My AP-ALOOZA Continues (WE RENEWED!!) ~ NEW TR link posted!

[TheMaxRebo]

Can't believe your next trip is almost here! I am sure the touring with just Aria has been great - but I bet it will be nice for a larger family trip as well! Hope it all goes smoothly and you have a great trip

Glad you also came to a decision about costumes - and I definitely think erring on the side of simple/comfortable over full-blown costume is the way to go ... also will probably make is easier to keep up with Aria!

Obviously we already talked about this but still such a bummer what happened to your camera - and super bummer that your lens won't be ready for the next trip.

********************

You definitely seemed to make the most of your time at Universal with those early entries - fun to get on Flight of the Hippogriph with basically an empty train!

Glad you at least got some of the interactive wand stations to work ... guess you have to keep working on how to properly flick your wrist

Man, I cannot imagine trying to keep Peter behaved in a camera store while having something looked at (which I am sure took more than 5 minutes). So only one time-out for Aria is pretty good in my book.

Glad the check-in process went smoothly, and thanks so much again for doing that pre-work investigating us being able to come up with your to the lounge at the top! It was so much fun

Sorry about the service not being better at Trails End but definitely could have just been the crazy morning you had and just being a bit out of it. Chicken and Waffles is one of my favorite - especially with a little hot sauce as I love the mix of salty, hot, and sweet. The ones you got there look awesome!

 

[schmass]

You are so luck that Aria is such a great little travel companion! She seems to really enjoy the experiences and is so well-behaved!

You must be sooo excited about your upcoming trip! Have you stayed at the Grand Floridian Villas before?

 

[Dugette]

Re: the caprese - Well, I only got Izzy to try one bite of the mozzerella from the caprese and that was it. She wanted a stick of cheese after that. More for me, I guess.

Hope the Elsa t-shirt works out well for you. That’s what I’d do too – I like comfort!

Love the conversation with Aria – and wouldn’t it be a riot if they did allow dogs, cats, chickens, and fish in someday? (There was a special event with dogs recently, but they didn’t get to go on any rides ). You have made Aria into quite the little Disney-planner. Before you know it, she’s going to be writing your PTR updates.

Did you find some sort of anti-gravity case for the camera and new lens? I hope nothing happens this time!

Hey, cool, Scooby and Shaggy!

Thank goodness your lens was okay, but boo on all the camera expense and having to take the time out to deal with it!

Sorry your service at Trails End wasn’t good. Glad the food made up for it, though!

Oh, yeah, I suppose the pony ride wouldn’t be as exciting since she’s doing the horseback riding lessons now. Every time I mention the horseback riding in Hawaii to Izzy and ask if she wants to, the answer is a resounding YES. Hope that goes well, though, as she hasn’t done anything like that before (well, other than the carousel? )

 

[Imagineer5]

Can't believe your next trip is almost here! I am sure the touring with just Aria has been great - but I bet it will be nice for a larger family trip as well! Hope it all goes smoothly and you have a great trip

Glad you also came to a decision about costumes - and I definitely think erring on the side of simple/comfortable over full-blown costume is the way to go ... also will probably make is easier to keep up with Aria!

Obviously we already talked about this but still such a bummer what happened to your camera - and super bummer that your lens won't be ready for the next trip.

********************

You definitely seemed to make the most of your time at Universal with those early entries - fun to get on Flight of the Hippogriph with basically an empty train!

Glad you at least got some of the interactive wand stations to work ... guess you have to keep working on how to properly flick your wrist

Man, I cannot imagine trying to keep Peter behaved in a camera store while having something looked at (which I am sure took more than 5 minutes). So only one time-out for Aria is pretty good in my book.

Glad the check-in process went smoothly, and thanks so much again for doing that pre-work investigating us being able to come up with your to the lounge at the top! It was so much fun

Sorry about the service not being better at Trails End but definitely could have just been the crazy morning you had and just being a bit out of it. Chicken and Waffles is one of my favorite - especially with a little hot sauce as I love the mix of salty, hot, and sweet. The ones you got there look awesome!

