Our 1st trip as a family of three!----Update 11/3 Our Favorites/Trip Wrap-Up

[monatexasgal]

What a cutie pie! Glad you had a fun first trip!

 

[RachelNinja]

Those sunglasses are the best! When I don't need my sunglasses at the moment, I have to take them off or put them on top of my head. This would be way easier and more secure! Haha, if only we all could wear sunglasses like that (with different characters too!).

Just looking at the pics of the 3 of you on the speedway makes me hot! And I woke up freezing this morning! I love how the two of you still make the effort to do what DD wants to do. I've forgotten the joy of "driving" the car in a kid's eyes since I finally drive now. The pics you got are great! Focused on DD with the blurry background!

 

[lexmas]

The topiaries are so beautiful. It's so wonderful to just be able to walk to epcot, but school groups sound crazy. How wonderful would that be to take a field trip to Epcot for school? Baby faces on that computerized part of Spaceship earth are just so cute, aren't they? And I love the sunglasses!

Seems like a good idea to leave and go to MK. And good timing to catch the parade! I've actually never been on the speedway, I think DH wants to take DS on it this time. The idea of DS driving even a fake car freaks me out. The boy is pretty crazy!

 

[LilAnn]

I must go to the Flower & Garden Festival! I love all of the topiaries. You guys certainly saw that parade a lot! We've never seen it! I look forward to riding Space Mountain since I haven't been on it since Jan 09. I'm very excited that Madison wants to try it for the first time.

You need to go and once again, say it's for work! We definitely saw that parade a ton of times. She would hear the music and that was it. There was no way to avoid the parade once she heard it. She loved it!

Good luck on SM with Madison! I loved it as a kid! I loved that you could reach behind you and in front of you for high fives before the ride got started.

How great that you were able to get some topiary pictures without have to deal with a bunch of other people trying to get them too!

I love your DDs sunglasses, my youngest had some like that when he was little (well, they were almost like that - Mickey instead of Minnie ) and it always made me smile when he wore them, they were so stinkin' cute!

I wish I had gotten more topiary pictures like you had. They are all just so cute!

Oh, she also has the mickey mouse ones. We got those in August, but actually lost them in the house so she got the Minnie Mouse ones while we were there. Now she has both at home. I think they are too cute when she wears them!

Those sunglasses are adorable!
I love how you and your husband toured based on what your little one wanted to do!
I always feel bad when I see parents dragging kids around to things they don't want to do. (we had one girl screaming/crying in terror as her mom forced her to see the Tiki birds )

Well, I think I may have mentioned it in much earlier posts, but we did "force" her on a ride or two. TSM was one and I always had to trick her onto rides that I knew that she would like - IASW, TTA, Mexico. We had just freaked her out by the little drop in POTC. I wasn't about to force her onto rides that I knew she would hate or frighten her though.

Oh my gosh, those sunglasses are adorable on her!

You really need to do Tusker House for breakfast next time. We loved it!

I love those glasses on her too! I definitely want to try to book TH for our next trip. I love breakfast buffets.

What a cutie pie! Glad you had a fun first trip!

Thank you! We had a fantastic time this trip. We have gone a few times but absolutely loved our own trip with just us.

 

[LilAnn]

Those sunglasses are the best! When I don't need my sunglasses at the moment, I have to take them off or put them on top of my head. This would be way easier and more secure! Haha, if only we all could wear sunglasses like that (with different characters too!).

Just looking at the pics of the 3 of you on the speedway makes me hot! And I woke up freezing this morning! I love how the two of you still make the effort to do what DD wants to do. I've forgotten the joy of "driving" the car in a kid's eyes since I finally drive now. The pics you got are great! Focused on DD with the blurry background!

I totally want some for myself too! You might be a little young for it, but I used to watch A Different World and wanted Dwayne Wayne's flip top glasses as well when I was younger.

Oh my gosh, it was so hot on the speedway. Ugh. I am looking forward to touring the parks when it's not 90 degrees out! Keeping my fingers crossed that the Feb. trip pans out.

It certainly helped that we had done the trip in August and with extended family so we got a chance to ride a lot of the "adult" rides. It made the "go with the flow" attitude a lot easier to come by.

