A newbie, a nana, two princess, and......the Planner! (Updated 1/4--DTD & head home)

[disneymom1980]

I went ahead and found the link and came over. The girls are sooooooooooo cute in those pumpkin hats! The limo ride looks fun! Much better than a bus full of people I'm sure. Great start...can't wait for more!

I'm glad you're here . I responded on your trip report too.

The limo ride was a lot of fun, and it was fun to see DD #1 get so excited . I figured it would just be a lot nicer that way, and DH has sworn that now he will ever ride the ME .

 

[Girldreamer02]

More more hehe

 

[disneymom1980]

By the time we got checked in at the resort and made it to the Magic Kingdom, everyone was STARVING, so I snapped a few quick pictures on the way in,

and we ended up at the first place that we came to.........Pinocchio's Village Haus. It was about 12:45, and the place was completely insane. You could hardly walk because there were so many people.

I tried to do a quick explanation to DH of how the dining plan worked so that he knew how to order, and then DD #2 and I went to scout out a table. We went to the part of the restaurant that overlooks It's a Small World because it's closest to the ordering lines and I thought both DDs would enjoy it.

I stood around like a dork for a long time, and then a family that was leaving saw us and offered us their table. They even let me and DD sit down with them until they left because there was this crazy woman hovering around trying to take all the tables........she already had four of them right by the viewing window, so I can't believe she really needed another one.

DH, my mom, and DD #1 finally made it over to the table. DH had gotten a pepperoni pizza meal with fries and cheesecake for us to share and a peanut butter and jelly kid's meal with applesauce and a chocolate chip cookie for DD.

I know some people don't like the pizza at Disney, but we really enjoyed it.

My mom had the Mediterranean salad and Figaro Fries.

She really liked the salad, especially the mozzarella on it. I ended up eat lots of her fries, and although I never had them the original way (with lettuce and ranch), I think they probably were better that way. They were still good though.

I think Anna (DD #1) was still feeling the effects of the ear infection and the antibiotic because she basically didn't eat anything. Addy (DD #2) ate absolutely anything that we gave her, which is pretty normal for her.

Anna decided she needed to go to the bathroom, so she and I went in search for them. Turns out we had to go out of the actual restaurant and to the side, and there was a really LONG wait. They were remodeling the bathroom, and only like 3 of the stalls were open. We finally made it in, but on the way back out, there was a little girl waiting in line with her mom crying because she hadn't been able to wait. I felt horrible for both her and the mother. The girl was so upset, and the mom just kept trying to tell her it was ok .

 

[disneymom1980]

Once we finished eating, Anna insisted that we HAD to go on It's a Small World. My grandma, who Anna is really close to, had been telling Anna all about it because it was her favorite ride when she was at Disney World about 30 years ago. There was a 40 minute wait, but we went ahead and rode. Needless to say, Addy was less than thrilled about being stuck in the line for that long, but she did enjoy the boat ride and the music. Anna loved the ride, and DH even admited to enjoying it . He also managed to get a few good pictures.

We tried to take a family picture when we got off, but Addy was tired and grumpy not interested......

I will tell you that this was the one and only day that Addy didn't get a nap, and it was a HUGE mistake! She was definitely not happy, and it really put a damper on things. The only time she was happy was when she was riding around on daddy's shoulders .

When we got off, there was basically no wait for Snow White, so we went and rode it. Anna was a little scared, but she actually did better than I expected, probably because she was famliar with the storyline. Addy, on the other hand, was scared to death......I felt like a bad mommy for even taking her on it . DH got a few pictures here too......

After we got off the ride, we walked through a few shops and bought a pressed penny book and let Anna made our first penny of the trip. We tried on a few hats

and decided to make our way to the monorail for our dinner reservation at Chef Mickey's. I had to take one more castle picture on the way out

Up next........our first character meal

 

[disneymom1980]

More more hehe

LOL..........I'm here . I didn't get an update done this afternoon because DD #1 had dance lessons after school, so I had to wait until they were both in bed. It's harvest time here (we live in a very rural area), so DH isn't really around to help much right now.

