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

[Chelley00]

Today was our off day. Riley and I were looking forward to spending the day exploring AKL and just goofing off. What she didn't know was that I had a surprised planned for her later this evening.

For now, our first stop was breakfast, and since we had counter service credits to blow from the dining plan, we made our way to the food court downstairs. Riley was most happy to find Mickey waffles on the menu!

We walked down by the pool to catch the first kids activity of the day, a lecture of flamingo feeding. They also did a lecture on how the cranes feed. After the demonstration each kid was given a bead. If you complete all of the bead activities on the activity sheet, you get a special tiki bead.

I let Riley take the lead after the flamingo feeding, and she decided she wanted to swim. A quick walk back upstairs, we changed into swimsuits and grabbed our pool things, and headed down to spend the late morning/early afternoon at the pool. We took a break and headed over to the pool deck for the afternoon activity, piggy bank decorating

After some more swimming, we took a break to head over to the rock formation to learn about animal tracking. They briefly explained the use of sonar equipment, and each child in the group took a turn hiding a stuffed Donald Duck with the sonar chip in it, and each child had a chance to carry the sonar equipments to listen for the beeping

Riley finding Donald

Holding the sonar

We headed back upstairs to change and then went to do the medallion rubbing in the lobby

We had one counter service credit left and went to Mara (chicken flatbread good!!!!) We were so unbelievably full at this point, but Riley still wanted to go to Boma for the cookie decorating!!!

At this point I insisted Riley go upstairs to take a nap. She had no idea why, but I just kept saying I was tired and needed a rest. However, when we got back to our room, Riley got completely distracted by this

I finally had to drag her off the balcony and wrestle her into bed I did compromise to let her watch Kid Vs Cat first. We set up a wake up call, and drifted off, Riley not knowing what to expect when she got up!

 

[pipersmom]

You are so good at the cliffhangers, lady! I can't wait to see what the surprise is, and love that you took a day off. AKL seems to have sooo much for kids to do, and I love that so much of it is educational AND fun. Can't wait to find out about the big surprise! :

 

[Sneezie]

Awwww... I've read through your trip report only to be caught at a cliffhanger. I noticed your very consistent at putting updates so I know I won't have to wait long for the next one, right?

I'm off to read your dining report. I can't wait to read what you thought about 1900 Park Fare. I loved it when we went and the characters were great. I'm sorry you didn't have the same experience.

 

[Chelley00]

AKL seems to have sooo much for kids to do, and I love that so much of it is educational AND fun.

We loved AKL. Riley learned so much there, and there were tons of activities we didn't even get to do.

I noticed your very consistent at putting updates so I know I won't have to wait long for the next one, right? .

I'm trying to get them done as fast I can. I hate getting all involved in a trip report and then person disappears and you don't get the finish!

 

[Sneezie]

I'm trying to get them done as fast I can. I hate getting all involved in a trip report and then person disappears and you don't get the finish!

That person would be me! See my tag I've given up on writing them though.

 

[Chelley00]

I forgot to mention that this was our last day on the dining plan. When I booked, we did the Buy 4 nights get 3 free and added the dining plan and tickets. Our last 3 nights were a room only 40% off code. Before our nap, we ran down to "check out" and then checked back in under our room only reservation. It took a whole 2 minutes at the most. Honestly, I was so glad to see that dining plan go It was too much food for us!



At 3pm, the phone rang and I hit speaker so that Stitch could tell Riley to wake up. She had no idea what was in store for her.

Both of our last trips have been over Halloween week. Oh, I love MNSSHP!!!! They are so much fun and the whole atmosphere is just amazing. They had just started the Christmas parties the week before our trip, so I knew we had to go.

I handed Riley a Minnie Mouse Christmas "Joy" shirt, put on my matching one, and marched her to the bus stop, not telling her where we were going. She figured it out once she saw the entrance sign, but said she didn't realize there were parties for Christmas like Halloween, or she would have guessed much sooner!

It was just a couple of minutes past 4, but we had no problem entering the Magic Kingdom with our party tickets at that time. I don't know that we would have gone that early, but, the only dinner reservation time I could get for this night was 4:15, and we just had to eat at

I had heard horror stories on the Dis of people waiting a long time to get in, but we checked in and within a couple of minutes, we were called. You have to love the topiaries dressed for Christmas!

