Uphill on a Flat Tire in the Pouring Rain and it's Still Magic!! *Final Update 7/21*

[ElsasMom]

Fantasy Land Awaits!

I had so wanted to start our Disney day with Ariel. We set off for a journey under the sea

Of course we got completely turned around and walked right past it all the way to Rapunzel's tower before we turned around. When we got there the wait said 30min, but the line was telling me 15ish...


DSis putting ice into our water bottles in line for the Ariel Ride.

Just as we were climbing into our shell RR declared she had to potty! I assured her if she held it through the ride I'd take her straight to the bathroom when it was done. (Mother of the year, right?)

In the clam shell:

Ariel is DSis' favorite and she'd never been on it, so she was thrilled. We were going to go meet Ariel when we got off, but we needed a potty break and it was getting super close to our FP time for Enchanted Tales with Belle.

Gaton's Got the Best Toilets in Town

We rushed next door to what is now my favorite bathroom in MK (Punzie's potties are so pretty, but always so crowded) the companion bathroom outside Gaton's Tavern. (It should be noted the lock was funky and we had to take turns hold the door shut) At which point RR flat out refused to go. That stinker!

The rest of us used the bathroom and we all washed hands and filled our filtered water bottle in the adjacent water fountain.


Mrs Potts is the coolest!!!

This was another attraction DH veto-ed over the summer. However, when I found out that you get to participate in a play for Belle my actress heart skipped a beat! Riley's a Belle fan and performing is in her blood so I knew we had to do it.

We had a little snack while we waited in the FP line (Banana Apple Go-Go Squeez which is second only to Uncrustables on my top Disney foods list).

It was about 5min (long enough for a 4yrold to almost take down a Go-Go Squeez before we were ushered inside. RR was dubious and refused to stand up front with the other kiddos, but since I was in the front of the adults and she was on my lap she had a pretty good view.

Soon, the mirror took us to Beast's castle and I was all a twitter to see how this was going to work.

RR was cast as Mrs. Potts!!

I did my conservatory training/theater degree proud making galloping horse noises and wind sound effects, LOL Seriously it was so fun! You have to do it at least once.

She did awesome! (of course!)

So, proud!

Ta-da!

 

[ElsasMom]

Lunch Break

We settled down in a shady spot outside of Maurice's house for lunch. The forecast had been high of 94 and it was hot but it was 80's not 90's. Plenty hot, but not quite fry an egg on the sidewalk weather. It was still almost certainly going to rain later , but for the moment it was still Nothing us Florida girls couldn't handle.

RR had an Uncrustable, some honeydew melon, goldfish crackers and fruit snacks for desert. DSis and I had some organic deli chicken salad. We all stayed hydrated throughout the day thanks to our filtered water bottles, complementary cups of ice throughout the park and water fountains.

After we ate we re-applied sunscreen (SPF 50) and discussed maybe attempting (for what? like the 5th time?) to meet our favorite mermaid, but (surprise ) We had somewhere else to be (again). That's ok it was our most anticipated FP of the day...

Water & Bling

We made one more pit stop to Gaston's potties and this time in case you were in suspense...RR went potty! I rewarded her with an Elsa necklace and barrette I got on Etsy.



I have to admit it was bad timing on my part. I gave her an Elsa necklace moments before we got in line for Rapunzel & Cinderella, oops! I talked her into taking it off in line so Rapunzel won't be jealous and everyone could see her pretty shirt.

BEST. Day. Ever.

A wonderfully enthusiastic CM greeted us as we approached the Mickey Head. He confirmed that we did have a FP for Rapunzel & Cinderella (RR had no clue who was next door & I meant to keep that way until her Bday trip in Sept). He was so excited for us it was adorable and he told us to be sure and look for Pascal. We loved that idea! Then we hopped in the deceptively short FP line (did I say that right? The line looked super long, but it was actually kind of ridiculous how short it was).

RR got one passing glance at the glass slipper before we were in the room! So excited!! The CM in the room was sweet too. She asked if we were having a girls day. Which of course we were. When I laughed about leaving the boys at home so we could have some princess time she asked where the boys were today and I said with a Cheshire Cat grin work and school! Then she asked where we were from and guessed that it was a day trip. I was impressed not all CM's know the rest of FL very well. Then we discussed how good Pascal is at hide & seek.

