"Everyone! Come see how handsome I am!" **FINISHED** 2/17

[dawnmichele]

So happy to hear about your experiences. Love that Danny was having so much fun on his scooter, especially the part about him chasing the bird.

It really was awesome to see him feel so free. I seriously recommend a Disney trip for anyone with health or mobility issues - they really work hard to accomodate everyone. It's great.

Hannah still likes to work "Now that's not very nice," into the conversation whenever she can. I swear it was one of the highlights of the trip for them both!

Also, thanks for the compliment about the pictures !

 

[SusieBea]

I'm enjoying your trip! More, please ...

 

[dawnmichele]

I'm enjoying your trip! More, please ...

Thank you SusieBea! I had intended to post the next instalment last night, but then I watched some Doctor Who that made me way too sad.

It'll be up later today though, promise.

 

[dawnmichele]

It is very hard to judge such things, but I think this day may have been my favorite of our entire fantastic trip. For many reasons, all of which I hope I do justice in this report!

I woke up bright and early when I got a call from Mickey and that ornery Stitch. I put the call on speakerphone to share the fun and jumped out of bed. Hannah and I wanted to make it to the bus stop by 7am. It was Danny’s day to work (sorry Danny). He didn’t need to be anywhere till 8, but he was ready to wake up with us and take his time getting ready.

As became a habit (or better yet, a tradition), I turned on Stacey to 1. revel in Disney overload and 2. encourage the girl to get up and out of bed. She does not enjoy Stacey (what??), so it “annoyed” her into getting up. Win/win situation.

We got ready quickly, I grabbed a Cliff bar and a soda and we headed out for bus stop #2.

From a distance we could see a bus pulling up. We could tell the bus said Something Kingdom, but not if it was Animal or Magic. Hannah decided to run for it and saw it was for the Animal Kingdom. Love that park but not today! No problem though, the next bus that pulled up was for the right place. We hopped right on.

I was super excited. I’m not sure that the Magic Kingdom is my favorite park, but it is certainly the most magical of the four. Plus the Fantasy Land expansion had just opened and I could not wait to see it for myself, up close and personal.

Hannah was not having such a good time, however. She was on antibiotics at the time, and even though the doctor had warned her she’d have problems if she didn’t drink a whole glass of water with the pill -- she did not drink a whole glass of water with her pill. So she was having problems. It’s a long ride from CSR to the MK but there was nothing we could do to make it better but wait.

When we got there, I stood in the middle of the crowd waiting for the opening show and sent H off to where I thought she might get some water. I told her I’d wait right there until she got back. Off to the right near the stroller rentals she found a little shop. They weren’t quite open yet, but told her they could be if she needed them to be. Nice. Before the show even started she was by my side chugging a whole bottle of water.

The show was fantastic.

I was so excited to see a train full of Disney characters waving good morning to me.

The fireworks exploded and the Mayor welcomed us in!

On the bus there, H & I had a long talk about breakfast. Somehow, in all the months leading up to our trip and all the many conversations we had about food, restuarants, reservations and groceries from wegoshop, Hannah missed all the times we talked about eating breakfast in the room to save money and more importantly, time. She was certain she had to have a “real”, hot breakfast every single morning. She thought we’d get there and eat, and I thought we’d get there, take our time checking out the thrill of our first glimpse of Main St.

We came to a compromise. I’d let her get breakfast every morning, and she would participate in every photo opportunity without grumble or complaint. She hates having her picture taken, and I wanted to get our money’s worth out of our pre purchased PhotoPass+. Another win/win for us.

I told her where to find Main Street Cafe and told her I’d meet her there soon.

I can’t even think of the words to describe how it is the first time you’re back in the Magic Kingdom, but I know you know what I’m talking about. It’s all beautiful and magical and full of excitement and promise. I really plan to spend quite some time taking it all in on some trip, but sadly this wasn’t the trip for that.

I took one photo, and then headed into the theatre to exchange my voucher for a photopass card. The lady who gave it to me was excited for me and told me to show it to any photographer and they’d be sure to take a bunch of photos for us since they knew we’d already purchased the package. That didn’t turn out to be totally true, and I wonder how much was about the individual photographer and how much was about the pre paid pass - but either way we came back with hundreds of pictures in our account so I am not complaining.

I walked down the street to the bakery and found Hannah having a croissant with some kind of meat and eggs.

