Princesses go to Disney! A Mother/Daughter Trip UPDATED Day 2!

[AshleeH]

THE DETAILS:

Who: Me and my sweet and sassy 3 year old daughter
What: A totally, 100%, off the charts girly girl Princess trip!
When: January 26 - February 6
Where: Disney's Contemporary Hotel and Grand Floridian
Why: Because they're only young for a little while!

THE CAST:



ME: Ashlee, 30(ish). I am a stay-at-home mom of 3 and Disney enthusiast. I thrive on planning our Disney trips and we are a Disney family, through and through. Seriously - we just got a new puppy this year and her name is Elsa. My husband loves all things Disney as much as I do! This trip took some convincing on my part, I can tell you that! We always do one Disney related vacation a year - if it's not WDW, it's DCL or DLR.

Favorite Princess: Belle
Favorite Queen: Elsa
Favorite Character: Chip
Favorite Animated Movie: Beauty and the Beast (The Little Mermaid comes SO close though!)
Favorite Live Action Movie: Mary Poppins
Favorite Song: Let It Go and Part of Your World
Favorite Park: Magic Kingdom
Favorite Ride: Splash Mountain (my petite little bit of a daughter is going to make that impossible to ride for the majority of this trip!).
Favorite Hotel: Bay Lake Tower

HER: My daughter, Parker, 3 years old (just shy of 4 by the time we take this trip). She is a sparkling little bundle of fun. Girly girl to the max - she has a bigger shoe collection than I do, adores new clothes, sparkles and glitter and shine are some of her favorite things, and she automatically gravitates to anything princess-y. She has been to Disneyland once (she was 4 months old), Disney World once (at 18 months old) and a Disney Cruise to Alaska (at 2). Before this trip, she'll be going to Disney again with our family - you may wonder why I'm not doing a trip report for that trip - more on that later.

Favorite Princess: Anna (today - it changes daily, but a steady rotation of Anna, Belle, Cinderella, and Ariel)
Favorite Queen: Elsa
Favorite Character: Mickey
Favorite Animated Movie: Frozen and Brave (again, changes daily, but these two are always the front runners)
Favorite Song: Let It Go
Favorite Park: Magic Kingdom
Favorite Ride: TBD
Favorite Hotel: N/A



THE CHECKLIST BEFORE THE CHECKLIST: Summer break, my middle son's birthday, our family Disney Trip (boy, that's a hardship, I tell ya!), the holidays, and my own weight loss H-E-Double hockey sticks to be close to my goal weight.

 

[AshleeH]

Life itself is the most wonderful fairy tale of all ~Hans Christian Andersen

• CHAPTER 1 - Once Upon a Time
• CHAPTER 2 - I've Got a Dream
• CHAPTER 3 - You've Got a Friend in Me
• CHAPTER 4 - I'm Almost There
• CHAPTER 5 - Be Our Guest - Day 1
• CHAPTER 6 - Part of Your World - Day 2

 

[AshleeH]

Once Upon a Time...


THE STORY: So on our last Disney World Trip, a friend of ours was on a vacation with her mother-in-law and her daughter. I thought how great it was for three generations to be together on one trip, but even moreso, I loved that it had such emphasis on the mother/daughter relationship. Now, don't get me wrong, I love my boys to bits, and I can have discussions for hours on superheroes and DC vs. Marvel debates - that was never in question. But my boys have no interest in spending a good chunk of their vacation being dragged to princess things for their little sister. So an idea took hold.

Originally my friend and I planned a joint mother/daughter trip for a couple of years in the future. Sadly, that won't happen, but - yay! - my friend, her husband (my husband's best friend from the cradle) and both of her kids (son and daughter) will be joining us in our suite at BLT for our upcoming trip in October! We are so excited! This is also why I decided to jump into a trip report for this particular trip - that one will be so much fun, and I'm sure I'll hit the highlights within this trip report, but I don't feel comfortable posting pictures with all of us since she's not on these boards. And at the same time, this trip is so outside my norm, I'm ecstatic to finally be in the planning stages for it!

