A 2009 Magical Christmas Trip Report - Big Announcement!

[praisehisname]

I love the settings you got for your pearls! 1900 PF sounds really fun; I'd like to have dinner there to see the Step Sisters! Can't wait to hear about BBB!

Denise

 

[creativeamanda]

I'm excited about hearing about BBB, as well. We are thinking of doing this for the girls in June.

 

[raider97]

Day 2- Part 2 - December 18th, 2009

Well, when I left off we were waiting patiently for the dressing rooms to open up… well as patient as a 7 year old and 5 year old can. The girls were called back and were excited to see what their dresses looked like. Somehow I had managed to keep the dresses a secret until we were in the dressing room! The girls were thrilled with Belle’s Christmas dresses I had picked up for them. Unfortunately, Ashley found her dress itchy so her black long sleeve shirt went back on under her dress.

When we came out Christopher was already in his chair picking out the colors he wanted for his cool dude makeover. He got to pick four colors for his hair. His Fairy Godmother was really sweet, trying to engage him, but he was pretty tired and you could tell as he quietly sat and let her work her magic. When she turned him around and he looked into the mirror he looked completely shocked. I am not sure he recognized himself. He looked really cute, but he didn’t love it right away. In fact, he climbed down and asked me to take it out. As the night wore on and he got lots of compliments he finally started to like his cool new hairdo.

Christopher getting his colors put in.

Christopher getting his sprinkles.

His first shocked reaction.

Here he is starting to come around.

Family picture!

Ashley’s Fairy Godmother called her into the chair next to Chris to get started as soon as we came out of the dressing rooms. Let me take this time to tell you that I routinely pull the girls hair up into princess buns for them at home so I had figured they would pick one of the other hairstyles. But Ashley picked the fairy-tale princess hairstyle. Her Fairy Godmother was wonderful. She was attentive, talkative, and a sweetheart. And Ashley loved the whole process… I don’t think her smile ever left her face. She was so happy. When they turned her around to look in the mirror, the experience was so worth it. She was smiling from ear to ear and that smile lasted all night long.

Ashley getting her hair done.

She was so happy during her entire makeover!

Finishing up her hair and makeup.

Ashley getting her sprinkles.

Her first glimpse in the mirror!

What a wonderful experience!

Haley was called by Christopher’s Fairy Godmother as soon as he was done. She was so excited for her turn. She had been lurking around her brother and sister patiently waiting her turn. She was thrilled when she was asked to climb up into the magic chair. She took no more than a minute picking out the fairy-tale princess hairstyle too. However, she did pick pink nail polish, instead of the blue that Ashley had picked, no surprise here my Haley’s very favorite color is pink. She is a pink girl. She sat quietly as her Fairy Godmother worked her magic. And as she was turned around to see herself in the mirror for the first time a huge smile broke out over her face. She really was a princess.

Haley patiently waiting her turn.

Haley picking out her hairstyle.

Haley getting her hair done.

Haley's first glimpse in the mirror.

Haley just loved how she looked!

I just love this picture!

After Haley was done we left the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique to head towards Exposition Hall to have pictures taken of the girls. We stopped on the way for a few photopass pictures.

I will have to leave you wanting more tonight. I got caught up working with Ashley on an extra credit project that came home tonight and is due on Thursday. She has to make a musical instrument, it has to look like an instrument and be playable. We ended up making a very cute and colorful tambourine, but it took up most of my night and I still have the dreaded laundry and dishes to do. So I will have to catch you all up on the rest of the day tomorrow.

Have a great night!

Stephanie

 

[creativeamanda]

Those pictures from BBB are awesome! How far in advance did you make the reservations? And do they do a cc guarantee?

This is what I want to do for my girls for their birthdays--perhaps at the castle before out CRT adr.

 

[praisehisname]

Aw, they all turned out adorable! How long does it take in BBB?

Denise

 

[LOVEMY3KIDDOS]

Great pictures! Glad your girls enjoyed the BBB so much!!! Can't wait to see the pictures from Expo Hall!!!

 

[raider97]

Those pearls are beautiful!

Also, I love you girls' dresses. I think I did see ya'll on the 18th!

Thanks! I am so happy we did the pick-a-pearl this time. The settings turned out so pretty.

I love those dresses. I have to admit though my Haley hates those work dresses, it was all I could do that morning to convince her to wear it. I think they are just adorable and Ashley loves hers. I'm not sure why Haley has such a dislike for it?

You probably did see us! We probably crossed paths 100 times on the 18th!

Awesome update! Love the pics! I see you got your photopass in. I got mine in today! Yay! I can't wait to see the girls with their make-overs!!!!

Thanks! Yep, got mine in. I saw some of your photopass pictures on your trip report! They look great! Sorry the update took so long.

Aww....the pic of Christopher's cheek after Mary Poppins kissed him is priceless! Your kids are so adorable - loved the girls' dresses

Chris is a huge fan of Mary Poppins. He simply adores her. He was very happy with his kiss. Thanks for the compliment - I think they are cute, but I'm pretty biased.

