Did you put the Pull-Ups in the trunk? No!?! Did you?!? No!?! Eeek!

[annmarieda]

OH my gosh!! that poor baby and dad. I am sure he felt horrible. I hope that they were both ok.

Sorry that Alexa didn't get to talk to Crush. Zoe got picked once and then didn't know what she wanted to ask. It was just as frustrating for her as the times she didn't get picked.

Can't wait to read more!!

 

[lilpixiebabe101]

Yeah soooo it's been a while! I'll do a RL update after this.. maybe... no promises cause we all know how good I am about keeping TR/PTR promises lol!

So on to WS.
Picture OP first!

We still had over an hour to kill before our ADR time at Nine Dragons, so we started into the Mexico side first. We get into the building, and Alexa is loving everything!

We go on the Gran Fiesta Tour ride first. Alexa loved trying to find Donald! We get out of the ride... and to this day I don't know why this ride exits into the blown glass shop. In this shop, surrounded by expensive glass pieces, is where the melt down happens. Now remember she took a very early nap in the car. Her normal nap time is closer to 1-2pm. I wouldn't let her hold a little figurine, and you would have thought I told her she couldn't meet Mickey Mouse or something! She starts screaming and kicking at me. I carry her little butt out of there and spanked her booty right outside the doorway. Then she saw the long swirly lollipops and starts screaming for one. We made a beeline for the door.

Let's just say we found a bathroom and Alexa and I had a chat about to behave and not behave in Disney!

We head off farther into the world to explore!

We found some things to play with!

Off we went to Nine Dragons to stuff our faces!!! Was it as good as Joseph hoped it was?!?! Remember this was his only request for the trip!

 

[annmarieda]

Poor Alexa... and mommy. Public tantrums are not fun. You handled it well though. my dd often pitched fits when in stores. I usually was telling her not to touch things and she of course only wanted to.. touch things. When she was old enough to articulate her issue well, she pointed out that I touch everything I come in contact with when shopping. It really opened my eyes a bit. Not that she had any right... I was mom and I was shopping and thus I COULD touch things, but it helped me to understand her perspective and approach the problem a bit differently. I had not thought about this.. but for little ones, I wonder if the same type of confusion sets in when in disney. I mean... don't touch the breakables... but touch this hat or that doll. Bottom line...when the parent says no..it is no regardless of how confusing it could be...but I wonder if between this confusion and all the over stimulation...if it helps to prompt those meltdowns.:

 

[momabaarjo]

We have lots of those "Come to Jesus" meetings in the bathroom. Sorry you had to have one in Mexico! I love the pictures of Alexa with the hat and troll...love the cliffhanger...


YOU UPDATED!!!!!

 

[lilpixiebabe101]

Poor Alexa... and mommy. Public tantrums are not fun. You handled it well though. my dd often pitched fits when in stores. I usually was telling her not to touch things and she of course only wanted to.. touch things. When she was old enough to articulate her issue well, she pointed out that I touch everything I come in contact with when shopping. It really opened my eyes a bit. Not that she had any right... I was mom and I was shopping and thus I COULD touch things, but it helped me to understand her perspective and approach the problem a bit differently. I had not thought about this.. but for little ones, I wonder if the same type of confusion sets in when in disney. I mean... don't touch the breakables... but touch this hat or that doll. Bottom line...when the parent says no..it is no regardless of how confusing it could be...but I wonder if between this confusion and all the over stimulation...if it helps to prompt those meltdowns.:

I think it was the lack of real nap time and all the over stimulation. Because she knows the "don't touch the glass" rule very well usually!

We have lots of those "Come to Jesus" meetings in the bathroom. Sorry you had to have one in Mexico! I love the pictures of Alexa with the hat and troll...love the cliffhanger...


YOU UPDATED!!!!!

Haha yes I updated!!! And we call them that as well.. but I didn't want to use it and someone get offended because I used that phrase. I have had a client flip out on me for using it in a conversation!

 

[afwdwfan]

Glad to see you're still around.

It isn't a Disney trip until you have at least one big meltdown!

