Hey gang - Mich.....I hope Gabriel is better today!
I finally finished my little journal on our trip.....
here it is if you'd like to take a peek....
Disney Trip Sept 19-25
The girls & I have gone to Disney in September/October 2 years in a row
so I knew there was no way theyd think we were going again. Dana decided she would also surprise her girls with a trip. That meant that Grace would be going to Disney with one of her best friends and Casey would have a friend to go with as well. We decided not to tell the girls, but to make it a surprise trip.
Short of Dana & I bursting with excitement, we finally made it to THE day. I picked the girls up from school, under the pretense they were going to the eye doctor. Dana picked hers up to go to the dentist. I said that we had to stop at Mrs. Slimkos to pick up Kristofer, to babysit. Not a far stretch at all. So when we walked into Danas and Emily & Nicole were sitting there, they all just kind of looked at each other. We tossed them the Surprise shirts we made for them
.Grace & Emily screamed
(but still didnt know WHEN we were going) Casey & Nicole were rather silent. Then I asked Grace if she knew when we were going to Disney she answered no
I said RIGHT NOW! Then the little girls REALLY started screaming
jumping up & down
.The big girls
hmmm, not too much excitement out of them
..Nicole wanted to know But what about the dentist?. We piled everyone in the van (since our limo broke down & we needed a ride to the airport) On the way to the airport all Casey & Nicole were worried about is who packed their clothes and what about the new toothbrush
.About half way to the airport it finally kicked in
.Were GOING TO DISNEYWORLD!
Our flight was uneventful, we arrived in Orlando at 6:30 pm. Took Magical Express to Pop Century, got our request for connecting rooms wonderful! We put the 4 girls in one room & Dana & I shared the other. Then it was off to the Contemporary for dinner at Chef Mickeys! It had really sunk in now
the girls were happy as clams and couldnt wait to get started on our adventure! Dinner at Mickeys was nice, great food, great drinks and great fun. We headed back to Pop for an early start on Thursday.
Thursday was Epcot day
.we arrived at Epcot around 9:15am. Headed straight to Test Track NO lines!!!! YIPPEE! We rode Test Track (6x), Soarin, Finding Nemo, Turtle Talk, Journey into Imagination and toured The Living Seas and Imagination Pavilions. Then it was off to the Land for lunch with Chip & Dale. We enjoyed a yummy lunch with yummy drinks & wine (see the pattern here?) The girls saw Chip, Dale, Mickey & Pluto. The little girls also finished all the kidcot stops in Future World this morning. After lunch we rode Soarin and Test Track some more
then Mission Space. Dana rode the Orange ride with Nicole & Casey, and I rode the Green ride with Emily & Grace. It was a ton of fun. Then it was time to leave. We had dinner reservations at Mickeys Backyard BBQ. While getting to Mickeys BBQ was a bit of a challenge, between not knowing where we were going, not having our tickets yet and it was raining! Once we got there all was good. The food was awesome, ribs & chicken and Mickey bars for dessert! The little girls played & danced with Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Chip & Dale. The big girls, well I guess they were just too big for this kiddish fun. We headed out after a few hours and pretty much dropped into bed back at the Pop.
Friday was going to be a long day! We had CRT reservations at 9:15 and it was
MNSSHP night! So I knew wed be at the part from 9am till 1am! We let the girls sleep until the last possible minute. We arrived at the Magic Kingdom around 9am. I just love that first look at the Castle! Its what says were here to me. Walking down Main Street is probably one of my favorite things in the whole world to do. We were able to ride Its a Small World and Philharmagic before breakfast. We arrived at Cinderellas Royal Table the girls received their wishing stars and wands. This is one of my favorite breakfasts
..I love the stuffed french toast. When the princess arrived Grace let out a squeal! I looked up & there was Princess Jasmine! We have been to breakfast & lunch in the castle a total of 7 times, and never have we seen Jasmine there. It didnt matter what else happened today, Grace was beyond thrilled! Cinderella, Belle, Snow White, and the Fairy Godmother were also there. After breakfast we decided to finish Fantasyland. Short waits, and great weather
.by noon we were heading over to Tomorrowland. Toured everything (Space Mountain a record breaking 13 times), Buzz (twice), and Speedway of course we skipped Stitch (blech). After Tomorrowland we headed over to Liberty Square and rode the new and improved Haunted Mansion. VERY nice upgrades! At one point the ride stopped
in the graveyard
.(loading handicapped guest I suppose)
anyway I yelled to Nicole & Casey are you guys ok? they screamed back Noooooooooo It was probably one of the funniest things of the week. After HM, we scooted over to Frontierland, & rode Splash & Big Thunder
.again multiple times
..Dana & I kept getting the soaked seat! Then it was time for dinner. We headed over to Crystal Palace for our first Eeyore encounter. While we were waiting we snagged out MNSSHP bracelets. Dinner was so fun. Grace & Emily did the parade with Tigger, Casey got her Eeyore hugs, & he even signed her hat! After dinner, it was time to party
The Halloween Party, unfortunately was really crowded. We decided to skip the trick or treating and just meet some characters and ride the rides. We went to Toontown and met the princess with their princes! Rode Barnstomer, the teacups, Space Mountain (again). Did the Villian Mix & Mingle (met Cruella, Jafar, Evil Queen, Malificent, Queen of Hearrts, and the dude from Hunchback), saw the headless horseman from our parade seats in front of the castle, watched the parade and Hallowishes (still my favorite)
.wandered around the park for awhile
took dozens of pictures in front of the castle. Got to see the Kiss Goodnight. However by the time we left, the candy bins were GONE! I think we were the last people in the park! It was only the CMs by the time we left. Arrived to our beds at POP at 2:45am.
