Funny Faces and Haircuts:The Princess and The Duck-First Trip*3/9 Earning Our Ears

[PrncessA]

I'm all caught up and it's time for departure? That stinketh! The AK day was sad but familiar. It did real vibe with our crew either. Glad you felt better the last day or two. Looking forward to seeing how it all ends.

We are hoping that our next AK day is better and I will definatly better plan it! I was glad that I started feeling better as well. My voice didn't come back all the way while we were there but at least I didn't sleep the rest of the vacation away!

Oh no, it's almost over!

I love all the little details disney puts into things. That little beaver/otter is just adorable. How easily they could have left it out, but they seem to know it's the little things that make us happy!

DS has never forgotten underwear, but for the longest time after potty training, he absolutely refused to wear them. He requested specifically, "just pants" LOL. But swim trunks are so smart, I never would have thought of that. I'll put it in my "parenting ideas" section of my brain for later!

Excited for your last day!

I loved that the WL is so FULL of small details. They are everywhere!

LOL, My son has a problem with pants more than underwear. If we are at home I have to constantly remind him to put on pants. He always says they itch.

 

[klacey1]

I had sort of forgotten that I subscribed to this TR, but I just sat and read the entire thing-- and I'm so glad I did! Your children are adorable and I loved reading about their antics and discovering the magic!

 

[PrncessA]

I will try to get an update out early this week. Things have been hectic at work for both DH and myself and so outside work is double hectic!

I surprised the kids and DH with a trip to Medieval Times today and WOW if ppl think Disney World is expensive they should spend a few hours here! I plan to write a mini-trip about it tomorrow since we had a BLAST and the kids loved it. Although in the back of my mind I was thinking "For the cost of 3 hours here we could have had an extra night at Disney!!!!" LOL

 

[Charlefours]

Hello!

I am a new reader and I am thrilled to have read your PTR and have caught up with your TR! I think your children are adorable. I have a four year old DD, she seems like your Lorelai--spirited on some days and an angel other days. (I have to ask if you watched Gilmore Girls because I cannot help but think of it when hearing the name Lorelai).

What a great vacation you have seemed to have overall. I am enjoying your TR because it seems like you are being honest--as oppose to sugar coating or denying the difficult/not so magically moments.

We are taking DD to WDW for her first visit come September and I am really enjoying finding PTR/TRs of those who went this past year around the same time we are heading off this year. I love learning all kinds of fun tips and such.

Looking forward to seeing how it wraps up...

 

[PrncessA]

This is from the new Disney Vacation site. It has to be one of the funniest things I have ever seen.

Click Here

 

[lexmas]

Oh you so should not have showed me that. TOO FUNNY, and now I'm going to spend the next hour making a few of them...

 

[PrncessA]

Hello!

I am a new reader and I am thrilled to have read your PTR and have caught up with your TR! I think your children are adorable. I have a four year old DD, she seems like your Lorelai--spirited on some days and an angel other days. (I have to ask if you watched Gilmore Girls because I cannot help but think of it when hearing the name Lorelai).

What a great vacation you have seemed to have overall. I am enjoying your TR because it seems like you are being honest--as oppose to sugar coating or denying the difficult/not so magically moments.

We are taking DD to WDW for her first visit come September and I am really enjoying finding PTR/TRs of those who went this past year around the same time we are heading off this year. I love learning all kinds of fun tips and such.

Looking forward to seeing how it wraps up...

Gilmore Girls is my all time favorite show and yes that is where we got the name from. It completely fits her to a tee! She is very spirited!!! LOL

I have a hard time writing anything but the exact truth, it just feels... wrong.

I didn't get to write anything at all last week as we had a death in the family, my MIL. Please keep my husband and his sister in your prayers. My DH and his mother didn't have the best relationship and he has taken her death on Monday very hard. His birthday was Wednesday and he feels like his birthday is cursed (his aunt and grandma passed away on his birthday when he was a child). It has been a very long and rough week for our family. I hope to continue writing soon.

 

[linnell]

Gilmore Girls is my all time favorite show and yes that is where we got the name from. It completely fits her to a tee! She is very spirited!!! LOL

I love GG too, and I wanted to use Lorelai if we had a girl, but then I named our first Lucas "Luke" (after watching a GG marathon!)

I've been enjoying your write up. I think I posted before, but we're taking our 2 and 4 yos in Sept and staying at WL! I can't wait!

 

[lexmas]

I'm sorry to hear about your MIL and that your DH is having a hard time. Losing a parent is always difficult. I hope your DH is in better spirits soon, I'm keeping all of you in my thoughts!

 

[cheryterese]

Very sorry to hear about your MIL. Prayers for you and your family and hugs to all.