1900 Park Fare was a new one for us this time also. We loved it...the food was great and the characters were awesome, especially the Mad Hatter! We agree that we will go back there too! Your photopass pix are great! Can't wait to see the make-overs!!!

We loved it too! The interaction was good and so was the buffet. We loved our ADR time... I would pick it again in a heartbeat!

YAY!! Great update!! I just love the pics from 1900 Park Fare!! We're doing dinner in May so we might just have to do breakfast in Dec.!!! Your kids are absolutely precious!! Christopher looks like he is in awe of Mary Poppins!! Love the PP pics with the Christmas decorations up in MK!! Can't wait to hear all about the BBB!

Thanks! Sorry the update took so long! We really loved the 1900 Park Fare breakfast and if you do it at Christmastime it will give you a reason to get over to the Grand Floridian to see it all decked out for Christmas plus you have to see the Gingerbread House it is awesome!

 

[raider97]

I love the settings you got for your pearls! 1900 PF sounds really fun; I'd like to have dinner there to see the Step Sisters! Can't wait to hear about BBB!

Denise

Thanks! It really was a great breakfast! A big hit here. I would like to try dinner with the step-sisters sometime too. Our friends ate there before the party on the 18th and LOVED it! Sorry the update took so long!!

I'm excited about hearing about BBB, as well. We are thinking of doing this for the girls in June.

Sorry the update took so long. DH has been working really long hours and now has two weeks of nights so real life has been seriously cutting into my DIS time.

Aw, they all turned out adorable! How long does it take in BBB?

Denise

Thanks! The girls just loved their makeovers. I would say it takes between 30 - 45 minutes for an appt. It depends they are running on time and if more than one Fairy Godmother helps out. Also we had to wait longer since Haley had to wait for Christopher's chair to open up even though all 3 were booked for 1:30 p.m. Ashley had two Fairy Godmothers... one primarily, but another one came over and did her nails and makeup. It sped things up some. Haley's Fairy Godmother did all of it herself so her appt was a little longer.

Great pictures! Glad your girls enjoyed the BBB so much!!! Can't wait to see the pictures from Expo Hall!!!

Thanks! Hopefully tonight. I have the update written up, I just didn't have time to fight with photobucket last night.

Those pictures from BBB are awesome! How far in advance did you make the reservations? And do they do a cc guarantee?

This is what I want to do for my girls for their birthdays--perhaps at the castle before out CRT adr.

Amanda - I made the ADR 90 days out (when I made my dining reservations). I did it right away since I had heard that the appts before the parties booked up quickly. Yes, they did take a credit card guarantee. I don't remember off hand what the cancellation policy was.

That's what we did. They had BBB appointments at 1:30 p.m., then we went down to Exposition Hall and had pictures made and then went back to dinner at CRT. It worked out great!

 

[creativeamanda]

Thanks! I called and made my reservation for BBB today! They'll be at Epcot that day, but they are going to love it!

 

[ladybugmom]

YAY for the BBB!! Ashley & Haley are absolutely GORGEOUS!! I love their matching Belle dresses!! And Christopher is just precious with his cool dude hairdo!!

 

[raider97]

Thanks! I called and made my reservation for BBB today! They'll be at Epcot that day, but they are going to love it!

How exciting! It was really a fun experience!

YAY for the BBB!! Ashley & Haley are absolutely GORGEOUS!! I love their matching Belle dresses!! And Christopher is just precious with his cool dude hairdo!!

Thanks! I am really glad we decided to make the reservations! It really was priceless. The had a great time! I think they will remember the experience for a long time.

 

[raider97]

Day 2- Part 3 - December 18th, 2009

We arrived at Exposition Hall to find quite a line of little girls waiting for their photo shoots. So we decided to visit with some characters first. We got to see Tigger and Pooh with only a short line. The girls even got sweet hugs from them.

We also got to meet Donald and Uncle Scrooge with no wait at all! The characters really took their time with the kids since there was literally no one else waiting to meet them. We have never met characters here before, but will have to look in sometimes to see if anyone is there since it seems to be relatively unknown spot for character hunting. After pictures and autographs we headed back to the photo shoot line.

We still had a few people in front of us, but the time passed by quickly. Each of the girls got their pictures done in their own photo shoot. They looked so adorable posing all dressed up. Here are a few of my favorites from the photo shoot.

After the girls were all done, we headed back towards the castle for dinner. We stopped on the way to pick up our Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party wristbands and fast passes to use after dinner for Buzz Lightyear. We arrived a few minutes early for our dinner at Cinderella’s Royal Table, but we were promptly taken in to meet Cinderella…

 

[BippityBoo]

HI!! Becky told me about your TR and the wonderful necklace for the pearl! Love it, thanks for the info!

I loved the update. The girls look precious and what a great tip about the characters! Who knew that they were there

I am wondering if you can let me know where you got the Christmas Costumes ( I am assuming it is Belle?) I really want to get my DD something like that for our Dec 2010 trip!!

Cant wait for more!

