1st VISIT for our two Princesses...we are home and want to go back!

[1stvisit0909]

We woke up like normal. DD8 was getting ready for school. DH and I had placed the WDW Minnie Mouse ear hats, with invitations from Cinderella on the dining table. DD4 came in and saw the hats, and said “what is that?” and called her sister. DD8 came in, saw the stuff on the table and gave me a funny look. She opened her invitation and read it out loud for her sister. (more detail in the pre trip report)

When it finally sunk in, they went nuts.

We had some errands to run before the flight, so we got those things done. Then, we loaded up the van and off to the airport we went. Not only was this the princesses first trip to DISNEY, it was also their first flight. They breezed through security like champions. We got settled in at the gate and they watched planes take off and land. They were very cooled out by the airport activity.

We boarded the plane and they did very well with the flight. I love Southwest. The flight crew was great. They went the extra mile on the flight down. A great first flight for the kids.

We arrived in Orlando and made our way over to the magical express counter. Easy, no problems at all. Boarded our bus and away we went. The driver even slowed down to nearly a stop to let us take pictures of the Walt Disney World sign.

We arrived at Old Key West and were blown away at how nice the resort is. We were one of the lucky families who had been picked for the free upgrade from the value resort, so we were more than pleased. I had checked in online, and there was one family there already…so one of the regular line people called us over. When I told her who we were, she pulled up our stuff and looked up and smiled…gave the kids some balloon flowers, and said she’d be right back.

She came back with our packet, it even already had the 1st visit buttons in it for the girls. Then she said, oh my, here is a surprise…you have been picked as Family of the Day! The manager came out with a bouqet of balloons, a family of the day certificate, and pins for us all. He also had princess crowns and wands for the girls, and they were dubbed princesses of the day. He had a white crown and a purple crown..but when both girls said they wanted purple he went back for another purple. He commented that the princesses of the day get the crowns they want. Too cute. We got our room keys and away we went. Every resort cast member we passed greeted us with a hearty hello family of the day! And many bows and curtsies to the princesses of the day, greating with “hello princess, and good afternoon princess”…DD4 really got into it…giving curtsies back and saying “Why thank you”. DD8 was quiet…but I could tell by her face that she was totally enjoying it.

We got to our room…and we had been upgraded AGAIN to a two bedroom!! It was HUGE! And very very nice. DH and I looked at each other….I wanted to call and see if it was a mistake, but he said, babe, just take it as Disney magic!! So we did. We dropped off our backpacks, repacked one for the park. Then we realized that we forgot to pick up the stroller from Orlando Stroller Rental so we had to go back to the hospitality house. Then, we boarded the bus for our first Disney Park….Magic Kingdom.

As an aside, about the stroller, I was TOTALLY glad we rented it. It was worth its weight in gold. We went ahead and rented the one that DD8 could ride in if necessary, and she did ride in it some…but DD4 really needed it. She feel asleep in it on the way out of the parks almost every night. I was glad we didn’t rely on the park strollers. It was comfortable, easy to maneuver and fold, and very nice. Two thumbs up for OSR!

So we get to Magic Kingdom…the kids (all 4 of us hehe) were excited. We walked in and saw Pluto first thing. DD4 started screaming PLUTO!!

And all my concerns the characters would scare her melted away. We forgot to bring our autograph books the first night, but we still posed for photos and hugged Pluto. I snapped a few pictures of the kids and their faces when they first saw the castle. We were all so happy! We didn’t really have a touring plan for MK…we thought we’d just wander around and get the lay of the land, do some rides if we could, but the main goal was some food and Spectromagic and Wishes.

We walked in as they were doing the Dreams Come True show in front of the Castle, so the girls got their first glimpses of the princesses…they were thrilled. After that was over we wandered around…and realized the crowds were REALLY light. We ate a CS meal at Pecos Bills in Frontierland. It was “ehh” ok according to me. The burgers were kinda bland, but we were so hungry we would have eaten shoe leather at that point. The first ride the kids spotted was Magic Carpet…and we just walked on to it. They loved it. Since we were on that side of the park, we just started doing rides. There were NO waits for anything. So we did the Tiki Room, the Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean, and then Haunted Mansion, 0 wait…walked on to all of them. Very cool. I looked at DH and he looked at me…and we were like, SWEET! We got a LOT more done than I expected…which turned out to be a really good thing!

