Some pixie dust, some magic, and our dreams came true! Sept 20-27 W/Pics *COMPLETED*

[Tatum@disney]

This is how we passed the time during the BIG ride - kid "switch-off"

 

[3inthefamily]

Just wanted to let you know that I am REALLY enjoying your TR! We are going in a couple of weeks with our 4 year old, so I am loving reading about how the girls are handling things. You two are great moms!

 

[melsmom12]

Yahoo!! Good for you all to win the fast passes of the day! How exciting, thank goodness both of you were able to get them. I'm sooo hoping to win a dream while we're there in a few weeks, but it will NOT make or break our trip.

Loving your TR, keep it coming!

 

[GraceLuvsWDW]

So now you know as I was rounding the corner to DinoLand and saw Traci jumping up and down she was with the Dream Team! And, being the GREAT friend that she is (except for the fact that she has hijacked my TR and screwed up my timeline! JK!), she made them stay until I returned! Which I’m telling you was a GOOD 20 minutes!
They handed me my dream fastpass and I asked them to pose for a picture:

They were really nice and we chatted with them for a while. Tatum and Grace even traded pins with them!

After a while, they had to leave and we were left grinning from ear to ear!

Now that we had DREAM FASTPASSES I didn't have to run all over creation to obtain fastpasses for us. We could take it easy! Smell the roses (or animals!) Take each ride as it came! And that's exactly what we did.

We first floated (hey, what'll you know! My feet don't hurt anymore. My sweat has disappeared! (ok maybe not the sweat part!) ) over past Finding Nemo and I was still so excited I asked Traci to take my pic:

We walked up to Expedition Everest:

and decided to switch off. The standby line was 5 minutes so we didn't waste our Dream Fastpasses on it and just walked through the queue onto the ride. THIS RIDE IS AMAZING!!! As usual I am not going to spoil it for those of you who haven't ridden but during the first part I was thinking this is lame! What is everyone so excited about? But right about that time my stomach did somersaults and I was yelling woo-hoo! I have to admit that my gauge for determining whether a ride is a thrill ride worthy of rating at the top is A) ride storyline, theming and B) how many times my stomach does loop-de-loops! This ride excels on both counts.
Traci rode and loved it too!
We then made our way past Kali (we didn't want to get soaking wet just yet), Past Flights of Wonder, and redeemed our fastpasses for the Safari.
I'll let the pictures do the talking here:

 

[disneyfanforlife]

They look like they are having fun. I love the pics of them pin trading.

 

[Tatum@disney]

Hey Jen, Do you remember the people on the Safari? So freaking irritating. They were loud and obnoxious! FYI - AK is the hottest park. Drinks lots of water. I thought I would pass out a couple of times. And we're from Texas.

 

[momtoccc]

Hey guys - this is a great TR! How fun to win the Fastpasses!

Dh and I are taking our almost 4yo dd in just a few weeks. I'm loving hearing how well it went for you guys. I'll try not to get commando and remember that we will need breaks (or she will need breaks).

Can't wait to read more

 

[GraceLuvsWDW]

Ok, some of you are thinking who cares about a park bag. I am here to tell you, your choice of park bag can be critical. I listened to posts here on the DIS that recommended the Baggalini Messenger. It's smallish, has lots of pockets and compartments, etc. I am here to tell you my opinion of this park bag:
It Stinks!
I was constantly complaining about the bag.
First of all, it has adjustable straps on either end of the strap that goes across your chest. These adjustable sliding buckles were always losing their setting, they were always sliding to the middle, making the strap it's longest possible length. The strap was at its most comfortable with it at its tightest setting on my body so this slipping was always getting on my nerves! The bag would then flop down low on my hip or down below my waist. And I am an average sized woman at 5'5" tall.
Also, trying to find anything in this bag as Traci can attest, was impossible! I had a place for everything but when I went to find things they were always in another pocket, etc. By the last couple of days I had it figured out and didn't have the problems I had in the first 5 days or so. Here's what I would suggest you do with your park bag:
Prior to going on your trip use your park bag in normal everyday situations so you can get used to the bag and its nuances.
If you are using a bag with a sliding buckle I would highly recommend you sew the bag into its most comfortable setting so the buckles do not slide around once you are commando in the parks.
As for what to put in your park bag, here is a list of what I used:

