SURPRISE!!! We are going to Disney World! - A re-do of the re-do vacation!

[mamamac]

I can't believe it! My family and I had the times of our lives last week and we can honestly say that we did not ride on It's a Small World!! How many people can say that with a 5 and 3 1/2 year old?

So this was our Disney Vacation to make up for the monsoon (as well as an ER visit, stolen shoes, and the in-laws) vacation in May 2009. We were scheduled to have our re-do this March, but then I had a little accident with my knee, so we rescheduled for May 3rd - May 8th. It was HOT but it was AWESOME! It rained for an hour one day and that was it! I would rather have the heat than the rain any day.

Who we are...

I am 33 years old, married to a wonderful husband, and we have two gorgeous girls, Elise and Claire (ages 5 and 3 1/2).



This is my favorite picture out of 973 pictures. We have a little problem.

May 3rd started off as any other day for the girls. They woke up, got ready for school, started to eat breakfast, and then we surprised them. I could hardly contain myself. My husband started off with "So girls, do you want to go to school today?" Both of them answered yes. We even asked if they were sure, and of course my children said they were. Then I threw them for the loop "Would you like to go to Disney?" Neither of them showed any reaction. My odd5 just kept eating her waffle and said "For real?". "Yes, for real." She answered with "I want to go in the summer." I couldn't believe it! For an entire year on a weekly (sometimes daily) basis we would be asked "Can we go to Disney today?" Now the time has come and they don't know what to think. You could see the excitement in my youngest dd's eyes, but since Elise wasn't showing any excitement, she was confused as to what to do. Finally we just told her that we are leaving in a couple of hours. She got a little excited, but the real excitement didn't come until she actually saw Cinderella's castle! Once we get the video uploaded I will definitely post it.

Our flight was uneventful. Actually it was one of the best flights that we have had to Florida in a long time. The girls were busy with their Leapsters and movies for about 20 minutes and then the hum of the aircraft put them into a deep sleep! And when they woke up, we were at Orlando's airport. They couldn't wait to get on the train that takes us to get their baggage. It's funny how much they remember from our last trip. Elise was actually very concerned as to why we were not getting our luggage or a car. I told her that Mickey had some friends that were grabbing it for us and that we were going to jump on a bus and the driver will take us to our hotel.

WHOA! A HOTEL!!! We have never stayed in a hotel before as a family of 4, at least not with just ONE room! This was going to be interesting to say the least, but we managed just fine. Actually my dh and I were so darn tired we all crashed at the same time.

We arrived at the Wilderness Lodge and seriously people the pictures you see online do not do it's justice. The lobby is truly amazing!



We went to the desk and checked in. We received our "Happy Anniversary" pins and two generic "We're celebrating" pins. My husband was surprised that they knew about this. I winked at him and told him not to worry. We got our room keys and headed up to the 5th floor. Oh and dh carried a large box that we had shipped down earlier in the week. What are the chances that our room would be the last one in the furthest wing...pretty good apparently. We made it to 5167 that looked over the Bay Lake. We had a beautiful view!


not sure why it looks so gloomy...it really wasn't.

We quickly changed our clothes and then headed out to check out the hotel, eat dinner at the Whispering Canyon Cafe, and walk around the resort outside.

Whispering Canyon Cafe was pretty good. My husband and I both had the Canyon Skillet and WOW that was a lot of food. Would I eat there again? Maybe, but I wouldn't make a special trip there.

After dinner we checked out the grounds of the resort. Absolutely AMAZING! My youngest, Claire, was so disappointed that we were not going to a beach earlier in the year and when she saw the sand, she had tears in her eyes. It was very cute! I still feel like an awful parent for telling her it was the beach even though we only went down there twice. She even told her teacher that we went to a beach while in Disney.

When we got back to our room, we found that someone left us a few goodies. The girls got floaties for the pool, coloring books, a personalized autograph book, and a journal. Our luggage finally arrived (took almost 3 hours) and the girls threw their swimsuits on and we went out to go swimming. The pool felt so good! My dh and I took turns in the hot tub and I seriously did not want to get out. When my husband was in there, he was talking to someone that lived a subdivision over back at home. What a "small world" we live in?!

