Family, Friends, & Celebrities- A MAGICAL Birthday TR!!! *UPDATE*8/27! Final thoughts

[that's nice]

Just found your report. Your DD is adorable. Love the MJ pics. Hope you made it to 1900 PF in one piece.

to my TR!!!!!

MJ didn't pop his head out in the MK.. I guess he didn't like the rain.

Park Fare is coming up!

Yuck for the rain! I can't wait to hear about 1900 PF

The rain turned ugly quick.... 1900PF is soon!

Those girls just look so precious in the BBB hairdos and Cinderella gowns. Makes me wish I had a girl.

But DEFINITELY going to be doing Pirates League with DS6 next year! Can't wait!

Thank you. The girls really felt like princesses and I'd bring her back to the BBB in a heartbeat.

I'm sure your DS will love the pirates league. We saw kids walking around with their pirate garb and painted faces. They seemed to be having fun!

I love that you got to see Buzz - how sweet that he danced with the girls!

Alex is so adoroable - I bet he felt like such a little stud muffin with those princesses.

Bummer about all of the rain.

Buzz was great!

I guess as much of a stud that a 2yr old can feel!

More rain coming up!

 

[KatMark]

Juliana took a nice pic of us coming up in a future update. Juliana had a kids fisher price camera and for some reason we left it home. DOH!

Can't wait to see this...she did good the first trip taking pics.




Glad you got that out of your system!

I don't follow hockey anymore after the Whalers left CT.

Believe it or not, I'm not even a hockey fan. I find it too violent -- all those fights and stupid rules (how do you get penalized for 2 minutes but then if the opposing team scores you get out of the penalty box? This makes NO sense to me at all. But the men in my life are into it so I even went out and bought a Blackhawks T-shirt for myself and drank an alcoholic beverage with my son last night to celebrate.


I'm sorry Kat. Some of the banter is quite funny though.

The banter is hysterial...I wouldn't have it any other way. Just pointing out the numbers here. Especially since you never visit me on my CSR thread.

It was hard keeping them looking like that.... and I was soaked in the process.

Princesses should never be soaked. Only daddy's should be soaked and poor and protective, and I could go on and on and on and on.....

My comments in red (for the BLACKHAWKS!)

 

[yinyanggirls]

You guys really got dumped on! My next 2 day's report will explain why I can commiserate with you.

 

[MaryAz]

Oh boy the rain, I remeber it well Glad everyone got through it pretty much in one piece.

 

[xoktenox]

Oh man All that rain is horrible! So far you guys have been toughing it out and I hope you were able to make it to 1900 PF! We had one day of pouring rain in December and we let it pretty much kill our day. I need to take lessons from you guys!

That's so cute how much attention the princesses gave to Alex! He probably felt like a real ladies man with those kisses on his cheeks

 

[TrayRene]

I am finally caught up!! What a great trip report!

Your daughter is adorable, as are your friends' children.

What beautiful princess' the girls were!! And Alex with his lipstick cheeks - too cute!

 

[All7OfUs]

I dunno, Kathy, I LIKE hockey becuase of the fights. I mean in which other sport do you get to guess HOW they lost their teeth??

 

[that's nice]

You guys really got dumped on! My next 2 day's report will explain why I can commiserate with you.

Oh boy... that doesn't sound too good.

Oh boy the rain, I remeber it well Glad everyone got through it pretty much in one piece.

So far we were managing. It was about to get ugly. LOL

Oh man All that rain is horrible! So far you guys have been toughing it out and I hope you were able to make it to 1900 PF! We had one day of pouring rain in December and we let it pretty much kill our day. I need to take lessons from you guys!

The good thing was the whole day wasn't a washout. We had some breaks from the rain and just some mist/drizzle at times.

I'm not in WDW for a fashion show. What do I care what I look like?

That's so cute how much attention the princesses gave to Alex! He probably felt like a real ladies man with those kisses on his cheeks

He was eating up every minute of it! He loved it!!!!

 

[that's nice]

I am finally caught up!! What a great trip report!

Your daughter is adorable, as are your friends' children.

What beautiful princess' the girls were!! And Alex with his lipstick cheeks - too cute!

to my TR!!!

Thank you for the nice comments.

The girls really felt like princesses.. and I thought they looked like princesses.

Alex was loving all the attention from the 'real' princesses.

I dunno, Kathy, I LIKE hockey becuase of the fights. I mean in which other sport do you get to guess HOW they lost their teeth??

I rather be at a hockey game. It is so much better in person than watching it on TV. Most hockey players are missing teeth.

 

[PopArtGal]

Space Mountain is not my fave either. It gave me a headache last time. And I felt a bit sick when I exited. The jerkiness is still a bit too much for me.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

We stood there for 10 minutes and had a decision to make. We had an ADR at 1900 Park Fare at 6. What was our next move? Would we have to stand under this stand for hours? How were we going to get these girls with their 'hair-dos' safely to the Grand Floridian?

