My daughter is two and this is her third trip. Surprise Dress Up!

[smkohn]

You ever gunna finish this thing? just wondering......

 

[Jenvenza]

Such a cutie!

 

[jgazda]

Ok My name is Julie and I am totally slacking on my trip report. There I said it! Ok now back to our regularly scheduled programing...

Monday was my mom's birthday and we found this lovely gift waiting for her


She was very excited to have received a very special gift from Mickey himself. You don't have to be a kid to love that sort of thing.

After that the little one got all dressed up to go and meet a very special lady for breakfast


Another great costume made by Auntie Jan. She got so detailed she even made matching shoe covers and Mary was very impressed


Following Mary were Alice,


The Mad Hatter,


and Tigger and Pooh.


This was our second time having breakfast at 1900 Park Faire and we really like it there. So many choices and we have always had hot and tasty food as well as great service. Definitely a place we would try again.

After breakfast we made our way to Epcot. Since the kids were full and content we decided to head directly towards the countries and look around. We went backwards (for us at least) and did Canada first. It's so scenic there, and yet I have no pictures. Very embarrassing. We then went through the UK and did a little window shopping. Then we were totally minding our own business and ran into this lovely little lady in France...


It was our first time seeing Marie and she is really cute. Aurora was also out in that area.

We made our way through the rest of the countries and decided to give Test Track a whirl. A couple members of our party had never rode it and since I wa a veteran I couldn't wait for them to ride it. They loved it!


It was getting close to dinner time so we made our way over to the Land. Everyone but two of us went on Soarin and them we went up to Garden Grill for dinner. If you have never been it is a circular restaurant that turns while you are eating giving you views of the Land area as well as the gardens from the Living With The Land ride. Everything is served family style and you are visited by Mickey, Pluto


Chip and Dale




We absolutely loved this dinner. My husband was nervous to try it because he thought there were too many vegetables served (he's such a hater) but it was one of his favorite dinners. We plan on returning next trip we liked it so much.

After dinner we watched Illuminations and then headed back to the hotel. We were planning on waking up and going swimming for a while and then heading out to the studios for the day.

Up next...releasing the animals and the springs. Can they find the red button?

 

[jgazda]

You ever gunna finish this thing? just wondering......

Yes auntie. Why don't you come over sometime and entertain your niece so I can get cracking on it?

 

[jgazda]

Such a cutie!

Thanks! Your daughter is adorable as well.

 

[praisehisname]

Cool towel cake! And those Mary Poppins costumes are AMAZING!!!

 

[beachphotog]

I love reading your TR! And your daughter is SUPER cute!

We ate at the Garden Grill a couple of weeks ago and Loved it too!

 

[TxMickeyLover]

Great update! I love the towel cake. We really loved Garden Grill, too. I definitely want to eat there again.

Don't worry about being a slacker. I am totally slacking on my trip report, too. Hubby asked me tonight if I was going to finish it before our next trip!

 

[TxMickeyLover]

I didn't know you could. I don't know I just loved watching her go through the experience. Next year when we go I think we are going to do the full package and let her get the Sleeping Beauty dress that she has always wanted. That's the only one her great aunt won't make. We also have a 4 year old boy coming with us and I think I am going to surprise him with a pirate makeover.

I've seen several adults on here who got makeovers along with their daughters. However, if you are doing the full package, I think I would definitely just focus on her. I bet she will love it! I bet the little boy will love the pirate makeover, too!

 

[sherylcin]

So glad to see she enjoyed BBB. I love seeing the look on their faces when they first see themselves "made over". She's adorable!

Also glad to see your good review about the 1900 Park Fare Breakfast. That's one we're considering for our next trip. Thanks for all the pics. Your aunt does an amazing job on those dresses! Especially impressed with the Mary Poppins ensemble!!

Looking forward to the rest.

 

[jgazda]

After a light breakfast in the hotel room we decided to trek down to the pool to enjoy some swim time before the parks. We had already been to Hollywood Studios earlier in the week so this was the perfect time to make some time for our daughter to swim.

We got there a little before the pool "oficially" opened. You are free to use the pool at any time but there are only certain times of day that the lifeguards are out and the water splash area does close down each night. She had her life vest on and was having a great time and then a couple of lifeguards approached her and asked her if she wanted to free the animals from the springs and open the pool. My daughter took this job very seriously...


She had to find the white tower (lifeguard station) with a red button and after a little searching it was found


After the red button was pressed, the waterslide water wooshed down and a bunch of inflatable animals came down with it.



She was given a picture with a certificate and was deemed the animals hero. She was so proud. It was definately a fun little moment, and they let us take some of the animals back home with us. We left two of them in our Owners Locker and the giraffe came home and is still used in her bath to this day.