After swimming we were trying to get the girls ready for bed when we heard this music coming from outside. At first I thought, "Oh no. Don't let us have one of those neighbors." Then I realized it was the Water Pageant. I grabbed the girls and we went to the balcony and watched the whole thing. They loved it! We were only able to see it one other day and Elise was so upset that we missed it on the last night. She cried when we told her that we couldn't stay another day to watch it.

After the show we quickly fell asleep, but before I did, I picked up the phone so we would have a wake up call in the morning.

 

[apirateslife4us!]

How great!!! The Wilderness Lodge looks awesome. I'm glad you guys had an uneventful flight, I'm hoping for the same when we go in June.

Those t-shirts are super cool!

Look forward to reading more... we're planning our trip to be a surprise for the kids too

 

[iluvuwdw]

I agree the WL looks beautiful. I can't wait to read more

 

[Kelrykengab]

We were in Disney May 1-9 at CBR. Glad you had a successful redo!!!

 

[Kelrykengab]

Oh and I meant to say kuddos for the surprise! I always think that would be so fun to make it a surprise and say "Guess what, we are going to WDW", but I get way too excited and talk about it non-stop so there is no way it could ever be a surprise for my kids.

 

[mamamac]

Next day...

The phone rang way early! I answered it on the speaker phone and all I heard was Mickey and Stitch yelling at us to wake up. Notice I say "I". No one would wake up so I had to physically wake the girls up so they could hear it and then the laughter started. I loved it! My dh actually woke up to the girls laughing and not the alarm clock. When the girls got out of bed they found an invitation for Crystal Palace.




The girls got dressed in their Minnie Mouse outfits and our adventure began. This adventure is where I learned about the bus service and boat service the hard way. Long story short...I DID NOT READ UP ON THE TRANSPORTATION AT WDW. It's my fault, but I was still disappointed. We had reservations for 8:15am at the Crystal Palace and according to my "app" on the iPhone, the quickest way to MK was the boat. We headed down there around 7:30am and we waited. And we waited. We waited a little more until a family (who was in line for the Contemporary boat) told us that the MK boat doesn't start running till 30 minutes prior to the park opening. Now it's 7:55am and we run up to the bus stop and wait again. Finally our bus arrives and we make it to MK at 8:25. We quickly walk in but since we are already late, lets still take advantage of Main Street and get a family picture with only a few people in the background. And for what it's worth, we were late last year to Crystal Palace too. I'm starting to think we need to make a later reservation.



Unfortunately my dh had to use photoshop to fix the pictures from Crystal Palace, so I don't have them on my computer. We had a wonderful time there! This is still my favorite character meal. I love starting our vacation off by eating there. As we were leaving we ran into friends of ours (yes, we knew they would be there) and we asked them to call us when they were done so we could meet up.

We headed straight for the Jungle Cruise. I am still trying to figure out why this is such a popular ride?? Either way, it was a nice relaxing ride and the girls liked it. Our next stop was Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride. I was a trooper and didn't want to disappoint the kids, so I rode too. I guess I should tell you that I do not like rides that go in circles. It makes me It was cute.

Then came the fun part! My youngest is 40 1/2 inches tall. She saw Splash Mountain and wanted to go on it. I was all for it! It was getting hot and what a great way to cool off. Our friends met us and we got in line that was maybe 15 minutes. We were loaded into our boat and away we went. Not too bad. Barely got wet, so why not ride it again? Right? It can't be that bad. Uh...yeah...we got DRENCHED! SOAKED! My shorts did not dry until later that night!! So after our shower, we decided to check out Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. I was a bit nervous as I wasn't sure how the girls would respond to it. Well...hmm...THEY LOVED IT! Wanted to ride it again. They were laughing and giggling the entire time. By then end of the week, Claire, was putting her hands in the air and yelling at me not to hold on to her.

