7 days at WDW for a Birthday Princess, 1/7/07-1/13/07

[MamaOfTwoPrincesses]

Here is our trip report from Jan 7-13, 2007.

The cast:
Colleen, AKA Mom, Mama, Mommmmeeee
Michael, AKA Daddy, Dada
Julia, age 5, the birthday princess
Emma, 17 months, the terror, errr, toddler

Day 1 – Arrival
Our adventure began at 7am, as we were picked up by our airport shuttle. We flew Jet Blue, which was very pleasant. The girls did very well on the 2.5 hour flight from Boston to Orlando. It had been chilly when we left home, but by the time we landed, it was about 80 degrees in Orlando. We made a quick change and headed toward the Magical Express shuttle to get to our resort. We arrived @ 2:45 or so. We stayed at the Port Orleans French Quarter, and it was a very good choice for us. We selected this resort as it is the smallest of the moderates, and I was told it would be easy to get around with 2 small kids and a stroller. It didn’t disappoint. We were in building 5, very close to the pool, food court, front lobby, and bus stops. The only change I would have made was to request a first floor room, as we had a bit of a hike to the elevator with the stroller. But aside from that, the French Quarter more than met our needs. They even had soy milk for Emma in the food court! The maid who set up Emma’s pack n play was able to put her in a corner, and she arranged a sheet so that Emma could be blocked off from the room. It worked perfectly. And when we mentioned Julia’s upcoming birthday, she was given a Birthday pin to wear during our visit.

We got to our room just in time for Michael to catch the end of the New England Patriots playoff game. While Daddy watched football, the girls and I explored the resort. The pool was way cool, with a dragon slide. The foodcourt was decorated with a Mardi Gras theme and had lots of huge grotesque faces on the ceiling. Strangely, these terrified Julia, but fascinated Emma. We had been told that the suitcases might take a while to show up from the Magical Express shuttle, but they were there within about an hour. (To be safe, I had packed the girls’ outfits for dinner and pajamas in the carry on bags.)

The Patriots won (yay!) and soon afterwards, we got ready for dinner with Mickey and friends at Chef Mickey’s at the Contemporary Resort. Our magical adventure had truly begun! The girls wore red and white polka dot dresses, and, as I had hoped, Minnie Mouse was excited that they matched HER dress! Dinner was a buffet, and we were able to meet Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, and Pluto. Julia’s autograph book got a workout, and her very first signature was from Mickey himself. We thought Emma might be scared of the “face” characters, but she loved them right away and was very curious. She kept touching their noses and trying to kiss them! Oh, and we spoke to the chef upon arrival to determine what food was safe for Julia with her peanut allergy. (I have to say that everyone was so attentive to this issue, and we were made comfortable with Julia’s food choices the entire time. Bravo to Disney for taking food allergies seriously and not making us feel like we put them out.) The food was quite good, and luckily, there was pizza for both girls to enjoy. And an ice cream sundae bar, which was even SAFE for Julia! (This is rare, even at home…) Julia also received a birthday cupcake and a placemat signed by the characters for her birthday. We had a great time, and I feel this was the perfect way to kick off our Disney trip. We headed home to bed, and the girls did a really good job sleeping away from home.

 

[MamaOfTwoPrincesses]

Day 2 - Magic Kingdom
We decided to start off slow, but we wanted the girls to be excited about the trip, so we started off at the Magic Kingdom. The crowds were low, so we slowly headed back to Fantasyland. Julia was clearly overwhelmed and Emma had no idea what was going on! Emma was in her own stroller with Julia walking. (This quickly changed!) The first thing we did was go straight back to my very favorite ride – It’s a Small World. The girls both loved it, especially Emma, who kept pointing at everything around her. She was so cute. As we left the ride, we were all singing the song! Next, we were able to jump right onto Peter Pan, which we later learned was quite a feat. Julia loves Peter Pan, and she really enjoyed this ride. Then we rode the carousel, and Emma insisted on riding her own horse! We also got onto Dumbo with only about a 15 minute wait. After that, we made our first mistake. Julia and Daddy went on Snow White. The guidebooks had warned us against this ride, but they did it anyway. Julia came out sobbing. The ride was really very scary, and we don’t quite understand who this ride is targeted for – grown ups won’t care for it, but preschoolers like Julia were terrified! At just this moment, a cast member came over and handed Julia some “pixie dust,” and told her to make a wish. He made some sort of tinkling sound, and Julia was totally convinced that Tink was nearby. That made her forget her fears, and was just such a sweet gesture. Then we then headed out to the front of the castle to see the show, which had Mickey, some princesses, Peter Pan, even some villains. And it ended with fireworks, which Julia loved. Emma was more interested in the ducks around her, but everyone was happy.

