The 3rd time's the charm! Our 10th anniversary March 2013 TR! **UPDATE 5/12! Done!!*

[sheila <3 WDW]

More parade pictures

Crowds after the parade. Crazy!

After the parade we went to try to ride Haunted Mansion. I wasn’t sure how DD would do with it, but we talked about it and watched youtube videos before the trip. I kept telling her it was supposed to be funny, not scary. So on the trip she kept saying she wanted to ride the ghost ride. Unfortunately the line was closed at that point. The castmembers didn’t know (or didn’t say) why. So we went to go get in line to meet Tiana, but her line was closed, too! Not our lucky moment.

We saw Tiana going up to her meet-and-greet and some people stopped her to ask where the line started. I thought it was so funny. I kept saying something about if you were going to stop someone for directions, why not stop a princess? LOL It was cracking me up.

So we went back to Fantasyland and got fastpasses for the new Ariel ride Under the Sea: Journey of the Little Mermaid. Then we rode the carousel and after that we saw Philharmagic. I love that show, it’s so cute. After Philharmagic, we stopped at Fantasy Faire and got DD a stuffed Mickey Mouse (to match the Minnie we bought her on a previous trip). We went and got in line to meet Tiana andNaveen; I guess it’s a good thing we didn’t see Tiana earlier, but Naveen is only with her after 5 pm.

On our way back to the Ariel ride I took this picture of the statue outside Gaston’s Tavern. Love it!

We went to use our Ariel FPs. We all thought the ride was cute. DD loved it! This is the only picture I took (in the queue) because I just wanted to enjoy the ride since it was our first time.

Then we went to the Grotto and met Ariel. This is when my camera battery decided to die. I was so sad, but luckily Ariel has Photopass photographers and we had prepurchased photopass+!

We just walked around for a while. I don’t know if we rode anything, I don’t have pictures or notes to indicate that we did. Maybe we just sat and rested for a while.
Of course, I took more pictures of the castle.

Then it was time for dinner at Be Our Guest. On our way we stopped for more photopass pictures. (I only stopped when there was no one waiting so we actually got pretty lucky and found available photographers a lot.)

Dinner was fabulous and I can’t wait to do it again.

After dinner we went to leave the park and on the way we got to catch part of the 2nd showing of MSEP. We missed the fireworks during dinner, but we knew we would see them 2 nights this trip. We waited about 10 minutes for a bus. We got back to the hotel and had a surprise…more towel animals! There were 2 little birds and 1 big one. We got ready for bed. We were in bed by 11.

Towel animals!

I ended up getting on my phone and going to Amazon’s website to order a new battery with 1 day shipping to the hotel. I had gotten the hotel’s address from the front desk. I ordered the battery on the evening of the 7th, it said it would be delivered Saturday the 9th which was perfect because Sunday-Tuesday was MK, Epcot, MK and I knew I would take lots more pictures there than at DHS or AK. Unfortunately my battery didn’t ship until Saturday the 9th!!! I didn’t get it until Monday the 11th. I was annoyed, but it was only $3.99 so I’m just over it now.

Next up…Hollywood Studios!

 

[Disney9.9.10]

I don't think that a TR can have too many pictures, so post away! What a gorgeous MK day, and you got a lot accomplished! I love how happy your kids look to be there. Enchanted Tales with Belle looks really fun, we didn't do it on our last trip, but I might need to check it out next time I go!

 

[Jerzetta]

Sorry to hear abt your camera battery. Your pics are great. Look forward to reading more.

 

[minnie411]

joining in.

 

[gtpoohbear]

LOVE all the parade pictures - we never seem to get to see one of the afternoon parades, it looks really cool!

I've had some bad luck with Amazon shipping in the last few months - I used to always be able to count on getting stuff when they said, but the last several times I've ordered it's been late for one reason or another. Glad you got it eventually though!

 

[sheila <3 WDW]

I don't think that a TR can have too many pictures, so post away! What a gorgeous MK day, and you got a lot accomplished! I love how happy your kids look to be there. Enchanted Tales with Belle looks really fun, we didn't do it on our last trip, but I might need to check it out next time I go!

