"This Isn't Disneyworld. . .It's Rainworld!!" our trip to WDW May 16-23, 2009

[mousescrapper]

Thanks! Yes, the photopass photographer told us about it and posed us. I had never heard of that one. I signed up on Shutterfly but didn't receive an e-mail. Is the percentage off and free shipping a code? Is it on the website to? I would love to hear more!! Aww!! I'm glad your DD likes my princess clippies!! That puts a smile on my face!!

I'm going to PM you the email link...


What a fun day to spend w/ your friends! We hope sometime in the future to plan coordinating trips w/ one of my good friends who loves Disney just as much as us. How fun for all of you.

What great luck that the rain held up for both parades and Wishes!

Your Spectro pictures are awesome, I alwasy forget to adjust the setting on my camera. I love the one of Chip and Dale at the piano.

Looking forward to more fun and the rain report!

J-

 

[leamom2princesses]

Hi Becky! Great updates! As always your girls are so adorable. It's fun to hang with friends at Disney isn't it!?! The pictures of Ally with the princesses are priceless. That's what Disney is all about to me-the special moments where your children light up.

 

[ThePin Princess]

Becky, this picture is so precious!

 

[ladybugmom]

That ended up being a really great day. Love the pictures. Can't wait to see what happens next


The monorail thing is such a sad thing. I didn't believe my DH when he told me, and then I got on here and was just in shock. Very sad. Prayers to the family members.

It really did, Jessica!! Thank you!!

Sounds like the perfect evening. Ally and her little friend are so cute. Great pics with the princesses. Her hair is holding up amazing.

It was a wonderful evening!! Thank you! Girl--this was just the first day with her hair--wait 'til you see how good it still looks the day we leave!!

Becky - all of the pictures of the parade are really great! Thanks for the PM!

Awww--thanks!! No problem!

 

[ladybugmom]

I'm going to PM you the email link...


What a fun day to spend w/ your friends! We hope sometime in the future to plan coordinating trips w/ one of my good friends who loves Disney just as much as us. How fun for all of you.

What great luck that the rain held up for both parades and Wishes!

Your Spectro pictures are awesome, I alwasy forget to adjust the setting on my camera. I love the one of Chip and Dale at the piano.

Looking forward to more fun and the rain report!

J-

Thanks Julie!! I'll check my PM as soon as I'm done replying to everyone!! It really was a lot of fun being there with friends--just wished it would have been all week!! Yes--PTL that the rain held off for us!

Hi Becky! Great updates! As always your girls are so adorable. It's fun to hang with friends at Disney isn't it!?! The pictures of Ally with the princesses are priceless. That's what Disney is all about to me-the special moments where your children light up.

Thanks Leanne!! It really is a lot of fun hanging out with friends as WDW!!

Becky, this picture is so precious!

Thank you!! I just love the sheer joy on her face in that pic!!

 

[DWGal210]

Hi Becky! Now I am caught up - whew! It looks like you guys were having a wonderful time - so much fun!!

I am in Chicago visiting my new baby niece Caroline - we are having such a fun time together! I am going to the Disney store today so I am sure I will find some cute things for her (and me as well!)

Take care!

 

[MagicShell]

Those are great photopass pictures. I like the balloon picture, very cute. It looks like Ally was having a great time with her friend. Claire seemed to handle the long day very well.

 

[ladybugmom]

Hi Becky! Now I am caught up - whew! It looks like you guys were having a wonderful time - so much fun!!

I am in Chicago visiting my new baby niece Caroline - we are having such a fun time together! I am going to the Disney store today so I am sure I will find some cute things for her (and me as well!)

Take care!

Yes, we were having a GREAT time despite the rain! Oooh--how nice!! Chicago! I would love to go back to Chicago someday and visit! Ally wants to go to the AG Place in Chicago. I'm so glad that you are having a nice time with your sister and niece!! Hope you find some great stuff at the Disney Store! They are having a great sale!!

Those are great photopass pictures. I like the balloon picture, very cute. It looks like Ally was having a great time with her friend. Claire seemed to handle the long day very well.

Thank you!! Yes, Claire did remarkably well getting to the parks first thing and staying until close!! She's a trooper!!

 

[BippityBoo]

HI! I am new to DIS and subbing to your TR. Your girls are so adorable! I loved your PTR...we seem very similar and detailed oriented Cant wait to read more!

 

[ladybugmom]

HI! I am new to DIS and subbing to your TR. Your girls are so adorable! I loved your PTR...we seem very similar and detailed oriented Cant wait to read more!

