My AP-ALOOZA Continues (WE RENEWED!!) ~ NEW TR link posted!

[Mousemommy1]

Awesome report so far!!!

 

[Imagineer5]

Super cute! That is really neat, the whole up-cycling thing. And you definitely need APs to make sure she has a chance to wear everything!

Hahha well...it was more "hey i have three disney trips planned, so I need more disney outfits!" rather than the other way around Of course, "need" is a relative term, but it is still fun.

That's funny that you just shared all the up-cycling pictures and that one item that was up-cycled was the dumbo dress in your update as I was going to comment on how cute I thought that was!

Glad you had a good time at CRT - that whole shared appetizer thing looks good! ... and yeah for Aria getting more comfortable with the princesses!

And also that she gave Mickey a high five. Last trip Peter gave him knuckles - and not only did Mickey give him knuckles back, Mickey even "blew it up" which my wife and I found hysterical.

Your meal at California Grill looks great! We always love that place ... you'll definitely have to go watch the fireworks from there on one of your upcoming trips and the view is really cool!

I started going through your October TR, and saw Peter's reluctance with the characters and thought they sounded pretty similar!! I look forward to reading about that encounter!

Oh yeah, before Aria, we always had a late meal at CA Grill for the fireworks, just haven't done that the past few visits due to Aria's bedtime and such. in October I plan to make it a later dinner and hope for the best though! haha

Awesome report so far!!!

Thank you so much for reading along!!

 

[DVC Ashley]

Fantastic pictures!!

 

[saintstickets]

Just found your TR and loving it! I'm so jealous of all the trips you have planned for this year. It looks like we will both be at BCV during your October trip! We were there last year for F&W and enjoyed it so much we are back again this year!

Aww thanks so much for reading along!! Once those AP's are in hand it is so tough NOT to book trips! LOL! Ooh it would be awesome to meet up!! Love F&W! My DH leaves the 10th but I'll be there til the 12th, what are your dates?

We will be at BCV from 10/05-10/10 after coming off a 3 day DCL trip.

 

[Imagineer5]

Fantastic pictures!!

Thank you!!

We will be at BCV from 10/05-10/10 after coming off a 3 day DCL trip.

oooh awesome!! my birthday is 10/5! haha

 

[Imagineer5]

I plan to sit back down and start my next December day, but I just wanted to say how stinking EXCITED I AM for DISNEYLAND!! EEK! Just about 5 weeks to go!! We have all the dining reservations, I called the Disney Vacation Planning Specialists to book our Fantasmic Dessert Party reserved seating, started a Von's grocery delivery "cart" (can't order until 2-weeks out though) and am going to start planning out daily outfits! It feels like a whole NEW trip since it's been so long (6? years) plus with my friend Lynda and of course Aria. I've been enjoying reading DL trip reports the last few days and am trying to come up with a good game plan!

I wanted to share a convo I had with Aria monday morning driving to her daycare:

(me) Aria, guess what??
(aria) what mommy?
(me) in just a few weeks we are taking a long flight to California and going to disneyland with auntie lynda for a few days!! How exciting!!
(aria) uh-huh
(me) I want to start packing!! What should we bring with us for the plane? Books? Stickers? what else do you want to bring
(aria contemplates for a second) Grapes!! (says very excitedly)
(me) ok! anything else?
(aria) Apples!
(me) ok hahaha what else dear?
(aria) Milk!
(me) ok how about some toys? Minnie and bitty baby?
(aria) uh huh! And bananas!

Silly girl must have been hungry that morning!

Moving on...

I tried my hardest to find something to fill day 3 (supposed to be a relax & pool day) but am just going to keep it as pool & downtown disney, since we won't have a car. I also ordered a new car seat that will be our dedicated airplane travel seat - we used to always check our spare but it is about 10 lbs heavier and 4" wider than the cheapo Cosco Scenara that I read is highly recommended for the plane - and with the long flight it will be nice to have Aria strapped into a carseat for once! (and FYI it was $39, sweet)

I also ordered a "tray" type thing for the car seat, so Aria can set the ipad up for movies, or she can color or play with stickers.

