Sistafriends Took on the World!

[princess~yo]

We're back! I am so ready to book our next trip...I wanna go back next week!

Here's the Pre-Trip Report complete with introductions, itenerary, and mickey-head tee shirt pix.


Day One: 3-17-07

Well, actually, let's back it up a bit. Day Zero. Picked up Tam from work and Poohchik from the airport, spent over 6 hours in the van that day, felt like a practice run for the long haul on St. Pat's day.

Day 1:
The drive went smoother than expected. I took the first leg ~yawn~, Left the driveway around 3am, and made it well into Georgia before the sun rose. We made it to the Florida welcome center and enjoyed fresh orange juice...and then Poohchik noticed them refilling the jug with a carton of juice. If it's packaged in FL I guess it's considered 'fresh', right? It was by the Florida Welcome sign that I mentioned something about the palm trees, and Gabs confidently assured me that "those palm trees aren't real." It took some convincing and explaining that the wood supports helped the trees stay upright, and that they were REAL palm trees.

At the Florida Turnpike we stopped at the rest stop and enjoyed Dunkin donuts and Starbucks before letting the girls in on the big surprise. We took Disney princess castle gift bags, one for each girl and put in Disney dollars, a homemade autograph book, and the tie-dyed Mickey head shirts I made. We told them that we didn't get the hotel at the beach for seven days like we had wanted, but that we found somewhere else to stay instead. I handed them the bags and told them that they might find this stuff useful where we were going.

Believe it or not, we didn't get the screaming fits that we expected. They took out the shirts and smiled, and then looked at the Dis $$ with confusion ("What's this?" they later asked) and then looked at the autograph books (with Mickey heads all over the covers) and still it hadn't sinked in. I suggested to karategirl to read the inside cover of the book out loud - "Our first trip to Disney World" and still no screaming hysteria. They got excited, but it took a little bit of coaxing and reassuring before they thought it was 'real'. They were so surprised they just didn't believe it! (Later in the trip another surprise gave us the happy surprise screams we were looking for...keep reading )

We checked into the All Star Music, given our room in Jazz - and LOVED the room. Two bathrooms, a fridge, a view of the fountain and a Minnie towel head on the bed...so perfect. It was about 6ish before we first walked into Magic Kingdom...such a magical moment for us all. The girls saw the castle for the first time and asked if that's really where they filmed Cinderella.

That first night we wanted to do BTMR, and so walked over there just to hear a CM say it wasn't running. We started to get FP for it, but some foreign gentlemen sprinkled a little pixie dust our way and gave us HIS FP since they were about to leave the park. Our first ride we went on is Pirates, and everyone pretty much loved it. Gabs didn't like the first part with the mist, but she recovered pretty quickly. Jack Sparrow looked so life-like on that ride I decided to forget the souvies, I want to take HIM home!

We did BTMR, and we ALL enjoyed that one. Gabs sat with Poohchik, and by the look on her face I really didn't think she was liking it, but when we got off she was grinning and when asked agreed that she'd like to do it again. We did Dumbo next, a classic and a memorable moment for us all. The iconic Disney ride, and while I will agree that's it just as thrilling as a ride at the county fair, it is SO much more than that. My kids riding Dumbo? - that's the moment it was real, we were really at Disney World.

We used CS credits for dinner at Cosmic Ray's. It took us a few minutes to figure out how the lines worked, but the food was delicious and so filling that we packed the desserts back to the hotel with us for later. The little girls had chicken strips and us big girls enjoyed yummy cheeseburgers.

Buzz Lightyear was next, another one that everyone enjoyed. Loved the atmosphere and the giant Buzz in the lobby.

Poohchik and Gabs went to ride Winnie the Pooh and Tam, karategirl and I went on Snow White's Scary Adventures. When we met back up, Poohchik and Gabs couldn't help but tell us everything about the supercute Pooh ride. Karategirl walked off of Snow White and said that "it wasn't scary at all!"

We did see a little bit of SpectroMagic that first night. Walking from one thing to another, the girls decided that we would do parades the second day and just do rides the first night. But when we started walking past the crowd and found a not-so-crowded spot, we couldn't help but watch for a bit. The most magical moment of that first night was when Gabs, up in Tam's arms, saw Cinderella for the first time. Her eyes lit up and mine teared up to see her so awed by her favorite princess. From that point on, she would talk and talk about meeting Cinderella. At this point, the girls had no idea they had character meals in store.

Looking back, it doesn't seem that we did a lot that first night. We did arrive late, and although we didn't do a lot of rides we did a lot of looking and a fair bit of window shopping, too! Back to the hotel where we all fell into an exhausted sleep...knowing that we needed to get up early for Whispering Canyon Cafe. (Originally planned as the supercali bfast but changed so we wouldn't have a TS meal on our last, no-park day)

Pics to be added soon....
more later!

 

[allie_to_you]

I have gotten so into trip reports lately! They really keep my spirits up for our upcoming November trip! I'm sure you guys had a fantastic time! What fun -- an all girls trip, and I'm sure it was amazing seeing the looks on your DD's faces!

Keep it coming!

 

[princess~yo]

Day Two

Our first morning at WDW! Despite the excitement of being at the World, it still took some doing to get all five of us up and ready after the looong day we had the day before. (Thank goodness for the 2 bathroom suites!) We decided to drive into WL instead of having to wake up even earlier to catch the bus. So we walked into Whispering Canyon Cafe right at the time of our reservations. A family in front of us was seated with no waiting, though, so running later than expected didn't seem to matter that morning.