After the thrill rides, it was time to head over to Winnie the Pooh to give our bodies a nice air conditioned break. We did the race cars and then my daughters saw the Mad Tea Cup ride. No way, no how was I going to get on that ride! So my dh went with them. I got one picture of them before the ride started, then I had to turn my back. I can't even watch that ride.

We decided it would be a good time to head back to the room and take a nap. The girls crashed, Chris checked some emails, and I was too excited. I tried, but all I did was toss and turn. I ended up "unpacking" the rest of our stuff and make sure our park bags were restocked for the evening.

They woke up and off to dinner at Roaring Forks we went. I was amazed at the amount of food!

I had high hopes for the girls at Epcot's World Showcase. They have been learning about different countries in school and we have even talked about them. I thought for sure they would be interested in visiting the countries and decorate the masks. They love to draw so how could they not want to color! Well, we got through about 3 countries and they were bored to death. I was really hoping they would get something out of it, but maybe when they are older. I saved their passports for another time. As we toured China we were able to listen to the drum folks. It was fascinating, but loud. As we were sitting there watching them, there was a family next to us eating a snow cone. They looked so good! We left and went on a "Snow Cone Hunt" and we found them right outside Italy, but it was called "Shaved Ice". They were so good! By this time it was getting close to 8pm and I knew that if we wanted a chance at seeing Illuminations and getting out of the park, we needed to get on the other side by the entrance to the World Showcase. We actually found a spot right up against the fence just to the right of the gift shop. The girls sat patiently and played games on our phones until the lights went out. We picked the girls up and had them rest their feet on the fence and then they leaned their backs up against us so they could see. All was well...until....a lady came and literally stood RIGHT IN FRONT of my dh and Elise. Not next to them, directly in front of them. I honestly thought we were going to be on candid camera to see how we would respond. My husband actually had to ask her to move. She moved about 5 inches to her right and that was it. It was very sad to see someone be so rude. Did I mention she had to step over our backpack to get in front of dh?

So we watched Illuminations. It was my first time ever seeing it and I have to say it was alright. I probably wouldn't make a special visit to see it again. It just wasn't all that for me, maybe I have been so intrigued by Wishes that most firework shows just don't do it. When it was over exiting the park was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Although I was happy that we were already on the right side of the lagoon that was closest to the exit.

We jumped on the bus and off we went back to Wilderness Lodge where we all crashed for the night.

Stay tuned for the "Overstimulating, too loud, not enough sleep" type of day. It wasn't pretty.

 

[apirateslife4us!]

Fun! We were late to all our ADRs last time My goal this time is to work on a half-hour-ahead time schedule

I've never seen Illumination... i think we'll play it by ear this time, and if it works out it works out

I'm enjoying your trip report, can't wait to read more!

 

[mamamac]

Those t-shirts are super cool!

Look forward to reading more... we're planning our trip to be a surprise for the kids too

Thanks! I would love to take credit for them but I bought them off of Etsy.

Oh and I meant to say kuddos for the surprise! I always think that would be so fun to make it a surprise and say "Guess what, we are going to WDW", but I get way too excited and talk about it non-stop so there is no way it could ever be a surprise for my kids.

It was NOT easy! That was so hard. We just got the video up on facebook and now we just need to get it on our family blog then I can copy it over here. So stay tuned for that.

 

[Mich123]

Subbing and enjoying your report!

 

[mamamac]

Back up to May 2009 Vacation - My daughter, Elise, got sick and missed the day that we went to DHS, as well as my dh.

Now to this vacation - When we told the girls we were going to WDW, Claire turned to Elise and said "Elise you can see Lightening McQueen and Mater! You won't be sick!" Elise was so excited.

Wednesday morning we wake up to Mickey and Stitch again. I love it! The girls actually woke up from a dead sleep giggling. It was great! Now only if I could get them up like that for school. Anyway, our plan was to DHS and go to the following rides / shows

-The Little Mermaid
-Playhouse Disney
-Beauty and the Beast
-The stunt show
-Star Tours
-See Fantasmic which was #1 on my list
-And obviously visit McQueen and Mater.