Saturday we decided to just let the girls sleep until they woke up which ended up being about 9am. We arrived at Epcot at 11:00. After a quick ride on Test Track we headed over to World Showcase. We ate lunch in China it was ok
not the best food, not the worst. After that we toured the countries, doing the KidCot stops along the way. We loved touring the countries
along the way we met Mulan & Mushu, Jasmine, Aladdin, & Genie, Marie the Cat, and Snow White and Dopey! We told Dopey that he was Caseys favorite dwarf & he got down on one knee, & pretended to propose to her. It was so cute, she turned every shade of red imaginable. We had fun taking pictures with Genie too! We had dinner at Akershus at 6pm. We were greeted by Emilys favorite princess Belle, in her beautiful yellow gown. Dinner was ok, the drinks again were yummy. We saw Alice, Ariel, Princess Aurora and Jasmine again. Grace kept hugging Jasmine, as I told her this was probably the last time she was going to see her for a while. At the end of the night, Jasmine came back to our table and gave Grace an extra long hug and told her she would see her next time we were at WDW. We stayed and watched Illuminations, and then headed out of the park. We had a great day, with lots of very fun times but we were dog-tired.
Sunday was MGM day. We didnt wake up extra early, but we got to the park by 9:30am. This was the only day it really rained on us. We went right over to the Tower of Terror. We met a really nice cast member, Allen from New York. He kept giving us a hard time while we were cueing up for the line. The 6th time we rode TOT, he pulled us aside and gave us our own car. A true magical moment! We had so much fun!!! After riding TOT for the 8th time, we decided to go do something else
.we rode Star Tours, then went to the Beauty & the Beast Show. Mark had met a woman whos daughter played Belle, so we were able to get reserved vip seating right up front! That was pretty cool. After the show it was still raining
.we grabbed snacks, went on the Great Movie Ride, did the Imagineer building and then went to Fantasmic. Dana got us great seats and we enjoyed the show with popcorn, and wine.
Monday was Animal Kingdom day, we arrived early ready to go by 9am. We immediately went to Expedition Everest and proceeded to ride it 6 times in a row. The girls got their face painted, we rode Dinosaur (2x), explored the Pagini Trail, rode Kali River Rapids and the Safari. Grace and Emily had fun playing the bongos in Africa with one of the cast members. We stayed and watched our favorite parade
The Jammin Jungle Parade. We left Animal Kingdom by 5 and headed back to POP to drop off our goodies
.Then we were off to the Magic Kingdom, tonight was Spectromagic and Wishes. We got great seats right in the castle hub. Dana took the girls off to get Dole whips (and they met Capt Jack on the way). As always Spectro and Wishes were amazing. Watching Wishes always makes me cry. We hung around for quite a long time after Wishes, knowing that this was our last night at Disney. We stayed for the Kiss Goodnight stopped and bought some candy, and headed back to POP.
Tuesday was our departure day, but we wanted to squeeze as much out of this trip as possible. So, we were up early, checked our bags and headed out to the Magic Kingdom where we rode all our favorite rides again, had one last breakfast with Eeyore, and had lunch at Caseys.
We had a wonderful trip, one I hope all the girls will remember. Everyone got to spend time with their favorite character, ride their favorite rides and munch on their favorite treats. As corny as I know it sounds, this really is the most magical place on earth and nothing in the world makes me a happier person than enjoying all of what Disney is and means with my girls (friends are always a nice addition too!). We bought some fun new souvenirs, a charm for my new bracelet, new scrapbook supplies, new eeyores, new pjs, pirate mickey hats, and loads more.
I am dropping you an e-mail in case you are too busy to pop in here 
Hope all is well with you.
After the NYPD left the fire house and did the report, which the person was never found the chief retired back to his bed, only to be awaken a hour or so later.