Soon, it was lunchtime, so we headed over to the Crystal Palace to dine with Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, and Tigger. Unfortunately, Emma was now sound asleep in her stroller, so she missed seeing everyone, but the rest of us had a great time. Another buffet and another birthday cupcake for Julia! At this point, Julia was getting a bit cranky, so we headed back to the resort for a rest.

We actually got both girls to take an afternoon nap, and then headed back to the MK for some more fun in the late afternoon. By now we realized that Julia couldn’t take all the walking, so we sucked it up and rented a double stroller for the girls to share. (Best investment we ever made!) Julia rode the teacups and we went on the Pooh ride. Emma had her first of many visits to the Pooh playground, which was really cute and such a nice touch for toddlers. We had dinner at Cosmic Ray’s. This was our first experience with a quick service meal on the dining plan. I really don’t understand the kids’ menus. They offer food that kids don’t really like – the only choices were mini hot dogs, mac n cheese – which my kids don’t eat - and chicken strips. Michael and I ended up sharing our food with them and nibbling on their chicken. Oh well. This is probably my only peeve. We were done with dinner by 6:30 and headed out to get in line for the Spectromagic light parade. We thought we had plenty of time, but it was already getting very congested. By the time the parade started, we were packed in and Emma was crying. But she calmed right down as soon as she saw the pretty lights. She LOVED it! And of course Julia did too. This was a really neat parade and I’m glad we braved the crowds to see it. When it was over, we moved away from our spot and rode a few rides in Fantasyland. We ended up missing the beginning of the fireworks, but we just watched the show from where we were, which was fine. Getting out of the park was a quite a challenge, but we managed it!

 

[MamaOfTwoPrincesses]

Day 3 – Animal Kingdom
We woke up to a far cooler day. The two days prior had been in the 80s, but the high today only made it into the low 60s. Luckily, we were prepared for the weather and made our way out to the Animal Kingdom with long pants and jackets, which we needed most of the day. Michael ran back to fast pass the safari, while the girls and I headed over the first showing of the Lion King. They both liked it, and Julia even hugged Timon! After that, we rode on the safari, which Michael had been really anticipating. We saw some cool animals and the girls enjoyed the ride as well. Then we headed to Dinoland, where we were thrilled to find a McDonalds for our picky eaters. After some time in Dinoland, Emma had fallen asleep, so Julia and I took the train to Rafiki’s Planet to try to find Pocahontas while Michael and Emma strolled around. Once we were through with that, it was clear that everyone was ready to go home. Again, the girls napped in the hotel. That evening we ate dinner in the foodcourt and then took the ferry to Downtown Disney. We had tons of fun in the World of Disney shop. (And it wouldn’t be our last visit there either!) Everyone was tired, and we went to bed early so we would be well rested for the next very important day...

 

[MamaOfTwoPrincesses]

Day 4 – MK and Julia’s 5th Birthday! :bday

The birthday girl was all smiles and excited to learn that she would be having lunch with Cinderella and the princesses for her birthday. When she awoke, she found a card and balloon by the door, left by her favorite princess (for the day at least!), Sleeping Beauty, thanks to Mom’s chat with the front desk.

We headed back to Magic Kingdom, and Julia and Daddy went right to work and headed to Big Thunder Mountain – turns out Julia loves the roller coasters! Then we all rode on Buzz Lightyear, which was lots of fun for all four of us. After that, we headed to Toontown to meet characters. We met Ariel in her wedding dress, Belle in her yellow dress, Cinderella, Snow White, Chip n Dale (who kept tickling Julia!), Minnie, Donald, and Goofy – all in one hour! Then we rode Peter Pan and Pooh again. And we met Alice by the Teacups! At this point it was time to get ready for lunch in the castle. Julia changed into her new Cinderella dress and silver shoes and was ready to go. We met Cinderella downstairs and headed into the dining room. Here we met Jasmine, Snow White, Belle in her blue dress, and the Fairy Godmother. We found the food here to be mediocre, but of course, we were paying for the princesses! Julia was very excited to meet them all! They were all very sweet and spent a generous amount of time with all of their guests. Julia’s autograph book got lots of signatures! And we got a beautiful 8x10 picture of Julia with Cinderella, as part of the meal.