When we boarded the bus, the folks with us at the Wilderness Lodge packed it, but of course we had to make sure it was packed to the gills by stopping at the Grand Floridian. As we arrived (maybe 9:30 or so) to DHS all we could see was a wall of people. I was a bit nervous as to why? There were no EMH hours, there was not anything special, it was just busy. When we walked in we headed straight for the gift shop to buy an umbrella stroller. We figured that would help with the fighting that happened the day before. Then we headed straight for Toy Story in hopes for a Fast Pass that was before noon, no such luck. The return time was 3pm, a time that we knew we would not be at the park. I was kind of relieved that my girls do not know the magnitude of the movie Toy Story. I love that movie, but they have only seen it once so they didn't know what we were really trying to do.

Since we were over in the area where the Little Mermaid was, we walked right in and waited about 10 minutes in the holding area and sat basically right in the middle of the theater. I love this show. It is so beautiful!

When it was over both of the girls asked if we could head over to see McQueen. Of course we said yes and off we went. It started getting hot and Elise was starting to whine. Like really whine! You know the 5 year old princess whine!!! She wasn't comfortable in the stroller, she didn't want to walk, she didn't like her socks, it just went on and on and on. We got in line for McQueen and she seemed to chill out, so I thought. She managed to get keep herself together until it was our turn. It started with this picture



And then it went into a downhill spin after that. She was screaming, kicking, the whole shabang! I calmly took her around the corner and told her she needed to stop or we were really going to leave (actually this was the third or fourth time I told her this) and this time I meant it! She decided to give it one more shot until she got next to McQueen. She FREAKED out!! I took her, put her into the stroller and off to the gate we went. My dh wanted me to stop when we got to the gate so she would see that I was serious and then turn around. I told him no, I am taking her to the room and that he and Claire stay and have a good time. I had to carry her and push the stroller to the bus stop. We must have just missed a bus because we waited for about 20 minutes. She was still screaming at the bus stop! She was screaming that she wanted her Daddy. I had some strange looks, like "lady tell your kid to stop" and then I had the looks of "Oh I have so been there before." I would just smile back at the folks that looked at me. I told her that she couldn't be screaming or crying on the bus or they would not let us on. The minute the bus arrived, she took a deep breath and that was the end of her almost 40 minute tantrum. I asked her what was wrong and she simply replied with "I am tired and that park was too loud". She does get a little on edge with large crowds and loud noises, I felt bad for her, but I told her that DHS was not for us. Maybe when she is older we can make a visit there. She looked at me and agreed. Off to the Lodge we went. When we arrived to our room I told her she needed to take a 15 minute nap and relax while I cleaned up a little.

Meanwhile, Chris and Claire were able to ride Star Tours and grab a bite to eat. He said the park was just too crowded and Claire was also on the verge of a meltdown. So he too jumped on a bus back to the Lodge.

While they were still at the park, I took Elise to Roaring Forks for a quick lunch and then we jumped in the pool for about 15 minutes. It totally relaxed her and she crashed hard when we got back to the room for a nap. Chris and Claire showed up while we were napping and then they went down to take a quick swim as well. I really think the one on one time really saved our day.

Once we were all refreshed from our naps, it was time to head to Chef Mickey's for dinner. We took the boat over there and we were actually able to walk around that resort for a bit before our reservation. I have to say I think I know where I want to stay next time.



We had never done this Character Meal before and I think we all really enjoyed it. The food was yummy but the desserts were to die for!



After dinner we had originally planned to go back to DHS for the only showing of Fantasmic while we were there. I was too scared to go back with Elise, so we decided to do whats right and go to MK. That night we could actually walk on just about any ride we wanted to. It was AWESOME! The only wait was for Tinkerbell but after sitting for 25 minutes and not moving we decided we would go another day. I seriously can't remember all the rides that we did that evening. I know we rode Dumbo like three times!

And I had never seen this before...

Seriously! How cute is that!!!

We really didn't have intentions of watching Wishes that night from the park. Our goal was to get to the exit and watch it out there...well when you start heading back at 8:50pm, no such luck. We ended up on a walkway by the moat and had a pretty good view. I was prepared this year and had ear plugs in my purse. That was great.