The topiaries are so beautiful. It's so wonderful to just be able to walk to epcot, but school groups sound crazy. How wonderful would that be to take a field trip to Epcot for school? Baby faces on that computerized part of Spaceship earth are just so cute, aren't they? And I love the sunglasses!

Seems like a good idea to leave and go to MK. And good timing to catch the parade! I've actually never been on the speedway, I think DH wants to take DS on it this time. The idea of DS driving even a fake car freaks me out. The boy is pretty crazy!

I was thinking I would have loved taking a field strip to Epcot too! But then I remembered.....I actually got to take a "spring break" school trip to Disney. haha. I totally forgot. We went to Epcot and DHS before going to the Kennedy Space Center. It was fantastic. However, as an adult on vacation, I did try to avoid the school groups.

Have fun on the speedway! Since it's on a track, you will be fine, even if he decides to drive all crazy. Just have your husband keep an arm around him so he doesn't fly out! It is a little jerky. We were being whipped from side to side since our little girl had no idea how to drive.

 

[LilAnn]

Before I get started with the rest of our day, I just realized that I had left out some PP pics from the night before. We grabbed a few photos of the castle.

And you know I had to try out a border.

I love that border because it really did sum up the trip nicely. I really think that trip was a dream trip for us. Priceless memories.

And then it was time for a little magic shot.

We actually managed to get the same magic shot last year, in Epcot, and it was one of my absolute favorites from our August trip. Seriously, I never thought I would have been able to get this with a 21 month old. Love it.

Did I mention how much I love that pic?

Anyways, back to Friday night and our last night at Epcot. Yes, our trip was quickly coming to an end. We thought that 10 days at Disney would be more than enough, but time really does fly when you are there. I guess our relaxed way of touring that trip definitely changed things too. In a good way.

So we had gone back to the hotel for our daily swim and some food. The heat really made this midday breaks a necessity for us. We had planned on going back to the hotel for our little girl’s naps if she didn’t sleep in the stroller, but it ended up being pool time every day. She would then nap in the car or back in the room or in the stroller. This day, she ended up asleep in the stroller and we took a leisurely stroll from the Dolphin over to the International Gateway.

Since she was still sleeping, I muscled my husband into some PP pics.

She even made us do a “kissing” shot. PDA alert! Can you tell we were embarrassed to be doing that?

It brought back memories of our wedding photos all over again. Stand, pose, smile, look at each other, kiss, hold it…smile, move for next photo. Our little girl just kept sleeping which was a shame because I would have loved a family photo of us there in France.

For some reason I don’t have a lot of photos from this night, so I apologize. I think I was too busy just going with the flow and enjoying our last Epcot night. We spent the whole time just walking around the World Showcase.

I stopped by to listen to Davy Jones as well. I would have sat there and listened to the whole concert if my husband and little girl had let me. My husband had no idea who he was. WHAT?! He was laughing at me as we would be walking around and I would just sing a long to whatever song Davy Jones was performing and bopping around.

Just thinking back on that portion of the trip puts “Daydream Believer” in my head. I do remember that we spent a long time looking at the train sets and the miniature village in Germany. How long? Well, just take a look at the change in the sky in these photos.

We took turns with the little gal as she followed train after train.

It was hard to pull her away. I don’t know how we convinced her in the end.

I think it was the lure of Illuminations starting soon that did it. It was a bit crowded that night, I think there was evening EMH, so we watched the show and then wandered around the stores a bit.

I totally wanted to buy this Alice outfit, but it was a little pricey.

Plus, even the smallest size still looked too big for our little one. How cute is it though? And it was really well made. I just couldn’t justify the price, especially since our little girl didn’t quite know who Alice was.

Taking a little breather in the parlor.

The Kidcot station looked closed by this point, but it didn’t stop our little toddler from exploring the area. I don’t think she could resist all of those little boxes and was dying to see what was inside each and every one of them. I don’t blame her though. I’m quite nosy myself.