I decided to go during a slow time of year - end of January/early February - and bonus! - My birthday will fall within this week (more on that later). Talking my husband around was the most challenging task. He adores Disney - we are planning our own Couples Only Trip for the end of 2017 because he has always wanted to go to F&W, just the two of us. So I knew I would have a tough time talking him into this idea - and I can understand that. I wouldn't want him taking the boys without me, so I get it completely. But much as I love all of my boys (husband included) I knew I couldn't get the full princess experience that I was looking for on one of our typical family vacations. So I talked till I was blue in the face and finally got a: "If you pay for it" response. Done! Now, let me clarify this statement: I don't work, but I do babysit a friend's daughter twice a week and I also sell a lot of things via consignment and my husband has always said that I do the work readying all of our junk *ahem* gently used items for that, so it's only fair that I keep that money. A policy I am 100% on board with ;-). So when he told me I would have to pay for it, this is what he was referring to (aka "Please don't put thousands of dollars on a credit card!"). Let the planning commence!

First order of business was to decide where we were going to stay, since that determines my budget. We often stay at BLT, but I've always wanted to stay in the Contemporary Tower (we've stayed in the Garden Wing before, but I am sure it's not the same) and as this could be a once in a lifetime trip for just me and my little girl, I wanted to splurge a bit - for me. After all, she is still little, we'll probably have more downtime in the room than I'm used to, so I wanted a place with a balcony and a nice view. Many a time I have been to Disney and had a midday break with a napping child - it's a great time to relax on the balcony with a good book. I also wanted easy access to MK and you can't get any easier than the Contemporary. Being on my own while leaving MK with a young child, stroller, buses or monorail, etc. Nope. Walking all the way. That walkway is practically the Yellow Brick Road for me... wait... wrong company.

So after nearly breathing into a bag when I priced out about how much I would need to save to make this dream possible, I set out to make it a reality.

I'll spare everyone the details, but I'll just say that over 2.5 years, I made this a reality and booked the Contemporary last week!!!

 

[AshleeH]

I've got a dream...


THE PLAN: We leave and drive all day, checking in and staying at the Contemporary for over a week.

My objective during this 8 days of girly fun:

• BBB - The Princess experience
• Mermaid Makeover at the Pirate's League
• Grand Floridian Princess Tea Party
• Pick a Pearl
• Meet and Greets with every princess (in complimenting dresses! Not necessarily princess dresses, but great photo op dresses - did I mention my little girl is obsessed with clothes?)
• Anna and Elsa meet and greet
• Wishes in front of the castle
• Pandora Charms in MK that she picks out (a keepsake for Mommy)
• MK Barbershop for a Pixie Dust Ponytail
• Character autographs (currently narrowing down our choices on just what it is they will autograph)
• CRT x2
• Akershus
• Be Our Guest
• 1900 Park Fare (dinner)

Those are the highlights. If I can fit in some other things, I definitely will - for instance: Mani/Pedis at the GF Spa and a visit to Cinderella's stable. And if it doesn't break my bank, a gift from Disney Floral and Gifts on our first day.

Now - for the eagle-eyed among you, you may have noticed an inconsistency in my planned number of days. There is a reason for this.

You see, the last weekend I'm there is my birthday weekend - and there is a place I've always wanted to stay: The Grand Floridian. We nearly stayed there on our first family vacation but decided on AKL for the boys, we debated on it again for the Couples trip that my husband and I are taking at the end of 2017, but it never seems to work out.

So what better birthday present could there be than spending my birthday in Disney and staying in the hotel I've always dreamed of staying in.

Sounds perfect, right? Wrong!

You see, I can't have a perfect birthday without my sweet boys and husband. You didn't really think I could leave them out entirely did you? Absolutely not. This is tentative, depending on my husband's work schedule, but fingers-crossed that it works out - send pixie dust my way! So right now, our plan is for my boys (husband included in that statement) to fly down on Friday and stay through Sunday, using some of our DVC points to stay at GF that weekend and my whole family can spend my entire birthday with me. Now that, dear readers, would be the most magical of birthdays!

