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

[Imagineer5]

And then I popped Aria in the stroller and we very quickly headed to dinner!

We waited maybe 5 minutes and then got a small 2-top table at beaches & cream.

It was pretty open but throughout our dinner the place got packed.

Using the (washable) markers from her autograph pack Aria had fun with a kidcot duffy we picked up

While I did take a look at the B&C menu before making the ADR, I honestly don't remember seeing so few options for me. I don't eat hamburgers, and am not a huge fan of chicken sandwiches because I like to see the chicken I am eating (relling your eyes yet?? lol) so that left me with a falafel pita thing. I actually LOVE falafel - a local burger place has these falafel burgers that are AMAZING - but this really fell short on flavor and I was disappointed.

Aria got a hot dog & fries and enjoyed her meal.

The star of the meal of course was the dessert - I had to get the smaller version of the kitchen sink! I believe the only other place to get this is at the Plaza, which I am also pretty indifferent on the food, so that is why I chose B&C.

Once dinner was finished up, we walked back through to the car - it had been a long park day and I wanted to get in a little pool time before our meetup later at the Top of the World lounge!

Speaking of that - for some reason they changed Wishes from 10pm to 9pm on this night and I think Wednesday night - our plan was to meet up at 8pm in the BLT lobby and then head up. I was honestly SO glad they moved the fireworks up an hour - 10PM is late for not only Aria but also for me!

Anyway we made it back to the room around 6:45 and got dressed and went to the pool for a quick dip.

Then after about 30 minutes in the pool we needed to head up to shower & change for our DIS meet!

 

[Imagineer5]

Right before 8 we got to the lobby and checked in for the top of the world lounge without any problems and then waited for Phil & family to come over (TheMaxRebo). That didn't take too long and once up at the lounge, we found a neat alcove with some small tables and a large bench/sofa area that we claimed as ours.

They surprised us with some super sweet gifts, and Aria was very excited to open hers!

Apparently I suck at DISmeet etiquette, because I did not think to do anything like that beforehand.

They gave Aria a personalized Elsa backpack which had an Elsa cape and necklace inside!

They also gave me a Mother Knows Best shirt with the evil old woman from Rapunzel on it...not sure what they were trying to say?

So nice and thoughtful for them to bring those gifts. The only way I could think to repay them the favor was to pay for the drinks, so that was my plan.

Speaking of which, I ordered some sort of martini. Apparently not very memorable but I think it was good.

The girls got Shirley Temples, and I don't remember what Peter got...

This was the start of Aria's love of the Lego Duplo game apps - they are free and cute so I have a couple on my phone for her to play with in a pinch.

We had a nice time chatting and getting to know each other, and soon it was time to head outside for the fireworks.

I hadn't really thought ahead to the particulars of how everyone would see - with just 1 kid I can easily pick Aria up and we both get a great view over the side at the lounge. But with the wall being about 4' tall, Olivia, Peter and baby Emma all needed to be picked up to see! Whoops. Luckily we found a wall with a bench set back a bit, and the kids were able to sit on that for the show.

I love the view from up here

After the fireworks, we went inside and then packed up and called it a night. We all had busy mornings ahead and planned to meet up mid-morning at the Magic Kingdom!

Aria and I got off at our floor, quickly got into bed and watched a storytime with Duffy before falling asleep.

 

[schmass]

All caught up! Wow, that is a crazy-long meal at Coral Reef. I'm glad your meal was so good though. At least that somewhat made up for it.

You had so many awesome character meets that day! I especially like the picture of Aria pointing out Minnie's shoes, and her meet with Duffy. So cute.

Too bad that you were disappointed with your meal at Beaches & Cream. I do love the Beach Club area, though!

Your Dismeet sounds like it went really well. I really like the picture of Peter and Olivia playing with the phone together.

 

[Dugette]

Cool sundae at Beaches and Cream! Do they present it with any fanfare the way they do with the big Kitchen Sink? And how did you guys do on it?

Seeing the pics of Aria in the pool reminds me that I was thinking you and Aria would LOVE Aulani! So many pool/splash pad/beach options. Really cool.

Haha, I guess we both had the same DISmeet etiquette in June/August, at least! Gifts didn’t occur to me either. Sweet of them to bring that stuff for Aria, though. And interesting shirt choice for you.

There are Duplo game apps?! I have to get those!

