so far. The room at the GF sounds so perfect with the view and all. You definitely need to go back for the MNSSHP parade sometime, it was my favorite part of the party. So so cool, but William is very into spooky, creepy stuff, so he loved it.

okay, i totally had to laugh when you talked about the lady taking flash pics on Pirates. UGH!!!!!!!!! Totally my pet peeve. and it ALWAYS happens to me on Pirates. I swear, the crazy flash picture taking people must follow me onto pirates. Every trip, i swear. And I am laid back like your hubby, I don't let much get to me. But this irks me to no end. And it always happens that it isn't just one or two pics. In October, someone in the very front of the boat (we were in the very back) was taking a flash pic of EVERY SINGLE SCENE. Seriously, not just Capt Jack, but every 2 seconds, flash. I was ready to strangle someone. it totally ruins it for me. So I got a good laugh out of you saying that. :rotfl::rotfl2:

I can't get over how many character meets you did. Will just really got into the characters this trip and getting autographs, so I know next year he is going to love it even more. We didn't see the princes, so will have to do that next time too. and I'd love to see Rapunzel!

[msmith1026]

I can't believe I missed your TR! Life's been so busy. I read it all today! :)

amazing. I love all of Zoey's dresses, she has fantastic taste. I hope you are saving up for her teenage wardrobe. ;)

It sounds like you guys had a great time overall so far. The room at the GF sounds so perfect with the view and all. You definitely need to go back for the MNSSHP parade sometime, it was my favorite part of the party. So so cool, but William is very into spooky, creepy stuff, so he loved it.

okay, i totally had to laugh when you talked about the lady taking flash pics on Pirates. UGH!!!!!!!!! Totally my pet peeve. and it ALWAYS happens to me on Pirates. I swear, the crazy flash picture taking people must follow me onto pirates. Every trip, i swear. And I am laid back like your hubby, I don't let much get to me. But this irks me to no end. And it always happens that it isn't just one or two pics. In October, someone in the very front of the boat (we were in the very back) was taking a flash pic of EVERY SINGLE SCENE. Seriously, not just Capt Jack, but every 2 seconds, flash. I was ready to strangle someone. it totally ruins it for me. So I got a good laugh out of you saying that. :rotfl::rotfl2:

I can't get over how many character meets you did. Will just really got into the characters this trip and getting autographs, so I know next year he is going to love it even more. We didn't see the princes, so will have to do that next time too. and I'd love to see Rapunzel!

I'm glad you were able to read it! I'm almost done, just 2 days left. I'm sad it's almost over, it's like vacation is ending all over again!!

Zoey does have pretty good taste. I have learned now to just take her with me when I go shopping for her, if she doesn't like something, she absolutely will not wear it, so there is no point in buying it. She only wants to wear dresses, and the more they twirl when she spins, the better. It's getting hard now, it's so cold in NY already and she won't wear pants, and I can barely get her into tights. It's going to be a long winter, i can tell already. And, when she's older, i'll probably have to sell a kidney to keep her dressed--or she can be like me and get a job early so she can keep herself well styled!

Zoey was a character maniac, it really surprised me. We are thinking that when we go back (come on 2013--it'll be here before i know it!) she won't be in to them as much, so we'll probably be able to do more rides, and the Halloween party. we are going to go around the same time we went this year, it just was a perfect time of year for us. I'm already sort of planning it, and starting to save for it. I'd love to go in 2012, but hopefully we'll be welcoming a new addition instead!!:lovestruc

[msmith1026]

On Friday we had no plans at all, other than to spend the day in the Magic Kingdom for as long as Zoey wanted.

We got up around 8 and it was raining--a heavy, steady rain that didn't look like it was going to end any time soon. Zoey really wanted to go to Gasparillas, so we headed there for breakfast--with the rest of the hotel apparently! The place was packed, and there were no tables to be found. We were doing that awkward loiter dance, where you try not to look like you're stalking, but you totally are, while trying to corral Zoey. This family offered to share their table, which was really nice. We got settled and Zoey chowed on her breakfast. JP and I had wanted to go to The Grand Floridian Cafe for breakfast, so we didn't eat anything at Gasparillas. When we left there, it was still raining, so we headed over to the GF Cafe, where Zoey proceeded to have another full breakfast! After that, we headed over to the MK. It was sprinkling still, and when we got to the park it was pretty empty. We headed over to the stroller rental, and bumped right in to Pluto, who had just come out for his meet and greet. Because it was raining he was meeting just past where you pick up the stollers. We were first in line and Zoey got some good pics with him, plus his autograph. After saying goodbye to him, we stood in line, again, to see the princesses and there was no wait at all. Each of the Princesses took time to admire Zoey's dress and talk about their favorite desserts. After meeting with all of them, we finally convinced Zoey to go see Mickey in his Theater and went back in line. This line was probably 15 minutes, but it moved fast. We were not sure if Minnie would be there or not, and she wasn't, but it wasn't much of a big deal to Zoey, she was really happy to see Mickey. After getting those characters out of the way, we went on to Main Street, where we saw Mary Poppins, and Zoey wanted to chat with her again, so we jumped in her line really quickly. This line was pretty long, but also fast moving. Sadly, she had no penguins with her this time, but they had quite the chat over where they could possibly be. After saying goodbye to Mary Poppins, we got waylaid by the hula hoops on Main Street, and Zoey spent some time playing with other kids. After awhile, we finally got her to leave the hula hoops behind and finally we headed over to Fantasy Land. I thought it would be pretty busy, but to our surprise, all the rides were walk ons. We hit Dumbo, and the Carousel one more time and then headed over to wait to meet Rapunzel. The line this time was much longer than before and Zoey really wanted to see Rapunzel again, so she and I braved the line while JP went and grabbed fast passes for the Jungle Cruise. Because of the rain, they didn't do the coloring part of the meet and greet, and instead handed out the crayons and coloring pages when you left. It took us awhile to get through the line and to be able to talk with Rapunzel, but she was so nice and spent a long time with Zoey. After the meet and greet, we caught the show at the Castle--Zoey loved it! There was hardly anyone at the show and JP and Zoey made their way pretty close to the castle. She loved watching the Princesses dance with their Princes, and didn't freak out (too much, anyways) when Maleficent came out. Once the show was over, we made our way to Adventureland as it was time to use our fast passes for the Jungle Cruise. I love the fast pass system, we were able to get right on the ride--the standby posted time was 15 minutes, so not even that long of a wait. Zoey loved the ride--but most of the jokes went right over her head. After the ride, we spent some time at the little drive your own boats, Zoey loved being able to steer them on her own. After that we did the Magic Carpets and right after, it started pouring again. The park, which was pretty empty to begin with, really emptied out at this point. We made it over to the Carousel and took a spin on that while it rained, and debated what to do next. Zoey decided that the rain wasn't going to slow her down and wanted to do more rides so we put her in her stroller and made our way to the tea cups. As with everything else we walked right on to the ride, and rode it a couple times in a row.