 

[Girldreamer02]

Sorry I'm impatient I was just giving ya a hard time anyways. I loved the update! I've never ate there and we probably won't when we go in dec if its anything like you said it was...I don't do the whole crowd thing. I melt down like a five year old. Lol. I wish I could say this was a false statement, but its really not. DH is constantly making sure that we are eating at just the right times when we are at disney and if I start to show any signs of lack of sugar hes like oh its time for food. Haha. I'm sure this is true of a lot of people, but when my blood sugar gets low...I just start to get cranky and dis interested in stuff. If I really let it crash thats a bad sight As i'm sure you can imagine since you have little kids. Hes pretty good at seeing the warning signs...I should hope so after five years. I always eat more at disney than normal too...I think its b/c you burn off your meal after you eat by all that walking so I'm always like starving if we have a early dinner. We rode its a small world this past dec b/c there was no wait...weird i know right? We hit at just the right time! We got almost everything in before one. It was weird. I like its a small world...even if the song does get to you after a while, but all the colors are so pretty. Very awesome! Snow White is okay and we always ride it, but I like peter pan and winnie the pooh best! The hat picture is so cute! And the family pic even if the little one isn't to pleased.

 

[punkin413]

cute pictures! your girls are adorable. glad you guys got some attractions in before dinner at chef mickey's.

 

[disneymom1980]

Sorry I'm impatient I was just giving ya a hard time anyways. I loved the update! I've never ate there and we probably won't when we go in dec if its anything like you said it was...I don't do the whole crowd thing. I melt down like a five year old. Lol. I wish I could say this was a false statement, but its really not. DH is constantly making sure that we are eating at just the right times when we are at disney and if I start to show any signs of lack of sugar hes like oh its time for food. Haha. I'm sure this is true of a lot of people, but when my blood sugar gets low...I just start to get cranky and dis interested in stuff. If I really let it crash thats a bad sight As i'm sure you can imagine since you have little kids. Hes pretty good at seeing the warning signs...I should hope so after five years. I always eat more at disney than normal too...I think its b/c you burn off your meal after you eat by all that walking so I'm always like starving if we have a early dinner. We rode its a small world this past dec b/c there was no wait...weird i know right? We hit at just the right time! We got almost everything in before one. It was weird. I like its a small world...even if the song does get to you after a while, but all the colors are so pretty. Very awesome! Snow White is okay and we always ride it, but I like peter pan and winnie the pooh best! The hat picture is so cute! And the family pic even if the little one isn't to pleased.

I know you were just giving me a hard time. I give my girl scout promise (well, my girl scout leader promise since I'm old now )to try to get at least one update up everyday.

I have blood sugar issues too, so I know exactly what you mean. DH isn't so good at catching it, but my mom can see it coming from a mile away. I was pretty happy with myself on this trip because I ate basically whatever I wanted and managed to not gain any weight.........it had to have been all the walking.

I couldn't believe the line for IASW........we walked by a couple of days later, and the wait was like 10 minutes. I think that we just caught it at the wrong time. I loved Winnie the Pooh too (he's my favorite), but we were really disappointed because we never got to ride Peter Pan this trip. The line was really long (like a 45 minute wait) every time we walked by........even at MNSSHP! Anna says it's the first thing she's going to ride the next time we go .

cute pictures! your girls are adorable. glad you guys got some attractions in before dinner at chef mickey's.

Thank you. As you may have noticed, most people tell us that we have carbon copies.........one of each. Anna looks, and acts, pretty much exactly like me. Right down to the curly hair. Addy, on the other hand, is exactly like her daddy. I never would have believed anyone who tried to tell me that two sisters could be that completely opposite, but our girls definitely are .

We wanted to get a few rides in before Chef Mickey's, but we also wanted to make sure we had ample time to get there since it was our first ADR.