 

[PrincessAshlee]

My name is Ashlee too! I've also met another Ashlee (@iheartbelle87) on the DIS boards; she is going to WDW in September. We really do need to start a club!

A mother/daughter trip, that is so exciting!!! I went on a girls only trip in Feb/Mar 2014 with my sister and cousins (7 and 12) and it was great! We met every princess except for Anna and Elsa (they were new at the time and didn't have fastpasses, so the wait was over 2 hours at all times ). Its such a great time to do all of the super girly things that boys would be bored by.

And then another family trip before that, I'm so jealous! I too am going to am going to WDW in October. It will be my honeymoon, so adults only. DF and I are very excited to check out all that Disney has to offer for adults and we are especially excited to spend time at the F&WF.

Can't wait to hear more about your plans!

 

[iheartbelle87]

My name is Ashlee too! I've also met another Ashlee (@iheartbelle87) on the DIS boards; she is going to WDW in September. We really do need to start a club!

A mother/daughter trip, that is so exciting!!! I went on a girls only trip in Feb/Mar 2014 with my sister and cousins (7 and 12) and it was great! We met every princess except for Anna and Elsa (they were new at the time and didn't have fastpasses, so the wait was over 2 hours at all times ). Its such a great time to do all of the super girly things that boys would be bored by.

And then another family trip before that, I'm so jealous! I too am going to am going to WDW in October. It will be my honeymoon, so adults only. DF and I are very excited to check out all that Disney has to offer for adults and we are especially excited to spend time at the F&WF.

Can't wait to hear more about your plans!

Love !!! Even tho I have 79 days before our trip, feel free to add me on snap (ashleegoulette) and insta (ahg611)!!

 

[AshleeH]

My name is Ashlee too! I've also met another Ashlee (@iheartbelle87) on the DIS boards; she is going to WDW in September. We really do need to start a club!

A mother/daughter trip, that is so exciting!!! I went on a girls only trip in Feb/Mar 2014 with my sister and cousins (7 and 12) and it was great! We met every princess except for Anna and Elsa (they were new at the time and didn't have fastpasses, so the wait was over 2 hours at all times ). Its such a great time to do all of the super girly things that boys would be bored by.

And then another family trip before that, I'm so jealous! I too am going to am going to WDW in October. It will be my honeymoon, so adults only. DF and I are very excited to check out all that Disney has to offer for adults and we are especially excited to spend time at the F&WF.

Can't wait to hear more about your plans!

Love !!! Even tho I have 79 days before our trip, feel free to add me on snap (ashleegoulette) and insta (ahg611)!!

I love that there are so many Ashlee's here lol! I was one of 8 in my grade in school, but the only one with this spelling. I'm named after the doctor who delivered me - his middle name is Lee. My parents ran through all names ending in Lee (I'm forever grateful they didn't go with Emilee - that's a lot of E's!).

And PrincessAshlee, I'm so excited for you to have your honeymoon in Disney! My husband and I married very young - we couldn't take the time (or the funds) to have a honeymoon, but I'm always so jealous of those who got married or honeymooned in Disney! A dream come true. We got married in October, so we have celebrated three anniversaries there (including the Big 10!) but this next trip will miss it by a week as our Fall Break is a little different. I'm still looking forward to it, but it's fun wearing that Anniversary pin .

 

[PrincessAshlee]

I'm named after the doctor who delivered me - his middle name is Lee. My parents ran through all names ending in Lee (I'm forever grateful they didn't go with Emilee - that's a lot of E's!).

That is how I ended up with 2 Es too! Not after the doctor, but after my grandmother. I was the first granddaughter on both sides, so I was named after both of my grandmothers. My maternal grandmother's middle name was Lee and my paternal grandmother's middle name is Marie; so my parents named me Ashlee Marie.

