No boys allowed! The birthday girl and Mom take on Disney

When our wake up call from our nap went off at 4, Riley awoke with a headache and felt a little warm. If you read our Worst Vacation Ever trip report, you know that quite a few of us got sick on our last trip, so I was super paranoid about Riley getting sick on our trip. I gave her some Tylenol and we waited around to see how she felt. She said she was better and wanted to go to dinner. I was ready to cancel but she begged me not to because we had never been to this restaurant. I threw more Tylenol in the bag, along with grocery sacks in case she puked, and off we went.

She put her head in my lap on the bus and fell back asleep. Riley is not a napper, so I just knew we were pretty much screwed. I figured we'd just get off the bus and walk to the rental car we had left in the parking lot pre-nap and go back to AKL.

However, once we got back to Epcot, she woke up and looked much better and insisted she was fine. I was super paranoid that whole evening, but I'm happy to say that other than still having a slight headache, she did fine!

So, our new restaurant for tonight~
ry%3D400


You have to love her character pose (arm flung out)
ry%3D400


ry%3D400


Chip saw Mickey coming and drew a Mickey Head on Riley's autograph book and showed it to him
ry%3D400


ry%3D400


ry%3D400


Pluto balanced her autograph book on his nose
ry%3D400


ry%3D400


Riley LOVED Garden Grill. She had great character interaction, and since she loves the Living with the Land boatride, she liked the fact that it rotated through all the scenes. The food could have been cooked a little better, but holy cow, is the blueberry buckle dessert good!!! She said that if Minnie would have been there, it would have been her favorite character meal!
 
After dinner we went to ride Living with the Land (of course) Riley said she had never noticed the restaurant on the top until this ride since we had just eaten there. After that we rode Soarin with fastpasses we had grabbed before dinner. Riley's next pick was Spaceship Earth

ry%3D400
,

then we debated leaving, but she said she wanted to stay for Illuminations. We have never seen Illuminations (so sad!) We had time to kill, so we decided on to knock out some rides.

Riley wanted another Mission Space ride. I told her she was on her own, she told the CM handing the cards out that I was a chicken, and he laughed at me and said there were 100's of chickens going through there everyday :) She rode it alone again. Bad mom
ry%3D400


We squished in a ride on Test Track. I have NEVER seen this ride that empty! We rode it twice in a row without getting out of the car
ry%3D400


ry%3D400


We killed a snack credit and got a box of popcorn and went into one of the sit-down only areas to watch Illuminations. I don't think I'd want to sit there again as we watched everything through a fence posts, but we were pretty close and got to see everything
ry%3D400


ry%3D400



One of the smartest decisions I made this entire trip was to drive the rental to Epcot for our early morning breakfast, park in that front row spot, leave it there during our nap while we took the bus to AKL and back. We walked out of Epcot and were in the car and on our way back to AKL while tons of people were still streaming to the bus stops.

We happily said goodbye to Epcot. Today was our last planned day here. We went straight to bed because we were both very excited for the next day.

FINALLY

Magic Kingdom!! :woohoo:
 
I keep forgetting to input our photopass pictures into my updates! :sad2:

From Animal Kingdom
ry%3D400


ry%3D400



And from our Epcot day I just finished, in our "Birthday Girl" and "I'm with the Birthday Girl" shirts
ry%3D400
 
DS's endoscopy went off without a hitch yesterday. He actually woke up before even leaving the OR and was back in his room out of recovery 35 minutes from the time he left. He felt so good today he went back to school

What kinds of 14 year old wants to go to school when his parents have arranged for him to miss it!?!?!??! Weirdo



So now we are hunkered down and watching it snow like crazy. We're only supposed to get 8-10 inches, but things shut down here because we're just not used to getting that much. I've lived other places where we got lots of snow and it wasn't a big deal. I'm waiting for them to call the snow emergency so DH can stay home from work!

Since we have no plans and are hanging out, I've got time to update a little more.


Finally, Magic Kingdom!!
 


Let's call this chapter "Our Secret Family Shame"


In our first 2 trips to WDW, we've probably spent 10 days at the Magic Kingdom.


And not once have we ever made it for opening ceremonies/rope drop.



Last trip we had it made. We were early. And the monorail was down, so they were diverting everyone to the ferries. We got to the launch right as one pulled away. We got to the MK just as the train was pulling away. I was so upset.


This year, we are going to make it. And today is the day we have to make it because the next MK day we have an early morning ADR and we won't be able to eat and make it back up front for the ceremonies.