Let me say, if you haven't done WCC, you NEED to. LOVED it. Poohchick and the girls really didn't know what we were getting them into (sorry 'bout that, Poohchik!) but we all had a good time. Gabs ordered pancakes, Karategirl had eggs and sausage, and I ordered an omelet and taters. Yum. Tam had the all-you-care-to-eat skillet - man, I shoulda got that! LOVE the cute little Mickey waffle. I think Poohchik had an omelet, too, I can't remember. [Note to self - journal more next time!]

Our waitress was M.T. The gentlemen from the family next to us told us that he had asked what M.T. stood for - and she told them "More Trouble than what I'm worth." As she gave us menus she asked the girls if they had money. Gabs just looked at her, Karategirl mumbled No, and Poohchik said, a little confused, "Y-Yeah..." Our waitress shook her hand and said

"Hi, I'm M T Wallet, care to share some of that dough?"

At one point Poohchik walked outside to get something out of the van, and MT put a stack of napkins at her spot, telling us they were for our friend since she was so snotty. We were made to stand up and stretch, and do the hokey-pokey, and the girls did the hobby horse parade around the room. SO much fun. And we had Karategirl ask for ketchup. Priceless!

We had so much fun there. And we learned you don't have to be eating at WCC to be a part of the action. MT was making the moves on some guy at WL cause he was just standing there. For twenty minutes or so he hadn't moved, depite her best advances. I already have plans to go back there for dinner on our next trip! I just forgot to get a picture of the sign for my scrapbook, maybe I can find one online somewhere.

We drove back to the resort, parked the van and hopped on a bus to Animal Kingdom. The Tree is amazing. It's just not the same in pictures. We did NOT do ITTBAB, mainly because I have two bug-fearing children. The sight of a teeny spider is enough to 'bug' them out, so I didn't think that the show would be much fun for them this time around.

We had planned on striking straight out to Dinoland, but the character landing sign caught our eye. Pooh, Eeyore and Tigger would be down there for another 30 minutes or so - how could we resist? We didn't have to wait long at all, and then there we were...Poohchik was beside herself. She let the girls go first, and they got their pics and autographs...and then when it was her turn, she almost tackled him. It was so cute! The crowd all went 'aaaawwwwww' and later she would confidently state that she did NOT make a scene. Nope, not at all.

We went over to Eeyore next, and I took her book to get his autograph so I could get my pic taken with him. At this point I need to explain that I have spent the last two days croaking. Sinuses are aggravated and I didn't have my full voice back till day 4 or 5 of WDW. So when I went up to Eeyore for my picture, he took my book and pen and started writing. I saw the autographs he had given the girls - just his name - but when he started writing mine I couldn't read it upside down. When he finally handed it over he had written "Sorry your voice hurts Luv, Eeyore" How SWEET! I always knew I liked that little donkey! So after he blew me kisses and I got extra hugs I got my pic taken (Can't wait to buy that PhotoPass cd!) and it was on to Tigger.

Tigger played with the girls a little bit, he wouldn't give karategirl her pen back and made her jump for it... and we took a group pic with Tigger that came out perfectly.

It's the little moments like these that made the trip - and all the characters - so wonderful!

We headed to Dinoland after that, and did the Triceratops spin and got FastPasses for Primeval Whirl. We walked for a while, lookning around, got FP for Expedition Everest, had a yummy ice cream snack. Those orange juice bars were SO good.

Then we went back to PW. Poohchik and I went on it with Karategirl. She loves tilt-a-whirls, but hated the drops in this one. She turned white, and decided that she wasn't going to do ANYTHING with drops again this trip. She didn't want to go again, so I went on again with Tam and it's a cute, fun, quick ride.

We gave the girls the choice of doing Festival of the Lion King or Finding Nemo, and they chose Nemo. I can't say enough how much I LOVED this show. Now I will fully admit that I'm a softie. Any school program or prodcution that even HINTS of sadness or sweetness or true joy will make me tear up. Nemo is no exception. It was FABULOUS. The only thing I didn't like about it was the wait to get back out when we were done.

Poohchik isn't that much into shows (or Nemo, especially) so she spent the time when we were inside shopping. Or at least trying to shop. She saw a little girl with a cute little baby Pooh wrapped in a blanket. Her mom told Poohchik where they bought it, and she walked to that store. They didn't have one but told her she might find one in Rafiki's area. So, after realizing you have to ride the train to get there, she finally finds the store the CM was talking about, and they didn't have it either. They asked her why she didn't just have the first store call and ask. Well, if they would've mentioned they could, she would have. Anyway, she spent all afternoon wandering around looking for the Pooh that apparently doesn't exsist. *sigh*

After the show the girls and I explored the Boneyard - very cute - and then we made our way to Restaurantosaurus for happy meals and burgers. Yum. One meal I knew without a doubt that picky princess Gabs would eat for sure.

We split up and Poohchik and I went on Everest. WOO-HOO! What a rush! I love the backwards part. Love it love it love it. [You'll probably hear me gush about the big rides a lot - I am SO a coaster junkie!!]

We caught back up with Tam and the girls and then Tam and I used the other FP to ride again. I just love not having to wait in that long 'ol line.

Our original plan was to take a break at the hotel pool or just nap and then go to MK for the evening. When we were leaving AK, though, Mickey, Minnie and Goofy were there in safari gear and we got in line...only to have a meltdown. "I was there first" "No I was!"

I really wanted to get pics with the charc. in safari gear, but not at the expense of our sanity. It was time for a break for sure. We headed back to the hotel, for showers and down time. The girls played house in 'their' room of the suite and it was a nice relaxing evening for us all. We had eaten so much that day that we weren't really hungry, so we just snacked for dinner. The girls were so worn out they didn't even complain that we weren't going back to MK that night.

