"This is the BEST DAY EVER"A Dec'12 TR-A Princess's 5thBday and 3000 pics! UDx2 5/20

[clynngibson]

Finally, the FOOD!

Again, I was very surprised by the size of the restaurant. It was so small! I guess this is why reservations are snatched up so fast!

Our server was very talkative and nice. I can't remember her name, sadly! But if I remember correctly, she was from North Carolina, as well!

We started off with an appetizer of Sticky Wings! Glazed chicken wings with a tangy mustard drizzle and toasted sesame seeds

I could have eaten the entire plate of these! They were delicious!!! Everybody loved them, but my dad said "Yeah, they were okay." Way to spoil everyone's Disney food high, Dad!! LOL Everyone else wanted to lick the plate clean!!

For our entrees, my dad had the turkey sandwhich. Kona Turkey Sandwich - Turkey Breast Roasted daily and served on a house made bread with caramelized onion, Purple Haze Hoisin Mayonnaise, Arugula, tomato and Bacon. Served with Asian Pear Slaw

Multiple food angles are a must!

My mom had to tell him that arugala was just a type of lettuce He doesn't eat fancy food very often! He said it wasn't the best sandwhich he's ever had, but it wasn't the worst, either. Sigh. And the slaw was weird to him!

My mom and I both had the Polynesian Plate Lunch. Your choice of Pan fried chicken with coconut mango sauces or grilled steak with grilled pineapple salsa. Both served with sticky rice and macaroni salad. We both picked the chicken.

Oh my WORD! This was delicious!!! The coconut mango sauce was so good! And my chicken was crunchy outside and juicy inside. The sticky rice has just the right amount of "stick" to it LOL I had no complaints about this dish!!

DH had the Big Island BBQ Pork Tacos. Pulled pork slow cooked in housemade BBQ sauce with tomato salsa and jalapeno lime sour cream. Served in a house made shell with pasta salad and smokey bacon slaw.

He loved this! I had a bite and thought it was very good, as well. I didn't want to give my dish up, though! After about 10 minutes, I asked DH "Oh, so do you want a bite of my food, too?" LOL

Carter only wanted to eat fruit and crackers. LOL I have A LOT to teach him about food!!

We all decided to order dessert, as well. It didn't help that the first thing you walk by while being seated is the dessert station! LOL

The chef told DH to get the Banana-Chocolate Creme Brulee. So, DH and I split one and my mom ordered that, as well.

OMG THIS HAS TO BE THE BEST DESSERT EVER!!! I could go for one or two right now, actually! YUM!!!

My dad ordered the pineapple upside down cake.

Of course, he wasn't too impressed! I think he said it was good, though.

I had ordered DD a sundae, but the server whispered in my ear that she was bringing her a birthday cupcake!

She was so surprised and happy!!

After we finished our meal, we walked over to the gift shop so my mom could look for a purple lanyard. She had put in a large order from Disney.com and it didn't arrive before our trip! So she had a lot of pins, but no lanyard to put them on. She didn't find one she liked, though.

We stopped for some Christmas tree pictures.

An aside about my dad's Grumpy shirts: He has a couple of these that he got on his last visit to WDW in 2002. He doesn't wear them often, and dry cleans them when he does, so MANY people stopped him to ask where he got it. They were so shocked when he said he bought it 10 years ago!! So, Disney, if you're listening, you need to make these shirts again. You'd make a killing!

And the pretty outside decorations...

We were pleased to see that the monorail stop was just a few steps away from the restaurant. We were all so full!

Some pics from the monorail:

See the silver tinsel around our stroller? This was the best thing I did all trip, I think!! It made it so super easy to find our stroller in the sea of strollers parked everywhere at WDW!

We ended up going back to the hotel for the afternoon. We all needed a nap after our first Disney park and food experience!!

UP NEXT: Will we make it to see Cinderella light her castle?!
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[clynngibson]

Evening Magic Kingdom Festivities

DD dug into her surprise that Mickey left her!

After we all rested, we got ready again and were heading back to the Magic Kingdom for the nighttime festivities! We were pushing it on time, so I was hurrying everyone along. It is really aggravating to have to park, take a tram to the TTC, then take the monorail to MK, then go through the gates. Ugh!