We've already used it in the car a few times - Andrew wants to buy a boat - with all my Disney travel of late, he decided he wanted some fun money so he is about to submit an offer on this:

It's a Sea Ray Sundancer 310 with 3 "berths" and can sleep 6. So...depending on how things go I might have some mini TR's in here about weekends at Nantucket or Martha's Vineyard (actually, I want to go to Long Island and visit wineries!). Fingers crossed!

Oh and if we aren't busy enough - this week our solar panel system is going on our house. 29 panels total with about 12.5 kwh of power generated!

NOT my house, found this on Google images search LOL! But I'll post a pic when they are completed!

If you are interested - we started looking into putting on a solar panel system, and realized that with MA tax savings, local electric company rebates, and Federal tax savings, plus the yearly "SRECs" we will get, it is basically a wash for the first 10 years (slight savings) and then after that, it will cover 90% of our electricity usage (approximately). So it was sort of a no brainer!

They are installing the panels this week, but with tomorrows SNOW storm they may not finish up as early as we thought.

And lastly, I am SO SO hoping that I get pregnant before Disneyland. #1 because we are tired of trying and #2 because Indiana Jones is down when we are there, which will really REALLY piss me off if I have the ability to ride it. However, I will certainly imbine on some drinks at the amazing tiki bar Trader Sam's if I am not. Baby dust appreciated!

 

[tinkgurl]

So excited for another TR from you!

Aria is still adorable as ever! And I love those dresses for her! I love my son and need to have a girl next!

All your pictures make me miss VWL!

 

[Dugette]

I'm excited for you to go to Disneyland (and then tell us all about it, of course)! I really want to get back there, but no clue when that's going to happen.

Cute conversation with Aria. Hey, at least she's using real words (even if they are all food) - all I get from Izzy so far is lots of emphatic gibberish.

We just got a similar car seat for the same reason. I think it will be nice to have one that is light and fits well on a plane (and is easy to install in a car too). Cool tray!

Totally jealous on the boat thing! I love being out on the water. Good luck!

The solar panels sound like a good deal. Very cool. My BIL (the one who's wedding we're going to in NY) actually installs solar panels for a living. Seems to be a good business and lots of people getting them.

Sending you baby dust! I had been wondering if you'd had any luck yet. Sorry to hear you're still waiting...I know that feeling all too well from the pre-Izzy days. And, if not, that tiki bar sounds like a fantastic idea!

 

[Imagineer5]

So excited for another TR from you!

Aria is still adorable as ever! And I love those dresses for her! I love my son and need to have a girl next!

All your pictures make me miss VWL!

Thank you so much for finding this one!! VWL was wonderful! I would love a little boy next, but man do I love my little girl! haha

I'm excited for you to go to Disneyland (and then tell us all about it, of course)! I really want to get back there, but no clue when that's going to happen.

Cute conversation with Aria. Hey, at least she's using real words (even if they are all food) - all I get from Izzy so far is lots of emphatic gibberish.

We just got a similar car seat for the same reason. I think it will be nice to have one that is light and fits well on a plane (and is easy to install in a car too). Cool tray!

Totally jealous on the boat thing! I love being out on the water. Good luck!

The solar panels sound like a good deal. Very cool. My BIL (the one who's wedding we're going to in NY) actually installs solar panels for a living. Seems to be a good business and lots of people getting them.

Sending you baby dust! I had been wondering if you'd had any luck yet. Sorry to hear you're still waiting...I know that feeling all too well from the pre-Izzy days. And, if not, that tiki bar sounds like a fantastic idea!

She has REALLY started to take of chatting lately, really ever since she turned 2. I think she was a pretty late talker, and she is still pretty quiet unless she's at home. But yes I love chatting with her. Today she was saying bye bye to all our animals & the house, and ended it with bye bye banana, bye bye milk. Guess those are reallyyy important to her!

