"It's a Small Town" and "Slow Pass" - 3 days in Disney 1/2012

[dara00]

2 PM
As I was saying, we had some more characters to meet! First up was a lady who said Simon was our Dopey!

Yup, Snow White. This is the squeaky voiced Snow White, unless they all speak like that!

Next, we were ready to use our character fast passes. Since we had seen the princesses first last night followed by Mickey and Minnie, we decided to do Mickey and Minnie first today. We didn't end up using our fast passes because there was no wait at all. We had already gotten autographs, so today was just for pictures, plus Gabbie had made some drawings she wanted to give to them, and she wanted to show them her Mickey/Minnie nail polish. The CM was very sweet, pointing out Gabbie's skirt matched Minnie as well.

Favorite photopass picture! My CD should be here soon!

 

[marDgreen88]

Haha I met the same Snow White. I thought she was great. The pictures are so cute!

 

[Nermel9]

I'm finally caught up! Wow, I cannot believe how much you got done on your first MK day...actually, the 2nd day too! And with 3 kids! It's just me and my DH right now, and we cannot do full park days, we need breaks or we will...well, I'm not sure what will happen to us, since we've never tried it, I'm just assuming something horrible might happen if we didn't take breaks!

Your kids are so cute, and I love all of the pictures you got with all the characters, you met SO many of them! What happens when you push Buzz's red button?

I'd really like to be in MK for the afternoon parade sometime, we always miss it, due to our afternoon breaks! But it looks so cute!

I'd love to do the Wine and Dine half, I tried doing the Couch to 5K last year, but I stopped when the weather got to be too hot, but I'd like to pick it up again. I'd actually rather do the Tower of Terror 10 miler, but I feel like I don't have enough time with that one! We'll see what happens!

 

[dara00]

Haha I met the same Snow White. I thought she was great. The pictures are so cute!

we liked her too! thanks!

I'm finally caught up! Wow, I cannot believe how much you got done on your first MK day...actually, the 2nd day too! And with 3 kids! It's just me and my DH right now, and we cannot do full park days, we need breaks or we will...well, I'm not sure what will happen to us, since we've never tried it, I'm just assuming something horrible might happen if we didn't take breaks!

Your kids are so cute, and I love all of the pictures you got with all the characters, you met SO many of them! What happens when you push Buzz's red button?

I'd really like to be in MK for the afternoon parade sometime, we always miss it, due to our afternoon breaks! But it looks so cute!

I'd love to do the Wine and Dine half, I tried doing the Couch to 5K last year, but I stopped when the weather got to be too hot, but I'd like to pick it up again. I'd actually rather do the Tower of Terror 10 miler, but I feel like I don't have enough time with that one! We'll see what happens!

yeah we got a ton done. our breaks are show and parade watching! only problem with our strategy is that now I feel like paying money for a ticket to the park is only worth it if we stay the whole day there!

we met a ton of characters - I have to count up the total when I'm done with the report! what happens when you push Buzz's button is supposed to be a secret! but I'll tell you - it turns him off.

we did enjoy the parade, and like I said, we got to sit and rest while watching!

I am doing the couch to 5K now. I just did week 5 day 2 last night. I do it on the treadmill right now. I looked into the tower of terror 10 mile but then I saw that wine & dine is on my b.day and I thought what better motivation! I'm really excited. I have a lot of training to go though!

Thanks for the comments!

 

[dara00]

2:15 PM
When we finished meeting Mickey and Minnie, we headed back to the Princess meet and greet. Last night we had met Aurora and Belle, but not Cinderella, so we planned to have Cinderella sign our photo cards, get pictures with Belle, and have Aurora sign Gabbie's hat.

Flash back time! On our last trip, to Disneyland, Gabbie had her princess hat signed by Snow White, Belle, Cinderella, and the Fairy Godmother, but we did not meet Aurora. A few pictures:

Anyway, here are the photos from the present!

Belle admired Zachary's train hat and asked whether the kids wanted their books signed. They told her she'd already signed and then Gabbie told me she didn't remember them. So I told her it was because she sees so many kids each day.

Aurora and the hat:

I didn't have the right pen for her to sign with and it took her a little while to get it to work!

The kids posed with her but Simon didn't want to get in.

Then she was nice enough to spend some time with Simon! (excuse the hair in his eyes!)

And that was the last of our character greetings for the day! I think it was around this time that we walked over to see how long the wait was for Woody and Jessie, but it was too long for us. We also checked out the pin trading booth outside of BTMR. My camera was starting to fill up so I didn't take as many pictures over the rest of the day.

Stay tuned to find out how we occupied ourselves after our character greetings were finished!

 

[dara00]

Does anyone know how to resize photos when uploading to photobucket?

 

[Moodyzblu]

Great Princess photos ! One thing I miss with my boys is meeting the Princesses.

