Post 6: A Day of Rest (with Lilo and Stitch)
I woke up earlier than my two travel buddies on this morning, and that gave me time to stare at the ceiling and think about how unrelentingly fun our first few days of the trip had been. Of course then it immediately occurred to me that the trip was now more than halfway over. We'd waited so long, and I'd thought so hard about how to make sure this little girl (and her grownup parents) had the time of her life, and now we were here having it. It was automatically bittersweet to think that soon it would be over.
I decided I needed to shake myself out of this slightly silly sadness about a trip ending before it's actually ended (is there a name for that?) so I hopped in the shower and was delighted to discover a tiny hidden Mickey in the bathtub tile. I got R dressed and let B take his time this morning, as R was in the mood for another statue photo shoot. She'd never been so into having her photo taken before this trip!
She was also wearing an Ariel dress, so of course she needed to twirl her skirt in front of the mermaid herself. This dress is a 3T, so the fact that it was a little short on her is only one more reminder that she is growing way too fast.
When we got back to the room, B was almost finished getting ready and we decided against the stroller this morning. Now comes the part that I had been hemming and hawing about for much of our trip. Before getting down there, I had no idea how to get from the AoA to the Poly in the most efficient way. I'm still a little fuzzy on that. We had talked to D and K the day before about options, and they suggested taking a bus either to MK or Epcot and then the monorail. When we walked up to the bus stop lines at 7:40, the MK line was drastically long, while we could be certain that we'd get on the next Epcot bus. I knew it would mean an extra monorail transfer, but we decided to get in that line.
And then an MK bus pulled up.
And then another.
And then another. This one the extended kind, with the accordioned section that always makes me a little queasy
I regretted my decision and thought about joining the MK line, but in the end an Epcot bus pulled up and I thought we were on our way, smooth sailing. Once we arrived at Epcot, which I have never been to, I asked the bus driver to point me to the monorail. He got a confused look on my face and said it probably wasn't running yet. It was 8:30 at this point. I asked him to point me that way anyway, we walked in that direction hoping he was wrong.
He was! It was running, but we'd just missed one. We didn't get on one until 8:41. Our reservation was at 9:05.
This is probably where I should mention that I absolutely hate being late. My husband is almost always late. My kid, being 3, has no concept of time and is therefore almost always late. But I can't stand it. I'd rather get somewhere 25 minutes early and happily twiddle my thumbs than rush in at the last moment. Sometimes this is a strength, but sometimes it's a weakness. Because when it's 8:41 and we're two trains away from our 9:05 reservation, I am not a happy camper.
Luckily the monorail was exciting for R, and though we waited a bit once we got to the TTC, the Poly gloating at us in the near distance, the single stop ride from there was mercifully brief and we checked in at exactly 9:05. I was all sweaty at the prospect that they might cancel our reservation, cancel our trip, kick us out of Disney for being late, but now I could relax.
We waited just a few minutes before the buzzer went off and we were taken to our table, which was in a corner facing windows that looked out on the water and the castle in the distance. R was almost completely oblivious, had no idea what was about to come.
Here she is blissfully eating the Stitch waffles (she declared that they were better than the Mickey waffles), the bacon, sausage, potatoes, biscuit, and everything else not nailed to the table. She is an incredibly hearty eater in the mornings, but even this was over the top! She loved the Stitch juice as well.
And here's the moment she spots Mickey:
And the moment she realizes he's coming to OUR table, too!
In the flesh! Many of the following pictures were taken on a phone by K, who kindly stepped into the photographer role while I helped R hug her friends and hand off the autograph book.
Mickey signed her autograph book, and B and I quietly marveled at how the two Mickeys had signed in exactly the same way. I would never have guessed that the attention to detail went down to that level. Furthermore, that they sign in similar ways while wearing those gloves is just amazing to me. *Note the cake in the corner of this picture, which has had the icing licked off of it. That is the only thing R left behind on her plate.
We had just a quick visit with Pluto, as a CM quickly whisked him away to some other part of the room, but I wish I had taken a picture of him signing the book on the bridge of his nose! R loved it.
But then R spotted her main dude.
She was thrilled! Lilo and Stitch, of all things, was the first Disney movie R ever watched. I think it was because it happened to be on Netflix. But she instantly fell in love, and she would only talk about all things Lilo and Stitch for months. I came to love the movie myself, and I always love when I catch R singing to herself the Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride song.
When her grandparents sent her a stuffed Stitch in the mail, she squealed excitedly, but then looked in the box and said, "Where's Lilo?" It turns out that plush Lilo dolls were quite hard to find - I think I've seen a plastic one more recently, but R is more of a plush/stuffed animal kind of kid. She was quite sad about not having a Lilo, so I knew this chance to meet Lilo up close would be very exciting for her.
But just as we could see her making her way to our table, the parade started up! B grabbed a maraca for R and they joined the line of adorable kids dancing along to the music.
Here comes Mickey!
And R is still slightly on the lookout for Lilo here:
As the parade was coming close to an end, another delightfully happy toddler was shaking her maraca contentedly when she suddenly looked up and realized the woman who was right behind her wasn't her mother and promptly burst into tears. She was scooped up by an employee and hustled back in the direction of her table.
And then it was time for R's main girl.
Followed by what is possibly my favorite picture of the morning. Lilo motioned to us to hold out our arms like we were surfing, so B and I of course obliged. R did not exactly understand the instructions, so this is her using the force (which she learned yesterday at DHS) with Lilo. Plus amazing food in the foreground. Seriously, this was a delicious breakfast.
We plodded our way over to K and D's room - I was not paying close attention to where it was, but not too far from the main building, where they packed up their remaining things and got ready to check out. We took a walk around while K and D checked out, and R started clamoring to go swimming.