Our table was all decorated for Riley's birthday

First up, the main man himself, Pooh

We ran to the buffet to beat back the rest of the characters. We were so stuffed from having counter service breakfast and lunch both that I don't know how we choked down any food at all. This was our last counter service credit, so I didn't want to waste it, but wow. We really didn't eat much at all!

Except for Riley who obviously has a mouthful of food here

Tigger came by and grabbed Riley for the parade, then turned his balloon sign upside down and played it like a guitar

Of course, a cupcake and a card for the birthday girl

Then we had to wait a couple of minutes for our last 2 friends to come by

Dinner done, we had almost 2 hours to head out to ride before the Christmas party activities started!

 

[Chelley00]

Our first stop was Jungle Cruise since it's closed during the party. Our ride earlier in the week was amazing with a great captain. This guy was pretty dry. But, you still have to love the ride

Next up was a ride on the Magic Carpets. I have no idea what my daughter's fascination is with this ride, but she insisted. The CM running the ride gave her an Aladdin pin, telling her Aladdin wanted her to have it for her birthday. I thought that was very nice of him!

See the laughter?

She aimed our carpet right at the camel and I ended up with a lapful of water. Did you know you can get wet on that ride? Well, trust me, you can


If you've been reading our trip report, then you know my daughter has a need for speed. So of course, our next stop is to ride Big Thunder twice in a row (or 3 times...I've lost count anymore)

We decided we wanted to be close to the front of the line to meet Christmas Minnie, so we hopped the train to ToonTown

It was still not 7pm, so we had time to go through Minnie and Mickey's houses first.

I let Riley pick her next move since we still had time to kill, and of course, the teacups were her pick. Getting me wet wasn't enough, now she's trying to make me puke 2 counter service meals and one table service meal.

We went back to Toowntown and still had 5 minutes or so before Minnie came out, so we took a quick spin on Barnstormer

We walked to Minnie's gazebo, and saw a CM coming out, so we walked back and we were the first people in line for Minnie!

And look! I do exist! And I get my pictures taken with characters sometimes too!!

There was quite a line forming for Mickey, but we probably only had to wait 10 minutes once we got to his house.

It's me again!

Once we were done with our Christmas pictures, it was time to decide what to do next. Those were the 2 biggies on my list (other than the parade and Christmas wishes for later)

So, I rattled off ideas to Riley and let her pick our next move. Any ideas?

 

[JLR]

I'm loving your TR - I hope I can be as good a Mommy on our Mommy and me trip in 60 days! I am really enjoying all these updates!

 

[Chelley00]

That person would be me! See my tag I've given up on writing them though.

I'm too OCD to stop writing it. It may take me years, but I'll get it done

I'm loving your TR - I hope I can be as good a Mommy on our Mommy and me trip in 60 days! I am really enjoying all these updates!

You will have so much fun! I really enjoyed that one on one time with Riley!


I've spent all day running errands and grocery shopping, so I'm ready to sit down! At least this way I can do 2 things at once!

 

[Chelley00]

So, I rattled off ideas to Riley and let her pick our next move. Any ideas?

If you know my daughter, you know where she wants to go. Space Mountain.



Unfortunately, it wasn't running


Instead we rode Buzz Lightyear. And it stopped in the middle. The CMs came through and told us it was technical difficulties and to stay put. We were in there for almost 15 minutes. The fun part was that the scores kept adding, so we tipped it past 999,999!! I tried to take a picture but it's hard to take a picture when it flashes!

Next up an example of patient Mommy letting Riley do the trip her way.....Tomorrowland Speedway.......again

Next up we headed towards Fantasyland and stopped to dance with Anastasia, Drucilla and Lady Tremaine. The sisters were fantastic, but Lady Tremaine was talking to people, and being NICE! I don't think she's seen her movie before. She asked me which child was mine and if I was having fun etc. I was so thrown I almost couldn't answer!

Riley insisted on a ride on Dumbo since there was no line

And then we went to collect our "free" treats

Bad flash on the cookies!

There's nothing better than hot chocolate when it's almost 80 degrees outside!!!!!

We sat outside behind Pinnochios and got to watch Anastasia and Drucilla sing, er scream, the song "Sisters". Those girls had to be tired at the end of the night!


We had time to ride one more ride before I wanted to plant ourselves somewhere to watch Wishes, so Riley picked Peter Pan. There was not one other person anywhere in line, so I used my flash to take a picture (shhhhhh)

We walked to the front of the hub, not thinking we'd find a spot, and actually scored a spot in front of the fenced in area where we could sit on the curb!!!