But, guess what. Today is the one day we had to wait for the bus. We got to MK at the end of the song. We missed opening ceremonies AGAIN. We are NEVER going to see it. Ever. I honestly thought we had left more than enough "just in case" time. :(

But, it's okay. We are Disney. And it's decorated for Christmas. We have always gone for Halloween, so it was so fun to see it decorated another way!

ry%3D400


We walked under the train station just as the characters were leaving the station to come down for a meet and greet, and look what happened.

ry%3D400


ry%3D400


ry%3D400


Daisy kidnapped my daughter and skipped off with her! Riley thought her day could not get any better, but I had a surprise for her later!



Riley had a surprise appt at 10am in Adventureland, however, she was pushing for Tomorrowland to see if Space Mountain was open from the refurb. I told her that if SM was open, it would probably open later that day for testing, so we should hit up all the rides to our left first :) She was not willing to listen, but I had to put my mom foot down, and we finally ended up going to
ry%3D400


First ride of the day, Jungle Cruise. We had probably the best ever captain, David. Very funny, one bad pun after another! He totally made the ride. Later in the week we rode it again and the captain was not that into it and pretty dry.
ry%3D400


We still had a little time to kill, so we went for a ride on Magic Carpets. Riley loves trying to get the camel to spit on me
ry%3D400


Finally, it was close enough to 10am that we could check in and not be ridiculously early for her appt. She had no idea where we were going until I handed her an invitation then pointed out the entrance to
ry%3D400
 
Oh no! Don't stop here! I've heard great things about his place. It's nice that Disney is finally adding some 'non-princess-y' things back (e.g. had a Villains dinner which they took away).

Glad to know your DS14 breezed through the procedure.
 
Oh no! Don't stop here! I've heard great things about his place. .

I'm going to add some more great things!!!!


I had an update ready to go last night, and apparently my laptop cord wasn't plugged in all the way and the battery died and I lost the post!!!! Grrrrr



Riley is just not a girly girl. That's what happens when you have 2 older brothers, and then get a little brother. She's totally anti-princess and not into dresses, so BBB has never been a consideration for us. I thought she might like Pirates League, and really was excited when I read on the disboards that it would be half off the week we were there! Score!

ry%3D400


We checked in and waited briefly and were directed to a lady with the nametag Christie......only I knew better! I had seen her pictures on the disboards and was thrilled to meet the infamous Pirate Brenna! I asked her about her name tag and she said that she had left hers at home and for today, was Christie!

ry%3D400




To set the scene a little so we can laugh at my daughter ;) Riley is normally a chatty Cathy and will talk our ears off. However, when she gets in a new situation, we sometimes have to remind her to listen and pay attention because she gets very nervous and quiet. We also have to be pretty forceful to get her to try new things (even if she knows she'll like it)

As poor Brenna is trying her best to draw Riley out by telling her silly jokes and asking her questions, Riley is pretty much just zoned out and staring. Brenna and I were laughing at her over her head.

So, we just kinda gave up and just went on with her makeover. First Riley had to roll the paradise box (so named because inside is a "Pair of Dice". That went right over Riley's head)

ry%3D400



Then a glance in the book of names, and Riley was given her new pirate name


Anne Yellowbellows


ry%3D400



We were taken inside to be seated to wait on our pirate, and I had a couple of seconds to snap some pictures

ry%3D400


ry%3D400



A guy walked past us, stopped at an old man and yelled "ARE YOU ANNE YELLOWBELLOWS?" :rotfl: He kept asking all the men, walking past Riley twice before I finally had to shove Riley and say

"Honey, that's you!"
 


How fun! Were there any adults/older kids doing the pirate league? I'm asking because my DD17 mentioned that it looked like fun and "when I take my kids I'm signing them up for this." her words. :lmao:
I thought maybe for her graduation trip in May I'd surprise her.
 
Oh my gosh, I was so far behind! :scared1:


The lady running the Animation Class was so obnoxious, I actually wrote a letter to Disney about her.

She sounded extremely un-Disney-like! Did you ever hear back in response to your letter?

Riley got tons of birthday pixie dust from CMs!!!

Can't wait to see Riley's pirate transformation!

Denise
 
Were there any adults/older kids doing the pirate league? I'm asking because my DD17 mentioned that it looked like fun and "when I take my kids I'm signing them up for this." her words. :lmao:
I thought maybe for her graduation trip in May I'd surprise her.