After getting the girls to bed, Tam and I headed down to the food court for a snack. And a drink. All I will say - Eddy can make a mean Long Island Ice Tea, and that the Sunken Treasure is now a new favorite of mine. Yumm-o!
Tam and I were a little reenergized at that point [what happens in Florida stays in Florida! ] So we headed back to MK EMH. We were waiting in the bus line for what felt like AGES before a bus came along. We giggled (yes, giggled!) at the tired faces coming home from MK, when we knew we were about to go BACK. The bus driver almost didn't let us on, until we reminded him that MK was open until 2. (It was about midnight) This was the best bus driver we had the entire time. He talked, and chatted, and talked some more. Finally we got to MK, and got our wristbands.

We walked on to Haunted Mansion - just as fun as I remembered from Disneyland. Then we headed to Space Mountain. The line was longer than we had hoped, and after we had been in it for about 10 minutes, they announced it was down. For possibly 30 minutes. We decided to stick it out, and every 5 minutes or so a group of people would leave, getting us that much closer to the front of the line. In about 30 minutes the ride reopened and we didn't have to wait but another 10 minutes or so to get on. Lucky me, I got to get in the first car! Omigosh, I loved it. It was SO worth the wait!

We went on BTMR next, and walked on to it twice. By the time we got off the ride the second time, our faces were frozen. But we were smiling!

We hung around for a while on Main Street, soaking up the magical quality the park has when it's empty. If only I had brought my camera! Ah, well, live and learn. The castle was gorgeous that night.

We made it back to the hotel, and completely crashed. Yes, I know it was a wise decision to go to bed at 3 am when we were planning to do early hours the next morning at AK. We were a *bit* tired that next morning!

Favorite pic of the day:

 

[princess~yo]

Day Three

Another gorgeous day at Disney. We woke up and ate bfast in the room, did the sunblock spray routine and headed out to AK. We didn't make it for opening (emh) but we were there less than 30 minutes after the park opened. We hightailed it to the safari first, much like so many others in the park. We didn't wait long, though, before we got to the loading. We got the first row in the Jeep, and though I was worried the cab would be in the way of many of the pics, that really wasn't the case.

The favorite of most of us was the elephants... but many of the animals were out running about and grazing. SO glad that we did the safari in the morning.

We did the walking trails after that,The meerkats were sitting on a rock watching (insert correct animal name here) running around. Too cute. Sorry, blanked on the animal, maybe looking at the pics later will refresh my memory. We did a kidcot fun stop where the girls got little books to fill with stamps.

We all went to Festival of the Lion King, and were again WOWED by the show. Gabs especially got into it, dancing and singing and jumping around on poor Tam's lap. We were happy to be in the elephant section. One plus to the FoTLK as opposed to Nemo - they seat you right away instead of making everyone wait in line outside. Much appreciated!

We spent some time shopping, and thought about waiting in line see the characters in Camp Minnie/Mickey but nobody seemed enthusiastic about standing in lines at the time. So we shopped - no luck finding the baby Pooh again.

We lucked out and saw Stitch without a lot of kids in line, and got to take pics and do autographs. Wandered around a bit, and got some cute pics of little things around the parks. Like trash cans, benches, and Donald's heinie. LOL I'm not strange, am I, for loving this pic so much?

And as lunchtime approached we thought about doing the Tusker House, but the line was long and the girls were hungry, so we decided to go back to the food court at ASMu. Tam and I had seen a woman eating the chicken and penne alfredo the other day and it looked delicious, so we wanted to try that.

Tam and Poohchik tried the chicken and penne (I tried it too, yummy!) and I decided on the Chicken Ceaser salad, which was also yummy. The girls had chicken strips and the ubiquitous grapes and applesauce. Gabs will not eat grapes, and karategirl won't eat black ones so Tam and I enjoyed them instead. We went back to the room, relaxed for just a few minutes, and then freshened up to go to Norway for dinner. Gabs wore her Cindy dress, and we all changed into jeans (having learned our lesson about how cold it can get that first night - brrrrr) I made gabs wear pants under her dress (bad mom!) but I rolled them up so they were our little secret. I knew that she would brighten back up once we were on the move again. (At this point the girls still do not realize that characters will be at dinner)


well, time for real life dinner, so I'll try to get back to this tonight. See ya later!

 

[lamagique]

I'm loving this trip report so far! And that last picture of your kids is precious!

 

[princess~yo]

Day 3, continued

We went down to wait for a bus, and realized that we didn't have as much time as we thought we did. So when we got to Epcot karategirl and I hurried ahead to pick up our stroller. It's a lifesaver when you need to book it through the park.

We made it to Norway and waited around for our name to be called. When it was finally our turn, we got in line to see Aurora and the girls were so tickled that we get to meet her in person. The pictures, by the way, came out so good we just had to buy them.

Dinner, for me at least, was pretty good. The buffet was a hit with all but Gabs, who did not find ONE thing on there she would eat. She's picky, and is starting to come out of it, but doesn't like lunch meat and is particular about her bread and veggies. So she basically waited for the entree before she ate!

Gabs ordered the pizza, and didn't eat much but I think it was the excitement rather than flavor that caused that. Karategirl got the pasta with meatballs, and wasn't too impressed with it. I picked the Kjottkake, which I still can't pronounce, and thought it was really good. Kinda like a meatloaf, and the potatoes were yummy. Tam ordered the braised beef short rib. The ribs were great, but the sides were pretty grim. Poohchik got the baked salmon, and from what I remember wasn't too impressed with it, either.

On the other hand, the character interaction was great. Snow White came first, and then Ariel. They were both nice enough to sign extra postcards for us (for a friend at home that had been very sick). Belle was next (my favorite princess!!) and was wonderful. Karategirl asked her what her favorite book was and she talked to her for a minute - "Oh, I don't know there's so many!" she finally told her that it would have to be Rapunzel. Belle was wonderful, and beautiful, and I wish I had thought to have MY pic taken with her too. Ah, well. Cinderella came next, and while she didn't seem to be as wonderfully attentive as some of the others, she was friendly and didn't seem to mind when Gabs didn't want to let her go. Gabs was SO excited to meet her, and still talks about it every day.

