Daughter's Surprise 1st Visit; Best Christmas Present Ever TR!! Update: 8-21-12; P 10

[mommytominnie]

Sorry everyone for the short hiatus. Thought I would update sooner but work and DD's activities wiped me out.

So lets start off now:

Since I wanted to be at the bus stop this morning by 6:45, I woke up Grumpy at 5:30 so he can start getting ready. After about a 10 minute discussion on why he is going first, we were already 10 minutes behind schedule. After he got washed up, it was my turn. Finally it was time to wake up Princess. For some reason, I did not take pictures of the shirts and letters this morning.

Well, Mickey Mouse informed us via invites that we would be dining with Lilo & Stitch for breakfast at O'Hana followed by a morning at the Magic Kingdom. He had reserved the Fantasmic package with an early dinner at Mama Melrose at DHS followed by Fantasmic at 6:30. Today, Princess was going to have 3 shirts while mommy and daddy had 2.

Soon Princess got ready and while I was putting the finishing touches of my make up, I turned around and saw:

Yep, Princess had fallen asleep. Poor girl, she was tired. After getting her up for the 2nd time, we were off to the bus stop to wait for the Magic Kingdom bus. As you can see, it is still dark outside.

Soon a MK bus pulled up and we were on our way. While we got to MK, Grumpy was on his way heading towards the security check point. Told him negative. We have to go up the ramp for the Monorail to go to the Polynesian. BUT the ramp to the monorail was not open yet. After 10 minutes, they finally came down and opened the rope. So in a way, I guess we did make rope drop

Anyway, we board the monorail and finally stop at the Polynesian. I remember reading on these boards that they moved the check in towards the other side of the entrance. So that is where I went and checked in. We were given our beeper and took our family picture.

Finally our beeper went off and we were escorted to our table. We had a view of MK, it was really pretty. Soon they brought over the juice, which I loved!! Then before we knew it our skillet arrived with so much goodness.

Princess asked to get the autograph book ready before she started eating. Soon, our friends joined us for breakfast.

Soon, it was time for the parade. Off went Princess while I shoved a couple of fork fulls of food into my mouth.

While she was waving in the parade, a special treat was delivered to our table. She was so excited, when she returned and saw

 

[mommytominnie]

After she finished up her cupcake and we finished up our breakfast, we head out to change our shirts. For breakfast I was wearing a pink shirt with Stitch on a mickey head, Princess was wearing a Lilo and Stitch pink shirt and Grumpy was wearing a design with Stitch kicking back on a hammock relaxing on the sand. We would all be changing into a red shirt with a design of "our family" It had a daddy, mommy and princess based on our features. This was one of our favorite shirts and one we got the most compliments on.

After proper attire was on, we headed via monorail to MK. Walking under that train station into that magical world is so hard to describe into words. We probably did that several times during our trip and every time I was giddy and had a huge smile on my face.

Sorry, I thought I had pictures of us in our shirts with my camera but they are on photopass, which I ordered today. So as soon as I receive the CD, I will be updating!

Anyway, after posing on Main Street, we head straight to Fantasy Land and rode our first ride. Can anyone guess what it was?

Ha, ha! Yep, we did not go all the way to Disney World not to ride Dumbo.

The line was about 20 minutes. I turned around and batted my eyelashes at Grumpy and said "Would you be terribly upset if you did not ride Dumbo?" He asked me why. I said, "well, you can take our tickets and run to get fast passes for Space Mountain." He looked like a deer caught in headlights. I showed him on the map where it was (remember, he did not do any research before we left), kissed him and wished him luck on the mission. Told him we would be around Dumbo waiting for him. Well, off he went and through the que we went. Finally we were on Dumbo and all I kept thinking about while I was riding it was, "Dang, I am in their commercial... oohh yeah!!

We get off Dumbo and look around for Grumpy. No Grumpy! So Princess said she wanted to ride the carousel. So off we went.

She loved it. I on the other hand, was watching the kids in front of me making sure they did not topple over since they were climbing all over the horses

After galloping on Prince Charming's carousel, we got off and finally saw Grumpy. He had made it. With FPs and tickets put away I asked Princess what she wanted to do. She wanted to do the teacups so off we went. On our way, we saw White Rabbit. I asked her if she wanted to get in line or continue to do rides. She opted for rides. So that is where we went.

Her smile never left her face during this ride. She loved it!

Next we were on our way to Mickey's Philharmagic. When we got in, I reminded Princess and Grumpy that this was not like the movies at home. Do not try to get middle center because we would be told to move all the way over to the end anyway. So like good Dismembers, we went all the way towards the end and ended up with a pretty good spot. The only thing Princess was worried about during this whole trip is if someone taller would sit in front of her blocking her view. Fortunately this did not happen and she was able to enjoy the show. Love the part where Donald is flown into the wall.