Hi Katie!! Welcome to the DIS and welcome to my TR!! The DIS is so very addicting (as you will see) but full of great info and even greater people!! Yes, I am quite the detailed planner!! Hee hee!! Its nice to have those that can relate! Thanks for joining in!!

 

[ladybugmom]

We started our day bright and early! We wanted to get to AK before the park opened as this was the only day we had there. Ally had fallen asleep on the way back from MK the night before and ended up sleeping in her clothes!

We woke up the girls and had a quick Poptart breakfast!

Here's the invitation for dinner tonight at O'hana!

I looked outside our window and you guessed it--RAIN--again! Uggh! So on went our ponchos and we headed to the bus stop. We didn't wait long at all before the AK bus arrived! YAY! Once we arrived at AK it was barely raining so we were able to get a few quick pics.

We had alloted a lot of time to get to AK (we weren't sure how long it would take us by bus). It was only around 8:30 so we waited a little while before they let us in the park. I want to say it was about 10 minutes 'til 9:00 when they let us in to see the opening show. It was raining pretty steadily but I was bound and determined to get a few pics of this show!

It was cute and eveybody was cracking jokes when Minnie went down her list of what you might need in the park today--especially when she got to sunscreen--yeah right! How about ponchos?! Hee hee!! I couldn't believe how many people had umbrellas. I got hit several times by umbrellas and was wondering why they were even allowed in the park--oh well! We didn't get any pics taken in front of the tree of life because the photopass photographers weren't out while it was raining.

When the ropes dropped we headed straight for Africa to get in line for the safari. We walked right up to the front of the line after parking our stroller. Poor Claire was getting so wet! But she didn't seem to mind! The CM directed us to a truck that was already full except for the front seats!! Dh sat directly behind us and took the pics this go around. We were very excited to have such a great view!!

The safari was a lot of fun--very bumpy--but fun!!

see the giraffes?

nice view--huh?!

And this was my favorite pic Brent got on the safari

After the safari was over we headed back to Camp Minnie Mickey to meet some characters! We didn't have to wait very long at all for any of them! Up first was Donald and Goofy!

continued in next post. . .

 

[ladybugmom]

Next up was Minnie & Mickey!! Oh the joy and excitement on my girl's faces!!! This was their very first encounter with Minnie & Mickey!! Claire was sooo excited that she started running circles around them!!

I think my pics turned out better than the photopass ones--there's were a bit bright!

kisses for Minnie

And next up was Pocahontas!! Ally was overjoyed!!!

Claire was not wanting to stand still for a pic so I picked her up and got in the pic, too!

By that time Claire and Brent had had enough of the characters. I was disappointed because we still had Chip and Dale left to see--oh well! But we did want to leave plenty of time to get in line for the Lion King show! So we headed towards the theater and got in line. There were only a few families in line ahead of us! We passed the time by talking to the family in front of us--they were from Nashville (only 3 hours from where we live) and had a girl Ally's age! They played together until it was time to go inside. We were very excited to get seats in the 2nd row of the warthog section (front row was reserved)!!

waiting for the show to start

We had all been looking forward to this show! And it was AMAZING--it did not disappoint!! The music, costumes, scenery, etc. I could go on and on!!

this was our warthog section leader--boy did she have a GREAT voice!!

continued in next post. . .

 

[shannon47142]

the girls AK dresses are adorable!!

 

[ladybugmom]

the girls AK dresses are adorable!!

Thank you Shannon!! I had bought them last summer at Baby GAP and saved them for our trip!!

 

[longing2Batdisney]

GREAT UPDATE!!! I love the dresses; I remember them from the PTR I knew they would be adorable!
Ya'll did a great job with the characters!!! As always the pics are GREAT!!!

 

[mom2mek]

Becky, every time I read an update, I don't think your pictures can get any better, but every update they do! Those safari pictures are fabulous and the Lion King ones are amazing. Shawn put his good camera away to watch Lion King, so I only had the crummy ones that I took with the small camera. Yours are breathtaking. And don't get me started on the pictures of your girls with the characters!! I love the one of Ally and Minnie! Adorable! Great update....as always.....

Sara

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Wow! You got some great Lion King pictures.

 

[ladybugmom]

This guy was wonderful!! He kept interacting with us throughout the show!! See how he's posing for this pic?!

Claire couldn't get enough of this show!! See how she's clapping along?!

The finale!!

We will definitely be back to see this show!!

As we headed past Camp Minnie Mickey I talked Brent into letting us stop to meet Chip and Dale!! Whoo hoo!! Claire wasn't too interested so Ally got her picture by herself.