After some more swimming we were starving and decided to head over to Hollywood Studios and get some lunch there. I was all set to eat at Backlot Express again but my husband was dying to eat at Starring Rolls. I didn't find it that appetizing but gave it a shot. SO good. The sandwiches were huge and very tasty and the desserts are the same. Never saw such a big chocolate cupcake in my life!

After lunch we did Voyage of The Little Mermaid for the first time. My daughter was in awe. We rode a few more things and then made our way over to the Animation Studio once again to see if we could find the rare characters, but none came out. But we were happy to find these guys:


and this guy:


After that we headed over ot Sci Fi for dinner. We had made early reservations so that after dinner we could see the Osbourne lights on their opening night. We have made many trips right before Thanksgiving and usually the lights started after so I was stoked to finally get to see them. Sci Fi was good. It's just so dark in there I could barely see what I was cutting. The food was tasty though and everyone enjoyed their meal.

After dinner we all headed outside ready to feast our eyes on the lights. We exited the restaurant and you could see the warm glow of lights permeating off of the buildings. So we rounded the corner to see them in their full glory....and they shut off! It has started raining and they had to turn them off for safety reasons. We were so dissapointed. Being the ocd planner that I am, there wasn't time for the rest of our trip to see them. Will we find some time to fit them in...stay tuned to find out.

 

[jgazda]

I have to pause for a moment to give a shout out to Owners Locker. Tuesday night when we left Hollywood Studios in the rain I was nervous about it raining for the remainder of our trip with the hurricaine looming so close to Orlando. I e-mailed Owners Locker to see if they could drop off a rain cover for our stroller and within minutes they responded that they would be by first thing in the morning and they were. What a great service they have.

We got up early Wednesday morning and made the 5 minute bus ride to Animal Kingdom for our Tusker House breakfast. When we went in the past, the breakfast had Donald, Daisy, Mickey and Goofy floating around the restaurant. This time, Donald was outside for the family picture that costs $35 and the other characters were inside. I was a little dissapointed. They wouldn't take a picture with our camera and I didn't want to pay the hefty price for their picture so we were left with no picture with Donald. But we still saw Mickey:


Daisy:


And Goofy:



Breakfast was still very good as usual. There are so many choices there I can't imagine anyone walking out of their hungry. From meats to fruits to pastries to oatmeal among many other choices they really cover all the bases. And the juice there is SO good. I'm not sure if it is the same juice that the serve at 'Ohana but it is delicious.

After breakfast we were on our way to go see Festival of The Lion King for the first time EVER and we ran into:





After that we made our way over to the queue and waited for the show. We were seated in the second row so we had a great view of everything. The show is fantastic. If you haven't seen it here are a few shots of the action:







It's such a fantastic show. I don't know why I waited so long to see it. For me, it was better than Nemo and I liked that show but once was enough. I would definitely see this show again.

More to come...

 

[TxMickeyLover]

We were there the opening night of Osborne Lights, too! We must have just missed you. It was misting when we got back there. We got to see them dance once, and then they stopped the dancing because of the rain. We were gone by the time they turned them off.

 

[jgazda]

Cool towel cake! And those Mary Poppins costumes are AMAZING!!!

We loved them too. I couldn't believe how much detail she put into those dresses. Mary was very impressed.

I love reading your TR! And your daughter is SUPER cute!

We ate at the Garden Grill a couple of weeks ago and Loved it too!

Aw thanks, we think she's super cute too. We try to remember that too when she is being 3.

I seriously can't wait to eat there again. It was better than either of us expected.

Great update! I love the towel cake. We really loved Garden Grill, too. I definitely want to eat there again.

Don't worry about being a slacker. I am totally slacking on my trip report, too. Hubby asked me tonight if I was going to finish it before our next trip!

Haha. My husband and my sister have been getting on my case too so I am trying to get my butt in gear and get this thing done. THe dress she wore on the last day just made the whole trip and I have been DYING to tell all my DIS friends about it so I'm using that as motivation.

So glad to see she enjoyed BBB. I love seeing the look on their faces when they first see themselves "made over". She's adorable!

Also glad to see your good review about the 1900 Park Fare Breakfast. That's one we're considering for our next trip. Thanks for all the pics. Your aunt does an amazing job on those dresses! Especially impressed with the Mary Poppins ensemble!!

Looking forward to the rest.

This was our second time there for breakfast and it was so wonderful. There are so many great places for breakfast it's hard to choose among them. Unfortunately on our next trip we are going to have to skip this one to go back to Kona and Akershus. Gotta dine with those princesses. Hopefully by then Tiana will be floating around there.