After exiting the show, we went to Frontierland. We passed Splash Mountain because I was a wuss and did not want to get wet. We got in line for BTMRC. We waited about 20 minutes. This is where the cat was almost out of the bag about the shirts. While we were in line, Princess was in front of me and I was in front of Grumpy. I had my back to him and he was talking to a couple in the line next to him. They were asking him about our shirts. He tapped me on the shoulder and the nice lady complimented our shirts and asked if I had made them. I told her I did. Princess pipes in "Wait.. you made these shirts?" with a puzzled look on her face. I smiled at her and looked at Grumpy to distract her while I spoke to the nice couple and explained how I did the shirts. Afterwards, I looked at Princess, held my breath and apologized silently for the white lie I was about to tell her. I told her I had to say yes because I did not want them to feel bad Mickey left us shirts and they did not get any. Princess looked at me and said " You did the right thing Mommy. We would not want to hurt anyone's feelings. Maybe Mickey will invite them soon and it will be their turn to get the shirts." She then turned around and started people watching while Grumpy and I smiled at each other.

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[tinkerbellandeeyor]

love the pictures

 

[Liza111577]

Love your TR and love all the pictures!! What thread did you use for your shirts? Where did you buy the iron on transfers?

 

[emma212010]

Yummy breakfast!!

Boy that is early!! That's the way to do it though! Get in early and have a full park day or go back to the resort to rest!

I can't wait to hear more about your MK day!

 

[momabaarjo]

Why the heck did I not take my camera on the tea cups...?!?! I love your pictures...but mostly your dd smile...WDW really does do something magical because I have not seen my dd smile so much in years!

How did you do the effect of the pictures where it like blurrs out in rays? Those pictures are sooo cool!

How many shirt changes you are sure make a diva! Love it!

 

[Moodyzblu]

Joining in!! Loving your report and pics!
Your dd is such a beautiful girl.

Looking forward to reading more !!

 

[newtexan]

I'm reading along too. Love your shirts for each day.

 

[sl_underwood]

Love the pics! Ohana is a fun breakfast, we do it every trip.

 

[JD698]

Loving your report. Finally had a free moment to catch up. Love all of the shirts and love the way you covered with your daughter about making them. Quick thinking!!!

I made shirts last night (with lots of help from my friend) for my boys but not for myself or husband. He thinks i'm nuts and right from the beginning said that he was not wearing any shirts. Oh well.

How did you find the buses to and from the parks and resorts? We have a few early morning ADRs and I just planned to take cabs there.

Great pictures!!!

Can't wait to read rest of your report!!!

 

[dara00]

I love how you edit your photos! what program do you use?

 

[Monknmom]

I was the opposite of your husband! I was the first one to get ready then DS and DH at the same time since I'm the only girl and I'm the one that had to keep pushing them to get ready! I see that your daughter thought that it was funny how Pluto signed the book--- so did my son! And I used my grumpy (with his deer in headlights looks as our fastpass runner too)! LOL I liked the philharmagic too! it was funny and cute! And I thought that Donald in the wall was funny as anything! WHOA... nice save on the shirts! I don't think that I would have been able to think up that white lie that quickly! Okay all caught up! Sorry I have been MIA!

 

[mommytominnie]

Hello everyone!! I am so sorry it's been a while since I updated. One weekend I threw my back out (putting on my shoes, no less), then the following week I was sick. Finally got a moment's rest to start updating again.


Let's see, when I left off we were about half way through our Magic Kingdom day. After we got off BTMRR, we decided to cancel our lunch reservation at the Plaza since we were still full from breakfast. I told Grumpy we should head back to Adventure Land. He was still telling me we need to use Fast Passes for Space Mountain. Told him we had lots of time and to just relax and chill. We came across Pirates and I saw the stand by wait was only 10 minutes. We went ahead and got in line. Now, Princess loves roller coasters and thrill rides but she does not like skeletons, zombies, etc. So she was not happy about being in line. I knew Grumpy wanted to ride it so we explained to her to remember this was make believe and if she wanted since it was a boat ride, she can put her head in my lap and close her eyes. And that is exactly what she did!! She was able to get a little rest and Grumpy was able to enjoy Pirates. To me, it was ok. I have not seen any of the Pirate movies so this ride kind of went over my head but it was cute. After we left Pirates, I saw the Jungle Cruise was next door. We began to get in line but when I looked at the time, I realized Grumpy had been ride. We were due to leave MK to DHS for the fantasmic package and I knew we had to hoof it over Tomorrowland to use our FPs for Space Mountain. When I told him this, I got that look again...I smiled and began walking to TL. Once we got to SM, standby was about 45 minutes. With the FPs we were able to wheeze on by and only waited about 10 minutes. Oh my word... Grumpy and Princess loved this ride. I was again screaming and me thinking it was an indoor ride, I left my cap on. Well not even a few seconds after we took off, I felt my cap leave the front of my head and the only thing that caught it was my ponytail.