Prepare yourself for heart bursting adorable-ness:

RR took Blondie's hand and exclaimed "You're my FAVORITE princess!" to which she replied "Oh! Best. Day. Ever." it was amazing.

 

[LindseyLou2222]

I'm loving these pics! Your DD is completely adorable!! I cannot wait for my DD to have experiences like these! We went for her first trip in December and she hated all the characters, lol. They were ok from afar but that was it! She'll be almost 3 when we come back in September, so I'm crossing my fingers for some beautiful pics!

 

[ElsasMom]

I'm loving these pics! Your DD is completely adorable!! I cannot wait for my DD to have experiences like these! We went for her first trip in December and she hated all the characters, lol. They were ok from afar but that was it! She'll be almost 3 when we come back in September, so I'm crossing my fingers for some beautiful pics!

Thanks! I agree about the pictures, I love them too! She is adorable ! Most of her character experience happened at 3, but my good friend brought her 2.5yr old to WDW recently she was beside herself and just kept repeating "Pluto's BIG. Pluto's Big! Pluto...big" Poor kid just wasn't prepared, but once they meet Minnie, the cuteness was staggering! Since your little princess has been before I bet she'll warm up faster this time.

Three was fun for characters for sure. What I think is a great about her age now (4) for characters is she knows who everyone is not just the Fab 5 and she has real conversations with them now (and you can tell they appreciate it too).

 

[ElsasMom]

They compared hair and discussed hair treatments. Rapunzel noticed every detail of RR outfit and was very flattered. It was hands down our best character interaction of the day.

Two pretty Punzies!

And now it was my turn to jump in. Rapunzel was my FAVORITE story in the fairy tale collection I had as a kid. I can't tell you how long the wait for Disney to make this movie was for me. She was too amazing!

And now for the princess most likely to lose a shoe...

This one is MY FAVORITE from our time with Cinderella!

And this one is easily my second favorite!

At some point Cinderella invited RR to the castle to visit which thrilled RR. They chatted so much so intimately I heard very little, but as we were leaving RR stopped in her tracks and called back over her shoulder that Cinderella could "come play at my house anytime, it's no problem!"

 

[ElsasMom]

Having had an amazing time with the princesses we had now used every one of our pre-booked fast passes. I had checked the map before the trip to make sure I knew were the nearest kiosk was to pick up a new one. Luckily, it was right outside the door of Fairy Tale Hall at PhilHarMagic. Yay, 4th FP!

We wondered over and were greeted by a CM with a tablet who looked grateful for something to do. He asked for one ticket and then asked what we wanted passes for. Then he stopped smiling and started looking confused. Then he tried a different ticket still no dice. We weren't too worried, but I wanted to do PhilHarMagic before the 3pm parade.

He had to get another CM. This man reminded me of a superhero. He was imposing, confident and very friendly. He took over asking "Who's in the hotel room with you?" WHAT??

We told him we didn't have a room. He lost his for a minute in favor of as well. Then he laughed and exclaimed "I was looking at the SEPT trip!!"

Dsis and I exchanged worried glance and gave him the big-eyes-shut-up-about-that-before-you-ruin-her-birthday-surprise-face. I'm 80% sure she didn't notice. Then he got us our Buzz Lightyear FPs for after the parade and we were off to PhilHarMagic!

It was still sunny and about 84degrees and the air conditioning was on inside so RR wrapped herself in the towel I brought while we waited for the show to start. It was a walk on or walk in...but we paused to read the posters on the way

We loved it as always and couldn't help but sing along. So fun! Then we marched out into what was still a sunny afternoon, but some serious clouds were rolling in I told Dsis to head to the wheelchair seating in front of the Walt statue. She said something about the parade and a CM walking by was shaking his head and announcing that it was going to storm We asked if the parade was still happening and he gave us a decisive shake of the head.

No Festival of Fantasy today Plan B more rides!!

 

[ElsasMom]

With the parade canceled we did an about face from our towards the castle trajectory and ducked into the line for It's A Small World.

Dsis remarked that the only thing she remembered about this one from when she was a kid was that it went on for HOURS LOL

I told her that IMO it's way more interesting as an adult. You know the countries and can appreciate the art that went into making it a lot more.

Here we go on our boat trip around the world! We decided to name as many countries as we could and then almost immediately felt like tools for not being able to identify some right at the beginning.

This is my favorite part of small world! You get that giant Don Quixote!
Do you think Sancho's expression means he's worried about this or in awe? Either way I love it.

