yinyanggirls
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 27, 2009
Our Advance Dining Reservation was for 12:55 and it was only about 12:30 but we didn't think we had time to do much else so we walked up to the castle enjoying the ambiance along the way.
I liked this fountain.
The tile mosaics in the passageway.
Tessa spying on someone. We asked what she saw and she said someone was brushing hair. This must have been the back of Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique.
We approached this desk and informed the woman that we are here for a lunch reservation. She checked our name and said it's too early, come back in 15 minutes. I asked her if there was a restroom nearby that we could use and she vaguely waved her arm in the direction of the carousel across the courtyard. I looked in the direction she was waving and saw lots of people, and no buildings close by. I really didn't want to walk across the park just to change the kids clothes. I decided to just do a sneaky ninja quick change in the passageway around the corner. It was kind of a dead end and there were very few people milling around. Even though we didn't have the "official" princess dresses I brought an alternative for each girl, something a little more princessy. Tessa had been given so many Big Give dresses and one of them was a sleeping Beauty sundress. I showed it to her and asked if she wanted to be Aurora or stay Minnie inside the castle and she said Minnie. Fine, no change for her. I got Phoebe into a new outfit (tiara t-shirt I bought at Disney.com before the Big Give started) and we were all set. We went back up to the desk and a mom and her kids were asking the man where the bathroom is and he opens up the castle doors for them. HUH??? Okay, a little annoying but we got by.
I told the lady our name again and proceed to explain that this is Phoebe's WISH trip and she is also visually impaired and would it be possible to sit by the windows so she can better see where we are? She tells me that there are a couple of stairs, would we be able to get her down to the lower level? I told her a couple of stairs is no problem and she says okay. They opened the doors for us and said to sit on the bench inside for a few minutes. Sure enough, there is a restroom sign right at the end of the bench. Not only a restroom, but a companion restroom, in an empty area. Okay, I guess I'm still annoyed. Move on Melissa!
(I think Phoebe thought this guy was real?)
We were the only ones in the room for a while but a few more families trickled in. After about ten minutes Cinderella made a grand entrance to her reception area where we were patiently waiting. She was a nice Cinderella and Phoebe enjoyed the interaction. Tessa was a little bit shy, staying on my other side, but not afraid. Phoebe started getting excited and was trying to stand up so it was comical trying to get the royal photograph with her.
(For anyone who is eating at one of the princess meals and getting a photo package, make sure you enter in the photopass code from your photo in to your account before you order your cd. I forgot so, it's not on my cd. I have plenty of photos but it would have been nice to have it already there with the others.)
At this point I don't remember exactly what happened. It was chaotic trying to get Phoebe and Tessa both to enjoy the moment with Cindy as well as get a decent photo of everyone. Tim says that someone told him to go upstairs now. I went up the royal staircase with Tessa.
Tim took Phoebe on the royal elevator.
Once we were upstairs nobody knew who we were, we didn't have a ticket or something that we were supposed to have, they asked us to wait on the side for a minute, which was tough because Tessa was interested in this new place and wanted to climb on the railing and walk up and down the stairs. They seemed not only confused by us but also a little annoyed. We were the anomaly that disrupted the pattern of how things were supposed to go. Tim swears he was told to come up. I'm just feeling weird. I tried to enjoy the opportunity to take a few pics of the whole room while we stood there.
I realized later that I Ann and her family were there finishing their meal. I DID catch you and Maggie on camera, just from a little far away.