 

[Chelley00]

I love Wishes. The music and the words just get me all goose bumpy

We took our time heading down Main Street to find a place for the parade. Riley was enjoying playing in the "snow". It was magical to watch all the little kids jumping around grabbing snow flakes on Main Street

We had snack credits left, and decided to hit Main Street bakery for breakfast items to take back to the resort, but the bakery was closed We ended up getting peppermint ice cream instead. We found a spot in front of the ice cream store on the curb and sat to enjoy our ice cream and people watch.

Note: Main Street snow likes to "jump" into ice cream.


While we were waiting, I offered to take a group picture of the moms and kids next to us, so they returned the favor. Stef, are you watching? 3 pictures of me this night!

We had some live entertainment stop by. These guys were fantastic. They sang, tap danced, played bells and told jokes.

Finally, we heard the music and the parade was on its way!!!

 

[Chelley00]

Christmas themed pooper scoopers!

snowfight

And then the smells piped out from this. Candy!

and the gingerbread smell Yummy!

These guys were the highlight of the parade. If you've never been, you should watch it on Youtube. It was amazing!

 

[Chelley00]

It started to get chilly during the parade. I was so glad I had shoved our hoodies in my bag before we left AKL. We learned the hard way to take them to party nights. Our last trip I left sweatshirts behind for MNSSHP, and we ended up having to buy some! Since Riley was chilly, we stopped in Liberty Square for some hot chocolate on our way to, where else, Big Thunder.

However, it was well worth the walk, as there was NO ONE there. I think everyone left after the second parade. We not only got front row, but rode it twice in the front row without getting off. Riley informed me we had never been in the front row before!

We skipped Splash since it was cold, and I told Riley to pick where she wanted to go. This was our last time at MK. She decided on Fantasyland, so off we went. On the way we ran across a great character meet. They were just standing in the middle of the "road".

Funny story. Our first trip we saw Liverlips out and his pants strap had broken and the CMs were holding his pants up for him Nice to see he got new pants this year!

We rode Peter Pan, Small World (ick) and Snow White with no line, then went to Dumbo. The CM told Riley she could have her own Dumbo this time since there was no one else there.

We rode it twice in a row, and were midflight on our second ride when Cinderella's castle's clock struck midnight. It was so cool to be in Fantasyland when that happened

On the way out to the bus stop, we decided to stop for one last Christmas-y photo op

Riley slept all the way back to AKL, and basically crawled into bed in her clothes No alarm for tomorrow! We're sleeping in!

 

[Chelley00]

I woke up around 10, Riley around 11. This was a little later than I planned, but that's okay, she needed it. I gave Riley the option to either do Mara at AKL for lunch or head to DHS. She decided on Pizza Planet, so we hopped a bus to DHS and headed straight for lunch

I think she picked Pizza Planet thinking she'd get to play arcade games, but I nixed that plan. That did not earn me Mom of the Year.

After lunch we headed for Toy Story Fastpasses, then stopped by the Voyage of the Little Mermaid show. Riley was not happy about it. She tends to get very anti-girl stuff, especially when she's already in a bad mood, but she enjoyed it after all the fuss.

However, one complaint from me...it was COLD in there, and the misting water did not help at all. Turn the AC down, people!!!!

Since we were right nearby, Riley wanted to go take another drawing class, and while we were waiting found Frozone

We had some time to kill before the next class started, so we played around
Check out my tomboy daughter laughing when it said the character she is most like was Cinderella

However, it was dead on about me

We went in for the Animation Academy, and I was not happy about seeing the same lady we had the first time around. She just made the whole experience not magical at all. She's just very abrasive and snotty

Riley decided she wanted to ride RNR (of course!) so I bargained a ride on Tower of Terror in payment We grabbed a fastpass for RNR, but then rode it standby

and then headed for TOT and rode it twice (yay!)

When we were done, we did a quick potty break and it was time for our RNR fastpasses. We walked up to the fastpass return, and got the surprise of our life!!!!!!!!

 

[Sneezie]

Another cliffhanger!

 

[Chelley00]

Another cliffhanger!

I figure we're boring people, so we need to liven up the trip report somehow!!!





Riley and I were at DHS, getting ready to go through the fastpass return line, when we got the surprise of our life.

Remember Amanda, the College Program Cast Member from our first DHS day?

