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

[ladybugmom]

I Know it's so sad, isn't it? They used to be such a cute sweet family. I feel bad for the kids. Especially the older girls and Joel; he is such a daddy's boy and now he hardly gets to see him. I knew something was up with Kate from the beginning. Did you see the Utah episode when she was so sick, she couldn't help John get the kids ready for ski school and then she could go to the spa?
Two weeks the flamingo gardens/butterfly world episode was right by my where I live. I thought it was funny that out of all places they decide to come here.

Anyway, I loved all the pictures. The girls are just so cute. I don't blame Ally for being scared of the foot sticking out of the trunk, I saw it the other day and I was scared. We had spirit week too at the kids' school.

What are the girls for halloween? Is claire Snow white by any chance?

It is sad. I just can't bring myself to watch the show anymore. We used to watch it as a family.

Ally is going to be Tinkerbell and Claire is going to be Minnie Mouse. I will definitely post pics. We're going to Trunk-A-Treat at our church and then we're heading to a friend's house for dinner and to trick-or-treat in their neighborhood. It's the very first time for my girls to go trick-or-treating!! They can't wait!!

 

[mommytothreeboys]

Beautiful pictures of beautiful girls...as usual!

It was Red Ribbon Week here as well. Jonah enjoyed all the theme days.

The elevator experience sounds nightmarish....yikes!

 

[ladybugmom]

Beautiful pictures of beautiful girls...as usual!

It was Red Ribbon Week here as well. Jonah enjoyed all the theme days.

The elevator experience sounds nightmarish....yikes!

Thank you Missy!! Yes, the elevator experience was NOT fun! I officially HATE elevators but with Claire still in a stroller, I'm still going to have to ride them! Uggh!

 

[Kurby]

wow i just found your tr - i'm going to have to get reading

we left a few days before you arrived and it was hotter then ... well you know the rest of that saying.

i would have welcomed some rain but not even close to what came down after we left

 

[ladybugmom]

wow i just found your tr - i'm going to have to get reading

we left a few days before you arrived and it was hotter then ... well you know the rest of that saying.

i would have welcomed some rain but not even close to what came down after we left

Hi and welcome to my TR!! WOW! Sounds like you picked the right week to go! We're hoping for better weather this next May! Glad you're joining in!!

 

[PopArtGal]

Cute hat! It works for her hehe

 

[ladybugmom]

Cute hat! It works for her hehe

Hee hee!! Thanks!!

 

[ladybugmom]

I posted these pics on FB and have been meaning to post them here! Here are the 6 (yes, only 6) pics from my very 1st Disney Trip in 1983 (I was 3 years old, almost 4). Check them out!!

my mom in Epcot

me, my mom, & 2 friends in front of Cinderella Castle

Cinderella Castle

It's A Small World

eating Mickey ice cream bars--classic!!

I hope everyone has a fun and safe Halloween!! Ally is going to be Tinkerbell and Claire is going to be Minnie Mouse! We're headed up to church for Trunk-A-Treat this afternoon. Then we are going to a friend's house for dinner and trick-or-treating. This will be the very first year my girls have been able to do this (normally Trunk-A-Treat is at night). So they are VERY excited!! I will post pics later! I'd LOVE to see your kiddos all dressed up as well!!

 

[Sleepingbooty]

Awww, sweet pics! Parents didn't take as many photos back then, did they?
Have a great Halloween!

 

[Charleston Princess]

The pic of you eating the Mickey ice cream bar is adorable!!!

Sounds like your girls must have had a lot of fun last night!

 

[ladybugmom]

Awww, sweet pics! Parents didn't take as many photos back then, did they?
Have a great Halloween!

Thank you Rebecca!! Nope--they sure didn't!! And those pictures were taken with a Polaroid camera!!

The pic of you eating the Mickey ice cream bar is adorable!!!

Sounds like your girls must have had a lot of fun last night!

Thank you Jackie!! Yes, the girls had a BLAST trick-or-treating!!

