The Crazy Fun, Which One of You Splashed Me Trip Report: Luvinmy2 June 2012

[luvmy2babies]

As the FGIT continued to talk she asked dd if she was ready to see what she looked like. Dd said she was and the FGIT did a wave over her, I think to signal the photographer because he was there in an instant. First the full length reveal. She was clapping and let out a bit of a squeal. She slowly calmed as the photographer kept snapping.

Then the FGIT started showing her some things. The face jewel was first.

Then the Mickey Mouse clip in the back. It took her a second to realize it was Mickey Mouse.

Then she did. “My gosh, it’s Mickey!”

That got ds’ attention. I love his face.

Expressions of appreciation all around for the FGIT. All of the makeup that was left over, both bottles of nail polish, the new comb, plus the ones we’d brought with us were put into the BBB cinch back pack and I went up to pay. We still had her photo session to go. I put my poncho on her and just used the umbrella alone. My poncho would do a much better job at keeping her dry than her rain jacket. With the umbrellas open and ds in the covered stroller, we headed across the walkway to Castle Couture. One princess was finishing and we were next. One family was looking at package options. My eye caught at least two packages over $100. Thank God for photopass.

She elected to take her pictures without her sash. I could not take my eyes off of her. It wasn’t so much the physical beauty she possesses, but the pure joy I could see in her face.

Up next, the water continues to rise and we continue with the magic.

 

[luvmy2babies]

First, here are two more shots from dd's photo session I forgot to include in my last update.

Now, we hung out in Castle Couture for a while looking around at all of the items. I ended up buying a Cinderella Carriage pin to remember BBB and CRT. It wasn’t very busy in there and it was good to be out of the rain, which was really pounding now. Dd found a book she liked.

Eventually I told dd we should probably get going. It was our last time in MK and I asked what she wanted to do before dinner. I couldn’t believe it, but she picked Philharmagic and Small World again. It was kind of tough moving around in the wind, but we got those rides in and kept dd dry. As soon as we got off the ride, dd was desparate for a bathroom break. We high tailed it to the closest restroom and just barely made it. I told her she should have alerted me of her needs prior to getting on the Small World ride. We went back to Castle Couture to pick up another souvenir and the receipt said 6:25pm. It was finally time to check in at CRT. I got ds’ stroller parked and hung our rain gear on the stroller. We went inside for dd’s picture with Cinderella. I have not scanned it in though.

We sat for a few minutes when the hostess rang the bell and said that Cinderella was inviting our family in for dinner. I watched the princess ascend the staircase.

This place was very nice. Thankfully they had the highchairs that ds fits into. The darker ones with the Mickey head are too small for him. Dd got her wishing star and wand. Ds got a wishing star and a sword and we were just in time for a wishing ceremony.

The server came and he explained how everything was going to work. For appetizers I ordered the salad. I ordered the grapes and cheese platter for dd. While we waited for those the bread came. We all enjoyed it. I got all of the autograph cards out and realized we had forgotten to get Cinderella to sign hers while we were downstairs. Apparently a table near us had also forgotten. I saw a CM bring a card to their table with her signature, so I flagged her down. I asked how long Cinderella would be down there because we had forgotten her signature. She offered to get it for us and I took her up on it. Crisis averted. We enjoyed the appetizers. Ds enjoyed some of each one. I think he ate all of dd’s grapes, but she was happy for him to take them off her hands. She really loved the cheese.

The princesses started to emerge soon after that. A little of each princesses’ story was told and then they were formally introduced followed by applause. Snow White was first.

Then Aurora. Dd had fun guessing which princess it was before the announcer revealed it.

Then Ariel was introduced. Dd knew right away and was so excited.

We had seen three of the four and our dinner had just arrived. I had the spinach, pasta, and chicken dish. I can’t remember the actual name, but it was really tasty. Dd had chicken tenders and ds got his butter noodles, but continued to eat mostly bread and grapes too. There was a long break and we had desert as well. I had sherbet and ds got ice cream. Dd got a cupcake that she enjoyed decorating more than eating.