I do not have high hopes for the time we are going to be with the IL's. they are slooooow walkers (well MIL is) and she doesn't ride anything. I am hoping it goes well but am nervous too. I am already worried about the sleeping arrangement in the 2 BR villa LOL. We all enjoy eating & drinking though, so that is at least a common theme and we will be doing a lot of that. But between that, and Andrew's attitude which can either be great or terrible depending on how tired he is, I may just have to run around and leave them all at the resort sitting at the pool. That being said, Aria LOVES her Grammy and Papa so I know she will enjoy having them along, which is the main reason I am going along with it.

I was in the camera store for about 45 minutes total. And the center was lined with tripods set up and she thought it was hilarious running underneath them. Then she discovered a counter that was unused and thought it was funny to run behind it - that is when she got the time out. After that she was better behaved. I am so thankful time outs (or the threat of one) works so well right now.

Yes I loveee anything with spice - these weren't spicy but were still delicious, and it was perfect to be able to share it with Aria.

You are so luck that Aria is such a great little travel companion! She seems to really enjoy the experiences and is so well-behaved!

You must be sooo excited about your upcoming trip! Have you stayed at the Grand Floridian Villas before?

Yes she is! She really does, and loves everything about Disney. I hope I am not ruining it for her in the long run, and by age 10 she won't want to go back? IDK. Enjoying it now nonetheless.

No this is our first time at the GF/GFV! So excited! It was mainly Andrew's parent's choice, and we are splitting the cost of the 2 BR. I am excited to try it out though I think BLT is more my speed.

Re: the caprese - Well, I only got Izzy to try one bite of the mozzerella from the caprese and that was it. She wanted a stick of cheese after that. More for me, I guess.

Hope the Elsa t-shirt works out well for you. That’s what I’d do too – I like comfort!

Love the conversation with Aria – and wouldn’t it be a riot if they did allow dogs, cats, chickens, and fish in someday? (There was a special event with dogs recently, but they didn’t get to go on any rides ). You have made Aria into quite the little Disney-planner. Before you know it, she’s going to be writing your PTR updates.

Did you find some sort of anti-gravity case for the camera and new lens? I hope nothing happens this time!

Hey, cool, Scooby and Shaggy!

Thank goodness your lens was okay, but boo on all the camera expense and having to take the time out to deal with it!

Sorry your service at Trails End wasn’t good. Glad the food made up for it, though!

Oh, yeah, I suppose the pony ride wouldn’t be as exciting since she’s doing the horseback riding lessons now. Every time I mention the horseback riding in Hawaii to Izzy and ask if she wants to, the answer is a resounding YES. Hope that goes well, though, as she hasn’t done anything like that before (well, other than the carousel? )

Aria loves eating whole tomatoes, so that is usually what she enjoys about caprese. All this talk about that salad and I got that for our dinner on Wednesday night lol!

I didn't know they did that with dogs at WDW??? I'll have to look this up. I don't think my dogs would really enjoy the rides anyway. Seeing the ducks and the ponds and such would be fun though!

You just gave me a little window to the future of Aria helping me write out our PTR plans & TR! That is super cute. Just a few years down the road and she'll be learning how to write - IDK when they learn to type but probably around the same time now a days.

Good idea, let me go reserach some anti gravity cases! Yes I definitely need that. BUT more than anything, I need to either 1) keep it around my neck (which is tough to do in the heat) or 2) always properly attach it to the stroller hook AND 3) do not attempt to fold the stroller with the camera still on said hook.... (I've got 2 down after the Universal snaffu, but apparently folding the stroller with it attached is next on my "make sure I never ever do again" list.

I am sure Izzy will love the pony ride! Aria would have loved it even for a 5 minute ride (it isn't like she is doing crazy stunts or anything during her lessons lol!) but I didn't feel like it was overly necessary either.

 

[Imagineer5]

Around 1 we headed out to the boat and rode back to the Contemporary. When we got to the dock, I laid back Aria’s stroller seat and she went to sleep as I walked us over to Bay Lake Tower and up to the room. I checked it out briefly and then called bell services to bring up my bags, and then took some room pictures! And when I made it out to the balcony I was dumbfounded – I had SUCH an AWESOME view! Straight out and to the right were some beautiful trees and water, and to the left was the MAGIC KINGDOM! I was able to see Wishes right from my balcony! I had heard this was a possibility with Standard-view BLT rooms but didn’t want to get my hopes up – but this was SO amazing.