(So why is Maggie wearing diva sunglasses inside the castle? lol)
Somebody comes up to us and says follow me. She leads us around the room to a table on the far side, up on a higher level than the main floor. This is NOT a window seat. I am feeling so sheepish from having invaded the castle that I decided not to say anything. We get settled, which is always a noisy production because Tessa wants to sit where we need to put Phoebe, we need to move a chair to make room for Phoebe's wheelchair, we have to move decorations, silverware, glasses, etc out of Phoebe's way or she will pull them all over onto the floor. The waiter stops by to get drink orders and we are still getting settled. Okay. Now we're settled and it's just eating away at me. This is not what I had asked for, there were several empty tables next to the windows, and why should I feel bad for doing what we were told? The lady at the desk had said we could have a window seat. Did she mess up the ticket that we mysteriously never got? The same lady that didn't want us to use their restroom ten minutes before we paid them hundreds of dollars for lunch??? I debated and mumbled to Tim, who offered to say something, NO, I said. Then I debated some more. Finally, I realized that this would have annoyed me forever, that I didn't try to fix it, so I got up and went to two manager looking people (they weren't in costume). I explained with my biggest smile the situation and how the lady downstairs had said okay. They point out the stairs and I said they weren't a problem. They paused but they did say okay, and to give them a minute. I sat back down and felt both relieved and embarrassed as we started to pack up our stuff, gather our drinks, etc. They lead us to a new table on the lower level. We had to lift Phoebe's chair down the stairs, and then I saw Tessa's bare feet. I tried to be quiet as I reprimanded her and told her to go get them. The manager lady walked her back. I knew every eye in the place was on us, but I didn't care. There was nothing I could do now. It is at this moment that I see Ann and her family as we pass them to get to our new table. "Good for you" she said. I don't know how much she saw before that, but she could see the exasperated look on my face. I vented on her for about 30 seconds. "Something is going to go according to plan!" I said.
Her family looked very relaxed at that moment and seemed to be enjoying themselves. (Unlike ours) I couldn't resist snapping a few of Elke smiling as she played a magic wand game with Daddy!
I liked this fountain.
The tile mosaics in the passageway.
Tessa spying on someone. We asked what she saw and she said someone was brushing hair. This must have been the back of Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique.
We approached this desk and informed the woman that we are here for a lunch reservation. She checked our name and said it's too early, come back in 15 minutes. I asked her if there was a restroom nearby that we could use and she vaguely waved her arm in the direction of the carousel across the courtyard. I looked in the direction she was waving and saw lots of people, and no buildings close by. I really didn't want to walk across the park just to change the kids clothes. I decided to just do a sneaky ninja quick change in the passageway around the corner. It was kind of a dead end and there were very few people milling around. Even though we didn't have the "official" princess dresses I brought an alternative for each girl, something a little more princessy. Tessa had been given so many Big Give dresses and one of them was a sleeping Beauty sundress. I showed it to her and asked if she wanted to be Aurora or stay Minnie inside the castle and she said Minnie. Fine, no change for her. I got Phoebe into a new outfit (tiara t-shirt I bought at Disney.com before the Big Give started) and we were all set. We went back up to the desk and a mom and her kids were asking the man where the bathroom is and he opens up the castle doors for them. HUH??? Okay, a little annoying but we got by.
I told the lady our name again and proceed to explain that this is Phoebe's WISH trip and she is also visually impaired and would it be possible to sit by the windows so she can better see where we are? She tells me that there are a couple of stairs, would we be able to get her down to the lower level? I told her a couple of stairs is no problem and she says okay. They opened the doors for us and said to sit on the bench inside for a few minutes. Sure enough, there is a restroom sign right at the end of the bench. Not only a restroom, but a companion restroom, in an empty area. Okay, I guess I'm still annoyed. Move on Melissa!
(I think Phoebe thought this guy was real?)
We were the only ones in the room for a while but a few more families trickled in. After about ten minutes Cinderella made a grand entrance to her reception area where we were patiently waiting. She was a nice Cinderella and Phoebe enjoyed the interaction. Tessa was a little bit shy, staying on my other side, but not afraid. Phoebe started getting excited and was trying to stand up so it was comical trying to get the royal photograph with her.
(For anyone who is eating at one of the princess meals and getting a photo package, make sure you enter in the photopass code from your photo in to your account before you order your cd. I forgot so, it's not on my cd. I have plenty of photos but it would have been nice to have it already there with the others.)
At this point I don't remember exactly what happened. It was chaotic trying to get Phoebe and Tessa both to enjoy the moment with Cindy as well as get a decent photo of everyone. Tim says that someone told him to go upstairs now. I went up the royal staircase with Tessa.
Tim took Phoebe on the royal elevator.