It was getting pretty late in the day and we hadn't eaten lunch yet. I wanted to hit a couple of shops over in Frontierland for souvenirs so we headed that way and grabbed a bit to eat at Pecos Bills. We each got hamburgers, and Zoey inhaled hers. We checked our watch and saw that it was about 4, and we knew the park would be closing early for a MNSSHP that night. We asked Zoey what else she wanted to do, and she asked to go see the Princesses one more time before we left. We finished eating, did some shopping and made our way out towards the front of the park. We hit the princess line one last time (to JPs relief) and then did some more obligatory photos in front of the Magic Kingdom. We finally headed home to the hotel after a very full day at the park. The weather was still raining off and on, so we decided to do a low key dinner at the GF Cafe. Zoey fell asleep in the middle of it, so I left JP to eat his dessert in peace and took Zoey back to the room and got her tucked into bed.

It was pretty hard to believe it was our last night of vacation. I was sad to be leaving, but also ready to get back into a routine. We planned to have breakfast at 1900 Park Fare before we left, so we had one more fun thing to do before we returned home.

Here are some pics:
Princess-paloza
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/5090befe.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/b71bd596.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/b6b0b016.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/a408fe54.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/421e309f.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/8f43481a.jpg

Pluto and Marry Poppins
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/dbee44a2.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/791281bd.jpg

Main Street Fun
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/b098ff5d.jpg

Meeting Mickey
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/76a53f2d.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/346c1e63.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/a65da076.jpg

Rapunzel
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/e34c2595.jpg http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/c1706179.jpghttp://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/d26ba921.jpg

http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/44010734.jpg

Rides
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/4e83b4f2.jpghttp://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/1f09b3a4.jpghttp://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/47205d24.jpghttp://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/49afde74.jpghttp://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/1b4bb01a.jpg

Final Goodbyes to the Princesses
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/6e27b8b5.jpghttp://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/db4787d1.jpghttp://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/2736c62b.jpg

Goodbye Magic Kingdom!
http://i1083.photobucket.com/albums/j394/msmith1026/2011%20Disney/med%20sized%20pics/05c5961d.jpg

[exwdwcm]

What a great last day! She saw a LOT of characters!!! I love when it rains and it empties the park out. We just keep on chugging along with no lines! Can't beat that.

I'm glad you were able to read it! I'm almost done, just 2 days left. I'm sad it's almost over, it's like vacation is ending all over again!!

Zoey does have pretty good taste. I have learned now to just take her with me when I go shopping for her, if she doesn't like something, she absolutely will not wear it, so there is no point in buying it. She only wants to wear dresses, and the more they twirl when she spins, the better. It's getting hard now, it's so cold in NY already and she won't wear pants, and I can barely get her into tights. It's going to be a long winter, i can tell already. And, when she's older, i'll probably have to sell a kidney to keep her dressed--or she can be like me and get a job early so she can keep herself well styled!

Zoey was a character maniac, it really surprised me. We are thinking that when we go back (come on 2013--it'll be here before i know it!) she won't be in to them as much, so we'll probably be able to do more rides, and the Halloween party. we are going to go around the same time we went this year, it just was a perfect time of year for us. I'm already sort of planning it, and starting to save for it. I'd love to go in 2012, but hopefully we'll be welcoming a new addition instead!!:lovestruclol at Zoey and the cold winter- time for leggings, tights and boots with those dresses! ;) Well 2013 will be here soon. and in the meantime, hopefully you will enjoy a new little bundle of joy! Sending baby vibes your way!! We will start trying near the end of 2012, probably go straight to doing IVF this time instead of a year full of other stuff (clomid, IUIs etc.) like last time. So we might skip 2013, I guess we will see! :) But wishing you lots of luck and "baby dust" :wizard:

[tlenzendorf]

I LOVE Zoey with all the characters, so cute!!!

I don't mind the rain since you are right, you are able to get so much more done. It rained our last day until about 12:00, we got so much done and had so many FPs left we walked out at park closing with a stack of them still!!

It sounds like you had a great last day. Didn't you drive home? Or was that Lisa?