Am I Early? Impatiently Waiting January 2011

[BriesMomma]

Starting to wonder if anybody's out there...

"Hello... ello... ello..."

Anywho...

So for the first time in my life I am scared about a trip to Disney. Yeah, scared.

I told you about the heat and crowds. Huge fears of mine. These are two things that instantly turn my upside down frown right side up, ya dig? So I am taking a more "scientific" approach than I usually do. I am looking at touring guides, and what day, and how EMH effects crowds... I even sprung for Tour Guide Mike!! So after doing all the numbers in my head and making a few square charts I have devised a plan:

FRIDAY:

Arrive in strange airport around 1:45 PM.

I am giving myself two hours to get the luggage, car and make my way to the hotel. (Which Ive read is close to an hours drive.) I'm going to take my time. It will be hot, I could be at wit's end depending on how Brie acts during the flight, and I have never rented a car before. Luckily I was able to rent a car seat through the rental place.

My mantra is "Even if we move only a foot every ten minutes, atleast were getting somewhere."

Depending on how my Princess is doing we will either go swimming and then take a nap... or we will take a nap and then go swimming. We always go in January and its too cold to swim. This trip we will be getting wet every opportunity we have.

So around 8 or so, more likely before, we will head to MAGIC KINGDOM!!! The Magic Kingdom is open until midnight.

Now I know what you're thinking... SOMEBODY CALL CPS THIS LADY IS DRAGGING HER KID AROUND UNTIL MIDNIGHT!!!

But... We are spending 2 and a half days in Disney World, and really because of the late hour most of Brie's favorite rides have little to no line. I think we can avoid the heat and crowds by going that night. Watch Wishes and leave after the Main Street Electrical Parade at 11, if we make it. Trust me, the first sign of a meltdown and we head to the gate. I would put money on Brie falling asleep in the car on the way to the hotel.

Goals for this day: Jungle Cruise- Brie's never been on it. Get some video of Brie in Toontown and really of Toontown itself since this will be our last time seeing it. Pooh and Small World will be checked off no matter what.

SATURDAY

Wake up whenever on Saturday. I doubt we will sleep past 9. I plan on getting to Disney Hollywood Studios by 10:30. I just downloaded an App on my phone that says wait levels and if FPs are still available for each individual ride. SO if TSM still has FPs we will go get one. If not, we will go and get FPs for Voyage of Lil Mermaid. Brielle LOVES Ariel. (Mommy does too!) But in all of her trips to DIsney, she is yet to see this show. Myself, I haven't seen it since 1998. We'll do Muppets, Playhouse Disney, Great Movie Ride, what am I forgetting??? I want to see the Beauty and the Beast show if we can.

Then back to the hotel for a nap and more pool time depending on how much she loved it the day before. Then we'll get all beautiful again and head to Epcot!!! Yaay, yaay, and more yaaaay! I love Epcot. Especially at night. so we will head to Spaceship Earth, Nemo (Brie has become a HUGE fan as of late), Crush... we've never done it but since we heart Nemo so much..., Living with the Land which we never do. Figment is a family fave.

What I am sooo geeked, like losing sleep with anticipation, about is seeing MJ in 3D one last time!! Yes Captain EO himself. I LOVE MJ and I am an 80's baby so the first 3D movie experience I had at Disney was Captain EO!! And Brie can ride the boogie herself.

Head over for a boat ride with Donald in Mexico and with the Trolls in Norway. Have some counter service in China (Our fave CS). Speaking of food... I could not find any ADR's that I wanted. The only restaurants that still have availability were either not very enticing or REALLY EXPENSIVE. (Ha- story of my life!) I wanted to try and get atleast a character meal... nothin'. So we'll have us some Chinese and watch Illuminations. No Grey goose slushies but will still be great. Make our way out and make a stop at Mouse Gears- my favorite store in all of Disney.

SUNDAY

Wake up whenever we do. Probably 9 again. Head over to Animal Kingdom! I will probably go get FPs for KS. Theres not much else I want to do here besides meet with Pooh, and see if Brie can get on Kali River Rapids. (Told ya we are getting WET!!) I want to see the Nemo show, again a first time. We might take the train out to the animals, we;ve never done that either. That depends more on the crowds.

Back to the room for nap. More than likely no swimming today because I want to hit Epcot and MK one last time before we go.

MONDAY

Flight leaves at 8. I want to be there by atleast 6:45. i will figure out how long it take to get to the airport. Lets say an hour. That puts us at 545 AM. Figure half an hour to get out the door... so waking up around 5 AM that day. Come home and resume planning the next trip. Ya know nothing distracts you from planning a Disney Vacation quite like planning a DIsney vacation.