Aw thank you! Yes, still waiting. I visited an RE a few months ago, and did clomid/ovidrel last cycle with no luck. I'll do clomid next 2 cycles and if still nothing will go back to RE. The one I was seeing left the practice unexpectedly, so I haven't put in the effort to find another. I will definitely enjoy the Tiki bar (and BTMRR, Space, Splash, Screamin...) if this next month doesn't work either though! (and try not to think about Indy!).

No word on the boat, it'll be a while before the sea trial is done since it's still so cold, and that has to happen before we sign the final papers. And, he still hasn't accepted our offer as the owner had to go out of town for work! ugh! lol hopefully we'll be further along next week!

 

[Imagineer5]

Day 3! Saturday December 14th
This morning we had an Ohana breakfast ADR (first time for breakfast!!), then AK, back to resort for pool time & Artist Point dinner, then to MK with FP+ for parade & wishes!

This is one day it was fantastic to have the car, since we were able to take the 2 minute drive to the Poly vs. try to figure out in the early AM how to get to the resort from WL! Aria was in a pretty good mood this morning especially since the breakfast was at 8AM so she woke up naturally. We did have a bit of a wait for the table though so we spent the time on the couches relaxing.

And taking holiday decoration pictures…

We were led in within maybe 10 minutes and had a nice central table. Quickly were given coffee and lilikoi (sp?) juice – she left a pitcher of that which we downed very quickly (actually I think I did). Delicious!

Aria sat in the high chair next to my seat – and when she spotted a character from afar, she literally crawled out and into my lap saying no, no, no. Uh-oh! She doesn’t know Lilo & Stitch too well and of course the first character to come over was Lilo, and it doesn’t seem too bad in the pic but she was literally shaking. Ugh!

Lilo really tried!

This was her signature pose this entire trip - hands covering her face but still peeking out

Next up was Mickey though who is one of her favorites of course, and she did better than him. Her new thing was telling the characters bye-bye so they would leave quickly. Haha.

Then Stitch – no interest in meeting him. There were no tears shed thankfully but definitely no magical meets either. As for the food – Aria enjoyed the eggs & bacon as did Andrew, I think I ate some of the breakfast potatoes and fruit and bread, but we both agreed the food was really nothing special for the experience. So unless Aria gets super into Lilo & Stitch I think we will stick to Ohana for dinner!

A couple pics as we were heading to the car – Mommy another picture, really??

Cool rocks

 

[Imagineer5]

Then we took the 10 minute drive over to AK. I love AK because it takes very little planning to do everything we love doing there. We arrived just after rope drop, and didn’t use FP+ in this park since we were going to use it later, and didn’t even use our regular FP either since we just didn’t need it. First stop was the safari with maybe a 10 minute wait

I love how involved Aria gets on the safaris – more and more each time we visit.

As for the animals – it was possibly our BEST safari! The Cheetah was out sitting instead of roaming along the back fence

And look at the lions! Until I read khertz’s report on her private safari (lucky!!) I thought I had scored a pretty darn fantastic pic! LOL!

Right after that we dropped the stroller off and headed to Rafiki’s planet watch. I love love love goats hahaha and always enjoy hanging out with some farm animals.

How I wish this wasn't blurry!

Aria was the teeniest bit timid at first and then got a huge kick out of them. Once we introduced the brushes though it got a bit annoying – she would run and grab a brush, brush the goat once, then go put that one back and get another brush. It was still so fun though and gave a nice “natural” break!

Goat hug!

After that, we headed inside for a minute and saw Rafiki coming out so figured we’d get a quick pic (Aria was ok, but I don’t think she knows who he is either). Man, we gotta stop watching Frozen and catch up on some classics!

Who needs a play area when you have Rafiki’s!? Aria was having so much fun running around, and it was so nice to be there first thing in the morning so barely anyone there.

hehe

To be continued!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Excited for your trip to Disneyland! Sounds like fun

And best of luck with the babymaking - and best of luck in not stressing about it ... we found that helps a lot - with our third we basically weren't even trying and it happened right away vs. all the effort and, um, timing and fertility doctors and stuff with the first 2. (though totally understand that the more you tell yourself to not stress about it you stress about it).

