*update 1/10 Am I done?!!* How to get your child to grow 1" in 120 days....

Yay! Zoey was tall enough!! :cool1: All those months of stretching really paid off. :lmao:

Love the picture of Minnie with Olive and Zoey hugging Donald. So cute!

Nice job Zack getting the crown lined up on Cinderella. :thumbsup2
 
I applaud you. Since you were headed that direction, I know it had to be tempting to send them to Tomorrowland or something so that they aren't trying to get into lines in front of you. :rotfl2::lmao:

One word.... Karma :)

Great! I'm glad that she was able to get a part and had a good time with it, even if she was a little reluctant at first.


That really was a great morning! You got through a lot of things, and most importantly, Zoey seemed to be having a blast! :thumbsup2

We all had a great time :) However, Zoey is at the age where this stuff is just seriously awesome!! I just wish she would smile a bit more... She's always so serious looking!!

:banana::banana::banana::banana:


Wow! Nice! :thumbsup2


Love those great character interactions that have that little extra touch. :thumbsup2


:rotfl2::lmao::rotfl: In that case, I'd say you're lucky that he even gets on it.

Agreed! Later on in the week Zoey and I had a ride with just us two where we could do serious spinning!

I like how you just kind of went with the flow. I enjoy planning Disney trips, but I always love just deciding at the last second that I want to go to the MK and make it happen. It looks like it was a great evening and sometimes you just have to stop and watch the fireworks. :thumbsup2

Yeah, in the end it's vacation and we do the go with the flow, being together is most important :)


What a fun day in MK! Your morning touring plan was pretty much identical to what we did on one of our MK days last January!

Hehe I wonder where we got our touring plan tips?

As for taking a family picture on the Barnstormer I have learned from my own trial and errors that they have to be seated in the front third of the coaster for them to be recognizable in the pictures. I have yet to have succeeded but that's what January is for, right? :rotfl:


I was just impressed he knew what car we were in... ;)

We haven't done CRT in a couple of trips but we are going back this January because my brother's family is coming with us and they have yet to have experienced the magic that is just being inside the castle! DD loves the experience as well. The food has been mostly average for us but I still love sitting inside the castle. :thumbsup2

It's starting to become a trip tradition - I am just in love with the castle - it does feel very magical :) We are doing breakfast in January - should be fun!

Yay! Zoey was tall enough!! :cool1: All those months of stretching really paid off. :lmao:

Love the picture of Minnie with Olive and Zoey hugging Donald. So cute!

Nice job Zack getting the crown lined up on Cinderella. :thumbsup2

Shush! That's my secret!! No one is supposed to know about the stretching :) The girls were really cute with all the characters it is so nice to have Olive interested in them as well.... Well most of the time. However she did prefer the furry ones over the people characters in most cases....
 
Just found your trip report today. I'm all caught up and can't wait to read more. Love the picture of Olive and Jasmine. :)
 
Sarah,

I followed you over from the October group. Love your trip report so far!!!! Such adorable girls!!
 


Ahhhh so it’s Monday morning… Even though we were out late the night before (and Zack and I stayed up even later watching TV) we were up very early in the morning. We kept breakfast fairly simple. I made hard boiled eggs for Zack for the week and we had lots of fruit and Starbucks Via’s…. These worked out very well with my coffee addiction! I was pretty impressed with these… So much easier than making coffee, very portable and best of all very cold…. :D We ate our breakfast drank our coffee (maybe coffees for some of us hehe) and got ready before waking the kiddos. The kids were pretty easy to get ready, I kept all their breakfasts simple and portable so they could eat in the car on our way to the parks…

Today was our Epcot day, and again we made it for rope drop! I do love being an early riser! So while we didn’t have MagicBands here was the big choice…. Do we go right and head to Soarin’ or do we go left and head to Test Track…. Test Track was one of the rides that Zack looked to riding with Zoey so we went left. While the masses ran to Test Track…. Hehehe yes the masses……







Zack and Zoey got on with a 5 min standby line, and we grabbed a rider swap pass while Olive and I waited….



