Magic in the Kingdom 2012! BIG 2/16/2014 FINAL UPDATE!

[missangelalexis]

Can't wait for the rest of this TR and to hear all about your trip to Disneyland!! Enjoy the holidays!

 

[mom2rtk]

Merry Christmas everyone!

Hopefully life can slow down a bit now and I can get going on my trip report again!

 

[mesaboy2]

Merry Christmas everyone! Hopefully life can slow down a bit now and I can get going on my trip report again!

Merry Christmas to you too!

 

[mom2rtk]

Merry Christmas to you too!

Happy New Year right back at you! And at everyone else too.

Anyone ready to get this show on the road? I just looked at some of these photos and I find myself wondering who this young looking daughter of mine is! Time to get moving so I can move to our Disneyland trip!

 

[jenseib]

Happy New Year right back at you! And at everyone else too.

Anyone ready to get this show on the road? I just looked at some of these photos and I find myself wondering who this young looking daughter of mine is! Time to get moving so I can move to our Disneyland trip!

woohooo!

 

[KCmike]

Let's get this show back on the road! Happy New Year to everyone out there as well!

 

[mom2rtk]

Thursday December 13, 2012

Thursday was going to be our long park day. Extra Magic Hours started at 8am and we hoped to be there when it started. Like nearly every other morning of the trip, it was grey and overcast. When we went outside, we couldn't find Kim and the girls so we went and knocked on their door. They still getting ready. It was going to be a long day with the party that night and we had lots of things to remember to bring along.

When we arrived at the TTC, Mikayla realized they had left something behind in the room. Kim decided to go back to the resort. The rest of us continued on to the Magic Kingdom.

We walked through the gates at 8:20.


IMG_8305 by mom2rtk, on Flickr

We stopped for some photos on Main Street in spite of the gray skies. The girls were wearing their Blue Belle costumes and looked adorable heading down Main Street.


IMG_8315 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8319 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


Our first stop was a visit with an old friend. I was so disappointed last summer when I heard our Fairy Godmother might not be meeting guests in the park any more. She was on parade duty instead. Our trip just wasn't going to be the same without seeing her. But after touching base right before our trip I found out she would have a couple of days in the Magic Kingdom to meet guests. One was Wednesday and that was already over so we had to meet her today. We brought the Cinderella gowns and planned a photo later when the girls changed. I couldn't resist stepping into her line we saw her behind the castle in her usual spot. I just couldn't take a chance on maybe missing her later.


IMG_8324 by mom2rtk, on Flickr



IMG_8326 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8330 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8332 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8338 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8342 by mom2rtk, on Flickr



From there we headed to that day's primary destination: New Fantasyland. We had walked through quickly once with Drew the previous Friday. But it was really packed that day and I didn't get a good look at anything. Today we actually had some time to kill waiting for Kim to get back. Mikayla heard back from Kim. She was back from the resort but then realized she had forgotten their Christmas party tickets. She was about to head back to the resort again when I called her. I told her to stop by Guest Relations in the front of the park. I was pretty sure that if she had the credit card she used to buy them, they could probably reprint them for her. It was a rocky start to the day, but I love that we had that time waiting around in Belle's Village before it got packed for the day.


IMG_8347 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8352 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8356 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8361 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8367 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8370 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8376 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8391 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8400 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8435 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8438 by mom2rtk, on Flickr



We went into Gaston's tavern and sat down to have a snack. We hadn't eaten breakfast so I was more than ready to try one of their cinnamon rolls. I wasn't thrilled with having our morning off to a slow start but having some uncrowded time in Gaston's Tavern to eat our cinnamon rolls with nice. We took photos by the fireplace. We took photos in Gaston's chair. Later in the week the tavern was so busy they weren't even letting people in.


Our next priority was to meet Gaston when he came out at 10. Kim was successful getting their tickets reissued and join us back in Fantasyland to wait. Up until now it has been very gray and overcast but at least hadn't been raining. Now it started to sprinkle. We found were Gaston's line would start and set up camp and hoped for the best. Thankfully it didn't do much more than sprinkle, and Gaston still appeared around 10. He came over and guided the girls to a spot under an overhang where they could inspect his muscles.