 

[praisehisname]

She had her life vest on and was having a great time and then a couple of lifeguards approached her and asked her if she wanted to free the animals from the springs and open the pool.

I've never heard of this before; so cool!

Breakfast was still very good as usual. There are so many choices there I can't imagine anyone walking out of their hungry. From meats to fruits to pastries to oatmeal among many other choices they really cover all the bases.

Sounds great; I'd like to try it sometime!

 

[jgazda]

I am determined to get this done.

After the show we went on Kali River Rapids. Twice. The first time I got SO drencehed I figured it couldn't get any worse. Besides the sun was out and it was warm so I knew I would dry off fast. My daughter was so bummed she couldn't get wet, so she found a way to make that happen:






She was soaked head to toe. Luckily there is a bathroom right by that area so we changed her into some dry clothes and went on several more rides. Her favorite there by far was the Triceratop Spin. Just like Dumbo but with Dino's. I think we rode it about 14 times. I guess it never gets old...for her.

We made our way back ot the hotel to decide what to do for dinner. The little one fell asleep so my mom and I decided to take a ride to Hollywood Studios to catch the Osbourne lights while Daddy watched her.

We got there and the park seemed empty. THat's because EVERYONE was at the lights. You can see the faint glow of lights as you approach the street that has most of the lights, but when you get to the end of the block and your eyes feat upon all of those twinkling lights all you can do is gasp. I have never seen anything like it. And every third song they have the lights dance to music. Simply breathtaking. I did get some shots of the lights but they just don't do it justice:







If you ever have the chance to go and see them I would definately go. You won't be dissapointed!

Up next a chilly start to a Magic Kingdom Day.

 

[jgazda]

We woke up Thursday morning and there was a chill in the air. We tried to get to the Magic Kingdom for rope drop but missed it by minutes. I was very dissapointed. In all my trips to Dinsey I have still yet to see a rope drop. Maybe this September.

When we walked in the park we were very excited to introduce Snow White to mini Snow White:







SNow WHite spent several minutes chatting with her. It was really nice. THey were talking and giggling like they were old friends. Our daughter talked about it for a long time. I often wonder if they realize the affect they have on these kids.

After that we ran into a couple more characters:





Since the line was short we waited and saw Ariel:



I thought that Toontown didn't open until 9:30 so we mad eour way over there for that rope drop so we could get right in with the fairies, however, I have really bad luck with rope drop and we missed it. We got in line to see the fairies and it said 45 minutes. TWO HOURS LATER... I was really getting miffed. They were letting people in to see the princess left and right and we didn't even see anyone come out for the fairy side for about twenty minutes. Then she let 3 people in and closed it off for another 20 minutes. We could only assume that they were taking in VIP's or MAW kids, which is totally fine just please communicate what the delay is. Grrrr. Off the soapbox now. As usual my daughter was very excited to get to meet them:









We have seen the fairies three times and this girl is ALWAYS there as Rosetta. I feel like we know her.


More to come...

 

[jgazda]

Inbetween riding the Haunted Mansion and going to go ride on Pirates we saw Tiana's showboat Jubilee. The song they sing is very catchy and they do a cute little dance to it. Our daughter was very excited to see Tiana but a little dissapointed that she couldn't meet her. A very nice CM came over after hearing her say this and said if we went over to the gazeebo behind the Christmas shop she would be out shortly. After about 10 minutes....





She has been absolutely in love with her after meeting her and then seeing her movie. We plan on doing the Bippity Boppity Boutique again this fall and she really wants the Tiana dress and makover. How can I disappoint her.

After meeting Tiana we made our way over to Pirates and they were just getting ready to do their pirate tutorial. I don't know if the same guy plays Jack Sparrow every time but ours looked almost exactly like Johnny Depp...



He even walked and talked like him. Very mesmorizing. After the training our daughter was given a scroll and was deemed an honorary pirate.



It's a very cute show for kids and adults. It only lasts about 20 minutes so it isn't going to be too intrusive into your park schedule to stop and watch.

After a full days worth of excitement we caught the lighting of Cinderella's Castle and then made our way into the Crystal Palace for the dinner buffet with these fun guys:







Tigger was also there but none of the pictures turned out. You can see him in the background of the Pooh picture.

This was our first time having dinner here and we all really enjoyed it. Most of the buffets we had been to had the banana bread pudding with a vanilla sauce but here they had it with an almond cream and it was so amazing. I wished I wouldn't have had so much of the delicious turkey clam chowder so I could savor more of it. We're going back there in September and I really hope they still have it. They have a cute dance/parade they do around the restaurant to celebrate birthdays and the kids really enjoyed that.