Awesome, thanks!! I have tons more pictures. Can't remember if I mentioned it, but after the photopass pictures (adding different borders, etc.) I had over 4300 pictures! (almost 700 photopass.)

Sorry to hear abt your camera battery. Your pics are great. Look forward to reading more.

Yeah, thanks. It worked out well in the end. Our first trip my camera itself died at DHS and we went to the camera store at the park and I bought a new digital camera for like $100. I have horrible luck with cameras, they never seem to last me more than 2 years.

joining in.

thanks for joining!

LOVE all the parade pictures - we never seem to get to see one of the afternoon parades, it looks really cool!

I've had some bad luck with Amazon shipping in the last few months - I used to always be able to count on getting stuff when they said, but the last several times I've ordered it's been late for one reason or another. Glad you got it eventually though!

Me, too! The parade was so cool. We've never sat to watch it before, but we saw it twice this time. We actually caught it from the start both times, too. This one we were in Frontierland and it started over there so we were on the drivers side (left) of the floats. Then we saw it over by Town Square Theater and it started over there that day so we were on the passenger side of all the floats. That was pretty cool.

 

[sheila <3 WDW]

We didn’t set an alarm for this morning. DHS opened at 9 and we didn’t have a breakfast ADR so we figured we’d just get there when we got there. We woke up around 7:30 anyway and were in the food court eating breakfast around 8:30. After we got done eating we hopped on a bus and we were headed to DHS.

Photopass picture – DD didn’t like the sun in her eyes.

The first thing we did was head over to Toy Story Midway Mania.

We weren’t sure how long we were going to stay at DHS so we just decided to ride standby. The wait was listed at 40 minutes, but ended up being closer to an hour.

When we got up by the potato head they came over the loudspeaker saying there were issues with the ride and it wasn’t working at the moment. We discussed leaving the line, but we decided to stay. It was a fun ride, but I don’t think we’ll be doing standby for that one again! We got out of there at about 11.

DH and DS outside the queue

Queue was super cute

After that I took the kids up to the hat to meet Minnie Mouse while DH ran to get himself FPs for Rock n Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror.

After that we got DD a new hat.

 

[sheila <3 WDW]

Next we headed over to the Magic of Disney Animation building to meet more characters. I wanted DD to meet Wreck it Ralph so we got in line, but then she said she didn’t want to so we left the line. We got in Mickey’s line and it was really long. DH took DS to go wander around since he didn’t want to be held. He met back up with DD and I when we were close to the front of the line. DS hugged Mickey! It was his first character hug.

DS walked away from Mickey

Mickey was devastated LOL

So Mickey tried to convince DS to come back

DS wouldn’t

So we just got a picture of Mickey with DD

It was super funny

We went to Starring Rolls to buy cupcakes, then we to Rosie’s All American Café for lunch. We realized DH’s FP for Tower of Terror had expired so he went to get a new one. DH went to go ride RnRC and I took the kids over to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground area. On the way we stopped at Writers Stop and I bought a dirty/clean magnet for the dishwasher and a princess story collection hardback book for DS.
Pictures of Writer’s Stop. It’s a cute little store.

We also stopped at the Muppets Store for DD to pin trade and got a small Perry stuffed animal for DD. We also got quite a few pressed pennies while we were waiting for DH because I know he doesn’t love stopping for those. He took a picture of me getting pennies. He said it’s me in my natural habitat. DH met back up with us to get his ToT FP because I had it while we were in the HISTK playground.

Crowds were really light

The kids and I got more pennies and wandered around while he rode that, he met back up with us by the Miss Piggy fountain.

We left the park around 4 to go back to the resort and rest/swim. I took this picture on the way out. Last time we were at DHS this was set up inside the park, don’t remember exactly where.

DD and DH swam, DS didn’t like being in the water, I thought it was too cold. While they were swimming DS had another really bad diaper and I had to take him to the room and change his clothes. Then we got ready for dinner. We went back to DHS and grabbed a boat to Yacht/Beach Clubs to go to Cape May Café. On the boat DH said something about how DS probably wants to honk the horn and the captain let him!