I had been thinking of their cheese danish since our last trip, so I got in line for a one of those and a iced vanilla latte. The people in front of me, a family of 5, did not understand their dining plan and spent a really really long time trying to decide what drinks they wanted. A really long time. Even though there were a bunch of drink workers standing around, no one asked what i wanted until all 5 of them had chosen and changed their minds and rechosen. When I got my coffee I headed straight for the cashier that the family wasn't in.

Now that H was full and feeling better (and I’d had a tasty treat), we headed back to front so I could meet some friends! Marie was at the tree, Snow White was under her apple tree, and Mary Poppins was over by some shops. Plus the Princesses, Mickey and Minnie were all waiting just inside. How could I choose who to meet first? I got in line for Marie. A minute later, when she went inside for a treat, I thought about bailing and heading for Mary Poppins, but H convinced me to stay. She was back soon and it was my turn to meet her.

She didn’t have a photopass photographer, so H took the pictures for me.

Snow White had gone inside by the time we were done, so we headed off to find Mary Poppins.

She was practically perfect in every way, just like I’d hoped. She asked where I was from and if I’d travelled by my umbrella. I told her I thought that was a special skill but she clued me in that it’s really about finding the right umbrella. Thanks for the tip, Mary Poppins!

After that, we headed inside to meet the princesses.

Rapunzel was the first princess we came to. She was super friendly, but really low energy and just kind of.. I don’t know. Not really like the princess in Tangled. We liked her, but called her Hangover Rapunzel. She just seemed like she had a rough night. Hannah asked her if Pascal still lived in the tower or liked to stay with her and Eugene in the castle, and Rapunzel told her about how they were moving her castle to the Magic Kingdom. I hadn’t mentioned the castle to Hannah (I wanted her to discover at least a few things on her own) and she definitely thought finding out about it from Rapunzel herself was the best way to find out.

Aurora wasn’t very friendly. She was smiley, but she didn’t really say anything. Maybe she was hungover too.

Cinderella was fantastic! “You have my face on your shirt!” she said. She asked if my fairy godmother did it for me and wondered if she could get hers to make on for her. Or better yet make one for Prince Phillip. But his would have to be read, she figured. He likes to wear red.

She was delightful and as we were walking away I told her she should definitely get her godmother on the shirt thing.

Next up: Heading toward the castle.

 

[gracer9977]

Loving all the pictures!!! Also great the way you got Hannah to agree to not complain about getting her picture taken.

When we go in 2014 I am totally making sure that I get my picture taken with a bunch of characters. Last time I was so focused on getting great pictures of my kids and my nieces with all the characters I forgot to get any with me. All I have is one picture of me with Eeyore (I love Eeyore) but really I totally missed out on the photo ops. I am planning on buying the Photopass package this time, seems like it would totally be worth the money.

 

[Jewelleigh]

Loving your trip report so far! Had to make a run for the grocery for ice cream after the picture of your Mickey ice cream bar! Store bought is never as good as the real thing!!

 

[dawnmichele]

Loving all the pictures!!! Also great the way you got Hannah to agree to not complain about getting her picture taken.

When we go in 2014 I am totally making sure that I get my picture taken with a bunch of characters. Last time I was so focused on getting great pictures of my kids and my nieces with all the characters I forgot to get any with me. All I have is one picture of me with Eeyore (I love Eeyore) but really I totally missed out on the photo ops. I am planning on buying the Photopass package this time, seems like it would totally be worth the money.

Thank you!

I did make a point of getting in as may photopass pictures as possible. When you're the photographer in the group, you get left out of a lot of pictures, and without photopass photographers, you might not have even known I went along on our trip! I know some grown ups can feel kinda weird meeting and getting their pictures with the characters, but for me it's always one of the hilights! When else do I get a chance to pretend like that?

Go for the package - it was SO worth the money for us! And get yourself in those pictures!! And then, make sure you post them when you get back, I'd love to see!

 

[dawnmichele]

Loving your trip report so far! Had to make a run for the grocery for ice cream after the picture of your Mickey ice cream bar! Store bought is never as good as the real thing!!

Oh my goodness those things are so good! I am literally counting down til my next one.

 

[gracer9977]

Thank you!

I did make a point of getting in as may photopass pictures as possible. When you're the photographer in the group, you get left out of a lot of pictures, and without photopass photographers, you might not have even known I went along on our trip! I know some grown ups can feel kinda weird meeting and getting their pictures with the characters, but for me it's always one of the hilights! When else do I get a chance to pretend like that?

