A Smile in my Heart–Magical Week of Friends,Fun & Freezing-10/28-COMPLETE!

[lovebuzzandwoody]

Love the castle shots!

 

[mkluvsmickey]

Aw, sorry Monica and her family had to leave you all that night. Can't think of a better way to end the night than riding BTMRR together though. It's great how Hunter and Michael became such great buddies.

Love the pictures of the castle that Shawn took.

 

[mom2mek]

Love the castle shots!

Thanks Nicole!

Aw, sorry Monica and her family had to leave you all that night. Can't think of a better way to end the night than riding BTMRR together though. It's great how Hunter and Michael became such great buddies.

Love the pictures of the castle that Shawn took.

Thanks Michelle! Yeah, it was fun to have the boys hang out together (and the Moms...)

Sara

 

[mermaid764]

I love the castle pics your husband took and the photopass pics in front of the castle.

Something about the castle all lit up at night makes it seem even more magical.

And the pics of your son with his grandpa at the end are priceless..especially the gangster shot lol

 

[mom2mek]

I love the castle pics your husband took and the photopass pics in front of the castle.

Something about the castle all lit up at night makes it seem even more magical.

And the pics of your son with his grandpa at the end are priceless..especially the gangster shot lol

Thanks! The gangster shot is one of my faves too!

Sara

 

[*dreamit*doit*]

Hey neighbor!

Hey there! I've just "met" a few other people here in the past couple days that are in Miami (on MeMom & Jill's (BrooklynnsMommy) TR). If we plan a DISmeet, I'll let you know.

First picture of the two of them for this trip...

(Aren’t they cute??)

Yes! Yes, they are!

Ahhh…sweetness –such good buddies!

So cute! That guy-liner must have been some heavy-duty waterproof!!

As we arrived to the castle, Shawn grabbed some pictures:

Gorgeous!!!!!!

We saw a photopass photographer and put him to work:
Our Thunder Mountain riding group:

Nice picture!

I felt so blessed to have “lived in the same town” as Monica and her family for those few days. We all had such a blast together and I hope we are able to do it again soon.

Katie sleeping through MSEP reminds me of Nerea; she did that one night on our trip this summer, too - there was nothing waking her up either!!

 

[mom2mek]

Katie sleeping through MSEP reminds me of Nerea; she did that one night on our trip this summer, too - there was nothing waking her up either!!

Isn't it funny how they can sleep through things like that (or fireworks even) and then when you get back to the room you're shushing the other kids..."don't wake her up....be very quiet"

 

[hstrickland]

Holy cow!!!! Where are the people??!!! It looks like a ghost town! That is really nice,though...kinda like having MK to yourself. DH said he would love to visit WDW during the winter months when crowds are super low. Not sure we would brave the pools like y'all Your kids were brave!

 

[mommytothreeboys]

Woo-Hoo for snatching some great parade seats! Sweet!

We were able to see Wishes from Splash Mountain on our last family trip....it really is strange how far away the fireworks really are from the castle when you see them from the "wrong" perspective! Cool though!

I love the "grandpa and Michael" shots. So cute.

Hmmm....breakfast with an alien, huh??

 

[mom2mek]

Holy cow!!!! Where are the people??!!! It looks like a ghost town! That is really nice,though...kinda like having MK to yourself. DH said he would love to visit WDW during the winter months when crowds are super low. Not sure we would brave the pools like y'all Your kids were brave!

I know, right? Parks empty out quickly when it is 35 or 40 degrees outside!

Woo-Hoo for snatching some great parade seats! Sweet!

We were able to see Wishes from Splash Mountain on our last family trip....it really is strange how far away the fireworks really are from the castle when you see them from the "wrong" perspective! Cool though!

I love the "grandpa and Michael" shots. So cute.

Hmmm....breakfast with an alien, huh??

Yeah, we enjoyed our Thunder Mountain fireworks - the kids still talk about it!


Hmmm...breakfast with an alien coming right up!!