While they rode we walked about, I took some pictures of Olive, and we sweltered…. Is that a word? It was HOT!! Yeah, I have become far to accustomed to New England weather…. So as we waited and got hotter (that design part takes forever!) Olive and I wandered over to MouseGear…. A few moments later Zack texted me that they were done! So now for ride number 2 for Zoey (this rider swap thing really works out for her! Us too…. :) ) Zoey and I went through, we never got a card to do a design so we kinda stood there and Zoey took selfies with my phone… Soon enough we were on and it was so much fun! Zoey thought the ride was so fast and so cool…. She made Daddy proud hehe…. While we rode Zack and Olive looked at the cars, yeah I have no idea about cars….


Selfie!



It’s shiny… it’s red…. It’s pretty….





As we approached the Land we decided because they do not allow strollers in and we didn’t want to run in and out that I would head over to the fountains at the Imagination Pavilion while Zack got the Fastpasses. When I got up to the fountains I let Olive and Zoey run and play. I really like this area because it’s never busy and it is somewhat closed off. I am always looking for little spots where the kids can have some freedom and get some free play. This was perfect – I got to stand around and finish my coffee and the girls got to run around and have little kid fun with jumping water and a fountain pool.









Soon enough Zack had shown up and we had a bit of time before our FP window for Soarin’ opened up. We decided it would be a good time to walk over and check out The Living Seas. We walked onto Nemo, and then spent some time in what did they used to call it? Deep Space Alpha or something?!? Well, we walked around, watched the Dolphins and the handler, checked out the manatees and all the other sea creatures. Our Soarin’ FP window had opened up, so we decided to head out. On the way out I tried to get a picture with Zack and the kids in front of the Nemo sign…. Fail – kids just weren’t having it! You can’t say we didn’t try! I then snapped a few pictures of Spaceship Earth in hopes of a monorail passing, it was taking too long so we headed out. Keeping the kids moving had a far better payoff than a monorail shot!








It was decided that Zack and Zoey would go first while Olive and I took in the AC at Innoventions! Did I mention it was hot out that day? We did one lap, and then found a bench. Olive had a snack and I did a couple FB updates while we relaxed. I can tell you Olive and I were in heaven! She gets a bit overheated and we were loving how nice and cool it was in there (funny part is, right now I have my heat on and my stove cranking….) After about a half an hour Zack texted me and we met outside out front. Zoey came racing down and she was just so excited. She tells me “Mommy I flew like a bird – just like…like… (looks up errr no birds analogy not working) that DRAGONFLY!” Yes I love how a 4 year old brain works sometimes. While we had that rider swap for Soarin’ it ended up going to waste because we were hungry!​
 
On the way we stopped at the character spot, it was no more than a 10 min wait, right after I handed the PP photographer our card to be scanned, I turn around and Zoey is sitting in Mickey’s lap giving him a hug… Hehe she didn’t move! We met our friends, including Minnie – and unfortunately our pictures of her got lost in some photopass abyss and were never to be seen again (insert sad face) After exiting, we did a short survey on customer service and set up of the meet and greet…. We gave them some feedback (mostly good but with a few pointers….) and then headed off to the Land. Or so we thought, we wandered around looking for our stroller and the entrance we walked into! Finally we found our way (darn survey people distracting us! Hehe ) we should have turned around, instead we went straight and I have no idea where we ended up, except near a very empty bathroom (bonus! Love hidden bathrooms!)









Yes…. I have a crazy family…..


Now a quick stop for some photopass pictures! Another set of lost and found pictures….








Now on our way to France a short stop in the UK to say hello to Alice! We also looked around for that elusive Peter Pan on the buildings, no luck…. I looked everywhere and he must have been off in Neverland…. I think I know where they usually put him… I *think*…..