Dessert was pretty good. The only thing on the plate we didn't finish was the rice cream. The lingonberry cheesecake was FANTASTIC. The chocolate cake/torte thing was good, too. But the cheescake was awesome. (The pic turned out a little dark, though.)

After dinner we wandered around Mexico for a while. The girls started their masks and got a passport stamp from Mexico. (Unfortunately we never got around to the other countries for a stamp in the back of their books. Next time!) We found a good viewing spot for IllumiNations and settled in to wait for it. Again, we found something at Disney that was well worth the wait. One of the things that I found hilarious, not sure if everyone around us did though, was Gabs reaction to the pretty fireworks. She loves to watch them in any shape and size. Everytime a loud one or a pretty one boomed, she screamed. A loud, high-pitched, short scream. More like a surprised squeal. It sounded like they scared her, but she was grinning. Too stinkin cute. The entire time I was thinking, "if only I had my tripod!"

We took the long way around after the fireworks. We were in Mexico, and walked around the WS to get out instead of straight to FW to get out. We wanted to soak up the atmosphere, and didn't care to wait with hundreds of other bus riders. It was worth it. I got some good pics and enjoyed seeing Epcot, even if it was dark at the time.

We caught the bus to MGM for emh. Poohchik and I headed to Tower of Terror and the girls went with Tam. We waited in line for ToT, the whole time just a teeny bit nervous. Like I have said, I am a total coaster junkie. The faster, the loopier the better. I haven't ever been on a freefall ride like ToT, though, where you don't know when and how you'll fall. I had no idea of what the ride would be like - in fact we both held on from the very beginning, thinkin we were going to fall right away, not knowing about the hallway thingy you went through first. I had a tiny little doubt in my mind - will I get sick? - but Poohchik was even more nervous than I was. Finally we went on it, and IT ROCKS! What a RUSH! During the falls and rises, something wooshed by our faces again and again. It wasn't until afterwards we realized that someone had dropped a park map and it was that flying into our faces. Poohchik had been certain it was a bat that flew in when the doors were open. It terrified us both, I think!

We did the RNR coaster next - and what can I say, but it ROCKED, too! Loved that first woosh of speed, love the loop, love the music. Just hated that it was over so soon. When we got out of there, we only had a few minutes left of emh (ToT was a long wait) so we went right back on RNR and enjoyed the woosh again.

In the meantime, Tam took the girls to Voyage of the Mermaid, which received high reviews from them all. Then they went to Playhouse Disney Dance Party...and had the time of their lives. Mickey, Chip n Dale, Minnie, Donald, Daisy, JoJo, Goofy and others were all there, partying and dancing and having a grand time. The girls waited in line for a balloon animal, and the guy had to take a break before they got theirs. Instead of grumbling or leaving line like so many others, they stood there and patiently waited for 15-20 minutes for the guy to return. When he got back, he told Tam that the girls were so well behaved, in fact the best behaved children he has seen. Instead of the ordinary balloon animals we was making for everyone else, he made them some awesome animals. Tam saw some little girls with butterflies and unicorns, but none were as intricate as the ones he made for the girls. Apparently he took SO long on their animals the parents in line behind them were grumbling about it.

Tam and the girls made it back to the hotel before we did, and when I checked on them they looked so peacefully exhausted in their sleep.

Picture of the day...Three amigos. (I'm in the front)

 

[princess~yo]

I'm loving this trip report so far! And that last picture of your kids is precious!

Aww, thank you!

 

[belle8306]

I am enjoying your trip report. Your shirts are really cute. Were they hard to make?

 

[princess~yo]

I am enjoying your trip report. Your shirts are really cute. Were they hard to make?

Here's a thread that explains the process...and links to other threads, too. It wasn't as difficult as I had expected, actually. The more careful you are in the prep work, the better they'll turn out.

 

[princess~yo]

day 4 (Edited to add magical moment!)

This was the biggie...starting the day with Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. Again we were running not late, necessarily, but not early like we had planned. [Hmm, sensing a pattern here?] We were given the royal pager and wandered around the store for just a few minutes until Princess Gabby was called. My other Princess started a little bit later. They LOVED the BBB. It was all about the royal treatment. They loved that they got to pick their own hairstyle and makeup choices.


Love this pic with both of them...

The Fairy Godmothers In Training that worked on them did such a good job. I was amazed that they had a hair extension that matched DD9's red hair so well. I was not surprised, though, to see them use a gallon of hairspray on each of them. I'm glad they did, though, the styles stayed in for two days and would have stayed longer if the girls hadn't decided they wanted to take them down.

After getting all princessed up, we went over to the photopass studio and took a TON of pictures. This is the main reason I want to buy the PhotoPass cd - we previewed the pics and they are gorgeous. (I will add a few of them here later!)

ETA:
While we were off shopping, a CM asked the girls if they wanted to play a game. Of COURSE! I said. Nothing extravagant, they just had to name as many Disney characters from a picture as they can. After Gabs got over being shy, she was able to help sister name them all. They didn't get a 'prize' but they did get magical moments certificates...which were just as good as far as I was concerned! (Not that I would have minded a stay in the suite, mind you!)

We had planned to jet right over to MGM that day, but a downpour kept us in World of Disney. So we wandered and shopped and found Goofy's Candy Co. YUMMY. Thanks to the DIS we knew that chocolate covered rice krispie mickey heads were considered snacks on the DDP, so we bought four of those and a covered marshmallow for Poohchik and headed back to the hotel.

Those Mickey heads are so yummy...but SO rich. I barely managed to eat the ears off of mine before I had to put it away. But man was it a treat!