Then they finally did Belle’s story so I put all of the other signed cards away and prepared to get the bill and pay. I wanted to be able to leave once we had met Belle. We waited. I paid the bill and we continued to wait. Not only had she not been to our table, but we had not seen her either. Others who arrived around the time we did had left. Eventually I asked dd if she would mind if we left too. She asked if I knew how to spell Belle so her card would not be blank. Then Aurora came and asked if we still needed to see Belle and I said we did. Eventually the server came and said she wasn’t well, so we decided we would definitely leave.

On our way out, we ran into the CM who had retrieved Cinderella’s autograph for us earlier. She was very apologetic and we told her it was okay, things happen. We had Akershus scheduled for the next morning so dd would get to see Belle there. She said they felt bad and wanted to offer us access to the fast pass entrance at Town Square Theater as Belle was there in her yellow gown. I think she wears her blue dress at CRT. Initially I told her we were heading back to our room, but then thought what’s a little more princess time if we don’t have to wait long. I asked dd if she wanted to do it. I said I guess we could go after all, Rapunzel might be in there. The CM asked me if I wanted her to call and see if Rapunzel was in there. Why not? She did and confirmed Rapunzel was in deed in there so not only would we get to see Belle, but Rapunzel too. Dd was up for it so we thanked the CM and said to tell the guy on the phone we were on our way. The only requirement was that we get there by 8:45. I think it was about 8:15 at this time. We thanked her and headed downstairs. The rain was still pounding, but we would have to pass Town Square Theater on the way out anyway. I got ds back in the stroller and covered it. I helped dd into the poncho and off we went.

Up next, we find out there’s no such thing as too many princesses in a day.

 

[jane2073]

I am really enjoying your trip report!
It can't be easy to travel with two kids on your own, but you all seem to work well together!

Your daughter's make-over was beautiful! One of the best I have seen. She looks like a young Tiana.

My daughter used to call Goofy 'Goopy' too. I miss those days....

 

[bookmama]

Your girl looked so beautiful. I'm so glad you got to see so many princesses at one time and Tink! My niece is no princess fan but she sure loves Tink! great TR so far.

 

[luvmy2babies]

I am really enjoying your trip report!
It can't be easy to travel with two kids on your own, but you all seem to work well together!

Your daughter's make-over was beautiful! One of the best I have seen. She looks like a young Tiana.

My daughter used to call Goofy 'Goopy' too. I miss those days....

Thank you. I love traveling with them. Traveling alone with them has its advantages and disadvantages. The biggest disadvantage is it is kind of tough that usually when one moves we all have to move, although now that dd is older, that is becoming less of a factor and will likely become less and less of one as she gets older. Like on our first trip, I forgot to cover the stroller when we went into Crystal Palace to eat. When it started pouring, all I could do was watch as the stroller got soaked, but I try to apply any lesson to the next trip and I definitely applied that one to later trips. Although Debbie still got his stroller because the wind was so strong. I think the biggest advantage is being able to do our own thing. No one cared that we saw Philharmagic 8 times in 3 days and rode Small World almost as many times. No one cared that we went out even though it was pouring or that we had 7 character meals out of our 8 TS meals.

Even though the age difference between dd and ds is more than I originally planned, it helps at times and when we are traveling is definitely one of them. Something I expect will become more and more of a factor as they get older as well. For various reasons (all valid) my daughter does want me to remarry, but we are learning to be happy with our little family. Trips like this sure help.

Thank you for the kind words about dd. She looked even better than I pictured in my head the many many nights I dreamt about that makeover. I think it was the joy she was experiencing that made it even better. I'm sure she will be over the moon to hear someone thought she looked like a young Tiana.

We really get a kick out of ds' names for the characters. I think my favorite may be "Dip and Day-o" for Chip and Dale. I understand about missing it. Dd and I both were a little bummed when he progressed from "Muckey Mouse" to Mickey Mouse.

