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

[jenseib]

Those ears are so cute. i am going to have to train my head to wear headbands!

 

[mom2rtk]

Those ears are so cute. i am going to have to train my head to wear headbands!

If you cared about your pictures, you wouldn't care if your head hurt! Mine hurts every year with those headbands. But I love the photos when we get home!

 

[KCmike]

I wouldn't miss one of your trip reports for the world Janet! It's always nice to see an email that you've updated your report.

 

[mom2rtk]

I wouldn't miss one of your trip reports for the world Janet! It's always nice to see an email that you've updated your report.

Thanks Mike!

Did they cancel school for your kids tomorrow? Or did they even have school for tomorrow? Katie was supposed to start but they had the decency to cancel mid-afternoon.

 

[YodasMom]

I had it in November and it was chocolate cake! They called it "The Master's Cupcake" and it was chocolate cake with grey stuff frosting. Wonder if they have different versions?

Yes, it was the Master's cupcake, but looking back at it, the reason I thought it was marbled was that the grey stuff is apparently not only on top but dips way down into the cake making it look kind of marbled. It is a chocolate sponge cake, I guess, and not the rich chocolate cake that is used for the regular triple chocolate cupcake. It's pretty but not as rich as the other one. My favorite is the strawberry one!! Yum!

Oh, and I was with friends, one of whom eats a gluten free diet. The main chef was at our table off and on all evening, and was SO attentive. He talked about all they do to take care of people requiring special diets. We were very impressed!

 

[czmom]

Finally catching up! Always love reading your updates. I am laughing about the gray sky because that is what I remember from our trip that same week as well! Our first day was hot and blue sky, then gray and drizzly after that.

WDW seems so long ago and foreign after the recent DLR trip! We decided if we win the Disney contest we are going back to DLR and would try the Disneyland Hotel this time It's always fun to dream!

 

[KCmike]

Thanks Mike!

Did they cancel school for your kids tomorrow? Or did they even have school for tomorrow? Katie was supposed to start but they had the decency to cancel mid-afternoon.

Ours cancelled as well mid afternoon. Kids are happy.

 

[mom2rtk]

Yes, it was the Master's cupcake, but looking back at it, the reason I thought it was marbled was that the grey stuff is apparently not only on top but dips way down into the cake making it look kind of marbled. It is a chocolate sponge cake, I guess, and not the rich chocolate cake that is used for the regular triple chocolate cupcake. It's pretty but not as rich as the other one. My favorite is the strawberry one!! Yum!

Oh, and I was with friends, one of whom eats a gluten free diet. The main chef was at our table off and on all evening, and was SO attentive. He talked about all they do to take care of people requiring special diets. We were very impressed!

I would still love to try it. Although I usually like the richer cupcakes.

I hope you're keeping warm in Chicagoland Karen! I was there at school during one of the coldest winters on record (at least that's what they said at the time) and I still remember it. It was January of 1982 and man.... those old dorm buildings were COLD!

Finally catching up! Always love reading your updates. I am laughing about the gray sky because that is what I remember from our trip that same week as well! Our first day was hot and blue sky, then gray and drizzly after that.

WDW seems so long ago and foreign after the recent DLR trip! We decided if we win the Disney contest we are going back to DLR and would try the Disneyland Hotel this time It's always fun to dream!

Hey Wendy!

Weather might have been pretty cold at DL this year, but you can bet I was LOVING those crystal blue skies! I kept flashing back to those gray skies last year at WDW. And to the gray skies we got on our last trip to DL in June 2010.

It really was so odd for me to come home and go back to the WDW photos from last year. I know exactly what you mean about it all seeming so foreign now........

I'm so indecisive I can't even choose which coast I'd go to if we won one of those trips (note to self........ go enter for today when I'm done for this post!) I'd like to do the GC at DLR. But the allure of a monorail resort is pretty strong........ I'd probably have to go with WDW just because it would be easy (and relatively inexpensive) to extend the trip out to a full 10 days. I guess I'll wait to win to put much more thought into it!

Ours cancelled as well mid afternoon. Kids are happy.

Smart move. I would assume all of the schools cancelled. It's still sitting at -8 at 8:10 AM. The sun is out though. How bad could it be?

Now Karen, try not to get jealous of our balmy temps here in KC!

 

[francis6306]

I sent you a private message!

Thanks for the info guys! I'd like to know what's available too. Looks like we're going to need a volunteer taste tester. Anyone going soon who can try one out for us?

Oooh! I go before her! I'll test and take pictures if I'm able to snag a FP for lunch!


I love the ears that Katie chose! I want to get some cute ears next trip.

I think that when you travel with people it is VERY important to schedule in some downtime for just you... it gets stressful keeping up with people. Not that you don't enjoy it and want to be with them, but everyone misses out on things at some point with a bigger group. But it's also good to travel with people who "know" Disney and understand what is going on.