Go for the package - it was SO worth the money for us! And get yourself in those pictures!! And then, make sure you post them when you get back, I'd love to see!

I did make it a point to drag people over to every photopass photographer I saw so I actually do have a ton of pictures with me and someone from our group (there were 12 of us last time and will be 12 of us this time too). I just didn't think about character pictures, and they are truly one of my favorite things about Disney.

I will get lots of Character and me pictures next year and I will make sure I post them.

 

[dawnmichele]

As we walked down Main Street, I made time for a couple tweets.

got here for xmh rope drop. breakfast at main st bakery, met marie, mary poppins, rapunzel, aurora and cinderella way before 9.

marie and mary did not have photogs with them however

That last part was a big drag. What’s with that? I wish every character always had a photographer with them.

When we passed the Mayor and a suffragette and I decided I needed to thank her for her work and let her know it paid off. She was hilarious, but the Mayor was kinda creepy. He told me his first wife was a red head. Ok Mayor.

We stopped in the middle of Main Street for another photo. Notice the horse right behind us?

When we stepped away, he was right behind us!

I reminded the girl of when she was a tiny one and we had to ride that trolley over and over again because she loved “Black Beauty” so much.

I wanted to take a great picture of the partners statue, but H was in such a hurry! and it was pretty crowded. This is what I managed to shoot before she drug me off towards Tomorrowland.

Even though we were in a hurry to check out Fantasyland, we had to make a stop to ride Space Mountain. The ride was basically a walk on (hooray for extra magic hours!) and we were in our car in no time.

I don’t know if it was because I am now an old lady or because I was full of danish and latte, but Space Mountain made me feel a little pukey. Dang. I still enjoyed the ride however, and we stopped to order our ride photo when we were done.

Next up: Fantasyland has new parts!

 

[pld5]

I'm joining in.

I loved your comments about the hungover princesses.

I'm really enjoying all of your pictures, too.

 

[gracer9977]

Great pictures!! I love that there is a bird hanging out on Walt's head.

So when you have the Photopass Pre purchase plan you get all the ride photos included on your CD?? I spent so much money buying ride photos last time and of course had to just go without getting some since they were expensive. It would be well worth the money to pay for the Photopass plan just to get the ride photos not to mention all the other photos.

Enjoying your TR!! Keep it coming.

 

[murmkc]

The last trip we took together - you ended up a bit hungover!

Great TR so far! I can't wait to see your New Fantasyland pics!

 

[dawnmichele]

I'm joining in.

I loved your comments about the hungover princesses.

I'm really enjoying all of your pictures, too.

Thanks so much!
And they really did just seem a bit hungover, especially Rapunzel.

 

[pld5]

Thanks so much!
And they really did just seem a bit hungover, especially Rapunzel.

Now I'm going to have to try to meet her early in the morning on our trip in a few weeks. I want to meet hungover princesses too!

I love your writing style. It reminds me of the conversations I have going on in my head all of the time. A dash of intelligence, a dash of sarcasm, a dash of humor and a lot of heart.

 

[SimplyGoofy]

I love all the pictures you took of the little statues! I do the same thing!

Also, I totally agree about the Photopass pictures. Not only are they easy, it's nice when the photographer gets to be in a picture!

 

[murmkc]

more please!

 

[dawnmichele]

Great pictures!! I love that there is a bird hanging out on Walt's head.

So when you have the Photopass Pre purchase plan you get all the ride photos included on your CD?? I spent so much money buying ride photos last time and of course had to just go without getting some since they were expensive. It would be well worth the money to pay for the Photopass plan just to get the ride photos not to mention all the other photos.

Enjoying your TR!! Keep it coming.

Thanks!
Yes, you do get all the ride photos! All those, plus if you have any meals where they take a picture, those are included as well. It really is a fantastic deal if you do it right.

The last trip we took together - you ended up a bit hungover!

What? Me?

Now I'm going to have to try to meet her early in the morning on our trip in a few weeks. I want to meet hungover princesses too!

I love your writing style. It reminds me of the conversations I have going on in my head all of the time. A dash of intelligence, a dash of sarcasm, a dash of humor and a lot of heart.

Thank you very much!! [/COLOR]

 

[dawnmichele]

With Space Mountain ridden, we knew exactly where to go next. We gawked at StoryBook Circus as we walked past but wanted to save it for later. We were on a mission!