So, in my intro, I told you to watch for the ironic part of my coworker giving me her Unofficial Guide 2011 book to do my research. Well, she and her husband actually decided to book a trip again this year! And they were going to be there the same time we were!! Hooray!! We had been texting back and forth, but hadn't been in the same place at the same time yet. But, tonight, we would be! They were in a rush to get to MK, too. I think they were heading there from DHS. Anyway, so our texts went back and forth like this: "We're waiting for the bus now." "We're 10 mins from the parking lot." "Okay, we're getting on the bus." "On the tram." "Oh monorail, hurry up!!!!" "We're here!" LOL We finally got to MK and met them near the flagpole. We missed the show, but got to see them light the castle up!

It was weird, at first, because there was a section of the castle that was not lit up. Just the bottom left portion was black! LOL Eventually, they all came on!

My coworker and her hubby wanted to take advantage of short lines during the parade, so they went off to Space mountain. We tried to find a good spot for the parade. We were told to stand in one spot by a CM, then told to move by another CM. So, we found a 3rd CM and asked him to tell us the best place to stand for the parade! LOL

As beautiful as MK was during the day, it was simply magical at night!!!

As soon as DD saw the balloons, she wanted one.

Getting DD her $10 balloon!

I told the balloon guy that I admired him. There is no way my clumsy self could hold and manipulate that many balloons all at once!

DD was upset she couldn't see the parade, so my Dad put her on his shoulders, despite his bad back. Anything for his granddaughter!!

I loved the Electrical Parade so much!

Tinkerbell was first. I think I loved her float the most!

You can barely see it, but you can't slap the smile off DD's face!!!

I think this is supposed to be Mickey.

Minnie!

Not only did my spoiled DD get a huge lollipop and an expensive balloon, but she also got a glow-in-the-dark wand. I had actually bought this at The Dollar Tree, though.

Alice

At some point, to appease DS, he ended up with the lollipop!

I got very emotional when I saw Cinderella's float. It was very beautiful!!

Prince Charming and Cindy's Step Sisters

I never could get a great picture of Hook and Peter Pan together

UP NEXT: More Electrical parade and MK Festivities
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[clynngibson]

More Electrical Parade and Festivities

Whew...lots of updates tonight! Let's see if I can finish our first full day at WDW!

Next in the parade was the Seven Dwarves!

Pinocchio

Random cute picture of DS!

I honestly had no idea who the dragon was!

Or who the boy was that was riding it looking for a castle???

The big ending was a little out of place, I thought. Although, Patriotic! lol

DD, her balloon, and her glowstick!

The balloon was worth the money, I guess, because it lasted a long time once we got home! At least a month or so!

After the parade, we split up from my parents, although I can't remember why! We ended up right back together a little further up Main Street to watch the castle show. Along the way, my dad stopped for some chili dogs at Casey's!

It was pretty difficult to move up Main Street due to the road being blocked off for the parade and people standing on the sidewalk watching the parade. Some parts were one-way only, so we had to walk around a bit to find a good spot for Celebrate the Magic and Wishes!

We found a pretty good spot outside of Casey's. It was off to the side a bit, but most of the castle was in view. I had been told to stand to the side a bit, since some of the fireworks were let off behind the castle.

We enjoyed the changing lights for awhile.

All of them were so beautiful!!! Every time the color changed, we'd say "Ohhh look at that!" LOL

UP NEXT: Celebrate the Magic and Wishes!

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[clynngibson]

Celebrate The Magic & Wishes!

Once we found the perfect spot, I got out the glow-in-the-dark bracelets I bought at Target beforehand. I gave a bunch to DD and I handed some out to some other kids nearby. When I turned back around, somebody had taken my spot!! So much for doing a good deed!

Between my mom and I, we still got lots of good pictures, though! Enjoy!!

Celebrate The Magic

And Wishes!

UP NEXT: We visit some ghosts and We're FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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[clynngibson]

Visiting Some Ghosts and We're FREE!!!!!