On our walk over Olive passed out in the stroller, this made getting a seat a little tricky…. Luckily a couple saw me with sleeping Olive and gave us their table because they were finishing up. I was sooo grateful. It was on the end and I was able to scoot the stroller in so it stayed out of the way. We enjoyed our lunch – and soon were on our way. On our way out we decided to see if Belle was around – she was – but the line was closed… This repeated itself every time we tried to meet her on this trip! So, we went back because on the times guide Aurora was meeting…. This is when one of the best meet and greets of our trip happened…. We were wandering over near the meet & greet…. When Aurora came out and took Zoey by the hand and walked her over to the M&G area. She gave Zoey the “royal” treatment and well… Needless to say from that point on Aurora has been her favorite princess. :goodvibes it was such a great moment. It made her feel so special and it was so sweet! I was able to get a couple of pictures from my phone of them walking away (I think Disney is the only place where a complete costumed stranger can walk away with my daughter!!) These pictures were lost with photopass and I am sooo grateful they found them!!










We then began a relaxing stroll around the world showcase. We stopped for a few pictures… Wandered some more…Saw a random PP photographer and got some more pics… I took a few pictures with my phone for the FB group and we wandered until we saw Snow White – another quick M&G for Zoey!








Oh the crowds were intense…..




















I really enjoyed the laid back relaxed style of the M&G in Epcot. It was a lot of fun and not too overwhelming for Zoey and her shyness. After meeting with Snow White we decided to escape the heat – by heading back to AKV for some pool time fun! Of course… To escape the heat for a moment a quick stop at Mousegear – for these!

 
With lots of pool time fun and relaxation done we knew it was time to get ready for our dinner at Artist’s Point. I booked this ADR to celebrate our 9 year wedding anniversary. After cleaning up and getting the girls in their adorable dresses (kids have the best selection of clothing! Gap Kids gets way too much of my money…..) we were on our way. We arrived at the Wilderness Lodge waaaaay early and decided to walk around. We walked through the lobby and looked at all the details, and then we were on our way to check out the gift shop. I wanted to stop because I needed post cards to mail to a few friends :goodvibes Love spreading Disney Magic! While we were in the gift shop Zoey really loved the charm necklace and all the charms… Zack and I contemplated getting it for her then but decided to wait until after dinner and use it as a reward for good behavior. We walked around, and figured out where the DVC portion and checked out the beach…

We showed up for our ADR right on time and we were able to enjoy an empty restaurant. Zack and I split the heirloom tomato salad. It was very good, however, I have to say they should talk to my local farm on where to get tastier heirlooms! The girls had typical kids meals, I had the cedar planked salmon and Zack had the bison. It was delish! The girls were pretty much fantastic. Zoey sat and colored, the entire time! I was concerned about their behavior but they were actually angels… Makes me wonder what they put in those kids meals! For dessert we shared the famous berry cobbler between the all of us…. It was better than I imagined! When our server brought us the check, she also gave the girls light up Tinkerbell clips. She said it was because they were so good, I am thinking it’s because she was a great server :) After all, it did convince to add to the automatic gratuity! Well played I say! After we gathered our things we went to the mercantile and Zoey became the proud owner of the charm necklace! She loves this thing and I think it will be a great souvenir to keep adding to. We took the long way to our car and checked the DVC villas, it looks beautiful and excited us for our stay there in January. We also saw a deer, they seem fairly domesticated to say the least, I think we even got a head nod to acknowledge us from the little Bambi (I say little because even at what appeared to be full size they look much smaller than the deer we have up north!) On our way to the car we contemplated our options for the evening…. Option 1 – Epcot, Option 2 The Magic Kingdom, Option 3 The Boardwalk, and Option 4 the room…. Well, we were in the mood to take it easy so we decided on skipping the parks… We weren’t ready to call it a night so we ended up at the Boardwalk….