I think we wandered around the store a little more before we decided to make our way back to the hotel. It was close to 10pm by then and our little one was definitely fading. Besides, I wanted to be up somewhat early for our last day at MK tomorrow.

 

[lexmas]

Oh no, almost at the last day already! How did that happen?!? It's really a shame how time just flies by at Disney. They should be able to do something about that!

It sounds like such a relaxing evening. Browsing the shops in World Showcase is just amazing, isn't it?

Haha you do look very much like, "we do not want to do this" in the kissing picture. That's how I am, I would have been like, no thank you!

All of the photopass pictures turned out great! Oh my goodness, that one of your DD last trip is the cutest thing I have ever seen. I hope you have that framed somewhere!

It sounds like a satisfactory end to your second to last day. Very peaceful. I can't wait to hear about the MK, even though I'm very sad that it's almost over!

 

[Dancegrl624]

So sad that you're TR is coming to an end. I have enjoyed seeing all of your pics...especially of your little one!

The pics of SE from WS at night are stunning! You can never have too many pics of SE or the Castle in my opinion.

 

[LilAnn]

Oh no, almost at the last day already! How did that happen?!? It's really a shame how time just flies by at Disney. They should be able to do something about that!

It sounds like such a relaxing evening. Browsing the shops in World Showcase is just amazing, isn't it?

Haha you do look very much like, "we do not want to do this" in the kissing picture. That's how I am, I would have been like, no thank you!

All of the photopass pictures turned out great! Oh my goodness, that one of your DD last trip is the cutest thing I have ever seen. I hope you have that framed somewhere!

It sounds like a satisfactory end to your second to last day. Very peaceful. I can't wait to hear about the MK, even though I'm very sad that it's almost over!

I know, time just flies in disney. However, I do feel bad that this TR has taken forever to finish. Sorry about that! I feel like I have a ton of Disney pics that I want framed or displayed, I just haven't decided on exactly what I want to do yet.

The PP photographer was very persistent. I'm sure it makes for a lovely shot when both participants aren't as shy or embarassed. I would have loved to do a kissing shot with DD in the middle, though!

So sad that you're TR is coming to an end. I have enjoyed seeing all of your pics...especially of your little one!

The pics of SE from WS at night are stunning! You can never have too many pics of SE or the Castle in my opinion.

Aww, well, I am so glad that you have continued to stay and read along! I can't wait to real your TR when you get back since you'll be on your way SOON! I hope to take even more pictures our next trip. I felt like I didn't get nearly enough pictures this time aorund. But then again, we were too busy just living in the moment!

 

[SoonerGirl]

Oh my gosh, that PP pic of your DD with Tink from your last trip is the cutest thing I've ever seen!

That has to be the same Friday night that Mom and I were in Epcot, it doesn't sound like the crowds affected you the way they did us though - it was nuts! I think you saw a later Davy Jones show than we did, it was still plenty light out when we saw him, in your pic it looks like the sun is starting to go down.

I'm sad your trip is coming to an end, but I'm looking forward to hearing about your time at MK!

 

[LilAnn]

Oh my gosh, that PP pic of your DD with Tink from your last trip is the cutest thing I've ever seen!

That has to be the same Friday night that Mom and I were in Epcot, it doesn't sound like the crowds affected you the way they did us though - it was nuts! I think you saw a later Davy Jones show than we did, it was still plenty light out when we saw him, in your pic it looks like the sun is starting to go down.

I'm sad your trip is coming to an end, but I'm looking forward to hearing about your time at MK!

Thank you! I was in love with that picture from our last trip, too (and still am!).

Darn it, we missed each other again! We did end up hitting the parks later in the day since we spent at least an hour and half in the pool each day cooling down. Then we had to go back and shower, and all that. I do remember thinking that Epcot sure had more drunk adults than I remember from any of my other trips this time around!

I was sad that the trip was nearing the end too. But we still had fun on Saturday and a great magical moment (for me) on our last night at MK.

 

[Sunset Cliffs]

I really like the pictures at dusk. That is my favorite time of day at WDW, and it is so pretty! I don't think we stopped to look at the trains last time. I know Dylan will love those so we will have to do that on our next trip for sure!