Sara

 

[mom2mek]

Day 5 - February 11, 2010
Break Day
Chapter 1

Ideally, we like to plan a mid-vacation break day where we don't go to any parks. Our last trip, in October 2008, we didn't plan one but we only had 5 days so I didn’t want (or think we needed) a break day. Our Thanksgiving trip in 2007 was a little front-heavy (like this one) since we wanted Thanksgiving Day to be our break day (which wasn't until Day 5 of that trip too). This trip was like that one in that it ended up being a little front-heavy due to the fact that we wanted to get in as much time with our friends as possible. With us traveling during the cooler months though, we thought we probably wouldn't be as exhausted those first few days and therefore might be ok to wait until Day 5 to take it easy. For the most part, this was true. We weren't feeling the affects of high temperatures and/or humidity like a lot of people do during Disney trips and we had done fairly well with our park touring and trying to take some breaks here and there.

I felt a little bad for my parents since they had just arrived to Disney the day before and certainly would have been fine to do a park that day, but we ended up sticking with the plan and taking a day away from the parks. I made a "late" breakfast ADR at 'Ohana (Best Friends Character Breakfast) for 9:00, which was going to be new for us!! Yes, I know 9:00 isn’t that late, but seeing as how the restaurant was located 5 minutes from our room, I felt it gave us a decent amount of time to sleep in, get ready, and take the short walk over. Shawn and the kids begged to differ. Oh well. They were fine once they got up and moving!

I had made some cute 'Ohana inspired shirts for the girls to wear, but like most of the shirts I brought with us on this trip (and a couple of custom outfits) you didn't really see them much due to the outerwear clothing that was required for them to wear during this really cold trip in Florida. On top of that, I had to layer all of their outfits with other clothes (long sleeves under short sleeves, leggings under the skirts, etc, etc)….ugh – kind of took away from the “look” I wanted, but oh well. The shirts still turned out cute!

Sidenote….it’s funny when I look back on pictures of this trip, because since they were almost always wearing their coats/jackets, it’s hard to tell which day was which….looks like they wore the same thing everyday! LOL!

We got there a few minutes before my parents (funny how I can get 5 people up and ready quicker than the 2 of them can get over there) and went ahead to check us in. They were walking up as I was coming back with the buzzer and we sat and talked for a bit while waiting for our table.

Favorite!!

A few minutes of waiting and we were brought in and escorted to a nice table by the window, right across from the grill (which, of course was not roaring along like it is for dinner). Our “cousin” was so friendly and pleasant and brought us adults all coffee right away, along with the delicious POG juice – Passionfruit, Orange, Guava! Oh my word – we all loved this juice (including the kids). She explained the menu and the characters and brought us some yummy bread and pastry items and a big platter of fruit (lots of pineapple – yum)!

The cinnamon rolls and pineapple bread were so good!

Soon after that, she brought out the yummy hot food. We had Mickey waffles, bacon, sausage, “island” potatoes, scrambled eggs and biscuits. Now I’m not a big fan of Disney eggs, but these were really good. I have heard things about their eggs and it sounded like I would feel the same way – no flavor, kind of watery, etc, etc, - but these tasted “real” and were cooked very nicely. The kids actually all ate fairly well at this meal! Our “cousin” did a great job of keeping our coffee and juice refilled and got us more stuff for the platter whenever we asked. I’m pretty sure we had 3 helpings of bacon brought to our table, and at least 2 helpings of mickey waffles and 2 helpings of eggs. I ADORE family style meals with my kids – it's a meal where a Mom (and/or Dad) can relax, sit back, and enjoy. No running up to the buffet for more food, or helping kids with their plates, or waiting for something to be brought back to the buffet that they are out of, etc, etc. I just can enjoy my meal so much more this way.

(not my picture, BTW)


During our meal, Stitch made his way over….kind of sneaking up behind Pop Pop! The kids thought he was hilarious!!

(Even the little girl and Dad sitting across from us were cracking up!)

Lilo was great too! Again, Pop Pop got a lot of attention!!

She gave Emily a big hug!!

She shared Michael's seat to sign the autograph book:

Emily was very interested in how she signed her name!

Then she sat back and relaxed!

Finally the main man, Mickey, sporting his Hawaiian shirt, came around to say hi. Oddly enough, he was kind of “blah” (not that the kids noticed or anything) but I thought to myself "maybe he doesn’t like it when he isn’t the “main attraction” – as this was more Lilo and Stitch’s gig!" LOL!

He was fine though… just took some pictures, got an autograph, and was on his way.