cell phone, park admission (of course!), KTTW card or room key, credit card, cash, roll pennies and quarters if you do that (we did!), chapstick, sunscreen, car keys (if you have a rental), crystal light packets, kleenex, wipees, hand sanitizer (yes you need all three!), water bottle-with a filter is preferable, autograph books and pen, bandaids, sunglasses, kids sunglasses, rain ponchos, itinerary w/ ADR confimations, park tips and maps, pin lanyards and pins, crayons if you have kids, camera, mister fan.
I've probably forgotten something but these are the things I would never leave the room without.

Only one person needs to be the pack mule.

Hope this helps someone out there!

 

[noahdove]

I feel as tho I was with the 4 of you on this awesome trip Love the pics. It makes me less sad to see your pics and know that in 306 days I will be there
Congrats on your winning too

 

[GraceLuvsWDW]

Traci forgot to post these pictures of DinoLand that were taken while I was off getting fastpasses:

 

[momtoccc]

Uh oh... that is the bag I got for our trip. However, I've used it on a few trips already and it seems to be fine. I will have to keep an eye on the slipping... (and I'm shorter than you!)

 

[mkluvsmickey]

Great update! Congrats on the dream fast passes - how fun! Looking forward to more.

 

[GraceLuvsWDW]

We exited the safari and found our strollers. It was HOT! I left our spray mister fan at the hotel room so I bought another one for Grace and I for $17.00!!! Seem like a frivilous purchase? Well then you've never been to Disney's Animal Kingdom in the summer!
I lost the batteries from the new mister fan and had to spend another $4.00 on replacement batteries but I would've shelled out my next born for some relief from the sweltering heat!
Traci and Tatum stopped to buy Tatum a cute safari basball cap with matching sunglasses

and the cashier at the gift shop said AK is so hot because of all the vegetation. She said it "held the heat in". I don't know if that's true or not but something is going on in this park-something that feels akin to being barbecued alive.
We were tired, cranky and in need of some food so we made our way to Pizzafari, a cute restaurant that has lots of seating in the AC!!!
Traci and the girls found a table while I went to order and get our food. There was no one in line-it was around 11:15am. I ordered 4 adult pizza meals-2 cheese and 2 pepperoni. 4 Diet Cokes (by this time the no coke rule that is strickly enforced at home seemed frivilous), 2 Frozen Lemonades (YUM!) and 2 peanut butter brownie cakes. The meal was nice and we ate in peace as the rush of lunch patrons had not yet hit.
By the time we were leaving the lines at the cashiers were very long!
We decided to stay with the AC and go watch "It's Tough To Be A Bug". On the way to the entrance we marveled at the Tree of Life.

We waited about 5 minutes and sat in the back row of the theatre. I knew to keep Grace on my lap due to the "stingers" but she was pretty horrified the whole time by the giant bees, spiders, and ants portrayed on the screen and in animatronic forms. We made it out of there with 2 spooked kids.
We thought we'd head over to see Lion King but by the time we got there a show was letting out and the next show didn't start for 45 minutes. We didn't want to stand in the heat that long as we were extremely overheated. We tried to wait in the fairly short lines for Minnie and Mickey but gave up due to the heat prior to getting to see them. We did stop at the AK version of the Funstop and the girls had fun guessing what they felt in the logs:

We decided to go back over to DinoLand so we could switch off at Dinosaur and the girls could play at the Boneyard. I went to Dinosaur first and redeemed the Dinosaur coupon on the Dream Fastpass and walked right on the ride, past everyone miserably standing in line. I felt bad for them, but I felt good because it reminded me of the awsome luck we had in winning the Dream fastpasses.