On the bus back to DHS

Pretty Swan/Dolphin trees I think from the boat to Beach Club

After dinner we took the bus to Downtown Disney and were going to take the boat to POFQ, but as soon as we got there we saw a POFQ bus pull up so we got on it.

We had another surprise in our room when we returned. A congratulations card from Mickey and Minnie for our anniversary!

We put a load of laundry in the washer after we got back to the resort since DS had been having so many bad diapers. We got the laundry out of the washer and brought it back to the room to dry in the morning. We went to bed by about 10:30, but the kids were already asleep before us.

All in all it was a fairly relaxing day.

 

[TeresaNJ]

I found myself here by way of your dining report! Your kids are too cute! How did your son do on Pirates of the Caribbean? We're taking my grandson for his first Disney trip in October, when he'll be 16 months old. His mom is thinking it might be too dark & scary for him.

Also, you mentioned your hubby going to get FP's for TOT & RNRC. Can we get two FPs at once now?

Looking forward to the rest of your report!

 

[TeresaNJ]

Oh yes, sorry that your camera battery was delivered late, but thanks for posting that info! Reminded me to order another battery and charger for my new camera! Going in a little more than a month with my bff for a girls' only trip!

 

[SAT887]

Love that your TR has so many pictures!! How were the crowds for your trip? March looks like it has nice weather.... I really want to go back! I can't wait to read and see more, you guys look like you are having so much fun. Your daughter looks like she is loving the character interactions as well!

 

[sheila <3 WDW]

I found myself here by way of your dining report! Your kids are too cute! How did your son do on Pirates of the Caribbean? We're taking my grandson for his first Disney trip in October, when he'll be 16 months old. His mom is thinking it might be too dark & scary for him.

Also, you mentioned your hubby going to get FP's for TOT & RNRC. Can we get two FPs at once now?

Looking forward to the rest of your report!

Thanks for joining! DS did fine on most of the dark rides. DH held him so I think that helped. I think 16 months would be good because it's probably too little to be really frightened. When DD was 3 she didn't so much like the dark rides.

I don't ride ToT or RNRC so DH used my ticket and his ticket to get FPs.

Oh yes, sorry that your camera battery was delivered late, but thanks for posting that info! Reminded me to order another battery and charger for my new camera! Going in a little more than a month with my bff for a girls' only trip!

Awesome! Yeah, I wish I would have thought about getting an extra battery before our trip, but I didn't. I was most upset at Be Our Guest because it's a new place and I wanted lots of pictures. Oh well, just more reason to go back in the future!

Love that your TR has so many pictures!! How were the crowds for your trip? March looks like it has nice weather.... I really want to go back! I can't wait to read and see more, you guys look like you are having so much fun. Your daughter looks like she is loving the character interactions as well!

Thanks!! The weather was great! It was chilly in the mornings and at night, but we brought light jackets and wore socks/tennis shoes then. I usually changed to flip flops later in the day (part of the reason I love having a stroller...extra shoes!) and we ditched our jackets. We would even bring shorts for DD to change into when she got warm enough. We kept DS in pants most of the time since he was just sitting in the stroller, not walking around like the rest of us.

It was seriously our best trip yet and I really want to go back, too. However, we'll just have to wait and see. We moved back in October and haven't sold our old house yet so we have 2 house payment/utility bills...until we get rid of the extra bills our next Disney trip is kind of on hold.

 

[Moodyzblu]

Joining in ! Love family TR's.

 

[sheila <3 WDW]

Joining in ! Love family TR's.

:WELCOME: Thanks for joining!

 

[sheila <3 WDW]

I am about to post 6 updates for our Animal Kingdom day! That darn safari and Marahajah Jungle Trek...I swear I took way too many pictures. That just means you all get lots of updates!

We woke up at 6:15 and the first thing I did was bring the wet clothes to put in the dryer. We got all ready and got the clothes out of the dryer and left at 7:15 for AK! We had 8:15 ADR for Tusker House. Part opened for EMH at 8. We got there about 7:50, but they wouldnt let anyone in the park until 8. So I took pictures:

Crowds waiting to get in

I took some pictures as we walked all the way back to the restaurant. I love AK, I think it is so pretty here. Of course, my favorite color is green and I love spring and summer when the trees and everything is green and flowery.