 

[amandaw]

Oh yes, the good ole tantrum in the middle of Disney! I've definitely been there, too! In fact, I believe I have threatened my son telling him we would leave the park if he didn't straighten up.

 

[momabaarjo]

Haha yes I updated!!! And we call them that as well.. but I didn't want to use it and someone get offended because I used that phrase. I have had a client flip out on me for using it in a conversation!

I guess I have not thought of being offensive...my little old minister at church used to use the phrase!

 

[shocky5]

Hooray! I'm officially caught up with your trip report! I'm sorry about Alexa's meltdown! Totally understand! She seemed to handle it well because it looks like you had her distracted and playing in Norway smiling again in no time!

We use "come to Jesus" here, too... it's right up there with "Bless their heart." Not offensive - totally gets the point across if you think about it - and I think that's what causes the upset - people don't like for their toes to be stepped on.

 

[lilpixiebabe101]

Glad to see you're still around.

It isn't a Disney trip until you have at least one big meltdown!

Oh yes, the good ole tantrum in the middle of Disney! I've definitely been there, too! In fact, I believe I have threatened my son telling him we would leave the park if he didn't straighten up.

Oh yeah. There were a few melt downs, but that was the worst!

I guess I have not thought of being offensive...my little old minister at church used to use the phrase!

Hooray! I'm officially caught up with your trip report! I'm sorry about Alexa's meltdown! Totally understand! She seemed to handle it well because it looks like you had her distracted and playing in Norway smiling again in no time!

We use "come to Jesus" here, too... it's right up there with "Bless their heart." Not offensive - totally gets the point across if you think about it - and I think that's what causes the upset - people don't like for their toes to be stepped on.

Just never know who will find what offensive these days! (And there wasn't a whole lot to catch up on, Amy!

 

[lilpixiebabe101]

Alright.. yes yes I know an update. I think I will stop apologizing for the time in between. At least it's getting done.. Maybe if I hurry I can finish before Ann! Yeah right! But I'll try to finish in 3rd place maybe?



Here's a picture I forgot from the last updates. Our first Disney bus ride.

Okay so I left y'all as we were heading off to China for dinner. We had a little time to kill, so we went off into the shops.

Now before I go any further, a little background work. Its the week before Christmas, and I have yet to Christmas shop. I work at a mall 4-5 days a week, and no presents yet. So my family, my mom shops for enough, so I didnt need to find anything. Buddy's family does a "Ladies/Man's" Chinese Christmas Swap for all the adults over 18. And then everyone shops for everyone else's kid. I have one kid. All the other familys have 2-3-4 type kids. We were expected to spend 25$ on each of these gifts. I'm sorry, I'm not a cheap person normally. But we don't have the money to spend 200$ on our own child for Christmas let alone 200$ on everyone else's when we only have one to there 2-3-4. (Okay rant over.) So I decided since I was in Disney I would find each of the kids something smaller less expensive from WDW. Ya know the thought of it being from Disney when none of these kids have been before being part of the gift, and it turns out it was a great idea.

Second background. Alexa turned 3 on our drive down day. The day before my dad gave her a purse and wallet with her own spending money. $100 in 1's and 5's... so she could buy anything we told her she couldn't have. This will bring on a melt down later.


Okay on to shopping in China. Sad day I can't find the picture of Alexa and Joseph trying on Panda hats. If I can, I will post the later.

Alexa's first purchase with her money was the most adorable huge eyed little panda!

On to dinner. After spending like an hour trying to get our reservation number sent to us, they didn't even need it at Nine Dragons.. Seriously I went to all this trouble, and you don't even want to look at it? Oh well... On to yummy food!

I didn't get a picture of the Wanton's. We ate them wayyyy too fast, because they were way to good. Mom ended up ordering a second plate of those.. again they were eaten way too fast for a picture!

I don't remember the names. I didn't keep a notebook like you ladies did! But I remember one was a spicy chicken and beef plate, one was a shrimp thingy, and the fried rice had too many onions for my liking.