 

[luvmy2babies]

Your girl looked so beautiful. I'm so glad you got to see so many princesses at one time and Tink! My niece is no princess fan but she sure loves Tink! great TR so far.

Thank you. We love character dining. We had never been able to visit Tinkerbelle before because the wait was always so long. My original plan was to meet her the first day and pass the time waiting for a Jungle Cruise fast pass time in her line. Getting there at opening and being one of the first in was so much better though. I have to get caught up on your TR to see how you all toured with Debbie, especially on this day. Although it rained quite a bit on the 25th too, I think the 24th was the day Debbie dropped her worse on Disney. When I saw you were there too, I wondered what I would have done with 2 addtional children. It could not have been easy keeping everyone up beat. We had our challenges with just the two of us. It never bothered ds.

 

[tippANDbb]

Aw, your daughter did indeed look like a young Tiana - very pretty!

I do admire you all for keeping your spirits as high as possible during the rain! I'm happy you all made the best of your trip and still enjoyed yourselves!

I'm sure your daughter loved meeting all of those princesses! That must have been a very magical dinner for all of you, but especially the little princess

Can't wait to read more!

 

[luvmy2babies]

Aw, your daughter did indeed look like a young Tiana - very pretty!

I do admire you all for keeping your spirits as high as possible during the rain! I'm happy you all made the best of your trip and still enjoyed yourselves!

I'm sure your daughter loved meeting all of those princesses! That must have been a very magical dinner for all of you, but especially the little princess

Can't wait to read more!

Thank you. It wasn't always easy, but I appreciate Disney for being Disney. I told my daughter I didn't think there was anywhere else we could enjoy ourselves in that much rain.

I'm really glad she is still into the princesses. I read that a lot of little girls are done with them by age 6. Considering we didn't get to Disney until she was 7.5, I'm grateful the phase is still going strong. Getting made over? I don't think she'll outgrow her love for that. I hope to get her there a couple more times before she ages out of it.

 

[luvmy2babies]

Okay so when I left off we were leaving CRT and heading down to the Town Square Theater. The staff at CRT had communicated with the people there to let us in the fast pass line because Belle had not made it to our table. When we came out of CRT, they had roped off the hallway with ds’ stroller and some others behind the rope. I told the CM there I needed to get to my stroller. She asked if we had dinner or BBB reservations. I said, “No, we just left dinner and my daughter has already been to BBB (guess she couldn’t tell ) I just needed my son’s stroller and our things. She let us in and we got ourselves ready to go back out into the storm. I put ds in the stroller and covered it, helped dd back into the poncho and up went the umbrellas.

It was slow going. The wind was against us and we had to walk around instead of through the castle due to the ropes being up. We went around the Tomorrow Land side, came around past the garden and finally got to Main Street. We had to stop a couple of times when dd’s umbrella flipped out the other way. You know for years I thought that only happened in cartoons. I remember being so shocked the first time that happened to me. I told her to hold it against the wind and it popped back into place. We finally got there. I got ds out and covered the stroller. We got inside and Mitch whom we’d been told to look for met us in the lobby. We removed dd’s poncho as we walked. We went around to the fast pass entrance and I thanked him for his help. Dd then looked at me and said, “Did you bring my autograph book?” I hadn’t. She said “That’s okay, we’ll have pictures.” Boy would we have pictures.

First up was Cinderella. She complimented me on my shirt and dd’s jewelry. Her pictures was on them. She said she was glad they got a good shot of her for that portrait. They treated her like a princess in training. They danced.

They posed.

They shared a hug.

Then she spent some time with ds. Having given up my poncho, I look a hot mess, but ds is adorable. I love his smile.

Next was Belle. I love what she did. She thanked dd for coming all the way down there to find her after she went missing at the castle.

Then they also danced.

I can’t remember what they were talking about here, but dd was totally focused.

Then they posed together.

Ds looks really happy for her.

And a hug. I love the look on dd’s face.