 

[AshleeH]

That is how I ended up with 2 Es too! Not after the doctor, but after my grandmother. I was the first granddaughter on both sides, so I was named after both of my grandmothers. My maternal grandmother's middle name was Lee and my paternal grandmother's middle name is Marie; so my parents named me Ashlee Marie.

That is so cool! I love names with extra meaning behind them .

 

[AshleeH]

You've got a friend in me...


This trip was originally conceived as an idea for me, my daughter, and one of my very best friends and her daughter. That trip fell through because her daughter is older and she was worried about taking her out of school, but it evolved into our October trip where both of our families are going to be staying together for the week.

So as I moved forward with my saving and planning, it was designed as a solo trip and I was okay with that. No matter what, I get the most important thing and that is some extra special mother/daughter time. However, new developments caused me to reevaluate that plan. Just two short days ago, I was at a birthday party for a friend's daughter, chatting to another friend about my upcoming trip. She mentioned that she would love to do something like that with her daughter (who is only three months older than mine and the two girls get along great and are friends as much as three year olds can be friends). In a spur of the minute decision, I told her that she was welcome to join us on this trip if it worked out for them. This is not an offer I make lightly - there is a solid foundation of a friendship that has been building for years and we get along great. I told her that I could count on one hand the number of people I would consider sharing a hotel room with for a week, but my friend - Lora - is so genuinely sweet that I'm 100% confident in my decision to make the offer.

After the party I sent her my itinerary and some general pricing information and she seemed to be getting more excited about it. Less than 24 hours (and numerous texts sent between us) later, she had talked to her husband, booked a flight home (she's not staying the entire trip, but the bulk of it), and she and her daughter have been added to my reservation. I am beyond excited to share this experience not only with a friend, but to see it through my daughter's eyes and have her share it with a friend as well. And Lora is so excited, she told me today she feels like she's about to burst!

Added to this - apparently all of my excitement and planning on my friend to join us lit a fire under my husband. We are officially booked for our two night stay at The Grand Floridian and he has plane tickets for him and our two boys! My birthday weekend is going to be just as I dreamed! Everything has fallen into place so nicely - The Contemporary, The Grand Floridian, and - as of today - Art of Animation at the end of the trip (The Little Mermaid room to cap off the Princess Trip seemed only fitting).

Everything is booked and now it's official - our little princesses are going to get a great surprise in a few short months! The pictures we get on this trip are going to be epic! Now to narrow down our dining choices...

 

[AshleeH]

I'm almost there...

It's been a while, but everything is falling into place nicely. ADRs are booked, Fastpasses are booked, new stroller is purchased, and in the last few weeks I've just recently heard of Epcot's Festival of Food and Art, so I can't wait to try some of the amazing creations there! We'll be spending a lot of time in Epcot, so I've made a long list of booths/items to remember to try.

This will be my last post before I get home and actually start posting about the trip itself, so I thought I'd post a basic rundown of what I'm expecting. This will include the park we hope to be in, our ADRs and the characters we want to meet (aside from the ADR characters). You may notice, I've packed a lot of characters in the beginning of the week. This was done intentionally - both because my friend is not going to be there the entire time I am (so we want to make sure her daughter meets them all) and because if we miss out on meeting some at the beginning of the trip, we'll still have time to work them in at the end of the trip. The basic rundown (any of this can change in the moment):

Friday
Epcot
ADRs: Akershus, 'Ohana
Characters: Chip, Dale, Joy, Sadness

Saturday
Magic Kingdom/Epcot
ADRs: Crystal Palace, Be Our Guest lunch
Characters: Cinderella, Elena, Stepsisters, Fairy Godmother, Ariel, Anna, Elsa, Snow White

Sunday
Animal Kingdom/Disney Springs/Hollywood Studios
ADRs: Tusker House
Characters: Pocahontas, Russell, Dug, Tarzan

Monday
Magic Kingdom/Epcot
ADR: Tea party
Characters: Mulan, Aurora, Jasmine, Aladdin