Glad you managed to all see the fireworks and had a nice time.

 

[JulieODC]

Wow, that ice cream sundae is huge...and awesome!! Looks so good!! Note to self --- skip the falafel, and go straight to the ice cream

What a nice DISmeet -- and so thoughtful with the gifts, how sweet!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

That's a bummer they didn't have more food options for you at Beaches & Cream ... but like you said, you mostly came for the dessert - hope that lived up to your expectations!

That is a really cute picture of Aria on the edge of the pool with the water spraying by her

Thanks again for working things out so we could go up to the lounge

Oh wow, totally didn't mean anything by the shirt - just thought it was a cute idea with all of us having kids and "Mother knows best", etc. .... not sure if this makes it better or worse but I got the same one for Judi

Once we found that bench it worked out really well for seeing the fireworks - was a great spot!

 

[Imagineer5]

Sorry again for the super delay. Busy time of year, and we have our annual holiday party this weekend. Santa's coming! and we have like 18 kids coming and 75 people total. Yikes. I'll be home tomorrow preparing.

Last weekend was of course Thanksgiving then 100% Christmas decoration mode starting at 7AM Friday! We got our tree that day and this year aria was SO excited to help decorate. We *may* have moved some of the ornaments she placed on the tree to space them out a little bit better. Saturday night we went to see the Nutcracker ballet and had a fun dinner beforehand. SO much fun! Aria did amazing at the ballet though was definitely getting sleepy during the second (the ballet started at 7PM, so that was understandable!). She of course was wearing a Nutcracker dress.

A quick family picture before our evening out (you can see a few of those German clip on birds I love! - Andrew was a bit dismayed at the entire Disney-bag-full of new ornaments I amassed this year...)

At dinner - we each had margaritas! (Aria's was a virgin Berry of course)

And on Sunday we worked on the outside lights on the house, grocery shopped, made Rum Cakes for the party, etc. It was a busy weekend and I felt like I hadn't sat down in days. Of course this upcoming one will be even more busy but Aria is so excited about HER Christmas party!

All caught up! Wow, that is a crazy-long meal at Coral Reef. I'm glad your meal was so good though. At least that somewhat made up for it.

You had so many awesome character meets that day! I especially like the picture of Aria pointing out Minnie's shoes, and her meet with Duffy. So cute.

Too bad that you were disappointed with your meal at Beaches & Cream. I do love the Beach Club area, though!

Your Dismeet sounds like it went really well. I really like the picture of Peter and Olivia playing with the phone together.

We did!! Lunch was great and the characters were so much fun. I'd def go to B&C just for ice cream

The DIS meet was a lot of fun! Thanks for reading ,I need to go catch up on yours too!

Cool sundae at Beaches and Cream! Do they present it with any fanfare the way they do with the big Kitchen Sink? And how did you guys do on it?

Seeing the pics of Aria in the pool reminds me that I was thinking you and Aria would LOVE Aulani! So many pool/splash pad/beach options. Really cool.

Haha, I guess we both had the same DISmeet etiquette in June/August, at least! Gifts didn’t occur to me either. Sweet of them to bring that stuff for Aria, though. And interesting shirt choice for you.

There are Duplo game apps?! I have to get those!

Glad you managed to all see the fireworks and had a nice time.

No there was no big fanfare for the mini sink, but that was okay!

YES we would I am sure - absolutely love Aulani! Great pools + weather + Disney in paradise! I am most anxious about our upcoming cruise because of how packed the pools seem.

Hahha yeah, it was sweet of them for sure! I can't wait until our next meet up in May!!

Yes! And they are free! just search lego duplo! Aria loves the food one, she gets to make lego ice cream cones.

Wow, that ice cream sundae is huge...and awesome!! Looks so good!! Note to self --- skip the falafel, and go straight to the ice cream

What a nice DISmeet -- and so thoughtful with the gifts, how sweet!

YEP definitely skip right to the ice cream while on vacation!

That's a bummer they didn't have more food options for you at Beaches & Cream ... but like you said, you mostly came for the dessert - hope that lived up to your expectations!

That is a really cute picture of Aria on the edge of the pool with the water spraying by her

Thanks again for working things out so we could go up to the lounge

Oh wow, totally didn't mean anything by the shirt - just thought it was a cute idea with all of us having kids and "Mother knows best", etc. .... not sure if this makes it better or worse but I got the same one for Judi

Once we found that bench it worked out really well for seeing the fireworks - was a great spot!