Oh, and if you do got to the wineries out on Long Island, let me know. We know the Finger Lake wineries better but we do know the head wine maker at Osprey's Dominion who also has his own boutique winery, Coffee Pot Cellars, and they both have great wines!

*********************

Breakfast looks good. My kids are the same that if it is a character they don't know well they get scared vs. like Mickey ... though Peter was a lot like Aria as he was more into saying "bye bye" to them

That's an awesome photo of the cheetah!

 

[saintstickets]

WOW! Great Safari pics!! We did the Wild Africa Trek this past October and the cheetahs were up against the back fence. We would not have seen them had the CM not pointed them out and y'all were able to see the lions as well...again...WOW!!

 

[Dugette]

Funny to think that this was the day we nearly crossed paths! While you were at 'Ohana, we were packing up our room to go home.

Anyway, we felt about the same as you regarding the 'Ohana breakfast. It was good (especially because we were staying at the resort), but nothing amazing. Good food, but not outstanding. Decent characters, but not toddler favorites (except Mickey). We did have really good service, though, so that was nice.

Great pictures of the cats on safari! I've never seen any of them quite that well. Glad Aria enjoyed it too.

Wow, Rafiki's and the goats were quite a hit! I bet Izzy would have loved the petting zoo, but we never really considered it for some reason. Of course, I think she'd be more fond of it now than she would have been a few months ago. Anyway, looks like a good time!

(And good luck with the clomid again...I don't envy you! Hoping your wishes come true! )

 

[khertz]

Okay, that conversation with Aria is just TOO CUTE! It's so funny to see what their priorities in life are.

Lots and lots of baby dust your way! I think we will be ready to start trying around or after our Italy trip. I'm a little too nervous to come off my BCP before the trip because I don't want to end up having my time of the month while we are there, and also because I don't want to get pregnant right before and be too scared to ride anything big at DLP (even though I'm sure it would be so early that it would be fine in all actuality). Sorry if that is TMI!

Yeah, 'Ohana for breakfast didn't really impress us too much. I think we will be skipping it from now on. But it was fun to try once. Poor Aria, so afraid of Lilo! Looks like she lightened up a bit after that, but you have to wonder what they are thinking when they are so scared of the characters. Lilo is one of the more weird looking ones too!

AK is definitely the easiest park to do without a plan, I totally agree with you on that! Awwww, your lion pic is still really awesome too! The big male lion looks SO lazy... Guess that's what you do all day when you're king of the jungle.

OMG the goat pictures are hilarious!! I love that one of the goat stretching his leg on the bench and Aria pointing like, "Are you seeing this, mom?" Then the next one with them posing together like he is her goat BFF! LOVE IT!

 

[Imagineer5]

Excited for your trip to Disneyland! Sounds like fun

And best of luck with the babymaking - and best of luck in not stressing about it ... we found that helps a lot - with our third we basically weren't even trying and it happened right away vs. all the effort and, um, timing and fertility doctors and stuff with the first 2. (though totally understand that the more you tell yourself to not stress about it you stress about it).

Oh, and if you do got to the wineries out on Long Island, let me know. We know the Finger Lake wineries better but we do know the head wine maker at Osprey's Dominion who also has his own boutique winery, Coffee Pot Cellars, and they both have great wines!

*********************

Breakfast looks good. My kids are the same that if it is a character they don't know well they get scared vs. like Mickey ... though Peter was a lot like Aria as he was more into saying "bye bye" to them

That's an awesome photo of the cheetah!

Yes not stressing IS key, except it is impossible to tell yourself not to stress out lol! I'm glad your third was easy! It is awful going through all of that. Thanks so much

We spent a week at the finger lakes a few years ago. Came home with 8 cases of wine and we are STILL finding wine in the cellar from the Finger Lakes... which isn't a good thing bc 90% of the FL wine we found was not meant to be aged for years. We are excited to try something new, I will definitely look into your friend's wineries! Thanks!

Thankfully Aria is really doing her homework on Disney characters so I am hoping the next trip will go a lot smoother!