After Wishes! was over and I composed myself again, we slowly made our way out of the crowd that was Main Street. We walked toward Liberty Square. Haunted Mansion was one of my "must do" rides for MK, so that's where we were headed!

It is so easy to get distracted at WDW! Along our way to HM, I saw Tiana and Naveen! Their meeting place is SO BEAUTIFUL!! I was so excited and we ran around to get in line. But, they were getting ready to go on break and it would be awhile before they returned. So, we kept with the original plan. On to Haunted Mansion!

When we got there, we met a group of teenage cheerleaders that were filing in the queue. Oh great! lol I could just see the wait time creeping up in my head! My dad didn't want to ride, so he kept Carter while the rest of us got in line.

DD was a little apprehensive, but I kept telling her it was a funny ride. I didn't want to feed her fears. As soon as we turned to go into the room where you just see the eyes floating, she covered her face with her hands and buried it in my side. She never looked up again through the entire ride!!

Once we got to the dining room scene, the ride stopped! What the heck?! We were stuck there for maybe 10 minutes or so it felt like. We snapped pictures like crazy, though!

I hate the blur, but that's what you get when you photograph ghosts!

After the ride was over, DD looked at my mom and said "Grandma, I didn't see anything because my hands covered my face the whole time!" LOL So cute, she is!

We met back up with my dad and I asked ever so sweetly if they wanted to watch the kids so DH and I could ride Space Mountain. I had checked my Touring Plans app and the wait was only 20 minutes! They agreed to, and we literally went off skipping hand in hand! We were FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL

Of course we had to take some pics of the castle along the way. It is so mesmerizing!!

Into Tomorrowland we went!

And we arrived!!

In the time it took us to walk from Liberty Square, take a few pics of the castle, and through Tomorrowland, the wait jumped up to 40 minutes!!!!! But, we decided to go ahead and wait for it. There was some confusion which line to be in, I remember. We ended up being in the FastPass line and had to go out and back around to get in the right

line. LOL

We loved Space Mountain!!! It was so much fun! I couldn't believe it was just that little T-bar holding us in, though! haha Oh well...nobody died!

We walked back through Tomorrowland to go meet my parents and the kids. Of course, snapping pictures along the way!

UP NEXT: Ending The Night!

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[clynngibson]

Ending Our First Night

Looking at my mom's pictures, it looks like they had the same idea we had. More castle pictures!

DS must have fallen asleep again!

The found a nice place to sit while the 2nd parade was going by! DD had a lot of fun dancing to the parade music.

My mom took some pictures from the train station.

and of the Christmas decorations

We took the monorail and the tram back to our cars.

Carter was zonked out!!!

We were trying to decide what to do about dinner since we hadn't had anything substantial since Kona. I'm sure we got some kind of fast food on the way back to the hotel, but I can't remember what it was! I will have to check my trip journal when I get home and update!

This was it for our first full day at WDW!

Some closing thoughts for Day 1: I am so so so so so SO glad I decided to change our first day from Epcot to Magic Kingdom!!!! I felt like we got so much done this day and DD was amazed by everything!! Our lunch choice was excellent, as well!

UP NEXT: Day 2!!! Animal Kingdom
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[brandihead2012]

Yu are spoling me and making me late for work great updateS!. I am like your father and dont know fancy foods, which is why I have read the menus over and over again! I love the picture of your dh and dd during the fireworks, melts my heart and even had a tear in my eyr!

 

[clynngibson]

Yu are spoling me and making me late for work great updateS!. I am like your father and dont know fancy foods, which is why I have read the menus over and over again! I love the picture of your dh and dd during the fireworks, melts my heart and even had a tear in my eyr!

hahaha Get to work, girl! You've got a Disney trip to pay for!!!

Thanks for the comment!! DD and DH take some of the BEST pictures together!!!

 

[brandihead2012]

hahaha Get to work, girl! You've got a Disney trip to pay for!!!

Thanks for the comment!! DD and DH take some of the BEST pictures together!!!