Then it was time to tell the girls exactly why they had their hair done that morning. When I told them that we were eating at the castle, I finally got the over-the-top enthusiastic response I imagined. "No WAY!" DD9 said. Her jaw was wide open. Gabs just started bouncing in her seat...her version of a happy dance. They wasted no time in getting washed and ready to go to MK after that announcement!

We cleaned up the girls, touched up the makeup and headed to MK so we could ride or look around for awhile before dinner at the castle.

We got to MK and decided to ride the train over to Toon Town. We lucked out, because as soon as we pulled into our station we saw Jasmine standing there with only a few people in line. She was so sweet. She made a fuss about how pretty karategirl looked, and then told CinderellaGabs that she would come up later and visit her in her castle. Gabs really got a kick outta that one.

We walked through Mickey's house next. I love the quilt and the garden, every little detail just screamed "MICKEY". When we finally got to meet the big guy he gave our little princess a kiss. (Later Gabs would see matching Minne and Mickey outfits and declare that she'd rather wear the Mickey one because he kissed her.) Surely a moment that we'll never forget. I tease her still about how she's lucky Minnie wasn't around to get jealous.

We walked through Minnies house, hoping to get lucky and see her as well, but no luck there. Then we started to wait in the judges tent line. Gabs and I waited in one while the other went to another. Gabs got bored and hot and tired, deciding she'd rather play outside in the little playground. We were just about to leave the line anyway when someone mentioned that Chicken Little was right around the corner. That perked up Gabs - she LOVES that movie. So we hopped out of line and got her pic taken with CL. What a cute little fella. In the meantime, karategirl met Donald and Daisy, and met Chicken Little on their way out.

Gabs and I were in the playground when they came out. We debated going on the Barnstormer but didn't want to take the chance of the line lasting longer than the posted time - we headed over to the castle for dinner instead. We made a few stops along the way...we took a few minutes to play and take pics in Pooh's playground, we went to see the giant in the rafters in one shop and to look for Tink in Tinkerbells Treasures.

We got the the castle and were allowed into the the seating area pretty quickly. Very exclusive and posh, indeed. Loved the pictures that the girls got with Cinderella...so precious. When we were seated Gabs pointed to the empty chair at our table and said she was saving that one for Cinderella. Bless her little heart! I explained that she wouldn't be sitting there; that she had met us downstairs and has other important princess things to do that night. She was okay, though, after I told her Fairy Godmother just might show up.


The hard pretzel rolls were delicious. I really would love to be able to mail order those - or bake them myself. SO yummy. The BLT salads we ordered as appetizers was good, but not much substance there. I was surprised that it was plain ol iceburg lettuce. I would have expected something a little greener, perhaps romaine, endive, something.

For the entree both girls ordered chicken - one grilled and the other strips. When they came, they traded, and both were happy with the meal. Poohchik ordered the roasted chicken, and said it was okay but it wasn't as fantastic as she would have expected. Tam and I both ordered the prime rib...my mouth is watering thinking about it now. We both devoured it. Fantastic.

The time slot we went to was also the meal which the Cinderellas suite winners ate at. Let me tell you, I can prove it's totally random...the winners that night were four college guys. They weren't dumb, though, they took full advantage of the meal and prizes...but they did leave the minute the 'show' part of dinner was over. Enough of the castle, I wonder, or just whisked off to the next activity?

We enjoyed the show. Suzy and Perla were adorable, but we were dissappointed that they covered only half the room so we only got to really meet one of them. Our table was by the wall where FG says her goodbyes, so I had to turn and crank my neck to see her, but it was like front row seats for the girls.

Dessert was delicious, too. The girls both had the crown sundaes and we all had the blueberry buckle. It's amazing I didn't gain 20 lbs that week enjoying all the fantastic desserts and meals. Really.

As we left, Poohchik and I asked for our very own wands - the ladies at the table next to us each had them, but only the girls had gotten one from our table. They handed three extra over without a question so we could all have wands to do a little magic with.

Here we get to the rant-on-a-soapbox part of this episode. I LOVED the dinner at the castle, was floating on air the entire time, and we were all from the experience. And then we stepped outside into a nightmare of a parade crowd.

We couldn't leave by way of the back side of the castle...they were setting up for fireworks. We tried to get through with a stroller and gave up on that pretty quickly. We finally abandoned ship and left the stroller where it sat and tried to follow the slow flow of one little line of traffic. It didn't go far before the ones in front of us got stuck, trapping us too.

Normally I love the parades, but we had seen part of this one last night and the clowns at the beginning were kinda creepy. We were happy and full, and wanted to go on rides while everybody else was busy watching the parade. Feeling more than a little claustrophobic, (and sharing the opinions of several other castle dinner-goers caught in the same mess) we hopped the fence rather clumsily with all the bags we were carrying, I might add. We walked across the grassy area (sorry, Disney, you left us no choice!) and hopped over the fence on the other side, escaping to Frontierland.

Now, a few things that could have prevented this...
A back way out for castle eaters that don't want to do the parade...
An escort through the fireworks part for those leaving the castle that didn't want to do the parade (provided there was enough time to get them all the way across - there was still over 45 minutes before fireworks were due to start!)
A longer roped off walkway or CM's around to help keep it clear so it wouldn't feel like sardines.

*deep breath*
Sorry 'bout that. Had I known about this particular issue, we could have scheduled dinner for a different time perhaps. Or at least wouldn't have been taken off guard by it all. I'm not trying to sound cranky, but not everyone does well in such big crowds...especially little girls like Princess Gabs. That really was the only thing about our entire Disney experience (with the exception of one bus driver that wasn't polite OR careful) that I can say wasn't up to par. I'm off the soapbox now, thanx for letting me vent.