HM kinda freaked out DD4, so we moved in to Fantasyland…and rode It’s a Small World. Nice ride to calm her down.  The kids loved it. (me too, actually). Peter Pans Flight had a 20 min wait, and we were trying to see what we could see, so we skipped it for then. We rode the Tea Cups…DH spun the Tea Cup too fast for me…ick! I felt weird for a few minutes afterwards. We wandered in to Toon Town, and saw Mickey and Minnie’s Houses…but since the autograph books were at home we didn’t wait in line to meet anyone. I noticed the princess line was 15 mins and Pixie Hollow was 60. The kids did the “all the My little pony stuff you can cram in a box” back there for their first souvenirs.

By this time it was time to try to find a spot for Spectromagic. We spent 3 snack credits on lemonade slushes…that was nice and refreshing for the parade. We ended up in front of the castle off to the right…I wanted to be under Tink’s flight path. No one else knew about her flight…I hadn’t told any of the family. Saw Spectromagic…the kids thought it was awesome. I did too, actually. DH had to put DD4 on his shoulders so she could see, but considering we got to the castle about 15 mins before the parade, it wasn’t too bad.

We just relaxed taking in the atmosphere and watching the castle change colors. Every time it changed, DD4 would say “wow mom, look” “wow sissy, look” priceless!

Wishes started…and it was cool. We didn’t have the best view of the fireworks…but it was still good. When Tink flew RIGHT over our heads….DD4 screams “ITS TINKERBELL!!!!!!!! MOMMA….TINKERBELL!!!!” I loved it. DD8 was like…MOM! That was totally cool! Then DD4 feel SOUND asleep in the stroller. And stayed asleep the rest of the time we were there.

We got to the OKW bus stop and I glanced at the value stop…DH and I looked at each other, our line and theirs, and said…wow…not only did we get a sweet upgrade…we don’t have to be in that line…it was a madhouse! I assume its because of free dining. Anywhoo…only about 10-15 people got on our bus. DD4 slept the entire way home in my lap on the bus…she was one tuckered little girl. We got to the resort, to our room. Our luggage was waiting on us, so DME…SWEET! I was helping them get ready for bed. DD4 opened her tired little eyes…and said real softly…”momma….today was the best day evah”. They were both sound asleep in seconds.

NEXT: 805 ressies for Akershus in EPCOT…would we make it??

 

[1stvisit0909]

I woke up early because I was afraid I would oversleep…yuck. Got up to make coffee, I had brought my own and realized I forgot coffee filters.

Anyway, made do and finally woke everyone up to get ready to go. We got to the bus stop at 650…and a bus didn’t get there until 720!! I was started to freak out when in FINALLY pulled up. We get to EPCOT in plenty of time..and were the 3rd family in line.

They didn’t start checking us off the list until 750. They got to us…and we weren’t on the list!! I started to panic…I didn’t have the conformation number…I had forgotten in at the resort!! So I asked if I could call and get it…and they let me. At 803 I finally got thru to someone in Disney Dining..and they gave me the conformation number, and then when I got back to the line…there were like 50 people I swear. The lady on the phone told me they would hold our ressie until 820….and it was already 805. They were having trouble checking people in…so I walked up to a CM at the gate and told him what had happened to us…he took us to the front of the line since I had already waited once…and really ticked off another family who had 8 am ressies and weren’t on the list. I was like I’m sorry! We had waited once already. There was a lot of confusion at the gate…and finally another CM comes out and just tells every one with 8-815 ressies to GO in…forget the list. So we got in with everyone else and we were all booking it to Norway. We got to check in desk at 819…just under the wire. The people at the restaurant were really nice..and said they had heard that people had been left of the early entry list so they weren’t cancelling ressies just yet. *whew*. That was more stressful than I wanted it to be. But the kids knew they were having bfast with the princesses…and I knew they’d be disappointed if something happened. (me too, for that matter). But the CMs were great, got everyone in and back there…and I learned a valuable lesson. CARRY YOUR NUMBERS!!