The Alice dress is adorable, but I would have a hard time spending the money as well. They grow so fast at that age. I am so lucky that I don't have a little girl who is into the princess stuff. I would be broke!!

 

[LilAnn]

I really like the pictures at dusk. That is my favorite time of day at WDW, and it is so pretty! I don't think we stopped to look at the trains last time. I know Dylan will love those so we will have to do that on our next trip for sure!

The Alice dress is adorable, but I would have a hard time spending the money as well. They grow so fast at that age. I am so lucky that I don't have a little girl who is into the princess stuff. I would be broke!!

Definitely stop by Germany to look at the little village and the trains. Although, be prepared for a long visit since it's so hard to pull them away from that scene! Dylan is going to love it!

Trust me, I have a hard time holding back as well. I think the only way I am not completely broke is that I have stopped shopping for myself and instead, spend it all on her clothes and toys! That Alice dress would be at home with us now if she had been a huge Alice fan, but since she wasn't, it made walking away from it that much easier.

Are you excited about going back soon? I'm jealous that you will be there during the holidays!

 

[LilAnn]

We woke up on Saturday morning with bittersweet emotions. We were partially happy since we were still at Disney, but also sad since we knew that we would be heading home the next day. I’m sure everyone can relate to that feeling. However, we pushed aside the sad feelings and geared up for our last morning at Disney. Of course there was basically only one place to go on our last park day – the Magic Kingdom! There was no doubt in our minds that this was the park to go to with our little toddler.

I think we munched on food in our room while getting ready, we had to finish off some of the snacks and food we had stored in the room. Isn’t it funny how (when you re traveling with little ones) you get so worried about having enough snacks and food around for them during the trip, that you inevitably end up with tons of leftover snacks at the end of the trip? Well, that happens to us all the time.

We did stop off to look at the fountain in the Dolphin lobby on our way out.

Actually, I think my husband was trying to get things squared away at the front desk while we watched other kids run around the fountain.

Take a look at this face…..

that’s the look of someone who is up to no good. She was definitely thinking some mischievous thoughts and I’m sure she would have tried something, probably that involved jumping, climbing or grabbing, but it was time to get on our way.

It was a gorgeous day in the Magic Kingdom that morning. Of course, once we made our way down Main Street, I told my husband that we needed to get one last PP shot in front of the castle. It wasn’t that crowded yet, so we got in line to take our picture. It was while we were waiting that we got to witness yet another truly magical moment!

There were two PP photographers in front of the castle and we were waiting for the photographer on the left. There was just one family in front of us and they seemed to be taking forever deciding on their pose. As we waited, I looked over at the other line and saw a young couple getting ready for their picture. I watched them stand and smile for their picture, when all of a sudden, you saw the young man go down on one knee…….and I immediately gasped and almost squealed to my husband “He’s going to propose! Oh my god! Look! Look!” Yes, I really was that excited to see this from complete strangers.

I am such a romantic and I have always talked about how great it would be to get engaged at Disney in front of Cinderella’s castle. Now I was going to witness one! The girl obviously had no idea he had this planned because she was so shocked and surprised. The PP photographer also seemed to be taken by surprise but he was great, snapping shot after shot to preserve it all for them. You could also see that other people were starting to catch on as well as they stopped and smiled. She said yes and there were cheers and clapping all around. I was literally giddy from being able to see that proposal! I was so excited and happy for them (and I didn’t even know them!) I thought it was cute too that after they were done, the Pp photographer looked so excited himself. He turned to our photographer and gave him a thumbs up, almost like he was saying, how awesome was that?!

So after that wonderful scene, we took our picture. You can see how happy I still am by the smile on my face.

I just realized as I am typing this that apparently I didn’t take that many pictures this morning. I must have been too busy trying to just savor every moment. So sorry about that.

We decided that we would just hit up our favorites this morning and just walk around and enjoy the morning. We made sure to stop by IASW one last time since that’s all our little girl sings.

Good-bye Small World! I always have to try to get either pictures of the little Thai dancers or that sign in Thai. While we were in Fantasyland, we tried one more time to convince our little girl to try Dumbo, but again, no success.