Of course you can't help noticing this giant metal contraption that will soon become (I hope) an amazing roller coaster.

I loved the big signs they had along the wall. The 7 Dwarves mixed with another Disney story. Here are a couple.

Near the tea cups, they're in Alice's story.

Near Pooh's ride, they're with the honey pots.

At one spot there was a window to peek in on the progress. Of course we looked!

Looking good guys (I guess?)! I can't wait to ride this thing - and for the walls to go down so all of the expansion is one big... expansion. I feel the giant construction in the middle really takes away from the overall experience.

Look! There were the new castle walls I had watched go up in pictures here on the dis! They were Lovely! We turned the corner and there it was...

Beautiful.

We decided not to stop for ETwB. The wait time was long (50 minutes already!). We were anxious and neither one of us was really sure we'd like it. The area around it looked incredible though. I meant to find time to go back and look around it better, but I never did. Another thing for the next time list.

We stood by the bridge and admired the Beast's castle. I was in love with it. It looks so fantastic up there. I decided to refuse to believe it's not a real, full size (Beast size) castle.

As we stood there taking it all in, a really fantastic PPP (Photo Pass Photographer) came up to us and asked if we'd like to have our picture taken. Of course!!

One with the castle.

He instructed us on how to make this Princess pose.
And then without even making us beg, he told us to put out our hands for some magic shots. I thought we'd be holding Tinkerbell and was happily surprised when I finally got a look at these!

We shot a quick glance at the 2 shops in Belle's village as we checked out Gastons fountain and headed for Erics castle. The Little Mermaid area was what I had been looking forward to seeing the most out of all the new area. Dig it.

It is incredible. I want to move in! Can I Ariel? Please. I promise to be good and stay out of the way. You won't even know I'm there!

The wait for Ariels ride was long,

(check out the line)

but her meet in the grotto wasnt too bad.

I was ready to head in but H didnt want to meet her. What? Weird. Ariel was her favorite princess for most of her life. But ok. We decided to head over to Mickeys Philharmagic for Little Mermaid FPs and then split up until it was time to ride.

Back past the Beast and Belle's place...

and out into the boring old Fantasy Land (but dig the tower).

H headed over to tour the Haunted Mansion and I went back to meet the mermaid.

I tweeted this along the way...

I hear he's especially good at expectorating...

PS. I seriously hate Photobucket's new set up, in case you were wondering.

Next up: Ariel

 

[dawnmichele]

Back through the new castle gates, I tried to soak up the charm, but as you get down towards the Ariel-y bit, it gets pretty congested. All the strollers were parked along the construction wall which doesn't leave much room to maneuver, plus it kind of dead ends down there. It'll get better when it's all opened up I think, or at least that's what I told myself.

Despite the posted wait time outside the cave, there wasn’t much of a crowd. It was kinda dark in there are definitely humid. It seemed like it might get miserable with the temps were high and the cave was full of impatient kids. Luckily for me, neither were happening.

The backside of water:

There were definitely some interesting light fixtures in there. I liked them.

You can’t see anything but grotto walls until you’re next in line. When it was my turn I headed up and took a seat next to the Princess. I thought it looked great in there. It's a fantastic little room for meeting mermaid Princesses. None of these photo pass shots really do it justice.

Ariel was sweet, but she talked with a baby voice and kind of acted like she was 12 (when we all know she's 16). She was friendly though. She talked to me about my tiara and said it kind of looked like sparkly sea weed (what?). She mentioned we both had red hair and when I said hers was prettier, she said longer but not prettier. Aww, thanks Ariel. We talked a little bit about our daughters and she asked me to say hi to H, which I later did.

I checked the time and there was plenty of it. I headed off to check out the shops. There’s not much to choose from at Gaston’s Tavern, but it looked like a nice place to eat a snack. I wish I would have went in further and looked around more. The pictures I've seen since look great. Bonjour Gifts was adorable and full of fun B&B things. I especially liked this jewelery box and tweeted a picture of it.

It’s not very practical, there’s not much space for any jewelry, but it’s super cute.

I went back out and noticed this giant line for BOG lunch already queuing up at 9:12 am! I wanted to have some lunch there at some point, but not badly enough to wait in that kind of line.

I was looking around checking things out, and then I noticed Gaston.

Up next: "This is the day your dreams come true."