We ended our night in a wonderful mood, especially after such a rough day. Oh and we didn't get to scratch off more than two things on our DHS list. Maybe next time.

Stay tuned for - a very quick trip to Animal Kingdom and then a Royal Dinner!

 

[loveysbydesign]

Back up to May 2009 Vacation - My daughter, Elise, got sick and missed the day that we went to DHS, as well as my dh.

Now to this vacation - When we told the girls we were going to WDW, Claire turned to Elise and said "Elise you can see Lightening McQueen and Mater! You won't be sick!" Elise was so excited.

Wednesday morning we wake up to Mickey and Stitch again. I love it! The girls actually woke up from a dead sleep giggling. It was great! Now only if I could get them up like that for school. Anyway, our plan was to DHS and go to the following rides / shows

-The Little Mermaid
-Playhouse Disney
-Beauty and the Beast
-The stunt show
-Star Tours
-See Fantasmic which was #1 on my list
-And obviously visit McQueen and Mater.


When we boarded the bus, the folks with us at the Wilderness Lodge packed it, but of course we had to make sure it was packed to the gills by stopping at the Grand Floridian. As we arrived (maybe 9:30 or so) to DHS all we could see was a wall of people. I was a bit nervous as to why? There were no EMH hours, there was not anything special, it was just busy. When we walked in we headed straight for the gift shop to buy an umbrella stroller. We figured that would help with the fighting that happened the day before. Then we headed straight for Toy Story in hopes for a Fast Pass that was before noon, no such luck. The return time was 3pm, a time that we knew we would not be at the park. I was kind of relieved that my girls do not know the magnitude of the movie Toy Story. I love that movie, but they have only seen it once so they didn't know what we were really trying to do.

Since we were over in the area where the Little Mermaid was, we walked right in and waited about 10 minutes in the holding area and sat basically right in the middle of the theater. I love this show. It is so beautiful!

When it was over both of the girls asked if we could head over to see McQueen. Of course we said yes and off we went. It started getting hot and Elise was starting to whine. Like really whine! You know the 5 year old princess whine!!! She wasn't comfortable in the stroller, she didn't want to walk, she didn't like her socks, it just went on and on and on. We got in line for McQueen and she seemed to chill out, so I thought. She managed to get keep herself together until it was our turn. It started with this picture



And then it went into a downhill spin after that. She was screaming, kicking, the whole shabang! I calmly took her around the corner and told her she needed to stop or we were really going to leave (actually this was the third or fourth time I told her this) and this time I meant it! She decided to give it one more shot until she got next to McQueen. She FREAKED out!! I took her, put her into the stroller and off to the gate we went. My dh wanted me to stop when we got to the gate so she would see that I was serious and then turn around. I told him no, I am taking her to the room and that he and Claire stay and have a good time. I had to carry her and push the stroller to the bus stop. We must have just missed a bus because we waited for about 20 minutes. She was still screaming at the bus stop! She was screaming that she wanted her Daddy. I had some strange looks, like "lady tell your kid to stop" and then I had the looks of "Oh I have so been there before." I would just smile back at the folks that looked at me. I told her that she couldn't be screaming or crying on the bus or they would not let us on. The minute the bus arrived, she took a deep breath and that was the end of her almost 40 minute tantrum. I asked her what was wrong and she simply replied with "I am tired and that park was too loud". She does get a little on edge with large crowds and loud noises, I felt bad for her, but I told her that DHS was not for us. Maybe when she is older we can make a visit there. She looked at me and agreed. Off to the Lodge we went. When we arrived to our room I told her she needed to take a 15 minute nap and relax while I cleaned up a little.

Meanwhile, Chris and Claire were able to ride Star Tours and grab a bite to eat. He said the park was just too crowded and Claire was also on the verge of a meltdown. So he too jumped on a bus back to the Lodge.

While they were still at the park, I took Elise to Roaring Forks for a quick lunch and then we jumped in the pool for about 15 minutes. It totally relaxed her and she crashed hard when we got back to the room for a nap. Chris and Claire showed up while we were napping and then they went down to take a quick swim as well. I really think the one on one time really saved our day.

