mom2pixies
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 1, 2011
- Messages
- 695
Okay---sooooo many apologies for taking so long to get back to this. Seems like one thing has fallen on another all at the same time. No worries--everyone is fine, but there's just been so much going on lately.
We have the Three Wishes Gala this weekend, in honour of Make-a-Wish. All wish families are invited to go and share stories and photos of their wishes. And, of course, there are some Halloween events to get through this weekend, too! Eeek. We'll survive!
Anyways, shame on me, I am finally finishing Day 1 of our trip. Here goes!
Chapter 2: Everyday’s a wonderland at GKTW
So, after changing into our Brooke’s wish trip t-shirts, we headed over to the main area of GKTW to get our first real ‘look’ at our home away from home. Wow! I didn’t even know where to angle my lens. So much wonder and so much fun tucked away in every corner of the place. From the talking garbage cans (which were a hit with Brooke. She would feed them all of our used napkins from the Ice Cream Palace) to the Mayor’s tiny cottage—every ounce of the resort was just imagination, plus!
On our way over to the main courtyard, we saw our first inkling of Winter Wonderland night. A horse-drawn wagon ride was meandering up the road. We waved to the driver and the folks on board.
Our first stop was to the Castle of Miracles. We went inside and had a quick look around. There’s just so much to see! The girls explored the little cave—Brooke was terrified by the dark and the sound of buzzing bees, but Avie loved it! She went up and down the slide the entire time we were there.
Brooke played with some Mr. Potato Heads at the centre tables, while I looked around in amazement at all of those stars! Just breath-taking to think of all the children who have passed through these halls and had their wishes come true. Amazing.
Then, Brooke discovered the animatronic box with the crown and robe. Spoiler alert!! A very regal crown and robe are displayed in a glass case and if you stand in precisely the right spot before the glass display case, and put your head through a mirror-shaped ring, the lights will turn on and some coronation music will begin to swell and it looks like you are wearing the crown and robe. A very neat special effect—and Brooke loved it. She would have to do it two or three times every time we stopped into the Castle.
We’d barely been there maybe 15 minutes before Brooke already wanted a tattoo. So, we stopped into the La-di-Da Spa and got her an airbrush tattoo of a mermaid (Ariel, of course!) on her leg. Of course, we also had to snap a few photos of the girls enjoying the ‘royal’ waiting room. Then, we were off again to explore some more.
By this time, a volunteer had come out to open the Carousel. Well, we needed to go on that! And, thus we truly discovered Avie’s obsession with carousels. She had been on one before at a local fairground and although she seemed a little curious at first, she really enjoyed it. Went on three times in a row and cried each time we tried to pull her off. Now, was no different—except that she is older and enjoys it even more now!
The smile that would explode onto her face each time we went on! It was ridiculous. As you can imagine, it was probably her favourite ride the entire trip. She just adored it. I have no doubt she will be asking Santa for a carousel horse for Christmas!
So, we went on it--twice, changing horses for zebras and hippocampi or roosters. The girls just loved changing it up. Brooke especially loved the hippocampi and named her ‘sea horse’ “Seaweed.”
Finally, we decided to get something to eat. We were a little nervous about Pas making it to Orientation in time and didn’t know what to expect in terms of crowds at the Gingerbread House. No worries! The place was warm and inviting and so were the volunteers.
They easily found us a table, showed us where the food lines were and how the meal card worked and we were all set. We enjoyed ‘Christmas dinner’ at one of the tiny, kid-sized tables. We ate turkey and stuffing and cranberry sauce, while the girls munched on chicken fingers and mashed potatoes and corn. Yum! And, can I say how much I love the Hawaiian Punch pink lemonade? Delish!
We also ran into Angie, Eva and AJ and family while we were there. They had just arrived a few days earlier and had been having a wonderful, if exhausting time. It was nice to finally meet a DISer in person!
After dinner, we had been told by a volunteer to go visit Santa at Julie’s Safari Theatre, so we went over there so Pas could see the girls meet Santa before heading over to Orientation.
We walked into the theatre and it was already crammed with people in the lobby. We got in line and the girls were so excited. Brooke went up and sat on Santa, no problem, chattering all about the plane that had taken us there and how she was going to meet Ariel tomorrow. Avie was not as keen, but with a little convincing and seeing how her sister was having a great time, she joined Brooke on his knees.
The girls were then allowed to go back to the lobby and pick a gift. We had missed the toy racks in the swell of people at the entrance. Avery was content just to watch the crowds from the stroller, but Brooke insisted and picked out a glowworm doll for Avie. Little sister loved it!
Brooke, meanwhile, took her time—perusing the games, My Little Ponies, baby dolls and Barbies. She finally settled on a doll I have never seen before—it’s a fashion doll (Lori, I think the name was?) about 16 inches tall with jointed hands, elbows, shoulders, feet, knees and legs. She came with two outfits and a pair of boots and her hair even comes off should you want to change her from brunette to blonde to redhead.