 

[ladybugmom]

On Thursday I went up to Ally's school to help the kids carve their pumpkins. There were about 7 parents that came to help so I helped Ally and 2 of her friends. It was a lot of fun--the kids drew the faces on the pumpkins and we carved them. I think they turned out pretty cute! Then on Friday they had their Fall Treat (in place of a party--only the room moms could come--but it was pretty much a party). We made spider cookies using sugar cookies, icing, pretzel sticks, and M&Ms. Then we played Pass the Pumpkin, made your classic ghosts over Tootsie Roll Pops, and then I taught the class the poem (with hand motions) Five Little Pumpkins. At the end of the "party" we passed out treat bags. It went really well and the kids really seemed to enjoy themselves. Here is a link to pics from those 2 activities: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=39000&id=1035906284&l=a993503ebc

Then yesterday we went to Trunk-A-Treat at our church in the afternoon. Then we headed to a friend's house for dinner and trick-or-treating. It was the first time my girls have ever trick-or-treated! It was so much fun and they LOVED it!! Here are pics from last night: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=39151&id=1035906284&l=fb57a2416b

 

[ladybugmom]

Here is a long awaited trip update!! This is our last full day at WDW and we spent it in the Magic Kingdom!! (Friday, May 22nd)

We woke up bright and early, got dressed, and ate a quick Pop Tart breakfast. Our goal was to catch the Opening Show at MK. We had not been able to see it yet--Monday was our 8 a.m. BBB appt. and Thursday was our Chef Mickey's breakfast. So today was the day!! So we jumped on the monorail and made it to the Magic Kingdom with plenty of time to get a good spot for the show!!

And about quarter 'til nine the show began!!

We enjoyed the show VERY much!! It is definitely a MUST see show at least once per visit! It was so magical and is such a great way to start the day! I even got a little teary-eyed as I watched!!

Then we headed into the park and made our way to get in line to meet Daisy. (The day before a CM told us the exact time and location of where to meet her) There was one other family ahead of us with the same idea. But evidently the CM who came out to work this meet-and-greet was a bit confused. He told us that Chip and Dale is who we'd see, not Daisy. So I turned to Brent to ask him what we should do--I was a bit irritated at this point. And just then Daisy walked around the corner and came over to our line!! Thank goodness the CM didn't know what he was talking about!! And as soon as we knew it we were meeting Daisy!! Ally went first!! BIG hugs for Daisy!!

And then it was Claire's turn!! She LOVED Daisy!!

So then we said "Bye" to Daisy and headed straight to Fantasyland! Our 2 goals were to meet Ariel (hence the Ariel dresses) and to meet Alice.

I stopped to take a quick pic of the castle because it wasn't raining just yet!

And as we rounded the corner of the castle over by Belle's Storytime we ran into the Wicked Stepmother, Drizella, and Anastasia!!! The line wasn't too terribly long so we got in line!

As we were waiting Brent kept getting phone calls from work--apparantly there was something super important they needed to talk to him about (keep in mind this was the ONLY time our entire trip that Brent was on the phone with work). So he walked across the way and stood under the awning at Cosmic Rays (as it was beginning to sprinkle just a bit). Then it is our turn to meet the Wicked Stepmother & Stepsisters and boy were they a hoot!! Ally went up to them first and they were asking her all sorts of questions--who she was there with--Ally told them and they looked over at Claire and me and asked me, "Where is your better half?" I pointed over to Brent and explained that he was on the phone with work. They all started hooping and hollering at him and yelling, "You're an uninvolved Father!!" Brent was dying from embarassment at this point--I felt kind of bad for him--but it was quite funny!! Finally they moved on as they spotted the Ariel clippie in Ally's hair--they made a BIG fuss about it!!

Anastasia said, "Oh look!! It's a ribbon mermaid!! Where is one that looks like me?!" Ally was just giggling at this--it was sooo funny!! They carried on some more and then we got a picture!

Claire was a little unsure about meeting them after all of the noise they had made but Anastasia got down on her level to speak to her. It was really sweet!

We said our goodbyes and joined back up with Brent--thankfully he was able to laugh at the whole situation!

I took a quick picture of Ally . . .

. . . but I knew we had better head over to see if it they were letting people enter Ariel's Grotto. I had read on the DIS that they were known for opening it up 15 minutes earlier than the time posted! And low and behold--it was open so we got in line. The wait time said 10 minutes. Ally was sooo excited to meet Ariel because Ariel is her FAVORITE princess!!

This ended up being one of the best character interactions!! Ariel was sooo funny and spent so much time with each of the girls! Ally went in first and sat down next to Ariel. Ariel started chatting with Ally and she signed her autograph book. Then the CM that was working in the Grotto started blowing these bubbles towards Ariel. And Ariel would get mesmerized by them, try to catch them--she made a game of it and we were all rolling!! It was hilarious!!

continued in next post . . .

 

[ladybugmom]

Big hugs from Ariel

BTW--the PP photographer here was wonderful!! He was snapping as many pics as I was!!

Then it was Claire's turn to meet Ariel! Ariel was asking her about her dress!

Hugs for Claire!

Then Claire didn't want to leave Ariel!

