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

[disneymom1980]

After dinner at Chef Mickey's we took the monorail back to the Magic Kingdom and then got on a bus to head back to the hotel. Poor Addy was so tired that she fell asleep on the bus. While we were on the bus, we called the front desk to find out our room assignments

Once we got to the rooms (we ended up with nice, adjoining rooms), we called to get our luggage delivered. It took a while for it to get there, so Anna and I decided to take a walk. Ok, this is kind of embarassing, but I'll share anyway because, for anyone who's never stayed there, this resort is huge. We went looking for a quiet pool, and did manage to find one, but then we couldn't find our way back to room. To make matters even worse, I couldn't remember the room number, which means that I was looking for landmarks and the whole place looks very similar. We probably wandered around for about 30-45 minutes before we finally found the room.

Here are a few pictures from our room. We were in the Magnolia Bend section in the Acadian house.

Our towel animal

My mom kept Addy for the night because Anna insisted that we needed to go swimming. I have to tell you that while it was really warm during the day (about 86 degrees), it cooled off a lot in the evenings, and it was pretty cold to swim, but Anna wanted to anyway, so we did. We were in one of the quiet pools, and there were only about 4 other people. We only stayed for about 20 minutes since it was so cold. We basically had race back to the room because we were so cold .

Once we got back to the room, DH and I settled in and watched a little TV. Anna had a quick bath and then decided to play her Nintendo DS for a while. However, I looked over about 5 minutes later, and she was just OUT . It was pretty cute because she was still holding the stylus for the DS and everything. DH and I also went over the Magic Kingdom map to try to find all the rides we wanted to make sure that we didn't miss the next day. Shortly thereafter, we went to bed because we knew we had an early breakfast reservation the next day at the Crystal Palace.

 

[Girldreamer02]

Oooo I love CP!!! We always do breakfast there before the park opens that way we can get good pictures of the castle and main street with few people. Can't wait to hear about it! We never stayed at port orleans, but it looks nice. I've heard some good and some bad things about it. I think thats true of any place and anybody you ask though. Thats so cute that she just passed out holding her game. I love it! Can't wait for another update

 

[disneymom1980]

Ok, both DDs are sleeping right now, so I'm going to try to get the post about our Crystal Palace breakfast done.

We had an 8:05 ADR because I wanted to get into the park before it was open. We had to wait a little bit for a bus, but had no problems being admitted to the park once we arrived. I don't think they even asked for our confirmation number..........although, I know they had a list at other breakfasts we went to, so they probably did here too and I just don't remember .

I took a few pictures of the fall decorations on the way in.

I though it was really cool too see Main Street with so few people. Although DH is NOT a big fan of getting up early, especially on vacation, he did agree that this was pretty cool, and we will be doing it on our January trip (more about that later ).

Once again, the food was just ok here. Nothing too spectacular, but still good. We did have a good waitress who made sure that our drink glasses were always full and that the dirty plates got removed quickly. I also enjoyed this meal because we're not really big breakfast eaters at home, but we all love breakfast food. The one thing my mom did really enjoy was the puffed french toast. I tried the breakfast lasagna (I think I was the only one at our table that did), but I honestly didn't really like it. The other great thing about the buffets is that Addy could eat whatever she wanted. She is a really good eater.........in fact, she usually eats more than Anna, so this was an important factor for us.

Ok, on to the characters. Pooh and the other characters here are my favorites. In fact, Anna's nursery was decorated in Pooh. We were pretty disappointed initially because Eyeore came while we were at the buffet, so we didn't get to see him. My mom waited at the table though, and she did get our autograph books signed. We planned to wait for him to come back around, but in the end it took too long, and we never did get to see him.

Next came Piglet who is one of my favorite character at Disney. Who wouldn't love a cute little pig? Anna was all about her autographs, so we got those done first, and then we took some pictures.

Shorlty after Piglet came Pooh. We had seen him coming, so we postponed a second trip to the buffet to wait for him.

After Pooh came around, we made another quick trip through the buffet, and then they started the parade. Anna was really excited, but insisted that I needed to go with her, so I did. I wanted her to enjoy herself, and there were a lot of other parents doing it, so I didn't feel quite as embarrassed. Unfortunately, or maybe luckily for me , there are no pictures of this.

We had to wait quite a while, but Tigger finally made his way to our table. DH is a Tigger fan, so he had his picture taken with Tigger too. As you may be noticing, Anna is doing her hugging (her picture pose ). She had to get her autograph book signed first though.

