"I Don't Wanna Go Home" Lots of Pics **Updated 10/17, Day 2 - Part 6 - Page 5

Daily Review
There was a lot we did not get to today that I hoped we would. We missed Discovery Island and the Tree of Life. We decided against Its tough to be a Bug due to the ages of our kids and the desire not to start a bad association with 3D movies. We never made it to Asia for the Jungle Trek which was on our list. We had no plans to get wet on Kail and neither of the kids are tall enough to ride EE and DW does not like big coasters. I had picked this park for our first day because I thought if we did it later in the trip the glory of MK would have hurt the experience. I was right. This is a full day park for us, but it does not deserve a return visit during a single trip. I think the Boneyard and the Parade were the highlight of this day, but ranked against the other 7 days of our trip from a park perspective this day ranks last. As far a Chef Mickey's, this was one of the top 3 meals of the week.
Coming up next

I want to encourage you to revisit Animal Kingdom on your next trip. On our 1st trip AK was one of our lowlights too, only because I wasn't as prepared as I thought I was. On our 2nd trip we discovered so many other reasons why we love AK, it's now a not to miss for us. Did you make it back to conservation station with the petting zoo? This area is one of my boys faves.

Love the TR looking forward to the rest! BTW we have neighbors that just moved to Concord. :)
 
The pics of your girls with the princesses remind me of my daughter's first trip last year (she was almost 3). She may not remember the trip in the years to come, but I will NEVER forget the way she looked at Cinderella when we first saw her at the castle. MAGIC!!!

We are going back in 32 days, and your report has me even more excited (if that is possible)!
 
ok, I'll forgive you for not having a brother that likes Disney as much as you do because those pic's of your daughters with the princesses are KILLING me!!! Seriously, your little is too adorable in the way she is looking at them. The one of her and Belle ( Belle is signing the autograph book) brought tears to my eyes.

The castle was our favorite place to eat also, my DD had just had her BBB appt and was all decked out in her Cinderella dress and everytime a princess came to our table, I got all teary eyed. They are only little once, and these memories will be something that will last forever.
 
mommyintn: I'm sure we'll plan for a day at AK, but I not sure we could justify more time than that. We did not make it back to Conservation Station. From the pictures we had seen of this area it did not seem different than the petting zoo area at our local zoo. I think the lack of Disney iconization (if thats a word) is one of the reasons this park didn't rank highly with us. I know that I want to see the tree of life and that next year Ariel will be tall enough for EE. Those reason by themselves will bring us back to AK next year.

MickeyMomTo2: I'm glad I'm helping you get excited. I too will Never forget the look on the girls faces when they met the princesses. There are a couple pictures of Dora comping up later in Day 2 of the TR that are some of the best and most memorable. My DW was skeptical that Dora would get anything out of this trip, but now she agrees that this was the perfect timing for our first trip.
 

Sunnyday123: I just happend to be sitting across from Dora at this meal and was able to catch her expressions better, but both were ga-ga over the princesses.

We have some priceless memories of this trip. Its bittersweet to write this TR. We had so much fun, I'd go back tomorrow if I had the money and the vaction time, but I also know there will never be another first time.
 
I haven't had a chance to read all your report while I'm at work but wanted to subscribe (and will catch up tonight). But what beautiful pictures you have taken! Can't wait to read it all!
 
Your family is beautiful! I love your pictures. Probably a good thing to skip It's Tough to be a Bug. Our 16 year old did NOT like it at all! She doesn't like bugs but we thought surely with her being 16 and knowing it's not real she would be okay. She let us know afterwards (she really didn't like the spiders coming from the ceiling) that she would not be doing that again!
 
Your girls are so precious! Great job handling the stroller and taking photos!
 
OMG!!! Those pictures are PRICELESS!!! What memories! The one of your girls running toward the caste...starring at Jasmine....and the others....how sweet!:lovestruc
 
Thank you all for the complements.

GusT: We were warned about Its Tough to be a Bug and I'm glad. DD5, Ariel has had some bad dreams about spiders so it was on the avoid list for us. I'm not sure when, if at all, this will be added to the list for the whole family. It is something I would personally like to see/experience.

MommyinTN: Your neighbors will love Concord. Its a great town and yet close enough to Charlotte to have the benefits of a bigger city. Where about in East Tennessee are you? My boss just bought a farm in Fall Branch.
 
MommyinTN: Your neighbors will love Concord. Its a great town and yet close enough to Charlotte to have the benefits of a bigger city. Where about in East Tennessee are you? My boss just bought a farm in Fall Branch.

We are in Knoxville. I couldn't place Fall Branch so I looked it up and it's about 1 hr 37 minutes up the road and there is lots of wide open spaces up that way! :)
 
Great trip report! Your daughters are adorable and I can't wait for the next installment! :thumbsup2
 
I forgot to mention in Part 1 of Day 2 that today was the check-in/check-out day of our split reservation. We had to split to take advantage of the Disney Visa Free Dining Promotion, which was available starting 9/28. Our first resse was for 2 days so we had to carefully plan our use of Credits. Yesterday at AK we had used 3 Snacks and 3 CS credits; which meant that by midnight tonight we needed to use 5 CS credits and 5 Snacks. Since we used a complete set of TS credits at Chef Mickey last night we only at one additional set. We would use this set of TS credits for Dinner tonight and use 8 TS credits from the back side of the split for CRT this morning. We thought that we could use the snacks no problem, but due to the fact that Dora is so picky and that we would normally only use 3 CS credits at lunch we had to figure out a way to wisely use the extra 2 CS credits.