Overall it was a good meal. Not the best of our trip, but not the worst. Joseph enjoyed it, and that's what mattered!

So on to more Epcot enjoyment. And Alexa's first character meet! Who do you think she will see?!?!

 

[lilpixiebabe101]

Okay color change. It was too light for the last post. I had the wrong color!

Off we start wandering. I texted Amy to see if they were done with dinner at Akasheurs (spelling?) yet. She said that her crew was exhausted and was already lounging back in the hotel room! No biggie we had a meet planned in the morning!

About this time, we were almost to.. the Caramel shop... and who do we see??? Someone who's going on a ten minute bathroom break!

Alexa waited patiently!

She loved that autograph book. She wanted to hold it at all times, but we didn't want it to get lost. We had actually intended to let her use my old autograph book, but of course we left it at home! So we bought her a new one on the way into Epcot as we were having the early reservation melt down!

She loved Snow White. I'm really glad she had her first character interaction with one of the live characters first! She didn't want to leave Snow White!

We took a picture of this to come back later and visit, but never got back over here.

Instead we played with pennies in Italy!

(Oh by the way speaking of pennies... I know some of you know, but I forgot Buddy's M&M's penny press tube. So all trip we were saving quarters and shiny pennies. I'll take a picture of all his pennies and post them at the end!)

More playing in the shops. I think these are all a bit out of order, but who knows lol!

And we have our first DDP experience in France!
A few pastries and Alexa got Chocolate Mousse..... everywhere!

and Alexa's Mommy went off to find...

Which was AMAZING!

After this, watched Reflections. We were kind of on the edge of one of the bridges. Not a bad viewing spot. Alexa was flipped out by all the noise. Andy had the right idea with the headphones. We will know for next time! I don't know IF we took any pictures. I'm sure we did!

We finally toddled off to Pop! To get a good night sleep to be up super early the next morning!

A picture of course with the Pop Tree!

And one more bus picture that I missed from our first day. He's such a good BrUncle to her! (BrUncle- Uncle but practically a big Brother)

Now on to upload to photobucket! Coming up Alexa's first glimpse of my castle... Did I build up the moment too much? or was it everything I hoped it would be for her!?!?!

 

[lilpixiebabe101]

Up we get, bright and early! Why?!?!

It's off to Magic Kingdom we go for the moment I've been dreaming of since we decided to go!

Alexa seeing Cinderella Castle for the first time!

We get up early and head straight out. No stopping for breakfast because we have 8am ADR's at Crystal Palace! I text Amy as we get on the bus to see how they are making it for time. Apparently not so good, got a late start and then either bus or monorail trouble I believe?

We forgo the Rope Drop ceremony and slip in the early ADR admittance walk through. I'm continuously texting Amy at this point cause she's worried they won't make it before rope drop to run for the left side when they get in, so they didn't have to spend the time asking/looking for where to go once they arrived.

We get in through the tunnel, and Alexa is looking at everything. Joseph has her up on his shoulders at this point for some reason? We get to the corner of the first store on the left side of Main Street just out of sight of the castle. Mom gets the actual video camera out instead of her phone, so I will see if I can find away to transfer that few minutes of film onto my computer to show y'all.

We turn the corner onto Main Street and at first she just kind of stares, and then she starts to smile a little. And I asked her if she knew who's castle that was, and she got all excited and started smiling really big and whispered "Cinderella's"! She was huge smiles all the way down the way! Definitely worth the extra planning to be able to let her see it without all the people!

Joseph complained cause he didn't get to see her face full since she was on his head... Silly boy could have put her down at any time!

So we head up Main Street to get some Photopass pictures in before we dig in at CP!

We've had a picture together from every trip we've taken, so of course we had to be nice siblings and take one!

Up next: Do I finally get to meet up with Amy? (Hmm some of you might have already found this out....) And how does Alexa interact with the actual characters... and apparently a CM thinks I'm cute!?!?!
[/COLOR]

 

[lilpixiebabe101]

Don't Stop me Now... Having such a good time... I'm having a ball...

