So when I left you hanging a few hours ago at the end of my last post, we had just gotten off of BTMRR and were walking back through a still mostly deserted Frontierland to meet Princess Tiana. Grandpa had confirmed with another character handler that Tiana and Naveen would be there at 10.
We got there around 9:45 and find Grandpa already first in line. Well, it's not really a line per say, just him standing there all by himself.
After a few minutes of waiting, more and more people start showing up, including a little girl who was probably about 3 or 4 wearing white & pink princess dress. She slowly walked up to Madison (who was wearing her Tiana dress) and just smiled at her. The had a little conversation about each others dresses, then she went back to her place in line. Her dad seemed a little surprised by this, and told me that she was a very shy girl and that was something that she never did. Madison seems to bring that out in people.
So after a few more minutes, the PhotoPass guy comes out and we have a little chat. By now it's about 5 minutes after 10 and the line is probably 15-20 families long. It pays to plan ahead, kids!
Tiana and Naveen come out behind us and circle around a large landscape area. Madison was a bit short, so I don't think she saw them until they came around the corner, at which time:
Madison, Tiana and Naveen had quite a little talk going. Eventually, they let us interrupt for a family picture. Evan doesn't quite have Madison's outgoing bubbliness, and was feeling a bit shy this morning.
It was at this time that Tiana started trying to convince Madison to give Naveen a kiss, and that she wouldn't turn into a frog by doing so. Madison wasn't quite believing her.
I wish I know exactly what they were saying here.
Eventually, Naveen got his kiss and (to my knowledge) Madison never turned into a frog.
All in all, Madison spent close to 5 minutes with them chatting, getting pictures and autographs. She absolutely loved it! By the time we circled back around to where we had left the stroller, the line had grown considerably. Lots of people were admiring Madison's dress and telling her how adorable she was, and how she looked just like Tiana.
That's when I started advertising a "shorter line for a shorter Tiana!" Again, my notes say this is where Bambi rolled her eyes and walked away. That can't be right, can it?
So, it's now about quarter after 10, and all we had to do the rest of the day was ride Splash Mountain. I ran over there to get Fast Passes for later in the day when it would be warmer out.
I met everyone else at one of the walkways into Adventureland. We caught some of the Captain Jack show on our way over to check out the Pirates League. Evan and the little boy we're going with in December want to do it, and Madison also expressed interest. The problem with that is that she refuses to walk into the World of
Disney Store in Downtown Disney through the entrance that has the pirate skeletons shaking the prison bars. I took Madison in to show her what it was and to see if she would be scared. I explained her situation to one of the cast members who was
very nice. He took her around a little, showing her exactly what happens. Within a minute or two, 4 or 5 other cast members all come over to admire her dress and talk to her. One even sat down next to her with a few rubber bands and tied some cute little butterfly looking things in the straps of Madison's dress to make it fit better. She said it was an old trick that the Fairy Godmother taught her when she used to hang around over by the castle. So, long story short, Madison found a pink pirate dress and is very excited to do the Pirates League in December.
Since we were there anyway, and Pirates of the Caribbean has a posted 5 minute way, and since Madison had all sorts of new found courage, we rode. Evan had done this in October, but this was Madison's first ride. She was a bit frightened. Not of the characters so much, but just of the unknown - as in "what's around the next turn". After the ride was over, she never showed that she was scared at all.
The Captain Jack show had long finished by the time we got out, and Madison wanted a picture on the stage. I didn't know we were supposed to be striking a pirate pose.
We met up with Grandma and Grandpa again, and they took the kids on Aladdin's carpets because, as they like to point out, "it's too scary for Mommy and Daddy, so we'll take you on this ride."
From there, we walked right into the Enchanted Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki room.
Madison has been watching a lot of the 2nd Aladdin movie (Return of Jafar. It was straight to video, and you can certainly tell by the quality.) Anyway, Iago has a big part in that movie, along with switching sides and joining forces against Jafar. Madison was very excited to see him. Unfortunately, Iago was on the other side of the dark theater, so I didn't get many good pictures of him.
It was then back onto POTC again (posted wait time: 10 minutes), this time with all 6 of us. And this guy.
And these guys.
Since we were fairly close and we had FastPasses, we deiced to ride BTMRR one more time before our lunch ADR at Tony's.
You can just see Evan between Bambi and Me, and Madison and Grandma behind us, so this counts as a family portrait!
After BTMRR, it was time to head over to Tony's. However, we knew the kids would want to ride Peter Pan later and the wait would be 70 minutes or more. I sent the family on their way, while I buzzed over to Fantasyland for FastPasses. By the time I met up with them at Tony's it was just about time to be seated.
That's when Evan debuted his bad a** side, with Grandma's Glasses, his Frog Crown, and all the knives at the table. Would you mess with him? I don't think so.
"Give me a milk. Chocolate. And make it a double."
Lunch was good. I had a "Bianca Flatbread" which was described as "Our house blend of five cheeses, garlic, basil, and oregano". Ummm... why don' you just call it a cheese pizza? Anyway, it was good.
But lunch was magical in another way. Grandpa got strawberries spilled on him. I know, right! How awesome is that! Let me explain...
A waiter was walking by. Either he stumbled or something else happened, and several of the chocolate covered strawberries fell off of his tray and hit Grandpa in the back of the shirt. There was no stain, not even wet. Grandpa didn't make a big deal out it. You know, no harm, no foul. The waiter was apologizing up a storm, even as we were telling him to forget it, accidents happen. A few minutes later he came back with a "No Strings Attached Pass". It was a little slip of paper with a picture of Pinocchio on it. I forgot to get a picture, but it said something to the affect of "we want your stay with us to be magical and we're sorry that something happened that wasn't magical. We want to make it up to you, so use this pass to get to the front of the line at any attraction, no strings attached."
Talk about a golden ticket! (Technically it was yellow, or maybe goldenrod, but whatever, that's not important now.)
So what did we use it on? How much time did it save us? Was it as awesome as advertised? I'M NOT TELLING!
At least right now. I'll tell you in my next update.
that? When we were walking from our resort to the International Gateway at Epcot she was right inside the gate with her Prince taking pictures and just a few kids, in the middle of the day. I don't think people knew that they were there. Great update!