After breakfast we rode the safari for the first time. It was awesome. We all loved it.

Our ride!

Hippo in the water

DS is sleepy

Cool looking tree

Pretty!

 

[sheila <3 WDW]

DH said this guy looked like hed be a good steak LOL

Giraffes! (far away)

DS is super sleepy

Can you see me?

Here I am!

Elephant hiding

DS fell asleep.

Baby elephant!

So adorable!

Awwww

I love this one!

The rhino was really close so I told DD to get in the picture

 

[sheila <3 WDW]

Lazy cheetahs

Lazy lion

Aww my sleepy baby

After that we got FPs for Everest for DH and I. Then we went to go ride Dinosaur before the line got long. DD and I rode and we got a rider switch pass for DH to ride later. At Chester and Hesters gift shop we bought DD a baby Minnie Mouse. She loves it.

Random photos

Rider switch

 

[sheila <3 WDW]

At this point we split up to use the FPs for Everest. DH went first. I got DDs face painted while we waited for DH to ride Everest.

I went to ride Everest and then we checked in early for our Yak & Yeti lunch. (We were very glad we had FPs, wait was 55 minutes!)

After lunch we walked over to the Maharajah Jungle Trek stopping to look at the monkeys on the way. We saw a baby monkey clinging to its mother! It was so cool.

Maharajah trek was really cool, too. I got a bunch of good pictures of the tigers, my favorite animal!

So cute!!

Bath time

Love that hes sticking his tongue out

So regal

LOL

 

[sheila <3 WDW]

Sleepy kitty?

I did take pictures of other animals&

On our last trip we bought DD a really cute white sundress with pink Minnie heads on it. She was so sad when she outgrew it. I knew we bought it at AK and we were hoping we would find it again. We did! I saw it at a cart called the Maharajah Cart. We got a small and I wanted a medium also, but they were sold out of that size. They suggested we try one of the big gift shops near the entrance to the park like Island Mercantile.

We went back to Dinoland area so DH could ride Dinosaur. I took pictures on the way
We saw some sort of dancing going on. I think the ladies were teaching people.

Everest!

DD and I spent $15 on 5 game tickets and played some games. We ended up winning 2 stuffed animals. She was happy.

DH met up with us and then we wanted to meet Goofy and Pluto. The line was really long so DH waited in line with DS while DD and I went to ride Triceritop Spin.

On our way back to meet up with DH, we stopped and got some ice cream. We ate the ice cream in line and then met Pluto and Goofy.
Waiting in line:

Asking for kisses

After that we walked over to Camp Minnie-Mickey. I took more pictures on the way.

We didnt want to wait in line to meet all the characters, so we just met Minnie and Donald (I wanted Donalds signature since he doesnt sign at Tusker House and Minnie isnt at Tusker House). Minnie was super cute. She kept pointing to my anniversary button and I finally realized she was trying to tell us congratulations.

 

[sheila <3 WDW]

On our way out of the park we got to see the end of the afternoon parade.

Not sure why DS was standing in his stroller, but he kept saying wheee like it was a ride. LOL

Stopped for FP pictures!

Then I remembered I was supposed to buy an Everest shirt as a souvenir for a friends son, so we stopped at Island Mercantile. I got the T-shirt, plus I found another dress for DD in a size medium so I bought that, too.

We went back to the hotel to rest for a little while before getting ready for Downtown Disney. We took the boat over for our reservation at Raglan Road. I took pictures and we noticed some birds hanging out on the edge of the water. The captain said thats where they like to sit to fish because when the boats come by it kicks fish up to the surface.

Dinner was OK, food was really good, but the overall experience wasnt that great (details in dining report). I will still recommend it and I will go back, though. We wanted to walk around and do some shopping, but with DD being tired and cranky and DS already sleeping we decided just to go back to the hotel and go back to DTD on our last day before going to the airport.

Time changed this evening, also, so we had to jump forward and lose an hour of vacation time.