IMG_8449 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8455 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8456 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8459 by mom2rtk, on Flickr

 

[mom2rtk]

Thursday December 13, 2012: Continued:

Finally it was time to do our most anticipated attraction in the entire Fantasyland expansion. I was anxious to finally see Enchanted Tales with Belle for myself. The posted waiting time at 10:20 when we entered the line was 70 minutes. The fact that it was raining and the line was mostly uncovered didn't seem to matter. We finally entered Belle's cottage at 11:10. We went into the library at 11:20. Katie and McKenna already knew the drill. They knew they needed to participate to get a photo with Belle at the end. Katie was a set of silverware and McKenna was a feather duster.

I loved almost everything about this attraction. Well, except for the line and except for the lack of Fastpass. But the Wardrobe was amazing. Lumiere was awesome. And the library was gorgeous. I especially loved this trip through Belle's Storytime because they allowed me to move around and take pictures at will. I was happy as a clam in that gorgeous room with my camera. I swapped out my lenses and took some wide angle pictures of the room but mostly I loved seeing the girls in their Blue Bell costumes in that beautiful setting. We were done around 11:35.



IMG_8484 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8487 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8489 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8490 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8494 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8497 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8500 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8513 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8529 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8533 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8535 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8542 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8547 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8559 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8573 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8582 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8606 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8624 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8640 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8641 by mom2rtk, on Flickr

 

[mom2rtk]

Thursday December 13, 2012: Continued

our next priority was finding the fairy godmother again, but this time dressed a little more appropriately for the occasion.

This trip just wasn't going to seem complete if we missed our chance for a photo with the fairy godmother with the girls in Cinderella gowns. They looked amazing walking into Fantasyland. The colorful top to the carousel seemed the perfect background to the pink and blue of their gowns. So I asked them to stop and turn around so I could get a photo. Just as I finished taking my pictures, the girls were approached by Lady Llewellyn and Tobias, part of the Royal Majesty Makers. They go around Fantasyland engaging in "acts of royaldom". They taught Katie and McKenna how to properly curtsey. As we were leaving the area, a photopass photographer tapped us on the shoulder and handed us a card. I didn't even know they had been taking pictures. It was a ton of fun. A little bit of magic out of nowhere.



IMG_8656 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8657 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8659 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8660 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8664 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8666 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8670 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8671 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8672 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8678 by mom2rtk, on Flickr

When we got over behind the castle around noon I was happy to find our Fairy Godmother still there. After photos with her we went into Castle Couture and had some photopass photos done. We also took some photos in the Rose Garden before heading back down toward the lockers in the front of the park.





IMG_8687 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8689 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8692 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8699 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8705 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8711 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8713 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8726 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8730 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8738 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8742 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8745 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8750 by mom2rtk, on Flickr

 

[mom2rtk]

Thursday December 13th, 2012: Continued

A few photos from our favorite spot, the Rose Garden:


IMG_8753 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8756 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8761 by mom2rtk, on Flickr



When we got back down to the hub, I heard somebody calling my name and turned around. I suppose it would have been hard for her to miss us since Katie was still in her Cinderella gown. It was my Disboards friend Kimberly (Finally08) and her adorable Flynn-loving daughter Layla. They had scheduled an impromptu trip when they heard their favorite Flynn was back. She said she was trying to work out a special meeting time to make sure they ended up seeing the right Flynn. I suggested we keep in touch so we could go in at the same time and I could take some photos for her.


IMG_8766 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


It was a great surprise to meet them in person after all this time. And I looked forward to seeing Flynn's greatest fan meet him again. Last year we just got to deliver the book she made for him. This year we would get to witness them meeting in person. This is the sort of thing that makes Disney so magical and I wouldn't want to miss an opportunity like that.

This day had started weather-wise like almost every other day on this trip ....... gloomy and gray. And after nearly a week of hot afternoon temperatures I really didn't expect this day to be any different. Okay so I blew it. It was 12:45 and still very chilly. My jacket was in the locker but I hadn't brought one for Katie. I planned on letting her have mine, but even that wasn't going to get us through the evening's Christmas party. So once the girls changed, our first stop was the gift shop for an overpriced jacket.

We really weren't sure what to do about lunch. Dinner was going to be early at 4:00. But I needed something before then since I hadn't had much breakfast. We ended up eating at Pecos Bill's in Frontierland. Katie had a burger and I tried the taco salad. I can't believe after all this time I have never eaten at Pecos Bill's. And I can't believe I thought I was missing something. The taco salad did pretty much nothing for me. As nice as it was to have that big fixins bar available, it didn't help.