Space Mountain and in the distance the castle!

Straight out view was pretty.

Then I spent some time unpacking and organizing our clothes for the next 4 days – I had packed the first 6 days in one suitcase (Universal & BLT) and then the remaining time in the other suitcase and that worked out pretty well. Aria was still napping away in the stroller, so I then decided to walk over to the Magic Kingdom to maximize her awake time.

I walked through the shops on Main Street to try and stay in some AC and checked out these shadow boxes. Ugh I LOVE these! I tried picking one out but can never just pick one, they are so beautiful.

I stopped at a FP kiosk mainly because I was curious to see if Aria’s MB still worked for FPs, and yep it did. I got IaSW, Under the Sea, and Peter Pan! This won’t be that helpful for our upcoming trip, since it is just for 1 person, but it was nice to have tonight. Yes, this gave us NINE fast passes total we had to use in the next 4 hours.

 

[Imagineer5]

Thankfully around this time, Aria woke up, and we headed to our first ride – Tomorrowland Speedway! We had a FP for this and had a lot of fun riding it, though Aria wasn’t that interested in driving after hitting the center thing pretty hard a few times…

She likes to watch the cars and pick out which color car she wants. (green, at this time) but I always remind her that we will get whatever car the CM directs us to. I think today she had an issue with an orange car but got over it pretty quickly. (hey orange is one of my least favorite colors too!)

Oh yes, that is why she wasn't all that interested in driving. Someone left a map behind and she was more interested in looking at that.

Speaking of orange, we headed over to the TTA which I thought I read was not as dark after the refurb, but there were still pitch black areas that frightened Aria a bit, but it wasn’t that bad. And of course I loved the relaxing ride.

Next we had FP’s for Buzz, and Aria absolutely loves Toy Story now, but still didn’t really do much shooting on the ride. I was able to play a bit more than I had in the past though and did okay.

Meeting the talking mickey was up next, and our FP got us in super fast and Aria was SOOO excited to meet him! But….his talking totally threw her off! Before the meet, I asked her what she wanted to say to Mickey and she said “Happy birthday!” LOL. She clammed up a bit though and didn’t say anything but still gave Mickey some good hugs. Mickey also did a “choo choo train” around the room and Aria was mesmerized. For the rest of the trip, Aria always pointed out that the characters don’t talk (since Mickey does!) and also talked about Mickey’s choo choo train.

Oh yes, we also did autographs for the first time! I got colored index cards, markers, and a small clipboard, and Aria brought them up to each character. It was a lot more work, but we ended up with so many autographs and Aria LOVES the photo album I made after the trip.

Photopass pics (side note - I noticed that most photopass photographers were seriously not doing their jobs. Since I was there with my camera snapping away, I was lucky if they took a photo! The same thing happened in June. SO I always prefaced the meets by telling the Photopass Photographer that I have memory maker - this way they took some photos. I was still disappointed overall in the quality of their pictures, as it seemed like 4/5 of them were just not interested. I think that would be a super fun job but I would probably take 300 photos of every meet & greet lol).

 

[schmass]

That is a great view at BLT!

I love the little dress that Aria was wearing that day - so cute! Perfect for her meet with Mickey!

I would have been disappointed with the orange car, too.

 

[Dugette]

Wow, yay for an awesome view at BLT! The room looks really nice too.

Haha, 9 Fast Passes! Nice!

Add me to the not-fond-of-Orange club. Hey, you’ve got a cute little navigator there holding your map.

Yeah, the TTA is awfully orange (at the entrance) now – surprised me. Still love it, though.

Yay for Buzz – Izzy loves Buzz now! She wasn’t quite as sure about him when we met at WDW, but she has loved him since and is always pointing him out on her walls, on her dinnerware, etc.

If only they still had Mickey’s Birthdayland – then her desired Mickey greeting would have been very appropriate! That choo-choo routine was such a hit with Izzy – even moreso afterwards, as she LOVES watching that video.

Glad the autographs worked out. I think I am going to make a photobook for Izzy of our August trip – she would love it.