 

[Girldreamer02]

I always eat what I want too...I'm not a huge eater, but like I said when I do all that walking...I eat several times at disney a day. If we have dinner at 5 and then walk around...that kills me I'm starving by 9ish. So we'll stop somewhere and eat or get a snack depending how hungry I am hehe. Pooh is my fave too...well I love all of them, but pooh and tigger are my top two faves out of all the winnie the pooh characters. My sister and I were complete night and day when we were younger...didn't look alike and she was the more outgoing of the two of us. Now that we've grown up though we are a little more similar, but still don't look anything alike. She is a little shorter than me and chubby I guess is a nice way of saying it? Blonde hair that she has to highlight every month and straighten every single day b/c God forbid it should be naturally curly like it is...and its so beautiful when she lets it be curly which is like once in a blue moon. Me on the other hand...tall and skinny and I have brown hair and I have to pay to have mine permed...some people have all the luck. She was a soccer player, took all the art classes and was amazing in them and really good at the violin...I struggled through 8 years of band and I don't have an artistic bone in my body. Unless you count photography and scrapbooking as art. I love photography though...we actually both share both those loves. Wait till they start fighting if they don't already. We used to beat the living stuffing out of each other and she used to steal my clothes and stretch them out. If you would of told me five years ago my sister would be my best friend some day I would of looked at you like you were crazy. We are though and I miss her so much. She did just come to visit with her fiance about three weeks ago so that was nice!

 

[OneTreeHillAddict]

OMG I noticed that too about the CS places. They get so busy and run out of tables. That part I did not miss on the DlxDP. I'm worried this time. I'm going to have to schedule some times that aren't super busy like that or my parents will go crazy. I guess either eat lunch before 10 or after 2. Yikes.

Whoa! 40 minutes for IASW! Did your DD's enjoy the ride? My baby loves it! He sit on that boat all day long. I love the pics of you guys in the hats! So cute. The castle pics are cool too. I love that place! I hope we get to sleep in it this time!

 

[ThePin Princess]

Great pictures, and great installment! I have to say that like the girls i used to get scared on Snow White it was just dark, scary, and unfamiliar. Can't wait to here about Chef Mickey's I love that restuarant!

 

[disneymom1980]

I always eat what I want too...I'm not a huge eater, but like I said when I do all that walking...I eat several times at disney a day. If we have dinner at 5 and then walk around...that kills me I'm starving by 9ish. So we'll stop somewhere and eat or get a snack depending how hungry I am hehe. Pooh is my fave too...well I love all of them, but pooh and tigger are my top two faves out of all the winnie the pooh characters. My sister and I were complete night and day when we were younger...didn't look alike and she was the more outgoing of the two of us. Now that we've grown up though we are a little more similar, but still don't look anything alike. She is a little shorter than me and chubby I guess is a nice way of saying it? Blonde hair that she has to highlight every month and straighten every single day b/c God forbid it should be naturally curly like it is...and its so beautiful when she lets it be curly which is like once in a blue moon. Me on the other hand...tall and skinny and I have brown hair and I have to pay to have mine permed...some people have all the luck. She was a soccer player, took all the art classes and was amazing in them and really good at the violin...I struggled through 8 years of band and I don't have an artistic bone in my body. Unless you count photography and scrapbooking as art. I love photography though...we actually both share both those loves. Wait till they start fighting if they don't already. We used to beat the living stuffing out of each other and she used to steal my clothes and stretch them out. If you would of told me five years ago my sister would be my best friend some day I would of looked at you like you were crazy. We are though and I miss her so much. She did just come to visit with her fiance about three weeks ago so that was nice!

I love all of the Pooh characters too.......I'm making DH go back to the Crystal Palace breakfast in January because I didn't get pictures with all of them . I wish that I could eat whatever I wanted.......I have PCOS, and I tend to gain weight very easily, so I have to be really careful. Plus, I'm only 5'1, so every little bit shows.

I sure hope my girls grow up being best friends....they are just so opposite now. However, Addy is very fond of Anna and always gets excited when it's time to go pick her up from school and stuff. I guess we just kind of have to wait and see.