Your pictures are as beautiful as ever!

 

[mom2rtk]

I sent you a private message!



Oooh! I go before her! I'll test and take pictures if I'm able to snag a FP for lunch!


I love the ears that Katie chose! I want to get some cute ears next trip.

I think that when you travel with people it is VERY important to schedule in some downtime for just you... it gets stressful keeping up with people. Not that you don't enjoy it and want to be with them, but everyone misses out on things at some point with a bigger group. But it's also good to travel with people who "know" Disney and understand what is going on.

Your pictures are as beautiful as ever!

Awwwww Christen. Thank you so much for the PM. That was SO adorable and brought me right back to Katie being that size and singing along. I'd say the odds are high that I'll dig the movie out by day's end. It's hard to get Katie to sit for a Disney movie these days, but she almost never turns me down on that one.

And yes, I absolutely believe all of what you are saying about traveling with others. And I'll stop there.

Thanks for the kind words on the photos. It was great to have new things to photograph on this trip. Then great to go to Disneyland next with even more new things to photograph.

And I really loved the ears Katie chose too. I tried to get her to pick out a pair of really stylish ears again this year, but she really only wanted to wear MY new pair of red sequin ears. Maybe she'll let me have MY ears next year?

 

[mom2rtk]

Friday December 14, 2012: Continued



Katie and I still hadn't been to Storybook Circus. I guess Kim and the girls had walked through there earlier in the week and weren't that interested. But we were fast running out of chances to see it so I pretty much insisted. I got fast passes for the Barnstormer. I was really surprised the Fastpass return time wasn't much later than the stand by wait. I suggested that we meet the characters at Pete's Silly Sideshow. Kim had no idea there were even characters inside. They had walked right past there the other day. No wonder they didn't care much for the area!

Mikayla wasn't feeling well so Kim and Mikayla waited outside while I took the girls in.


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When I saw how adorable Minnie was, I knew Kim would have to see her. So I left the girls in line and went out to find Kim.





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We met all four characters, rode the Barnstormer, and did some shopping in right at an hour. It was my first real taste of Storybook Circus and I was really taken with it. I had not been a big fan of moving Dumbo away from its place behind the castle, but I really loved the new area so much I was fine with it. I also was happy to find more New Fantasyland pins in Big Top Gifts.

Dinner was at 1900 Park Fare at 7:30, so we were watching the time closely. It was 5 o'clock and we still needed to use our Ariel ride fastpasses. We thought we had some great luck when we found the back opening into New Fantasyland open from Storybook Circus. But they had several cast members stationed there telling people it was only an exit from Fantasyland and you couldn't enter from there. So we had to take the long way .......and go all the way around. We were done around 5:20 and headed for the exit. Kim sort of seemed to be in a hurry and I wasn't sure why. Later I found out she thought dinner was at 7 when it was at 730.




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[KCmike]

I'm glad you liked the Storybook area. I have to say that I was on the other side. I found the whole area to be very underwhelming. I hope that the new mine cart dwarves rollercoaster is a show stopper otherwise I feel like the new Fantasyland project will be a letdown. I know that I'm a bit of a Disneyland homer but Carsland absolutely destroys the new Fantasyland in my opinion. I will hold off my overall final opinion till we see this new ride system and how it all plays out with the new coaster but overall I'm really disappointed. I really like the Enchanted Tales with Belle, in fact so much I think its the best thing they've done in the whole new land. The que to Little Mermaid is very nice but the ride is oh so boring. Its the same ride as in DCA obviously and I don't care for it there either. If there is ever a wait for it I wouldn't do it. Its always a walk on in DCA. They need to seriously go back and plus it up. This was a major letdown for the size of the show building and all the other newer technology they have for dark rides in places like Tokyo and their Pooh ride.

Oh well enough ranting. When is that darn coaster going to open anyways??

 

[francis6306]

Awwwww Christen. Thank you so much for the PM. That was SO adorable and brought me right back to Katie being that size and singing along. I'd say the odds are high that I'll dig the movie out by day's end. It's hard to get Katie to sit for a Disney movie these days, but she almost never turns me down on that one.

When you mentioned that about Katie loving that movie, I just KNEW you had to see that! Glad you enjoyed it.

And yes, I absolutely believe all of what you are saying about traveling with others. And I'll stop there.

uh-huh!

Thanks for the kind words on the photos. It was great to have new things to photograph on this trip. Then great to go to Disneyland next with even more new things to photograph.

And I really loved the ears Katie chose too. I tried to get her to pick out a pair of really stylish ears again this year, but she really only wanted to wear MY new pair of red sequin ears. Maybe she'll let me have MY ears next year?

LOL on the ears!