The girls wanted to ride Thunder Mountain again so we headed there next.



IMG_8777 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8843 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8849 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8853 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8864 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8882 by mom2rtk, on Flickr



Around 3:20 we headed back over to New Fantasyland and took some more pictures of the girls around Belle's village in their Blue Belle costumes. The sun still wasn't out but at least it stopped raining. We checked in early for our BOG reservation, but weren't called in until 4:20.



IMG_8916 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8921 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8936 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8946 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8948 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8953 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8956 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8959 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8970 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8971 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8972 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8986 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_8990 by mom2rtk, on Flickr

 

[DisneyFreak06]

Beautiful update as usual! I am always impressed by your photography! I think I need a daughter for posing at WDW for me!

 

[mom2rtk]

woohooo!

Let's get this show back on the road! Happy New Year to everyone out there as well!

I know..... it's about time, don't you think!

Beautiful update as usual! I am always impressed by your photography! I think I need a daughter for posing at WDW for me!

Thanks so much DisneyFreak! She really has been a good sport through the years with all my photos. Of course, now she wants to use my camera all the time. So I gulp and say "Just be careful......." I figure it's the least I owe her.

 

[KCmike]

Very nice and big update! Love the girls in the rose garden and your daughter with the faint pose next to Gaston. Those were priceless.

Shameless plug - Our suprise trip to Disneyland for Christmas...

http://youtu.be/sZFw_Z9BrH4

 

[mom2rtk]

Very nice and big update! Love the girls in the rose garden and your daughter with the faint pose next to Gaston. Those were priceless.

Shameless plug - Our suprise trip to Disneyland for Christmas...

http://youtu.be/sZFw_Z9BrH4

I just watched your video Mike. KUDOS on an amazing family memory! I loved it.

 

[mom2rtk]

Thursday, December 13th 2012: Continued

We were seated in the ballroom again on this second visit to Be Our Guest. It was a great table though, right along the main aisle were the Beast made his entrance.

Katie ordered the steak and a triple chocolate cupcake. I didn't want to use two dining credits so I ordered the potato soup and a strawberry cupcake (and paid out of pocket for mine). I had a hunch Katie would need some help with that steak and I was right. It was really good and I was happy to help her finish it. We had forgotten to even ask about the grey stuff on our first night at BOG so we made sure to do so that night. Apparently it's something they save for special occasions. But our server was happy to help us celebrate being at BOG. It is very tasty, sort of a cookies and cream flavored mousse. I thought it was served on a special plate that said "Try the Grey Stuff". But as it turns out, the grey stuff is a chocolate stamp on a regular plate.

The girls seemed to have a fascination with the napkins that were folded as roses. Our server was kind enough to show them how to fold the napkins themselves. So for the rest of the trip we had one rose folded napkin after another.




IMG_8996 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_9007 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_9013 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_9019 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_9040 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_9063 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_9069 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_9095 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_9098 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_9115 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_9121 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_9145 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_9155 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_9175 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_9179 by mom2rtk, on Flickr

And thank you Jen. I will never look at that stained glass window again without laughing about the prince having no pants........

 

[mom2rtk]

Thursday, December 13, 2012: Continued

Dinner was wonderful but ran us late. I really wanted to hang around and take more pictures but it was already 6:20. I had wanted to be in line for the princesses no later than 6.

The plan was for me to run ahead of the group and get in line for the princesses. Of course I didn't have my wristband yet. Oops. I had left Katie's ticket with Kim knowing they would get theirs on the way over. But it just dawned on me they wouldn't even let me enter the line without my wristband. So I detoured to Tomorrowland to get mine. It's the longest I've ever waited to get a wristband. But I'm sure that's because it's the closest to 7 PM I have ever had to get one. BOG was pretty awesome, but it sure put a kink in our plans.

I finally got in line for the princesses around 6:30. That was much later than I planned but the line still wasn't terrible. Not long after getting in line, our friend and fellow DIS poster finally08 and her Flynn-loving daughter came up and said hi. She was trying hard to arrange meeting the RIGHT Flynn but didn't know yet how that would end up. She said she'd let me know.

