"Don't forget a picture of the food!" Updated 8/16! A Fall TR!

[hokieinpa]

Great updates!!

I hope you enjoy your trips! The American Girl store looks like so much FUN!!

So great that you got to see Hanson and without waiting in line!

And so lucky that you got to ride Maelstrom one last time. Great classic Norway shots with the troll, too!

I fully support the decision to leave early. Happy kids and actual seats on the bus are way more appealing sometimes! We left before/during a MSEP/Wishes and Fantasmic during our trip and the short bus wait was a huge plus!!

And that cronut looks yummy!!

 

[DMGeurts]

Happy Anniversary to you Terri!

I've loved doing the Whole30 with you! It's been a great experience... I am so glad to hear that you (and the family) like it so much, you've decided to turn it into a lifestyle! That is great! I look forward to continuing on this journey with you!

Great Hansen pictures! That is so cool that you got to see them. They were a bit after my time. I was more of a Guns n' Roses girl myself. Tee~hee.

The American Dream looks delicious... At our home town "DQ" - we have one that's similar, no special name for it - but it's not on the board... It's by request only... And it's grape slush with icecream... Total yumminess!

So sad about Malestrom... We never got to ride it this trip. It's sad... NOT every ride in Disney needs to be themed after a character/movie - IMO.

Hmmm... TT in the dark - never done that before...

We haven't made it to any of the night time spectaculars in many trips... We like to get to bed early and avoid the crushing exit crowds... I think Alli has them all on her agenda for her grad trip though.

Thanks for the great updates!!! The girls are adorable as usual! Loved their outfits today!

D~

 

[missangelalexis]

Have a great time in Dallas!! Happy Anniversary to you guys

I'm glad you had a blast at Hanson! So awesome that you got to to meet Lia.

So great that you got to ride Maelstrom before it closed.

Mmm love the cronut.

I think it was smart of you to leave early! Beating the bus rush is a glorious thing!

 

[JoeyEmmaMomma]

Woot, an update!!
The cronut was everything I hoped for also, lol.

Empty bus home sounds like a win to me. It taking an hour to get back to the hotel can be painful with littles.

 

[Chicago Mo]

Happy Anniversary! Happy Birthday!!

Sooo.. Nice to see you around again...

Congrats on your 30day to happiness.. your doing great!

FUN A DIS MEET!!! Glad you went up to her and made a new friend!
Hanson was a wee bit young for me.. and i was NEVER a boy bad fan. My era was the new kids.. I was a Skid Row fan. always the rebel i tell you.

Al your pictures are adorable.. As you know i just think your girls need to be on posters! or a run way.

isn't it sad to say goodbye to a ride? Don't think i could wait an hours for it.. you did great and so did the girls!!
We had a great farewell tour of Maelstrom.

Yay for donald love! looks like she liked the dingle balls on Donald's hat!
I do love the fiesta ride!!! not like that thing in MK... yikes that one is scary!


Ohh a Mickey bar! YUM!!! Nothing beats that! yet your American drink thing does look good... might have to add this to my MUST DO on the NEXT TIME..

TT AT NIGHT! oh love love love it!!!

Nope never did Illuminations. always try to beat the crowds.. and i cannot agree with you enough a vacant bus will beat it every time.

Hope you don't disappear again for months at a time...

 

[MissMaryQC]

Happy Birthday and Anniversary!!

Congrats on the challenge! We've never done that, per-say, but we made a decision about two years ago to be better to our bodies, it's hard but SO worth it! Keep it up, you're doing great!

I'm so glad you enjoyed your Hanson boys, I mean men! My sis loved them when we were kids

The pictures with Donald are SO cute!! You're girls are adorable, as always.

Ya know, as a new mama, I could see where skipping the night time shows would be better than staying and fighting the crowds for a seat on a crowded bus. Glad you guys had a nice, quiet ride back to your resort.