Eyeore still hadn't made it back to our side of the room by this point, and we were ready to get into the park (which had already opened), so we decided to just go ahead and go. Before we left though, I had to take some pictures with the topiaries. I love the way the Crystal Palace is decorated, and I just think these are cool.

While I did feel that the characters here were a little rushed, I still think that characters meals are the way to go, especially if you have younger children. Anna really didn't want to wait in the lines to see the characters at the parks. We did a few times, but not very many because she was more interested in doing other things. She didn't want to wait an hour in line to see Mickey Mouse when she could be riding Splash Mountain again !

 

[disneymom1980]

Oooo I love CP!!! We always do breakfast there before the park opens that way we can get good pictures of the castle and main street with few people. Can't wait to hear about it! We never stayed at port orleans, but it looks nice. I've heard some good and some bad things about it. I think thats true of any place and anybody you ask though. Thats so cute that she just passed out holding her game. I love it! Can't wait for another update

We did like Port Orleans, but we had some problems with the buses. I think a good part of this is because but Port Orleans (Riverside and French Quarter) share buses. We actually ended up missing our breakfast ADR at the Animal Kingdom because the buses kept filling up before we could get on. I think you're right though........there are good and bad things about every resort. We were able to upgrade to the Contemporary for our January trip, so I'm really excited about that.

I agree, it was really nice to see Main Street without all the people. We got a pretty good photopass picture too, and I finally got my CD ordered today, so hopefully I'll have it sometime next week.

 

[Girldreamer02]

Yea...the bus system at disney can make your break your day. I hate waiting forever in the morning for a bus, but I hate it even worse when I am dead tired after being in the parks all day. We never seem to have a ton of trouble with buses, but there are a few times we've waited about 20 minutes for a bus here or there. I always wondered what the topiaries looked like at CP when it wasn't christmas time and now you answered my question. Hehe. Everytime I've ever seen them they've had them decked out for the holidays. I love the picture of you and the two girls in front of the topiaries. Where was dad though? Would of been a cute family pic. I'm suprised that eyore didn't make his way back around. Usually your waiter or waitress will make sure that you've gotten your pictures and autographs with everybody and if you haven't they'll make it a point to get that character to your table. And you went at a less busy time than us. We were there on Christmas morning for pete sakes. So thast kinda weird to me. Hopefully you'll get to see him in jan though. When we have a baby its nursery is going to be winnie the pooh too! Was it the classic winnie or just regular?

 

[disneymom1980]

Yea...the bus system at disney can make your break your day. I hate waiting forever in the morning for a bus, but I hate it even worse when I am dead tired after being in the parks all day. We never seem to have a ton of trouble with buses, but there are a few times we've waited about 20 minutes for a bus here or there. I always wondered what the topiaries looked like at CP when it wasn't christmas time and now you answered my question. Hehe. Everytime I've ever seen them they've had them decked out for the holidays. I love the picture of you and the two girls in front of the topiaries. Where was dad though? Would of been a cute family pic. I'm suprised that eyore didn't make his way back around. Usually your waiter or waitress will make sure that you've gotten your pictures and autographs with everybody and if you haven't they'll make it a point to get that character to your table. And you went at a less busy time than us. We were there on Christmas morning for pete sakes. So thast kinda weird to me. Hopefully you'll get to see him in jan though. When we have a baby its nursery is going to be winnie the pooh too! Was it the classic winnie or just regular?

Honestly, I'm pretty sure that DH was in the bathroom when we took that picture . He wanted to make sure that he wouldn't need to go when we were ready to go on the rides.

Our waitress did a good job keeping our drinks full and taking plates away, but she wasn't overly friendly. I don't think she ever even asked if we'd seen the characters. I don't think that she said much at all . Also, even though it was a slower season, the restaurant was completely full. Eyeore wasn't even close to getting back to our table when we finally gave up and left. Anna insisted that we needed to ride Dumbo, and I knew we better do it early.

Our nursery was regular pooh.......I wanted something that was a little more colorful. Addy shares a room with Anna, and Anna's room is done completely in Princesses, so that's what Addy's crib is too. We got lucky and found a really cute Princess crib set that matched the room pretty well.

 

[disneymom1980]

Hey guys........sorry there was no update yesterday, but we had a business dinner, and my mom was watching the girls. About half way through, she called and said that we needed to meet her at the Emergency Room . Anna's ear infection had come back, and instead of getting better with the antibiotic the doctor's office gave her on Thursday, it kept getting worse! They've since given her a different antibiotic and Tylenol with codeine. Hopefully she'll get to feeling better soon. I'll try to post an update this afternoon though.