I have to admit, Dinosaur is fun but it is one of the few rides at WDW where I feel motion sick. Too much jerking and loud noises and things jumping out at you. I think I am too old for this ride! I saw people taking their 4 and 5 year old children on this ride and it concerned me. I have a girl that is scared of a lot of things so maybe I am biased but it seems irresponsible taking a 4 year old on this ride because it is so scary.

When I went back to let Traci ride Dinosaur I found Grace completely drenched in the waterfall play area. She was practically washing her hair in the water. I am sure it felt good, I wish I could've joined in.

The Boneyard is a large play area for the kids and they closely monitor to make sure parents don't drop their kids off in here and take off. When you leave you have to explain there is another adult manning your child inside.
There is a jeep to play on:

And Dino heads:

And Lots of tunnels, caves and rock formations to climb on:

The girls even traded pins with a castmember inside the Boneyard. I remember this distinctly because Tatum traded a pin to the castmember first and then Grace came and traded for Tatum's old pin that she had wanted and Tatum wouldn't trade to her. These girls are too funny!

Animal Kingdom is a beautiful park because all the lands revolve around the central hub-Discovery Island, which is where the Tree of Life stands and you have wonderful photo ops around the park:

After we pulled the girls out of the Boneyard we made our way to Expedition Everest-we wanted another ride and had those Dream Fastpasses to use!

Traci and I both think this is a great ride. We switched off and the one of us with the girls waited in the dump shop which had AC. Each time we came off of it smiling huge smiles.

We then made our way to Kali River Rapids. I didn't know if I had any chance to get Grace on this ride but I thought it was worth a try. They measured the girls at the Fastpass entrance and gave them wristbands so that the ride loaders knew to look for a raft with 2 lap bar seats in it. We made our way and Grace was getting very unsure of the whole thing. We made light of it and said it was just a little boat ride-nothing to be worried about. And it turns out we wre right. There was very little to scare her on this ride. Just the idea of getting wet and that didn't scare her. So we spent the very short raft trip making fun of each other (Tatum and Traci on one side of the raft and Grace and I on the other) taunting each other, saying "You're going to be the one who gets soaked!" The girls were laughing the whole way. It just so happened that the seat that got drenched was empty (oh thank you thank you thank you! I was wearing a white tank top) and the ride was over fast.

We made our way to the entrance, choosing to skip the parade. Perhaps if we had not already been in the park for 5 and a half hours we could've made it but we were too tired. Stanley was at the front gate playing with the children:

We drove to our "home" away from home and got ready to go to the pool and then to Downtown Disney!

Will skipping the girls naps turn out to be a mistake?
Stay with us and find out!


And thanks to everyone for subscribing and for all of the kind comments! I really appreciate them.

 

[TexasBelle]

Your girls are so cute!!! I have a sweet 13 year old whom I remember just yesterday she was 4 years old. Enjoy every moment you can. I have enjoyed reading your TR it makes me wish that DD was 4 years old again, and I was living DisneyWorld through her eyes. I bet it was so much fun. Last year we took our Children, DS17, DS15, and DD12 at that time for their first trip to the world and it was so much fun to do, but the Princess's weren't as exciting as it was for you. That trip was so much fun, at one time I thought DS15, was 3 when he saw Chip n Dale for the first time. It was really cute. Then about a month ago my DH & I spent the week in the world and it was a blast. Come over and check out my TR. http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1596478 Can't wait to read more.
TexasBelle

 

[disneyfanforlife]

I just keep getting pulled in to it more. I love how you got the dream fast passes. That is cool. I can't wait for more.

 

[GraceLuvsWDW]

A nap a day would keep the tantrums away, but we're in Disney and we can sleep when we get home.

We all got our bathing suits on and went to the main pool at Old Key West. I took a panoramic, let's see if it'll show up here:

The girls jumped into the kiddie pool with one other boy and I went to get Traci and I some coctails at the Gurgling Suitcase (the poolside bar). I had a Conch Cooler and she had a light beer. We're still not sure if we paid for these.

The girls made friends with the boy in the pool while we lay in the chaise pool chairs and drank our drinks!
The kids became tired of the pool and moved to the large sand area.