OMG I noticed that too about the CS places. They get so busy and run out of tables. That part I did not miss on the DlxDP. I'm worried this time. I'm going to have to schedule some times that aren't super busy like that or my parents will go crazy. I guess either eat lunch before 10 or after 2. Yikes.

Whoa! 40 minutes for IASW! Did your DD's enjoy the ride? My baby loves it! He sit on that boat all day long. I love the pics of you guys in the hats! So cute. The castle pics are cool too. I love that place! I hope we get to sleep in it this time!

The CS was crazy! I tried to make it a point to eat earlier the other days, and we didn't really run into that problem. Of course, a lot of the days we just had ADRs for breakfast and supper and just kind of snacked for lunch.

The girls did like IASW, but I'm not sure either of them thought that it was worth that long of a wait. I would love to sleep in the castle too........everytime they would introduce someone (in the parade or whatever) that had won that prize, Anna would get all upset and say, "Why don't WE get to sleep in the castle?!?!?!" It was funny, but kind of difficult to explain to a five year old.

Great pictures, and great installment! I have to say that like the girls i used to get scared on Snow White it was just dark, scary, and unfamiliar. Can't wait to here about Chef Mickey's I love that restuarant!

Honestly, the witch kind of scared me on Snow White too.......it was just a little too dark and sudden I think. They both recovered quickly though.

Chef Mickey's coming up.........

 

[disneymom1980]

Chef Mickey's

We took the monorail over to the Contemporary, and we were a bit early, so we wandered around a few of the gift shops and make a pressed quarter with Tinkerbelle on it.

Then we decided we'd head to Chef Mickey's and at least get in line to check in. We ended up being the third family to check in. The family picture here turned out pretty good, and we did end up buying it, but I haven't scanned it yet, so you may have to wait until I get the photopass cd to see it .

We got seated at our table, and it was in a good location, very close to the door the characters came out of. We saw Donald first.

This was the ONE and only time that a character got near Addy (and, as you'll see from the soon, it was only because she didn't realize he was there)

Next came Mickey and Pluto............

Check out Addy's face in this one

Finally came Goofy and Minnie.

We actually ended up seeing all of the characters more than once, but we didn't take many pictures the second time around because Addy was so upset. We ended up taking turns carrying her off to the buffet when they came around so she would get upset. We did get a few more cute pictures with Donald, in fact, most people are saying that the upcoming picture is their favorite of DH from the entire trip.

As for the food here, it was just ok. Nothing spectacular, but not bad either. Honestly, I can't remember much of what I ate here, so it couldn't have been very memorable. The desserts, however, were very good. They were also pretty cute as some were decorated up for Halloween.

This is cheesecake and a Mickey oreo thing.........I didn't particularly care for the actual oreo (it got kind of soggy), but the chocolate mousse stuff on top was REALLY good.

This is chocolate cake, carrot cake, a key lime tart and another oreo thing. I have to say, the key lime tart was the BEST thing from this entire meal. It was YUMMY! In fact, on our way out, my mom had to walk by the dessert buffet and grab one more to go .

The other thing that was really fun at Chef Mickey's was the napkin twirling. Anna absolutely loved this. I think it's probably a good way to break up the sitting time for younger kids. Anna is really good about this in restaurants, but I can already tell you that Addy won't be, and things like this will be a blessing.

 

[Girldreamer02]

Oooo carrot cake...MY FAVE!!! I have never ate at chef mickeys, but I am hoping that when dh made adr's for dec that he put it in there just for the simple fact that I love character meals! I love minnie mouse! Not that I don't love mickey b/c I do. I am a huge character person! I feel bad for the little one being so scared by those characters. I can't imagine being terrified by them, but I guess when they are way bigger than you...then its scary. I can't wait to hear more! I love all the pics...so cute!

 

[OneTreeHillAddict]

Chef Mickey's is so much fun! Your oldest DD looks to be having the time of her life!