There it is. Im excited and nervous. Still can't believe I'm going!! Two weeks from tomorrow I'll be in the Magic Kingdom!

 

[BriesMomma]

Okay some of the nerves are gone and now I'm just EXCITED!!!

Time is of course not going fast enough for me. And to think last week I was going to have to wait until Januaruy! The horror!

The time Im going will not be PEAK like fourth of July-Peak. I dont know why I was imagining stroller-to-stroller traffic in 150 degrees. I will survive dagnabbit!

I actually am almost packed even though I'm ten days out! I have all of Brie's outfits packed. (And even made hairbows for each of her outfits already!!) SOmewhere in there she will hopefully be wearing her Snow WHite dress. I tried to have her wear it on her second birthday and she absolutely refused. I chased her around for atleast 10 minutes with it. But she wasn't going!! But since then she wears it around the house all the time. Loves it, so I'm thinking she'll wear it this time. I dont know which day, becasue it seems like it should be worn to the MK... I'll figure it out.

Her new thing is purses and I found the cutest little Snow WHite purse and I'm going to pull that out when we get seated on the plane. I also bought a little Snow White doll with accessories for the plane. Oh and mucho candy!! Her last flight was her first trip to DIsney. Then she was still a lap rider, but that was the last place she wanted to be for a 2 hour flight! I was the chick with the screaming crying 20 month old back in October 09. My apologies. Now she has her own seat and I am going to try my hardest to keep that little girl happy.

Well thats all for now! Still trying to get ADR's everyday. If we could get in at Akershus I'd be a happy mommy!

 

[BriesMomma]

Well we left off with me trying to get into Akershus for some dinner with the Princesses...

Well you're looking at one happy mommy!!!

In keeping with Disney spoiling the heck out of me, we are now having an early dinner with the princesses on Saturday night in EPcot!!! Can you believe it? I can't believe it!! Brielle is going to be so excited. SHe loves the Princesses. Especially Snow WHite and that is who she will be going dressed as! Dont worry there will be many pictures!

So the weather is looking pretty crazy for this weekend. Its supposed to rain alot, but honestly Im hoping that will cool things off and keep the "locals" away for the weekend. I'm so excited!! 72 hours from now I will be watching the Electrical Parade in the Magic Kingdom!!! AHHHHHHH!!!

 

[BriesMomma]

Well, we're back form the our AWESOME weekend in Disney World!! We made it back around 10:30 yesterday morning and I must say my whole perspective on flying has now changed. The flights went so well. I had zero problems with my antsy pants- and I realized yesterday afternoon that I had woken up on Disney property and I was already at home cooking dinner and had done a load of laundry already. So I'm thinking we really could fly down in january. We'll have a washer and dryer... We'll see.

So can I tell you about our trip?
It was amazing, by the way.

Let's see... We flew into Sanford and arrived EARLY!! We got in around 1 PM and Brie began what was to become the Stroller Strike. She decided that she was not going to get in the stroller, she was going to push the stroller, oh and if that doesn't happen she is going to throw a GINORMOUS fit and everyone within 200 yards is going to stare at you. Elderly women will come and sing songs to her, other moms will come and ask "Is she hurt??!!"... Yes, my daughter has a beautiful set of lungs- and she knows how to use them. So by the time we got to baggage claim our bags were stopped on the turnstiles. (Oh we had the row to ourselves on the plane, 1500 stickers, and and mucho gummy bears... Flawless.) However it is a small airport so I don't know if they are always that quick with baggage or what. So... We've got Brie with her carry-on, the stroller, the rolling suitcase, my backpack. Brie put her carry-on in the stroller, and I pulled the suitcase. Brie is as good at pushing her stroller as any other 2 and a half year old is I imagine, and of course the rental place I chose was one of two out of about 7 that was across the street. So I folded up the stroller (cue screaming child) "here sit on the suitcase" (end screaming, begin giggling). Stroller under arm, Brie on suitcase, two backpacks-one with a baby Goofy hanging out of it. Cue 95 degrees and humidity. ANYWAY: We made it there. Unfortunately, they keep the car seats behind the desk and my car was LITERALLY the furthest car away on the lot. Seriously. I mean come on now... Luckily this walk didn't include oncoming traffic so Brie could walk it, with her stroller of course. I got to the car... opened all the doors, turned on the car and turned the air to full blast to cool that bad boy off. (Hot red Chevy Cobalt) Strapped in the car seat (Wish I would've brought my own, by the way- this one was "shady"). Put the suitcases in the passenger seat, strap the kid in and we're OUTTA HERE!!!! And I mean seriously. I did a big WOOOOHHHOOOOO!! when we pulled out of there. It was over, done, I made it, Brie made it, and we are in FREAKING ORLANDO!!!! But whoops, where are we going?? I was so busy getting the Frenchmen out of Dodge that I forgot to get my Tom-Tom out of my suitcase. But oh thank heaven there's a 7-11 right around the corner. So I stop, get a Super Gulp, some water and a banana for the Princess, TomTom says we have about an hour drive and its only 2:30. Yep, we're AHEAD of schedule.

