For the First Time In Forever... Updated 9/10

[DWGal210]

Yup! We told her that we would name the baby Evangeline if she ever had a little sister and we kept to our word. We actually loved the name, so it helped. I'm not so sure we would have gone with just any suggestion... Probably not Ursula or Cinderella....

It's a gorgeous name, love it. Yes, be lucky it wasn't something more obscure!

If I have a daughter I would love to name her Scarlett. Yes, as in Gone With The Wind. Not sure if I will do it but I just love the name.

 

[LB1122]

Just found you and am following along...love your photos and your have some super cute little girls.

How exciting for a fall trip - I do not think it will disappoint you at all and with MNSCHP on top of it all.. awesome. I got to take my daughter once and now we are going back as a family this fall - so excited (wish it was a longer trip)

Garden Grill - YUMMY we ate their on Christmas Eve and were not sure what to expect as there is no menu really (except for kids) but it looked good, smelled good when the food came to the table and WAS good. Plus the character meet ups were nice...I liked that it wasn't too loud in there.

Anyhow joining in....so glad you have decided to dress up. I love Halloween and any excuse to have a costume but understand it is not for everyone but everyone really does it so I think i would have felt odd not being dressed up there.

 

[BellaSoleil]

Just found you and am following along...love your photos and your have some super cute little girls.

How exciting for a fall trip - I do not think it will disappoint you at all and with MNSCHP on top of it all.. awesome. I got to take my daughter once and now we are going back as a family this fall - so excited (wish it was a longer trip)

Garden Grill - YUMMY we ate their on Christmas Eve and were not sure what to expect as there is no menu really (except for kids) but it looked good, smelled good when the food came to the table and WAS good. Plus the character meet ups were nice...I liked that it wasn't too loud in there.

Anyhow joining in....so glad you have decided to dress up. I love Halloween and any excuse to have a costume but understand it is not for everyone but everyone really does it so I think i would have felt odd not being dressed up there.

Good! I'm glad to hear so many great reviews on GG.

Glad you are following along!

 

[BellaSoleil]

I'm going to have to make this really snappy if I plan to get all of these in by July.

Disclaimer #1: I don't want to harp on this, but just in case anyone is just joining us... Belle was diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder when she was 4 years old. We took this trip just before her 3rd birthday. It was this trip when we noticed something was 'off' with our daughter. Because of this, Belle has a hard time processing sound (everything is very loud) and she gets overwhelmed very easily. Now that she is 7 (and with therapy) she really doesn't struggle anymore. But at age 3... I didn't know if we were going to make it out of our house.

Day 2

HS was the bust of the century! From the moment we walked in Belle was overwhelmed and shut down on us. She wouldn't ride anything and screamed her way out of the Beauty and the Beast show.



Our happy moment occurred when Belle and I went to find a quite spot on the side of 'The Chinese Theater' while Gregg rode GMR. It didn't occur to me that it was where the characters came in and out. Minnie was finishing up her meet and greet and stumbled upon us. She spent about 5 minutes alone with Belle talking and hugging. I didn't ask to take pictures because I knew her set was up. Eventually a rush of tourist came running over and Minnie said farewell with a big kiss.

Akershus went well, but I will spare you all of the princess pictures because that's basically all this trip will consist of.



Day 3

Hoping for a better day, we loaded up and headed to the Magic Kingdom.



We started with Small World and she hated it. She told us she was scared of the 'maskers'. A word which is still passed around (with giggles) to this day.

The teacups and carousel were a hit.



And that was it... for the trip... she liked TWO rides.

We've called Belle 'Tinkerbelle' since birth, so we were so excited to see them meet for the first time.



We met several other characters to pass the time / feel like we were shelling out money for something.



I got the bright idea to buy her suckers to take on the rides to try and distract her from being scared.



*Disclaimer 2* So unbeknown to us at the time, Belle is totally allergic to artificial colors. Not only do they not digest, but they maximize her sensory issues. (Way to go, us!!!)

That night we had dinner at O'Hana and played on the beach for a while.





Then we headed over to Magic Kingdom and parked ourselves on the curb and hour early to get front row seats for the parade. (You can probably guess where this is headed....)



Between the lights, the loud sounds and the stinking Queen of Hearts the parade was a total disaster. Sadly, we were so deep into the crowd that we couldn't remove her from the situation. Alice (in Wonderland) was very concerned and kept waving and trying to make Belle smile. It did draw a smile and we bought an Alice costume a few days later.

The highlight of the night, would definitely be the consequences of the red, sugar free sucker which refused to go down without a fight and came back up the same color (if not brighter) than it went down.

Disney dreams are made of this, guys....​

 

[DWGal210]

Oh poor sweet Belle (and her momma and daddy, too)! Glad to hear she's doing well now.

That picture of her and Tinkerbell just might be the CUTEST thing I have ever seen. So precious!