We calmed down…and we were called to meet Belle and be seated…she was beautiful and very princessey. The girls were in awe….and talked to her a bit, we had our picture made and she hugged the girls. The picture the CM took with my camera was blurry...but the picture they took was good. There was more confusion because they had misplaced our table ticket…so they had to print another one. It was starting to get funny by this point. So we get seated, have a nice server who made a big deal over the girls.

Our meal came and then the princesses started moving through. I was pleased with the interaction, they talked to both girls, answered questions, signed books, hugged them, posed for pictures, talked a bit more and gave another hug. They girls LOVED it. DD4 barely ate anything she was so excited. Ariel,

Cinderella,

Snow White

and Aurora

were there, and of course Belle out in front. It was great! I was so glad I was able to score reservations. Even though we had free dining, I it would have been worth it to pay OOP just for the picture I got of DD4 when she spied Snow White.

Cinderella made me nearly cry over her interaction with the girls…she got them to say “pumpkin” for the picture. DD8 told her that punkin’ is DD4s nickname…and she had this great surprised look and bent over to talk to her, and said, “REALLY??? Pumpkins are my favorite!!” The look on DD4s face was priceless…but I didn’t get it on camera. Totally will be a memory of mine forever. DD8 really wanted to meet Jasmine, so our server told us to try Morocco…she should be there. Good to know.

We left the breakfast, made it almost to the front of the park and realized we never got our picture...so I left the kids with DH and walked back to get it. *whew* Since world showcase wasn’t open yet, we went back to the front of the park. On the way we found Lilo and Marie…the kids love both of those movies so we stopped for autographs and pictures.

We got to the EPCOT character spot and there was barely a line…so we did that and meet the Big ones…Mickey, Donald, Minnie, Pluto and Goofy…nice to get them outta the way. The girls loved it…and Pluto was cracking me up.

We had some photopass pictures taken here too, and they turned out really nice.

Then we headed to Seas..and walked right on to the Nemo ride…DD4 rode with me, and loved every second of it. DD8 did too, and they wanted to ride again. Turtle Talk with Crush was seating, so we went in there right then. VERY cool show. Amazing. We left from there and rode the Nemo ride again. We wandered over to Land, got FPs for Soarin and went in to see the Circle of Life movie. DD4 loved it! It was now time to try to catch Jasmine, so since DD8 really really wanted to meet her, we headed back to world showcase and moved toward Morocco. On the way we saw storybook Belle in France, so we stopped to see her and had a few pics snapped.

Then on to Morocco. Jasmine and Aladdin were both there…and DD8 was very happy. DD4 was too, and we were the last people allowed in line so they spent a lot of time with our kids..Aladdin was very interactive. The photopass photographer got some great pictures of the interaction. I'm not sure how to post those here though. This one was mine.

We stopped to spend 3 snack credits…popsicles for the girls and a frozen banana for me. Dh didn’t want anything. It was starting to get hot…so we made our way to towards the exit…we wanted to avoid the heat of the day. We started to leave and got the photopass photographer to take some pictures of us in front of the EPCOT ball. He asked DDs if they wanted a picture with Tinkerbell….they said yes…and afterwards, DD4 kept her hand flat for most of the ride back to the resort. She said she was taking Tinkerbell home with her. We relaxed at the resort, the kids played with their new pony stuff and I unpacked some stuff. We swam in the quiet pool a bit, and rested some more. We cleaned up and went to DTD and ate at Wolfgang Puck Express. Dh didn’t believe me when I said it was a QS place…good food. The kids enjoyed their pizza and DH and I both liked our sammies. I didn’t take pics of food b/c I forgot. Maybe next time.

We went in the Christmas Shoppe because I wanted some Christmas ornaments from the trip. We went to Once Upon a Toy and DH authorized the purchase of dresses for the girls! We had said we weren’t going to buy them…but he said if they used them for Halloween too, we could. They were over the moon! DD4 picked out Belle, and DD8 picked out Ariel. She wanted Jasmine, but they didn’t have one in her size. She was a trooper though, and said, mom I like Ariel just as much…and her dress is pretty! DD4 wanted to change right then, so we did in the bathroom of the store. DD8 decided she did too…so she put hers on. From then on just about everyone we saw greeted them with a “good evening princess” and they would curtsey. Very cute.