 

[Charlefours]

Gilmore Girls is my all time favorite show and yes that is where we got the name from. It completely fits her to a tee! She is very spirited!!! LOL

I have a hard time writing anything but the exact truth, it just feels... wrong.

I didn't get to write anything at all last week as we had a death in the family, my MIL. Please keep my husband and his sister in your prayers. My DH and his mother didn't have the best relationship and he has taken her death on Monday very hard. His birthday was Wednesday and he feels like his birthday is cursed (his aunt and grandma passed away on his birthday when he was a child). It has been a very long and rough week for our family. I hope to continue writing soon.

I wondered! GG is my favorite show ever! If we had had a boy than we were going to name him Logan.

Sorry to hear bout your MIL! Saying a prayer for you, your husband and the rest of the family.

 

[PrncessA]

I love GG too, and I wanted to use Lorelai if we had a girl, but then I named our first Lucas "Luke" (after watching a GG marathon!)

I've been enjoying your write up. I think I posted before, but we're taking our 2 and 4 yos in Sept and staying at WL! I can't wait!

LOL, who doesn't love Luke! The WL is the perfect resort for little ones, it is great for exploring!!

I'm sorry to hear about your MIL and that your DH is having a hard time. Losing a parent is always difficult. I hope your DH is in better spirits soon, I'm keeping all of you in my thoughts!

Thank you for your thoughts. DH is doing better although he still has not opened the birthday card that arrived for him that she had already sent. I'm not sure if he will or not.

Very sorry to hear about your MIL. Prayers for you and your family and hugs to all.

Thank you very much.

I wondered! GG is my favorite show ever! If we had had a boy than we were going to name him Logan.

Sorry to hear bout your MIL! Saying a prayer for you, your husband and the rest of the family.

Thank you. We were going to use the name Logan for DD if she was a boy, lol.

 

[PrncessA]

Sorry for going a bit off topic in this update but since we had such a wonderful time at our adventure this weekend I just had to share it and a few pictures. If I am able to figure out our new video camera uploading I might be able to get some video up as well. We decided to visit Medieval Times for the first time this weekend (we live 20 minutes from one) to celebrate the months of Feb and March. All of our birthdays plus DH and my anniversary are in these two months.

Our adventure begins…

The morning began pretty late for us as both DH and I are getting over a horrendous cold that I thought at first was the flu! Luckily (knock on wood) neither of the kids are prone to getting sick and haven’t caught it. Ethan woke up a bit later than usual at around 7:30am and was happy eating cereal and watching cartoons. DH is an early riser as well but was exhausted so neither of us really got up until around 9:00am when Lorelai finally woke up. The kids wanted pancakes and neither of us felt like making them that morning so we decided to order breakfast from Denny’s and DH would go pick it up. Anyone else love the to-go option at Denny’s?

I was pretty excited about trying out Medieval Times although I was not happy about the price! Even with a coupon code for b1g1 we ended up paying $220 for the upgraded seats! I had read a lot of reviews online and heard that it VERY expensive once you get there as well and they push other sales on you. We were prepared…

We arrived about an hour before our show and the kids were very excited to be going in a real castle! We checked in and were given our table tickets and photo tickets and where to go. Boy was it crowded! We handed over our photo ticket and were told we could dress up as princes and princesses if wanted. DH said yes immediately… lol. Not sure why but he thought it would be fun. So we paid the extra $12 and headed over to find our costumes.
Before I could blink DH and Ethan were dressed to the nines in their costumes leaving Lorelai and I to try and figure out what to wear. Lorelai wanted NOTHING to do with putting on the oversized dresses! And the dresses wanted nothing to do with oversize me. LOL It was not fun. To make matters worse there were wooden bleachers behind the costumes that the kids decided would be a hoot to climb over and over. Yay! Finally I found a dress, any dress, and tried to convince a very annoyed princess to wear a dress. She was not happy with it! I finally bribed her with grapes and she happily put on the dress. LOL My dress however kept falling off my shoulders and DH had no idea how to pin it with the clip. OH WELL, Can we just take the picture??? LOL
Here is the picture. Everyone looks pretty good except DS looks like he was in the middle of sneezing, LOL. Four copies of the photo plus a VERY nice book/frame came with our tickets. Not sure what to do with all four…lol.

After we finished our photos we grabbed our new “burger king” style hats corresponding to our knight’s colors (red and yellow) and headed into the lobby. The very FULL lobby. We kept moving until we got out of the majority of the crowd and went in search of the stables to see the beautiful horses! We were rewarded with a lot of horse butts, lol. But the kids didn’t care they loved it!