I love the Boardwalk, I guess because it is just so relaxing for us…. We loaded the girls up and off we strolled to the main entrance… Again we took a little detour to see some of the DVC side of the resort, it looks very nice and we took the elevator down to the boardwalk. On our exploration we checked out the pool which seemed much smaller than what we thought based on the pictures! Our night was basically spent watching the “street” performers, shopping and sitting around…. Zoey was even chosen to participate in one of the acts! She was supposed to throw rings from pretty far away (for a 4 year old) and it was so funny… She tried – but ended up having to hand them to the guy…. He called up the efforts of 2 other children, and performed a similar albeit different take on the same thing he did to Zoey. It was fun, the crowd loved it, and so did we! I love the Boardwalk Gift shop and we purchased most of our trip souvenirs from here (we were bringing back err a few items for friends and family….). This is where I spotted the Dooney & Bourke wristlet – and thought it may be a great option for my phone… I didn’t buy it but definitely started to think about it! After some shopping and checking out the new Boardwalk Bakery (much better layout!!) we sat and watched part of Illuminations from a bench. The girls started looking like they were ready to pass out and when there was a lull in the fireworks we started the long walk back to the car….
















Argh camera shake….


Another great day in Disney – soon enough we were back in the room, the girls passed out in our room and us relaxing in the living area – we had another busy day ahead of us tomorrow…. Hollywood Studios in the morning and MNSSHP and BOG at night!!
 


Hi Everyone!! I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! I am trying (not successfully) to pick up the pace of this TR! In 6 weeks we will be back - so between crazy holidays and vacation prep I must finish!!! :santa:



Sarah,

I followed you over from the October group. Love your trip report so far!!!! Such adorable girls!!

:wave: Hi! Yay! :yay: and thank you! I have to say, even with my strong bias my kiddos are pretty cute... To this day still trying to figure out where they got it from!

Just found your trip report today. I'm all caught up and can't wait to read more. Love the picture of Olive and Jasmine. :)

:wave: Howdy!! I do love that picture too - she really wanted to get a good look of her, my guess is she forgot about turning around!
 
Eeek! Your trip is only 6 weeks away?!? That means mine is just around the corner too! Hope you're having a great weekend!

Those unexpected and totally spontaneous moments with characters are the best and makes Disney so much magical for everyone.

I'm ashamed to say that I have to have taken the kids over to the jumping/dancing fountains. I didn't even know exactly where they were located until now. :lmao:
 
Eeek! Your trip is only 6 weeks away?!? That means mine is just around the corner too! Hope you're having a great weekend! Those unexpected and totally spontaneous moments with characters are the best and makes Disney so much magical for everyone. I'm ashamed to say that I have to have taken the kids over to the jumping/dancing fountains. I didn't even know exactly where they were located until now. :lmao:

I know right? So crazy! Ahh this weekend is super crazy. Lots of stuff going on next week which means a crazy week before :)

I really love that area - I have a great snapshot from last year that shows the real playful side of grown ups. It's of Zoey and my BIL jumping to catch the water... Too sweet! It's always nice and quiet there too. Standing there while they played sipping on my coffee and taking pictures of them with my phone was just nice.

So much fun!
 
Zoey seems to be really having a fantastic time. And I'm glad that she enjoys the height restriction rides and wants to ride them again so that you're able to use the rider swap. I'm sure a lot of kids her age would be freaked out by the idea of riding Soarin' or Test Track even once.

I'm glad that the girls were so well behaved for your anniversary dinner. The necklace was certainly a good choice to get her. I'm sure she'll love adding to it over the years on future trips.
 
What a wonderful day at Epcot, and a fantastic way to end the day too. Glad the girls were so good during your anniversary dinner!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards
 
Zoey seems to be really having a fantastic time. And I'm glad that she enjoys the height restriction rides and wants to ride them again so that you're able to use the rider swap. I'm sure a lot of kids her age would be freaked out by the idea of riding Soarin' or Test Track even once. I'm glad that the girls were so well behaved for your anniversary dinner. The necklace was certainly a good choice to get her. I'm sure she'll love adding to it over the years on future trips.
My kids are wild dare devils... For instance tonight's fun was jumping off the back of the couch.... ;) the only ride Zoey didn't seem to care for was Star Tours, but I think it was more heat and just break time than anything... She loves the Star Wars movies..... Crazy kids are a bonus for those types of rides..... but...... They do know how to make my heart stop! I was so happy - it made us brave enough to book both Flying Fish & Jiko in January.... It was nice - kinda one of those "I think I'm doing this parenting thing right!
What a wonderful day at Epcot, and a fantastic way to end the day too. Glad the girls were so good during your anniversary dinner! Sent from my iPad using DISBoards
:) great day indeed! I'm looking forwards to your TR :D even though I may be mildly jealous you saw holiday decorations!!
 