Looking forward to more updates!!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!! hope you guys have a great day and fun on Olivia's trip!

i'm glad that you had such fun at the concert and got to meet another DISer! and rode maelstrom one last time. we only rode it once in our whole lives and now it's gone...a little bummed....

love the pic of chris with his shirt and mickey ice cream!

I don't blame you for leaving early. it's nice to have an emptier bus then trying to drag two sleeping kids around!

 

[annegirl]

Happy anniversary! I hope you guys have a fabulous trip!!!
So fun to see Hanson with your family. It looks great!

 

[Jackiemarie21]

Yay! You're back! I have missed you!
I love how much you love Hanson. When I was still teaching our Stuco did an MMMbop fundraiser one time. They played the song over and over again in the cafeteria until they raised enough money to get it to stop. I have to admit, I liked having the song play over and over again. Brought back some pretty great memories!
That beer, too cute!
I have to try the American Dream this time...I wanted to try one last trip but the machine was broken...boo!
I don't blame you one bit for leaving during Illuminations, empty bus is totally worth it!

 

[Pluto0809]

I thought I was caught up everywhere but then I found your TR! I swear I say this over and over but I'm caught up once again. I'm determined to keep up this time.

 

[AprilRenee]

We took off early from lots of our evenings. I think we only stayed for fireworks our first night. After that any evening we were in the parks turned into a race to the busses before the fireworks ended!! I didn't want to be stuck in a long line with a sleepy kid! No thank you!

 

[Chicago Mo]

I see your having a blast in vegas... but where the heck is this video?!?!?! i NEED to see her on this sheep thing!

 

[disneychic2]

Hey Terri! After sleeping two hours, I woke up and can't sleep, so I finally have time to jump back onto the DIS! I guess it's been a while for you too, but I know you have such a busy life and have had so many little trips lately. I love following on FB.

Now, I need to go back and read and get caught up. Just wanted to get a quick hi in beforehand. Hope you have a great day today!

 

[disneychic2]

All caught up. I'm sort of glad you're going slowly…makes it easier to catch up! Love everything you did and the pics are great! We usually take the boat over when we eat at Cape May. Then we walk back to walk off the meal we just ate! Love that walk to the gateway. We rode Maelstom when we went in September. I didn't realize it was closing at the time, but we hadn't ridden in in years, so just decided to do it, and I'm glad. I saw pics of the dismantled boats on flatbed trucks going down the highway and it was so sad. I didn't even really like it all that much, but it's so iconic.

I know you had fun at Vegas from your posts on FB. I didn't realize about your trip to DL. What fun! I went to DL when I was 15. So….that was a while ago. Okay, decades ago!! I would love to go again, but I love DW so much, I haven't been able to make the switch. It's great you'll be right across the street. Have you decided end of April or first of May yet? We will be taking our grandson Miles to DW April 16th for his birthday trip. I've had so much going on in my life that I haven't even been thinking about that trip. Now THAT's sad!!

Well, it's been fun. I'll be back more frequently now I hope. Take care!

 

[Denovagirl]

Chef Mickey's and 5-Legged Goats!

This was it! We were FINALLY going to see that glorious Castle! The fact that we were in Disney World would finally feel REAL!

We woke up about 7:30 today, because we had plans for a later breakfast at Chef Mickey’s and a later start due to the fact we would be in MK late tonight. The girls and I took baths and got ready. By 8:15ish we were in the very LONG bus line. I have to say, I had never encountered a bus line so long in the morning, we are usually up and at em long before there late sleepers, and I was not happy. But low and behold like 3 MK buses came at once, so, thankfully, we were on our way after not too long!





When we arrived at MK our first small setback of the morning arose when the Monorail was closed. Booo. No problem though, right? We can walk it. So off we went our 5 minute jaunt to the Contemporary. No biggie…


We got there a little early, and CM wasn’t taking any check in’s until your time, so we decided to go find the Mickey bench I wanted to take pics at!! It was actually pretty easy to find, right out the backside of the hotel!