We made that our immediate plan for our return to the AoA. With that plan in mind, we took the monorail to the MK and then made our way to the bus stop. Including this photo here because I really don't know where R inherited her fashion sense, but she always makes it work. Bow, shoes, sunglasses, dress: all her choice
Once we got back to the resort, D and K had to check in again. D had lost his credit card somewhere on the trip, so there was a little bit of a hassle getting them squared away. It turned out that the room next to ours was going to be free, so we just lucked into adjoining rooms for the last two nights of our trip.
We got back to the room, changed our clothes, and headed down to the Flipping Fins pool for a little while. Here is where I have to apologize again because once I was in the pool, there was no chance any pictures were going to be taken. Not because I don't want to be photographed in a bathing suit (though it's not really in my top ten list of things to do), but just because I love to swim and even more am loving watching R as she takes her first tentative steps at learning how to swim.
So in lieu of photos of us swimming on the trip, here's a couple of those moments, if you'll indulge me!
Right after her very first swim lesson, at 6 months old:
And this past summer at Grandma and Grandpa's pool:
We spent about 45 minutes at Ariel's pool, and then R expressed a desire to go to the splash pad we'd seen the other day at the Nemo pool. So we dried off a bit and took the walk in that direction, stopping to play with the hyenas again.
I'd say we were at the Nemo pool for about an hour or so more, with a quick round of grownup drinks once we scored a shaded table and chairs. Mudslides and strawberry margaritas were equally tasty. R loved chasing the fountains of water, and eventually insisted on "teaching" her grandfather how to put his feet over the fountain and wait for it to shoot up and soak him. She also took two bathroom breaks, and there's probably nothing worse than peeling off and pulling back on a damp swimsuit, so when she said for a third time that she needed to go to the bathroom, I figured it was time to get out of our wet clothes.
We traipsed back to our room and decided a bath was in order. It was probably never going to be easier to give her a bath than in a tub where she could so easily pretend to be Ariel. We all put on fresh clothes and headed back to the buses and were rewarded with a very prompt bus to Disney Springs at about 3:30.
Once on the bus, I took a quick scan of the
MDE app to see if any restaurant reservations were available. We had no plans, but I felt nervous with no plans. A 4:30 reservation at Raglan Road had appeared, and we all agreed it sounded good so I booked it. That gave us a little bit time to wander before lining up for our reservation.
I had never been to Downtown Disney, and I was a little surprised when first walking in to Disney Springs at the high end shops that seemed to greet us from all sides. On the bus on the way over, R's grandmother reminded R that she would let R pick out a very special gift while we were here (R carefully explained that she knew she couldn't have 2, or 3, or 4, or 5, or 6 things, which was sweet). D joked as we walked in that he was hopeful R would choose the World of Disney to shop in rather than the stores we were passing, as otherwise they might be bankrupt before the end of the trip.
We had some time, so we looked around in the
Lego shop and R continued her love affair with being photographed.
At 4:25 we checked in at Raglan Road, and already I wondered why I'd worried about a reservation. It was early, lots of other restaurants looked plenty open for seating, and even Raglan Road was only about half full. But we waited.
And waited.
At 4:45 I checked back, and the flustered host said that they didn't have any open tables because people were sitting and watching the performers and not getting up. That seemed odd because there were plenty of open tables, but I let it go. Ten minutes later I was that customer I always hated when I was a host many years ago, asking if there were any tables yet again. This time she said she was waiting for servers to come on their shift, but then changed her mind and said that they just didn't have any tables. I felt bad for her because the situation was obviously beyond her control, and something clearly wasn't going right, but she couldn't say what it was. So I did again a thing that I hated when people did it, which was continue to stand at the desk. Oh, how I hated hoverers. And then I became one. I wish I had a better excuse for my behavior, as we had been waiting 25 minutes beyond our reservation, which wasn't terrible, but I can't commend enough the host and her manager who eventually seated us for doing the best they could.
It was the only minorly sour moment of our trip, and I think I had done the most to make it so. I resolved to be a better customer for the rest of the meal and to make sure to thank the host on the way out.
Everyone enjoyed their meals: R had a cheeseburger, I had fish and chips, and . . . I was so focused on those fish and chips I paid no attention to anyone else's meal. R was again momentarily starstruck when one of the step dancers who had set up a board right in front of our table and given a short performance tried to chat her up. He was very kind and sweet to her. I had a quick word with the server to make sure my father in law didn't try to pay for dinner, and we settled up and were off to the World of Disney.
R was disappointed that we never got a chance to meet Sleeping Beauty in the flesh, so this was a good runner-up.
We thought for sure she'd be in the store for hours deciding what to buy. That's her usual m.o. in Target, Kohls, or any other store I make the mistake of bringing her into. She likes to touch every single thing and say, "Isn't this beautiful?" But tonight, she made a beeline for a set of small princess dolls: Tinker Bell, Mulan, Tiana, Rapunzel, and Jasmine. And that was it! No substitutions, exchanges, or refunds, as the Genie would say! We were stunned, but agreeable.
Our purchase made, I made a quick stop into Ghirardelli for a sample while R shrieked at Stitch spitting on the sidewalk. Then we decided to call it an early night and found our way to the bus stop. We saw a Pop Century bus swing into the station and decided to hop on. The walk from that resort to AoA was so pleasant at that time of night: cool but not too cool, just the tiniest bit of drizzle, and big excitement for R: lizards and frogs! She got so close to one frog I thought we might have a Tiana situation on our hands, but as soon as he hopped toward her she bellowed and jumped back, then laughed at her own fear. We relaxed into bed at night, our feet finally feeling rested and with R discussing her big plans to wear her Belle dress to eat at Beast's castle tomorrow.
To close, the face of a girl who's not convinced that tomorrow is our last day in Disney World.