It wasn't a bad drive. For some reason my phone didn't have service and that was worrying me. Brie fell asleep. When we pulled up at the hotel there were valet people waiting to greet us, I said we were checking in, I got out of the car and was walking around to Brie's door and he said "it is a wee bit hot, you should atleast turn the air on for the child." Huh?? You thought I was going to leave her in the car like that? Don't know what to make of that one really.

Unfortunately there was a super huge line to check-in. So we waited about a half an hour. Our room was really nice. The hotel is under construction and the hallways were all torn up, but since it was the weekend so we never had construction noise. We were on the 12th floor

Sorry to cut this short without even getting you to a park... but when I return there will be somE MK action and the pictures will hopefully be uploaded LOL. I took 400 this wkend!!

 

[BriesMomma]

Here she is on the plane with all of her happy thoughts:

Have to admit I fist pumped and got a little teary when I saw this:

This was the nighttime view from my balcony at the Best Western. I could make out Sea World and what I'm guessing is US in the distance...

Okay... now where were we?? Oh yeah.

So we went to the room and my ORIGINAL plan was to go swimming and have nap time before heading to MK. Well that didn't happen. Thought I'd be able to make it a few hours before heading over there, but I just couldn't. Plus the pool was under whelming, and Brie had gotten a snooze in the car on the way to the hotel. So we cleaned up, changed clothes, I did take the time to unpack, and before ya know it we were at the TTC.

I let Brie pick: Boat or Train (aka Monorail). She picked boat.

And wouldn't ya know her Ariel song came on!! She was singing and dancing. She made friends with a little Hispanic girl that she kept calling Dora. We walked under the thing to get our bag checked and it started POURING. But that kinda worked out well. It didn't last long and it cleared Main Street real quick for us.

Then we did some of this:

First on my list was to get FP's for Pooh, but since the Pooh facade is being refurbed (and of course right across the street and beyond is all GONE. No more Grotto. It's a green "wall" with murals of what Fantasyland will be. Sorry I didn't take any pics. DOH! But I also couble see the double Big Tops where Dumbo will be. Have I told you how GEEKED I am about the new Fantasyland? Well Im GEEKED!!) the Pooh FP's were over at the Philharmagic FP zone. So when you would get a FP for Pooh, you also got a "bonus" FP for Mickey's Philharmagic. (Funny thing is, we got this 2 times and still didn't go to see it. The first time I took Brie on it she got scared and almost cried a bit. I know she would be over that now, and she loves ALL of those characters. Maybe mommy's scared to do it again? LOL. It will be a must-do in January.)

Our first ride was the Carousel. I don't know whose it is. If it's Cindy's or her Prince- but whatev. Its a Golden Carousel. Brie loves it. "My Horse." Walk-on, by the way.

Brie was dying to ride Snow White, and so we did. We waited for about 25 minutes. But that may have been the longest we waited for any attraction the whole weekend!! (Can't believe I was so freaked out about crowds!!) At the end of Pooh and Snow White Brie would always say "Bye, Pooh" or "Bye, Snow White!!" It always got a chuckle out of whoever was in our Honeypot, or Mine Car.

Then we went and got the Princess some ears. She absolutely loved these. Here she is dancing in the Fairytale Garden just after we got them:

Okay well I told you about the Stroller Strike. It was in full swing by now. But just imagine my little girl staring at everything around her, pushing a stroller into someone's ankles every 30 seconds... No, we had several near misses, but thankfully no collisions. So we parked the stroller and I did what any normal crazy person would do- put her on my shoulders and walked.

After a bit of shopping it was time to ride Pooh and so we did:

For some reason I have no pictures of what comes next. I hate that!! But we went and rode Pirates, then went and did the Laughing Floor. Brie recently watched Monster's Inc for the first time and she loves it. "Kitty" is her dude!! I wish she would have been picked as Boo, because I swear she acts just like her.