The one who gave Riley fastpasses upon fastpasses and put us on RNR without waiting in the front row over and over? She was working the fastpass return line! She rememered Riley by name, asked if it was still her birthday and then asked Riley how many times she had ridden RNR that day. When Riley said once, Amanda said that was awful and handed Riley these

Fastpasses for RNR. Then she let us go through line without taking the fastpasses we had brought with us. That gives us 4 rides on RNR. (scarcastic) Yay. Remember, Mom doesn't like going upside down, and had already ridden RNR 7 times the first DHS day. Again, I say without enthusiasm. Yay!

Oh, but it gets better. We went up and rode RNR in the third row. When we got to the end, who would be working the place where you stop, but Amanda. She told Riley "You know where the back door is" and pointed for us to go through to ride again. And when we got there, they put us in the front row. When that ride was over, Riley insisted on one more time. I said 3 was my limit, so we did it once again, in the front row, and then I said we HAD to go do something else.


We had few more minutes until our Toy Story fastpasses, so we headed over to see the Monsters Inc guys. Sully was bored and walking around, and came right up to me, so I took his picture

Our fastpass return time was up, so we headed for Toy Story Mania.

and then we headed towards our dinner reservation, with a little time to kill, Riley asked to watch Muppets.

It was still a little early, but we went ahead to check in for dinner, once again a place we've never been.



And remember, we still have 3 sets of fastpasses for RNR.


Vomit.

 

[Chelley00]

Tonight dinner was at

We've never been to SciFi. I thought Riley would enjoy the drive in setting, especially being a TV junkie, I thought she would love to watch "TV" while eating.

I was wrong. My little "hate Halloween/scary stuff" girl HATED Sci Fi. She hated the campy horror flick clips. The only minute she was okay was when Tom and Jerry was on

She spent the rest of the meal with her head down focusing on her dinner

The setting was cute

Food not so much. It was okay, but not great. Probably not one we'd do again. (the milkshakes were great though!!!)


As soon as we paid, we hurried over to catch Fantasmic. We got seated just as it was starting. Being so late I thought we'd have horrible seats, and we were pretty far to the right, but we were in the 6th row.

After Fantasmic we headed over to use the rest of our Rock N Roller Coaster fastpasses. All 3 sets. And thanks to Amanda still working the end, she snuck us up for an extra ride, making it 4 times in a row. 7 total rides for the day. 14 total rides for the trip. I should win Mom of the Year award.

We snuck in one more ride on TOT right at close. I love TOT at night.

My biggest accomplishment in life is not hurling after all that flipping and dropping!


When we got back to AKL, there was total chaos in the lobby. It's the Friday before Thanksgiving week, and apparently everyone in the world had decided to check into AKL that night! Craziness!

When we got back to our room, Riley's stuffed animals were watching TV

We went to bed early this night. The next morning I wanted to get to Animal Kingdom at opening so we could knock out the rest of the rides on our to-do list, then come back to let Riley swim and maybe pack a little since it was our last full day

 

[Chelley00]

Riley woke up this morning with a headache and stuffy nose. Not good. Especially since we were flying out the next day. Thankfully I had packed some kids cold meds, so I dosed her up and we headed to the bus stop.


Holy mess of people in the lobby. I knew that crowds would pick up this weekend, but I hoped we would be out of town before it got crazy. Not the case. We made our way through the crowds and headed to the bus stop for AK. The line was HUGE. For all the parks. Riley looked at me and said she just didn't feel up to a park today and could we go shopping or something. We went through all the rides we still needed to do at AK and how we were leaving the next day and was she going to be mad about missing out, and she insisted no. I was a little disappointed, especially since we wouldn't get to see Festival of the Lion King, but it was her trip, and she looked a little miserable, so I let her pick. To tell the truth, I'm not big on crowds, and I think after 10 days, we were both just tired of nonstop park action We had dinner reservations at Downtown Disney later that night, but she said she wanted to go there anyhow because it was too early/chilly to swim already. We detoured to the rental car and headed towards DTD.

We spent the morning walking around, shopping for souveniers for family, Christmas presents etc. Riley was still not feeling up to par and not really hungry, so we split a sandwich from Earl of Sandwich and sat outside to people watch. I asked Riley if she wanted to head back to AKL, but she said no.

We decided we needed to do our make your own treats at Goofy's Candy Company. We've bought candy there before, but never done our own stuff! Rileyhad marshmellows dipped in dark chocolate, rolled in Reese's pieces and drizzled in more chocolate. I had a peanut butter filled Oreo type cookie, dipped in chocolate, rolled in pecans and drizzled in white chocolate. Oh how good it was.