They were making all sorts of announcements over the intercom but we couldn’t hear them so we headed back and came across an all too familiar sight. A man selling light up toys! Boy they sell these things everywhere don’t they! None the less Ethan asks for a sword pretty politely and Lorelai had spotted the light-up rose. DH tried to talk her into a light up septor which looked a lot more sturdy but she was determined she wanted the rose. We paid $17 for both, which I don’t think was too bad considering Disney on Ice sells the same things for twice the price or more. The sword is pretty cool if you ask me and the rose is… well a rose… oh and it lights up.

DH decided that he would check out the bar and I let the kids play with their new toys. As Ethan was swinging his sword around a “knight” walked by and held up his hands looking scared and said “I surrender!”, lol. Ethan had no idea what he was talking about and looked at him like he was crazy, it was hilarious. The guy turned out to be the MC of the show. DH returned with a very large souvenir glass of beer and we decided to head back toward the photo area to sit at the tables. Luckily they had a lot of tables left! The kids made friends with another little brother and sister and after strict instructions from me and their parents the boys given permission to play “fight” with their swords as long as the swords only hit swords. They both did very well and had a great time. I have video of it if I can upload it…

DH ran and got me a HUGE margarita! I had no idea they came in that size! The price for each of our drinks was $25! A piece!! If had been the one running to the bar we wouldn’t have got them, lol. But when I think about it the price isn’t too bad since you get a souvenir cup and the cup holds about 4-5 regular drinks which if priced out at a restaurant would have been over $25. The refills were $10 a piece but I struggled to finish the entire drink in the next 2 ½ hours anyway, lol.

Before long it was time to find our seats and they did not disappoint. We were seated front row almost exactly in the middle of the arena. Our plan was to set the kids between us but when I started down our row of seats I noticed the lady who I would set next to was pooh sized and me being slightly pooh sized myself did not want to make her or myself uncomfortable sharing arm space so I sat Lorelai next to her, then me, then Ethan and DH bringing up the rear. This turned out well since DH were close enough to talk and Lorelai ended up sitting on my lap half the time anyway.

Let me regress a bit to say getting to our seats was pretty stressful. The crowd was large and pushy and both Dh and I had our hands completely full with coats, purses, camera bags, crowns and very large drinks. The kids were really fantastic but it was still stressful, especially going down the stairs to the seats. By the time we sat down Lorelai was MAD! I could make out one word and that was grapes, oh yeah I forgot I had bribed her an hour ago. LOL Since I knew the food wouldn’t capture the kids liking I brought snacks for them and grapes are Lorelai’s favorites!

I settled our bags and we discovered our upgrade “freebies” a DVD, very nice program and a red and yellow flag. Our waiter came very quickly and introduced himself as Spike and he was fantastic. I ask about boosters and he said it would take him some time but he would get them. Our “table” or row had about 20 people in it and he was great at making you feel like he really cared about your family. He took our drink order and took my plate as I was getting the veggie food (I am not a chicken eater) and before long we the show was beginning.

Spike:

As for the food I was pleasantly surprised at how good it was and the service was very efficient. I am certain that they were able to feed everyone in the show a course of food in a matter of less than 3 minutes. It was very fast! First was the tomato soup, which was very good. I drank mine and Lorelai’s since she was afraid of drinking from the soup bowl, lol. Ethan wanted nothing to do with the soup but ate both his and Lorelai’s garlic bread, which was very good!!

Next came the HUGE chicken, a spare rib and a roasted potato. DH dug into his with his fingers and ended up eating his and Ethan’s, lol. He said it was delish and he was STUFFED! The kids chomped on their PB crackers and I ate my very good veggie plate! The pita chips and hummus was great and veggies and beans and rice were delish! Dessert was a “mc donalds” style apple pie thingie and it tasted a lot like Mc Donalds only very fresh. All in all the meal was great and we took Lorelai’s home and DH ate it the next day, no wasting food for us! LOL

As for the show it was good as well. The only princess in the show was pretty far away up high and didn’t come down so Lorelai only saw her from afar. Our knight (the red and yellow one) was great and the kids really got into the show waving their flags and cheering when we did. Our knight was the spitting image of James Marsden, yum! LOL After each set of “tests” that the knights went through they received flowers to give to a few princesses in their cheering section.

Both Dh and I were hoping Lorelai would get a flower but by the time he reached us every time he was out. The next to last time he passed by he spotted DD and waved and winked at her. It was so cute!