Oh wait.. Back to the TR. I'm on a roll today! With two hours left to go of work! I might finish day 2 and start day 3. Who know with all this craziness!

After our photo shoot with the castle, we head over the CP. We had just gotten back over there when I get a text from Amy saying they are skirting around the entrance lines and are booking it down Main Street! A few moments later I look up to see a frazzled looking Amy hurrying her kids past Casey's Corner! I shout her name, and we hug and start talking like old friends!

Alexa of course was being shy. Her kids were so sweet and polite. I can get over how much her boys look alike. I would swear they were twins if one wasn't just a tiny bit taller!

We all get checked in and wait to be seated. We all continued to talk and chit chat until we are called inside. (My mom by the way thinks this is nuts. She just doesn't understand the bond we have all formed! She couldn't not understand why I wanted to meet up with "these random people you have never met and will never meet again" while we are on vacation. Little does she know + + = gets all of us at Disney together! )

I digress though from my entertaining smiley faces!
CP was amazing as always. Alexa was a little to preoccupied with Winnie and friends and didn't eat much!

Okay so as I'm looking apparently my mom only took video with these characters? I'll have to see if Joseph has some on his phone.

But she loved them! She was a little stand offish at first, but she got all of them to sign her book. Plus she gave them all a hug and kiss on the nose!

And the video that I will hopefully be posting next.. is um one of my more interesting of the trip. Alexa sees and does her thing wity Eeyore, and then as I'm putting her back in her seat and getting ready to sit down, he pulls me back up for a hug and makes a kissing noise in my ear. So apparently Eeyore's CM thought I was cute!



After breakfast, we headed off to walk through Cinderella Castle and see what we wanted to ride.

We found some rides and some very entertaining characters! Who do you think we found right outside the back arches of Cinderella Castle?!?!

 

[momabaarjo]

Wow...look at all the updates!

Did you and Amy actually all eat together that morning at CP?

I love the drink you found in France the day I went for one it was way too cold to enjoy one!

I love the pictures with Snow White and the chocolate mousee picture is priceless!

 

[shocky5]

Wow...look at all the updates!

Did you and Amy actually all eat together that morning at CP?

I love the drink you found in France the day I went for one it was way too cold to enjoy one!

I love the pictures with Snow White and the chocolate mousee picture is priceless!

We were seated separately but had a good 15-20 minute visit waiting to be seated.

Ashley - your mom was so nice to take our pictures for us though!! I remember you saying she thought it was nuts! Which makes it that much more fun!

Thank you for the sweet words about my kiddos! They have their moments when they remember their manners!!

 

[amandaw]

I will have to call you butter....because you are on a roll!

Loved all the updates!

That was so sweet how excited your daughter was to see the castle for the first time!

 

[afwdwfan]

Wow that was a lot of updating...
I'm glad to see that Alexa settled in and enjoyed interacting with the characters. That's exciting that she was excited to see the castle.

 

[annmarieda]

I can't believe I missed all these updates!!!

I think having Snow White be Alexa's first M&G was perfect! And seeing the castle with hardly anyone in the park... such an amazing thing that I am sure she was just in awe!!!

Very cool you got to meet up with Amy. We were not so lucky.

 

[ashxf]

My family is planning our own family vacation in 2014. I'm telling you, I can't WAIT to see my son and two nieces when they first walk into the Magic Kingdom. My son and one niece will both be 2 and my other niece will be 6. None of them have been before (the babies are only 7 months old), but I've shown my now-4 year old niece videos on YouTube. (she's fascinated by Small World, figures. My sister has threatened to disown me if I get her on a Small World kick).

I suspect she will raise holy hell if we don't find a meet-n-greet with Tiana for her. That's her fave princess since we're in Louisiana and Tiana makes gumbo. My other niece? I suspect Mulan would be her fave princess (kick butt, take names) and my son? Jack Sparrow...no question.

With that trip and this one, it means I'll get to go to Disney TWICE in a 6 month time span! I haven't been since 2004, so twice in a calendar year is unheard of for me!

---Ashley M.