Once we were all refreshed from our naps, it was time to head to Chef Mickey's for dinner. We took the boat over there and we were actually able to walk around that resort for a bit before our reservation. I have to say I think I know where I want to stay next time.



We had never done this Character Meal before and I think we all really enjoyed it. The food was yummy but the desserts were to die for!



After dinner we had originally planned to go back to DHS for the only showing of Fantasmic while we were there. I was too scared to go back with Elise, so we decided to do whats right and go to MK. That night we could actually walk on just about any ride we wanted to. It was AWESOME! The only wait was for Tinkerbell but after sitting for 25 minutes and not moving we decided we would go another day. I seriously can't remember all the rides that we did that evening. I know we rode Dumbo like three times!

And I had never seen this before...

Seriously! How cute is that!!!

We really didn't have intentions of watching Wishes that night from the park. Our goal was to get to the exit and watch it out there...well when you start heading back at 8:50pm, no such luck. We ended up on a walkway by the moat and had a pretty good view. I was prepared this year and had ear plugs in my purse. That was great.

We ended our night in a wonderful mood, especially after such a rough day. Oh and we didn't get to scratch off more than two things on our DHS list. Maybe next time.

Stay tuned for - a very quick trip to Animal Kingdom and then a Royal Dinner!

Great report! I bet you had MK all to yourself because everyone else was at DHS watching Fantasmic!

 

[apirateslife4us!]

You handled the day GREAT!

We skipped Fantasmic last time, and this time we are going to try but we won't be disappointed if it doesn't happen this time. There's always something else to do at WDW if Plan "A" doesn't work out!

I love your report, can't wait to read more!

 

[mamamac]

You handled the day GREAT!

Thank you. It's so hard to be a parent sometimes and sometimes I question how we handle things, but we have to be consistent. If we say we are going to leave, we need to leave. It just sucked that I felt like I was being punished too I really wanted to stay but such is life.

 

[mamamac]

Another wake up call from Mickey and Stitch got our day going! I love it when the girls wake up laughing. Our plan today

1. Not to have any meltdowns
2. Not to leave any park early
3. Go to AK for a quick visit
4. Get all dolled up at BBB
5. A Royal Dinner

The girls woke up to find another invitation from Cinderella, inviting us for dinner at her Castle. They were super excited and constantly asked throughout the day if it was time to go.

We ate a quick breakfast in the room and went to go jump on the bus to go to Animal Kingdom.

Back up to last year - We were not thrilled with AK at all. We have one of the top Zoo's here at home and none of us were very impressed. I told several friends to only go if they had time but not to make a special day for it. The few that did go totally agreed with us, except for one. She told me to give it another try and just go see the shows. So that was our goal - Go see Finding Nemo, The Lion King, and A Bugs Life and leave the park by noon to get to DTD for our 1:50pm hair appointment. Well due to our arrival at the park (around 10am), we headed over to Finding Nemo. We sat down, checked out the AK Schedule for the day and quickly realized that we would never be able to see the other shows, eat lunch, and get to DTD on time. So basically after the Nemo show we were going to leave

Finding Nemo was very cool! I really enjoyed it. The voices of the actors / actresses were wonderful. I figure if The Lion King is similar to this, then it's got to be great too.

After the show was over we headed over to Flame Tree BBQ. I thought it was cool that they had St. Louis Style Ribs, but why would we come to FL to have those. I ate the pulled pork sandwich and it was great. There was plenty of food. The only thing that was kind of annoying were all the ducks that were pecking at our legs!! They would NOT leave us alone!

We told the girls that it was time to go so we could go get their hair done. They didn't seem to mind. Elise actually made the comment of not liking this "zoo" because it didn't have a train. (I didn't tell her that there was one on the other side of the park). We headed for the buses and took one back to our resort so we could run up to the room and change the girls into their dresses.

We then jumped back onto the bus to take us to DTD. For as hot as it was, I was surprised to see DTD as busy as it was. I don't know maybe it's always like that, but it was crowded.