 

[aharbin88]

I'm also having a pair of 'shorties' made for the girls to mix & match tops with.

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These are made by DressreHerSal on Etsy


For the other tops to match the shorties, I wanted to use the fame fabric, but give each girl their own look.

Belle loves 'bib' tops, so she will get something like this. (Not quite as ornate. )

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I can't seem to find these on Etsy. Are you able to post links? Or PM me links?

So on my mermaid hunting excursion today, I found this for my tail...

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It is so beautiful in person. The little circles look like scales and there is already a layer of tulle at the bottom. We are going to add extra tulle and a lining because it is see though... And well, no one needs to see all of my business...

Since I was child free (for the first time in forever), I made a stope by our local Dollar Extravaganza joing to pick up big, flashy hair bows for the girls. I stumbled upon the most perfect, gaudy, mermaid-esque flower hair peice. It was a dollar! How could I pass it up?

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OMGoodness! Love that fabric! Makes me want to do that this year. I need a family friendly costume, and I think my girls will get a kick out of that. Plus, Ariel is my favorite!

At this time The Princess and the Frog had just come out in theaters. My sister lives in New Orleans, so Belle has grown up visiting the Big Easy. (She was actually just there over the weekend.) Needless to say, she was totally smitten with the movie and meeting Tiana and Naveen was a BIG DEAL.

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Besides meeting the real Tiana, Belle really wanted a baby sister. She told Tiana- 'I really want a baby sister named Evangeline like Ray's girlfriend.'

And a year later...

DONE.

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So there you go... if you want a new baby, just tell Tiana. (Notice we are totally wearing Tiana green in that picture. Not planned, but pretty ironic.)

That's the greatest story!! I love it! Sidenote- When in the WORLD will POFQ get a Princess and the Frog themed character meal?!?!​

 

[BellaSoleil]

Oh poor sweet Belle (and her momma and daddy, too)! Glad to hear she's doing well now.

That picture of her and Tinkerbell just might be the CUTEST thing I have ever seen. So precious!

After looking through our pictures, those two days were the worst by far. The rest of the trip was better.

I can't seem to find these on Etsy. Are you able to post links? Or PM me links?

OMGoodness! Love that fabric! Makes me want to do that this year. I need a family friendly costume, and I think my girls will get a kick out of that. Plus, Ariel is my favorite!

That's the greatest story!! I love it! Sidenote- When in the WORLD will POFQ get a Princess and the Frog themed character meal?!?!

I send you a PM on the shorties. IzzyBelly&Co is on holiday, so her store is down. The mermaid fabric is from Joanne's Fabric.

P&F character meal would be AWESOME!!! Boatwright's is one of our favorites. It tastes like home.

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Love your costume ideas and fabric!

What a rough start to Belle's first trip! I'm glad you figured out the issue and she's doing better now. Sometimes we just don't know what's going on, but once we figure it out, there's a solution. I sure hope the next trip goes better and she can enjoy more! (you too)
Wow, wishing for a baby with Tiana! Wish I had known that when I was struggling. Of course, Tiana wasn't there then. Maybe Cinderella could have helped!

How sweet that Alice tried to make her smile! That's what Disney is all about, right? And a special moment with Minnie!

 

[AGPrincess]

It's so much fun reading your throwback trip updates! I can't believe how big Belle's gotten...that feels like yesterday.

So excited about your costumes - so many people dress up for MNSSHP, you feel more out of place when you don't than when you do. And your mermaid costume should be gorgeous!

 

[Jennifer48]

All the handmade outfits for the girls are adorable!

I'm glad to hear that you will be dressing up for MNSSHP. Like you said, how often do you get to trick-or-treat at the MK? I think you all will look wonderful!

Poor Belle on her first trip to WDW with the sensory overload! I'm glad to hear she is doing much better today.

 

[BellaSoleil]

There are so many things I did well with one child that I'm totally bombing with three children... writing a pre-trip report is obviously one of those things.

I intended to catch you up on our last three trip reports in the month of July. (Photobucket is my downfall. It takes FOREVER to resize my pictures. I sit down to start and then duty calls. I've been trying to resize the episodes pictures for two weeks now. Is there an easier way?)

So let me quickly zip through the highlights of the next two days...

We decided to take it easy for the rest of the trip. The next morning we slept in and headed to DTD for breakfast.

This is what my girls look like most of the time... crazy hair and princess costumes.



Our breakfast was from WPE. I had the corn flake french toast (so good) and Gregg had the breakfast pizza (just good).

On our way out we bought Belle an Alice dress, since Alice had been so sweet to her the night before.

(Was buying a $60 costume spur the moment worth it? Absolutely! She wore that costume for Halloween last year three years later. There are still two sisters to come behind her, so big fat YES!)

We spent the afternoon and evening at Epcot strolling through the World Showcase.









