We celebrated dd's 1st b-day at WDW(and lived to tell about it!)*EPILOGUE p.6, #81*

[ryan840]

Great report, I finally got the time to get caught up! I was a little disappointed in RnR too, but now that I know what to expect I'll definately be doing it again. I braved ToT (I was sooo scared) and I LOVED it, you have to do it on your next trip, trust me. Kylie was just like my two year old, opening up all the sudden for the trip! It's so fun to see isn't it?

 

[lovinwdw]

I have to tell you...the picture of your DH & DD sleeping almost brought me to tears it was so cute!!!! Great report by the way...i am really enjoying it

 

[Alice28]

Tasha- GREAT report! Sorry it took me so long to get around to reading it! I hope you were able to go back and ride EE! And yes, you must try Tower next time! It's a fun one! I'm glad you had such a fun trip, except for the Fantasmic fiasco!

 

[Tasha+Scott]

Day 6 (May 4, 2006)

The sound of the phone ringing woke me up earlier than it had most of the trip so far. We had decided that today we would arrive early at the MK so that we could come back to our room to rest before leaving to go to Ohana for dinner that evening. I must admit that whenever the wake up call would come in I would simply pick up the phone and hang it up. I never listened to who was on the other end. It could have been Mickey, Stitch, or Satan and I wouldn’t have known. I hung up the phone without ever putting it to my ear and got out of bed. Once again the rest of my lazy squad was sound asleep. I was utterly amazed how Kylie could sleep through the ringing of the phone when it was literally within feet of her. At home it can be all the way on the other side of the house and it wakes her up on half a ring. At home we have been known to turn the ringer off during her naps or at night so that she will not be woken up by some inconsiderate person who was not thoughtful enough to be born psychic and know that our child is sleeping. Ah, I guess the Florida sunshine and the Disney excitement made her extra sleepy though.

Anyway, I managed to get almost completely ready for the day before Kylie woke up. I was brushing my teeth when the weirdest thing happened. I heard voices. No, no, not in my head. I know that is what you were thinking! I could hear voices in the room next to us or above us or something. This was the 1st time on our trip so far that this had happened. I mean when I would go into the bathroom I could sometimes hear the pipes from other rooms but never actual voices. The voices could have been the television from another room or it could have been actual guests talking. It was muffled so I couldn’t be sure. It didn’t really matter since I could only hear it near the sink and it really wasn’t that bothersome. I just found it odd that I hadn’t heard it until now. I figured our “old” neighbors must have checked out and we had “new” (noisier) ones now. Who knows? Just something I noticed and thought I’d share.

Anyway, shortly after I finished getting dressed Kylie woke up. She woke Scott up too. She was a little restless so I was a bad mommy and I gave her a Cheeto to keep her calm while Scott and I finished getting ready. That is something we had learned while having an early birthday party for her at my dad’s house almost 2 weeks before. The girl loves Cheetos! Every sweet my child likes can partially (if not fully) be blamed on my dad! He has only seen her about 5 times in her entire life and yet he and my stepmom have managed to get her gifts and give her sweets on every single visit! When she was 2 months old we went to his house for his b-day and I caught him feeding her ice cream cake! At her b-day party he gave her Cheetos and she loved them! She also loved her b-day cake but that one can’t really be blamed on my dad since she had cake the day before at a different b-day party we had for her. Yep, she had 2 b-day parties in one weekend and it wasn’t even her b-day yet.

Darn it! I am getting off-track again! The point I was trying to make is that since we now knew she liked Cheetos we decided to play it safe and bought a bag on the way to WDW just in case. I don’t give her a ton of junk normally but I consider it okay while on vacation to let her have something special as a treat…especially if it keeps her from getting upset. It was a smart move, believe me. Those Cheetos came in handy a couple of times. Today was no exception. She ate her Cheeto and was quite content while dh and I finished getting ready for the day.

Then it was time to get Kylie ready. Hmmm, what should “Her Royal Highness” wear today? The girl has a lot of clothes. She received a lot as gifts for her b-day and I had bought her plenty too over the past couple months. Plus, she is on the smaller side and can still wear clothes from the end of last summer! It's great when kids are little. The clothes aren’t extremely expensive. That is especially so since I am not a clothes snob or anything like that. I buy most of Kylie’s clothes at Wal-Mart and JC Penney and don’t have any problem with that. I have no problem with people that spend $100 per outfit on their baby either but that just isn’t in my budget (and my practical...some might call it cheap...side would have a stroke!) so it’s something I will not do any time soon. Anyway, since we were devoting this day to the MK I thought this would be the appropriate day to dress my princess like a princess. I bought a Cinderella outfit at Wal-Mart for only $10! You really can’t beat that! So she was my little Cinderella on this particular day!

