DON'T Read This TRIP REPORT If You're a Princess Hater!

[kwitcherkicken99]

First, I love your oversize crying emoticon!

Second, sorry but I'm from Missouri and a Northwestern Wildcat. So no Hoosier.

But you're welcome here anyway! We'll be midwestern buddies!

Well dang, thought I read (evidently too quickly ) that you said you came from IN... oh well!

Missouri/NW is close enough... maybe we can say no PINs for Wildcats/Wildkats (my school's mascot!)?

As for the over-emotional emoticon... go here. There are quite a few in the "unhappy" section that I pass over, but they've got some cute ones!

 

[mom2rtk]

Well dang, thought I read (evidently too quickly ) that you said you came from IN... oh well!

Missouri/NW is close enough... maybe we can say no PINs for Wildcats/Wildkats (my school's mascot!)?

As for the over-emotional emoticon... go here. There are quite a few in the "unhappy" section that I pass over, but they've got some cute ones!

No problem! We'll just be one big happy family here in the midwest.

So do you shop at the Frugal Hoosier?

Thanks for the emoticon link. I need to get some of those.

 

[LaughingSphinx]

Even if you didn't get to open the park, it seems like with your own Fairy Godmother, you have plenty of pixie dust during your visits! Your daughter's dresses are incredible, and it's obvious a lot of love goes into them!

 

[MNTwinsMom]

Just found your trip report and am really enjoying it! As the mom of 2 boys I love to read along on girl-centered trip reports

DH and I were at WDW Dec 13-18, 2010 in the frigid cold too! For the first time ever I got to enjoy Character Palooza on that trip thanks to the tips on the DIS. I felt a little silly at first since I was by myself for most of the pictures, (DH ditched me for RNR after the first set ) but really enjoyed meeting so many characters in a short amount of time.

I have a confession to make . . . I've been a fan of your costumes for a long time . . . in fact, I've sent my Mom links to your Flickr account and we've poured over your AMAZING dresses (and photography)! My mom is an awesome seamstress so I knew she'd appreciate your skills!

Can I ask one off-topic question? I saw on a halloween thread that Katie dressed up as Hermoine last year for Halloween? I'm assuming you made the robe and wondering if you started with a pattern? My boys want to be Harry and Ron this year, so I'll be making costumes for them.

Can't wait for more updates!

 

[LoveMyTwoPrincesses]

Just found your report and I must join in! What a fortunate daughter you have to benefit from your awesome talent!

 

[jenseib]

OH NO!!! I would be so upset to be THAT close!! But you had a great back up plan. The difference between you and the other family is that your DD is older.....and she made the "choice" to come out in the cold! That works for me!

 

[Disney Is My Drug]

Is it still considered Disney Magic when you have to "scheme" and plan that much??? Just asking......

 

[mom2rtk]

Even if you didn't get to open the park, it seems like with your own Fairy Godmother

I absolutely agree!

you have plenty of pixie dust during your visits! Your daughter's dresses are incredible, and it's obvious a lot of love goes into them!

Awww... many thanks!

Just found your trip report and am really enjoying it! As the mom of 2 boys I love to read along on girl-centered trip reports

DH and I were at WDW Dec 13-18, 2010 in the frigid cold too! For the first time ever I got to enjoy Character Palooza on that trip thanks to the tips on the DIS. I felt a little silly at first since I was by myself for most of the pictures, (DH ditched me for RNR after the first set ) but really enjoyed meeting so many characters in a short amount of time.

I have a confession to make . . . I've been a fan of your costumes for a long time . . . in fact, I've sent my Mom links to your Flickr account and we've poured over your AMAZING dresses (and photography)! My mom is an awesome seamstress so I knew she'd appreciate your skills!

Can I ask one off-topic question? I saw on a halloween thread that Katie dressed up as Hermoine last year for Halloween? I'm assuming you made the robe and wondering if you started with a pattern? My boys want to be Harry and Ron this year, so I'll be making costumes for them.

Can't wait for more updates!

First off.......



I'm glad you found Character Palooza. Isn't it great? And if you were there during the cold, you probably appreciated it being indoors!

And thanks so much for the kind comments.

You'll love my answer to your OT question. Katie's Hermoine costume was store-bought! Not much help, am I????

But that's what she wanted. so that's what we did. I could have done the robe and really enjoyed that, but I don't do applique work and really wanted the school emblem on the pocket.

Just found your report and I must join in! What a fortunate daughter you have to benefit from your awesome talent!

aboard! Many thanks for the kind comments!

OH NO!!! I would be so upset to be THAT close!! But you had a great back up plan. The difference between you and the other family is that your DD is older.....and she made the "choice" to come out in the cold! That works for me!

Yeah......we'll go with that........ I think there's an age cutoff of.....say....... 9..... for a kid to be at the Magic Kingdom that early before it's considered child abuse!

Is it still considered Disney Magic when you have to "scheme" and plan that much??? Just asking......

