Monday, March 9th
Ok, so no more late nights. The girls had horrendous nights, taking turns with meltdowns that would last for hours. What seemed to have gone well obviously had a larger impact that we could see, so out the window went plans for Fantasmic and Illuminations
(We had discussed each going to one alone, but would later decide that it wasn't worth the hassle). Oh, well! It's a new day now, so we were off...
We were actually heading through Epcot to the Magic Kingdom (so not an efficient way to travel, as I learned on my solo trip, but nice when you have twin girls who freak out getting in and out of a stroller
), but got distracted. I ducked into Club Cool for my almost-daily dose of Kinley
and we noticed it was perfect timing to hit the Character Connection. Were there not multiple characters there in previous years? It was always Mickey & Friends now, apparently. This was fine, but not what I was expecting. Anyway, we waited about 10 minutes (love the queue area with classic cartoons!) and had a great time with all of the characters. The photopass folks and handlers were great, too, taking tons of wonderful pictures as the characters interacted with my girls, with both their cameras and mine! That is, of course, until my camera batteries died. Oh, well.... we'll just have to buy photopass ones. Aaaand this would be the bad timing would kick in. The last two photographers would take 1 or 2 poorly-composed, "posed" shots. No fun.
Still, there were some cute moments overall.
Finally, we were on our way to the Magic Kingdom via the monorail. We had brought along two little Tinkers, so we headed straight for Pixie Hollow to see if it was doable after arriving so late.
We grabbed a FP for Buzz on the way (which we'd waste, but not really miss) and got there as the wait times were listed at 15 minutes (Princesses) and 45 minutes (Fairies). I tell you what, I'm thinking the princesses are glad to have some people with which to share the load, no?
We decided the girls wouldn't care either way (and we have the next size Tinkerbell costumes too
), so we hit the Princess line. In about 2.5 minutes flat, we were in!
Hmm..... a little off on the wait time! The girls enjoyed the princesses,
but were mostly just in awe of their dresses
Since the line was only slightly longer for the Fairies, we figured there would be no way it would actually take 45 minutes to get back there, so we hopped in that one as well. Hooray!
We were right, it didn't take 45 minutes. It took about 65. With hungry girls, who we thought would be out long before lunchtime
Still, it made for some cute photo ops, and Tinkerbell was FABULOUS. Just PERFECT. She talked with Elise and Avery about their training, and playtime and snacks and all the fun things they would learn from her. "How many seasons are you?" (8 months) "Ooh, you're brand new Tinkers! We're going to have a long time to spend together!"
We made a pit stop at Pete's Garage (bad pun intended), then sat on Minnie's Porch
and fed the girls. We made a quick run into her house, but it was SO crowded that we headed back out as quickly as we had entered!
As we went through Fantasyland in search of lunch, we stopped to grab a FP for Pooh. What do you know?!
I was so exicted, I practically ran to catch up with Kyle and show him. It's the little things.....
From here, we headed to Fronteirland for Peco's Bills. Kyle loves their burgers (and the fixin's bar), but we don't eat there often because I don't really like anything on the menu all that well. Still, I'm glad we went. The self-serve ordering stations made my day!
(Again - the little things...) The girls slept while we enjoyed our lunch. My favorite part, added mostly for the benefit of my DH when he reads this
was watching Kyle spend several minutes meticulously building his masterpiece of a burger, only to watch it immediately topple all over (his plate, not the ground (thankfully)). Crush had said it so well: "... And when something happens that is totally bogus but somewhat humerous, 'Duuuuuude'." (Love you, Kyle
)
After lunch we watched Philharmagic (do you think the girls noticed that everything was blurry?
) and then rode The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. The girls loved it, as we expected. I loved watching Kyle remind Elise and Avery of all the stories we had read from the Classic Pooh Treasury before our trip as we traveled through them
What a morning! We had accomplished so much already, at least at the pace the trip had been going!
We stopped for another Dole Whip on the way out of the Magic Kingdom. For the record, if you are ever at Aloha Isle and you see me, go to the line that is furthest away. It NEVER fails that something goes dreadfully wrong in whatever line I pick, and the entire park gets served before I do. This is not that much of an exaggeration. You've been warned.
Still, the end result is ALWAYS worth the wait, and I enjoyed it very much as we rode the monorail back to Epcot.
When we got there, the girls were sleeping so Kyle and I wandered through Innoventions for a little while. There is a lot there that is new since the last time we went! We took our time walking back to the resort, even waiting on the Friendship Boat (just for the heck of it). It had been a long, hot morning and we needed to relax in the room for a while!
) and just fiddled around. I have to admit, any that are good were most likely accidents! 
) -- 
Alas, we'd be back.... and in fact, I pulled out a calendar that same evening and began planning our return trip in October! 