WOW! Great Safari pics!! We did the Wild Africa Trek this past October and the cheetahs were up against the back fence. We would not have seen them had the CM not pointed them out and y'all were able to see the lions as well...again...WOW!!

Yeah they are usually back at the fence! It was so neat to be on such a great safari!

Funny to think that this was the day we nearly crossed paths! While you were at 'Ohana, we were packing up our room to go home.

Anyway, we felt about the same as you regarding the 'Ohana breakfast. It was good (especially because we were staying at the resort), but nothing amazing. Good food, but not outstanding. Decent characters, but not toddler favorites (except Mickey). We did have really good service, though, so that was nice.

Great pictures of the cats on safari! I've never seen any of them quite that well. Glad Aria enjoyed it too.

Wow, Rafiki's and the goats were quite a hit! I bet Izzy would have loved the petting zoo, but we never really considered it for some reason. Of course, I think she'd be more fond of it now than she would have been a few months ago. Anyway, looks like a good time!

(And good luck with the clomid again...I don't envy you! Hoping your wishes come true! )

Oooh I was thinking it was the next day (we had breakfast at Kona the next day) but now I remember we were on the drive to AK when you texted. Poo!

Yeah I expected the food to have a bit more flair I guess, but glad I tried it once. I don't mind having restaurants I don't love, there are just sooo many anyway!

Thanks the safari was so neat, and love Rafiki's and the petting area! It's so cute seeing Aria so excited about something too.

Thank you - clomid has never affected me really (I take it at night right before bedtime). Last month I gave myself an ovidrel shot and hated it though - I felt icky for days afterwards and it is basically HCG in your system so I had phantom pregnancy symptoms too (which made the BFN even worse!). I'm going to skip the shot the next month or two.

Okay, that conversation with Aria is just TOO CUTE! It's so funny to see what their priorities in life are.

Lots and lots of baby dust your way! I think we will be ready to start trying around or after our Italy trip. I'm a little too nervous to come off my BCP before the trip because I don't want to end up having my time of the month while we are there, and also because I don't want to get pregnant right before and be too scared to ride anything big at DLP (even though I'm sure it would be so early that it would be fine in all actuality). Sorry if that is TMI!

Yeah, 'Ohana for breakfast didn't really impress us too much. I think we will be skipping it from now on. But it was fun to try once. Poor Aria, so afraid of Lilo! Looks like she lightened up a bit after that, but you have to wonder what they are thinking when they are so scared of the characters. Lilo is one of the more weird looking ones too!

AK is definitely the easiest park to do without a plan, I totally agree with you on that! Awwww, your lion pic is still really awesome too! The big male lion looks SO lazy... Guess that's what you do all day when you're king of the jungle.

OMG the goat pictures are hilarious!! I love that one of the goat stretching his leg on the bench and Aria pointing like, "Are you seeing this, mom?" Then the next one with them posing together like he is her goat BFF! LOVE IT!

Hahahah yes I love hearing what she has to say!! It's mainly about food or Jacob, her best friend at daycare.

Totally understand!! We started trying before our Europe trip last fall, only because i felt SO great last pregnancy that the only thing it would really affect would be my drinking which the wine wasn't why we were going anyway. No rides to miss! But for DLP, I would not want to be pregnant! I will definitely be quitting trying based on our timing for France if I don't get pregnant in the next few months. (don't want to bring a baby that is too young, either) ANyway...

Yes I love the goats, and Aria was just being so cute with them anyone would have had a blast!

That lion is awesome, would be nice to laze around all day while your ladies grab your food for you! lol!

 

[Imagineer5]

After our visit to the planet watch, we went back to the park and Andrew took off to ride EE single rider – he absolutely loves that ride and I love that it has SR! It always makes me slightly queasy to go backwards (this coming from someone who LOVES RnRC and Screamin…) so Aria and I went off in the other direction, grabbed a quick Tree of Life pic

Then on our way to play at the Boneyard, someone was flagging people in to meet Pooh & Tigger since there was zero wait! Sweet! How cute is Pooh in his holiday best! Aria loves pooh even more now, so I am really hoping our CP bf goes well. Anyway…she went up to take a pic with him (yay!) and then I got in the pic.