Tuesday
Hollywood Studios/Magic Kingdom
ADR: Hollywood & Vine
Characters: Olaf, Sorcerer Mickey, Moana, Aladdin, Jasmine, Marie

Wednesday
Epcot
ADRs: Chef Mickey's, 1900 Park Fare
Characters: Mary Poppins, Alice, Belle

Thursday
Magic Kingdom
ADRs: Cinderella's Royal Table, Be Our Guest
Characters: Gaston

Friday
Magic Kingdom
ADRs: Be Our Guest breakfast, Cinderella's Royal Table (pre-birthday celebration)
Characters: Rapunzel, Tiana, Merida, Peter Pan, Tinkerbell

Saturday
Magic Kingdom
ADRs: 1900 Park Fare, Chef Mickey's - My Birthday!!
Characters: Mickey at Town Square

Sunday
Epcot
ADRs: Beaches & Cream, Akershus - Farewell meals
Characters: Anna & Elsa


Now let's see if this flows as seamlessly in real life as it did in the planning stage!

 

[AshleeH]

Be Our Guest...

Day 1: It is with deepest pride, and greatest pleasure, that we welcome you!

Our goals for this day were: Epcot, Akershus, 'Ohana, Chip, Dale, Joy, and Sadness.

Our actual day, all of these were accomplished except Chip and Dale. That's okay, they are my favorites, so it was more for me (I do plan on meeting them for our upcoming November trip though!!). I had our days very planned out, but I didn't want to be so hyper structured that we missed out on the fun because it wasn't scheduled. And I didn't want to push everyone harder than necessary, so Chip and Dale fell by the wayside for this trip.

So after an uneventful - if long and hair-pulling-out - journey, we made it! Our 12 hour car ride turned into 16 hours due to multiple stops - not my norm, but I roll with it. But it doesn't matter because we are there! Hello, Contemporary!

Our first day is fairly consistently Epcot for every trip I plan. I do this on purpose for two reasons - (1) It handles crowds so well and our arrival days are generally heavy crowds at Magic Kingdom and (2) it makes my kids really love the park. When visiting it after the magic of the Magic Kingdom, it doesn't hold the same grandiosity, so we start out here when the excitement is still fresh. This year was extra exciting because of the Festival of the Arts that is going on for the first time ever!

We have a PPO ADR for Akershus to kick off this Princess Trip in style, so away we go!



Aside from my goals, my daughter had a goal of her own - to take all of her favorite princess dolls and get a picture of every princess with each doll. We have a lot of these dolls! They took up their own suitcase! But a goal is a goal, so I took it one step further - where we could, the dolls should match their princesses. This had the added bonus of immediately opening up a dialogue between my little shy princess and the Disney Princesses. But for the most part, I just didn't want to carry a ton of these dolls around the parks and that seemed to work out. Because we met a majority of the princesses multiple times, I'll just post the highlights here .

Snow White was the biggest hit at Akershus (she was hilarious), but Belle with the Belle doll in her ballgown was the match for this meal. Is this not a perfect Belle?!



Akershus was a very good breakfast - I can definitely see it in our future!

After breakfast, World Showcase was nowhere near close to open, so we backtracked with the intent of changing the girls out of their princess dresses and instead, detoured to Joy and Sadness's line. I have no idea why, but this was the longest line of our trip! It hardly moved - no one knew what the holdup was, but we stood for an hour or more (we didn't even wait that long for Anna and Elsa - 50 minutes for them on our last day). For a 3 year old? This is the type of situation we tried to avoid. We sat on the floor, we looked at pins, we flipped through our autograph book - we took an actual Disney book, so this was actually a good thing to look through in several of the long (but shorter than this one!) lines. We took selfies, us moms made friends with the mom standing behind us, we posted Instagram pictures of the Princess Trip so far, but ultimately, the wait caught up to us. I have an extraordinarily good little girl - very little whining, crying, etc. But that being said - she is 3. So it was inevitable that we would hit a mood at some point and this was that point.