Uh...you weren't?

Sorry the weather was lousy. You get bonus points for making the best of it and not giving up!

 

[maroo]

WOW! That is a lot of rain...and I think there is more coming????

Good grief!

You have a beautiful princess!!

 

[stopher1]

Now the princess really took their time with the girls and they had the cutest conversations. But the real treat was seeing Alex talking to them. I think Aurora was his favorite. She must of talked to him for what felt like 5 minutes and gave him the biggest kiss.

When Alex got to Cinderella, they got into a long conversation too. Cinderella wasn't about to be shown up by the kiss Aurora had left Alex, so she gave him a big kiss on his other cheek. He was loving the attention from real princesses.

Seeing Alex with the princesses was one of the best moments of the trip. They gave him so much attention.

That's so awesome. I love the lipstick print! And the shy little way he's standing there with Cinderella.

 

[that's nice]

Somehow I missed replying to this post... sorry Kat.

Can't wait to see this...she did good the first trip taking pics.

She likes taking pictures. She actually doesn't do bad. She just has to hold the camera still.

Believe it or not, I'm not even a hockey fan. I find it too violent -- all those fights and stupid rules (how do you get penalized for 2 minutes but then if the opposing team scores you get out of the penalty box? This makes NO sense to me at all. But the men in my life are into it so I even went out and bought a Blackhawks T-shirt for myself and drank an alcoholic beverage with my son last night to celebrate.

What a good mom!!! WTG!

The banter is hysterial...I wouldn't have it any other way. Just pointing out the numbers here. Especially since you never visit me on my CSR thread.

LOL Well you've had me visit the last 2 days.... that should hold you over for a while!

Plus you know, once the TR is over the trip is finally finished.... and who wants that to happen?

Princesses should never be soaked. Only daddy's should be soaked and poor and protective, and I could go on and on and on and on.....

I'm sure you could go on and on!

 

[that's nice]

Space Mountain is not my fave either. It gave me a headache last time. And I felt a bit sick when I exited. The jerkiness is still a bit too much for me.

It still is a little jerky...

I think it is a cool ride in the dark getting to look at all the stars. More of a kids ride in my book though.

Sorry the weather was lousy. You get bonus points for making the best of it and not giving up!

Honestly, if it wasn't Juliana's birthday I'm sure my DW would of pressed me to leave hours earlier.... or we wouldn't of even hit a park. It all was worth it in the end though!

That's so awesome. I love the lipstick print! And the shy little way he's standing there with Cinderella.

He was having a ball with the princesses.

I didn't notice when I posted the pic before but did you notice how wet poor Alex's jeans were? Man they are wet almost 1/2 way up his leg!

 

[that's nice]

WOW! That is a lot of rain...and I think there is more coming????

Good grief!

You have a beautiful princess!!

Oh yea.... that day turned into a very wet night! It was crazy. I guess I have no place to complain though... only 2 days of rain in 13 days on our trip.

Thank you Mary!

 

[AlohaAnnie]

Great Update! We always get rain at The World! We also carry our ponchos around with us. It is a great thing. This year, I got everyone a backpack so they can carry their own ponchos because I am usually the one that carries them and I think at 8 and 13, the kiddos and the hubby can carry their own.

I love the meet with the Princesses and Tink. It is so cute and they seem to spend a good amount of time with the kids. I think Alex was too cute! So sweet, he is going to be a real ladies man!

 

[KatMark]

That is all.

 

[that's nice]

As we were huddled under a stand across from Mickey's house trying to stay out of the rain and wind, we had to make a decision. What were we going to do? It was already after 4pm and our 1900 Park Fare ADR was at 5:55pm. Here is what we were looking out at (incase you forgot)...

We decided that there was no reason to try to ride anymore rides but we did want to stop back at the BBB in the castle to get Juliana's bun fixed because it was falling out a bit.

I had 6 total ponchos- Mel had one, we wrapped the each kid up in one and covered the strollers with the other 2. The rain was still coming down hard but we counted down... 3...2....1.... GO! I had the stroller and I started running towards Pooh. There were puddles and rivers to navigate through and Melody was close behind me. It was kind of weird seeing hardly anyone walking though the MK. I made it to Pooh, where the FP machines are, and waited for everyone else to catch up. We paused here for a minute so we could catch our breath for a sec, then we ran towards the castle.

They gladly fixed Juliana's hair at the BBB and it only took about 5 minutes. While they were fixing it the rain slowed a bit and it was more like 'regular' rain not a downpour. Her hair was done and we walked around the side of the castle towards Main St. About half way there the skies opened up again and we ran till we got to the Emporium. I was soaked. I told Mel that I needed to buy a shirt for dinner because there was no way I was going to eat like this. She agreed and I found the cheapest t-shirt I could find. We walked through the Emporium to the beginning of Main St. then made our way as quickly as we could towards the monorail.