After our fun ride on SM, we started heading out to the exit and took a monorail to TCC to catch a bus to DHS. Here is Princess on our way over...

We finally got to DHS and it was exciting to experience a new park. We took some photos and began to just look around.

Our only plan for today was to be at dinner at Mama Melorse's and then Fantasmic at 6:30. After looking at my phone guide, I realized Beauty and the Beast would be starting soon. So we headed over there.

Princess was afraid someone tall would sit in front of her so we got seats behind the audio in the middle and was perfect because she was able to see and there was no chance of anyone seating in front of us. We loved the show. I would love to see the original. Actually B&B was playing in our home town the week we left to Disney. I was so tempted to buy tickets but when I mentioned to Grumpy we could buy tickets and go see the show the night before we flew out, his eye started twitching and began narrowing. So I never brought it back up again


After B & B, we just strolled our way up to Mama Melrose and took some more pics on the way.

Now, we come to the ugly. When we checked in at Mama Melrose, we were told that they were a little behind but they would get to us shortly. Princess and Grumpy sat in the corner near the entrance, which was a perfect out of the way spot so they can play her DSi. I stood behind that statue with the naked children, near the check in podium. Let's just say this was the perfect spot to wait because it was certainly interesting. A lot of people were coming in and being upset because they were unable to get in without a reservation. The ones with reservations were upset because it was taking way too long. I knew it was not good when the ones at 2:45 were coming up and asking how much longer and our reservations were for 3:30. Lets just say people were not happy. Finally it was close to 5 and we were finally called. Princess did awesome. She did ask me several times how much longer but I did not blame her for that since I was thinking the same thing as well. Here they are at the table...

Because of the long wait, Grumpy said he earned a margarita. I ordered a tropical drink. Pretty sure we were smiling again. The food was good. Not award winning but pretty good. Our waitress was excellent. When our check was finalized, she brought out our Fantasmic voucher and said to head out to the show about 6 pm. When we finally exited the restaurant, I looked at my watch and it was 6:10 already


So we hoofed it over back to Fantasmic and began following the CMs with the signs saying Fantasmic Package. Well I am not sure if we got in the right line but when we began heading into the theater we were being asked to follow the line towards the middle. Now I had read on the Dis that the reserved seating would be towards the far right. So I asked a CM and showed him our voucher. He was like "Oh, no.. You need to go to that lady's area and pointed to a female CM. So we go to her and she says, nope you need to follow this gentleman. So finally after playing ring around the roses, we were led to our section. Since Princess is afraid of not being able to see, I told Grumpy to head all the way to the end so in case someone did sit in front of her and she could not see, she would be able to step out a little at the end of the row. So that is what we did and began to wait for the show. Princess saw light up ears that she wanted so we got her a pair.

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[All About The Mouse]

Great pictures! Long wait for dinner. Did you really wait from 3:30 until 5 to get in? That's a long time.

 

[mommytominnie]

love the pictures

Thanks a bunch!!

Love your TR and love all the pictures!! What thread did you use for your shirts? Where did you buy the iron on transfers?

Thank you so much for joining in. I got the designs from the Creative board. I ordered the shirts in bulk online. I looked at different websites and I used one that had good reviews and had the "Texas" shirt color. Since I knew it was a very close color to our beloved Texas Longhorns, I knew Grumpy would be happy with it. I need to look up what the name of the company was. As for the iron on transfers, I bought them online from AmyMickey. She is designer with the Creative board and she has produced these transfers that are awesome. I did need a few more and knew I was not going to have time to order some so I went and got a package from Michaels.

Yummy breakfast!!

Boy that is early!! That's the way to do it though! Get in early and have a full park day or go back to the resort to rest!

I can't wait to hear more about your MK day!

Yes, it was very early. And FL is an hour ahead our normal time so we were in shock when we thought how early it really was for us. But I do agree about starting early. We really did not have any complaints.

Why the heck did I not take my camera on the tea cups...?!?! I love your pictures...but mostly your dd smile...WDW really does do something magical because I have not seen my dd smile so much in years!

How did you do the effect of the pictures where it like blurrs out in rays? Those pictures are sooo cool!