But we got out of there without too much of a meltdown! A CM told us that Alice was out by the teacups so we quickly got in line! We got talking to the CM with Alice and found out that he was from Cordova, TN--another suburb of Memphis that's maybe 10 minutes from where we live!! He was very nice and chatted with us while we waited. We didn't wait too long before it was our turn!! Ally made her way up to Alice and Alice complimented her on her Ariel clippie. Ally proceeded to tell her that she also had an Alice clippie--Alice made a big deal about this!! It was too cute!! Alice was sooo sweet!

After we left Alice we decided to ride Peter Pan's Flight! Look! There's Ariel again!!

And then we rode It's A Small World

And then we headed over to The Scary Adventures of Snow White

continued in next post . . .

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

The stepfamily sounds like a hoot. Glad that he took it well.

I just adore those Ariel photos, they are so sweet, I love when the characters really connect with the guests.

 

[ladybugmom]

As we were walking around Fantasyland I just had to take a picture of the stroller parking!! I wanted to be able to show my parents what it was like when we got home!! CRAZY!!!

We looked around in some shops . . .

. . . and checked out the Cinderella Fountain!

We got a quick picture of Ally & Brent in front of the castle . . .

. . . and then headed to Pinocchio Village Haus for lunch!!

We really enjoyed the food here. Brent and I both had pizzas, a salad, and dessert. Ally had peanut butter and jelly.

By the time we had finished lunch the rain had started!! Uggh! So we put on our ponchos and started walking towards Adventureland. We were on the hunt for Wendy & Peter Pan! We didn't see them out anywhere and the rain was getting pretty heavy at this point. So we headed down to The Jungle Cruise but the ride was shut down due to the weather. It was raining so hard that we decided to hang out down there by the Jungle Cruise. Then Claire had a HUGE blowout so I took her to an empty corner and changed her diaper. Brent had struck up a conversation with some of the Jungle Cruise CMs. By the time I got back over to Brent, he was holding 5 Fastpasses--good for ANY Magic Kingdom attraction!! Whoo hoo!! That brightened up our day a bit!!

The girls were getting pretty restless so we decided to leave and head up to some of the shops to give them something to look at. As we were leaving we saw one of the Jungle Cruise CMs that talked to us for a long time way back on Monday night while we were waiting for Spectromagic to start. She waved and said "hi" as she called both girls by name! That really impressed me--it had been 4 days since she'd seen us! Ally thought that was really cool!! We walked through the pouring rain to that shop right beside The Magic Carpets of Aladdin. I noticed an index card behind the counter with the times of different character meet-and-greets. So I asked the CM working behind the counter when and where we might see Wendy & Peter Pan. She told us (weather permitting) where we might be able to meet them. But then the wind started howling, it started lightening, and the weather got really bad. We decided we were going to hang out in this shop for awhile until it was safe to leave. And if you know me you know that I am TERRIFIED of storms!! Uggh! But I had to act like it was no big deal so the girls wouldn't be alarmed. Thankfully the lightening and strong winds eventually subsided and we were able to leave the store. We walked back towards the Pirates of the Caribbean and we ran into Captain Hook and Mr. Smee!

Then we decided to ride Pirates of the Caribbean! Here are my pirates waiting in line!

But again, we didn't have to wait too long before we were on the ride!!

By the time we got off of the ride we relaized that it was almost time to go meet Wendy and Peter Pan. No one was at the spot where they were to be so we staked out our spot--first in line to meet Peter & Wendy!! But the time came for them to be there and no one came! At that point I was so sick of the rain and so frustrated. I felt like we were getting jipped due to all of this rain! I was NOT happy. So in the meantime Brent decided to take a bathroom break and I told him I would just stay there and wait on him. As Brent returned right behind him he was followed by Wendy & Peter!! YAY!! Ally was so happy!! And it just made my day!!

Then we walked around a little more and decided we better head towards Crystal Palace for our dinner reservation at 6:30 p.m. On our way there we saw part of this parade!!

When we got to Crystal Palace I got in line to check us in and then headed back to wait with the family.

How long would we have to wait? How will the girls like the characters?

 

[ladybugmom]

The stepfamily sounds like a hoot. Glad that he took it well.

I just adore those Ariel photos, they are so sweet, I love when the characters really connect with the guests.

They were!! So we have the 1900 Park Fare dinner down for our next trip so we can see them again!!

 

[thmar]

Wonderful photos...your girls are so cute.

 

[ladybugmom]

Wonderful photos...your girls are so cute.

Thank you!!

 

[PopArtGal]

Awe. The girls are cute as buttons as always.

Glad you got to meet Peter Pan and Wendy.

I am on the hunt for Alice and the Mad Hatter together.