With their pressies in tow, we headed outside. Pas had to race off to Orientation, but I decided to take the girls around and enjoy some of the sights. We headed up and down the main thoroughfare, checking out the Christmas decorations. The girls had to stop and look at the inflatable snowglobe—and of course, stop and get some treats. Snow cones and cotton candy? Not our usual Christmas goodies, but perfect for a Not-so-Cool Yule! (It was so hot that Santa would have surely melted outside of that air-conditioned theatre!) Brooke proceeded to gobble hers up, so we got her a second snow cone to share with Avie.
The girls then asked to go back on the carousel. Who can refuse? So we went back on another few times, just before the parade began. Volunteers dressed up as Victorian carollers, the Grinch, a snowman, a gingerbread man, Buddy the Elf, angels and fairies, a penguin, a reindeer and a Christmas tree walked alongside a few small cars and carts, all decked out with lights and blaring with Christmas tunes. Mayor Clayton and Mrs. Merry had arrived in holiday splendour!
The group parked the vehicles in the courtyard and started dancing. Kids swarmed them. Elves appeared with velvet sacks and handed out the little toys (like ‘Naughty or Nice?’ bracelets and snowman notepads) that kids love so much. Brooke and Avie got out of the stroller to take photos with the characters and dance with them in the courtyard in front of the theatre.
Then, the snow began and Brooke couldn’t stop laughing and leaping in the ‘snow’ bubbles! She ran around with the other kids chasing the bubbles and picking up piles of it from the ground and throwing it in the air. I think we must have stayed there for at least an hour!
Avie had zero interest in ‘face’ characters—she would get shy as soon as any angel or fairy came over to see her, but if the penguin or the Claytons came over, she was all smiles and hugs! Avie loved the ‘fuzzy’ characters! She couldn’t get enough hugging from them.
The parade/dance party was wrapping up, so I bundled the girls back into the stroller and started back to our villa. It had been a very long day, but as tired as the girls were, they couldn’t stop smiling and chattering about what fun that party had been!
We returned to villa just a few minutes before Pascal returned, with his huge envelope of papers and tickets in hand. We gave the girls a quick bath before dressing them in their special ‘trip’ pjs and putting them to bed. They each went to bed holding their new Christmas and welcome presents. (Little did I know that this pile of toys would grow each day we were there! TIP: Totally bring a folding duffle bag for your trip home. It’s ridiculous how many toys and books and souvenirs the kids receive over the course of a week. We brought a bag—and then still had to buy a tote bag to carry it all home!)
As I was giving Brooke a goodnight kiss, I explained that tomorrow we would go to Disney and see Ariel—and that we had a whole week of fun ahead of us. She couldn’t believe it! This had just been the first day of our adventure—and it would only get better from here.
We have the Three Wishes Gala this weekend, in honour of Make-a-Wish. All wish families are invited to go and share stories and photos of their wishes. And, of course, there are some Halloween events to get through this weekend, too! Eeek. We'll survive!
Anyways, shame on me, I am finally finishing Day 1 of our trip. Here goes!
Chapter 2: Everyday’s a wonderland at GKTW
So, after changing into our Brooke’s wish trip t-shirts, we headed over to the main area of GKTW to get our first real ‘look’ at our home away from home. Wow! I didn’t even know where to angle my lens. So much wonder and so much fun tucked away in every corner of the place. From the talking garbage cans (which were a hit with Brooke. She would feed them all of our used napkins from the Ice Cream Palace) to the Mayor’s tiny cottage—every ounce of the resort was just imagination, plus!
On our way over to the main courtyard, we saw our first inkling of Winter Wonderland night. A horse-drawn wagon ride was meandering up the road. We waved to the driver and the folks on board.
Our first stop was to the Castle of Miracles. We went inside and had a quick look around. There’s just so much to see! The girls explored the little cave—Brooke was terrified by the dark and the sound of buzzing bees, but Avie loved it! She went up and down the slide the entire time we were there.
Brooke played with some Mr. Potato Heads at the centre tables, while I looked around in amazement at all of those stars! Just breath-taking to think of all the children who have passed through these halls and had their wishes come true. Amazing.
Then, Brooke discovered the animatronic box with the crown and robe. Spoiler alert!! A very regal crown and robe are displayed in a glass case and if you stand in precisely the right spot before the glass display case, and put your head through a mirror-shaped ring, the lights will turn on and some coronation music will begin to swell and it looks like you are wearing the crown and robe. A very neat special effect—and Brooke loved it. She would have to do it two or three times every time we stopped into the Castle.
We’d barely been there maybe 15 minutes before Brooke already wanted a tattoo. So, we stopped into the La-di-Da Spa and got her an airbrush tattoo of a mermaid (Ariel, of course!) on her leg. Of course, we also had to snap a few photos of the girls enjoying the ‘royal’ waiting room. Then, we were off again to explore some more.
By this time, a volunteer had come out to open the Carousel. Well, we needed to go on that! And, thus we truly discovered Avie’s obsession with carousels. She had been on one before at a local fairground and although she seemed a little curious at first, she really enjoyed it. Went on three times in a row and cried each time we tried to pull her off. Now, was no different—except that she is older and enjoys it even more now!
The smile that would explode onto her face each time we went on! It was ridiculous. As you can imagine, it was probably her favourite ride the entire trip. She just adored it. I have no doubt she will be asking Santa for a carousel horse for Christmas!
