"Princess Castle. Where's Princess Castle?!" A Princess' review with Pics!

In reply -

DH won't even talk Disney right now. We are trying to sell our home and so that is the focus. We will just have to see....:sad1:
 
Your DD is too cute! I love your countdown calendar. I also make one for my son (he's 2 and a half), but nothing as elaborate as yours. Great TR and pictures.
 
In reply -

DH won't even talk Disney right now. We are trying to sell our home and so that is the focus. We will just have to see....:sad1:

Awwww..that sounds like my dh! Although he doesn't seem to mind if we leave him at home! :thumbsup2 Good luck selling your house. We sold ours this past summer so I def know how hard it is!

Your DD is too cute! I love your countdown calendar. I also make one for my son (he's 2 and a half), but nothing as elaborate as yours. Great TR and pictures.

Thanks! I'm so glad you like the TR. Making the countdown calendar was a fun project. Nora "helped." I have lots of scrapbooking stuff so we've done a countdown calendar for each of our previous 2 tripspixiedust:
 

I am enjoying this trip report so much!!! Also loving Sarah's dining review. Can't wait to read it all!!!! ;)
 
Hey Guys! Sorry about the lengthy delay. We had to make an unplanned trip to Maine to spend some time with my DH's ill father and are just getting back into our routine. The thought of just forgetting about the TR crossed my mind, but I figure I owe it to myself to finish-especially since it's so close to the end of the vacation :sad1: I hope you are all doing well and surviving the winter weather-that's if you have to deal with it-we certainly do! Okay, enough of reality, let's get back to FANTASY....

Day SIX: Our LAST full day at the Happiest Place on Earth. Could it be?! Here was our plan:

Monday, November 24th

*CS bfast to share or bfast in the room?

9:00AM: Shopping at Downtown Disney Marketplace and snacks at Goofy's Candy Company (2 SC)

12:00PM: Lunch at WPE (2 CS)

1:00PM: Back to resort for naps/pooltime

4:00PM: Spend last evening in MK (ice cream cookie sandwich at Main St. Bakery?)

8:15PM: Tutto Italia (1 TS credit/person) (Optional)

(5 CS, 4 S)

(HS extra magic hours PM, AK extra magic hours AM)
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One of the worst parts of a Disney vacation is waking up to find the Magical Express paperwork has been shoved under the door! That is exactly what we found on this morning! BOO! That means vacation is almost over. As a result, I think we were all kind of grumpy on day #6. All of us except for Nora of course. She was excited because A. Those wonderful Mickey cartoons were "amazingly" still be played over and over again on Disney TV and B. She had Princess mail! Who wrote to her this morning?

Dear Nora,
Wow-What a vacation! Sounds like you have been very busy! It was so nice to meet you at the princess lunch earlier this week! What a sweet girl you are! I hope you enjoy your last day in Disney World! We look forward to seeing you again soon!
Love, Belle

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Our plan was to try for a relaxing morning consisting of eating (big surprise), swimming, and shopping! :cheer2: Sounds like fun to me! We opted to head down to the Volcano pool and eat breakfast on the beach.
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Princess Castle!
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I can't remember what we ate for breakfast, but I'm pretty sure I went in to Captain Cook's and got it all and that there was definitely a chocolate chip muffin! I know this, because there is proof....
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Mmm..that really makes me want a choc-chip muffin! Okay, so we also enjoyed some pool time. It is such a cool feeling to be swimming at the volcano pool and be on the same "level" with the lagoon and being about to look right across to the MK! The water of course was nice a warm-like bath water-and it felt really nice and refreshing that morning.
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Have I mentioned how much Nora LOVES the water? She is like a little fishy! She has taken one batch of swimming "lessons" at the Y and I can't wait to take her for more. Actually, I have a really cute video from this trip when we were on our way to MVMCP and Nora stops and is watching the kids in the pool- "kids swimming" "Nora go too!" Hehe...anyway, enough Mommy gushing. After our picnic breakfast and swim time (we never did get to try the slide, by the way, it didn't open until 10 or 11 and never made it back to try it!:sad2: ) we were ready for some shopping! We made our way back to Tokelau to get ready for Downtown Disney.

Can you find some Hidden Mickeys? (sorry about the flash--if you haven't already notice I am NOT a photographer!)
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Oh...here is the "Dancing" light up Minnie that Aunnie bought Nora during FANTASMIC! She still really loves it-money well spent, Aunnie!:thumbsup2
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If I remember correctly, we didn't wait long for a DTD bus. Although, the whole waiting for the bus thing was something we were glad we didn't have to do too much on this trip! ;) Such a great perk of staying at the POLY!