After lunch, we headed back for a rest, and Julia and I took the ferry to Downtown Disney for a special surprise. I had made an appointment for Julia to get a princess ‘do at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. Julia had THE BEST time! I think this may have been her favorite part of the trip. Her “fairy godmother” transformed Julia into a princess with more gook and goo in her hair than you can imagine. There was not one hair out of place, nor would there be for several days! After Julia’s transformation complete with a generous sprinkling of pixie dust, we did a photo shoot. My shy girl truly surprised me and totally hammed it up for the photographer. She had the best time and was clearly enjoying herself dressed up as a princess. Shortly after we finished, Daddy and Emma met up with us, and we shopped in the Princess store. (And I do mean shopped…We left there with quite a lot of princess gear!)

It was then time to head over to the Grand Floridian for our dinner at 1900 Park Fare. At Cinderella’s Gala Feast, we were greeted by the Fairy Godmother, and then ushered to our seats. We met Suzy and Perla, Cinderella’s mouse friends, and then Cinderella and Prince Charming came out to meet us. I think the food at this site was the best we had. It was another buffet, which was good for our picky eaters! Julia was given a placemat signed by the Cinderella and friends and a birthday tiara. I had arranged to have a cake brought to our table for Julia’s birthday, and the entire restaurant sang to Julia. The cake was YUMMY! Julia made friends with some other little princesses, and before knew it, there were several little Cinderella’s dancing around the center of the room. rincess After dinner, it was clear that we had had too much birthday excitement, so we headed home to bed. Julia insisted on keeping her princess hair that night, and I’ll be darned, that hair stayed in place for the entire next day! It was clear that our little princess had had a truly magical 5th birthday. :birthday

 

[MamaOfTwoPrincesses]

Day 5 – Epcot
We left early and were able to get into the park before opening, as we were having breakfast with the Princesses in Norway. It was soooo nice to be there with no other people. Although no attractions were open yet, it was just lovely to walk around virtually on our own. We got to the Storybook Breakfast, and had a picture taken with Belle. During breakfast we met Jasmine, Snow White, Mulan(!), and Aurora (finally!) Because of her allergy, the chef here made Julia a special pancake that was not on the menu, plus her own plate of eggs. All of the princesses were very pretty and sweet, but I was especially taken by how kind Mulan was. We even saw her later in the day when we visited China, and she remembered Julia’s name.

After breakfast, we headed over to Soarin’. Emma had fallen asleep, so Julia and Daddy got on the ride with a minimal wait. Thanks to a parent swap, I was able to ride again with Julia shortly thereafter. We all agree that Soarin’ was the single most amazing thing we did at Disney World. It was just amazing to feel like we were flying. And we loved seeing Tink at the end. Emma woke up so we went off to find Nemo and talk with Crush. That was so much fun!! After that, Julia and Daddy rode a few more things and I walked around with Emma. She woke up before they were back, and we had some lunch while we waited. Once everyone had eaten, we embarked upon our world tour. We had fun meandering up the streets of the UK and Canada, and thanks to my sharp eye, we were able to meet Mary Poppins and Pooh and Tigger in England, who Emma had fun with. I loved the World Showcase, but it was clear everyone was getting tired. Our original plan had been to hit MGM this afternoon, but Emma had fallen asleep again, so we decided to keep going, since we had only gotten through a small portion of the countries. I’m glad we did this, as I didn’t want to miss out on the World Showcase. We saw Jasmine, Aladdin, and the Genie in Morocco, Aurora in France, Snow White in Germany, and the sweet Mulan in China. (I think we just missed Belle and the Beast in France, but we had met her already!) Once we finished with the countries, Julia was ready to take off her Cinderella dress and wear regular clothes. She still had her princess ‘do though! We walked around a bit more, and then went back to the UK to have dinner at the pub. This turned out to be quite a good meal, and I was glad we chose to do it. After dinner, we promised Julia to ride Soarin’(which we had fast passed before dinner) again. Once again, Julia got to go twice, thanks to the parent swap. Man, that was incredible! It was nearly 8pm by then with just an hour to go before the fireworks, but we were dead tired, so we decided to call it a night. After almost 12 hours at Epcot, we were ready for bed!