I had already been walking on egg shells with Brie for awhile at this point. I knew that it really wouldn't take much so I went back to Fantasyland to get the stroller and headed towards Toontown to hop on the Train to Main Street.

Well we got there and it was around 8:30 and people were all sitting down getting ready for the Electrical Parade. So I said to Brie "You can get in your stroller and we'll stay for the parade or we can go home and eat pizza" And wouldn't ya know it, the kid got in the stroller. Well we walked around a bit looking for a spot. Snagged a new glowy thing from the cart. We got the Tinkerbell one. Brie's been digging Tink these days.

Well all of a sudden it hit me. All of these people were going to be leaving when we were, making a longer commute to the car, and Brie could go into a full blown meltdown at any given moment. So I made the first executive decision and decided it was time to head home. I would just make more time for MK in the following days.
Here she is waiting for the ferry:

So beautiful:

And boy did I make the right decision!! Not even 30 seconds into the ferry ride she started to cry a bit. She got over it, thankfully. We hoped on the tram to Pluto 31 and made our way back to the hotel. We ordered some food from the hotel's restaurant. I had a Pulled Pork Sandwich. Brie had Chicken Tenders. They were pretty good, to my surprise. I'd post the picture but the only one I have Brie is naked with nothing but her Mickey Ears on. That was the only food we got from there because it was a little over-priced to me. If I'm going to pay $2.75 for a Diet Coke, there better be a Castle for me to drink it in front of.

My phone still didn't have service. I couldn't send a text message... I COULDN'T FACEBOOK!!! (The horror?!?!) I was missing my Brandon back home... We have so many happy Disney memories!!! Its hard not to miss him when I'm there without him. Luckily he had been calling the hotel trying to reach me and finally did. So I talked to my honey and went to sleep Disney dreaming... where my Wishes Always Come True!!

 

[BriesMomma]

Saturday morning started out great. Woke up about 7:30, and sat on the balcony for a few minutes before Brie woke up. We were perty and out the door by 8:15. We grabbed danishes from the DTD Hess station. I'm a big fan of the Hess Stations personally. I see them as an oasis from INSANE pricing. I can walk in there and pay for stuff what I pay here at home. Am I weird for being fond of a gas station??

So we head to DHS and pretty much get to the gate at 9.

Here we are on the tram (also proof that I was infact on this trip as well. LOL):

I decided to just go without the stroller. It was more trouble than good up to this point and DHS is easily navigatable. (Is that a word??) There was a line at the turnstiles to go in, but I wasn't really worried because I knew a majority of the people would be heading right over to ToT and RnR. But not us, NO! We're too sophisticated for thrill rides of that nature.

Right as we went through there was a survey person who stopped and ask me to take part in the Disney World survey diary thing!! Of course I'll do it!! I'd do it just to do it, but the cool thing is I get a $20 gift certificate for doing it!! So that's fun.

We posed for a GREAT Photopass Picture in front of the Hat. I ordered it yesterday and I NEVER order pictures. I think about it. I look at them. I've even gone to checkout and changed my mind... ($15 seems like alot for a PICTURE to me.) But it is really nice and I ordered a magnet too so it's like a souvenir.

Then when we got up to the hat there was this one chic standing there with only a few people so we stopped and chatted with her. Plus Brie was repping her today on her T-shirt:

Then we walked over to see what was happening around Voyage of the Little Mermaid.

She was numero uno on our priority list and I didn't know when people started lining up for the first 9:45 show. I asked some Cast Members standing by there and they said to come back at 9:30 and we'd be able to walk right in.

So we headed over to the Great Movie Ride and got on that. We had about a 5 minute wait but I was happy about it because I haven't had to wait in a loooong time and the movie preview part is fun. I remember going with my family as a kid and standing in that line for a REALLY LOOOONG TIME (in kid time, mind you) and watching those previews with my family. It made me think of that.

We love the Movie Ride.

When we came out it was 9:35 and we walked over to Little Mermaid and sure enough walked right in!! It was a great show. BRIE ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT! I knew she would. We heart Ariel.

By the time we came out of there a line for Playhouse Disney but if we got in line now we'd have a spot by the TV's and in some shade so we went over there. Brie made friends with a sweet little girl in the line with us. She makes friends everywhere we go:

The spray mister was more useful as a distraction for Brie than to cool us off. This is how hot it was, Brie thought the trees were hot:

We waited in line for maybe 15 minutes. After we found our seats Brie turned around and saw there was a B-A-B-Y!! Brie loves babies so she crawled right on over there and started tickling her feet. Brie loves her a cute little baby!