Hahha that is funny that Judi got one too! It was funny thanks again for all the thoughtful gifts.

 

[Imagineer5]

Wednesday August 27th!

If you remember from my pre-trip planning, I didn’t have many buffets (and thus character meals) initially planned. I booked all the reservations in February 2014, after a fun December trip where Aria was “good” with characters for the most part – but I didn’t know how she would do at buffets, with only me to get food, take photos, etc. Well after our fun at Disneyland in May, and then the quick WDW trip in June, I found that I could handle a buffet with Aria and she would absolutely LOVE any and every chance to meet more characters – so of course I had to add in some. I never was able to get a CRT reservation despite checking daily, but I did manage to add in Chef Mickeys, Akershus, Hollywood & Vine and Tusker House (Crystal Palace was always on my must-do list regardless!).

So this morning we had early ADR’s at Chef Mickeys! We were heading straight to the MK afterwards, so we were park-touring ready by 6:45AM.

We got to the restaurant and there was already a small line at 7AM, but it wasn’t too bad and soon we were heading in to get our random pic with a plate and then go to our table.

I like getting to character meals at restaurant opening so we have about 15 minutes before the characters start coming out to get food and relax for a few – so that is what we did! BTW, looking at these photos it is no wonder I hit my highest non-pregnancy weight this past weekend. A year of Disney and spending a total of 30 days AT the Disney resort in a year (actually, 10 months…) is not good on the waistline. As of Sunday I started counting calories, trying to get to a healthy weight for the cruise at the end of January (realistic goal) and go a little further after that for the summer season and then France. Anyway, yes this plate looks amaazzzinnnggg compared to today’s breakfast of tea & an apple!

Then it was the onslaught of characters, first up was Goofy-

I hadn't had enough coffee for this fun yet -

Then we had Mickey stop by (BTW, Aria sleeps with her Mickey mouse and 3 different Minnies, along with about 12 other "friends")

Not the best Donald pics

Minnie loved her Minnie upcycle!

Autograph time!

Aria wasn't quite ready to say goodbye though!

Then a CM brought some stickers for Aria!

And the table next to us asked for me to take their photo as a family with Pluto, and they returned the gesture so I got in the pic with Pluto!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

It must be something else since we all know Disney food is made of Wishes and Pixie Dust rather than calories

You did pretty good getting a lot of those meals considering relatively short notice. Looks like a really good ineraction with Minnie, very cute.

Yeah, I would need a lot of coffee that early in the morning to get into the napkin twirling

 

[Joyciemc]

Aria looks totally unimpressed with the random picture with a plate- can't say I blame her!

 

[Dugette]

Like Phil said, Disney’s all calorie-free, right?! I remember one trip in 2010 I came back from a few days at WDW like 7 pounds heavier – it was crazy!

How did you manage the buffets with just the two of you? Go up together or something? I hadn’t thought through the logistics, since I had you there to help.

Haha, I think Izzy has Aria beat on the sleeping “friends” – I’m pretty sure there are over 20 in there. She barely has room to lay down in her crib, it’s ridiculous. I’m scared to see what it will be like when she sees the giant-sized Minnie we got her for Christmas (I think it’s as big as her, but it was on sale for $20 on Black Friday, so I HAD to get it).

She looks like the middle of a Mickey sandwich there – cute!

Aw, that is the perfect dress to wear with Minnie!

That’s a great pic of Aria and Pluto.

I’ve gotta get to Chef Mickey’s someday. We actually had an ADR set for Dec. 2010 and had to cancel when our trip dates changed last-minute. Never have made it there. And I don’t think it will happen in May, either, since we need to really limit our table service to stay close to budget. Someday!

I hope your party goes fantastic! I bet it will be a lot of fun, especially with Aria thinking it’s her party.

 

[khertz]

I'm glad you were able to enjoy the buffets even though it was just you with Aria. It looks like she had a great time with the characters! The one of Minnie getting excited about Aria's dress is just too adorable.

That Disney food, especially those buffets, really wreak havoc on the waistline, don't they? I hope you are able to meet your goals! For me, once I get started with that (calorie counting, exercising, etc) I am okay keeping it up but it's soooooooo hard for me to get started.