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On our previous trip in April we stayed at SSR. Because we were just a quick walk away from DTD we spent quite a bit of time there on that trip. We knew, therefore, that we wanted to have plenty of time to shop and make treats at Goofy's Candy Company. We also were super excited (mostly thanks to DIS food porn) for Wolfgang Puck's Express! Sarah and I figured that the end of the trip would be the ideal time to fit DTD into our itinerary, as we would have had all week to get an idea of what merchandise we just HAD to have!

As has become tradition for us at DTD, our first stop was the Christmas Store. We spent more time than I care to admit in there. Of course Nora trying to decide on her favorite princess ornament was where the majority of the time went. She ended up with Snow White. We had picked out some really cute ornaments to have personalized, including a pretty pink Alice In Wonderland one for Sarah, but it wasn't until we got up to the register that we saw the sign saying any ornaments needing personalization wouldn't be ready until well after we were leaving! :sad: waaa We were still satisfied with our purchases, however, and ended up with some really cute stuff! The Mickey head bulb ornaments that Sarah bought for me looked great on my Christmas tree :goodvibes

After we dragged ourselves out of Disney's Days of Christmas we decided to head down to World of Disney! We faced another temptation on our way there---Ghirardelli Ice Cream Shop! MMmmmm! Grammie really wanted to stop, but we had to convince her that it would be worth it to wait for our lunch at WPE-not sure that she would agree with that-hehe. Anyway, HOLY MOLY-World of Disney is huge and overwhelming. I guess we really hadn't spent much time in this store before. We literally lost eachother a few times! Since Sarah has a Disney VISA we were entitled to 10% off our purchase, which was enough for us to go "wild"! I'm trying to remember what we bought--I got a photo album for myself, a travel mug for Grampy, the cutest red Minnie Mouse outfit for Nora (I really wish I had a pic of her wearing this-SO cute!), a set a "baby" princesses that Nora got from Santa, and some chocolates and mickey undies for stocking stuffers. I'm sure there was more but I can't remember now. Eitherway it was a very fun shopping experience. And yes, we did take a good long look at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique with the realization that it wouldn't be long and we would be taking our little Princess there!!! By the time our shopping spree was over we were ready for WPE.

On our walk back towards WPE Sarah and I made a quick detour into Once Upon a Toy. Now, a little side note-before our trip in April I, being the dedicated DISer that I am, had read about the box full of Potato Head parts. A clever DISer had posted that she, instead of buying the actually potato at Once Upon a Toy would save the money and get a regular Mr. Potato Head at say Walmart and then use the $20 box of just the Disney unique accessories. Well, this is what I did. I was so proud of myself and stuffed more parts than I could have dreamed in the box. So, imagine my dismay when I get home and realize that a lot of the Disney parts were not usable because the arms/hand parts that come with a normal Mr. Potato Head don't have holes for the little accessories to fit. UGH! So, I vowed that the next time we went to DIS that a stop at Once Upon a Toy was a priority. Sorry if that seemed long winded and dramatic! Okay, so Sarah and I went in while Grammie and Nora kept walking towards WPE. Fortunately they had a lot of new accessories since the last time we were there and we stuffed another whole box included extra sets of hands/arms! Yay! I could now rest easy.

Now we were REALLY hungry. WPE was not busy at all. Nora and Grammie went to get seats outside while Sarah and I had the near impossible task of decided what we'd have for lunch. Grammie let Nora have an "appetizer." Not sure why Grammie looks so mad in this pic-maybe just THAT hungry!
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I'll let Sarah explain it all-http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2028255&page=8. I will just say it was YUMMO (thanks Rachael Ray)

No trip to DTD is complete with a visit to Goofy's Candy Company! What a perfect way to use up some snack credits!
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Nora was getting antsy (she still hadn't napped today) so she and I entrusted Grammie and Aunnie to get some delicious snacks while we checked out another fun part of DTD--the fountains!

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Nora went right into the center without hesitation. I don't think she understood that the fountains would keep coming up with her on there. Well, she learned the hard way-she got a squirt of water right up the back of her dress! She looked at me like, "what happened" and just stood stone still. I think she was in shock! A couple ladies were walking by just as it happened and were laughing hysterically at her! :( Poor Nor! I went in a rescued her. From then on she stayed on the perimeter of the fountains, trying to convince me and then Aunnie to go in-Yea, right!
Check out the wet dress! Luckily it was the warmest day of our trip so I don't think the water felt too too bad to her.
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"Come on Aunnie, let's go!"
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Before we were done at DTD Nora wanted to visit with some friends!
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I almost can't stand what a big girl she looks like in this photo!
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At the bus stop we took full advantage of the short wait to dig into our "Goofy" treats. I think Nora was a bit annoyed that she didn't get her own PB cup covered rice krispie treat! She certainly didn't feel like sharing! If I remember correctly Nora feel asleep on the bus ride back to the Poly-she was so tired- All this Disney fun is certainly exhausting! The day was not over yet, though, we still had a mission: to get to MK to ride "It's a Small World" Will we make it there?!