Again she wouldn’t go up to Tigger by herself, but she was working on her “cheese” smile so it was still cute!

I didn’t know where Andrew was but figured we’d hop onto the Triceratop Spin (I seriously just had to look up that name, ugh!) Aria loves it so that’s what matters – I don’t even remember riding this before she came along! Haha. While waiting in line, I noticed Andrew coming around the bend and flagged him to us and he took pics!

LOL nice pic

Then after that ride I left Aria with him to go play at the Boneyard while I got to ride Dinosaur! YAY! One of my top 3 attractions at WDW, and I have to miss it when it’s just Aria and me so I was so excited to ride again. Plus, a 5 minute wait which is basically just that darn video…slide all the way in and on the ride in no time! Love it! While I was riding, Andrew took a few pics

Then when I came out I figured they would still be there playing so just went straight there, only to spot them waiting for me out in Dinoland. I guess Andrew was ready to go! Oh well, the earlier we left the more time we’d have for the pool before Aria’s nap time! But first I had to stop for a couple more pics haha!

 

[Imagineer5]

On our drive back to the resport, Aria had a squeeze packet and some other things so that counted as her lunch, and we were just going to wait until her nap at 1 to grab a bite to eat. We got to the room and quickly changed into swimsuits – have I mentioned how much I LOVE being on the 1st floor near a pool! Location is awesome.

Here we played in the smaller pool near us for a bit

Still working on her cheese smile lol

We all had a great time, even with a little chill in the air (thankful for the sun that tried to pop through the trees!)

And then it was shower & nap time. During Aria’s nap I decided to take a walk over to the beach bar first for some food, only to discover they only carry bagged chips? Okay, so then I headed into Roaring Fork. I felt like Buffalo Chicken something (specific, I know) AND it just so happened the flatbread of the day was buffalo chicken! Sweet! So I got that plus a few snacky things and headed back to the room – we enjoyed eating on the patio and I had a glass of wine while Andrew enjoyed a beer that we had in the fridge. After that I think we just enjoyed some downtime playing on the ipad/iphone. During that time Andrew mentioned he really wanted to rent a boat since we were staying at a resort with a marina, so I told him to go check things out and see about timing since I thought they closed at 5 which would be cutting it close with Aria’s nap/getting ready for our dinner at Artist Point. He did, and was told by a CM that as long as he got the boat BY 5, that he could keep it out until 5:30. Ok…

So once again Aria woke up in a bit of a mood and I had to do something with her crazy hair haha, then get dressed for dinner, and try to make it to the boat dock in time. It was about 4:45 though so we thought we were good – until a different CM was there and said we could only take it out UNTIL 5. Ugh…well we were there, and just decided to take it out for the short 12 minutes or so we had left. This was actually my 1st time on a Pontoon boat and we decided to get one that size just for fun. Aria was a PITA (sorry, baby) though and it was just a weird thing when all was said and done. We took it once around the closest island and then had to head back in LOL.

I look thrilled.

She's a happy captain!

When we got back, Aria and I headed to the play area on the beach, and Andrew went to pay, only to make the experience slightly better by saying they didn’t charge him. That was nice of them! Aria enjoyed the play area for a little while and then we cleaned off the sand and headed to dinner.

We had planned another meal at Artist Point – if you remember from our last visit here in June for our “date night” – we had a nice meal but were seated in the middle of a bunch of families so I thought that at least our December meal would go okay seeing all the kids around! Well, of course, this visit we were seated in an entirely different section and it was SUPER quiet. And Aria was still in a mood. Don’t let this happy kid fool you-

[IMG]https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/t1.0-9/1504130_985255433401_1383774148_n.jpg

After that picture, she wanted to come sit on the bench with me – ok. Then she wouldn’t eat a bite of bread, and of the snacks we brought, or anything else. I don’t even remember what I had for my main dish because after the appetizers came (I tried again for the mushroom soup, which was fantastic this time thankfully, and Andrew had a salad) –

Aria had to be taken out of the restaurant multiple times – we were literally just tag teaming while the other person attempted to eat something. No other photos and we totally skipped dessert. The kicker was the restaurant was very empty, and an elderly couple was seated RIGHT next to us right after the apps came. It just made me even more aware of how terrible Aria was being. She would NOT sit still, would not eat or drink anything, ipad wasn’t keeping her interests..it was just one of those nights. Of course the moment we left the restaurant she was giggling and happy.