Meanwhile back at the Ranch, err Fantasyland

Day 2: Magic Kingdom - Part 2

So even after all of the excitement of breakfast we were still finished before park opening. This was the moment I had been preparing for, I knew what to do. As soon as the rope dropped we entered Fantasyland and headed straight for Dumbo. I think we ended up in the 2nd cycle of the ride. Both girls enjoyed this ride, but they are thrill seekers, roller coaster nut, and this ride though fun did not merit a second ride the rest of the trip.

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We headed for Peter Pan, and walked on twice. Peter Pan turned out to be our favorite of the Fantasyland rides. Its no thrill ride, but it a story that both girls are very familiar with and which is told very well through the ride. The fact they had the mermaids on the mountain lake didn't hurt either. After Peter Pan, we rode Pooh. I'd call this good but not great. We were about 30 minutes into our morning and the girls were ready to meet Ariel, at her Grotto.

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The girls were ready to change out of their Belle dresses in to normal clothes, so after a stop at the restrooms we rode Cinderella's Golden Carousel and then the Tea Cups, narrowly missing a chance to ride with Alice and the Mad Hatter.

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It was 10:15 by this point and we had ridden all the morning must sees for Fantasyland. We had no intention of riding Snow White and knew that Mickey's Philharmagic and Small World could wait until later in the day. The girls were ready for a snack break, so we stopped on our way to Toontown for a Minute Maid Frozon Lemonade. I had one of these as my desert at Flame Tree yesterday and really liked it. We found a bench in the shade served up the frozon lemonade one bite at a time. The girls shared well, so we knew the happiest place on earth was rubbing off on them.

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Our next stop was Toontown, some how and I’m really not sure how this happened, the girls walked right past Minnie’s house and into Mickey’s. We did the walk though and entered the Judges Tent for what would be our first line of the day. We waited for about 15 minutes and the met Mickey and Minnie. Afterward we went over to Minnie’s house and played in her kitchen for a while.

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After Minnie’s house we road Goofy’s Barnstormer with a very short wait, twice. We had spent about an hour in Toontown, it was around 11:30 and we were ready for some lunch. My plan had been to eat in Frontierland, getting a fast pass for Big Thunder Mountain before right lunch if needed. On our way through Fantasyland the girls saw and wanted to ride It’s a Small World, it had no wait so we walked on. We continued on our journey, Pecos Bill’s was our destination. As we passed though Liberty Square, Dora spotted Frontier Donald so we stopped for a quick hug and picture.


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We got over to Pecos Bill’s my DW could not find what she was looking for, so we decided trek back to Columbia Harbor house. Before we started back we walked over to Splash and Big Thunder, but Ariel did not want to consider riding either of these rides today. She did not want to get wet on Splash and apparently one of her friends had told her how scary Big Thunder was. We knew that she would like Big Thunder but did not want to force her to ride anything until she was ready.

So... Almost an hour and ½ after we started our journey for lunch we finally made it over to Columbia Harbor House. Both she and Ariel had Chicken Tenders and I had the Chicken and Fish. Lunch was good and a needed break.

I knew we had wasted some valuable time over the last hour, but we had not been pushing so I did not fret. It was between 1:30 and 1:45 when we finished lunch and our plan for the rest of the day only included 3 more must sees, Mickey’s Philharmagic, The 3:00 Parade, and the Princess Meet & Greet in Toontown. We left CHH to see Mickey’s Philharmagic on the way we passed Peter Pan and rode again, for the 3rd time today with no wait. Upon exiting Peter Pan we walked straight into Mickey’s Philharmagic and got our seat ¾ of the way back. We all really enjoyed this movie. I wish I could have captured some pictures, but I wanted to see the movie myself and Dora ended up on my lap so that she could see. The girls’ reaction to the various flying objects was priceless and I regret not getting the camera out.

It was about 2:30 and I wanted to get a good spot on the parade route so after Mickey’s Philharmagic we dashed to the Hub and found a great spot on the curb. DW and Dora ran off for a potty break. While Ariel and I waited a CM brought out Hula-Hoops and Ariel decided to give it a try. When Dora returned from the potty she joined the fun. The pictures of them both Hula-hooping with the Castle in the back ground are some of my favorite of the entire trip.

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So its now parade time and we found our seats on the curb.

To be continued…

Day 2: Magic Kingdom - Part 3
 
HELP!!!

I need some of your input for the next chapter.

Should I include just a few or multiple pictures from the Parades, and Shows? (and Fireworks in future chapters?)

Your guidance is appreciated.
 
Your pictures are great. I will enjoy seeing any you post. What kind of camera do you have?
 
The looks on the girls faces with the characters are priceless. A couple even made me teary eyed! Great report, looking forward to more. I love pictures so you can't have too many for me!
 
Thank you all again for the complements.

I shoot with a Cannon Xsi, and with either a 17-55mm or a 28-135mm lens. I have only had this camera 3 months but really like it. I had previously only used Sony point and shoots. The upgrade to a dSLR has been awesome. I have learned that having good glass (lenses and filters)makes a huge difference in picture quality and that shooting in RAW format improves editability significantly.
 




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