 

[mandas08]

Still loving following along although I don't comment nearly as often as I should. Going way back when...your future trips look absolutely amazing.

Your pictures in front of the Christmas tree are precious, I just love her dress...too cute.

Looks like Chef Mickeys was a hit. Great character pictures!

 

[Imagineer5]

It must be something else since we all know Disney food is made of Wishes and Pixie Dust rather than calories

You did pretty good getting a lot of those meals considering relatively short notice. Looks like a really good ineraction with Minnie, very cute.

Yeah, I would need a lot of coffee that early in the morning to get into the napkin twirling

Hahaha well I certainly can't blame it ALL on Disney the worst is when I don't bring food to the office and then get so hungry I go get fast food or something (ie Taco Bell, I don't eat any other fast food but that is my downfall).

Yeah, I followed along on the August ADR thread and Chef Mickeys was a drop I think.

Aria looks totally unimpressed with the random picture with a plate- can't say I blame her!

hahahahha yes we both were

Like Phil said, Disney’s all calorie-free, right?! I remember one trip in 2010 I came back from a few days at WDW like 7 pounds heavier – it was crazy!

How did you manage the buffets with just the two of you? Go up together or something? I hadn’t thought through the logistics, since I had you there to help.

Haha, I think Izzy has Aria beat on the sleeping “friends” – I’m pretty sure there are over 20 in there. She barely has room to lay down in her crib, it’s ridiculous. I’m scared to see what it will be like when she sees the giant-sized Minnie we got her for Christmas (I think it’s as big as her, but it was on sale for $20 on Black Friday, so I HAD to get it).

She looks like the middle of a Mickey sandwich there – cute!

Aw, that is the perfect dress to wear with Minnie!

That’s a great pic of Aria and Pluto.

I’ve gotta get to Chef Mickey’s someday. We actually had an ADR set for Dec. 2010 and had to cancel when our trip dates changed last-minute. Never have made it there. And I don’t think it will happen in May, either, since we need to really limit our table service to stay close to budget. Someday!

I hope your party goes fantastic! I bet it will be a lot of fun, especially with Aria thinking it’s her party.

Oh yeah I should take a photo of her bed. She has a ton of friends she sleeps with - and every morning (and nap time) her blanket and Mickey and her giant Minnie come out - the rest I guess are just sleep time friends.

For the buffets yes for the most part I'll bring her up with me, and have two plates going at the same time. She can see over the side which is good so I don't have to hold her too. There have been a couple times I'll leave her at the table, only if I can see it from the buffet though (Crystal Palace and H&V come to mind, I didn't do that at CM). And the characters were a big part of my decision to do the character buffets with her - since she is okay with getting up from her seat and going to hug them by herself so I can get photos.

The party was "AWESOME" as she called it. Santa was great and she had SO much fun with all the kids.

I'm glad you were able to enjoy the buffets even though it was just you with Aria. It looks like she had a great time with the characters! The one of Minnie getting excited about Aria's dress is just too adorable.

That Disney food, especially those buffets, really wreak havoc on the waistline, don't they? I hope you are able to meet your goals! For me, once I get started with that (calorie counting, exercising, etc) I am okay keeping it up but it's soooooooo hard for me to get started.

Thank you!! Yes it hasn't been too tough to keep up, especially since I can still have wine at night as long as it is within my daily calorie totals LOL. It took a long time for me to start it though. I don't start stuff without following through fully, so it really took seeing a terrible pic of myself to realize that I just HAD to do something. Down 4.4 lbs in the first week though

Still loving following along although I don't comment nearly as often as I should. Going way back when...your future trips look absolutely amazing.

Your pictures in front of the Christmas tree are precious, I just love her dress...too cute.

Looks like Chef Mickeys was a hit. Great character pictures!

Thank you!! I'm happy to hear you're still here, too. Chef Mickeys was really great.

 

[Imagineer5]

After a very fun breakfast (so glad I was able to grab a ressie!) we walked over to the Magic Kingdom! It was only about 8:15 at this point so we killed some time by people watching before the opening show. I don’t see this much because of always trying to get in for an early park breakfast, so it was fun to see, and Aria loved the train arriving with like 100 characters on board! So cool!

Oh those stickers she got became band-aids btw ... lol

Aria was very excited to see these two of course!