Stay tuned to find out!!
 
Sounds like a great last day so far!

Love that last picture of her in the middle of the characters.

Sorry to hear about your father-in-law.
 
yay! Thanks for the update!! Loved it, and the pictures could not be any cuter, Nora is so photogenic!!
 
Even though Nora was "shocked" at the fountain, I think I would have been laughing hysterically too- unless of course, she would have gotten hurt. But she didn't, and you have to admit that must have looked pretty funny :)

The water being as warm as a bathtub at the Poly sounds truly divine! Oh how I wish I could be there right now!

Sure can't wait for the MK installment! :goodvibes Hope the "grumpys" don't follow you there.
 
Sounds like a great last day so far!

Love that last picture of her in the middle of the characters.

Sorry to hear about your father-in-law.


yay! Thanks for the update!! Loved it, and the pictures could not be any cuter, Nora is so photogenic!!

mmm thinking about WPE makes me hungry! I will work on my post so everyone can drool with me!! :cool1:

Even though Nora was "shocked" at the fountain, I think I would have been laughing hysterically too- unless of course, she would have gotten hurt. But she didn't, and you have to admit that must have looked pretty funny :)

The water being as warm as a bathtub at the Poly sounds truly divine! Oh how I wish I could be there right now!

Sure can't wait for the MK installment! :goodvibes Hope the "grumpys" don't follow you there.

Hi Guys. Just wanted to say thanks for reading. I'm not sure when I will have the chance to finish up the trip report. My father-in-law passed away:sad1: last week and we are back in Maine. It has been and will continue to be a tough time for us. I definitely want to finish the TR, though, and will surely welcome the distraction at some point. Hope you are all doing well and maybe are having fun planning upcoming trips:goodvibes -Kelly
 
Oh, no, Kelly. I'm so sorry to hear about your family's loss. I wish you and your husband's family the best in getting through this tough time. :grouphug:
 
Kelly I was just thinkng about you yesterday and was wondering what happened to your report. I am very sorry for you and especially your husband's loss. I hope you will get through those hard times!! :grouphug:
 
Kelly~I am so, so sorry for your loss. I know this is a very difficult time for you and your family. Please know that you are in my thoughts and prayers.:grouphug:
 
So, so sorry to hear about this! I was wondering if something had happened; so take your time, we'll be here when you're ready! Meantime, our thoughts are with you.
 
So sorry about your FIL.

I loved this report. How fun. Nora is just a doll.
I stole the idea of prncess mail from you guys and have started making up notes for my DD (if anyone wants to see what I have so far, they are on page 6 of my pre trip report...link in my sig) and have bought a few gifts. Some really small and some bigger.
It sounds like you had just a wonderful time. :lovestruc
 
I just found your trip report and fell in love with it. Sorry for your family's loss and keeping all of you in my thoughts and prayers. :hug: :hug:
 
Alright guys, I'm back. Back to finish this trip report. When I first starting writing it I had intentions of having it all done by Christmas-ha! How things change! It has certainly been a stressful couple of months for our family, but slowly things are beginning to return to some sort of "normal". For those of you who have stuck with my TR-thank you! Thank you also for your kind words, thoughts, and prayers. It really means a lot to me.

Before I begin I just have to share this story with you all- I know you guys will appreciate it! So, last night as I was tucking Nora in for the millionth time (the girl doesn't like to miss anything you know) I told her that she needed to go to sleep so we could get up in the morning and go to Target to get dog food for Toby. Okay, she seemed to buy it, I covered her up and off I went. Probably about 10 minutes later I was back in her room trying to reason with her to go to sleep. I said, "Nora, you need to go to sleep. Remember where we are going in the morning?" Her response was priceless: "Mommy, we go to Disneyworld. We bring our scarves!"--haha! I could not believe that she remembered the Mickey scarves from our trip! So cute! So, this morning was not such a nice time, as Nora was not very happy about going to Target instead of DisneyWorld! She was refusing to get in the car and started walking down the driveway saying she was going to DisneyWorld! What have I created?! A Disney Monster! Gotta love it!

Okay, sorry for the detour-onward!