 

[marDgreen88]

Photobucket confuses me sometimes, too. My pictures always come out weird sizes if I've cropped them or something.

Aw, more cute pictures! That Aurora is actually pretty! Hahaha.

 

[dara00]

Great Princess photos ! One thing I miss with my boys is meeting the Princesses.

Aww, too bad you can't get them to meet princesses, I bet the princesses would love them!

Photobucket confuses me sometimes, too. My pictures always come out weird sizes if I've cropped them or something.

Aw, more cute pictures! That Aurora is actually pretty! Hahaha.

I edited the above post with the photos on facebook instead. I know they are still huge but maybe not quite as huge??

Yeah, she is pretty! On day 1 we saw a Belle who was not very pretty at all!

 

[dara00]

3 PM

We were over in Frontierland checking out the line for Woody and Jessie and the pin trading area outside BTMR. Before we headed back to Fantasyland, we stopped to buy some ice cream. Gabbie chose an ice pop actually, Zachary got a Mickey Bar, and I got Dibs, those bite sized ice cream bars, so I could share with Simon. However, Zachary took one bite of his Mickey Bar and handed it over to me. Okay then.

We finished up our ice creams and took a ride on another kid favorite - the carousel.

After the carousel we had a bit of discrepancy as to what to do next. Zachary wanted to do Mickey's PhilharMagic and Gabbie did not. I asked Gabbie if she would prefer to leave now, and she said yes. Needless to say, we didn't leave. Gabbie agreed that she would take off her 3D glasses if she got scared during the movie. We lucked out with the timing - they were about to close the doors, so we were able to hurry in and get our seats with no wait.

I really enjoy this show because of all the scenes from the movies that were my favorites as a kid. Funny story - we took the kids to see a production locally of Aladdin and when they did A Whole New World, Zachary turned to us and said "this is also in Mickey's Silver Magic!" (yes, that's what he calls it - another renamed ride by Zachary!)

And our next ride was once again It's a Small World. That was ride #2 of the day and #3 of the trip!

I think at this point we did a bit of looking around stores and some pin trading, because I have no pictures for 1/2 an hour. I know we were planning our next ride, and it is a ride that leaves every 1/2 hour - also a ride I never thought I would go on. But Zachary got his way, and at 4:30 we got on the Liberty Belle Riverboat! We sat on the ground and it was kinda relaxing. Also kinda boring, but what can you do?

When we got off the boat, Gabbie realized she was missing one of her pins, so we did a bunch of retracing our steps looking for it. It didn't turn up. By now, we were ready for dinner so we could get ready to head out of the park and off to Tampa to meet Dave. The kids wanted mac & cheese again so we went to CHH - but it closed at 5 PM and we missed it. So we went over to Pinochio's Village Haus. I think we got some pizza and mac & cheese, who got what I am not sure. We got a seat that overlooked It's a Small World - a lady was nice enough to let us sit there, and later complimented us / me on my well behaved kids and me doing Disney alone for the day.

So that brings us to the end of day 2 - 3 kids and 1 Mommy survived the Magic Kingdom! We made our way out, stopping for more pin trading and getting Gabbie's Mary Poppins pin. We took the monorail and returned to our car. We set out for the 1.5 hour drive to Tampa. I am not used to long drives like that anymore! The kids were hyper and crazy the whole way there too. My GPS was wrong getting us to our hotel which was a stressful situation, but we made it!

Next up, a brief summary of our side trip to Tampa. I leave you with this:

My very own Sleeping Beauty!

 

[dara00]

On Day 1 we:
Met 13 characters
Rode 11 rides
Saw 3 parades
Saw the fireworks

One Day 2 we:
Met 10 characters (4 were repeats)
Rode 7 rides (2 were repeats - one of them a double repeat! and I'm counting PhilharMagic as a "ride")
Saw 2 shows

 

[Moodyzblu]

Great update !

Philharmagic is one of our favorite things and I'm glad Gabbie decided to do it for you. I just love all the scenes and music.

What's with the riverboat anyway ? I've never done it and have no idea what it's all about. Is it just a cruise around the water ?
Sounds like maybe a nice break ... Or will my boys get bored ? Hmmmmm

Looking forward to your next update !

 

[marDgreen88]

I give you credit for doing that whole day for yourself! Yall really got a lot accomplished!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

I'm reading and reading Dara! Not caught up yet, but I'm working on it!!

 

[dara00]

Great update !

Philharmagic is one of our favorite things and I'm glad Gabbie decided to do it for you. I just love all the scenes and music.

What's with the riverboat anyway ? I've never done it and have no idea what it's all about. Is it just a cruise around the water ?
Sounds like maybe a nice break ... Or will my boys get bored ? Hmmmmm

Looking forward to your next update !

Gabbie is pretty funny with the things she gets scared of! But I'm glad she agreed to do it too.