Luckily it didn't last long as we FINALLY made it to the front and met Joy and Sadness! Still not sure what the hold up was, but it was a great character interaction. There was much twirling with Joy, who loved her twirly princess dress, and a surprise hug from Sadness that got a lot of giggles:



And an overall great time! So now it's time for the Moms to take charge and demand a wardrobe change. This - as you can imagine - did not go over well. Princesses shall be princesses, after all, but I put my foot down. Never a fun thing to do on vacation, but vacations aren't a vacation from good behavior, so off with the princess dress (it was needed later in the week and I did not want to deal with washing stains out and praying for it to air-dry by the time we needed it again!). And as the song goes - Mother Knows Best! Because our Mickey FastPasses opened up and Mickey and Minnie were so impressed with Parker's shoes and Minnie bow that it ended up being a very fun time - on the floor, no less!



By this time World Showcase is open and off we go to enjoy the countries. We have a lot of Epcot days planned, so it was very nice to take it at an easy pace, do a little pin trading, some pictures, lunch at Katsura Grill (a great QS location - we'd never eaten there, but we definitely will again!), a few more pictures (friend not fully pictured as her Mom is not on this board):



And then it's off to Pick-A-Pearl! We had never done this, but I wanted a fun mother/daughter souvenir for our mother/daughter trip. My pearl is lovely - I got a 7.25" and chose the flower necklace - I am very partial to daisies - and Parker chose the rare blue pearl! Less than 5% are this color - she was so happy and chose the Cinderella carriage for it (she wore it often this week for the princesses to oooh and ahhh over).



And now, snack time! Sadly, I had a list of places to try at Festival of the Arts and this was the only purchase we made. It just never worked out to sample the food - the only true disappointment of the trip. Parker wanted a popsicle and while I couldn't find one in the near vicinity, she was just fine with the Festival Pop Artsicle - it was so pretty!



For me, I had my own goal. During our October trip, it was a goal to try several different kinds of Disney cupcakes. For this trip, I decided to vary it up a bit and went for the Chocolate Mousse options (just none of the Festival mousse - so sad about this!). On this day, I got the Viking Mousse from Kringla in Norway and it was fabulous! So good, in fact, that I got it again (for breakfast!) on our last day! I gobbled up every bite and wished for more.

After our midday break we were off to 'Ohana for dinner! I'd eaten breakfast here twice, but never dinner. It was the one and only request by my friend for the entire week we were there. We were there a little over an hour before the fireworks and I requested a table by the window - request granted! You have to love it when that happens! This was the one and only time this week that I ordered an adult beverage - we were taking the monorail and when your adult to preschooler ratio is 1:1, there are days you just need a little something. For me, this is usually chocolate, but that had been fulfilled with the mousse, so the Lapu Lapu it is!



Isn't it pretty? Very sweet and tart with a bit of a kick. The meal was very good - no complaints - and the service was top notch and exactly what I expect of Disney. The only thing I didn't like was the dessert - everything I'd read said that this was the be-all, end-all of Disney desserts and I was done after a bite or two. I should've known better - I'm not a fan of bread pudding or anything with this similar consistency. Our family rule, however, is try before you judge. I went in with high expectations and while it didn't reach them, it certainly wasn't bad. And Wishes + dessert is always a must-do!

 

[iheartbelle87]

That is how I ended up with 2 Es too! Not after the doctor, but after my grandmother. I was the first granddaughter on both sides, so I was named after both of my grandmothers. My maternal grandmother's middle name was Lee and my paternal grandmother's middle name is Marie; so my parents named me Ashlee Marie.

I love that there are so many Ashlee's here lol! I was one of 8 in my grade in school, but the only one with this spelling. I'm named after the doctor who delivered me - his middle name is Lee. My parents ran through all names ending in Lee (I'm forever grateful they didn't go with Emilee - that's a lot of E's!).