Ummmm I am a slacker and started this 1.5 weeks ago! So I truly want to finish this before I leave in less than two weeks… It’s 3 full days and a short day…. It’s possible right? I imagine it will be much shorter in than I have been doing and mostly pictures after this update!

So here I am on a Saturday morning… I have been up since 4 because well, joyously the power went out…. GRRRRR! So yeah, I am thrilled… I have been pretty busy the past few weeks… months… maybe even years…. Well right now I am not busy… My power is out. Which is no fun in December – thankfully we are not in the subarctic cold streak we had just a few days ago. I guess, since it is pitch black, I am unable to do much I will sit here and keep a fire going to help heat the house and work on my TR. After all, I would like to get this finished before my upcoming trip! Which I might add is only three weeks away!!! Three weeks from now I will be sitting in an airport, sipping some Starbucks and waiting for the next fiasco that makes me buying EBCI useless (There always seems to be something, late for the airport, potty break, diaper change….)

So here it goes!

Today was our Hollywood Studios day – we were running a little behind. It was a typical morning of getting things together, making a quick breakfast and getting the kids portable breakfast going. Soon enough we were out to our car and headed for a morning at Hollywood Studios. This morning Olive proved to be beast like… Rivaling many of the villains at Disney at the time…. Well, we started our morning by making a dash to TSM. The wait was relatively short, I am thinking about 20 min, so after grabbing fastpasses who headed right on. Zoey had so much fun on this ride! We sat together and while my score wasn’t so fab either, Zoey did manage to score about 1000 points, which I think is pretty good for a girl who never plays video games :) It just a few minutes we were off, and Olive still wanted nothing to do with the 3D glasses as we put them in the sanitizing bin. Her ride must have been interesting, kind of like me walking around without my contacts in – straight up blurry! Well, since we had a while to wait on our FP time we headed across the way to meet Buzz & Woody….. This is where Olive became defiant. We were waiting in line, had one cute photo together and then she decided she wanted freedom and nothing would appease her. We tried and after a few minutes Zack ended up leaving with her to go for a walk. No one wants to stand in line and listen to a kid being a beast we figured.




This was a semi reoccurring theme, on so many trips I have been the baby/child watcher while everyone goes off. Not this time! Zoey and I stayed, and we eventually met Buzz & Woody. It seemed to take forever, however there was an entertaining family next to us with kids in the same age range as Zoey. So after a few quick photos and Zoey sneaking out a quiet “There’s a snake in my boot” we went out looking for Zack. Who happened to be waiting right outside the exit. Yay! no searching – especially since I don’t think I had my cell phone.





So – now it is 6:17 real time… Still no power… Our next house – it will have a standby generator!! Our living room is warm but I imagine the girls bedrooms are getting cold. I am not going to wake them until at least the sun comes up though…. Hopefully they turn the power on soon…

So we still had time to burn before we could ride TSM again so we ventured off to the Animators Courtyard. Olive was still yearning to be free so Zack took her on a walk around the very empty building. There is this sunken in circular area with Mickey’s handprints that he was able to contain her in while he relaxed. There was three character meets here – Sorcerer Mickey, Ralph & Venellope and Mr Incredible & Frozone. There was also the character drawing class, which we did not do because of Zack already off with Olive. While we waited for the Mickey meet and greet to open we played with the terminals that have that game about what character you are most like… We had some fun, we were very silly and then we noticed the meet & greet was to open shortly so we walked over and stood in line… It was a short line, and again I was phoneless, it would have been nice for Olive to meet this Mickey as Sorcerer Mickey is one of her favorite stuffed animals… However aside from hunting Zack down there was no way for me to get ahold of him. There is always next time though!! We met Mickey and got some pictures and Zack showed up… 2 minutes too late of course…