 

[MamaOfTwoPrincesses]

Day 6 – Princess Tea and more MK
This was our last full day at WDW, and we were all getting to be pretty tired. But there was still more fun to come. This morning, Julia and Mommy attended high tea with Sleeping Beauty, while Michael and Emma had fun at the MK. The Perfectly Princess Tea Party was just adorable. There were only about 20 girls there, mostly with their moms, all decked out in their Princess finery. Each girl was announced before entering the tea. She was given a tiara and showered with rose petals by our hostess, Rose Petal. When they got to their seats, there was a My Disney Girl doll (similar to American Girl) dressed as Sleeping Beauty awaiting each little girl. They were all so excited! Then when they opened up their napkins, each girl found a charm bracelet. “Ooooooh!” They were given “magic tea” (apple juice) and the moms got real tea. Julia insisted on adding several lumps of sugar to hers! She had such fun having a real life tea party. The girls had little finger sandwiches cut in the shape of hearts and fruit to eat. Rose Petal told them the story of Sleeping Beauty and they all sang some songs. Then, all the girls gathered in the center, and Aurora finally made her appearance. The girls were all so happy! They all danced with her, and then she came by each table to talk with the girls individually while we had some cake. We were also given some scrapbooking materials to take home with us. Now, this tea was RIDICULOUSLY expensive, but Julia had the time of her life, and it was so sweet to see how truly excited she was. And it was her birthday, after all…

After tea, we met up with Daddy and Emma (who had just awoken from a nap) at the MK, and made our way to Adventureland, where we tried to ride Pirates of the Caribbean. Julia got too scared, so we did the Aladdin ride instead. Then she had a change of heart, and we successfully made it through Pirates. Julia had a small flashlight to help her with the dark parts, and she did JUST fine. After that, we FINALLY met Peter Pan and Wendy, which was a real highlight for Julia. We then ourselves near the beginning of the parade route, so we took our place along the side and enjoyed the daytime parade right at the front, which was nice. During that time, we got fast passes for Big Thunder Mountain, which Julia wanted to go on with me (much to my chagrin!) We took in the Country Bear Jamboree, which I just don’t get, but Michael and Emma enjoyed it. Julia was practically asleep on my lap. We tried to do some more rides in Fantasyland, but it was getting really crowded by now. We did get to go on It’s a Small World one more time. And we saw Mickey’s Philharmagic 3D show, which was just too cool. In fact we did it twice, as there was no wait. Then we had a quick dinner, rode Buzz again, and headed out, missing the fireworks, but we had two exhausted little girls by then.

 

[MamaOfTwoPrincesses]

Day 7 – last day MGM
We had to check out early today. The only park we hadn’t made it to yet was MGM, and as luck would have it, this was the early day there. We made it over by about 8:30 and went to the Playhouse Disney breakfast at Hollywood and Vine, where we met June and Leo from Little Einsteins, as well as Jojo and Goliath. The food here was excellent. I especially liked the Mickey waffles! We really chatted it up with Leo (through sign language of course!), telling him we were excited to see the new upcoming LE episodes. At one point, Emma ran over to Jojo and started dancing with her!!

After breakfast, Julia was excited to do the Star Tours ride with Daddy, while Emma and I played in the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground. Then we met up to see the excellent Beauty and Beast stage show, which was very well done. After that, Emma fell asleep, and Julia and I got right into the Little Mermaid show which we had fast passed. This show was really cool, with a combination of real people, animation, and puppetry. Then we met Annie and Leo (again) from Little Einsteins, followed by Buzz and Woody. We just missed Qunicy! Then Daddy and Julia took in the Muppet Show (which they said was not that great), while Emma and I got pizza for lunch.

By now we were DONE, and had to think about heading back to the resort to catch our shuttle to the airport. But Julia really wanted to ride the Tower of Terror, which Michael had fast passed. So the two of them hoofed it over there, while Emma and I took care of our Photopass pictures and purchased the CD of all 200+ professional shots that had been taken during our trip. Julia and Michael made it back to us without actually getting on the ride. Just minutes before they would have gotten on the ride, Julia got freaked out and lost her nerve, so they never made it. Oh well! By now it really was time to get going, so we hopped our resort shuttle, claimed our bags, and headed to the airport.

 

[MamaOfTwoPrincesses]

Final thoughts-
All in all, it was a truly magical trip. We lucked out with not one drop of rain, several warm days, and 2 rather chilly, but lovely, ones. I would go this week in January again in a heartbeat, as the crowds were low and we didn’t have too much of a wait for most anything. There was a Marathon just before we arrived, and MLK weekend had just started when we left, so we got a nice quiet week. The Fastpass system is fabulous, and we also loved the Photopass. Since we took advantage of it and got so many pictures (some with all FOUR of us!) we felt OK purchasing the $100 CD. We had purchased Park Hoppper tickets, but we never hopped. So it would have been cheaper to get the basic tickets. Now we know! The meal plan was a very good investment for us, as we did so many character meals, but if that hadn’t been part of our itinerary, I’m not sure that it would have been a good idea. The kids meal part of the meal plan needs to be adjusted – the offerings are not things many kids WANT to eat! I mean, why can’t kids eat pizza at a pizza place!? (Pizzafari) or have hamburgers!? But that is a small gripe. Plus, they were very attentive to our food allergy needs, which one might expect at such a large place. Bravo again to Disney for this!