Yeah, I ran across that with some PP photographers too. I remember asking one to take some pictures, since she was just standing there and cute things were happening. However, we also had some really good ones. Thank goodness for the one with Chip and Dale at AK – my phone was not working at that time (temporarily, thank goodness), so I couldn’t get any pics or video, but they did, even during an impromptu 2nd meet while they were walking past us. And some CMs (non-PP) were great too – like the one with talking Mickey took video for us with my phone (as did the one at Duffy, without me even asking for video).

Maybe you can retire to Florida and be a part-time PP photographer someday.

 

[Joyciemc]

What an awesome view you had! BLT is our home resort, but we've only stayed there once. We really liked the convenience of it, though!

I have the WORST luck with PP photographers. Especially at night, I have more than my share of blurry 'memories'. It's nice to have pictures of everyone, but the quality of them are lacking..

 

[Imagineer5]

That is a great view at BLT!

I love the little dress that Aria was wearing that day - so cute! Perfect for her meet with Mickey!

I would have been disappointed with the orange car, too.

Haha thank you!! It is definitely a favorite. If only it had Minnie on it too...

BLT was awesome!

Wow, yay for an awesome view at BLT! The room looks really nice too.

Haha, 9 Fast Passes! Nice!

Yes we had a stinking amazing FP usage. I sort of felt bad but...we had a great night!

BLT was really amazing. I would 100% not hesitate to stay in a standard view room again! Granted...I only watched the fireworks one night LOL...but it was still amazing.

Add me to the not-fond-of-Orange club. Hey, you’ve got a cute little navigator there holding your map.

Yeah, the TTA is awfully orange (at the entrance) now – surprised me. Still love it, though.

Yay for Buzz – Izzy loves Buzz now! She wasn’t quite as sure about him when we met at WDW, but she has loved him since and is always pointing him out on her walls, on her dinnerware, etc.

That is cute!! We have a great meet with Woody & Buzz later in the trip, though I think Aria is partial to Woody.

Seriously whats up with all the orange?! ugh.

If only they still had Mickey’s Birthdayland – then her desired Mickey greeting would have been very appropriate! That choo-choo routine was such a hit with Izzy – even moreso afterwards, as she LOVES watching that video.

Aww I bet, I wish I had gotten more video. I don't remember Mickey's Birthdayland?! Sounds amazing though.

Glad the autographs worked out. I think I am going to make a photobook for Izzy of our August trip – she would love it.

I made a Shutterfly book for Aria as a christmas present. I know she will love it!

Yeah, I ran across that with some PP photographers too. I remember asking one to take some pictures, since she was just standing there and cute things were happening. However, we also had some really good ones. Thank goodness for the one with Chip and Dale at AK – my phone was not working at that time (temporarily, thank goodness), so I couldn’t get any pics or video, but they did, even during an impromptu 2nd meet while they were walking past us. And some CMs (non-PP) were great too – like the one with talking Mickey took video for us with my phone (as did the one at Duffy, without me even asking for video).

Maybe you can retire to Florida and be a part-time PP photographer someday.

That is awesome you had some great ones. I had a few great ones too, most notably our Marie photopass photographer, who took about 30 photos and just kept on taking them (it helped that aria was SOOOO in love with marie!).

Yes I could totally see that. Andrew would be a boat captain and I could take photos. Sounds AMAZING!

What an awesome view you had! BLT is our home resort, but we've only stayed there once. We really liked the convenience of it, though!

I have the WORST luck with PP photographers. Especially at night, I have more than my share of blurry 'memories'. It's nice to have pictures of everyone, but the quality of them are lacking..

This was only our 2nd visit to BLT, but I would love to go again and maybe just stay there the whole trip. It was great!

Yeah, night shots are not great overall, but I still do memory maker each trip with all the character meets.

 

[Imagineer5]

And perfect timing, it was time for dinner at Tony’s! It was the only in-park ADR I could get, so I figured why not try it out…it had been like 13 years afterall! We were seated within about 5 minutes, though the restaurant was PACKED and there were a ton of people waiting to be seated.

(it rained while we were meeting Mickey, and we never saw the rain!)

We had an amazing table that my photos don’t do it justice, but we were seated right in front of the window where Lady & the Tramp are eating outside of.

Decorations around the restaurant were really cute, and there was a beautiful fountain in the center - a table next to that would be nice too.