Thankfully the baby's parental units weren't freaked out by this!!

Brie made herself right at home once the show started:

We are Mickey Mouse Clubhouse fans and My Friends Tigger and Pooh, so this is right up our alley. I think Brie liked it:

It was about 11 when we finsihed that and I was hungry for REAL food. So I decided we'd head over to DTD and see if we could get into Rainforest Cafe. When we've stopped by there for lunch in the past we've never had trouble getting in.

But seriously the Great Movie Ride, Ariel, Playhouse Disney combination worked out magically!! It was flawless, seemless, and FUN!! I will be using this same startegy in January and beyond. (Until Brie forces us to be one of the ToT/RnR/TSM pack.)

So Rainforest Cafe was fun as always. Walked right in to a basically empty section. Brie was itching to walk around so once the server came I ordered our drinks and our food and told him we'd be wandering around.

We walked around and talked to all the animals and walked through the store part. They had a puzzle in the "kid's cove" and so Brie was a happy girl. It was hard to pull her away. I had to use the baby monkey puppet, and then I had to somehow get her away from the baby monkey puppet...

Anyway when we got there our food had came, Yaaaay! I ordered a burger and added a salad to split with Brie. The Burger was yummmmy. And Brie is my little Rabbit. She loves veggies. So she took a few bites of the burger but this is what she really wanted:

That lunch was just what the doctor ordered! We were parked behind Once Upon a Toy and I figured they would have the doll that Brie wanted the night before at MK but I didn't feel like hassling with, so we went, and they did!

Sorry about the fog. That's thanks to the glorious Florida heat and humidity. And that was after I wiped the lense!

It was about 12:30 by now so we went back to the hotel for naptime. Mommy took a shower and even took a nap!!

Up next: MY FAVORITE PART!!
Dinner with the Princesses and Epcot, baby!! Mucho pictures.

 

[DelitefulDory]

Did you get to use the Illumination Party tickets I sent you?

 

[BriesMomma]

Yes I did. Thank you. Sorry about the message overload!

 

[DelitefulDory]

Oh, no, just glad you got to use them.

 

[BriesMomma]

Sorry to leave ya hanging. It seems like since we got back it has been ridiculously busy 'round these parts. I am back in school full-time and Brielle has started preschool. She loves it. She tells everyone "I Big Girl! I go to school!" The first day the teacher asked the kids what songs they sing at home and Brie started singing "Part of Your World" aka "My Ariel Song." So cute, my little Princess...

So I was just getting to one of the best parts of our Disney getaway, our Saturday night at Epcot!

Oh but how could I forget?? During our break at the hotel Brielle and I were sitting out on the balcony of our hotel room on the 12th floor when she accidently bumped the table causing my phone to slide off, hit the floor, do a little skid, and fall 13 stories before breaking into what appeared to be atleast 10 different pieces. The whole thing happened in slow motion, I swear. The bleeping thing wasn't working for me anyway, but it was atleast serving as a time piece!! Oh well. I keep saying that if I would have been anywhere else in the world I would have felt so isolated, but honestly, once I saw it break into a dozen or so pieces I was immediately over it. Poor Brie. She kept saying "Sawwy, Momma" But it totally wasn't her fault. It could have happened to anyone. It was God and gravity!! It might have done me a favor because I was no longer stressing about not having phone service. LOL.

Well we made our way there around 4:30. It was kinda misty, but nothing too serious. Brielle wanted to push the stroller, in keeping with her refusal to RIDE in the stroller... So our trip to the gate took about 20 minutes

After we went in I wanted to get some pictures of my little Snow White playing in front of the ball. I heart the ball.

Love this one. Disney Wishes do come True!!!

 

[BriesMomma]

We spent a majority of our time letting Brie be Brie in the most Magical of the Magicals. I think its fun. She's growing up so fast and I have recently been reflecting more on the fact that I never get these moments back. Her discovering the world and finding happiness in every little thing. She makes everything so much more exciting! So I wanted to just take pictures of her being her cute little self at my favorite place ever. OKAY?!?! Lol.

So did we make it past the ball? Yes we did. And I made the executive decision to park the stroller and put that Princess on my shoulders. It's funny because I had been thinking I would be okay without the stroller as long as it wasn't EPCOT! But I obviously lived to tell the tale.

We had 5:15 ADR's for Akershus and so we headed that way. As soon as we could see Mexico, Brie could remember Donald was there. So we ran in there really quick.