We had plans to meet up with TheMaxRebo & family at the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train at about 10:15, so we had a free hour or so to do whatever Aria wanted! She chose Pooh first, and this morning was wonderful crowd-wise.

Then it was tea cup time of course!

Pointing out the pop up mouse

And she spotted the cars from afar so we headed to the Tomorrowland Speedway.

With her driver's license!

Stinker wasn't being cooperative for a pic with me

After that we headed to the Barnstormer, which we rode twice back to back!

 

[Dugette]

It's been too long since I've seen the opening show! Izzy has yet to see it.

Yay for a low-crowd MK morning in Fantasyland!

I'm super excited to try the Barnstormer with Izzy!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

That's cool that you got there in time to see the opening show after having breakfast at CM - almost like you got the best of both worlds (other than the empty Main St. for pictures).

That's great you got on Winnie the Pooh with like no wait - it definitely built up later that morning. And Aria did way better on Barnstormer than Peter did - who talked a big game but then freaked out at the first drop

 

[Imagineer5]

It's been too long since I've seen the opening show! Izzy has yet to see it.

Yay for a low-crowd MK morning in Fantasyland!

I'm super excited to try the Barnstormer with Izzy!

I know we usually skip it too, so it was definitely a treat!

I can't wait to hear how Izzy does on Barnstormer. Are you thinking she'll ride it in May? How tall is she now?

That's cool that you got there in time to see the opening show after having breakfast at CM - almost like you got the best of both worlds (other than the empty Main St. for pictures).

That's great you got on Winnie the Pooh with like no wait - it definitely built up later that morning. And Aria did way better on Barnstormer than Peter did - who talked a big game but then freaked out at the first drop

Yes, it worked out great! Esp since we also had the CP bfast to get those pics anyway!

LOL poor Peter!

 

[Imagineer5]

It was about 9:40 at this time and the train was pulling into the station, so I decided it was now or never to take a train ride around the park. I left the stroller there and we climbed aboard for the ride. Aria was VERY excited to be riding the train. (And I am SO glad we got this ride in – as it was unexpectedly closed in October)

Looking at BLT

Empty Main Street depot

Blurry pic of inside Splash!

Aria saw BTMRR barreling by and shouted she wanted to ride it…soon my dear! 2 more inches to go.

And some silly train-ride-only scenery

After the incredibly thrilling ride around the park, we grabbed the stroller and met up with Phil and family. Phil, Olivia and I went on to ride and I left Aria with Judi, Peter and baby Emma. I think she stayed in her stroller next to theirs but they offered a spare phone for her to play with and she played some Lego Duplo game and was happy.

I wish they had a single rider line for 7dmt. I think the seat next to me was empty, which drives me crazy for those poor people standing in a 90 minute line. I have heard a lot of negativity towards this ride, but I absolutely love it – love the theming and the feel of the coaster being so smooth. It was so nice that Phil offered up Judi to watch aria too! haha

Sorry Phil - seems like all my pictures are of the back of your head!

Oh there's Olivia's cute little bun

After the fun, I checked Kenny the Pirate’s character times because I had brought along Aria’s Marie dress and it was on my to-do’s for the day, but I had planned to catch her on our way out of the park – and his app said she was meeting from like 10-12 and 2-4 or something – which meant I needed to go then or miss her that day – so Aria and I hightailed it to the front of the park and I changed her quickly into her Marie dress and we got in a pretty long line to meet Marie. It only took about 10 minutes or so and it was SO WORTH IT! Not only was Aria totally in love with Marie, but we also had an amazing photopass photographer who just kept on snapping photos!

BIG hug!

 

[disneygirl2785]

Sorry I've been MIA here!

First thing first...I LOVE this photo of you...you look beautiful! Aria on the other hand...LOL! It would be precious if she was giving you a sweet kiss! Which I'm sure was the intent, however the FP photographer's timing was just a little...off!

So...after rereading your 2015 schedule, I guess the only time I could even think of meeting you in the world would be May. I have been checking prices and such for that time anyway. My parents have APs and a RV so I'm thinking Camryn and I could sneak away to meet up with them...and you! We shall see how Camryn's first trip goes in January and we'll also probably be on prego belly watch at that point...

My current planning stage for January is Camryn's outfits, which I 100% have you to thank for!!! I also have you to thank for having so many options!