Hi other Ashlees!! I got the spelling bc my mom's name is Tammy Lee, and her best friends name was Nancy Lee and her daughters are Miranda Lee and Tiffany Lee. Unfortunately, Nancy passed away when I was a child leaving her two girls behind. Then three years ago Miranda Lee passed away at age 28 unexpectedly. I never liked the spelling of my/our names but now I think I might carry on the tradition!

And that Lapu Lapu? I need it. Now.

 

[AshleeH]

Hi other Ashlees!! I got the spelling bc my mom's name is Tammy Lee, and her best friends name was Nancy Lee and her daughters are Miranda Lee and Tiffany Lee. Unfortunately, Nancy passed away when I was a child leaving her two girls behind. Then three years ago Miranda Lee passed away at age 28 unexpectedly. I never liked the spelling of my/our names but now I think I might carry on the tradition!

And that Lapu Lapu? I need it. Now.

I love when names have such special meanings!

The Lapu Lapu was so good! Definitely recommended - I don't drink alcohol often, but this was so good, I would get it again.

 

[AshleeH]

Part of Your World...

Day 2: Up where they stay all day in the sun.


Our goals for this day were: Magic Kingdom & Epcot, Crystal Palace breakfast, Be Our Guest lunch, meeting Cinderella, Elena, Stepsisters, Fairy Godmother, Ariel, Anna, Elsa, Snow White.

The day has arrived that is always the best moment of any trip: the first day at Magic Kingdom! What is it about walking through those gates and rounding that corner to see the castle for the first time? I'm not one to tear up at the sight, but it always makes me smile - the nostalgia alone should make you smile, but the pure artistry and fairytale aspect of it is just stunning.

Good morning, Disney World!



If you can't tell from the angle of that picture, we had a PPO breakfast ADR at Crystal Palace. This is a fairly consistent ADR for us - we love the food and while my kids aren't crazy about Winnie the Pooh and friends, they do love meeting characters and it's always a good time. But first, I have an agenda. I always have a hyper-structured itinerary before we leave, though I'm much more go-with-the-flow if it doesn't happen while we're there, and I had an idea for a fun souvenir that I wanted to pick up.

So before checking in at CP, I stop at the CM who is manning the button cart on Main Street and she is kind enough to make my idea a reality:



It is a mother/daughter trip, after all! And we were definitely celebrating! We wore these buttons most of the week - although near the end, it was my backpack wearing it, but since I was consistently wearing my backpack, still counts!

First must-do marked off my checklist and now we are off to check in at CP (with a few picture stops along the way).

As I said, my kids never care much for Pooh (although I used to be a diehard Eeyore fan!) but you'd never know it with the interactions we have!



Well, that's not entirely true. There was a period of time there where Pooh (and every furry character) elicited absolute terror in this child. We took her to Disneyland when she was barely 4 months old and Pooh was the very first character she ever smiled at - she loved him (and we got her a stuffed Pooh to commemorate the moment). Alas, this did not last - her following vacation (to WDW at 18 months old) was a vastly different experience! Stroll with me down memory lane...



This phase lasted for over a year (she wasn't crazy about the characters at age 2 on our Disney Cruise, but she wasn't quite as terrified, as long as they kept their distance). Thankfully, during our October trip (the last picture in the collage) it was like a switch flipped! We were very cautious and warned her the characters would be there and she didn't have to meet them (she was 3 at this time), but she practically ran into Pooh's arms! It was definitely a turning point - she met nearly every character on that trip - and on this recent one - except the Beast and Baloo. Those two seem to really intimidate her, but I don't blame her. She was also a little apprehensive whenever she met Goofy this time around - she liked him and got a picture with him, but didn't want a hug from him the way she did with every other character. Fine with me, I will take smiling and happiness over the middle picture, any day!