 

[LilMommyBug]

Hey guys........sorry there was no update yesterday, but we had a business dinner, and my mom was watching the girls. About half way through, she called and said that we needed to meet her at the Emergency Room . Anna's ear infection had come back, and instead of getting better with the antibiotic the doctor's office gave her on Thursday, it kept getting worse! They've since given her a different antibiotic and Tylenol with codeine. Hopefully she'll get to feeling better soon. I'll try to post an update this afternoon though.

Oh no! Hope she feels better soon - My kids have had tons of ear infections this year.

Can't wait to read more

 

[Girldreamer02]

Awww i'm so sorry to hear about the ear infection. Eeek. I hope she gets better soon! Dh surprised me with tickets to go see transiberian orchestra in richmond last night. It rocked! To bad your weekend wasn't as great. Hope she is feeling better soon!

 

[punkin413]

great update of CP! i love that place. i've been once but i want to go back eventually.

 

[disneymom1980]

Oh no! Hope she feels better soon - My kids have had tons of ear infections this year.

Can't wait to read more

Hi and . I don't know what it is with the ear infections because she literally hasn't had one in almost 5 years. My mom, who is a nurse, says she's never seen one this bad . It's just hard to watch her in that much pain and not be able to do anything about it.

Awww i'm so sorry to hear about the ear infection. Eeek. I hope she gets better soon! Dh surprised me with tickets to go see transiberian orchestra in richmond last night. It rocked! To bad your weekend wasn't as great. Hope she is feeling better soon!

No, it wasn't a very good weekend for us, but it sounds like you had a lot of fun. DH isn't much for surprises, and I really wish he was sometimes. We don't have any big cities close to us though (the nearest one is about 3 hours), so it's harder for us to find things like that to do anyway.

great update of CP! i love that place. i've been once but i want to go back eventually.

I love CP. I've been there on 2 out of my 3 trips, and we have an ADR scheduled for our January trip. I love Pooh, and DH just really enjoys getting into the park early when there's no people.

 

[disneymom1980]

As soon as we got done at Crystal Palace, we headed straight for Dumbo. The park had been open for 15 or 20 minutes. The line for Dumbo was already at least 30 minutes long. I've never ridden Dumbo before, and Anna was really excited, so we went ahead and got in line. It was the ONLY line we waited in this long (well, except when DH and I waited for Space Mountain--but that's another story). I ended up riding in one elephant with Anna, and Addy rode with Adam.

DH had the camera, so, unfortunately, we don't have any pictures of them. Anna enjoyed it, but she wanted to be up as high as possible the whole time, and she was really excited when she realized that the lever made it go up higher. The lever in DH's elephant didn't work though, so they were just kind of stuck however it wanted them to go.

Once we got off of Dumbo, we headed for the carousel and got on right away. The pictures aren't very good because Anna didn't want to ride on the outside horses, so it's kind of hard to see us. Here they are though.

After the carousel, we went to see Mickey's Philharmagic because the wait was only about 5 minutes. Mom, Adam, and Anna really liked it, but I missed most of it because Addy kept stealing my 3-D glasses. She HATED the loud parts and the windy parts, so I just let her keep this glasses in an attempt to keep her distracted. We were on the end of a row, so we could have left if she had gotten really upset, but she did ok as long as she got to keep the glasses. I guess I'll get to see it the next time we're there .

After we saw the Philharmagic, we headed for the Winnie the Pooh ride. I had never been on this, and I was really excited because, as I said before, I LOVE Winnie the Pooh. DH actually managed to get some pretty good pictures here too.....the first few I took before we got on the ride.

By the time we got off of Pooh, Addy was getting tired, so my mom decided to head back to the hotel with her so they could both have a little nap. She said that she would meet us back for supper because we had reservations at Cinderella's Royal Table and she was really excited about eating in the castle.

I took this picture on the way toward the front.....

and one on Main Street.

As we were walking to the front Anna insisted that she needed a princess hat, so my mom took her into one of the shops on Main Street and got her one.

Anna saw Chip and Dale in the courtyard where you first walk in, and Anna wanted to see them, so she and I got in line while DH walked my mom and Addy to the bus. The only pictures I have of this are on the Photopass CD, so I'll post some when I get it. However, none of them were very good.......the princess hat that Anna insisted on getting was kind of in the way .