How many shirt changes you are sure make a diva! Love it!

I actually wished I took more pictures and videos when we were on rides. Thank you for the compliment of my DD. Yes, her smile always warms my heart. Actually it is funny, DD and Grumpy always but heads. However, they never once did at Disney. What ever they have flying in the air there is surely magical .

I use a photo editing site I paid into however, was told they are discontinuing it. I am so bummed. This was the only one I liked and now I have to hunt for another one.

Joining in!! Loving your report and pics!
Your dd is such a beautiful girl.

Looking forward to reading more !!

Thanks for joining in!! Thank you so much for the sweet words from my DD!!

I'm reading along too. Love your shirts for each day.

Thanks a bunch!! It was fun making them and made me feel proud I was able to do them for my family.

Love the pics! Ohana is a fun breakfast, we do it every trip.

We loved Ohana!! We would definitely go again!!

Loving your report. Finally had a free moment to catch up. Love all of the shirts and love the way you covered with your daughter about making them. Quick thinking!!!

I made shirts last night (with lots of help from my friend) for my boys but not for myself or husband. He thinks i'm nuts and right from the beginning said that he was not wearing any shirts. Oh well.

How did you find the buses to and from the parks and resorts? We have a few early morning ADRs and I just planned to take cabs there.

Great pictures!!!

Can't wait to read rest of your report!!!

Thanks for the sweet words. Yes, I am so glad that my DD still believes in the magic. She still believes in Santa, etc.. and as long as she continues to believe, we will continue to create as much as we can for her.

I was afraid Grumpy would not wear them but he was a good sport!!

As for the buses, they were awesome. We had early breakfasts the whole week and the only one that made us nervous was for the one for Epcot because it also went to POR. We did take a cab for our 7:30 Cape May Cafe breakfast just because I was nervous about taking a bus to DHS and transfering to the Beach Club.

I love how you edit your photos! what program do you use?

I use a photo editing site I paid into however, was told they are discontinuing it. I am so bummed. This was the only one I liked and now I have to hunt for another one

I was the opposite of your husband! I was the first one to get ready then DS and DH at the same time since I'm the only girl and I'm the one that had to keep pushing them to get ready! I see that your daughter thought that it was funny how Pluto signed the book--- so did my son! And I used my grumpy (with his deer in headlights looks as our fastpass runner too)! LOL I liked the philharmagic too! it was funny and cute! And I thought that Donald in the wall was funny as anything! WHOA... nice save on the shirts! I don't think that I would have been able to think up that white lie that quickly! Okay all caught up! Sorry I have been MIA!

My poor Grumpy. I always work it out where he gets read first so I can sleep more / be on the computer more. I think he is starting to catch on. It's so funny how we threw our Grumpys into the lion den for the FPs. I did it many times during our trip. Princess loved the way Pluto signed the book.

I caught up with your TR. At DD, at the lego store, is that your Grumpy in the reflection with the matching shirt over his shoulder? I love the way your shirts came out. I was going to make my Grumpy a shirt like yours but I thought that would not work, since clearly he was wearing matching shirts the rest of the week. LOL!!

Great pictures! Long wait for dinner. Did you really wait from 3:30 until 5 to get in? That's a long time.

Thanks!! I am glad you are joining in. Yes. We did have to wait that long for dinner. I believe it was because of the time of year (few days before Christmas) and the fantasmic package. When we were to make our ADRS, back in June, Fantasmic was only showing twice my week and only at 6:30. When you book the package, you have to provide them your CC #. Right before we left, they added several showings of Fantasmic and showed it everyday during our trip. Because of the CC on file, I did not want to cancel and be charged. So I felt we were stuck and just had to wait out the wait.

 

[momabaarjo]

I thought my touring plans were strict ...your touring is wearing me out!

We saw lots of people to trying to get into restuarants! It is not a secret about WDW-Disney-Dining! I just don't understand...

 

[Monknmom]

Yep I have been a slow updater as well! I am just catching up!
Oh my such a busy day with lots of walking after waking up early... she was tired! Glad that she got in little naps though!
I was not a fan of the grouchy people during the trip it was so unpleasant! I didn't have to deal with reservations since we cancelled all of the ones that we had made, but we did see some agitated people in other places!
I love all of the pictures!

 

[addictedtothemouse]

I loved your answer to Princcess about the shirts.
Mom and I sat in the same area to watch BatB, we are both really short.
On my first trip with my DDs we were the ones walking around not knowing where to go. I have since discovered the DIS and fine tuned my touring with some "recon" trips, you so next time won't be so helter-skelter.

 

[momabaarjo]

 

[Monknmom]