The next M&G to open up was Ralph & Venellope. This line seemed to take quite a while. However, Zoey loves the movie and who knows how long the M&G will last. The one neat thing they had in the queue was little video game like terminals – the girls played with these even though they had no clue what they were doing… We finally arrived to meet Ralph, well apparently he was a little too huge for Olive’s liking so Zack went to the side where they did not tower over her. We had finished, and checked the Incredibles time… Still had 10-15 minutes to wait, while not too long – it can be when you have a beastish like toddler named Olive…. :)





Free Play while waiting for our FP… Hmmm I wonder if Zoey noticed she had one less finger than mickey….





So our FP window opened up – TSM seemed like the logical place to go. On the way out we wandered and I grabbed my favorite picture of my family :)





I did notice Sofia meeting outside the Disney Jr area, the girls do not really know who she is so the incredibly long line was not worth enduring in my opinion. I am thinking for Christmas of picking up a Sofia & Doc McStuffins DVD for the girls as stocking stuffers. Hopefully I get this up by then. :) (…Just to add I failed on both of those!....)

Ugh… Huge let down – what sounded like a big old utility truck turned out to be the town salting and sanding… Boooooo! Luckily the kids are still sleeping… I never realized how late the sun comes up… 6:44 and still super dark out….

Well, we rode TSM again and I rode with Olive, and again she went for the blurry experience and neglected to wear her 3D glasses. We were debating on going to meet Mike & Sulley so Olive could show them what a good monster/scarer she is… Seriously – this kid practices her RAWR’s! Very funny when you walk into the local store and she is rawring at people with her arms up trying to be all tough… Zack was hungry so we went over to Fairfax Fare and grabbed a greasy lunch. It was pretty early and very empty. There was only us and a few other people. There was a family with 2 young boys. These boys were picking on the birds that hang around to feed off of whatever people drop. The parents thought it was funny and didn’t seem to think there was any harm in what they were doing. I probably should have said something. However, I felt it wouldn’t have mattered because they saw the behavior and didn’t care… Well, apparently I didn’t need to say a thing. Just seconds later another family sat down with a young girl who appeared to be 8-9 years old… Man she told these little boys!! I wanted to give her a high five. She stepped in between them, took the bottle they were kicking towards the birds and basically told these little kids they were mean. She had her little hands on her hips and intimidated them. Once they sat down the little girl went back to her lunch…. If those little boys even looked sideways at those birds she glared them down!! Way to go little girl – fighting for the small guys. :)

Well in a brilliant move after our lunch we went over to the Tower Of Terror…. I was concerned this would be too dark and scary for Zoey. I knew she would love the free fall feeling but the moments leading up to it might be a bit much… We grabbed a rider swap pass and Zoey and I went on first… Ok… I stood near the TV so there would be some light…. I also brought my phone just in case…. So we make it through the waiting room…. Ok so far so good…. She starts to become a little apprehensive of the basement area so I am ready to chicken out with her, but then her mood changes and she’s all about why no one cleans at this place. Why is it so dusty and dirty… Really? This is what you end up being concerned with? Ok works for me! We rode it, she seemed did not seem to love the ride until the drop… She loved that part and to her it was worth sitting through the rest as we skipped out to Daddy so they could ride together… The people in front of us all had their arms up so no picture of us, but we did manage to get one of her second ride…..