Then we traveled to Norway and waited in about a 15 minute line to check-in. Brie was so antsy and just wanted to run, run, run. I had to stand, stand, stand, and I was really missing The Daddy. I gave Brie a few Dum-Dum suckers and she was able to survive the wait. Since we were a party of 2 and I guess they wanted to turn our table over faster we were moved to the front of the picture line and met one of my fave Princesses:

Oh yeah we shopped a bit in the store at Norway while we were waiting on our names to be called and picked up a little Snow White. I know, we got a little stuffed animal crazy on this trip.

Once again we were seated right away. Sorry for the people we budged- it wasn't our fault!! We went and checked out the appetizer bar. It wasn't too exciting, in my opinion, but my little rabbit was very happy with a salad and that atleast kept her in her seat. First up was Aurora/Briar Rose/Sleeping Beauty:

Brie's never seen Sleeping Beauty, but she knows a Princess when she sees one.

Next up was Cindy Rella. I was not diggin' Cindy. She didn't even try to get down on Brie's level like all of the other Princesses had. And is it just me or does she look like maybe she had a "rough night"??

And then there was Snow White herself!!

I mean honestly you can't PLAN these moments out. This stuff is priceless. Brie had a case of the Shyness, or as Snow White called her: Bashful. LOL!! And the sa thing is that I didn't get the reference right away because I was so caught in the moment!!

Love this one:

Move over Snow White, there's a new Princess in town.

So Snow White is going in to kiss Brie and is making it really obvious to me that I should be taking a picture of this incredibly magical moment and Im just staring at the 2 of them googly eyed... So I miss "The Kiss" But Oh Boy did it leave a mark:

(Uhhh... Elbows, missy??!)

Oh yeah there was food there with the Princesses... Brie had pizza. I had some Chicken and really it was YUCK to me. The meat did not seem like very good quality and it just was like boring bland slimy baked chicken. I dont really know how to describe it. Oh well. We certainly were not there for the food!!

Well that would have been enough right there but a HUGE bonus that I had no idea was coming:

UH-OH!! Who let Ariel up in here???
Ariel is my FAVORITE and Ariel and Snow White are Brielle's faves. I would say Ariel, but she really loves her Snow White too!

So needless to say we were very happy girls!!

AND the night was young!!

 

[BriesMomma]

So where were we? Oh that's right, dining with royalty in Norway...

Ahh the fabulous life of Brielle.

So it was really only 6:30 and we headed over to the Seas. I love Nemo. I really do. It is one of my faves of the New School. Brie loves Nemo too. The apple is not falling too far from the tree- so far atleast. LOL.

Here we are in our clam shells. I got yelled at for this one. I thought no flash photography started like when the ride started, not in the loading zone!! I am NOT a rule breaker, I swear!

In the Biiiig Bluuuee World.... Okay so I liked that song right. I think it's pretty. I finally broke down and bought the Disney Park Double Disc with the attraction and area music from the four parks on it on this trip. I was really looking forward to hearing the whole "Big Blue World" song... Well the 30 seconds you hear on the ride is THE song. That's it. That's all. To make matters worse... the 30 second clip is at the end of a 4 and a half minute instrumental, so it comes on and Brielle gets ALL EXCITED!!!! then it's over... and she's like NEMO SONG! NEMO SONG! And so I have to fast forward it to the Big Blue World part, listen to it for a few moments, and repeat.... Geez, these bossy kids these days.

So after that we decided to check out Crush. We have never taken the time to do it because Brie isn't good at sitting through shows, and I hate to be the one with the kid bouncing off the walls and distracting everyone else, but if I get too serious with her a tantrum may ensue... (These are the parenting equations that are constantly running through my brain. Tell me Im not alone??!) But I thought, what the hey, we're all about Finding Nemo, right.

We had a few minute wait. We met some cool creatures. One day when Im rich and famous I;m going to have fish tanks in my living room like these ones:

http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/ss343/disneykidathrt/disney8-10118.jpg[IMG]

[IMG]http://i590.photobucket.com/albums/ss343/disneykidathrt/disney8-10120.jpg

Well we lasted about 3 minutes... Brie kept running back and forth from the floor to the seats where the parents sit and when she was sitting down she was turned around yelling "Look, Momma!!" What can I say, the kid loves me. So I decided we should leave early. She was fine with that, I dont even really think she realized we were leaving early. I think we will try again in January. Maybe a few months of Preschool will help her learn what she is to do in those situations.

So we come out of the ocean and it is POURING rain!