After we escaped the crowd, we went riding. We did Winnie-the-Pooh, It's a Small World, Peter Pan's Flight, the Carosel, and Mickey's PhilharMagic. We almost didn't do the PhilharMagic. We were walking by, and I noticed it only said 10 minutes (earlier it had been much longer!) and I suggested we try it out. Even Tam hadn't seen it yet. So we wait, and wait, and it feels like much longer than 10 minutes. Wondering if it's worth the wait, as we are all getting a little tired. Oh, boy, was it worth it!

It is superb. The girls (and I!) were reaching out for Donald and blown away by the effects of it all. It was wonderful! So glad we didn't just walk right by it, it was one of my favorites of the trip!

Poohchik, the girls and I rode Dumbo again...and tam went over to the Emporium to go shopping...and found the baby Pooh we had searched everywhere for! yay! We all spent a little bit of time and a *snort* little bit of money there before we headed back to the hotel.

As we walked back to the room, the pool looked SO inviting to our tired feet. I went against my mommy instincts and let them go swimming at 11:30pm. That's something they'd never get to do at home!

Tam and Poohchik went to get us some frozen yumminess at the Singing Spirits and I sat on the pools edge with my feet hanging over, watching the girls. They wanted to still be princessified the next morning, so they were pretty careful about keeping their hair dry. Karategirls was clipped up and didn't get a drop, but the back of Gab's head was pretty much soaked. A little (or a LOT) of hairspray the next morning fixed it up without a problem, though. Tam joined me at the edge of the pool and we stayed in as long as we could tolerate the teenyboppers that kept running back and forth between the kiddie pool and the big kid pool and not caring who they splashed. What's spring break, though, without teenagers around? I'm not picking on all teens, I promise!

All in all it had been a terrific day, but we were all glad to climb into bed that night!


Picture of the Day...Group Shot!

 

[Peace Mickey Lovers]

Loving your trip report, can't wait from more!!!! What a great trip report! Gives me a great idea to do this trip with my sister and our girls, just waiting a little while to do it as I have 2 girls 4 and 6 and she has 1 who is 5 and is expecting 2 more in July! Yes the unexpected identical girl twins!!!

 

[UGAFan0829]

I am loving your TR! I think I may be a little partial though, because I'm a redhead too! Your girls are too cute! Thanks for sharing, and I'm ready to read more!!

 

[MamaLema]

I am really enjoying your trip report!

 

[belle8306]

I am enjoying your report!

 

[princess~yo]

Thanks for reading, everyone! Sorry it took so long...but here we go again...

Day 5

Our last park day. (sniffle sniffle) Woke up with the plan of seeing and doing as much as we could on our last day in the parks. Headed to MGM after poptarts and honey buns for breakfast (Wow, what wonderful eating habits we had at WDW! ) We hightailed it for RNR and ToT...got 4 fast passes for ToT but the Rock N Roller FP return time was already way into the evening when we knew we wouldn't be around. We spent most of the morning shopping and wandering...and waiting for the High School Musical pep rally. Let me tell you - if you want to see, get there early and don't stand in the area that has to move up after the float goes by. The crowd was already lined up, so we stood as close as we could - and when the crowd moved up we tried to, but tall people in front of us prevented us from seeing a thing. Karategirl had been REALLY looking forward to this. So we decided to hit the next showing early enough to get a front row seat in one of the sections that wouldn't have to move for the float until AFTER the show. We wandered over to the Star Tours (but never did get on the ride) and shopped some more... ...and then karategirl and I went back to the hat to stake our claim for the good seats. Tam and Gabs met us there a bit later. (Poohchik was off shopping ) And boy did we get 'em. Front and center, not a single person in front of us. We did let some of the kids in the crowd behind us sit next to the girls so they could see, too. LOVED the pep rally. It was energetic and fun, and interactive. They threw basketballs into the crowd and carried around these big hoops so everyone in the front had a chance to score...and all the kids in the front were supposed to get up and dance at the end. Unfortunately, it started to sprinkle a few minutes into the pep rally and they had to cut it short. We saw most of it, from what I understand, but I had been looking forward to watching the girls get up and dance. Ah, well.

We hid under the hat for a minute or two, expecting a downpour...that didn't really come. We called and decided to meet Poohchik at Pizza Planet and ducked down an alley to get there...only to find Sully there taking pictures. We couldn't pass him up, now could we?

Pizza Planet was yummy. I'm surprised that Gabs didn't turn into a pizza-flavored chicken nugget while we were at WDW, as much pizza and ckn she ate while we were there! The girls liked the pizza, and loved the atmosphere. Definitely have to rate it as a hit for the entire group.

Poohchik decided that she would let Tam and I use both sets of FP for ToT, so her and the girls went one way (and tried out the arcade at pizza planet) and Tam and I hurried across the park to ride Tower. Twice. And the second time around, I had planned on begging to see if I could wait until the next group so I could try out the front (but it's my first time at WDW and we're about to leave!) but we lucked out and got in the front without even asking! I LOVE that ride. That last time we rode it I managed to not hold on to the bar every single second, too!

After ToT we looked at the time and decided that it was time to head over to Epcot. So we added Beauty and the Beast sad2: ) the backlot tour and Muppets to our 'next time' list and caught a ferry. We knew at this point that we wanted to make it a quick trip through Epcot - we had a couple of specific things we wanted to see but know at this point we might as well just add everything else to the 'next time' list, too.

The ferry ride was a great break. We got seats in the open air in the back, enjoying the cool breeze and looking at all the different resorts along the way. Gabs pouted because she didn't get to sit on the outside...but it only lasted for a few stops until the other end of the bench cleared out. Here's Tink helping Gabs express her feelings...

As we got off the ferry and into Epcot, we were accosted by Chip and Dale. One of them, Dale, I think, got a little frisky with Tam. Just don't tell her hubby!