We had our reservations about how Emma would do, given her age. But she did really, really well. We tried hard to make sure she could nap and we could all rest, but there were 2 really long days where we didn’t go back to the hotel. Julia was a little princess and was so excited by everything and everyone she saw and did. Getting her into the double stroller was a very wise decision. I think she rode more than Emma, who wanted to get out and run most of the time. Emma really gave us a run for our money, let me tell you! Our little Princess Julia had the 5th birthday of a lifetime, so it was all worthwhile. Guess we need to start planning for Emma’s 5th birthday now…!

 

[mouseketeer_mom]

What a wonderful trip report. Thanks so much for taking the time to write it. I have to ask; did you think the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique was worth the money? Which character meals did you think were worth paying OOP for?

Glad you had a wonderful trip!

 

[MamaOfTwoPrincesses]

What a wonderful trip report. Thanks so much for taking the time to write it. I have to ask; did you think the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique was worth the money? Which character meals did you think were worth paying OOP for?

Glad you had a wonderful trip!

We did the cheapest package at the BBB, and I thought $35 was not too bad. Julia had SO MUCH FUN. I can't even tell you. Then we went over to the Guest Relations area and did a photo shoot with a Photo Pass photographer. These picts were all saved on our card, plus I was able to take picts with my camera. We did not have to buy anything, but I did choose a special package for BBB customers - I think it was $22 for an 8x10 and 4 4x6s.

As for the character meals, we ended up paying for CRT and the Tea out of pocket. They were boh very well done. But I have to say that the best meal we had (with the sweetest princesses) was the Epcot Breakfast. The Cinderella dinner at 1900 Park Fare was also really good. And Chef Mickey's is a "don't miss" for sure. It was a great way to kick off our trip.

 

[Oldironsides]

We are going at the end of this month and doing many of the same things with our 5 yo dd princess. We are staying at POR though and we did the tea last time. I am glad you enjoyed the Norway storybook breakfast, we are doing it for the first time this trip. This is our first off season trip and I hope the crowds are still like you described. I also hope we get a few 80 degree days. Have you started to mentally plan for your next trip yet?

 

[Jaxs27]

Hey Colleen! Glad you had such an amazing trip!

 

[MamaOfTwoPrincesses]

Hey Colleen! Glad you had such an amazing trip!

 

[amarberry]

Nice trip report! I can't wait until my DD is old enough to go to the Princess Tea...it sounds like it was a wonderful time.

 

[MamaOfTwoPrincesses]

Thanks everyone! Glad you enjoyed this.

 

[Alyssa88]

Great Report, sounds like your little girl had a wonderful birthday!!

I was right next door at Port Orleans Riverside while you were there, our dates were from the 6th-12th.

 

[noahcarter]

It sounds like you had a magical time. We will be there around that same time in January of '08. I was happy to hear how your daughters allergy was handled. My son also has a peanut allergy. I am a little nervous about how this will playout at Disney.

 

[IcePrincess467]

Sounds like you had a wonderful trip! Can I just say, I just finished looking at your pictures and you have 2 beautiful and cute little girls (Must make WDW so much better, I know I can't wait to have a daughter!!)

 

[Imagoofy1]

Sounds like you had a wonderful trip. I am going with the grandkids in september (GD4 and GS2). Can't wait.

 

[Granite State Heidi]

Day 4 – MK and Julia’s 5th Birthday! :bday


It was then time to head over to the Grand Floridian for our dinner at 1900 Park Fare. At Cinderella’s Gala Feast, we were greeted by the Fairy Godmother, and then ushered to our seats. We met Suzy and Perla, Cinderella’s mouse friends, and then Cinderella and Prince Charming came out to meet us. I think the food at this site was the best we had. It was another buffet, which was good for our picky eaters! Julia was given a placemat signed by the Cinderella and friends and a birthday tiara.

Can you tell me more about the tiara you received? We are celebrating my DD's actual bday at Cindy's Gala Fest. I told the CM we were celebrating a bday, and I will order a cake to be served at the end of our meal. I've heard of the placements being signed by characters, but the birthday tiara you mention is news to me!