What I did next is somewhat rule breaking. Well I consider it rulle breaking, or at the very least rude... I let Brie climb up on the Nemo landscaping elevated planter thingy. I know other people do it... I've waited for them to get down so we could take our boring ole photo from the ground!!!... and since it was raining there was nobody looking, and it was for about 30 seconds, I promise:

Then we ponchoed up and headed over to Figment:

Only to find it was after 7 and Figment was closed for the day.

BUT... Guess what was started very soon:

Yaaaaay! Huge MJ fan right here!!! Disney and MJ? 80's throwback?

I'm so there! Well, and you already know who else was there:

It was ROCKIN!!! Totally loved it. Brie was scared at some parts, but it really wasn't an issue, just squeeze the momma a little bit.

 

[BriesMomma]

So I feel like a super irresponsible pre-tripper at this point! Not only have I not updated for the January trip, I have also not finished telling you about our August trip. I'm pretty bad. I HAVE AN EXCUSE THOUGH!!

School. I'm back in school FULL TIME now and it has kicked my butt a few times this semester. Being back in school has been really good for me.

We took a little mini-vacay for my 28th birthday in October. We went to Philly to Sesame Place and did a day-trip to NYC. It was nice. Sesame Place Ain't no Disney World, thats for sure. But thats why I love it so much!!

I got my $25 Disney gift card for completing the survey they gave me in August and it was certainly burning a hole in my pocket. LOL. I ordered 8 shirts for Brie, 3 shirts for me, an Ariel hoodie for Brie, and some Minnie Mouse boots. So for a little under $200 I have a big chunk of vacation shopping/ X-mas done. Yippee!

Also, my cousin and her 7 year old daughter will be joining us for a weekend as well as my uncle and aunt! So the party is growing!!

Well that is all for now. After the next 2 weeks I will be able to get more involved in my trip planning. And I will long story short the August trip and get all of our January plans done!!

See ya Real Soon!

 

[BriesMomma]

SO welcome to the abridged version of our steamy weekend in Disney World. By steamy, I mean flippin H-O-T. But I will be begging for some heat in January so I promised myself I wouldnt complain about it. (And if I did Brie will never tell on me. )

So after totally rockin out with MJ, we went outside to check out that there jumping water.

Except Brie was more interested in the rocks... This actually happens quite often so Im used to it.

After picking up a super Captain EO shirt, a stuffed Tink, and the Mickey Ear Family car stickers from Mouse Gears we headed over to da ball.

Good times as always.

Then we walked back over towards the lagoon because it was almost time for Illuminations. We were just in time (actually I think the guy stayed open because he saw a possible Snow White meltdown if he didn't) to get a popsicle from a cart by the Trader store. Illuminations was amazing as always. This time we were kinda stuck with a less than great view. Standing on something by China. Brie was on my shoulders and I got a popsicle shower. First time for that. Wouldn't recommend it if you aren't into being sticky.

We made our way out of Epcot and headed back to the hotel. When we got there Brie looked in the mirror and saw her kissy face:

What a wonderful beautiful perfectul... lol... but Geez Louise what a GREAT day that was!! One for the history books. I dont think my Princess wanted it to end and so she decided to sleep in her dress.

Where Dreams Come True...

 

[BriesMomma]

So I wake up iN disney world next to a princess... Not a bad way to kick off A Sunday if I do say so myself.

Today we were starting things off at Magic Kingdom. Breakfast from the Hess by DTD... a little boat ride across a pond... short walk down Main Street and BAM!

My home away from home.

We were there relatively early if I remember correctly. 9:30ish. We headed right to Peter Pan.

Sorry it was rushed. FAIL. A goal for my next trip is to take better ride pics.

Then I think we did some criss-crossing. OVer to Buzz, then People Mover, then over to Haunted Mansion... Anywho. After tat we needed a snack and so sat under the big tree in Liberty Square and had Doritoes and juice. We also were attacked by this guy:

On to Adventureland where Brie had a FIRST!!

The Jungle Cruise!! i know you're like "The kids been on four trips and never ridden Jungle Cruise?? What is wrong with you people???!!"

my apologies. It just is never a priority. I am always drawn to CAPTAIN JACK SPARROW when I am anywhere near the land of Adventure. However it was LOL funny, and it is a must-do in January. Brandon needs to see this. It had been ATLEAST 15 years since I'd ridden it. (Please dont make me say that again. It makes me feel old.)

And then we went and hung out with the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki birds. Brie saw this with my mom back on her first trip in October 09, but it had been *COUGH* ...quite awhile... since Id seen it.

Perrty.

Then we went to see my boo, Captain Jack.