Are you kidding? The scheming and plotting is half the fun! So even though my scheme didn't work out, we had tons of fun dreaming about the possibility all year. And it's a great part of our trip memory, even though it didn't end as hoped!

And you'll see later that one of my favorite moments on the trip involved no scheming on my part at all. Caught me completely off-guard in fact.....

 

[vamassey1]

I'm so sorry your plan didn't work out. But you've given me an idea to try for our next trip. I would have to ditch DH to make it work. I know Danielle would give it a try since she's always asking what do you have to do be the opening family.

Good thing you had that backup plan! I would have ditched breakfast for opening the park too.

I've never gotten a pin either. I even called before and asked if one was attached to by name, but no luck.

 

[mom2rtk]

I'm so sorry your plan didn't work out. But you've given me an idea to try for our next trip. I would have to ditch DH to make it work. I know Danielle would give it a try since she's always asking what do you have to do be the opening family.

Good thing you had that backup plan! I would have ditched breakfast for opening the park too.

I've never gotten a pin either. I even called before and asked if one was attached to by name, but no luck.

I think you should give it a try! But if it works for you, do me a favor and don't tell me, OK???? Yeah....... like I wouldn't see the scrapbook page on it later! Nah... just kidding. I'd be thrilled for you!

But you must ditch anyone who is not an early riser. That's a MUST!

I knew going into it that being an early riser was not a guarantee of it working. But NOT being an early riser was a definite guarantee of it NOT working!

When are you guys going back again? It's been almost a year, hasn't it?

Just found your report and I must join in! What a fortunate daughter you have to benefit from your awesome talent!

Oh! I just saw your link about opening the Magic Kingdom yourselves! I believe your trip report was one of the ones I stalked while scheming away! You guys are adorable and I'm glad you were chosen!

So maybe I should have named my Trip Report "We didn't open the Magic Kingdom, but we had a lot of fun anyway!"

 

[SueRS]

Great trip report. I am so with it. My daughter is almost 10 (on Monday) and stopped liking princesses awhile ago. That only leaves me.

I can't sew a lick though (maybe the costumes would have helped.).

Can't wait to read more.

This may inspire me to do a girls day trip to Disneyland (only 1 hour away).

 

[mom2rtk]

Great trip report. I am so with it. My daughter is almost 10 (on Monday) and stopped liking princesses awhile ago. That only leaves me.

I can't sew a lick though (maybe the costumes would have helped.).

Can't wait to read more.

This may inspire me to do a girls day trip to Disneyland (only 1 hour away).

Here's your official..........



An hour from Disneyland? I'm not even an hour away by PLANE! I'm WAY jealous!

I hope you get to go do a girly trip!

 

[WDWAtLast]

So excited to find your TR! Can't wait to catch up and see all the beautiful customs!

 

[mom2rtk]

So excited to find your TR! Can't wait to catch up and see all the beautiful customs!

Just enough time for your official



before I post another update! Thanks for joining in!

 

[mom2rtk]

Tangled the movie came out in November. We hadn't had a chance to see it yet, but I had certainly seen photos of Rapunzel's dress. I REALLY wanted to try my hand at making one for this trip, and Katie wanted me to. It's always hard for me to finish up my work and get out the door for our trips, and I just didn't know if I'd have time. Most of the sewing I do for these trips is done months in advance. Besides, I still hadn't found the right fabrics.

Then less than a week before leaving, I made one last trek across town in hopes of finding the missing piece of fabric. SUCCESS! Now... would I have time........ Just a few days before leaving, I cleared some time and put it together.

Another DIS'er (lorilais_mommy) was in Disney a few days ahead of us. They had done the Tangled Play & Greet earlier in the week and Julie was nice enough to call and give me the heads up. She said the lines were staying really long all day, so the best bet was to be there by 9:30 for the 10 AM set.

So I figured we had just enough time for one quick stop before heading over to meet Rapunzel & Flynn. So we went around the castle........ and there she was. Our very own personal Fairy Godmother. I must say I did scold her for not doing something to help us with the weather, but she quickly reminded me that was Mother Nature's territory. Dang! Here we had an "in" with someone with magical powers..... and it was the wrong power!

It was really nice to see her again and we promised to stop in and share some of Katie's other costumes over the course of the week. After a magical "bibbidi bobbidi boo" we were on our way to Fairytale Garden.

We were happy to find we were only the 3rd or 4th group in line. The CM told us they had started turning people away for the DAY at 3 PM the day before. YIKES! I'm not even sure I would want to wait through a line like that!

I don't remember what I said to Katie to get this look, but I'm pretty sure I deserved it. We tease and joke back and forth a lot. And she really has "the look" down pat.

Katie could have participated in the "play" part of the "play & greet" but opted to just get in line to meet them after. The "play" part of the meeting just skews WAY too young for girls Katie's age. I was really sort of disappointed in the setup, but we were just there for pictures with the characters.