RR's school taught her some basic Greek this year which was fun for the end of the ride with the signs, but she couldn't identify anything in the Greece section.

I told her the names of the countries I was sure of and pointed out anything I found interesting and eventually the people in the row in front of us turned sideways to listen! Again honorary CM right here!

When we floated into the white room I said "This is my favorite, when all the children from around the world dance together. World Peace." Dsis and RR started clapping!

I found the order of the countries on a Disboards thread, in case anyone wants a cheat sheet for their next trip around the world (I should study it and impress DH on our next family trip):

"SCENE 1:
-Scandinavia/Sweden/Norway
-Denmark
-England
-Scotland
-Ireland
-Belgium
-Holland
-France
-Germany
-Spain
-Italy
-Switzerland

SCENE 2:
-Greece
-Russia
-Israel
-Bali
-India
-China
-Japan

SCENE 3:
-Egypt
-Various "Jungle" nations (South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, etc.)

SCENE 4:
-Antarctica
-Chile
-Brazil
-Central America
-Mexico
-The South American Rainforests

SCENE 5:
-South Pacific
-Hawaii
-Australia
-Various Polynesian Islands

SCENE 6:
-The Grand Finale"

After our journey it was still but it would turn out to be the last moments of sun that day. We stopped in front of those castle-esque wall deals and asked a man waiting on a bench to take our picture. He was happy to help! He was an extremely friendly Aussie who checked each picture and didn't mind re-shooting a few times. He was like "No worries! I'd just be sitting here anyway."

Yay! Cute Disney pictures are the best. As we packed up the camera the rain started. You can see the people donning ponchos in the background.

Now being a FL native and a theme park frequenter I am staunchly anti-poncho. We were even joking about how we were too tough for that poncho stuff (until later in the day when we ate those words in the down pour!).

 

[ElsasMom]

We decided to head towards Ariel (again). Just as we started walking the rain came.

We laughed as we dodged poncho-clad families on our now all too familiar route to Ariel's Grotto. Apparently everyone in the park decided seeing our favorite red-haired siren was the thing to do during the storm. At this point we didn't care how long the line was we were going to see Ariel! Yay, mermaid visiting!

We dried off once we were in the main part of the line and RR made the towel in an accessory a few times, silly girl!

I guess I shouldn't have been surprised that with the longest line of the day came some line drama, but it IS the happiest place on Earth , so get with the program people! A little over halfway through the line poor DSis had to run back to the bathroom. I wasn't worried it was looking like we had plenty of time Then as we made the final turn the people two groups in front us had an altercation with someone in front of them. I couldn't hear much of what was going on and the next time I looked they were gone, weird Then I got a series of texts from DSis:

"Can't get back in " & "Where are you guys?"
"We're against the wall." & "Why not?"

By the time I thought to ask her why she couldn't get back in DSis appeared and I waved her over. Apparently, she went to the exit assuming we were done. Then it was almost our turn! Oddly enough, the family that had been two groups ahead and then vanished was back and now directly in front of us and super apologetic. Weird.

I reassured them that everything was fine that I remembered them and it was fine if they went ahead of us. Eventually they stopped apologizing and starting getting excited to see Ariel!

Ariel was amazing as usual. She helped RR up, to sit next to her. Ariel greeted her like she'd been waiting all day to see her! It was adorable. When I joined them Ariel told RR they'd swim her to her other side. RR patted her tail affectionately it was super sweet. We all talked and laughed a lot. After we took a few pictures we let RR have a moment and she sang "Part of Your World" to Ariel!! Ariel told her she had a "lovely voice."

 

[ElsasMom]

Now, my tire was still flat and the rain was coming down hard We ran from covering to covering all the way to our Space Ranger Duty! It was Buzz Lightyear FP time. Woohoo! RR & DSis had never been on this one before. When we came over the summer I made the mistake of saving Tomorrow Land for last and we had a long day of travel and navigating the park and it was raining that day too so DH had ruled that we skipped it and head out. So, I fully intended to enjoy rainy Tomorrow Land today!

Yay Buzz!

While we were waiting the chipper CM gave RR a Buzz Lightyear sticker. She was thrilled. We waited for the wheelchair car, which was pretty cool. I've always transferred in the past. RR sat in the seat next to me and DSis got the car behind us to herself.