After the next test of course he saved her a flower and brought it down to her. He stopped and kissed the flower and threw it to her then winked and rode away. I wish DH had videotaped it because it was adorable. DD was so excited she got a flower and loved it A LOT more than the rose we bought her. It stayed in a vase on our dining room table for about a week (carnations last forever don’t they!) before I let her have it since it would die soon. She put it in her purse and that is where it still is. It dried out very well and still looks pretty. She carries it around with her all the time.

After the tests they did the tournament and although our knight was brave and won his first match he was defeated by the bad guy, boo! The bad guy of course was defeated by the long lost prince and all was right in the world. The tournament I had heard was pretty violent and I agree but both kids knew it was “pretend” so I wasn’t worried. They do lower a mesh curtain around the arena during the tournament due to the danger of flying shards of the jousting sticks or even weapons I am guessing (nothing flew toward us either way).

I am very happy we decided to go even with the expense and although it is way too expensive to do again anytime soon it seemed like a fun experience to do again in a couple of years. I completely recommend it to anyone! My only complaint was that I didn’t think about cash for tipping our waiter and we had NONE. I was so relieved that he was able to let us tip with our credit card! I should really carry more cash!

Next up: Back to the real story of the hour! The Magic Kingdom!!!

 

[GreatBiscuit]

Sorry for going a bit off topic in this update but since we had such a wonderful time at our adventure this weekend I just had to share it and a few pictures. If I am able to figure out our new video camera uploading I might be able to get some video up as well. We decided to visit Medieval Times for the first time this weekend (we live 20 minutes from one) to celebrate the months of Feb and March. All of our birthdays plus DH and my anniversary are in these two months.

Great review! I've only been to MT once back in Orlando in 1990. We have one fairly close up in Dallas, but it seems we always vacation in San Antonio instead.

ext up: Back to the real story of the hour! The Magic Kingdom!!!

 

[lexmas]

Sounds like fun! I haven't done this since a band trip back in high school. I don't know what they were thinking bringing 300 kids to one! Seems like you had a great time. $25 for a margerita though? Wow!

 

[stayhomemom77]

Hooray for GG's!! I LOVE that show. I too have a Lorelei (although she's nearly seven) and we call her Lori for short.

I'm very sorry to hear about your loss. I hope things will get better in time.

We're heading to the world in 7 weeks and I think your next trip sounds very exciting.

Looking forward to more when you are able to update.

 

[stayhomemom77]

oops, subbing....forgot to do it in last post.

 

[Charlefours]

I have never done the Medieval Times either--I am glad it seemed to be a great night overall. Whew, those are expensive drinks--I hope they were good!! I am horrible about carrying cash around too. I am planning on making the tip envelopes before we go down and have the cash in them so I do not have worry about it.

TFS!!!

 

[PrncessA]

Great review! I've only been to MT once back in Orlando in 1990. We have one fairly close up in Dallas, but it seems we always vacation in San Antonio instead.

It was a lot of fun and we will probably do it again in a few years... if we get a good deal. It is just so expensive and I couldn't stop thinking about the money that could have went to Disney, lol.

Sounds like fun! I haven't done this since a band trip back in high school. I don't know what they were thinking bringing 300 kids to one! Seems like you had a great time. $25 for a margerita though? Wow!

I know if I had been the one going to the bar I would not have picked one up. Neither DH or myself are big drinkers, I am really not sure what he was thinking. The cup is nice though!

Hooray for GG's!! I LOVE that show. I too have a Lorelei (although she's nearly seven) and we call her Lori for short.

I'm very sorry to hear about your loss. I hope things will get better in time.

We're heading to the world in 7 weeks and I think your next trip sounds very exciting.

Looking forward to more when you are able to update.

Welcome! I am hoping that the name becomes more popular and I can start finding things in stores with her name on it. Right now I have to get generic "Princess" or get it completely customized if I want her name on it.

I have never done the Medieval Times either--I am glad it seemed to be a great night overall. Whew, those are expensive drinks--I hope they were good!! I am horrible about carrying cash around too. I am planning on making the tip envelopes before we go down and have the cash in them so I do not have worry about it.

TFS!!!

The drink was okay...

I did tip envelopes for Disney on our trip and it was great. Although we ended up with all of our Mousekeeping envelopes left over since they wouldn't take them. Since we did a lot of buffets they were easy to predict and have the tip ready.

 

[klacey1]

We went to MT a couple of years ago in New Jersey and thought it was pretty fun. I'm not one for eating with my fingers , so I had brought a plastic fork/knife in my purse. Got quite a bit of ribbing from our waiter! I do remember that the soup (not tomato, don't know exactly what kind is was) was one of the best I had ever had! I am still trying to wrap my mind around $50 for two drinks, though!!! Glad your family had fun, though! It's nice to splurge once in a while!
So sorry about your MIL, and I hope your DH is doing better...