I got Aria an Ariel glow punch which she loved, and we shared the Zucchini fries which were really good. I also ordered Aria a kid's appetizer of sliced apples.

There wasn’t anything really standing out to me from the entrees, so I ended up getting a chicken parm which I also shared with Aria, knowing she would like it. It was fine, though never one of my favorite dishes. I think Tony’s would be a lot better if I could order wine with dinner haha.

After dinner, I wanted to pick up Aria’s very first Disney balloon! My plan was to enjoy it for a few days and then on Wednesday when we checked out of BLT we would find a family to give it to since they don’t allow balloons at the AKL. This plan was foiled twice, and never came to fruition…but it is the thought that counts right??

Anyway we had a FP for the Barnstormer to get to, but Aria saw the Tea Cups and it had no line so we hopped right on. She saw the popping up mouse on the tea kettle, and got the hugest kick out of watching it pop up!

(I put my feet up to be sure she doesn't topple over while still being able to sit across from her and take pics haha)

Having a ball

Then it was time for the Barnstormer – the FP maybe saved us 10 minutes, but hey it’s something! We had a fantastic ride on that before heading over to Pooh…

Side note, I think Barnstormer is one of the biggest words Aria has said. (And she never leaves out Goofy's too lol)

Holding on to mommy

That was fun!

At Pooh. it was down for some reason. Yay for an anytime FP!

So instead we headed over to It’s a Small World. Aria likes to point out “Mommy & Aria” figures (Daddy too, sometimes…) and YAY I got to be a Mommy Hippo! LMAO.

Next up was Ariel’s Under the Sea ride, which was fun as well

Not sure if I will ever stop taking the same.exact.photos from the rides...

Aria LOVES the ride even more now and loves to sing along, and point out all the fish and of course Ariel.

And she was excited to see these fireworks, so fingers crossed for how she will do later in the week!

 

[Imagineer5]

Then we had a FP for Dumbo and we enjoyed that. Aria was way more outgoing this trip and was waving to people as we flew around.

We still had a couple FP’s to use (Pooh & Peter Pan) but Aria spotted Pete’s Silly Sideshow, and knew who was inside!

So first we met Daisy – it was a little worrisome as when we entered Minnie was not there, and no CM could tell us if she would be coming out. Daisy’s photopass photographer mentioned that they said she would be back out “in an hour” about 30 minutes earlier, so I told Aria she may have to meet Minnie on another day. She was okay with that though definitely disappointed, but magically Minnie came out a minute before we went up to meet Daisy! And walked over to the families waiting in line – I didn’t snap a pic in time but Aria was SO excited to see her, and hugged her through the rope that separated us.

But before more Minnie hugs, Aria met Daisy and loves her as well!

(though I think Aria was checking out Minnie as she was running up to Daisy haha!)

Then it was time to go meet Minnie.

[/IMG]

And of course, Aria wanted to go back around and meet Goofy & Donald, so we waited another 15 minutes or so for them. There was a baby in line screaming like a banshee NOT happy to be there. Ahh I remember those days…

But now, I have a little munchkin eager to hug everyone and wouldn’t trade anything for those memories!

And Donald got just as much love!

Not sure what she was looking at...

Not that Aria ever asked this trip for a lollipop, but she did get one anyway and enjoyed it as we headed over to ride Pooh.

 

[schmass]

I have never been to Tony's! We'll have to try it out sometime.

I was reading through your trip report while Rory was eating breakfast this morning. He was looking at all the pictures and was loving it. He especially like the pictures of Aria on the Barnstormer, and the ones of you two with Minnie! He was literally shrieking, pointing and smiling at the photos.

 

[Dugette]

I don't remember Mickey's Birthdayland?! Sounds amazing though.

I just looked up the history on it and I guess it only existed from 1988-1990 and my 1990 TR apparently took place about a month before it closed. I don't remember doing much of anything in the land, though - it was just the old version of Toontown, from my memory. And I'm pretty sure the train was called "Mickey's Birthdayland Express".

That is awesome you had some great ones. I had a few great ones too, most notably our Marie photopass photographer, who took about 30 photos and just kept on taking them (it helped that aria was SOOOO in love with marie!).

Yes, you got some great ones with Marie. (Wish we'd run across Marie! Next time, I guess).