 

[raider97]

Day 2- Part 4 - December 18th, 2009

When I left off we had just been taken into to meet Cinderella. The kids just adored her. We got two picture packages since we were a party of six. The first one was Cinderella with the kids and the second one was my mom with the kids and Cinderella. After talking to the kids for a minute and signing autograph books we were taken upstairs to our table. We got a table on the outside ring of the main room.

Our server quickly came over and we ordered our meals. My mom and I ordered the lavender chicken. James ordered the prime rib. Christopher and Haley had chicken nuggets and Ashley ordered a hot dog. Our food was really good. The only problem we had was that our server had not asked if Ashley wanted an condiments with her hot dog and we couldn’t catch him to ask for some mustard and she wouldn’t start eating until she had some. When we were finally able to catch him he apologized profusely and even brought her a fresh hot dog when he brought out the mustard for her. For dessert, Christopher received a birthday cupcake and the girls ordered sundaes. I had the chocolate cream cheese buckle for dessert, which was good, but it paled by far in comparison to the sorbet James got for dessert. It was wonderful!! I am a chocolate girl and I really wished I had ordered the seasonal sorbet, it was that good!

The show started shortly after we were seated. It was really cute, and the kids enjoyed it immensely. They asked about anniversaries and we said we were celebrating ten years. Then the mice came around and we grabbed some cute pictures of them with the kids.

Well, I was going to update dinner along with Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, but my journaling of our night is getting extremely out of hand! So I figured I would post about dinner and leave you hanging about the party...

I hope to have another update done tomorrow. Hope everyone has a wonderful night!

Stephanie

 

[raider97]

HI!! Becky told me about your TR and the wonderful necklace for the pearl! Love it, thanks for the info!

I loved the update. The girls look precious and what a great tip about the characters! Who knew that they were there

I am wondering if you can let me know where you got the Christmas Costumes ( I am assuming it is Belle?) I really want to get my DD something like that for our Dec 2010 trip!!

Cant wait for more!

Hi Katie! Thanks for stopping by! I loved the pick-a-pearl experience. If you have any questions about it let me know and I will attempt to answer them for you.

I was amazed at how few people were in Exposition Hall with the characters. I think I remember reading sometimes they had characters there, but it didn't really cross my mind until we were in there. The lines were really non-exisitant! The kids got to spend so much time with the characters. In fact, the characters were even coming to the kids and interacting with them some more after we had already seen them because it was that dead in there! My cousin's little girl even got to dance around with Scrooge.

I bought the dresses from the Little Dress Up Shop. Here is the link... http://www.littledressupshop.com/store/1608772/product/WBEL325. We ordered their Halloween costumes from them too (Princess Aurora and Princess Anniliese) and I was very happy with their quality. If you are looking to order more than one. They offer a discount of 15% if you order three or more. I needed four, but they didn't have the dresses I wanted packaged together online so I called them and they were happy to give me the 15% off the dresses I was looking for. Hope that helps!!

Stephanie

 

[praisehisname]

The photo shoot turned out great! Did they offer to do one for your son, or is it only for girls?

Someday I want to eat in the castle!

Denise

 

[LOVEMY3KIDDOS]

Nice photoshoot pix!

We have never done dinner in the castle...we've done breakfast and lunch...but maybe worth trying!!!

Can't wait to hear how the party went!

 

[creativeamanda]

The photos from the photoshoot are adorable.

I rarely see a good review of CRT, so I am glad to finally see one--we ar ehaving lunch there in June.

 

[DisneyMom14]

Your little princesses are BEAUTIFUL!!!! I've never tried to visit the characters in Exposition Hall. How cool that you guys got pictures with Scrooge!!! Sounds like you guys had a wonderful day!

 

[raider97]

The photo shoot turned out great! Did they offer to do one for your son, or is it only for girls?

Someday I want to eat in the castle!

Denise

Thanks! The girls loved posing for all the shots. I think we ended up with nearly 20 shots of each of them. They would have taken pictures of Chris, but we had two girls and my cousin's two girls were having photo shoots done, and he was acting pretty tired and grumpy by then. He even refused to take pictures with the characters. He enjoyed some down sitting in Exposition Hall talking to my mom. Whatever she did must have worked because he was in a much better mood when we left.

The castle is fun! We really enjoyed it. We had eaten breakfast there on our honeymoon so it was nice to be back for our 10th anniversary.

Nice photoshoot pix!

We have never done dinner in the castle...we've done breakfast and lunch...but maybe worth trying!!!

Can't wait to hear how the party went!

The photos from the photoshoot are adorable.

I rarely see a good review of CRT, so I am glad to finally see one--we ar ehaving lunch there in June.

Thanks! The kids loved the photo shoot!

We really enjoyed our dinner in the castle. With all my extended family there we actually had three different tables there that afternoon and we all really enjoyed our dinners.

Your little princesses are BEAUTIFUL!!!! I've never tried to visit the characters in Exposition Hall. How cool that you guys got pictures with Scrooge!!! Sounds like you guys had a wonderful day!

Thanks! Try Exposition Hall on your next visit. I don't think they are there all day, but it was so nice to find some characters without the long lines!!

We did have a wonderful day!

Stephanie