Back to the resort to drop off our goodies and then back to EPCOT. Illuminations was going when we got there. We went to ride Soarin’…and made it to the flight deck, standing on our little glider spot on the floor when DD4 tugged on me and said momma, I need to go potty! I was like right now?? Really? And she said yes. *sigh* so I took her to go potty. They were willing to give me a rider swap card…but she fell on her way down the ramp and was DONE. By this point we were all tired so we just called it a day. DD4 went to sleep again on the way out.

We had grand plans of making Rope drop at MK the next day…stay tuned to find out if we did!

 

[GeminiAngel]

OMG! I had tears in my eyes over your girls reactions. What a great first trip. Really, Wow! upgrades, family of the day.

I'm in.

 

[1stvisit0909]

The plan had been to get to MK by rope drop. We didn’t make it. We woke up at 8 15 ish…and we made it to the bus stop at about 9. It was raining. But, we had ponchos, and we weren’t going to let a little rain stop us! We got to MK around 915ish. I decided forget the touring plans. The kids were really driving where we went…and while I wanted to get certain things done…if they wanted to do something, I wanted them to do it. Big or small. When we arrived at MK, Snow White was just inside…so we went to see her. I was renting a locker, and had the camera, but DH got a photopass photographer to take some pictures.

Then the kids spied Pinocchio. OH MY he was funny!

He tried to find the “baby” in the stroller…and when he couldn’t find her he acted all sad.

Then after the pics and the autographs, he got IN our stroller..and tried to get me to leave with him. Too cute.

We had had grand plans of getting their hair cuts at MK, but the line was REALLY long. So I didn’t even mention it to them. Plus it was raining, so I figured it wouldn’t be worth getting the gel and stuff done.

We made our way to the bakery; we wanted to spend some snack credits for breakfast. We got two cinnamon rolls (yum!). We had brought our own water in the park so we drank that. Very good! We split the two 4 ways, and it was plenty.

DD8 really wanted to ride Splash Mountain, and since it was raining we said sure. Why not. Already wet! Walked on, no wait. It was fun. DD4 said at the end that it was NOT very fun…so we played in the laughing place while DH and DD8 rode again. Got some fast passes for Big Thunder Mountain, and made our way back toward Fantasyland. I had promised DD4 we’d ride the carousel. All 4 of us rode. Made me feel like a kid again!

Then we went to Mickey’s Philharmagic.

That was AWESOME! I love the Disney experience in 3d…plus the smells, the pops of the campaign bottles, the great! I felt kinda bad b/c Dh can’t see in 3D since he was born with a lazy eye…even though he had surgery he sees the two images and not the 3D..but he loved watching the kids try to catch stuff in the air.

After that, it was time for DH and DD8 to ride Big Thunder Mountain. I took DD4 to ride Dumbo. After that, DD4 & I picked FPs for Peter Pan’s Flight, and headed to our meeting spot with DH & DD8 in Frontierland. We got there just as they walked up. In the time it took DD4 and me to wait for and ride Dumbo, they had ridden Big Thunder 2x!! We went to Columbia House for lunch, and then it was time for Peter Pan’s Flight. Every one liked that ride!! DD4 was amazed that we were “really flying!”. Stopped and posed for some pictures in Dumbo, then made our way back to Adventure land. DH was ready for a Dole Whip…and so was I! On the way in we spotted Rafiki…we are all big Lion King fans so we HAD to stop.

I had seen in the guide where Peter Pan Characters were supposed to be by Pirates of the Caribbean, so we went over there. We saw Capitan Hook and Mr Smee, but the line had just closed and the kids didn’t want to wait for 10 mins. So back for our Dole Whip….yum!! I had the plain dole whip, DH got the float, DD8 wanted the swirl, and DD4 wanted the orange swirl. VERY good! Totally worth 4 snack credits!! By this time it was about 2ish…the sun had come out, bringing the HEAT and the crowds. So we made our way toward the front of the park.

DH had to stop by the restroom, and the DDs and I found some CMs with hula hoops. DD8 beat them all in hula hoop races…she was VERY pleased with herself. We saw Chip and Dale, and Daisy, but they were headed in to get ready for the parade. We played in some bubbles a CM was blowing. We went to the resort to cool off and to change the girls into their dresses for our meal at CRT.