Yes I could totally see that. Andrew would be a boat captain and I could take photos. Sounds AMAZING!

Great idea! You'll both be doing what you love AND getting Disney discounts and spending all your time on Disney property. Good deal!

 

[Dugette]

I love Lady and the Tramp. I should eat there someday just so I can look around, despite the food not being that great. Love Aria’s dress too, by the way.

Mmmm, the zucchini fries sound good. Ha, good point on the wine. I hadn’t thought about that, but an Italian meal without wine is odd.

Man, if she’s having that much fun without even spinning the teacup, I can only imagine what it’ll be like when/if she figures out that she can do that.

That’s awesome that she can say “Goofy’s Barnstormer”! Can’t wait for Izzy to ride that!

Hope she does well with real fireworks on your trip!

Aw, cute that she was waving to people from Dumbo.

Yay, glad Minnie made it back in time for your meet. And that’s good that Aria had a good meet with Daisy too. Izzy really enjoyed meeting Daisy (in AK), even though I don’t know that she even knew who she was – it probably helped that I told Izzy that Daisy is good friends with Minnie.

Good call on the lollipop AFTER hugging furry characters. We went to a local thing here last weekend (a “big truck” day) and there were lollipops, so I let Izzy have one. Then, lo and behold, there were characters to hug (Clifford and Curious George), so I was trying to keep Izzy from getting them all sticky.

 

[Imagineer5]

I just looked up the history on it and I guess it only existed from 1988-1990 and my 1990 TR apparently took place about a month before it closed. I don't remember doing much of anything in the land, though - it was just the old version of Toontown, from my memory. And I'm pretty sure the train was called "Mickey's Birthdayland Express".


Yes, you got some great ones with Marie. (Wish we'd run across Marie! Next time, I guess).


Great idea! You'll both be doing what you love AND getting Disney discounts and spending all your time on Disney property. Good deal!

Ah ha! I didn't visit WDW until 2000! Crazy huh! Ty for looking!

I love Lady and the Tramp. I should eat there someday just so I can look around, despite the food not being that great. Love Aria’s dress too, by the way.

Mmmm, the zucchini fries sound good. Ha, good point on the wine. I hadn’t thought about that, but an Italian meal without wine is odd.

Man, if she’s having that much fun without even spinning the teacup, I can only imagine what it’ll be like when/if she figures out that she can do that.

That’s awesome that she can say “Goofy’s Barnstormer”! Can’t wait for Izzy to ride that!

Hope she does well with real fireworks on your trip!

Aw, cute that she was waving to people from Dumbo.

Yay, glad Minnie made it back in time for your meet. And that’s good that Aria had a good meet with Daisy too. Izzy really enjoyed meeting Daisy (in AK), even though I don’t know that she even knew who she was – it probably helped that I told Izzy that Daisy is good friends with Minnie.

Good call on the lollipop AFTER hugging furry characters. We went to a local thing here last weekend (a “big truck” day) and there were lollipops, so I let Izzy have one. Then, lo and behold, there were characters to hug (Clifford and Curious George), so I was trying to keep Izzy from getting them all sticky.

The zucchini fries were the highlight of hte meal, and they weren't like mouth watering good but still fun and different. While in Texas I had deep friend jalapenos slices - now THOSE were amazing!

Shhhhhh I would like to wait until she is like 12 and can ride by herself before she realizes she can spin.

Yes there were a couple times during the trip I left her lollipop on the tray on her stroller! I think she did eat it while on Pooh and so nicely handed me the lollipop stick which I put in my pocket.

 

[Imagineer5]

We head off tomorrow!! so this will be my last update for a while. Sorry for rushing through this day but glad to at least be in WDW in my TR!


Continued from previous posts...

I LOVE how their system allows you to use your FP anytime later that day at the attraction if it goes down OR also visit a number of other rides. That is a huge plus to the FP+ system IMO. BTW, I’ll say this now – across 3 magic bands, and using my MB for entry and payments and photopass, I never had 1 issue.
Anyway we headed on to Pooh which Aria just loves (though I still say Disneyland’s is better), we headed out through the shop where Aria insisted we bring pooh home (she put it back though).