Here is their before picture


They were super excited! They both sat so still for the Fairy Godmothers, that I almost wondered if they were even my own children. They both were glowing when they were done. Claire kept looking in the mirror almost as if she couldn't believe that was her.

Here is their after picture


As soon as we were done we headed back to the Contemporary so we could just jump on the monorail to go to MK. On our way there both of the girls fell asleep on the bus. My husband and I looked at each other and I said "How are we going to get them off this bus with our two strollers?" He said we will see, maybe someone will help us. NOPE. No such luck. Actually the bus driver was in such a hurry that he started to close the doors as I was about to take the step down by the door. With a quick, louid "HEY! We are still trying to get off!" He quickly apologized and opened the door for us. Elise woke up with that and I was able to set her down on her feet but she was still in a daze. I quickly popped open the stroller that reclines and Chris laid Claire in there. Elise jumped in the other one and started to wake up. We decided to take it easy in the lobby of the Contemporary. Claire stayed asleep and I took Elise to walk around and get a little snack. She picked out grapes and carrots with ranch. She LOVES that stuff! While we were there my dh went outside to get a better cell signal and walked out to a horrendous rain storm. My first reaction was I was scared that this was going to be the beginning of another rainy vacation. It brought flashbacks of last May. I didn't know whether to cry or laugh. Now we were stuck here till the rain went away or until we absolutely had to leave.

Isn't she sweet?


Now here's the crazy thing...we didn't HAVE to stop at the Contemporary. We didn't HAVE to stay there and wait out the storm.
I didn't really HAVE to go to the bathroom one more time before we took the elevator up to the monorail.

But if we didn't...we would have never ran into my Uncle and cousin!! YES! Walking right for us! I called out their name and they just stared at us. They couldn't believe it. The girls went nuts! We had no idea that they would be here, nor did they know we were here! So I used my cousins cell phone to call my aunt and she freaked out when she heard my voice! Long story short, my cousin was there with his dad for his 8th grade mini trip. We decided to head over to MK together and meet up later. Again it's such a "Small World"!

When we got off the monorail, it was still pouring cats and dogs. By the time we fiddled around with ponchos and umbrellas, walked down the ramp and through the gates BAM the rain was over. We walked down Main Street and entered into Cinderella's Castle.

And that's where the Royal Treatment began....

We had our picture taken with Cinderella, she signed the girls books, and then we walked up the spiral staircase to the Royal Dining Room. It was beautiful! The service was excellent and the food was to die for.

My dh's plate


My plate


And the girls dessert


When Claire dropped her chocolate crown on the floor, two more appeared on the table.

We had visits from Princess Aurora, Belle (the girls were not happy that she was not in her yellow dress), and Ariel. They were so cute! The wishing ceremony was adorable.

I think the girls were a bit sad to leave dinner but when we bribed them with more rides, game on!

We rode the Tea Cups, Big Thunder Mountain, Barnstormer, and Buzz Light Year! And then we went and claimed our spot on the sidewalk for Spectromagic, my FAVORITE!!! We met up with my uncle and cousin. Come to find out they had never seen this parade. I told them this has to be the best parade you will ever see. They agreed.

When the parade was over, my uncle and cousin stayed while we headed back for our room. The girls were exhausted, we were exhausted, and when we got to the room, both girls wanted their hair undone and washed. I couldn't believe it, I spent all that money and they don't want to sleep in it for the next day. Oh well, I probably wouldn't like my hair feeling like plastic either.

Next day - More MK and EMH at Epcot! And a "WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY???"

 

[mamamac]

Our last full day before we leave but guess who called to wake us up?? I love mornings that are full of sweet giggles. We quickly got dressed because we had an invitation to eat with Lilo and Stitch at O'Hana. I was so proud of us that we actually made it out the door and to the Polynesian ON TIME!! I had never done this breakfast before but I had read that everyone seems to really enjoy it. I love how they serve family style. It is so nice to sit there and have them bring you your food instead of making several trips up to the buffet. The character interaction was wonderful! Stitch even sat with us at our table.