Back to MK for the evening. We made our way down mainstreet, and had a few photopass pics taken of the kids with their dresses on. I had realized I had lost my card at DTD from Epcot, and I was upset. So I asked the CM if she could take another tink special effects picture…and she told me I could get my other pictures back with a time and place at the photo center in MK. AWESOME!

We got to the circle in front of the castle, and noticed people were lining up…a parade came though, and we had great spots! It was the Move It! Shake It! Celebrate! Street Party! Totally unexpected, totally us in the right place at the right time. We were right by the spot where Mr Incredible and Frozone stopped and got off to dance. The kids had a BLAST!!

By the time it was over, it was time for us to make our to the castle for our ressie at CRT. After we got checked in, we waited to see Cinderella. The castle was very well decorated. The kids LOVED it. When it was there turn with Cinderella, they gave her a curtsy, and she did a big THANK YOU, curtsied back and showed them how to hold their dresses for the picture. She asked them if they had seen the fairy godmother…because their dresses were just as pretty as hers. Both girls were over the moon!

Wait a few more minutes and were seated in the restaurant. Its beautiful. But, the menu was lacking for the kids. Really? Only chicken nuggets or a hot dog? Seriously? If I was paying OOP I would have been most upset!! But, the atmosphere was nice. DH had the prime rib, he said it was good. I had the pork chop, it was ok. Dessert was the best part. I loved the choc cream cheese buckle. Defiantly worth the experience…and worth 2 TS credits for once. I probably wouldn’t do it again. Maybe breakfast. The fairy godmother and the mice were cute. The view over the magic kingdom was beautiful.

After dinner we rode Buzz Lightyear 2x, the girls loved that one. We walked around tomorrow land for a bit. Noticed that TTA was open, but the kids didn’t want to do it. By this point, DD 4 was about to lose her cool. We knew Spectro was about to start up, so we decided to beat the crowds and pack it in. On the way out we stopped by the photo center and the CM there was able to find all our photopass pics form EPCOT!! Yeah!! We REALLY wanted to make rope drop at DHS…b/c I wanted to ride Toy Story ASAP!

Do we make it? Is 3rd time the charm??

 

[1stvisit0909]

Uploaded some pictures of OKW. Never mind the *ahem* junk in the pics that belongs to us.

 

[Stasieki]

Looks like such a magical visit so far - the girls are adorable.

 

[1stvisit0909]

Looks like such a magical visit so far - the girls are adorable.

thanks! I think so too.

Never finished the report!! so at least I had a post I could edit and finish it up right quick.

The last full day we were there we did, in fact make rope drop at DHS. We made it to Toy Story Mania at were near the front of the line. We got to the ride - literally one family from getting on - and they shut it down! It was broken. I was all like what???!? haha. We left and got FPs that were for 1 already! talk about fast! We wandered around, and had our ADR at H&V. DD 4 loved the Jo Jo's Circus characters, and Little Einstiens. DD 7 thought it was kinda "Baby" but she did get up and dance.

After that I took DD 4 to the Playhouse Disney Show while DH and DD7 did the RnR and the ToT! They had a blast. In the meantime, DD 4 and I also saw the Little Mermaid Show.

We meet back up, got in line to meet Buzz and Woody and stayed there Forever. like two hours. I happened to look up and see that TSM was open - we abandoned that line in a hurry! We were toward the front of the line, then we came back around b/c the CM said we could use our old FPs, b/c the ride had been down all day. So we still go to ride it twice! loved it!

Walked off the ride, and the bottom literally dropped out. We danced down the street in the rain to the wizard hat, found us a spot in the cool rain for the parade. It ended about 15 mins before the parade, and we got some ice cream. The kids had fun with that one!

We were going to hang out for Fantasmic, but decided we were too tired. Left, went to the resort and changed, rested and then to DTD for dinner at WPE! Back to the resort to sleep.

The next morning was our flight home. We had to be ready for the DME at 11, so we just hung out at the theme pool at OKW. DD7 was selected to open the water slide. She got a cool pirate bandanna and was very excited about that!!!

We went back to our room to get our things, change into dry clothes. DD 4 put on her Belle dress, and wore it home!