Then headed to use our last FP which was for Peter Pan, who aria also loves (yes, she has a huge list of Disney characters she loves). This was one I picked up with her MB, because she had mentioned wanting to ride like about 20 times and I hadn’t originally intended to tonight. Glad I was able to get a FP for it, as she loved it. (this ride is such a toughie for me to get pics on, I am hoping my new lens will work better).

Aria excitedly pointed out the mermaids

After that fun, we headed out of the park. I didn’t want a late night tonight and really wanted to check out the bedtime stories with Duffy, and grab a shower too. We ended up having a wonderful hour or so watching some tv and finally headed to sleep.

What a night – we spent about 4 hours at the Magic Kingdom from 3:30-7:30 and rode 10 rides, had a TS dinner, and met 5 characters!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Your room looks really nice - looks a bit more "cheery" than the room we had in the Contemporary Tower ... and that is a great view you got! Looks relaxing but still able to see Wishes when you want, which is great

I like the picture of Aria with the map - makes it looks like she is the navigator while you are the driver

I actually thought there were more dark section of the People Mover -or at least they were darker or else I just didn't remember it. Olivia got nervous at some times as well

I can see how kids would get thrown by talking Mickey. The "choo-choo-train" sounds fun though

Bummer about your FP Photographer experiences. Wonder if it is because you have the nice camera and took a bunch of pictures. Overall I thought ours ranged from good to very good (and some out in the parks - not a meet) were great. But I just have a dinky point-and-shoot

We've never done Tony's either - just doesn't seem worth it - though I have heard some people have really nice meals there. I agree that being able to have a glass of wine with dinner would help

Wow - she looks to really be enjoying the tea-cups! Great picture

Glad that Minnie came back - and cute that she hugged Minnie while in line

Super productive time in MK for you - great use of the FP+s!

 

[Dugette]

That is a productive few hours in the MK. I was going to check out the Duffy Bedtime Stories in August, but didn’t have a chance. However, I did pull one up on youtube after getting back and Izzy had very little interest in it, so I guess that worked out okay.

Yay for heading back tomorrow!! Hope you have a fantastic trip with the whole family and make some great memories. Also, have a magical birthday!!

 

[khertz]

Are you doing an Italy & DLP report??? I AM SO excited to visit DLP. How many nights did you stay there? I saw you were upgraded to the DLH - that is SOOOOO AMAZING I am so jealous! LOL. I'd love to know what you thought of dining, did you do the dining plan? Breakfast was included right? I saw your post regarding the Studios being a useless park LOL besides two rides, really nothing else was fun? even if Paxton had been along?

You guys should plan for next September to re-visit with Paxton!

You know I am! I already started, it's right here!

We were only at DLP for 2 nights, and I wish we could have been there longer, but it was just great to get to experience it at all.

We did do the dining plan. The half board meal plan was included as part of the package when we booked. Breakfast was included and we got vouchers for 1 sit-down meal per night and for one "tea time" snack that could be used between 3 pm and 7 pm. It's kind of like a WDW snack credit except that you usually only have a choice between 2 items at the counter service locations and a beverage. Our last afternoon, we had all of our tea time treat vouchers left, so we got 4 snacks, shared them, then shared a CS meal as our dinner!

Our view of Studios was tainted because when we went over there for the first time NONE of the headliners were working, so by the time we went from attraction to attraction to find that out, we had wasted a TON of time. There was a Toy Story area that we didn't venture into but I'm sure little ones would love. And the Ratatouille ride is FANTASTIC! We love DHS and I know that park is not very popular, so all the "hate" for the Studios made me think it would probably be a lot like DHS but it really isn't. It's kind of a mishmash.

Anyway, on to your updates! I am OBSESSED with Aria's Hogwart's dress! So adorable!!

Ouch at your camera troubles. I can't even fathom what DH would do if he dropped his camera like that! Thank goodness you were able to find a place to have it repaired. That would have been a major setback, especially so early on in your trip!

Aria is cute anytime, but I really love all the photos with her hair pulled back! She looks so adorable! The photos meeting Mickey are really precious, as are the ones with Daisy.

I love how she has an outfit for all occasions. The Lady & the Tramp one is perfect for dinner at Tony's!

Well, I missed the sendoff, so you are probably in Disney RIGHT NOW! So jealous! Have a wonderful time, and a fantastic birthday!!!!