DAY SIX: Part II:

Where oh where did I leave you all? Hmm...let's see...Okay, so we were on the bus back to the POLY. Our day thus far had been a little behind schedule and unfortunately that meant no nap time for Nora or Grammie! We had gotten up a little late and spent more time than planned at the pool that morning, so we were a little off on our itinerary. It was our last full day at Disney, however, and we still wanted to fit in as much as possible. Nora was not about to leave Florida without riding "It's a Small World." After a brief pit stop at our room to change our clothes and repack our stuff we were on our way to the TTC. All week Nora had been watching the Ferry boats go back and forth across the lagoon and had her heart set on riding it. Fortunately we were just in time...as it was getting late in the day there were definitely more guests coming back from the MK than going over to it. Hopefully this meant we could get on IASW and still make it over to EPCOT for our dinner ressie at Tutto Italia. Nora was excited to finally "ride ferry boat, ride ferry boat."

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Our destination:

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I love the views from the ferry boat.

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We made it!

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Since me and Sarah's heads were fresh with MK knowledge from the KTTK tour, we were anxious to share it with Mom and Nora. The first thing we did on our way down Main Street was to show them the window with the voice and piano lessons "really" going on!

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They were quite impressed, can't you tell?! : P

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Next, we made our way over to Fantasyland. You'll notice that there aren't a ton of pics from now until the end of the trip. It's something that happens to every vacation we go on-the pics always dwindle with the remaining time on vacation! :sad1: Anyway, we had quite a wait for IASW, I think maybe 30 minutes. Does anyone else get annoyed with the stroller parking in Fantasyland?! UGH! Strollers everywhere! Okay, finally we are seated in our second boat of the day..

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I really would like to eat on the second story of Pinocchio's Village Haus someday. Sarah, add that to our next itinerary!
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Nora loved the ride! We all sang along and I took lots of video clips to make the magic live on at home!

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Hidden Mickeys!!

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And the only representatives from the United States...

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v

Is it over already??

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We had a little extra time before our set time to leave MK for EPCOT so we decided to head over to Liberty Square. Mom had yet to ride the Haunted Mansion, so we were hoping the "haunts" would be behaving and the ride would be up and running. We debated as to whether or not to take Nora on HM but of course she really wanted to go. I figured that she really wasn't old enough to understand that it was supposed to be scary. She didn't dissapoint and was so brave! After a short wait we were in the "stretching" room. This is where I thought there might be an issue for Nora. Turns out the one with the problem was me! You know how there is always that one CM that just plays up the role in the HM so well?! Yea, well, there was a female CM who I swear just appeared out of nowhere while we were in the stretching scene. Totally freaked me out--she had that mean, scary look on her face--I literally jumped! What kind of a role model was I being for Nor?! We all squeezed into one "buggy". As we started off Nora said, "Mommy, it's dark in here. Scary". The funny thing was she knew to say that it was scary, but I know she didn't feel scared at all. What must have been going through her little 2-year old head? It was a great ride as usual. The graveyard scene is my absolute favorite. I love the upbeat "Grim Grinning Ghosts!" Ahh..now I have that song in my head! :lmao: After HM we needed to head for the exit. We had worked up a hunger and were ready to hit Tutto!

We stopped along the way to admire the BEAUTIFUL castle! How lucky is Cinderella?!

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"Look Grammie!"

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I think I could stare at this all day!

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At the beginning of the week if you asked us which meal of all our ADR's we wouldn't be making it to we definitely would have said "Tutto Italia." In fact, we almost canceled it because we figured there was no way we'd be up to an 8:15PM ressie on our last night in Disney. We surprised ourselves that we were all still motivated to go! Plus, we really were craving another great Italian meal--mmmmm! We made it over to EPCOT without any problems (i.e. suspicious packages or bomb sniffing dogs;)). The one thing we didn't count on, however, was that Italy was almost in the rear center of World Showcase. Which way was quicker? We opted to go left and circle the loop that way. We power walked around, feeling very out of shape and out of breath! Pathetic, I know! We made it to our reservation with time to spare-a vacation first for us, I believe! Sarah went inside to check us in while Mom and I parked the stroller and took Nora for a diaper change. Turns out they didn't have our ADR in the system-ARGH! Fortunately, they weren't overly busy at 8PM so we were seated right away-thank goodness! I didn't power walk that circle just to be denied my big plate of pasta! I'll let Sarah fill you in on all the yummy details, but here are a few pics from the evening.

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We had a wonderful meal! We toasted to our last night and reflected on what an amazing vacation it had been. As we do on every trip, we talked about "how much more fun Nora will be next time" and "what will Nora's favorite thing be on our next trip?" I've gotta say, I think that "Princess Castle" will always be what DisneyWorld is all about for Nora!

We left Tutto with overly stuffed bellies, dreading the walk back to the Mon-e-rail, but thankful that we could just hop on the Monorail and not have to wait for a bus! What a fun-filled last day we had! We were definitely ready for bed when we returned to the POLY but NOT ready to wake up and say goodbye to our new home!

Goodnight! (How can that possibly be comfortable?!)

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UP NEXT: The most TERRIFYING "thrill" ride we'd ever been on!
:scared1:
 












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