Heck no girl, I have 207.90 to pay it off. I am doing it this Saturday!!! 45 days left to go!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Subbing! LOVING your TR and pictures, your daughter is PRECIOUS! My dd and I are going on a solo trip in just 3 weeks and I'm getting super excited seeing our happy place in people's TR's!

 

[wiigirl]

Loving you TR and pics!

 

[clynngibson]

Heck no girl, I have 207.90 to pay it off. I am doing it this Saturday!!! 45 days left to go!

WOO HOO!! I am so jealous! I wanna go back!!!!!!!!!!

 

[clynngibson]

Subbing! LOVING your TR and pictures, your daughter is PRECIOUS! My dd and I are going on a solo trip in just 3 weeks and I'm getting super excited seeing our happy place in people's TR's!

Thank you! Have a great time on your trip! I have planned a mother-daughter trip for me and DD in my head several times! LOL

 

[clynngibson]

Loving you TR and pics!

Thank you!!!!

 

[beckyx3]

Subscribed! You have such an adorable family. I can't wait to read more!

 

[clynngibson]

Subscribed! You have such an adorable family. I can't wait to read more!

Thank you so much!

 

[clynngibson]

I'm just sitting here at work, feeling sorry for myself that I'm not at Disney!!! Or at least have a trip in the works. Oh well...DH and I are thinking maybe Vegas in the fall. And without the kiddos. Maybe I'll start feeling excited about that soon! Anyway, back to the trip report!!

I went home and looked and after we left MK Monday night, we just got Wendy's for dinner. Nothing too exciting! LOL We needed something quick, hot, and that the kids would eat!

And now for the update....On our 2nd full day, we went to.........

Animal Kingdom!!!

Tuesday morning, we ate breakfast at the hotel again. They didn't have bagels this day, which I was looking forward to, but they had more hot options. Most days they offered either waffles or french toast, eggs, and bacon or sausage along with the cold cereals.

We decided to sleep in a little today, so I think we headed toward WDW around 9:30am.

We parked in the Dinosaur lot, hopped aboard the tram, and got to the gates!

This tree is just gorgeous!

We stopped for PP pics at the Christmas tree. I still don't have the photo cd from our share we bought into. The lady in charge said the disks from Disney wouldn't work, so they are looking into that. Fingers crossed that we get our pics soon!!! I think I will do several posts at the very end of the TR with all our PP pics. So, no worries! You'll see them eventually!!

I had the cutest outfits picked out for my kids (animal themed, of course) and it was so warm that they couldn't wear them! DS had the cutest tiger fleece from Kohls. It had little ears on the hood LOL Maybe there's a pic of him somewhere in it. DD was able to wear the leapord print pants, but instead of the long sleeved black shirt that went with it, I had her wear a pink tank top. She still looked fierce! LOL

We took a look at some of the animals on display.

And made our way to the Tree of Life!

And into Africa! Do you know where we were headed?

UP NEXT: Our Two Week Journey


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[clynngibson]

Double post...sorry!

 

[clynngibson]

Our 2 Week Journey

We were headed to our 2 week journey on safari! The wait time for Kilimanjaro Safaris was about 20 minutes. I almost forgot we had a lunch reservation a little after noon, so we decided to just wait in the line.

Giraffes are my favorite animal EVER, so I was hoping we would get to see them up close. And up close, they were!!! If I felt like getting kicked out of DAK, I could have reached out and touched them!

Has anybody seen the Eddie Izzard stand up about giraffes? He's talking about Noah deciding which 2 animals of each species to take and how he decided. Like surely, he wouldn't have chosen the evil giraffe. But, how do you know if a giraffe is evil? He chews his leaves like this.....

You should all see the clip http://youtu.be/WYcnEonB04E

Okay, back to our giraffes...

UP NEXT: More Animals and Lunch at Rainforest Cafe


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[clynngibson]

More Animals and Rainforest Cafe

After our safari, we headed toward our lunch reservations, taking in the sights along the way!

We were headed to Rainforest Cafe!

This is such a cute area! DS was asleep in the stroller, so they told us at the gate to go ahead and roll him into the restaurant instead of parking the stroller. I was so happy to not have to wake him up!

More Rainforest Cafe


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