There was a couple of adults getting makeovers with their kids, and then when we went to the parade, there was a teenage girl in there. Riley said she wished I would have done it with her :)

Oh my gosh, I was so far behind! :scared1:
She sounded extremely un-Disney-like! Did you ever hear back in response to your letter?


I haven't heard anything back. It's ok. I felt better :)




Anne Yellowbellows was paged, and Riley finally realized it meant her :) She stood up and followed Pirate Ken to her seat. He had her pick her lip gloss and nail polish, which she got to keep, she picked out her blush and eye color, and then he tied her hair back for her bandana

ry%3D400


The whole time Ken is doing his thing, he's cracking jokes and little puns, and Riley is just sitting. She was so quiet the whole time. Here he is making a joke about tatoos and she just stared.
ry%3D400



She almost cracked a smile when he told her how bad tatoos hurt, then pressed on her hand and yelled. Almost.
ry%3D400


ry%3D400


Nails first. Can I just say how funny it is to see the this big guy painting these teeny little fingernails?
ry%3D400


Eyes next, in prostitute blue :laughing:
ry%3D400


Snicker. Lips next
ry%3D400


Blush, eyeliner and a bunch of glitter, then Ken handed Riley a sheet of jewels to pick from. She got to keep the rest of the sheet after she picked her red jewel
ry%3D400


Bandana next. While I was waiting, Brenna came over and gave us a Minnie pirate sticker :)
ry%3D400



I have to post this picture because it's a close up, just because Ken did such a good job on her makeup. He's way better than I am!!
ry%3D400


After her bandana, she was asked to stand up, raise her hand and take her oath. Riley was very serious about it, so Ken sped up and said it really fast, then stood like a statue waiting for her to repeat it.


But she was laughing. Hysterically.


I video taped it. Finally, she broke out her little shell, and she laughed. She never could finish that oath :)

Ken announced her a new pirate and everyone yelled. We were walked over to the corner, given her sheath and sword, and given the secret room instructions
ry%3D400


I can't tell you what happens in the secret room, but it's very cool. I need to scan in Riley's picture from the portrait session. It's amazing.

We came out and Riley had to sign her name in the pirate book
ry%3D400



This would be a must do for us if we go back again. She had so much fun, and when she was being timid, everyone did everything they could to try and bring her out, but they weren't pushy about it. The bonus was that we got it for half off, but it would have definately been worth full price.
 
What's a new pirate to do first, but go watch her captain teach her how to be a pirate?

ry%3D400


ry%3D400


and then in keeping with the pirate theme, a ride on Pirates of the Caribbean
ry%3D400



Okay, so I just paid for all this make up, and my daughter requests a ride on Splash Mountain to apparently wash it all off :rotfl:
ry%3D400


On the way we stopped to play with some friends, and had some of the best character interaction we had our whole trip. Just watch
ry%3D400


ry%3D400


ry%3D400


ry%3D400


ry%3D400


ry%3D400


ry%3D400


ry%3D400
 
My daredevil daughter is, of course, thrilled to finally get her first ride on Big Thunder
ry%3D400


ry%3D400



After 2 rides on BTMR, we headed over to Splash. This is DS5's favorite ride. He made us ride this thing at least 20 times last trip.
ry%3D400


This is the only issue DS had with us going to Disney without him....he didn't get to ride Splash, so Riley promised him she would take tons of pictures for him
ry%3D400


After a ride on Splash, we were ready for lunch, and headed for Columbia Harbor House. It's our favorite counter service lunch in the MK. We grabbed a table by the window overlooking Haunted Mansion
ry%3D400


After lunch we decided to head over to watch Hall of Presidents. This was the first time for us since the last trip it was closed to add President Obama.
ry%3D400


Riley was asking for some Fantasyland rides, specifically Peter Pan, so we started to walk that way, stopping to catch the end of Tiana's Riverboat Show. Honestly, it was okay, but hearing that song 5 times a day or so gets a little old
ry%3D400


We grabbed fastpasses for Peter Pan then walked over to Small World.
ry%3D400


ry%3D400


It's one of those rides that I just don't like, but it's such a classic that you have to ride it at least once a trip. And, we're riding every ride this trip, remember. Mark it off the list, Riley. Mommy does not want to do this one again! :laughing:
 
I really enjoyed Riley's pirate transformation! It seems so much more fun than BBB. I've also read several reports where the fairygodmothers were not that much in character but so far all the pirate reviews have been great! You're being a good sport letting Riley lead the way. I think I would have nixed the Splash ride after the pirate 'do' - though she does seem to have emerged unscathed.
 