Look how wet (and happy) dave is... and the girls in their bonnets.

Even with the drama the kids were surprisingly still in a good mood. It is amazing what one day off and a little rest will do.

We arrived at the Grand Floridian and I tried to check in for dinner. They told me at the desk that we were a little too early and to come back at 5:30. OK no problem. That will give me a few minutes to freshen up and to change my shirt. There was no drying my sneakers though. If there is something I cannot stand it is wet feet. UGH. Branda & Mel took the kids to the bathrooms and we went out to the lobby. It was nice to sit down in a DRY spot for a few minutes. The band was playing some Disney tunes and we were watching and listening to them.

I went back to check in and got my buzzer. They told me it could take up to 30 minutes to be seated... one again I told them no problem. I wasn't expecting to be seated early but if they could great. I walked back out to the lobby and Dave & I went up to the 2nd floor to get the girls a glass of wine and a cocktail for us. Wouldn't you know one we ordered the buzzer went off! LOL We took our drinks gathered up all our stuff and went to have some dinner.

Continued next post....

 

[that's nice]

We were seated at a big round table right in the center of the dining room. I was so excited- this was the perfect spot! I looked at Mel and she smiled at me.. she knew too! We got situated at the table and just then there was an announcement that Cinderella and Prince Charming were arriving.

The walked right to us and stood in the middle of the room for a minute while everyone was clapping. It was really cool and the girls were so excited!!! After the big entrance, Prince Charming came right over to us.

Not sure but the wives look very comfortable with Prince Charming...

Right after Prince Charming came Cinderella. She wished Juliana a happy birthday and said she loved the girls dresses and did spend a few minutes talking with Juliana, Victoria & Alex.

If the wives get PC then the dad's get Cinderella... of course the kids wanted to be in the pic too.

We had a few minutes till Lady Tremaine arrived so we got the kids some food. They just started eating when the stepmother arrived. She didn't seem too thrilled to be giving her signature and had a puss on the whole time... it was great! She was also yelling at her daughters who were acting up on the other side of the room.

Mel & Branda were trying to look like her... lol

We sat back down to eat a little bit when Juliana decided to do her 'Look ma.. no hands' routine.

We were only sitting for a minute when Anastasia showed up.

She told the girls they were much prettier than Cinderella and asked them if they are good at cleaning up and dusting.

Right behind Anastasia was Drizella. Alex was already out of his seat and ran to her and gave her a hug. Drizella fell to the floor and was fanning herself.

She told Alex she wanted him to take her to the ball and she wasn't interested in Prince Charming anymore. It was really cute.

A few poses...

We barely had anytime to eat.. it was one thing after another. I didn't care but the food was really good. We had paella that was awesome. MMMM

Cinderella & the Prince came back to the middle of the room for a dance. They asked if any kids would like to dance with them and Juliana got to dance with Cinderella!

We sat back down to eat and our server, Karen- who was so nice BTW, brought out the cake. For those of you who didn't follow my PTR, this cake was debated for weeks till I finally decided on this.

The cake was exactly what I wanted! It was beautiful! The Cinderella in the middle was solid white chocolate. We continued eating and when we were ready Karen came back over to light the candle for us and helped sing happy birthday to Juliana.

As far as the taste of the cake... let's just say I didn't really like it. The frosting tasted like shortening and the chocolate tasted like something that wasn't chocolate. It wasn't rich it was kind of tasteless. I was really disappointed in the way the cake tasted. Branda said she liked it and everyone had a big piece. There was plenty left over which we took home with us.

We finished up eating and Dave & I went to get the car in the MK parking lot so that if it started pouring again we wouldn't have to load the kids in the rain. We hopped on the monorail and got off at the TTC. Right when we were getting off the fireworks started. I walked down to stand near the boat launch. It was neat seeing them from across the lake and the music is piped in to this area too.

My camera takes video too so I switched to the video mode to get the last minute.



After the fireworks we grabbed the car and picked up the wives & kids at the GF. Once we were at the house, we got the kids bathed quickly and off to bed. Mel didn't hang out long. She was totally shot and feeling crappy so she headed off to bed.

I posted this on my PTR before I hit the hay....

Well we are home and trying to dry out. I haven't seen rain like we had today in a while. Most of the day it was on off rain...but in the afternoon it turned crazy!!!! One good thing was it kept the crowds very low. Juliana had a great birthday and everyone made such a big deal over the girls in their princess gowns and their BBB makeover.

Going to breakfast at Kona in the morning, doing the family thing in the afternoon, and possibly hitting DTD at night. Well those are the tentative plans as of now...all subject to change.

Up next.... A day to recover.. can that still be fun?