About the time Kim and the girls showed up Finally08 and her little Rapunzel let me know they had an inside track on meeting the right Flynn. They had arrangements for them to get into the room he was in. I wanted to take pictures for them, so we met up with them. We went in around 7:20. It was great to see Layla interact with her Flynn. From the mistletoe she had tucked into a box, to the cute Flynn doll, she was just way too adorable. We had a lot of fun meeting him as well, especially when he tried to fry Pascal up in the frying pan.

Seeing Layla in her Rapunzel wedding gown, interacting with her favorite Flynn, is just one of those Disney memories I will always cherish. These stages go so quickly. Katie is enjoying Disney in new ways these days. So it was great fun to get to step back and watch some true Disney magic.


IMG_9196 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_9200 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_9201 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_9202 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_9210 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_9214 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_9216 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_9239 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_9254 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_9259 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_9261 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_9266 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_9267 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_9270 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_9272 by mom2rtk, on Flickr

Time to pay some attention to my own Rapunzels! McKenna's older sister decorated frying pans for Rapunzel and Flynn to sign. This is not for the faint of heart, as they are very heavy to carry around..... but they are awesome keepsakes and the characters enjoyed checking them out.


IMG_9222 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_9227 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_9233 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_9244 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_9246 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_9276 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_9286 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_9292 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_9298 by mom2rtk, on Flickr

 

[mom2rtk]

Thursday December 13th, 2012: Continued:


We were done in the princess room around 7:30 and headed for Fantasyland.


IMG_9314 by mom2rtk, on Flickr



One of my favorite character meets last year had been the Tremaine family at the Christmas party. So I didn't want to miss it this year. When we got back there around 8:00, I was shocked to see how long the line was. It was almost time for the parade but the line was still about half an hour.


IMG_9325 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_9332 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_9334 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_9335 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_9336 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_9339 by mom2rtk, on Flickr

And look who was in line right behind us!


IMG_9344 by mom2rtk, on Flickr




Thankfully Scrooge McDuck was out this night. His line was pretty long, but it moved fairly quickly. Kim had given as a copy of "A Christmas Carol" for Scrooge to sign and he really seemed to like that. He gave it a big thumbs up. We finished with Scrooge around 9:00.


IMG_9349 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_9357 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_9359 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_9364 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_9368 by mom2rtk, on Flickr

Kim really thought the girls would enjoy the dance party at Cosmic Ray's so we headed over there next. We sat down for some cocoa and cookies but neither of the girls seemed interested in dancing. When we left Cosmic Ray's we headed for Tomorrowland.


IMG_9375 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


Katie had been asking to ride Space Mountain with McKenna all day. It was 9:20 but Kim decided she really wanted to see the fireworks. My personal preference is to only watch the fireworks when I have staked out a good place in advance. If I don't do that I'd rather go take advantage of such short lines elsewhere. We walked over toward Main Street on the Tomorrowland bridge. We didn't get very far though. Actually we barely made it onto the bridge because of the crowds of people. We stopped in the only open spot. It was only open because there was a tree blocking the castle from that spot. Katie was tired so sat down on the cold ground. It had been a very long cold day.

After the fireworks Kim wanted to go stake out a spot for the Totally Tomorrowland Christmas show. They said after the show they wanted to go do the Stitch ride. Katie looked tired and cold. I was tired and cold. Neither of us really wanted to see the show or do Stitch. So I asked Katie if she wanted to leave. She was all over it. We took the bus back and made an early evening of it at the resort. Well, early for Christmas party night anyway. We got back to the resort around 10:45. We stopped at Landscapes Of Flavor. We got a pizza meal to share and headed for the room. I've always enjoyed our "in-room" picnics and this was no disappointment. We both enjoyed that pizza a lot. I'm usually disappointed to cut a hard ticket party short. But it had just been too long a day and neither of us regretted it a bit.


IMG_9379 by mom2rtk, on Flickr


IMG_9380 by mom2rtk, on Flickr

 

[mom2rtk]

OK, for anyone trying to catch up, first..... thanks for sticking with me. Second, I just updated all the links on the first page so you don't have to go hunting for installments.

 

[DISNEYaddict4evr]

Well the wait was worth it What a great update. I won't be back to disney for a while so you better keep going and writing trip reports for me. Speaking of which have you started the DL one yet

 

[YodasMom]

Loved the updates, Janet! Katie looks so grown-up and beautiful in her dresses!

I can hardly wait for you DL trip report! I'm working on a little review of my Oct trip, too, that I want to get up on the scrap site this week.