But I digress, so we enjoy our morning at Crystal Palace and the characters were wonderful, as usual. The highlight for Parker was probably Piglet - she loves when the characters "kiss" (or in Pluto's case, "lick") her and Piglet was the first on this trip to give her a kiss - thank goodness I had my camera ready! Something you should know about me, I actually prefer the candids to the standard smile-at-the-camera shots. I don't dislike those, but we have so many of those and I feel like the magic is in the memories - not the staged portraits (I still take them, but for Instagram or posts like this, I tend to go for the sweet candid most of the time vs. the classic pose). It always makes me sad to see great character interactions happening at other tables and the parents are too concerned with getting their kid to turn and smile at them, rather than just taking pictures of the sparkling smiles while they are talking to the character. Just my personal preference, but I'm so happy I have so many of these types of pictures with my family over the years:



After breakfast was our second most pressing reservation of the day: The Pirate's League! We did Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique in October (with plans to do it again on this trip) but today we were meeting Ariel as a mermaid, so how fitting is it to do the mermaid makeover that day? I have mixed feelings about this - we got a very sweet CM who was in training and she did a good job, but my friend and her daughter got a clearly more experienced CM and her daughter had such a gorgeous, dramatic, teal-shaded look - this one looked watered down by comparison. It was cute, she was happy, Ariel was impressed, but between not being overly thrilled with the results and the fact that it was mostly powders (so rubbed off when she napped) it seemed like a lot of money to spend for a couple of hours. BBB, you can at least attempt to make it last a few days. I don't know if we'll do it again, but never say never - and I would definitely request a more dramatic look next time, because you only live once. Nevertheless, my daughter was happy and it was a very pretty little makeover - my friend thought they were trying to match her eyes, which would be a valid color choice. I certainly wasn't unhappy with it - just not as impressed as I thought I would be (if it had lasted until bedtime, I would look at it in a much more favorable light!).



I may be a bit biased, but it's hard for this kid to NOT look cute, no matter the color emphasis .

We had a FP to meet Mermaid Ariel and she loved seeing other mermaids visit her! Parker got shy and refused to say a word, so Ariel surmised that the sea witch must have stolen her voice. This led to one of our biggest laughs of the trip, when we were leaving and Parker - from across the Grotto - yelled "Bye!" and Ariel gasped and pointed and yelled, "She talked!"



*Note* Ariel the Mermaid met the Mermaid Ariel doll!

At this point, we'd also ridden a few rides and we were all getting a little tired. We had ADRs for lunch at BOG and then a few more Fastpasses - including one to meet Cinderella. So it's time to break out the backpack and dig out the princess dress for this particular Meet and Greet.



As you can see in this picture, the Mermaid makeup was already rubbed away, for the most part. She had napped in the stroller and it did not fare well. I'd attempted to intentionally smear it and the effect wasn't too bad. I'd hoped it would last through Epcot that night (I arranged for this to be the Elsa meet and greet so the makeup could double as an ice-like look, and I think that did work out well). The picture is Parker showing Cinderella her new Cinderella Pumpkin Coach necklace (pictured on the Day 1 post).

After this, it was time to head back to the hotel for a break. Day 3 promised to be very busy, so we wanted to make sure we had a break this day, because there wouldn't be time for one tomorrow.

Three things from our Daily Goals that did not happen: Stepsisters, Fairy Godmother, Snow White. The first two, because it was just time to leave MK - the last, because we got to Epcot too late and Snow White was no longer meeting. That didn't mean our plans for Epcot were a bust though - the primary goal for that night was to meet Anna and Elsa! We tried to time it to get there right before the fireworks and that planned worked out beautifully. We waited (maybe) 10 minutes and got right in to meet them (with time to jump in line for Frozen Ever After four minutes before closing). As always, Anna and Elsa are an amazing meet and greet. It's one that I personally enjoy and when someone asked me why, it's a very clear reason: While Cinderella and Elena or Rapunzel and Tiana might chitchat a little bit, Anna and Elsa have such a rapport with each other - they laugh, they talk, they joke, they yell things back and forth. It's such a sisterly back-and-forth, I enjoy witnessing it every time my daughter wants to see them.



*Note* The Elsa doll made it to meet Elsa! Three down, countless dolls to go (but it is a fun goal).