 

[khertz]

Cute pics with Pooh & Tigger! She seems like she gets a little better with the characters each time, so that's a great thing!

Now that we have taken Paxton to the Boneyard, I'm pretty sure we won't be able to pass it up ever again. Seems like Andrew didn't have a hard time getting Aria out of there though. Must be that they didn't wander over to the dig site. That's like kid crack over there!

That's really cool that they didn't charge you for the boat, considering they gave you conflicting information on the times. Aria looks a lot happier piloting the boat than sitting on your lap! Future boat captain?

Sorry dinner didn't go well.

Of course the moment we left the restaurant she was giggling and happy. [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

Paxton always does this in church!! Once I get him out to the narthex and away from the congregation, he is perfectly quiet and well behaved.

 

[Imagineer5]

After that spectacle, we were both pretty raw but we needed to head to MK. One of the reasons I HAD to come back to WDW in December was to watch Wishes – we missed it Dec 2012, and it was a requirement! And of course MVMCP was going every other night. I had scored FP+ reservations for both MSEP (which I had never seen fully, we just never sit to watch a parade!) and also FP+ reservations for Wishes as I heard it was nice to sit on the lawn and even brought a blanket since I heard it was dewy. We had a little time before we needed to go to the MSEP spot so took a couple pics

Then headed to Dumbo where Aria played for a bit and then we rode. It’s so beautiful at night! Love the fountains!

Then a quick outfit change since we realized she had water all over her dress from our fiasco of a dinner

And we hopped onto Ariel with no wait! This is how little stinker decided to ride

She did perk up when we got to the main room though…

Then on to Pooh! We are rarely in the parks this late, so it was nice to see such short lines! We maybe waited 10 minutes for Pooh and then rode.

After that (the pics were too awful even to post, sorry!) it was time to head to our MSEP spot! I had NO clue where to go or how to get our MB’s scanned in for it but we eventually found it. After maybe 15 minutes or so we were let into the area and were shown to the last spot along the curb. Spot was seriously AWESOME! We had maybe a 15 minute wait for the parade to start and I enjoyed relaxing on the curb and Aria enjoyed playing in her stroller. She came out a few times but kept trying to run off into the sea of people so had to be strapped into her stroller.

Nice diaper shot…LOL

Then the bands came by and Aria clapped along

Then the parade started! WOW!! How have I NOT stopped to see this before.

Side note: last night we were watching youtube videos of rides at DL and Aria was super excited about the Pinocchio ride!

Absolutely LOVED the FP+ spot. I am HOPING to get it again in October when we go with the in-laws, and will also try at least one night in August too. I also am hoping to catch the new parade in August, but will have to actually scout out a spot for that one…haha!

After the parade, we headed over to the FP+ spot for Wishes. I didn’t get any pics, but at this point the area was pretty packed AND the lawn was closed for being too dewey?!?!? Which is the whole reason I lugged this blanket down to FL! Ugh! So we found a semi decent spot to stand and Aria sort of hid in her stroller for the show while we watched it. Definitely felt like I should have followed ROBO’s advice and sayed at the MSEP spot – it would have been a perfect viewing area. Oh well, live and learn! It was still a beautiful show I just wish Aria would watch the fireworks without fear.

After that we headed out of the park and to the boat dock and back to our room where we all tuckered out quickly. Up next – I keep pushing the characters and Aria RUNS up to one!! EEK!! An amazing Kona/EPCOT/Tutto Italia/DHS Osborne Lights/Boardwalk decorations/B&C day!!