It was off to Tomorrowland. I had to ride TTA one more time. You know how I love that ride. Once we were done with that, you know we had to take one more drive with the munchkin since we were in the area. So it was another stop to the Speedway. Sorry if the quality isn’t that great, but I took this photo with my phone.

After our fast paced drive, we decided it was time for some food. So we parked the stroller and headed to….

(borrowed off the internet)

All I remember about this meal was that the place was packed and this is what my husband got.

(borrowed off the Disney food blog).

He also grabbed a kids meal for our little girl and we just shared that platter. He had read about this dish on the Dis and was anxious to try it. I have to say, it was pretty good! And the “entertainment” definitely kept our little one entertained while we ate.

After lunch, we stepped back into the hot sun and saw that the park was definitely getting crowded. Time to go back for our daily swim! Our little girl and Annie seemed to agree.

Seriously, when it’s that hot outside, how can you resist the pool? I wish I were doing this right now.

I think our little one is definitely in her element at the pool.

Apparently, sitting poolside sipping on frozen beverages is also something our little one enjoys.

Don’t worry, that is not an alcoholic beverage that she has. We had two frozen colavas (or Miami Vices, whatever you want to call them, either way – so good) one was alcoholic and one was not. I have a very low tolerance so the nonalcoholic one was supposed to be mine, but looks like our little girl had different ideas.

We were definitely going to miss this pool and swimming every day.

Up next: MK at night and a major sprinkling of pixie dust!

 

[tinkgurl]

haha That girl looks like she is up to no good!

Aw a proposal! How cute!

I completely know how you feel..I miss the daily swimming with my little guy too. It's amazing how even the little moments like that are what we remember from our trips.

 

[lexmas]

So cute that you got to witness a proposal. What a great idea with the photographer and all. See, that's WORTH shelling out the $100 for the photopass CD for!

I agree that the magic kingdom is the only way to spend the last day at Disney. Not that I don't travel with people who have other opinions, but in my opinion, it's the only way to go!

Your DD looks so very happy in the pool! Do you have a pool at home, or is this a total luxery? We don't have a pool so I want to let DS have as much swimming time as he wants on our trip!

 

[dawnbu40]

I love how excited you were at the proposal! That must have been really romantic and sweet to witness! I probably would have teared up

Your little one at the pool is so cute! Caitlin got hooked on drinking those colavas at the pool

 

[Dancegrl624]

When I read about the proprosal, it brought tears to my eyes! I am such a sap!!! What a magical moment that was caught by the photopass photographer.

I know what you mean about the last full day at Disney...it's so depressing! Love the pool pics of our DD...so cute!

 

[Sunset Cliffs]

Definitely stop by Germany to look at the little village and the trains. Although, be prepared for a long visit since it's so hard to pull them away from that scene! Dylan is going to love it!

Trust me, I have a hard time holding back as well. I think the only way I am not completely broke is that I have stopped shopping for myself and instead, spend it all on her clothes and toys! That Alice dress would be at home with us now if she had been a huge Alice fan, but since she wasn't, it made walking away from it that much easier.

Are you excited about going back soon? I'm jealous that you will be there during the holidays!

Yes, I am very excited to get to go back at the holidays. I have been so busy for the last 6 weeks at work that I have barely even thought about my trip. Last Saturday was my last big event for a couple of weeks, so I jumped on the Dis and that's when I started getting excited again. By the way, I just started my PTR last night, if you care to read it. The link is in my siggie.

Dylan is VERY into trains right now, so I will definitely plan a good chunk of time to spend in Germany. I wonder if they sell trains in the gift shop... if they do, we are going home with one (& that is a perfect example of going broke over Disney stuff).

 

[Sunset Cliffs]

Ok, I just read your last update. I LOVE that you saw a proposal. I got teary eyed just reading about it. I don't know if I have ever mentioned this by Todd proposed to me on the bridge in front of the castle at Disneyland. It was during the Main Street Electrical Parade. I had no idea he was going to do it either, and it is a wonderful memory. So I love hearing about that happening to someone else.

The fountain in the lobby is gorgeous! I don't think I've seen that before.