The kids participated in the conga line around the restaurant and had a blast!!

We lingered for a bit waiting for Pluto but he never showed up, and eventually we were done waiting so we headed out. We knew we would see him the next day for our breakfast at Liberty Tree plus the kids had already met him in the MK so they weren’t as adamant about waiting around.

Overall, we LOVED ‘Ohana breakfast and can’t wait to go back again!

Coming up....where does this "break day" lead us?? Did we make a good choice not going to a park this day??

Sara

 

[mermaid764]

The ohana breakfast looks really good and that juice sounds delicious.

The girls shirts are adorable, too bad it was too cold for them to be seen the rest of the day.

Looking forward to more

 

[HeyIt'sMe]

Hi Sara ~

I'm loving your trip report! Your kids are so cute and remind me of my first trip to WDW waaaay back in 1975. My older brother was 9, I was 8 and my younger sister was 6. Good times!

And I am SO enjoying your Poly pictures. We'll be back at the Poly in October and we can't wait!

Debbie

 

[mom2mek]

The ohana breakfast looks really good and that juice sounds delicious.

The girls shirts are adorable, too bad it was too cold for them to be seen the rest of the day.

Looking forward to more

That juice is so delicious! I wish I had some right now! And a mickey waffle would be nice too!

Hi Sara ~

I'm loving your trip report! Your kids are so cute and remind me of my first trip to WDW waaaay back in 1975. My older brother was 9, I was 8 and my younger sister was 6. Good times!

And I am SO enjoying your Poly pictures. We'll be back at the Poly in October and we can't wait!

Debbie

Thanks for reading Debbie! Oh man - you are so close! We loved going in October (didn't stay at the Poly though...) but we loved that time of year and all of the fall festivities!!

Sara

 

[mkluvsmickey]

Loved reading about the 'Ohana breakfast! I always forget about that when planning meals. We only recently finally had dinner there. The food looks great and I agree, family style is the best! Can't wait to see where you all end up.

 

[mom2mek]

Loved reading about the 'Ohana breakfast! I always forget about that when planning meals. We only recently finally had dinner there. The food looks great and I agree, family style is the best! Can't wait to see where you all end up.

Thanks Michelle! Add it to your list of places to go for breakfast! SO good!!

Hmmm....Monica says she is reading....let's see if she sees this and actually posts something!!!

Sara

 

[vamassey1]

Breakfast looks great! Eggs and Mickey waffles, two of my favorite things. Your character interaction looks awesome. I keep hearing about that juice and it makes my mouth water. Maybe someday we'll get there. After our last trip I don't want an early morning breakfast before a park day again but doing it on an off day sounds really good.

Can't wait to hear what y'all did next on your off day.

 

[mom2mek]

Breakfast looks great! Eggs and Mickey waffles, two of my favorite things. Your character interaction looks awesome. I keep hearing about that juice and it makes my mouth water. Maybe someday we'll get there. After our last trip I don't want an early morning breakfast before a park day again but doing it on an off day sounds really good.

Can't wait to hear what y'all did next on your off day.

That juice is to die for! So good!!! I liked having this as a break-day breakfast, but I have also heard of people doing the last breakfast seating like at 11:00 and treating it like brunch. That way you can be over at the MK for rope drop and park touring until 10:30 or so and then take a break at 'Ohana. I may keep that in mind too!

Sara

 

[kaysmommie]

I'm caught up again. Not sure if I commented on your Poly swim or your night at MK though. I guess your kids enjoyed the volcano pool even on such a chilly day. I loved the group picture in front of the castle and it looked like a great night in MK with your family and Monica's . From the pictures everyone looks a bit cold. How much did you love breakfast at 'Ohana. It's one of our favorites too. Great pics with all the characters too.

 

[mom2mek]

I'm caught up again. Not sure if I commented on your Poly swim or your night at MK though. I guess your kids enjoyed the volcano pool even on such a chilly day. I loved the group picture in front of the castle and it looked like a great night in MK with your family and Monica's . From the pictures everyone looks a bit cold. How much did you love breakfast at 'Ohana. It's one of our favorites too. Great pics with all the characters too.

Thanks Nichole! Yep - it was a chilly night in the MK that night! Brrr....

'Ohana was delicious and fun - we will definitely be doing that one again!

Sara