We were getting hungry so we stopped and had lunch at Pizzafari. Brent sat down with Claire while I got the food with Ally. I was very impressed by the CMs here--the lady behind the counter gave Ally a big cupcake and said, "For the princess!!"--Ally was super-excited!! Then she proceeded to come out from behind the counter to help me carry our food to our table! I was very thankful for that! The pizza, salad, and chocolate cake that we enjoyed was very good!! Brent enjoyed a hot Italian sandwich!

After lunch it was still pouring rain but we decided to head over to Dinoland. I wish I could have gotten pics of all the dinosaur stuff (Brent is really into dinosaurs) but it was raining too hard. (next time) Brent asked Ally if she wanted to ride Dinosaur with him and she said she did--so into the line they went! Claire and I headed to the store where the ride lets out. I was really nervous and worried about Ally. I had read about how scary this ride was! And not only that but kids kept coming off of that ride in tears! YIKES!! I noticed the screens in front of me that took the picture on the ride. I started scanning them for Ally & Brent's picture--it finally came up and I snapped a pic!

Soon after, out came Ally and Brent! They were both smiling (which was a good sign). Ally then proceeded to tell me all about the ride--how she wasn't scared at all, how the ride stopped midway and they just sat there in the dark (oh my!), and how the dinosaur came out to scare them! And she said, "But Mommy, he wasn't real. He was just pretend. He wasn't going to get me." Whew! I was so relieved that she liked the ride!! Brent was a bit bummed that the rain had still not stopped (he wanted to see more of Dinoland) but we made the best of it and decided to go see the Nemo Show!! When we arrived at the theater they were already letting people into the theater and I was afraid we wouldn't get very good seats! But we did!! No one seemed to be filling up the left section near the stage so we headed that way and took our seats!! The girls enjoyed watching the bubbles on either side of the stage--Nemo kept swimming in random bubbles. Claire would spot him, point, and shout "Nemo!" really loud! It was hilarious!! We really enjoyed this show!! It was about 45 minutes long and I couldn't believe it but Claire sat still the entire time!! She LOVED it! We got some great pics of the show! Brent figured out a great setting that didn't require a flash.

We left the theater and it was still POURING rain (I was thinking "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming"--hee hee)! So we decided to leave and head back to our room and get dry before our dinner at O'hana. This is what we found in our room!

We dried off and relaxed for awhile and then headed to O'hana to check in! The line to check in was quite long but it moved quickly. We had reservations for 5:05 p.m. and they gave us a buzzer. We waited maybe 5 minutes and then were seated. We were given a table by the window and this was our view!!

A few minutes later Leanne (leamom2princesses) and her family walked by and were seated just 2 tables away!! We were able to talk a little while during the coconut races! Leanne was so sweet and her girls were just ADORABLE! I wish we could have spent more time getting to know each other!

Ally at the coconut race

Ally was very meticulous with her coconut and was the last one to finish (wonder where she gets that from!!)

back at our table Claire is cheesin' for the camera (and enjoying the pork wonton--they were her fav)

Brent & Ally

this guy was walking around playing his ukulele and singing (he was so nice to pose for a pic!!)

a view of O'hana from our table

continued in next post. . .

 

[longing2Batdisney]

I love the pic of Ally w/Dale! and the one of Claire w/the dumpling! So, sorry that is rained ya'll out, also. May was a bad month for us all--hoping next year will be better.
Coconut race that is soooo cute! Ashton bday is coming soon that would be cute to do or something along those lines.

 

[ladybugmom]

We REALLY enjoyed our dinner at O'hana. We ate some yummy pineapple bread, pork wontons, mixed greens with a honey-lime dressing, honey-coriander chicken wings, shrimp skewers, grilled pork loin, oak grilled tenderloin of turkey, sirloin steak, and stir fried vegetables. The meats were served with a mustard, sweet and sour and peanut sauces. They brought us as much as we wanted! Then for dessert they brought us a special cupcake in honor of our anniversary!

And then for the best part of all--bread pudding served a la mode with bananas foster sauce--YUMMY!! It was so good that we ordered a 2nd one!

Ally & me (Look! You can see Leanne behind me in the pink shirt!)

Claire & me

Ally in front of the O'hana sign!

We were absolutely STUFFED when we left O'hana so we decided to walk around the Poly for awhile.

a display in one of the shops

Ally in front of the waterfall in the lobby

the waterfall

Ally & Brent

me & Ally

Then we headed back to the room to call it a night. We were watching the news and they said that it had rained ELEVEN inches that day!! CRAZY!! We were all a bit disappointed that we didn't get to see much at AK. Oh well--next time!!

Up next: Day 5 at Epcot--breakfast at Akershus!