At first we were all super excited about being able to spin ourselves! So excited we kind of missed the instructions...oops We got with the program pretty quickly. DSis spun and laughed more then she took out any of Zurg's minions.

When we got to the end the downpour had decreased the line to a slow trickle so our CM friend asked if we'd like to go again. WHAT?!? Score. Heck yeah we did!

This time DSis got serious! She grabbed a hold of both guns and showed those galactic bad guys no mercy!


I know it's a horrible picture, but it's hilarious! I wish I had video of her the first time "I'm just gonna spin!" and then the second time all business!

To Infinity & Beyond!

 

[ElsasMom]

I hope I haven't lost everyone because I'm nearing the end of this: my first ever TR YAY! and also Boo!

We should have deduced from the poncho clad huddle in the door of the gift shop you exit the Buzz ride through that it was gonna be bad We decided to pop in next store at The Monster's Inc Laugh Floor

I didn't get pictures because it was massively raining and my camera was wrapped in a towel in the bottom of my bag for its protection. We got inside toweled off and broke out the snacks.

DSis shared the Rainbow Quinoa she brought. It was tasty, but super garlic-ly. RR had some goldfish crackers. They kept announcing that you could text your jokes for the show. I thought about it the whole time we were in line and my brain was pretty much a blank. The only joke that came to my lame Mom brain was:
"What's brown and sticky"
"A stick."
(is my hanging out with 4yrs olds obvious?)
I didn't text it in.

The show was cute. I can't wait for the boys to see it. RR's big brother will love it. My favorite joke submitted was:
"How does Batman's mom call him for dinner?"
"Dinner Dinner Dinner Dinner. Dinner Dinner Dinner Dinner, Batman!" (to the tune of the theme song).
Still laughing (and sharing that joke with 4yrs)

It was still POURING. CATS & DOGS but we were right there and the wait time was non-existent so we powered through some more cold rain to Stitch's Great Escape

I was a big fan of this when it was "Alien Encounter." I remember waiting in line for an hour on my 8th grade field trip to ride it for the first time. I loved Skippy! So, I was thrilled to see he was still hanging around.



Both my kids LOVE Stitch! I knew however "scary" this deal was RR would love it anyway because she's not afraid of Stitch

When Stitch started causing trouble RR piped up "Oh! Stitch is gonna be in big trouble!" It was hilarious. Plus when he sneezed on us RR exclaimed "Eww!" and then laughed her little head off

Two in a row we have to get the boys on next time. Good stuff! Next post will have pictures, I promise.

 

[MHSweb79]

Just piping in to say I've enjoyed this TR enormously. My little girl is now out of college so time sure does fly! She was 4 on her first trip and yesterday I took a good look at the photo collage on the wall with pictures of her with Pocahontas and Meeko, her favorite character from the movie. (Little Mermaid came a bit later, I think.) I hadn't really looked at them in years.

Enjoy this time - pretty soon she'll be all grown up and you'll really treasure those pictures with the Little Mermaid.

 

[ElsasMom]

Just piping in to say I've enjoyed this TR enormously. My little girl is now out of college so time sure does fly! She was 4 on her first trip and yesterday I took a good look at the photo collage on the wall with pictures of her with Pocahontas and Meeko, her favorite character from the movie. (Little Mermaid came a bit later, I think.) I hadn't really looked at them in years.

Enjoy this time - pretty soon she'll be all grown up and you'll really treasure those pictures with the Little Mermaid.

Oh, I believe you. I can't believe my tiny baby is turning 5 this year I'm really grateful that when she's all grown up I'll have this beautiful Disney pictures to look back on.

DH pointed out that some day soon RR will be DS age (11) and she won't even remember going on this trip. I was sad for a moment and then I said "That's why we have pictures!"

A long time ago I decided that's what parenting is: being with a smaller human every day and then seeing a picture of them and realizing how much time went by while you were busy with the day to day.

 

[ElsasMom]

Dessert Quest
Like I said the quinoa DSis and I shared in line for the Laugh Floor was good, but very garlic-y. So now I needed something sweet.

I REALLY wanted one of those monster rice krispie treats with the toppings. After trying unsuccessfully to find them on the map we started ducking in and out of restaurants checking dessert options.

When I got home I Google-d it and realized those are in DTD, sigh...

I just wasn't feeling ice cream, it could have been that I was soaking wet with rain water...

After coming to the edge of Tomorrow Land we found a little place, Cheshire Cafe, that had cake cups, perfect! The rain had even let up enough to sit at a damp umbrella table outside.