After breakfast we headed over to MK. The park was a little more crowded than what the rest of the week was, but if I recall they had EMH in the morning. We first headed to Toontown to just see what the wait time would be for Tinkerbell - 85 minutes. NOPE. Chris and the girls went through Minnie and Mickey's houses while I went and got a fastpass for Peter Pan. After the walk throughs we rode the Barnstormer, Mad Tea Cups, Winnie the Pooh and then headed over for Peter Pan. I forgot how cute this ride was. After that we headed over to Frontier Land to ride BTMR and Splash Mountain. We grabbed a Fastpass for BTMR and still got in line, even though there was a 25 minute wait. After that we jumped over to Splash Mountain for a 20 min wait. By the time we were done with that, we used the fastpass and rode BTMR.

We are in the first two rows.


We tried to meet up with my uncle but they were in Tomorrowland and by the time they were going to get over to where we were, we would be getting ready to leave. We grabbed a few snacks and started to head back to our room. We needed a swim break and a little siesta.



I was sad that I had to start packing while the girls took their rest, but I knew it would be another late night. Our plan was to head to Epcot for the evening EMH. We had planned to just grab a quick service meal for dinner, but my husband wanted to try the Coral Reef. I told him it would have to be out of pocket because all our sit down meals were gone. He didn't care, he just wanted some good fish. And it was delicious! I had no idea how large that aquarium is. It was very interesting reading about it.

After dinner we met up with my uncle again and decided to take him on the Nemo ride and go see Turtle Talk with Crush. They had never seen it before and even though my cousin is 13, I told him that it was funny! So I dragged them to the line but first I had to park our stroller.

As I pushed the stroller over to the main stroller parking area, I noticed a mother helping her son (around 6-8 yo) pull up his pants in the middle of the walkway area. I thought to myself if you bought pants that weren't so big, maybe they would stay up. I parked the stroller, turned around, started to walk when this other lady yells at me to watch where I step. I look at her confused and she says that mother just let her boy pee right there! Yes. Pee right there! On the concrete! Not near the bushes are anything! I was absolutely disgusted. The mother and son had already started walking away when someone yelled at them, but they kept going. The lady that told me to watch my step did contact a CM but I have no idea what happened from there. I couldn't believe it if they would have just walked a little further there would've been a bathroom.

ANYWAY...back to our evening. We went on the Nemo ride and the girls were going crazy. They knew that Turtle Talk with Crush would be next and they started saying "Duuuude!" like a million times. The show was cute as always and is still one of my favorite / must do's at Disney. My uncle and cousin LOVED IT! They felt bad they had never seen that before.

By this time our other friends had met up with us and the Soarin' line was down to about 35 minutes. We decided to wait it out. The kids could keep themselves occupied and we could talk to our friends. We waited maybe 20 minutes! It was awesome! I can add this ride to my must do list now. I did start to get a little queezy at a few points but I just closed my eyes. I still loved it! The girls loved it! And my dh loved it! Another successful ride that didn't scare the stuffing out of our girls. When we were done with Soarin, we decided to go on a boat ride through Living with the Land. I should've known it would put my kids to sleep. They were so tired when we got off of there, we just headed back to the resort. We did have plans for Spaceship Earth but it was either have restless / cranky kids or have tired kids on the way back to the room where they could go to bed at a somewhat decent hour. Spaceship Earth will have to wait till next time.

That was our last full day. We went back to the room and started the dreaded packing. The girls fell asleep fast, I was SO tired I could barely see straight and I finally said "Screw it. I'll do it in the morning." My dh and I agreed that we would not set an alarm, we would just wake up when we wake up.

Stay tuned for our last day that ended with a great time!

 

[Mich123]

Great report! The kids are so cute. I'm amazed at the number of rides you were able to go on.

Love the Lilo and Stitch breakfast...so much fun and so delicious. Were you able to walk in to Coral Reef or did you have reservations?

 

[apirateslife4us!]

I love your report, it feels like I'm right there with you! I wish we could do BBB with my daughter... I tried to convince DH but no luck.

We've never been to Turtle Talk but it's on our list for this trip!

It sounds like these were two great days, I'm so happy your family had such a good time