 

[Girldreamer02]

Aww...we've never rode Dumbo...probably because of the lines. Something to look forward to when we have kids I guess. Lol. I don't really have a desire to ride it and I'm sure dh dosen't either. Lol. The princess hat is super cute! I have the princess mickey ears...I had them embroidered on the back and it says engaged 12-16-06 and dh's say the same thing, but his aren't princess ears of course Oooo you had dinner at CRT...thats awesome thats where dh proposed. Did you see a proposal that night? I was hoping to see one at breakfast last year, but no such luck. Can't wait to hear all about it!

 

[disneymom1980]

Aww...we've never rode Dumbo...probably because of the lines. Something to look forward to when we have kids I guess. Lol. I don't really have a desire to ride it and I'm sure dh dosen't either. Lol. The princess hat is super cute! I have the princess mickey ears...I had them embroidered on the back and it says engaged 12-16-06 and dh's say the same thing, but his aren't princess ears of course Oooo you had dinner at CRT...thats awesome thats where dh proposed. Did you see a proposal that night? I was hoping to see one at breakfast last year, but no such luck. Can't wait to hear all about it!

I never really felt the need to ride Dumbo either until I had Anna. The line was crazy though.....however, it was much better than the lines we saw later in the day.

We ended up getting Mickey ears later in the trip and my mom had them embroidered for us. Honestly, I think they're part of what helped us win a dream (that doesn't happen until several days from now though )..........I guess that's a little teaser about what's to come.

We did actually see a proposal at dinner that night. It was really sweet, and the whole restaurant clapped. DH and I are going back there during our January trip as well, and I'm hoping we'll get a better seat, maybe close to one of the windows.

 

[punkin413]

great morning in fantasyland! i love going there in the morning and getting it out of the way before it gets too crazy. there's so much to do there! i love anna's shirt by the way - so cute!

 

[disneymom1980]

great morning in fantasyland! i love going there in the morning and getting it out of the way before it gets too crazy. there's so much to do there! i love anna's shirt by the way - so cute!

Thanks.......Addy actually had a similar one on it (I think with Snow White), but you can't see it in any of the pictures. I think there might be some pictures in the next installment where you can see it. I'm going to try to get another update up once I get the girls in bed.

 

[disneymom1980]

Once we DH made sure that my mom and Addy were safely on the bus, and Anna and I had seen Chip and Dale (photopass pics to come later), we decided we needed to share a little snack. We used a couple of snack credits to get a funnel cake (DH and Anna love these) and a Tinkerbell slush. The funnel cake was really good.....partly because they made it fresh while we were standing there, and the slush, which we ordered mostly because something frozen sounded good, was just a little too sour for our tastes.

After that, we headed for Anna's first "thrill" ride.....Splash Mountain. I honestly had thought we might have to coax/bribe her to go on this, but she'd seen people riding it, and she was begging to go on it. The wait said 20 minutes, but I don't honestly think that we waited that long. We talked to a very nice older couple that lived in a town DH goes through often in his truck, and that helped kep Anna entertained while we waited. We rode for the first time, and she absolutely LOVED it! I was shocked but glad because I knew that meant there were several other rides that she'd go on that I hadn't expected. We got off, grabbed a fastpass, and headed for Big Thunder Mountain.

We also had a very minimal wait for this...maybe 15 minutes. It was really cute because right before you start going, it says something about being the wildest ride in the west, and all through the ride, Anna kept saying, "It's wild, just like me!" It was so cute, mostly because Anna is not, in the least bit, wild.

By the time we got off Big Thunder, our fastpasses for Splash Mountain were good, so we headed back over there. This time, we got sat in the very front, and I was on the inside. I got SOAKED!!! (I do have the ride picture for this, but I have to scan it to post it.) The really funny part about this, and I have to admit, this is pretty embarrassing..........I had khaki colored capris on. Not a big deal in and of itself, but when we got off DH pulled me to the side and said, "What is on your underwear?" I was like, "What the heck are you talking about?!?!?!?!" He said, "You're pants are soaked, and I can see your underwear through them!" I was so embarrassed because, never even considering the fact that I might get soaked later in the day, had put on blue Tinkerbelle underwear !!!! I made him walk behind me for a while until I felt a little drier......or just quite caring.

Anna wanted to ride Big Thunder again, so we grabbed fastpasses for that and headed over to Adventureland. There was NO line for Pirates of the Carribean, so we decided to go ahead and ride, even though I had an inkling that Anna probably wouldn't enjoy it. In the back of my mind, I kept replaying the first time I rode Pirates.......I was 8 and bawled the entire time we were in the que. I was scared to death, but I was fine once we got on the ride. Well, since we didn't have to linger in the que, I thought Anna would probably be okay once we got on the ride. She WASN'T!!!! She kept hiding her face in my lap, and, as soon as we got off, she started yelling, "I AM NEVER GOING ON THAT RIDE AGAIN!!!" We told her that she'd been very brave to go on it and we were proud of her and wouldn't make her ride it again.