Love your Storybook Circus pictures! I think a lot of people miss the characters back there. I love that little area. It's PERFECT for Catie to run around! And the Dumbo play area is out of this world. I wish they had more of those type of "queues" for the kids!

 

[mom2rtk]

I'm glad you liked the Storybook area. I have to say that I was on the other side. I found the whole area to be very underwhelming. I hope that the new mine cart dwarves rollercoaster is a show stopper otherwise I feel like the new Fantasyland project will be a letdown. I know that I'm a bit of a Disneyland homer but Carsland absolutely destroys the new Fantasyland in my opinion. I will hold off my overall final opinion till we see this new ride system and how it all plays out with the new coaster but overall I'm really disappointed. I really like the Enchanted Tales with Belle, in fact so much I think its the best thing they've done in the whole new land. The que to Little Mermaid is very nice but the ride is oh so boring. Its the same ride as in DCA obviously and I don't care for it there either. If there is ever a wait for it I wouldn't do it. Its always a walk on in DCA. They need to seriously go back and plus it up. This was a major letdown for the size of the show building and all the other newer technology they have for dark rides in places like Tokyo and their Pooh ride.

Oh well enough ranting. When is that darn coaster going to open anyways??

No, feel free to vent away! Of course, you were predisposed to dislike any project that took away a classic Disney dark ride I think?

I actually am sort of underwhelmed by the totality of what I have seen so far....... if you're talking about the entire Fantasyland expansion. I think part of what had me loving Storybook Circus is that I had ZERO expectations for it. I expected to dislike it. But I think they did a charming job with the theming and I love the character meet & greet. I'm NOT happy that those characters are the only versions available in the park (leaving Minnie and Donald unmeetable in their classic attire there). But I really did enjoy that area.

The rest of new Fantasyland? Eh. It was a lot of hubbub for what it was. I'm really hoping the Mine Coaster comes through and pulls it all together. I think BOG was absolutely a home run. But it's not something everyone can enjoy. I think ETWB is quite awesome. But it's a pain to wait through the line and see, and the Belle meet & greet is just dorky (in how limited and rushed it is), especially now that it's the only place in all of WDW to meet Belle in her yellow gown without paying for a character meal. I think Under the Sea is OK, not great. Ariel's meet & greet is quite awesome in that the setting is beautiful and the line magically moves twice as fast now as it used to in its old location.

Sooooo....... that's sort of a mixed bag in my book as well. Some components I loved. Some I was so so about, leaving an overall mish-mash of feelings about it. I tried posting that on a thread about the expansion after I got back and was just beat up. Whatever. But oddly enough..... I really liked Storybook Circus!

LOL on the ears!


Love your Storybook Circus pictures! I think a lot of people miss the characters back there. I love that little area. It's PERFECT for Catie to run around! And the Dumbo play area is out of this world. I wish they had more of those type of "queues" for the kids!

I never should have told Katie how much I spent on those new red sequin ears this year! I couldn't find them anywhere here so bought them from someone in the UK. They got here just in time for our trip. I wore the green sequin ones from this 2012 trip and she swiped my new red ones.

I bet parents with young kids really would love Storybook Circus even more than we did. We only did FP for Dumbo but that indoor play area seems perfect for hot summer days. Not to mention the water play area.

 

[mom2rtk]

Friday December 14, 2012:

We have done 1900 Park Fare with our friends twice before. I has always been tons of fun. So when I knew we would be at Disney together again, I couldn't resist doing it one more time. Here's a flash back to 2008. That night was absolutely magical, one of my favorite Disney experiences of all time.


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We returned together in 2011 and still had tons of fun. Not quite as much interaction since we were seated in the back of the restaurant out of the way, but the stepsisters we had that night were awesome and kept us laughing all evening:


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So it was tradition, and this trip included a lot of "lasts" for us, so one last trip to 1900 Park Fare seemed in order. Besides, Katie's Anastasia from the year before fit McKenna just perfectly and I only needed to make Drizella for Katie. It's hard to resist a gown just hanging in the closet begging for one more outing.......

At the Grand Floridian we changed the girls into their stepsister gowns. They looked awesome as always, but still needed some color on their faces. For the last couple trips I have let Katie wear lipstick with her stepsister costume. I had it along, but messed up and left it back in the room. It occurred to me that I could probably buy some lipstick in the gift shop at the Grand Floridian. I knew it would be expensive but I really wanted to complete the look. When I went into the shop, the clerk refused to sell me the insanely overpriced lipstick, but instead opted to do a mini makeover right there on the spot for the girls. It was a little more heavy handed then I would have preferred but she was really into it and it was so sweet of her that I couldn't say anything. I won't post any pictures of that experience because she really wasn't supposed to do that, but did anyway. It was very sweet.