Before riding ToT




While Olive and I waited for Zack she was getting thirsty so I tried to get milk from the coffee stand outside the exit of ToT… I stood there and waited and waited… The kid manning the stand seemed more concerned with his cell phone than helping me… I know we all enjoy texting and social networking… but really…. If I didn’t need milk I would not have purchased it from the Joffery stand but Olive was getting thirsty and it was too warm out to let her wait a few minutes…. So after I say something, and he finished up his conversation. With no good excuse by the way, I finally get milk for Olive. Yes, I did take his name, the time and report it to guest services. I really try not to complain but poor service is a HUGE peeve of mine. If he was trying to finish stocking or something work related I wouldn’t have said anything, but it was very obvious he was on his personal cell phone. The CM at guest services said he would pass the complaint along to Joffery’s and that was the best he could do. I found this to be perfectly reasonable.
Alright --- Now where was I… Ok so after the Tower of Terror – We decided to head over to Star Tours… On the way we stopped and purchased a Disney Dooney wristlet – worked great for carrying my phone and wallet when I didn’t have them tucked into my camera bag. So after this short detour we walked over to Star Tours, the wait was short and it was getting hot so Olive and I wandered around, ducking into Tatooine Traders for some AC, checking out the Jedi Training – getting a couple quick shots of this guy…


And this thing….




Well Zack and Zoey came out, surprisingly she did not love this ride like the other thrill rides, she seemed grumpy and I think that the heat and stimulation were getting to her. So instead of attempting another go at it, or heading over to Monster Inc M&G we decided to leave. We walked out, stopped in another gift shop for some much needed AC and then headed out to the short trek to our car.

Next up MNSSHP!!!​
 

Well, like almost every other afternoon… We spent it in the pool :) It would completely relax the girls and was awesome. The heat was intense this day so it was definitely needed! Especially since we would be going to MNSSHP tonight!! We had a 4:45 ADR and my husband wanted to wear a Mickey shirt to MNSSHP we could not find anything we liked anywhere and decided to make a quick stop at the Contemporary. We seem to find a lot of great items at the resort gift shops… Well, we were running late between and finally did find a shirt at their gift shop and soon enough we were getting our wrist bands at the gate… It was 4:44 or something crazy like that! We booked it back to Be Our Guest and I was so worried we would be late!

We made it to BOG just in time, and waited outside the entrance for a few moments… They had ice water out for guests because of the heat. The one thing they need to rethink… Keeping that metal trash can out in the heat!! It must have been 1000 degrees when we went to throw away our cups! Everyone was trying to find a spot in the shade – and sooner than later we were finally called in to sit down in the Ballroom…


While I realize he is stuck in the heat --- definitely not going to pity this poor gargoyle who is stuck in Disney!!






We had a seat right next to the windows – it was positively gorgeous!! I really enjoyed our light meal and the service was very good. I was able to get a specialty cupcake with a witch hat of chocolate on top! It was apple inspired by Snow White I presume! Zack chose the lemon which was also very tasty! The 4 of us split our cupcakes and were on our way out… My intentions were to take pictures and do more exploring on another day, we did not want to miss out on the party festivities!

On the way out there was no line to meet the beast! Amazing right? Yes, it was… Zoey was in her Belle peasant dress and the Beast took her hand and danced around the library with her, he acted smitten and as shy as Zoey can be she definitely ate it up! She was nervous about his size at first but he definitely won her heart just as he won the real “Belle”. Olive did not like the Beast – I think his sheer size and the darkness of the room just upset her, when we stood for a group photo she bawled – the Beast must be used to this, and he moved around to make her more comfortable – while Olive still was slightly apprehensive she had stopped crying and seemed to like to check him out from the short distance. It was a great ending to a fabulous meal!! We enjoyed it so much we will of course be going there again in about 2 weeks!!












Our MNSSHP was a lot of fun, as we left BOG I checked out the line for the 7 Dwarfs – it was already extremely long and no way I was waiting in that with two little kids! So we headed to the new Fantasyland and met Ariel (we had skipped her the other day) Donald in his pumpkin suit, we also saw a few other characters like Goofy who were in the same outfits as the Silly Side Show so we did skip them.











