WDW Math: 2 moms + 2 princess DDs in 2 parks = 1000 Magical Memories TR w/photos

[graceesmom]

Mother/Daugther Princess Trip

CAST

ME -- Mommy 35
DD3 --AKA Princess 1
DF -- Friend from Work -- Mommy2 40
DD4 -- AKA Princess 2

Our Itinerary and ADRs that will be reviewed

Hotel -- Poly
ADR's -- Askerhus Dinner
CRT lunch
WCC Dinner
Ohana Dinner
Le Cellier Dinner

Counter Service -- Morrocco in Epcot
Capt. Cooks' -- Poly
Columbia Harbour House --MK

Both girls go the same pre-school so we decided to take them to WDW for their fall break. No reason to waste vacation days sitting at home.

I'm the Disney addict of the group. I research incessantly, plan, replan and then replan one more time our ADRs, Park Days, what matching Disign T-shirt should be worn to which park on which day.

DH was a little relieved that he got out of this trip since he had to endure 7 a.m. Rope Drops with me in April, but also a little sad that he was going to miss out on all the fun. As he lamented that he wasn't getting to go on this trip, DD constantly reminded him that this trip was "girls only" and the only boy allowed is her favorite stuffed bear "Bailey" who you'll see in many of the photos.

Friend is a single mom of 4 year old daughter and is happy to let me plan the whole thing and just follow along.

Our little princesses are just that. They both love all things Princesses so we had lots of princess plans for this trip.

This was a fairly short trip, so we only visited 2 parks -- MK and Epcot. We had a blast. DD made the 40" mark (barely) and got to ride all of the big girl rides she'd been talking about for weeks.

This was my 2nd WDW trip of the year. First time was in April with DH, DD and me. Boy what a difference. In April, there were 40 minute waits for Philharmagic and for the 1st time ever, I observed a wait to get on the Swiss Family Robinson treehouse. October crowds were much more manageable.


Road Trip and Day 1 at Epcot


Wed. – Left Charleston at 4:50 p.m. and made it to St. Augustine around 9:30 p.m. There is still lots of construction on I-95 just north of Jacksonville. We stayed at a new Fairfield Inn just off I-95 at the St. Augustine exit. It was very clean, had a courteous staff, comfortable beds, a hot shower with plenty of water pressure and a nice breakfast selection in the a.m. I’d say this was an excellent choice for a 1 night stop-over place. For $79 plus tax, we were more than pleased.


Thursday – Arrived around 11:00 a.m. to the Polynesian. Room was ready upon our arrival. Got settled in, unpacked and let the girls enjoy watching our view of the Monorail right outside our balcony. After getting unpacked, we headed to Epcot to catch a few attractions before our 5:20 Storybook Princess Dinner. Since this was not a full day we decided we would take a leisurely pace and just get in whatever we could without stressing about it. We took some time to get a few photopass shots, that we will never see b/c I lost the card before I wrote down the number. Note to self – Write down the photopass number AS SOON AS THE 1ST PHOTO IS TAKEN.

Almost there!

Getting ready for photopass shots that I will never see!

We were pleasantly surprised at the relatively small crowds this day.

We arrived just before 2:00 and were able to pick up a FP for Soarin with a return around 4:00 p.m. We did the Nemo ride 2x , wandered around the aquarium, and headed over to the World Showcase. It started to rain, so we decided to watch the film in France. It was pretty good and interesting. The girls did KidCot and my DD picked up a passport at the gift shop to get stamped in each country. We headed around to a few other counties, rode Maelstrom then headed back for Soarin. Gracie made the 40” mark. Yeah!!!! She’d been hoping for months to make the cut so she could ride the big kid rides.

Nemo

40" mark!

Had a lovely dinner at Norway. I really enjoyed the Salmon. My friend didn’t care for her vegetable stuffed pasta, but had plenty of food from the buffet – salad, chilled shrimp, cheese selections, fruit, pasta salad, etc. The princesses this evening were Belle in Ballgown for photo package, then in dining room were Ariel in ballgown, Princess Aurora (Sleeeping Beauty), Snow White, and Cinderella. We leisurely wandered around World Showcase and then caught Illuminations before heading back to the hotel.

Belle at Askerhus

More Norway princesses

Dessert tray at Norway

 

[graceesmom]

Day 2 -- Magic Kingdom, CRT Lunch, Poly Pool and WCC dinner

Friday Oct. 16th-- 1st day at MK

Friday – My friend from work and her DD are a little slow moving in the morning, so we were not as early to rope drop as I would like. We still arrived around 8:45 and managed to make the first flight on Dumbo, but we were cutting it closer than I like.

8:45 arriving through the gates.

1st Flight of Dumbo

We got in Dumbo, Peter Pan, Carousel, Pooh and TeaCups by 9:20. Friend and her DD waited for Tomorrowland Speedway, while DD and rode Buzz, and headed for Frontierland. DD again was measured for the 40” inch mark. Whoo – we made the cut again. Standby was about 15 minutes. From there we stopped by a ride on Alladin’s Magic Carpets and caught Lilo and Stitch for a photo op before heading toward the castle for lunch. We still had some time so we caught the next showing of Philharmagic before checking in for an 11:50 a.m. CRT reservation.

Gracie's 1st Ride on BTMRR

Lilo and Stich sighting

Philharmagic

CRT was much more rushed and hectic this go round. The CM’s downstairs were hurrying everyone and there was no time for hug or to talk to Cinderella. When we were there in April, Cinderella spoke to each child just for a few seconds, but enough to make each child feel special. Not so this time. There was 1 shot for the group and then move on! The same was true upstairs with the princesses. Each one was very hurried. Even the wishing ceremony wasn’t as pronounced. The food was still yummy! We had Major Domo’s favorite pie with the chocolate cream cheese buckle for Dessert. Despite being hectic and rushed, we still had a good meal. I would not pay that price for it again though.

Cinderella at CRT

Jasmine at CRT

Wishing Ceremony

Major Domo's Pie

Chocolate Cream Cheese Buckle

View of downstairs waiting to meet Cinderella

We used our Buzz FP before heading back to the hotel for a swim and to relax a little. We enjoyed the Polynesian Pool and beach.

Poly Pool

Poly Pool Play area

Headed to WCC at Wilderness Lodge for for 6:30 ADR via the boat launch. Took boat from Poly to MK, then boat from MK to WL. The girls enjoyed the boat trip. Looked at WL before dinner. It was nice, but I prefer the feel of the tropics over the Pacific Northwest. Dinner was fine, nothing amazing. I had the Skillet and all the food was tasty. It was way too much for 1 person. My friend had the ribeye. She said it was fine, but needed steak sauce. I think that speaks volumes.

Boat Ride to WL

WL

We waited about ½ hour to be seated for dinner and service was a little slow so it was 8:45 before we left WL. The upside is that we caught the beginning of Wishes on the boat ride back to MK. DD3 did not care for the "attitude" of the server. She's just not ready for that style of humor. I should have known since she also doesn't care for the step-sisters at 1900 Park Fare. Ahh to be that innocent to not see the funny in being mean. How long can I keep her that way?

View of MK on boat ride back from WCC

Since we’d had a nice rest in the afternoon, we let the girls finish our the night with some short line rides. Another trip on Magic Carpets, 2 walk-on rides on Pirates. DD did not want to do Splash, so we headed back to Fantasy Land for another ride on IASW. DD was barely awake at this point, so we opted to take the Monorail back to the Poly. DD was asleep before we made it to the castle.

Castle at Night

Gracie asleep on way back to Poly