I have to say a special shout out to LORI, StlMickeyMom, for the ADORABLE MICKEY-TASTIC rompers!! The girls were in full on Mickey-mode today! They had fun taking photos, and a nice CM even stopped by to get a family one for us!





We also grabbed a couple shots at this nearby topiary!





We spent a few minutes walking around the Contemporary… then it was time for Chef Mickey’s!! Yay!












We checked in for our ADR and stopped for our photo…







And were seated pretty quickly in the upper area that looks out over the Seven Seas Lagoon, score! A perfect spot, I thought.


In no time we were all binging on delicious breakfast offerings and meeting characters!!!!


































It didn’t take long for the fun to start and soon the characters were all coming around, and we were dancing and swinging our napkins about!





After Chef Mickey’s I made it my mission to locate the 5-Legged Goat on the mural, and we found him!!





I won’t tell you exactly where so you can have fun finding him yourself!!


Now it was time to head to MK!!! We noticed the Monorail was back up and running, so we figured we would take the loop around, and save my feet some walking…. Or so we thought. Dun, dun, dunnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn….

Coming up, the Monorail Ride THAT WOULD NOT END, and Hey!!! That Mickey is TALKING!

 

[Denovagirl]

The Monorail Ride THAT WOULD NOT END, and HEY!! That Mickey TALKS!!!

So we just left off on a moment I would come to regret, our decision to hop aboard the monorail for our ride back to MK...






















Thus began our incredibly long journey to the park that was a mere 5 minute walk away, if only we had Hermione’s time turner to go back and take the path again!!! But alas, we did not, and therefore, as we made it to our very first stop at the TTC we heard the dreaded announcement that another monorail was down on the tracks, and we could not continue on this route until it was cleared up. Well, we thought, wait it out, right? Wrong. 5 minutes later they were announcing they expected this to be a lengthy detour, and suggested everyone walk down to the boat ramp and take the boat over. *Sigh*


Off we went to the VERY long line for the ferry boat. 20 minutes later we boarded said boat, and we were literally sardines. It was hot, sweaty, and yuck. Just yuck. Not so magical. And all I could think was how closer we were…if only we’d walked back…. Did make for a pretty photo though!

It may not seem long in writing, but it felt like F O R E V E R to get back to MK!








Finally, and I do mean FINALLY, we made it to gates of MK, only nearly an hour after we left our breakfast, and we passed through the bag checks and welcome kiosks and entered the Magic Kingdom!!











Thankfully, all the morning frustrations immediately melted away, and pure excitement replaced it. We had some very special first appointments coming up, but first we had some FP’s to meet the main mouse, himself, while we all still looked put together….ish….


Oh, and I got a red card!!




















Can I just say WOW!!! Talking Mickey is the real deal y’all!!! My kiddos were SO blown away; there is just nothing in the world like it. They were so raptured by him; it was quite the site to see as they waited in line for their turn.


They did get a little shy when it was their turn to meet him. Mickey talked about trains and had them both pretend to be trains with him as they “choo-chooed” all around the room.


Overall a FANTASTIC experience and I love Disney so much for making things even more awesome than they already were!!


Off to a great start in MK, more pics with Mickey when I return, and things are about to get even better as we headed across the street for that extra-special “first time” appointment….

Up next, First Haircuts!

 

[Denovagirl]

First Haircuts

Chatting up with Mickey was so much fun, the girls, and mom and dad LOVED him!











After we left good ole Mick, we headed across the street for the next thing on our agenda… I am sure you know by now what our appointment was for??? First haircuts, of course!! The plan was to do Liv’s first haircut only, but then the hubby was worried of all the “what-if’s” of if we couldn’t make it back to MK when the time came for Maddie’s first one, so the decision was made to do both girls, even though Maddie’s was more ceremonious.