Then they did some twirling together. These might be my favorites. Yeah, this was more than worth stopping on the way to the bus.

Then some lessons on the proper way for a princess to wave to her adoring public.

Rapunzel was flat out hilarious. She talked to dd about playing with Pascal. She was a wonderful.

They posed together. Dd kept telling me later how beautiful she was.

Then the hug.

Then she came to see ds. Despite my wet mop, I love these pictures.

He’s just irresistible that one.

We again showed our appreciation to Mitch as he escorted us to the exit. We went through a gift shop that we did look around in a bit, but it really was time to end this day. Photos and meet and greets all done, dd decided it was okay to splash around on the way to the bus. Again I was grateful it was June and warm outside. We were tired, but really happy with the day. We had to stand on the way back to the resort. It was a bit difficult, but we didn’t know until we were on the bus that there was no more room and I didn’t want to take them back off and unfold the stroller again. It’s a longer ride back when you’re standing I think. A lady helped me by holding the children’s souvenirs from CRT (dd’s wand and ds’ sword). We were one of the first ones off the bus once we got back to ASMo. I unfolded the stroller and put ds in and covered it. We went through the main building and back to our room. I got splashed more on the walk. It was a good sign dd wasn’t terribly exhausted.

We got back, washed up and snacked on some things from the groceries I’d ordered. We went to bed around 9:40. I asked dd if she wanted me to remove her crown before she went to sleep. She gasped and said "No way!" Looked at me like I was nuts. I was happy to leave it in. Believe it or not, we had more princess time on the agenda for the next day.

 

[jane2073]

Great update!! The pictures are beautiful!

 

[luvmy2babies]

Great update!! The pictures are beautiful!

Thank you. I've said a few times that Debbie probably dropped her worse that day, but it might have been our best day overall.

 

[Missy13d69]

I enjoyed your trip report! All thinks considered, your kids look so happy in all the pictures. It really seems like they had an amazing trip! Debbie (and lost cards) couldn't keep you guys down!

 

[Bmousey]

I'm just getting caught up! Sorry for the rain, but I'm sure it made it easier to get in to the many character meets. I'm so glad dd got to do BBB. She is absolutely gorgeous! She is a total princess! DS looked to be having a great time with the character greats also. He is so adorable. Looking forward to next update!

 

[luvmy2babies]

I enjoyed your trip report! All thinks considered, your kids look so happy in all the pictures. It really seems like they had an amazing trip! Debbie (and lost cards) couldn't keep you guys down!

Debbie definitely made it more interesting than I'd planned, but it was an amazing trip. I'm still telling my daughter how proud I am of her that she didn't let the weather keep her down. Thankfully the magic outweighed the chaos as long as we made the effort.

I'm grateful those cards are so easily replaced. I have read TRs where people said they went all the way back to the room when someone forgot one. I'm so glad I knew I didn't have to do that. Would not have been pretty getting all the way there and telling my children we had to go back.

 

[luvmy2babies]

I'm just getting caught up! Sorry for the rain, but I'm sure it made it easier to get in to the many character meets. I'm so glad dd got to do BBB. She is absolutely gorgeous! She is a total princess! DS looked to be having a great time with the character greats also. He is so adorable. Looking forward to next update!

The rain definitely helped us out with those meet and greets. I have been there before and seen each of those lines crazy long and we had never done any of them. To get them all done in the amount of time we did was big. Still wish we'd found Frontier Land Donald Duck. Maybe next time.

Thank you. She loved BBB. It felt good for her to get to do it after having to deny her on a previous trip. She wants to do it again next time. She feels like she is a princess. Her Godfather often tells her she is. It was nice to see her twirling and having fun. I know she's growing up, but I don't want it to happen to fast.

My son tried to act shy with the princesses, but there's a little flirt in him. The more attention they paid to him, the bigger his smile became.

I hope to do a couple of updates this weekend. Thanks everyone for reading along.

 

[lbuzz52]

i am not doing well at staying caught up on TR's this month- but i promise that i will be here to catch up soon !