After dinner we went back to the hotel to rest up for our last full day at the parks and the Christmas party. My husband was starting to feel a little under the weather so I was worried if he was going to make it. Stay tuned to see as well as see the super surprise fun dress that got the BEST character reaction EVER.

 

[jgazda]

We woke up the next morning and decided to head to Hollywood Studios in the morning to see American Idol, the Backlot Tour, and The Great Movie Ride since we had missed them the previous times we visited. My husband woke up feeling terrible and decided to stay back and rest so that he could be better for the Christmas party. Or so we thought.

We got tothe Studios and it wasn't busy at all. We walked over to American Idol and made it in time for the first show. It's a really cute show. We had a young girl, an older woman and an elvis impersonator guy that was such a character. The young girl ended up winning our show but I don't know how she did later since we left early for dinner and the party. After American Idol we made our way over to the Backlot Tour and ran into these guys:







Now before we came on this trip she had absolutely NO idea who the Power Rangers were. Never saw a show, commercial or anything that would give her an indication of who they were. She could have sat with them the whole day. There weren't too many kids around so they were putting her in poses and playing with her and snuggling her and she had the best time ever. I think we hung out with them for a good 10 or 15 minutes.

Then we saw that Mike and Sulley were out and since she saw the movie several times I figured she would love to see them. We had alread seen Mike but not Sulley. She was of course afraid of him, but after a couple minutes of waiting in line she decided he wasn't so bad and got her picture with him as well...but only if mommy came with...



We went on the backlot tour after that and I was a little nervous that the canyon scene would scare her with the fire and the water splashing down but after it happened she was clapping and screaming yeah and then screamed so loud "let's do it again!" that the CM in charge chuckled a little. After that we made our way over towards the great movie ride and rode that twice. She really thought that ride was neat too. I never understand when people say that the Studios isn't for kids. We spent three days there and she loved every minute of it.

We headed back to our hotel and grabbed lunch at Sanaa and then rested until dinner.

Up next...dinner and the dress.

 

[jgazda]

We had begun planning for this trip a year before it actually occurred. As you have read, our Aunt hand makes all of these princess dresses. I had suggested that it might be fun to dress up as someone unusual instead of your standard princess/fairy. We knew we were thinking about going to 1900 Park Fare for dinner so I jokingly said why don't you make Drizella and Anastasia and we'll go as them. We all laughed about it and then moved on and never thought about it again. About a month after that our Aunt called and said she was in fact going to make them. That the more she thought about it, the more fun it sounded. I couldn't believe the dress when I first saw it. Not only did the dresses look identical, she even made the headpieces and a pillow bustle so the butts would be bulky just like the sisters. Here they are:



The littlest one was dressed up as Cinderella since she woudln't really get it. As we checked in the cast members at the podium were giggling and kept saying that they wanted to be there when the Tremain's came out. We were seated for dinner and we were getting the same response inside. When our waiter came over he looked at us, shook his head and smiled and said this is going to be a fun night! It so was!

Cinderella came out first and came over to the table and when she saw the girls she paused for a minute and but her finger up to her mouth and in the nicest Cinderella way said "Well, that's not necesarily the dress I would have chosen."



All of us adults that that was pretty funny. She posed with the girls for pictures and signed their books and then as she was leaving she walked away shaking her head again. So funny.

Up next was Prince Charming. He walked up and looked at them and said without even thinking about it "My mother in law is going to LOVE this!" Again we all found this hysterical. He was also a good sport and took pictures and signed the books.



After that Lady Tremaine came out. She came over to the table and started clapping and turned around to the whole restaurant and said "Finally someone has got some taste!" She took pictures with the girls and signed their books, just not anywhere near where Cinderella signed...



She told the girls to sit tight a moment because her daughters would be right out and she wanted to make sure that they saw them right away. After a couple minutes Anastasia came out and Lady Tremaine ran over and grabbed the girls and brought them to the center of the restuarant where her daughter was.



Anastasia wasn't really paying attention so Lady Tremaine yelled at her. Finally she turned around, took one look at the girls and screamed at the top of her lungs. It was LOUD. And then she did this little dancey jig sort of thing while clapping. She was so excited that someone finally looked like HER.







After things settled down from Anastasia, Drizella came out and we went through the whole thing again.





The sisters were so pleased and very grateful that someone took the time to dress as them. They got lots and lots of attention from the sisters and the mother. They would periodically stop by the table all night to say hi to their twins and really made the girls feel special. It was by far the highlight of our trip and I'm so glad Auntie Jan made the dresses. Unfortunately my husband looked and felt horrible and we were deciding if he should even go to the party. He decided he was going to attempt it for our daughter and we left to head to the Magic Kingdom for the party.

Up next...the Christmas party with another Tremaine encounter!