So we left Town Square Theater and started to cross the street Harmony Barber Shop, only to be stopped in our tracks by the Move It, Shake It, Celebrate It Parade starting! So we stood there for a few minutes and got to watch the characters and dancers go by before heading on our way!








Once at the HBS, we checked in and had about a 15 minute wait for a chair to open up. Good news was two haircuts were finishing up in chairs next to each other so the girls got to go at the same time!


Side note: It is SMALL in there!! Olivia found someone to pin trade with during our little wait too.


When it was finally our turn, I bid farewell to my sweet Olivia’s little curls, not knowing if I would ever see them again…






































Both girls did awesome, and the whole experience was great, albeit very, very quick. The got lots of stickers, their first piece of hair cut in a small bag of pixie dust, certificates, and, of course, the coveted “First Haircut” Mickey ears. Happy campers, I tell ya!


We tipped both the ladies who did their hair $5, paid our tab and were on our way… (Tip: You need to bring CASH for your tips to places like this and the Pirates League and BBB!!!)


Right as we were leaving we ran into a class act that I had never gotten to see before…

 

[Denovagirl]

And Our First Ride in MK Is...

Well, I told you we ran into someone I had never seen before…


The Dapper Dans!!! SQUEEEEE!


I was so excited to see them, and we stayed and watched their entire set! They really are quite, well, DAPPER!








While we were watching I was also super happy to post this pic to my FB and IG showing that some of Liv’s curls did survive the cut!! Yay!!





After watching the Dan’s we moved on down Main Street, finally, to head towards our first ride, that we had a FP for, It’s A Small World, aka “Maddie’s fave!” But first, photopass!!!











It was right after noon here, so the sun was deadly in our faces, so I am not too happy with how our first photos in front of the castle turned out, but what can ya do?? Oh well. Onward!! With plenty of stopping for more photos too…




















IASW is always a great time, for Maddie especially. I also took a photo of all the coins in the water! Isn’t it amazing to look in and see all the different types of currency from around the world!?!?!? So cool! Even cooler? I've heard that Disney cleans out all those coins thrown in rides and fountains and such and donates them to charity!















After our visit with all the children of the world we were actually already getting a little hungry and hot again, after all we’d already had quite the adventure since breakfast, so we stopped into Storybook Treats for an ice cream. Sadly, no pic… Sorry! It’s ice cream! It melts fast!! LOL.. at least that my excuse…


We poked around in the Pooh shop a bit, where Maddie saw fit to grab every Pooh possible.





After our treats our next FP window was open, and this one was for something we were all super excited for… MINE TRAINNNNNNNNN!!!

 

[Gracefulskinny]

She's Alive!


Well Hello there stranger!

Finally, and I do mean FINALLY, we made it to gates of MK, only nearly an hour after we left our breakfast, and we passed through the bag checks and welcome kiosks and entered the Magic Kingdom!!

Did make for a pretty photo though!

Stunning!

Can I just say WOW!!! Talking Mickey is the real deal y’all!!! My kiddos were SO blown away; there is just nothing in the world like it. They were so raptured by him; it was quite the site to see as they waited in line for their turn.


They did get a little shy when it was their turn to meet him. Mickey talked about trains and had them both pretend to be trains with him as they “choo-chooed” all around the room.

So glad you had a good meet with him.

When it was finally our turn, I bid farewell to my sweet Olivia’s little curls, not knowing if I would ever see them again…

I don't look forward to that day with Little Miss that is for sure!

While we were watching I was also super happy to post this pic to my FB and IG showing that some of Liv’s curls did survive the cut!! Yay!!

Wonderful Small world Shots!

We poked around in the Pooh shop a bit, where Maddie saw fit to grab every Pooh possible.

Cute!

 

[Denovagirl]

She's Alive!


Well Hello there stranger!

Hi!!! I know!! I AM alive!! I need to do a life update too, hopefully this week