We headed off to France...and Poohchik and Tam mysteriously dissappeared while I was taking pic after pic in Belle's library. Even without her there, it was a special place for me. I had an inkling of where I might find my wayward companions...just follow the scent of fine wines. Sure enough, they had just finished (how many??) glasses and were kind enough to let me have one, too. We walked out and saw a photopass photographer, and just had to get photographic evidence that we had gone to France. Poohchik still had a champagne glass in her hand, and both of the girls had their eyes squinting due to the sunlight. The pic really does suggest that we ALL got a little tipsy in France!

So, we made it out of France without getting arrested, and made our way to another drink stop we all wanted to see...Club Cool. Talk about a sugar rush! Poohchik and I were brave (or stupid?) enough to try Beverly... gag. Nasty chick, that Beverly is. I liked the watermelon one the best, I think. I snapped a pic of karategirl in front of the machines, not noticing until later that Poohchik was in the back gagging on one of the drinks...I'm suspecting it may have been Beverly. Priceless shot, this one.

After we all had more than our fill of sticky sweet drinks and sticky gross floors, we left Club Cool and had to go shoping again. Mousegears is one cool store. We took our photopass pic in front of the 'big ball' as Gabs called it, and headed back to the hotel for a QUICK freshen-up before dinner at Crystal Palace.

And, this is where the story ends for tonight. I'll be back soon with a review of the dinner...and of course, more pics!

 

[Glendamax]

Favorite pic of the day:

LOVE LOVE LOVE this pic! I hope you framed it and have it somewhere in your house!

Glad I stumbled upon your report! I've never been to Club Cool. I have to find it the next time I go. I really think that DISers who have been there will think twice about naming their daughters "Beverly"!

 

[princess~yo]

LOVE LOVE LOVE this pic! I hope you framed it and have it somewhere in your house!

Glad I stumbled upon your report! I've never been to Club Cool. I have to find it the next time I go. I really think that DISers who have been there will think twice about naming their daughters "Beverly"!

Thanky! Yep, I've got a framed one by my scrapbook desk, and ya know I'm gonna have one in my scrapbook!

Yeah, it really has given the name Beverly a bad rap

 

[princess~yo]

and now back to the story....
Day 5 continued

We headed back to MK. We wanted a Photopass pic taken in front of the flower Mickey at the front...and the photopass guy was like "hurry! hurry!" So we hurried into place, click click click ...he got our photo just as the train was pulling into the station...the engine was right behind us. Too perfect.

Next we made it over to Crystal Palace. What a beautiful building. I love the atmosphere of the place, it's elegantly casual, and the food was so good. Everyone found something they liked to eat...and I found the pork in adobo more than I should've. Yummy yummy. Like so many times before, we left the place stuffed to the gills.

We saw Tigger, and Eeyore again. The hostess mentioned to us that there would be a celebration parade around the dining room at 7, and to make sure we were still there for that. Piglet led the parade on our side of the restaurant, and Gabs and her big sis jumped up to enjoy the fun. After they sat back down, Piglet came over to see us. Gabs told me that she thought he'd be smaller. Poohchik got to see her main squeeze again, when he was behind us at another table, her hand just kinda jumped out there (she didn't touch him, I promise!) and we got a picture of her groping Pooh. That picture was taken for her boyfriend who's a little jealous that she's here with Pooh and not with him. Too funny.

We left Crystal Palace after seeing all the characters and eating as much as we could (probably more than we should have!) It was just getting dark...it wasn't terribly crowded, and we were able to get on a few rides while everyone else was still parade watching.

That night we did Peter Pan, Aladdin's Carpets, Jungle Cruise, PotC. we split up once again so Poohchik could try Space Mountain, so Tam and the girls went over and did Goofy's Barnstormer while we did SM. Let me tell you a little story that's all about karma.

Poohchik and I get to the part where you go left or right. They let some in from the FP line, and then us...and when we stepped up, a woman, her friend and a little boy cut right in front of us. Before I could bite my tongue I said "Ex Cuse ME? We were here." She turned, waved her fake nails in my face and said something along the lines of "well I've got a kid" I'm not about to start a feud in WDW...so we didn't say another word to her but I was thinkin the whole time about how some people just don't have manners anymore. Really, what is she teaching her kid?? So we get closer to the front of the line...there's still 8 people in front of us. The CM asks for double or single riders - US - and we get to cut to the front of the line. The rude woman didn't get on until two cars after us. Moments like that make me believe that the universe is really in balance sometimes.

Loved the ride again, of course, and so did Poohchik. I think she still liked RNRC better, though.

Here's the part where you get to laugh at me and Poohchik....go ahead....I'm still laughing at myself. We called Tam and decided that we'd meet at the teacups. Poohchik and I thought we knew where they were without consulting a map...we headed out the wrong way and took the LONG way around. Instead of just walking down the street and getting there in a couple of minutes, we went down by the castle and back up the other way.
We just about fell over laughing when we got there, looked down the street and realized what we had done. But Poohchik and I got a good photopass pic of us by the lit up castle though.

We rode the teacups just as they closed the rides down. A perfect 'last' ride. We spent some time shopping and looking around as we meandered back out of the park...I think we were all a little reluctant to leave the park for the last time this trip.

 

[princess~yo]

Day 6, 7

Our last day in Orlando. Thank goodness we had the beach to look forward to, or it would've been really difficult to get the girls out of the hotel. At this point we still had 2 CS meals a piece and 18 (yep, count 'em 18) snacks left. We had paid oop for the Restaurantasaurus meal and had been so stuffed during the TS meals that we never did use many snacks. I do wish we would've gotten a dole whip though. Write that one down on our next time list, too.