Yeah the riverboat is just a cruise around Tom Sawyer island. I didn't pay attention to the scenery we passed - I think I was deleting photos to try to make room for more or something! But yeah, it's a nice break, especially if your kid really loves boats!

I give you credit for doing that whole day for yourself! Yall really got a lot accomplished!

Thanks! I was nervous, but it went well!

I'm reading and reading Dara! Not caught up yet, but I'm working on it!!

Thanks for joining in!

 

[dara00]

Wednesday, January 18th - Tampa

Everyone got up and ate breakfast in our Tampa hotel and then my husband headed to his office to work. Since we still had 2 rented cars, he drove himself. The kids and I went back to the room and then met up with a friend of mine and her 2 sons at the new children's museum. I'm actually not sure how new it is, but it was not there the last time we visited Tampa! (in 2007). It was really nice! The kids could have stayed there all day. Just a few pictures:

From there, we headed to the Tampa Aquarium. Somehow I remembered this place being much bigger - we went through everything in an hour! I am glad I only planned it for 1/2 the day. However, we did get to meet the penguins, so that was a lot of fun!

They take your picture when you first get there:

Some more photos:

We found Nemo!

It started to rain before we left and the way back was very rainy. The kids didn't seem to mind - and I used the very long Tampa lights to snap a few pictures of them:

I went through a Dunkin Donuts drive through and then parked by our hotel while the kids slept. When they woke up we went inside the hotel until Dave called and told us to pick him up at work. Once again my GPS failed me and I was directed to the totally wrong place! When I finally found Dave, we all went to have dinner with his co-worker and his family. He uploaded all my pictures for me so I had more room on my camera again - yay! Here are the kids at his house:

Next up: Day 2 in Tampa

 

[dara00]

On our second morning in Tampa I woke up with a bit of a sore throat. I figured I was getting a cold - ooh yay. The kids and I headed off to the Lowry Park Zoo. We love zoos and are members of our zoo in KC, so we get half price admission to many zoos around the country, this one included! By the time we got to the zoo though, I started feeling feverish and achy and my sore throat was becoming much worse...more on that later. Pictures from the zoo:

After lunch the kids discovered the fountains. I didn't want to let Simon into them though because he would have gotten soaked!

To get back to the sore throat thing...I decided that I needed to find out what was wrong with me. The feeling feverish thing definitely gave me a clue that something wasn't right. I knew there was a CVS near where we were staying because when I'd gotten lost on the way there Dave met me at the CVS. So we went there, but they didn't have a clinic. They were kind enough to direct me to a nearby Walgreens which did have a clinic. So picture me, feeling sick, and 3 kids sitting in a Walgreens waiting to be seen. Not fun. I was ready to leave, but they finally called me back.

I had a fever, an ear infection, and strep throat. Oh my. The doctor (nurse?) was very kind and helpful and sent me to Publix where you can get free antibiotics. Good to know! I also got ibuprofen and gatorade and snacks for the kids. We went to the hotel and I lay on the bed while the kids built some kind of fort out of the couch cushions and put their Minnie and Mickey dolls to bed.

The meds made the fever go away and by the next morning my sore throat was totally gone.

I am truly thankful that 1. It was me who got sick and not one of the kids. 2. It was not on a Disney day. 3. I was fully back to functioning for our next day plan - no way I could have ridden Rockin Roller Coaster on Thursday, but by Friday I was all set!

 

[marDgreen88]

Looks like yall had a lot of fun in Tampa! Sorry you got sick, but glad it was gone so soon!

 

[Moodyzblu]

Tampa looks fun ! Bummer about getting sick though. But like you said, at least it wasn't one of the kids !! Thank goodness for those clinics.

 

[dara00]

Friday, January 20 - Disney Hollywood Studios!

The kids were sound asleep at 6 AM:

Soon after that, we got everyone up so we could head back to Orlando. We brought our breakfast in the car and were on the road by 6:45 AM. We arrived by 8:30 AM and parked here:

Somehow we were in a cast member lot?? We asked someone and they said it was fine, so we headed off to the entrance - well after we got the kids out of their pajamas and into their clothes!

That's Dave's head on the lower right!

The turnstiles opened around 8:45 and we headed in, of course we went straight to Toy Story Mania.

We got fast passes but there was no line, so we went straight in. I tried to grab some pics in the queue:

And then we were grabbing our glasses!

I sat with Zachary:

After the ride, we crossed the street and Dave got some coffee and I got a danish of some sort and then we got in line to meet Buzz and Woody. We were first! Simon had some fruit loops in the stroller and when the CM took the stroller to park it, they fell out. Oops. So in we went:

This Woody was very good at interaction - when he first came out he went straight to Dave and gestured that he wanted his coffee!

Zachary headed to Buzz:

And Woody gave me a kiss:

Woody held Woody:

And we all stood together:

As we exited the meet and greet area, the CM who spilled the fruit loops handed us a ticket for free popcorn. And by 9:30 AM we were off to start another magical day!