We also tried to play the whole Beverly trick on Belle and she loved it!

After an early night to bed, we were ready for Animal Kingdom.

Sadly Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios were too much for Belle's senses, but Animal Kingdom was just right! We had a fantastic day!

We rode the safari, the flying dinosaurs, toured every trail and visited Rafiki's Planet Watch (which became a family favorite).





Lunch was at Yak & Yeti and it was delicious as usual. We also snacked on a frozen Chai and the best french fries EVER at the Y&Y quick service joint.

That night we toured Port Orleans Riverside and had dinner at Boatwright's.

GUYS! Boatwright's is so good! I was raised on Louisiana-Mississippi-Alabama food so this hit the spot. It was like a little slice of home for us. We made sure to return on our next trip.



I can't believe I'm about 2 months out on our trip!

-Tomorrow we are buying our park and MNSSHP tickets.

-We book our fastpass+ selections in a few weeks.

-I added breakfast at O'Hana on our last day (the girls have been watching Lilo and Stitch all summer).

-We are toying around with the idea of staying an extra night and having another pool/down day before we head home.

-We've added another Frozen costume to the closet so now they've all got something Frozen to wear to the park.



We're getting so close! ​

 

[BellaSoleil]

Love your costume ideas and fabric!

What a rough start to Belle's first trip! I'm glad you figured out the issue and she's doing better now. Sometimes we just don't know what's going on, but once we figure it out, there's a solution. I sure hope the next trip goes better and she can enjoy more! (you too)
Wow, wishing for a baby with Tiana! Wish I had known that when I was struggling. Of course, Tiana wasn't there then. Maybe Cinderella could have helped!

How sweet that Alice tried to make her smile! That's what Disney is all about, right? And a special moment with Minnie!

This trip was all about special moments with characters.

All the handmade outfits for the girls are adorable!

I'm glad to hear that you will be dressing up for MNSSHP. Like you said, how often do you get to trick-or-treat at the MK? I think you all will look wonderful!

Poor Belle on her first trip to WDW with the sensory overload! I'm glad to hear she is doing much better today.

Thanks! They should be all done next week and I can't wait to see them. I will post them as soon as I get them.

It's so much fun reading your throwback trip updates! I can't believe how big Belle's gotten...that feels like yesterday.

So excited about your costumes - so many people dress up for MNSSHP, you feel more out of place when you don't than when you do. And your mermaid costume should be gorgeous!

I know! She has gotten so tall and grown up. Evie will actually be older than she is here on our trip. CRAZY!

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

that last picture of the frozen dress is awesome… I would TOTALLY wear that myself!! LOL!!

 

[JoeyEmmaMomma]

Following

 

[JoeyEmmaMomma]

I'm laughing at your comment about bombing certain things now that you have 3 kids. I can totally relate, lol.
Our next trip is planned for March, and I will need everyone minute between now and then to get us planned and ready!!
You have a beautiful family. We only have one little princess in our family, but she has two prince brothers that will be her servents for sure, lol.

 

[BellaSoleil]

that last picture of the frozen dress is awesome… I would TOTALLY wear that myself!! LOL!!

I know! They had the blue Elsa dress (which she's been wanting) and that one. I was crossing my fingers that she would choose the green. It's so lovely!

I'm laughing at your comment about bombing certain things now that you have 3 kids. I can totally relate, lol.
Our next trip is planned for March, and I will need everyone minute between now and then to get us planned and ready!!
You have a beautiful family. We only have one little princess in our family, but she has two prince brothers that will be her servents for sure, lol.

Haha! Yup! It is a game changer for sure! Mine have actually napped today. ALL THREE!!! Miraculous. Hence me updating this report....

I'm so glad you are following along.

 

[schmass]

Following along! Your girls are so cute. You must be a very busy lady!! I have a 14-month old and he keeps me on my toes!

 

[DWGal210]

That Alice dress is PRECIOUS. I have a sister Alice and she was *just* too old when they started making those sweet little dresses.

Animal Kingdom is very special; I know some people think it's a 1/2 day or quick park but I just love it. I could do that safari 4-5 times in the same day.

 

[BellaSoleil]

Following along! Your girls are so cute. You must be a very busy lady!! I have a 14-month old and he keeps me on my toes!

Welcome! They do keep you on your toes for sure!

That Alice dress is PRECIOUS. I have a sister Alice and she was *just* too old when they started making those sweet little dresses.

Animal Kingdom is very special; I know some people think it's a 1/2 day or quick park but I just love it. I could do that safari 4-5 times in the same day.

I feel the same way! When I was a cast member I used to go and sit and watch the animals for hours. Especially the monkeys. My best guy friends drove the safari so that was tons of fun, too!

 

[aharbin88]

Where in the world did you find an Anna coronation dress?? I've stalked the Disney Store website forever looking for one!