DS's endoscopy went off without a hitch yesterday. He actually woke up before even leaving the OR and was back in his room out of recovery 35 minutes from the time he left. He felt so good today he went back to school

What kinds of 14 year old wants to go to school when his parents have arranged for him to miss it!?!?!??! Weirdo



So now we are hunkered down and watching it snow like crazy. We're only supposed to get 8-10 inches, but things shut down here because we're just not used to getting that much. I've lived other places where we got lots of snow and it wasn't a big deal. I'm waiting for them to call the snow emergency so DH can stay home from work!

Since we have no plans and are hanging out, I've got time to update a little more.


Finally, Magic Kingdom!!
What 14 year old boy wants to go to school you ask? A boy with a girlfriend!! Ha! Loving your trip report!
 
im so thankful that im not the only one who only rode IASW because i felt like i needed too. and promptly told DH that we never had to do it again! haha!:lmao:
 
I love Riley's pirate makeover! I have 3 princesses, but I think even they would enjoy that experience! Your photos are teriffic and you have me dying to know what happens in the secret room! Any hints?

Woody and Jesse look like they're having a wonderful time with Riley as well! I wish I had known we could meet them together!!!

Looking forward to reading more. And I'm hoping to get around to an update on my own TR tomorrow sometime too!
 
I am really enjoying your report. We are taking my dd7 on a birthday trip in 2 weeks, and we are getting soooo excited! I have the Pirate League booked on her Bday, so the pics of Riley are very encouraging that it will be awesome.
I must say all the shirts you made for her are adorable! I am totally not that put together, although your birthday girl shirt is giving me some ideas!:rolleyes
 
I think I would have nixed the Splash ride after the pirate 'do' - though she does seem to have emerged unscathed.

We didn't all that wet, thankfully.

What 14 year old boy wants to go to school you ask? A boy with a girlfriend!! Ha! Loving your trip report!

Exactly!

im so thankful that im not the only one who only rode IASW because i felt like i needed too. and promptly told DH that we never had to do it again! haha!:lmao:

It's a "one-ride-per-trip" ride for us :) A

She looks great! So glad she came out of her shell and enjoyed it!

I was so afraid she was going to be quiet the whole time.


That was great; so fun!

Denise

They were so great with her. There was no line behind us so she got a lot of attention



you have me dying to know what happens in the secret room! Any hints?!

Can't tell. We are sworn to pirate secrecy :)

.
I must say all the shirts you made for her are adorable! I am totally not that put together, although your birthday girl shirt is giving me some ideas!:rolleyes

I didn't make the shirts. Chelley=no talent :) I had them made from etsy, and a couple I found on ebay or at the local consignment store.



Riley and I joined my mom in Chicago this weekend for a quick girls trip. It was a lot of fun. We watched oldest DS's basketball games, went swimming and then to Medieval Times and watched a movie in our hotel rooms complete with room service popcorn. Riley's becoming quite the well traveled little lady! The kids don't have school today because of President's Day, but I doubt they would have gone anyhow because we got about 5 inches of snow overnight and it's still snowing. I'm ready for Spring! I usually work from home on days like this, but they are replacing my computer at work, so I have lots of time to update our trip report!
 
After our obnoxious ride on It's a Small World (complete with the flash taking picture lady in front of us) we found Peter Pan with no line. I didn't notice until we were up close that it was the famous "creepy" Peter Pan from the disboards thread about bad character interactions. I was a little more cautious than usual, but he was okay. Talked a lot about Riley having Crocs on her feet and how Hook hated crocs :)

Make a Hook
ry%3D400


ry%3D400


So, he was okay, until this kinda creepy moment
ry%3D400


I hadn't said anything to Riley, but as we walked away, she went "Okay, he was weird".

We walked over to ride Snow White (my hero is in there!)
ry%3D400


Riley had been invited back for a Pirate Parade at the Pirate's League at 2, so we decided to leave Fantasyland and head that way, stopping at Swiss Family Treehouse to kill some time
ry%3D400


ry%3D400


Back over for the Pirate Parade, they lined the kids up (most were Pirate League makeover, but they were pulling kids off the street to join in) The passed out instruments, and then led them through the Pirate's League shop and around the street area shouting "Yo Ho" At the end they took a group pictures, they all got a certificate and a couple of jewels for their pirate pouches.
ry%3D400


ry%3D400


Parade finished, Riley was itching to get back over to Fantasyland to finish up the rides there.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!






Top