After we came out there was this Goofy pirate fella:

Brie told him her daddy is a pirate. Yo Ho Yo Ho a Pirates Life for Daddddyyyyy. (the remix)

After that we had a yum lunch at Pecos Bills. We have never caught it when it was open and boy am I glad we did. However after that I was even ready for a nap!! So we made our way to the exit. Just in time for a parade!! I truly have a talent for that. Or is iT Disney magic??

So that was fun. Now I know I was supposed to be letting Brie pick our way over the pond, but I wanted to ride the monorail darn it!!! So I made another executive decision.

She didn't object.

Where mommy wants to get married. Where Brie wants to become a flower girl...

I missed a shopping stop in there somewhere because here she is carrying "something". If you havent noticed by now I have a shopping PROBLEM. It's under control...

She wanted to take this picture. She was right.

Then back to the telly for a bit of shut eye.

 

[BriesMomma]

So nap/shower time was fabulous as always. (That guy cracks me up.) I wanted to head to Epcot. At this point I was pretty much winging it. I didnt know if I should use the email that I received from one of these awesome Dissers so that I could go to the Mickey Mom party. I am a super square. I dont like rule breaking... okay besides the Nemo planter and the flash photog in the loading zone... I'm not into it. So I was debating it in my head and I was just going to see how I felt about it when we got to Epcot.

First up at Epcot was this fella:

I love him. The kid loves him. He makes us happy. We hopped around after that:

The gift shop "got me" for more than Id like to share. I bought a Figment/ Dreamcatcher Tee, a giant Figment stuffy, the Disney Parks Cd... It got out of control. But it was okay... the plane tickets were already paid for and we were going home bright and early.

It was raining when we came out and we headed over to the Land Pavillion. I was craving the Mongolian Beef I'd had in February and Brie has never ridden Living With the Land... So we rode it first. This was a really weird experience for me. The part with the large screens, showing how the land is farmed literally took me RIGHT BACK to my childhood. So I'm getting all teary-eyed. Hug my baby. Loving Disney.... There is nowhere else (that Ive found anyway- it could be the same for this place my family used to go every year in Captiva Island, Florida. But the place is outrageously expensive now so I dont know when/if Ill get to find out...) that makes me feel that way.

So high-five to Living With the Land. I will never miss it on another trip.

And high-five to Sunshine Seasons or whatever the QS in the Land is called!! I heart their food. We had the beef, brocolli, rice meal. Yummy in my Tummy. I snagged this awesome shot while we were eating:

Me trying to kiss Brie... and her ummm not trying to kiss me. snooty: or ??) It makes me LOL.

Umm let's see... Then we headed over to the Seas for another dip with Nemo. And got some super cute pictures...

So it's this point that I am at a crossroads in my vacation. I could head over to MK. Watch Wishes and see my Castle one last time... Ride some rides... OR I could try to get into the Illuminations party that had originally inspired this wonderful trip in the first place...

Which would you have done?

 

[BriesMomma]

So keeping in the tradition of my squareness... and to keep the good karma/ pixie dust flowing...

And look at all the pixie dust in that picture?? I am a sweaty rainy mess and yet I put it on Facebook and friends from HS are telling me how great I look?? Okay... If you say so. Brie makes me look good and umm thats one heck of a backdrop.

As you can see, the sun was quickly setting on our fairytale weekend.

Mk was open to some ridiculous hour... 12 AM, maybe 1 AM... Those days are far behind (and infront of!!!) me and so I asked Brie what she wanted to do. It was around 8 and we had a 5 AM flight. Well wouldnt ya know it, the kid wanted to see Mickey Mouse.

Well shoot, Brie, we happen to be in the best place in the World to see him. And his lady. So we headed over to Toontown... the last time EVER and waited for about 45 minutes to see these 2 peeps:

 

[BriesMomma]

That picture is awesome!! And it makes me feel not so bad for refusing my kisses at dinner.
After we met with that lovely couple we had a few minutes to kill before Wishes and so Brie wanted to ride Pooh again. What Baby wants, Baby gets.

Just as we were coming out Jiminy Cricket was doing his introduction and so we just watched Wishes from the middle of FantasylanD> Not our best view EVER but it was still wonderful. I love seeing misty-eyed daddies!! They are what turn my mist to a full on downpour!!! No better way to end the day. No better way to end a weekend.

we made it to our super duper flight in the AM. Not sure how. Pixie Dust and McDonald's Sausage Burritos.

COming home is always depressing for me. I love in a small town. Hit hard by the economy. Disney is so fabulous, and everything is so magical!!!

So now that is done!! Pffhew. On with the pre-trip. The whole reason we were here in ther first place...