So, we went on it--twice, changing horses for zebras and hippocampi or roosters. The girls just loved changing it up. Brooke especially loved the hippocampi and named her ‘sea horse’ “Seaweed.”
Finally, we decided to get something to eat. We were a little nervous about Pas making it to Orientation in time and didn’t know what to expect in terms of crowds at the Gingerbread House. No worries! The place was warm and inviting and so were the volunteers.
They easily found us a table, showed us where the food lines were and how the meal card worked and we were all set. We enjoyed ‘Christmas dinner’ at one of the tiny, kid-sized tables. We ate turkey and stuffing and cranberry sauce, while the girls munched on chicken fingers and mashed potatoes and corn. Yum! And, can I say how much I love the Hawaiian Punch pink lemonade? Delish!
We also ran into Angie, Eva and AJ and family while we were there. They had just arrived a few days earlier and had been having a wonderful, if exhausting time. It was nice to finally meet a DISer in person!
After dinner, we had been told by a volunteer to go visit Santa at Julie’s Safari Theatre, so we went over there so Pas could see the girls meet Santa before heading over to Orientation.
We walked into the theatre and it was already crammed with people in the lobby. We got in line and the girls were so excited. Brooke went up and sat on Santa, no problem, chattering all about the plane that had taken us there and how she was going to meet Ariel tomorrow. Avie was not as keen, but with a little convincing and seeing how her sister was having a great time, she joined Brooke on his knees.
The girls were then allowed to go back to the lobby and pick a gift. We had missed the toy racks in the swell of people at the entrance. Avery was content just to watch the crowds from the stroller, but Brooke insisted and picked out a glowworm doll for Avie. Little sister loved it!
Brooke, meanwhile, took her time—perusing the games, My Little Ponies, baby dolls and Barbies. She finally settled on a doll I have never seen before—it’s a fashion doll (Lori, I think the name was?) about 16 inches tall with jointed hands, elbows, shoulders, feet, knees and legs. She came with two outfits and a pair of boots and her hair even comes off should you want to change her from brunette to blonde to redhead.
With their pressies in tow, we headed outside. Pas had to race off to Orientation, but I decided to take the girls around and enjoy some of the sights. We headed up and down the main thoroughfare, checking out the Christmas decorations. The girls had to stop and look at the inflatable snowglobe—and of course, stop and get some treats. Snow cones and cotton candy? Not our usual Christmas goodies, but perfect for a Not-so-Cool Yule! (It was so hot that Santa would have surely melted outside of that air-conditioned theatre!) Brooke proceeded to gobble hers up, so we got her a second snow cone to share with Avie.
The girls then asked to go back on the carousel. Who can refuse? So we went back on another few times, just before the parade began. Volunteers dressed up as Victorian carollers, the Grinch, a snowman, a gingerbread man, Buddy the Elf, angels and fairies, a penguin, a reindeer and a Christmas tree walked alongside a few small cars and carts, all decked out with lights and blaring with Christmas tunes. Mayor Clayton and Mrs. Merry had arrived in holiday splendour!
The group parked the vehicles in the courtyard and started dancing. Kids swarmed them. Elves appeared with velvet sacks and handed out the little toys (like ‘Naughty or Nice?’ bracelets and snowman notepads) that kids love so much. Brooke and Avie got out of the stroller to take photos with the characters and dance with them in the courtyard in front of the theatre.
Then, the snow began and Brooke couldn’t stop laughing and leaping in the ‘snow’ bubbles! She ran around with the other kids chasing the bubbles and picking up piles of it from the ground and throwing it in the air. I think we must have stayed there for at least an hour!
Avie had zero interest in ‘face’ characters—she would get shy as soon as any angel or fairy came over to see her, but if the penguin or the Claytons came over, she was all smiles and hugs! Avie loved the ‘fuzzy’ characters! She couldn’t get enough hugging from them.
The parade/dance party was wrapping up, so I bundled the girls back into the stroller and started back to our villa. It had been a very long day, but as tired as the girls were, they couldn’t stop smiling and chattering about what fun that party had been!
We returned to villa just a few minutes before Pascal returned, with his huge envelope of papers and tickets in hand. We gave the girls a quick bath before dressing them in their special ‘trip’ pjs and putting them to bed. They each went to bed holding their new Christmas and welcome presents. (Little did I know that this pile of toys would grow each day we were there! TIP: Totally bring a folding duffle bag for your trip home. It’s ridiculous how many toys and books and souvenirs the kids receive over the course of a week. We brought a bag—and then still had to buy a tote bag to carry it all home!)
As I was giving Brooke a goodnight kiss, I explained that tomorrow we would go to Disney and see Ariel—and that we had a whole week of fun ahead of us. She couldn’t believe it! This had just been the first day of our adventure—and it would only get better from here.
She said she couldn’t wait to see the auction because even the framer was amazed by how beautiful her paintings were and how the artist was just four years old. I think the two smaller photos were framed as well, but were given as gifts. (I hope Wayne receives the picture of Ariel!)
that photo of her with Ariel