The Jungle Cruise had about a 45 minute wait, so we grabbed fastpasses for it (the starting time for our BTMR had passed) and headed back to ride Big Thunder again. Anna wanted some ice cream, so we grabbed a Mickey Ice Cream sandwich.

Anna and DH enjoyed it (I only had a bite....I'm not a big fan of ice cream sandwiches), but they both liked the Mickey bar we had later in the week better.

We we got back to Big Thunder Mountain, it was having technical difficulties and was closed. Anna was REALLY disappointed because she had enjoyed it too. I told her that we'd ride it again at MNSSHP.

It was still too early to use our Jungle Cruise fastpasses, so we watched a little of the Dreams Come True parade.

And spent a little time in the shops.

I thought he looked pretty good in this one .

He loves Stitch

By then, it was time for our Jungle Cruise. I have to say, we were not very impressed. As the guide was telling his corny jokes and DH kept looking at me like, "You've got to be kidding me ." When we got off, I explained that it was supposed to be like that, but DH still just thought it was dumb.

We had a little time left, so we headed over to Tomorrowland and rode Buzz Lightyear. It was ok, but I have to say that we enjoyed Toy Story Mania later in the week much more. With Buzz, it's about impossible to tell where you're shooting and if you're hitting the targets or if someone else is.

By the time we were done, my mom had called to say that she and Addy were on their way back, so we headed to the front to meet them. Once we met up with them, it was time to head for our ADRs at Cinderella's Royal Table. Although I had not heard the best things about the food here, we were still excited just to eat in the castle.

 

[OneTreeHillAddict]

Great updates! Those Dumbo pics are cool! I love Dumbo.

 

[disneymom1980]

Great updates! Those Dumbo pics are cool! I love Dumbo.

Thanks........I did enjoy Dumbo with Anna, but I can't honestly say that we'll be waiting in line for it on our adults only trip in January. I don't think I need to wait in line that long to ride it without the girls.

 

[disneymom1980]

While we waited for our 5:40 ADR, we took a few pictures by Cinderella's fountain.

We checked in and got called right on time. Addy actually went to Cinderella, and we actually got a pretty cute picture of the girls and Cinderella. Since there were five in our party (they counted Addy too), we got two portrait packages, so we also have a family picture with Cinderella. I promise those will get posted as soon as the photopass cd is here, which is supposed to be Thursday.

I thought it was pretty cool to walk up the stairs, and I snapped a couple of pics while we were getting seated.

Our waiter came quickly and took our drink orders while we checked out the menus. When he returned, we ordered. DH and I both got the BLT salad for our appetizers and my mom got the corn and crab soup. DH really lilked the salad, and I thought it was ok. My mom LOVED the soup. We all enjoyed the pretzel bread and the honey mustard butter as well.

For dinner, DH had prime rib

I had the tortellini

And my mom had the pork tenderloin (she ordered it well done instead of the medium they usually serve it)

Anna had the kids chicken nuggets

Addy got the complimentary buttered pasta which she absolutely devoured . Like I said, she's a good eater.

We all enjoyed our entrees, but DH really liked mine more than he liked his. I think he ate more of the tortellini than I did . We're actually returnng to CRT in January so that he can get his own tortellini. My mom enjoyed the pork, and I had a few bites and it was pretty good.

We ordered our desserts just as the wishing ceremony was about to start. Anna was really into it and thought it was pretty cool. Addy was ok with the fairy godmother because she was at a pretty good distance.

The mice went around to all the tables after the ceremony and were taking pictures. Since the table are pretty close together here, I was to the handler and asked if I could just bring Anna to them so that Addy wouldn't get upset (she still wasn't thrilled when they were at the table behind her, but if we could keep her attention she was ok).

After the ceremony, we got our desserts. My mom and I both had the chocolate buckle

DH had the sorbet

and Anna had the kids sundae.

DH loved his sorbet, and mom and I thought ours was ok. We were both pretty full, so neither of us ate too much of it. Our table was also given a complimentary extra dessert (we were told it was because they had MNSSHP that night).

However, we were all so full that I don't think any of us ate any of it.

After we finished dinner, we headed back to the bus. We saw a lot of people dressed in some pretty interesting costumes, so we were really looking forward to our Halloween party on Thursday. Anna and Addy fell asleep almost immediately after their baths, and DH and I watch a little tv and then went to sleep too.

Up next...........Animal Kingdom!