We went down to the food court for bfast. The girls had pancakes with strawberries, and I had the Mickey waffle. Yum. Poohchik's croissant sandwich thingy looked really good, too. Don't recall what Tam had...(help me out girl!)

Tam and Poohchik went back up to the room to take showers and pack up... I stayed with the girls and let them get in one last swim. I didn't get in the pool, but sitting there with a cool breeze and no schedule was so relaxing. We headed up a little bit later and got our showers and packed our stuff. We went and got a luggage cart...and this amazing CM, I wish I caught her name, helped up load the van. With all the bags and totes and decidely not-easy-to-stack stuff we had, it's a miracle we got it all downstairs. And it took a while to get all that stuff put back in the van still leaving enough room so Poohchik wouldn't have to ride in the luggage rack. Whew!

We hit the gift shop and I managed to spend enough to get my tote bag I wanted (yay!) and we sent off some postcards. Tam went over and talked to the woman at the DVC booth, and she talked us into a presentation. With free $15 gift cards just for sitting through it, it wasn't a difficult sell. We drove over to the DVC place, settled the girls into the child club thing there (they LOVED it) and had Scot walk us through the villas and rooms and omigosh, I would love to do that one day. WOW. Totally gorgeous. And he even gave the girls $15 gift cards, too.

Off to Downtown Disney again. We had money to spend, and boy oh boy we did. We found pretty much everything we had wanted to, and so much more. We had a nice, relaxing day, wandering around shopping. The one person that had the hardest time deciding on what to buy with her souvenir money was Gabs. She did however, decide on our first trip to the gift store at ASMu that she wanted the Tink alarm clock. Sure enough, she hoarded her Disney dollars and bought that clock on our last day there. She was so fixated on her clock that she couldn't decide what else she wanted! Karategirl picked out a few things, two of which were things she brought back to give to her friends. How sweet.

We still had one set of CS credits, so we went to Earl of Sandwich for a late lunch/early dinner. SO durn good. The girls both had the pizza sandwich, which I was doubting that Gabs would eat, but she loved it. They both did. Tam and I had the hawaiian bbq chicken (don't remember the 'real' name of it) and it was good too. I tried a bite of Poohchik's Full Montagu, and it was good too. I wouldn't have expected to rave over a sandwich place like that, but everything was excellent. DDP or not, I will likely stop there for lunch again on our next trip out.

In the Christmas store, a CM asked the girls if they wanted to play a game. Bless her heart, Gabs knew the answers, but just couldn't come up with them, I guess. Finally she asked something she was sure to know...how many wishes did the Genie give to Aladdin...and then she answered the rest of them right, too. The entire time Karategirl was there, trying to give hints to her little sis without being obviously 'cheating'. The CM gave them both a magic moments certificate, Gabs a mini Mickey head ornament and (after she looked for one for several minutes) gave Karategirl a pixiedust pin for being such a good big sister. She made a big deal about telling her that it was only given to people who do very good things for others.

I was floored...omigosh my daughter got a dream!

We still had 18 snack credits, so we had fun picking them out at Goofy's. We got some Mickey heads, pretzel rods and marshmallows, lollipops and cookies...yum yum yum. I'm already craving a coated Mickey head again. They were SO good.

We checked out Legoland, such a cool place. The girls liked the little lego stations outside, and the playgound too. We realized that it was WAY later than we had wanted to be leaving, so we picked up a snack from McD's and headed to Daytona Beach.

It was after 11 PM as we approached Daytona Beach. We called the Holiday Inn to make sure they had saved our rooms, and then - the hotel wasn't where it was supposed to be. Apparently the hotel moved at some point since Tam's last trip. Let me just say that we weren't too impressed with the new location. Let's just say that it wasn't as advertised.

All of us went down to the beach that night. Can't make it to the Atlantic and not get feet wet right away, right? So Poohchik Karategirl and I walked down to the beach and put our feet in the cold cold water. (Gabs never woke up when we carried her in the room) It was an experience, though. The water was cold, the air was cold, but it was a heartwarming moment. The sound, the scent, the huge expanse of water...I'll never forget KG's face when she first saw it. Of course, there was more to see the next morning. I came back down with Tam after getting KG to bed.

At some point after the sun had come up but before anyone else was awake, Gabs woke up to go potty and came up to snuggle with me. I walked her over to the balcony (ocean view) and showed her the ocean. We sat there for a little while, enjoying her first look at the ocean before we went back in and everyone started waking up.

We took a walk on the beach that morning, picked up some seashells and played in the surf. A quick trip to a local grocery store and a quick snack later, we were in suits and in the sand again. DH had been workin in south Florida, so he drove up for the day and got to spend some time with us. While he took the girls out to play in the water (the currents were really too strong to swim, though) us big girls laid on our towels and soaked up the sun.

I'm pleased to announce that despite the fair skin complexions of the girls, we made it home without getting lobsterfied. A few of us had spots of pink here and there, but nothing serious. Amazing, because usually my kids will burn if they are outside checking the mail, much less playing at the beach!

We went to Olive Garden for dinner that night, and we were all so worn out from the week that we just took it easy in the room and fell asleep early that night. (And had to repack and organize everything that had been thrown into the van at Disney in our rush to make checkout time!) We woke up and took another walk on the beach the next morning before packing up to head home. We stopped at a place called Big Sharks - and got some really cute tshirts at a really good price. The drive home went smoothly, but it didn't go as fast as it had on the way up when the girls were asleep for half the day.

All in all, we had a spectacular time. Learned a few lessons about how to approach things next time, and started on a list of must-dos for next time around. It was a magical vacation, and I'm ready to go back tomorrow. If only I could...*sigh*

Thanks for reading my trip report...I've enjoyed sharing it with you all!

 

[tinawv]

I really enjoyed reading your trip report. Your girls are absolutely adorable.