True to form, they ran behind seating us for dinner. We checked in early but were seated at 7:50 for our 7:30 ADR. I was really disappointed when they led us all the way into that small back room just like last time. I probably should have asked if we could wait for a different table, but it was getting late already and the day had been long. Before we even got settled, Anastasia and Drizella stopped by.



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I hoped that was a sign of a fun-filled evening ahead. Cinderella was right behind them.






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If I had to guess at that point, I would have said we were in for an amazing evening. I would never have guessed that was the high point of the evening. It took forever for the rest of the characters to come by.




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Last year the stepsisters were in and out of that room interacting with the girls all evening long. This year not so much. When Cinderella had stopped by the table earlier, I was just getting settled. So I just snapped a couple a quick photos with both girls. I still wanted some individual pictures of the girls with Cinderella, so when she was back in the room to see some other people, I called her name. She walked right by me. She didn't look our direction.... and didn't stop. Same thing with Drizella. After all that, I don't even have a picture of Katie in her Drizella gown alone with Drizella. There were a few brief moments of fun, but it just wasn't the same. I have a hunch it's partly just how character meals are these days, all business, all about getting that room covered in a certain amount of time...... and partly because the girls are older. So that probably closes the chapter on our 1900 Park Fare fun. It was a great run though.


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[jenseib]

The girls look fabulous! I love the heavy make up...it does look great for the experience!
Too bad about poor interaction. But the shots you got are great!

 

[KCmike]

Sorry you didn't have as good of time this go around. The pics through the years really is just downright wonderful. Such good memories and the gowns are so beautiful Janet. You have such a great gift.

 

[YodasMom]

Janet, those ARE great shots!!! You know, I'll bet Lady Tremaine interfered with Cindy coming back!!! She looks like she could have been involved! LOL!!! If you go back, I'm sure you will ask to be seated in the room you prefer, but since it was so late, it was important, too, to get some nourishment.

That happened to me in December when we were seated in the main ball room at BOG and I much prefer the West Wing. My friends just wanted to be seated to get some food, so I acquiesced. It turned out OK anyway, though since we were in a corner in the far back of the room near the snowy window, and ended up getting good attention.

 

[mom2rtk]

The girls look fabulous! I love the heavy make up...it does look great for the experience!
Too bad about poor interaction. But the shots you got are great!

Thanks Jen. Katie was not real sure about the makeup. I was just really looking for lipstick, and maybe a little blush, but the clerk really went to town. I could tell she was really enjoying making up the girls.

Sorry you didn't have as good of time this go around. The pics through the years really is just downright wonderful. Such good memories and the gowns are so beautiful Janet. You have such a great gift.

Thanks Mike! Definitely some great memories at 1900 PF through the years. It was the most fun character meal we have done at WDW. But for whatever reason, it just wasn't quite the same recently. We really are lucky though to have had so many good memories there through the years. We had several other visits as well, so it's been a good run.

And thanks for the kind words on the gowns. I've lost track of how many of those stepsister gowns I did through the years. The fun all started when Katie went dressed as Cinderella back in the summer of 08. Anastasia asked about the gown, then asked when I was going to make HER gown. At that time we already had plans to visit with our friends in December so I told her that was in the works. It was SO fun to show up at that dinner and have the SAME Anastasia there, and have her come up and say "I told you to make mine!"

I will say that the gowns are so colorful it's hard not to take a good photo of them.

Janet, those ARE great shots!!! You know, I'll bet Lady Tremaine interfered with Cindy coming back!!! She looks like she could have been involved! LOL!!! If you go back, I'm sure you will ask to be seated in the room you prefer, but since it was so late, it was important, too, to get some nourishment.

That happened to me in December, we were seated in the main ball room at BOG and I much prefer the West Wing. My friends just wanted to be seated to get some food, so I acquiesced. It turned out OK anyway, though since we were in a corner in the far back of the room near the snowy window, and ended up getting good attention.

Thanks Karen. LOL on Lady Tremaine calling the shots with Cinderella. Maybe she had her back in the kitchen cleaning some pots and pans or something???? In retrospect, I really do wish we had waited for another table. But honestly the way character meals seem to have gone of late, I'm not sure if it would have made much difference. On that trip in 2011 Anastasia and Drizella spent a lot of time with us but kept hinting that they would get in trouble for this and that. They seemed sort of frustrated to be so limited in what they could do. But seriously..... we had a great run.

I think I would like to sit next to the snowy windows in the ballroom at BOG sometime. We really enjoyed our visits there, but were along the main aisle both times we were in the ballroom. Those spots were great for seeing the beast come through, but I would have preferred to be a little more out of the way. One more full day to go on this trip report....... and more BOG to come for us!

 

[missangelalexis]

The girls look so great in their costumes, I love all the pictures with the characters! I'm sorry the interaction wasn't that great though :-/ Also love seeing the pics of the girls throughout the years, such wonderful memories for you guys!