But, we saved those for dessert for later that night and the next day, and made a stop at Ghiradelli for dessert we could eat right now

We headed back to AKL, but I talked Riley out of swimming. Her little nose was still so stuffy, and I was afraid of her getting sicker. I told her we could do few activities around the resort, we could spend her 30 minute arcade card from our resort package, and then I needed to start packing.

First the overlook to see the zebras.

Then we went to do the hidden habitat activity

Then I let Riley spend her 30 minute arcade time. Even taking my hands off to take a picture, I still won

I convinced Riley she needed to take a nap so that she could feel better for her surprise dinner spot tonight. She was feeling pretty crummy that she didn't fight me much. I honestly thought we needed to cancel, but once I told her where we were going, she told me she HAD to go there. She laid down to rest and watch TV while I started packing

 

[Chelley00]

Dinner tonight was back at Downtown Disney, a restaurant that I knew would be my daughter's favorite. Every year on their birthday, the kids' each get to pick where they want to go for dinner. Riley almost always picks somewhere she can get seafood. So this night, I'm going to feed her seafood addiction at Fulton's Crab House.

This turned out to be our most favorite (and most expensive) meal of the trip. The food was so good, our waiter was fantastic. Riley was so happy to see crab legs on the kids menu!

At the end, our waiter brought Riley a huge slab of cake with Happy Birthday written in chocolate

We walked Downtown for awhile. We wanted to try the balloon ride, but it was really windy so they could only take so many up at a time and it was over an hour wait. Instead we walked for around looking in stores and watching the street performers. Riley had to go in the Harley store and get her picture taken for my FIL, who has 2 Harleys

It was getting late, so we needed to head back to AKL. We needed to get up early the next morning to finish packing, check out and hopefully leave enough time to hit one more park for awhile before we headed to the airport. On our way out, we stopped one more place.

I sat on the edge of the chair, and he insisted that I was not to old to actually sit on Santa's lap and made me move!

 

[Chelley00]

Our last day. We were sad to see it end, but I think we were both ready to go home!

After breakfast, I finished packing while Riley took pictures of the animals outside. One of the giraffes was chasing another, and then we got to watch one drink. It's amazing how far they have to spread their front legs to bend over.

We loaded up the rental car and said Goodbye to Animal Kingdom Lodge. I loved staying here. The staff was friendly, there was always something going on, the food court was good, bus service was awesome, and you cannot beat giraffes outside your room.

Riley took a picture of the entrance as we were leaving

As were packing up, I gave Riley the option to pick our last park for the day. We went through each park and the rides that were at each. We also talked about how we had spent so many days at each park, but only one at Animal Kingdom. She surprised me. I really thought she'd pick either AK or DHS. Or even Magic Kingdom so she could get one last ride on Space Mountain.


Nope, she picked Epcot. We had already spent 3 days there, but she wanted to go back




To make me ride Mission Space




I told Riley that if I had to fly on an airplane that night, I was not about to ride Mission Space



The line to get in Epcot was HUGE. Since our flight didn't leave until 8pm, we had tons of time to kill, so we thought we'd go ahead in and do what we could.

What a difference a few days can make. The longest wait we had seen for Soarin was 30 minutes. Today

When we left it was 120 minutes


We decided to skip rides, since we had pretty much hit everything earlier, and just head back to World Showcase and do Kim Possible missions. We went through Innoventions to swipe our tickets for a Kim Possible time. On the way back to World Showcase, we swung by Test Track for fastpasses. Remember this picture from earlier in our trip?

Today the standby line was 80 minutes!

I think Riley picked Epcot because she wanted Mexican for lunch, so we did a stop at Cantina De San Angel. We went to pick up our Kimmunicator and since we had already done a mission, he let us skip right past the instructions, asked where we had been and then sent us to Germany. We had people asking us over and over to set the beer steins off in the store

We pushed for our next mission, and were sent to Japan. On the way we stopped in America to listen to the tail end of the Voices of Liberty, and the CM pulled Riley aside and told her there was a phone call for her. It was Goofy wishing her a Happy Birthday, and when she turned around, the CM gave her a certificate!

We went through and "saved" Japan. You have to love being welcomed to places like this

After the Japan mission, it made us give our Kimmunicator back. Boo! We were having so much fun we wanted to just keep going all day long, but it wouldn't budge, so we turned it in and kept walking the World Showcase. Riley was most excited to see Marie in France

And then these guys walked right by us so we followed to watch

On around to England, and we found Mary Poppins!