 

[luvmy2babies]

i am not doing well at staying caught up on TR's this month- but i promise that i will be here to catch up soon !

Glad you made it over. No worries. I still have half to go yet.

 

[flea1267]

I am love love loving your trip report!!!! Your family is so endearing, your kids (as well as yourself) are beautiful! The love between the 3 of you is very evident and I love it! Thanks for sharing your trip with us! We were down there during Debby too! I feel your rain pain!

 

[luvmy2babies]

I am love love loving your trip report!!!! Your family is so endearing, your kids (as well as yourself) are beautiful! The love between the 3 of you is very evident and I love it! Thanks for sharing your trip with us! We were down there during Debby too! I feel your rain pain!

Hello fellow North Carolinian

Thank you for your kind words. I’m grateful for how my babies have loved and put up with me and how they love each other.

That rain was something. I remember reading about the system that was there a couple of weeks before we went down and hoping we didn’t get anything like it and we ended up getting worse. Debbie seemed to sit over Florida mocking us.

We still had fun though. We just tried to control what we could. I was really worried though about the people who had flooding during that time. Now that we are back here, I haven’t heard much about how they are doing.

The children just amused themselves splashing through it. Funny, since we got back, they are drawn to every puddle they see.

 

[luvmy2babies]

I was up at 6:10am again the next morning because we had more plans. It would be another wet day. Dd was again excited, but just like the other early days, she was moving slowly. I told her that we were going to have to walk a ways to get to the restaurant once we got to Epcot so we needed to make sure we got on the right bus. Her excitement wasn’t enough to make her move any faster. Good thing her hair was already done.

We got dressed and headed slowly (some of us slower than others) to the bus stop. It didn’t help that Debbie was still pounding us. Thankfully we still had those umbrellas. Ds’ stroller was covered and we waited patiently. We got off at Epcot and went in through the entrance for early character breakfasts. This time, unlike the morning of our Crystal Palace ADR, they asked me our last name and the time of our ADR. They checked us against a list, told us to try to stay dry and let us through.

The walk seemed to take forever. Dd wasn’t doing that great. She kept stopping and getting behind. I asked her if it was the rain that was bothering her. No. I asked her if she was tired. No. Then what? It just seems like it is taking forever, I’m hungry. Hmm…then wouldn’t it make sense to keep walking? Was it just me? We finally got there and parked the stroller. I secured (or thought I secured) the cover and we went to check in. They had plastic bags for us to put the rain gear in and that was nice. I had meant to bring a bag for that, but had forgotten when it took us so long to get out of the room. I was able to hold on to the one they gave us. It was big enough for dd’s rain jacket, ds’ rain jacket, my poncho and both umbrellas.

It didn’t take long for us to get in to see Belle.

We got a good location in the room. We were near the buffet and in the middle of the room. Our first trip there we were off to the side near the door where the CMs went in and out. I got the cards out and the princesses started coming.

Aurora came by first.

We then went up to the buffet to get some starters. I made sure to get ds a nice pile of grapes. Dd and I both got some fruit. We also got some miniature muffins. I told her to make sure to leave room for the main course.

Then Cinderella came. I think dd put her up the list a bit on this trip. We’d had 3 really great ones. Ds also recognizes her when he sees her now. “It’s Cinderwewa”

Snow White came next.

She had the high pitched Snow White voice down cold. Both she and the CRT Snow White did actually. We were chowing down on the scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon and to a lesser degree, potatoes that they brought us. Ds was more into the starters on the buffet so I ended up going back for more of that for him.

And finally, Ariel came by to see us.

Next they did the Princess parade around the restaurant. The first time we ate there, I had a really bad view of this due to where we were sitting. Not this time.

We finished up and paid. Then we got into a very long line at the tiny restroom there. Dd changed out of her dress and put on a t-shirt and hoodie. We came out to find the wind, which was whipping hard this morning, had pulled the stroller cover up and the stroller was soaked.