Then the girls decided they wanted to go in the big pool and Tatum even went down the sandcastle slide. Traci went too and urged me to give it a try. I did-it was fun! Grace wanted so badly so go on the slide but her fear was getting the better of her and she was really upset and mad at herself for not being able to conquer her fear and go down the slide. She was really tired and it was getting late so we bribed them to get out of the pool by promising a visit to Goofy's Candy Company later.

We went back to the room, threw on dry clothes and jumped into the rental car bound for Downtown Disney. We followed the signs and were there in no time. Grace was SUPER tired and fit to be tied so I offered to split up to spare Traci and Tatum the pain of suffering through Grace's tatrum. I stopped into Once Upon a Toy to pick up a few gifts for my nephew and then had to get Grace out of there before they kicked us out! I was about to give up and take the bus back to OKW so I could leave the car with Traci and Tatum but about that time I looked down and she was sleeping soundly in the stroller. My poor sweet daughter was pooped!
I called Traci to let her know I was going to Wolfgang Puck Express to order some dinner for myself and I would be there when they were ready to eat. She said she was getting Tatum's silhouette done and would be there in a bit.

I found Wolfgang Pucks and ordered the Rosemary chicken with a side of caesar salad and a mango iced tea. I ordered Grace the Adult Chicken strips with french fries to go. I found a table outside and sat and had a peaceful moment watching Grace sleep and contemplating the stark contrast between tantrum Grace and sleeping Grace. There was a very nice young man who brought me my food and went above and beyond by refilling my drink, offering to keep Grace's food warm and generally being very kind to me. The Rosemary chicken was overcooked and dry but the Caesar salad was TO DIE FOR and worth the entire trip to Downtown Disney. I was there around 5:30 pm so maybe my chicken had been roasting since lunch? I've had better rotisserie chicken from my local supermarket. However, the mango tea was fantastic and I sat and drank several glasses while waiting for Traci and Tatum to arrive.

Traci eventually arrived and they ordered the Linguini with Tomato, Basil and Garlic for Traci and children's 4 cheese macaroni for Tatum. Traci raved about her pasta and I believe she even said it was one of the best meals of the trip for her.
We all had chocolate chip cookies for dessert (which we ate in the park the next day) except for Traci, who had the creme brulee, which she thought was good.

Traci was kind enough to let me shop for a few minutes while she and Tatum ate and I left Grace sleeping in the stroller next to them. I didn't find too much to buy, the goods at Downtown Disney are pricey.

We made our way over to Goofy's Candy Company and I ordered the pretzel sticks dipped in milk chocolate, rolled in Reese's peanut butter cups, M & M's, and butterfingers, and drizzled in white chocolate. (ONE snack credit!)

The girls marveled at the decorations here:

The girls picked out some candy and we ended up spending more than a couple snack credits here. Traci wanted to visit World of Disney so Grace and I sat on the bench out front and watched all the kids play in Stitch's spit (?). Grace ate some of her chicken strip meal while we were waiting.

Traci and Tatum bought a few things and then we all made our way out to the car and back to OKW (our "home").

Grace ate the rest of her chicken strips meal then we bathed the girls and I tried to get Grace to sleep. Finally after about an hour she slept and Traci and I ate the Pretzel Rods from Goofy's Candy Company, which go very well with wine believe it or not!

Up tomorrow: MK for Little One's Extra Magic Hour and Traci starts our day with some MEGA Pixie Dust!

 

[melsmom12]

Ooh, what a teaser, can't wait for the next installment!

I love that closeup picture of Grace eating the chicken strip. Even though she's eating, it's a gorgeous picture of her!

C'mon, hurry up, we want to know what's gonna happen next!

 

[princessreilly]

You got some great pictures of the girls. I can't wait to hear more!

 

[JoAnnPan]

Sorry your trip had to end..I look forward to every day . Love the mini cliffhangers.

 

[mkluvsmickey]

Those chocolate dipped pretzels look delicious!!