 

[brookelizabeth]

I just found your report, the fact that your DD#2 is 14 months really caught my eye, my little guy is 14 months and we are headed to Disney in TWO days. I'm enjoying your report! If you have any tips you have of doing Disney with a 14 month old, please share!

We are doing Chef Mickey's on our first night too-a good way to DIVE into Disney!

 

[ThePin Princess]

Sounds like Chef Mickey's was good!!! Looks like you got some really good pictures!! I'm excited to hear more!!!

 

[disneymom1980]

Oooo carrot cake...MY FAVE!!! I have never ate at chef mickeys, but I am hoping that when dh made adr's for dec that he put it in there just for the simple fact that I love character meals! I love minnie mouse! Not that I don't love mickey b/c I do. I am a huge character person! I feel bad for the little one being so scared by those characters. I can't imagine being terrified by them, but I guess when they are way bigger than you...then its scary. I can't wait to hear more! I love all the pics...so cute!

We really enjoyed Chef Mickey's. The food was good, and the character interaction was great. Even with an upset little one, they still were great with Anna. As for being scared, to be honest, I thought that Anna would be the one to be upset.........she's really timid. I never imagined that it would be Addy. Then, I thought maybe it was just because she was so tired because we'd had to be up so early and she hadn't had a nap. Turned out in future days that this was no the case..........she was just terrified!

Chef Mickey's is so much fun! Your oldest DD looks to be having the time of her life!

I think she felt that way the entire trip. She was so excited, and she had to hug all the characters. If you watch the pictures, you'll see that hugs are pretty much her "pose" with the characters. We even have a picture of her from 1900 Park Fare hugging the wicked stepmother . The stepmother stayed very in character and just looked at her like, "what in the heck are you doing little girl?!?!?!"

I just found your report, the fact that your DD#2 is 14 months really caught my eye, my little guy is 14 months and we are headed to Disney in TWO days. I'm enjoying your report! If you have any tips you have of doing Disney with a 14 month old, please share!

We are doing Chef Mickey's on our first night too-a good way to DIVE into Disney!

Honestly, the biggest tip that I have for you is to stick with naps. The one day that Addy didn't have a nap (the first day), it was pretty awful. The other days, she went back to the hotel with my mom and had a nap in the afternoons......those days went much better. We were lucky to have my mom along because I know our older DD would have been really upset if she'd had to leave the parks everyday.

However, I'm so glad that we had her with us because I know there were things that she did enjoy. As a family, that type of memory is what I really want to have for them when they get older .

Sounds like Chef Mickey's was good!!! Looks like you got some really good pictures!! I'm excited to hear more!!!

We really did enjoy Chef Mickey's. We got quite a few good pictures throughout the trip. Anna turned into quite the poser as you'll see soon .

 

[brookelizabeth]

Honestly, the biggest tip that I have for you is to stick with naps. The one day that Addy didn't have a nap (the first day), it was pretty awful. The other days, she went back to the hotel with my mom and had a nap in the afternoons......those days went much better. We were lucky to have my mom along because I know our older DD would have been really upset if she'd had to leave the parks everyday.

However, I'm so glad that we had her with us because I know there were things that she did enjoy. As a family, that type of memory is what I really want to have for them when they get older .

At first I had thought Henry could just nap in the stroller, but the more I looked at our plans and thought about it, the more I thought an afternoon break/nap would be wise. You've confirmed it!

I am totally with you on the memory thing! I am looking forward to seeing Henry's reactions to everything and recalling them over and over again.

 

[disneymom1980]

At first I had thought Henry could just nap in the stroller, but the more I looked at our plans and thought about it, the more I thought an afternoon break/nap would be wise. You've confirmed it!

I am totally with you on the memory thing! I am looking forward to seeing Henry's reactions to everything and recalling them over and over again.

I had hoped that Addy might nap in the stroller too, but she never did.....not once. However, part of the problem could have been that the stroller we brought didn't recline. Are you bringing your own stroller or renting one there? Even if the stroller we had did recline, I think there might have just been too much going on for her to sleep. She wanted to watch everything and take it all in .