The debate was on...Ride the Teacups NOW and then eat cake? Or Eat cake now and then ride Teacups?!?! DSis tried to convince me to ride the teacups first, but I was adamant that is was cake time!

I ordered a "White Rabbit White Chocolate Cake Cup"

Is that not adorable? It was delicious! We all shared it, it was super filling.

And the minute we took the last bite...the skies opened up again worse than before. That driving rain that's kind of painful when it hits your skin . Oops, I guess we should have done Teacups and then cake...

Worse than that, we were trapped! This tiny cafe was basically a cart, a hand full of tables in the open and a few tables under a small covering. You could see the teacups across a few feet of open space and the back door to Cosmic Rays (which doesn't open). There was nowhere to go...

We huddled under the covering for awhile considering...

 

[ElsasMom]

Anyone for Teeeeeeeeaaaa?!?

We made a break for it through a wall of water, cold water . Now we were sorry we didn't have a poncho. We ran until we were pressed up against the gate surrounding the tea cups where there's a bit of shelter. For several minutes we just tried to stay out of the way of people exiting. We were dazed and cold.

When we came to our senses we realize we were NOT at the entrance. Boo! When we asked a CM her curt reply was "You have to go around!" before she vanished again.

Don't get me wrong I'm not an entitled person who goes around demanding special treatment, but these were extenuating circumstances! It was POURING not raining, POURING. We had no ponchos, umbrellas or even long sleeves. I'm on wet wheels and there's less than 10 people in the line. She could have let us cut through while the ride was stopped.

DSis and I debated for a while, teeth chattering. We decided it wasn't worth walking the circumference of the gate and getting drenched. RR was beyond heart broken. Normally when a tired, wet 4yr who has just had an amazing Disney day demands something my instinct is to get the heck outta there, but I honestly couldn't let it stand.

I wasn't asking for cuts, I just wanted to take a short cut or borrow an umbrella or something. I told DSis we couldn't end the day like this. We flagged the same CM down (now about 10min had passed since the first time). Not only was she amenable to letting us cut through, she told us to just hop on! Magic!!

We got to stay on too! When the ride stopped there were fewer teacups than people in line (Note there's about 4-5 groups in line behind us and at least 2 empty teacups) so we got to go three times in a row! Oh, the dizzy!! If you've never ridden the teacups during a rainstorm I highly recommend it.

See Ya Real Soon!

We bid ado to the mad tea party and ran from the ride to some covering at a restaurant (I think it was Cosmic Rays). We were gonna go in, but we where at the wrong doors of course! So, we kept running from covering to covering towards Main Street.

We debating popping in on Talking Mickey while there was no line, but DSis was afraid it would be air conditioned and we'd freeze (although the spinning dried us a bit we still looked like we fell in a pool). Maybe next time Mickey

We dashed out the gate waving to the poncho clad CM's and then RR remembered we were supposed to return to BTMRR! I explained that it wasn't a good idea in this horrible storm, but she was bummed. She was sad for about five whole minutes. Then we climbed into the car cranked up the heat and changed into dry clothes.

This was RR before we left the parking lot. Passed out in dry clothes with Pascal in one hand and a little golden book of Cinderella face down on her lap.

THE END

 

[DizFanJ2015]

Thanks for sharing your story! Glad to hear it was still magical even with the small bumps.

 

[ElsasMom]

Thanks for sharing your story! Glad to hear it was still magical even with the small bumps.

Thanks for reading! It's a lot easier not to sweat the small stuff at Disney

 

[angelbrd]

Great trip reports. I am planning a Princess M&G overload with my DD5 next month and all of your information on each interaction was super helpful. I change my mind each day about which Princess to be on which day!! Cinderella is her absolute favorite so I am excited to meet her. I was planning to have her only meet at EPCOT at Akershus but I may now consider MK!
RR is adorable with Repunzel. Glad you all survived the rain

 

[ElsasMom]

Great trip reports. I am planning a Princess M&G overload with my DD5 next month and all of your information on each interaction was super helpful. I change my mind each day about which Princess to be on which day!! Cinderella is her absolute favorite so I am excited to meet her. I was planning to have her only meet at EPCOT at Akershus but I may now consider MK!
RR is adorable with Repunzel. Glad you all survived the rain

Thanks! The princesses are so fun! Have fun