We were done pretty quickly and ducked into Cosmic Ray's to warm up and change for the next stop on our itinerary............ Tiana and Naveen. I had heard their lines stayed pretty long all day, and wanted to get there as early as possible.

Tiana's blue gown is actually one of Katie's favorites. I think it's because it's more of a grown up style. I think she sees herself going to prom in something like it one day. This was also a fairly last minute addition. I hadn't gotten to it and didn't have time, but she kept asking. And in the past I've always just said "next time". But this could be the end of the costume play. I expect her to age out of it any time. So if she really wanted something, I tried hard to do it. And to be honest, there are just some costumes that I get a bee in my bonnet about wanting to try. This was one of them.

Nothing like a strapless gown on a cold morning! Katie didn’t care. She had been looking forward to wearing that gown since I made it. Good thing she had matching long gloves and a fleece lined cape! Tiana and Naveen were out in their spot in Liberty Square when we walked up and the line was thankfully fairly short.

Next we headed back to Fantasyland and ducked into Castle Couture, the gift shop behind the castle. They have a studio set up in there for the girls to visit after doing the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. We checked out the adorable decor as we warmed up.

Katie liked the full length mirror!

As we exited, Katie wanted to ride the carousel. That’s when I first noticed the crowds building that day. There was actually a line for the carousel! Maybe I’m spoiled by low crowd times, but I was surprised to find a line there. Fortuantely it wasn’t long. She wanted to ride again, so we did.

We had an early ADR for lunch in one of our favorite places. Any guess where?

 

[Caretames1]

Love the update! My Kadence got to dance with Flynn Ryder when we went last month. She was soooo happy and blushy (if thats a word LOL) We got there just before 9 ( adr at CP) and we were the 3rd family in line!

 

[mom2rtk]

Love the update! My Kadence got to dance with Flynn Ryder when we went last month. She was soooo happy and blushy (if thats a word LOL) We got there just before 9 ( adr at CP) and we were the 3rd family in line!

That's adorable! And I now see the link in your signature.......... gotta go see!

Yay! For knowing to be there early! I understand they have now moved up the first set, so to avoid the line you almost have to go right at rope drop.

 

[clearskies]

ok, I am having trouble keeping up so pardon the late response.

First of all, on your lens I hear that the 17-55 IS is fantastic! Based on the results I see from you I will have to agree. One thing I struggle a bit with is locking in autofocus on the dark rides. I hear that the focusing on the 17-55 is excellent though. I am also envious of the Tonika 11-16. You have a great set of lenses in the short to mid focal length ranges. I also love the high ISO settings as well when you need them. When you add that to the large apertures you have a whole new world opened up for low light.

Ok, sorry for taking this to an overly technical direction. On to your TR...

I also dreamed about being a family of the day just once but I can't even get my family up early enough to make the opening. I just know that if I ever got them there early enough to have a chance that there would be that one other family in front as you experienced and then my family would run me into the Seven Seas Lagoon. Kudos to you to be smart enough to have a back up plan.

I love the empty park pictures from the morning. Hmm...some day perhaps I can convince my family for an early CP breakfast and mislead them on how early we need to be there and work a plan similar to yours. Well, except for the confused taxi driver part.

Great pictures of the characters. So many wonderful pictures of Katie with them. I also love "the look" picture. My daughter can sport that same look.

Looking forward for more. I am guessing you'll have some great princess pictures from lunch.

 

[dismagiclover]

Great pictures and fabulous costumes once again! I love how you have a personal relationship with the Fairy Godmother. So awesome! How did Rapunzel and Tiana react to the costumes? Especially Tiana because I would guess she doesn't see that costume very often. I can't wait to see what costume Katie wears to the castle.

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

First of all, on your lens I hear that the 17-55 IS is fantastic! Based on the results I see from you I will have to agree. One thing I struggle a bit with is locking in autofocus on the dark rides. I hear that the focusing on the 17-55 is excellent though. I am also envious of the Tonika 11-16. You have a great set of lenses in the short to mid focal length ranges. I also love the high ISO settings as well when you need them. When you add that to the large apertures you have a whole new world opened up for low light.

Ok, sorry for taking this to an overly technical direction. On to your TR...

The higher ISOs do help for low light, but in the particularly dark scenes, the AF still may not have enough light to focus. I have a Nikon d300s and did okay with Spaceship Earth and a couple others, but I still have a difficult time with POTC and Peter Pan. Granted I was using my 24-85mm zoom with a variable f/stop, but still!

I also dreamed about being a family of the day just once but I can't even get my family up early enough to make the opening.

I love the empty park pictures from the morning. Hmm...some day perhaps I can convince my family for an early CP breakfast and mislead them on how early we need to be there and work a plan similar to yours.

Be careful there... you may have a revolt on your hands! Our last 2 trips, I've made DH get up before the hour of decency for early breakfast (O'hana at 7:50a and CP at 8:05a - which in Disney time, isn't that early). BUT he made me pinky-swear that for our next trip (in 5 years ) that I would NOT book any breakfasts...