Once we were upstairs nobody knew who we were, we didn't have a ticket or something that we were supposed to have, they asked us to wait on the side for a minute, which was tough because Tessa was interested in this new place and wanted to climb on the railing and walk up and down the stairs. They seemed not only confused by us but also a little annoyed. We were the anomaly that disrupted the pattern of how things were supposed to go. Tim swears he was told to come up. I'm just feeling weird. I tried to enjoy the opportunity to take a few pics of the whole room while we stood there.
I realized later that I Ann and her family were there finishing their meal. I DID catch you and Maggie on camera, just from a little far away.
(So why is Maggie wearing diva sunglasses inside the castle? lol)
Somebody comes up to us and says follow me. She leads us around the room to a table on the far side, up on a higher level than the main floor. This is NOT a window seat. I am feeling so sheepish from having invaded the castle that I decided not to say anything. We get settled, which is always a noisy production because Tessa wants to sit where we need to put Phoebe, we need to move a chair to make room for Phoebe's wheelchair, we have to move decorations, silverware, glasses, etc out of Phoebe's way or she will pull them all over onto the floor. The waiter stops by to get drink orders and we are still getting settled. Okay. Now we're settled and it's just eating away at me. This is not what I had asked for, there were several empty tables next to the windows, and why should I feel bad for doing what we were told? The lady at the desk had said we could have a window seat. Did she mess up the ticket that we mysteriously never got? The same lady that didn't want us to use their restroom ten minutes before we paid them hundreds of dollars for lunch??? I debated and mumbled to Tim, who offered to say something, NO, I said. Then I debated some more. Finally, I realized that this would have annoyed me forever, that I didn't try to fix it, so I got up and went to two manager looking people (they weren't in costume). I explained with my biggest smile the situation and how the lady downstairs had said okay. They point out the stairs and I said they weren't a problem. They paused but they did say okay, and to give them a minute. I sat back down and felt both relieved and embarrassed as we started to pack up our stuff, gather our drinks, etc. They lead us to a new table on the lower level. We had to lift Phoebe's chair down the stairs, and then I saw Tessa's bare feet. I tried to be quiet as I reprimanded her and told her to go get them. The manager lady walked her back. I knew every eye in the place was on us, but I didn't care. There was nothing I could do now. It is at this moment that I see Ann and her family as we pass them to get to our new table. "Good for you" she said. I don't know how much she saw before that, but she could see the exasperated look on my face. I vented on her for about 30 seconds. "Something is going to go according to plan!" I said.
Her family looked very relaxed at that moment and seemed to be enjoying themselves. (Unlike ours) I couldn't resist snapping a few of Elke smiling as she played a magic wand game with Daddy!
The pic with Tessa spying is too cute.
As for the trip report, if you've noticed I have been getting this day out in very small doses. Eventually when the whole day is done, I'll paste it all into one blog post so that our family can share it with us and later I'll have it printed into a book.
No seriously, someday, when life is calm 
Magic at Disney is only as good as the CMs providing it.
We were the first ones there and she woulden't check us in because we were to early but as we were waiting she checked in several people who came up after us for around the same ADR time. John tried to go up to the desk to check in in his wheelchair (I was dealing with Jonnie) and she completley ignored him. Ugh! We had the opposite table problem and we too stood around at the top of the stairs as the tried to figure out what to do with us. They had us down for a window seat but we coulden't have gotten John in the wheelchair down the stairs and he was in to much pain to even transfer seats let alone walk to a table. We ended up in the back corner table in the area they first put you in. For us it was perfect. The crowds and noise were really getting to Jonnie with his sensory issues and Johns anxiety was high so quieter, dark corner table was best for us. I can definatley relate to getting settled at a table. We had to move chairs to pull John up to the table this trip but even normally we have to stowhis canes or walker/rollator and move everything out of Jonnies way (he will play with anything, his favorite is spreading sugar or salt on the table and playing with it. ) Good for you on asking for the table the table that was best for you! I can certainly see why you wanted a window seat. Great pics of the wish lounge. I love the first one of Phoebe sleeping. I came to realize really quickley that the best way for us to enjoy the parks was doing whatever made everyone happy and not worrying about getting the most stuff done. I'm really enjoying your report. Can't wait to read more!