Our intentions for the evening where to meet characters in outfits that we do not normally see… As we walked through FL we could hear the Dance Party over in Tomorrowland with Monsters Inc… Olive, being our resident scarer in training and little dancer did enjoy it somewhat – she danced a bit and checked out the monsters but for Zoey it was too loud and well… She’s like her mom and dad – a non dancer…. :) So after that we walked up towards Winnie the Pooh in hopes they were out meeting – we had just missed them and decided to go up to Main street and meet with the princesses, princes, Minnie & Mickey and maybe even catch the parade! With a stop at Starbucks and coffee in hand we decided to wait for the parade, we had found a front row seat near the train station! As we sat and waited a little girl sat near us, she eventually moved in front of us shortly after the headless horseman trotted through, with her mom not saying anything, and her blocking the view of the girls with her Tinkerbell costume we just walked off… I have no desire to go there with a parent and with my kids not being able to see the parade well now from the stroller it was not worth it….

Spooky…




So we turned around, parked the stroll and went and met Lotso! No wait :) Then off to meet Disney Royalty – the wait was all of 15 minutes!! After that we walked right back in and met Mickey & Minnie! It was so great, Olive has enjoyed the characters but she literally ran up to them and threw her little arms around them in the greatest hugs ever!! It was definitely a great moment for us, and because everyone was watching the parade – we were able to meet with them for quite a bit! Then we took a chance for Jack & Sally – after grabbing the stroller we headed over – the parade was just ending and we saw the line… Way too long to wait in for us… Oh well, there will be a next time…



Olive seeing Rapunzel and Flynn for the first time…. This is one of her favorite movies for the song with the floating lanterns…













 

So meandering up Main Street and standing in line for more failed PP pictures that were lost in the cloud, we finally saw Hallowishes in front of the Crystal Palace… It was AMAZING!! By far one of the best displays I have seen… We were having a great night and the girls were having so much fun!

My memory is a little foggy here… I actually don’t remember what we did… Maybe Sleepy Hollow Refreshments? Nutella Waffle (that could explain a potential sugar coma!) However I do remember a bathroom stop… And then hearing the parade for through Frontierland… We went out and check it out of course and saw nearly the entire parade. Zack threw Zoey up on his shoulders for a birds eye view (there was no one behind us!) It was a great time, and Olive had no one in front of her so she could enjoy it as well!
















After that we headed over to meet Tinkerbell, secretly I had hoped that Periwinkle would meet with her as well. Zoey had mentioned she wanted to meet her many times – and time and time again I told her it was far too hot in FL for a winter fairy…. I was a little disappointed when I saw Vidia but her interaction was great as was Tink’s. Zoey was in fairy heaven (even though you can’t tell in the pictures) but she literally skipped out of there after getting to meet one of her favorite characters!!


















After that it was time to head out…. With two tired munchkins we headed back to the car – within minutes the kids passed out. We were back to the room around midnight and got everyone to bed for our next day was an early one… We had an ADR at Tusker House pre park opening… Yeah – I have no idea what I was thinking!!​
 
Wow mega update!
The cool family pic reminds me of a barrel of monkeys with the way their arms are bent.

Love that Zoey is riding all the big rides!! And yes ToT is a dusty mess!! :lmao:

Olive's blurry TSMM ride cracked me up. She was probably thinking, why are we riding this again?! Lol

Love the pic of Zoey watching the fireworks. Hoping Zack was able to keep his ear attached. :goodvibes
 
LOVE your shot of Vader!! The sky/clouds reflecting off his helmet. Very nice!

And of course I still love that shot of your DH and kids in black and white.

I'm missing MNSSHP. It was such a fun party and I'm wishing I had done it twice.
 
Happy new year!

Love the updates, especially all the character pictures! Fantastic shots throughout the day. I also really love the pic of your family from behind. Sounds like you guys had a great day and a great party!
 
Yuck. I hate losing power. Especially this time of year when it is so cold. I actually purchased a generator a few weeks ago after a tornado outbreak left a lot of people to our north without power for several days. I'd been thinking about doing it for a while, but that finally convinced me.

I'm glad that Zoey was really enjoying all the characters. Too bad Olive didn't feel quite the same way about it. I really liked the pictures of Zoey dancing with the Beast. I'm sure that was a fun character meet!

I have to agree with Dave, too. I loved the picture of Vader and the one of your DH and the girls. :thumbsup2
 

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