Now that we were all dressed and the diaper bag was ready to go we headed to the bus stop. Kylie was once again the hit of the bus in her Cinderella get-up. I must confess…I don’t always know how to react to the attention Kylie receives. I know that is probably silly but I really don’t. I am not shy by any means but Kylie receives TONS of attention and has since birth. I am biased but I really do think she is a cutie and others seem drawn to her and always have (even before she started "flirting" with them). Of course being the attention hound that she is she makes sure she is the center of attention at all times too. She would smile and flirt at the people in line and on the busses with us. They would in turn comment about how cute she was or how she was a little show-off or something of that nature. I would say something like, “Yes, she sure does enjoy the limelight.” Or, “It looks like she’s fond of you too!” The problem was when these strangers talked to her the entire ride to the park or when she would try to talk to them the whole time or would grab their hands or something like that. I wasn’t sure how I should react. Should I continue to talk to them too? Would it seem rude to turn my attention elsewhere? Or would they prefer to just coo at my child and not have much interaction with me? I know. It’s a silly thing but one I had not dealt with a lot before since Kylie is my first child and she had just started really interacting with strangers on this trip. I told you I can make things into a big deal and overanalyze things sometimes. Don’t worry. It was all okay and some days I talked to the people that were talking to Kylie. Other days I stared out the window or talked to dh. It all worked out just fine. Ugh! I realize how silly that sounds! I really do! Time to change the subject…

We arrived at the MK and headed to Tomorrowland first. We came to Stitch’s Great Escape and dh wanted to see what it was about. I had read about it on the DIS and must say I wasn’t dying to try it myself as I was not a fan of Alien Encounter and that is basically what Stitch sounded like to me. I decided to let dh ride it first and tell me what he thought. If he came out raving about it I would go on it. If he hated it then I would skip it. Kylie and I waited on a bench for what seemed like a long time. The stand-by time said 5 min. but that was definitely misleading. Kylie was so good. She just sat in her stroller, people-watching. It had not gotten hot outside yet and there was a nice, relaxing breeze. The park also was not crowded yet. Very nice!

Dh finally reappeared and his exact quote was, “That really sucked!” So I decided Stitch was out for me. We headed to Buzz as we had missed it previously and it is one of dh’s favorites. My score was awful since I was trying to hold my wiggly little girl and shoot at the same time. Dh was gloating about his score though but I can’t even remember what it was. I felt like my gun was stiff but I thought it was probably my imagination.

After the ride was over it was still pretty much a walk-on ride so we decided to do it again. The first thing I noticed was how much more flexible my gun was. I must have been right and my first gun was broken. Just my luck of course! My score still was really bad since I was holding Kylie. That's my story and I'm sticking to it! Dh had offered to hold her for me this time but I declined his offer since this was his ride anyway. It’s fun but not my favorite. I didn’t much care about my score right then truthfully and was more interested in watching Kylie’s reaction.

After we departed Buzz we headed over to TTA. I LOVE this ride! It is just so relaxing! I guess Kylie agreed because dh nudged me and pointed and when I looked down Kylie was sleeping. Since she was asleep we decided to go on the Carousel of Progress since that is also a nice relaxing ride that she could sleep through. I love this ride too but dh hates it. I don’t know why! I can’t imagine anyone hating this ride but I know people do. It is my mom’s favorite ride so at least I know I am not the only one that loves it.

After the ride was over Kylie woke up and I could tell she was getting hungry so we headed to Cosmic Ray’s for lunch. I got the veggie wrap and pasta salad and dh got the turkey wrap and apple sauce. (Kylie ate all of the apple sauce.) It was okay but I have to admit I really wished I would have gotten the turkey wrap. It looked sooo good! Dh said it was with a smirk. We had the triple chocolate cake for dessert and I had to guard mine from dh because he thought it was absolutely delicious. It was pretty good! Kylie made us share a couple bites with her. Hey, how can you refuse Cinderella?!

With our bellies full and 2 less counter service credits left on our dining plan we headed to Fantasy Land. We decided to do Mickey’s PhilharMagic 1st. I really enjoyed this on our last trip but I have to say it didn’t even compare to this trip. This became a major highlight for us and this would not be the only time we went to this show. It was really cool because it was definitely Kylie’s favorite attraction. She didn’t wear the glasses but she was so entranced with the show. She laughed, she babbled, and she reached for Donald. I think I have mentioned this before but Kylie has had a fascination for ducks since she was only a few months old. We have what seems like a million rubber duckies for her to play with and duck was one of her 1st words. So I guess it was only natural that she would enjoy this show since Donald DUCK was in it! Anyway, the coolest part was when Peter Pan was standing on the clock hand and Donald came falling out of the sky and landed next to him with a loud thud. When he landed Kylie actually jumped! I could not believe it! I laughed so hard I got a few looks. Dh asked me what I was laughing at and I told him. He didn’t see her do it so I told him we would have to watch it again just to see if she would jump so he could see for himself. This would also prove to me that she really was watching intently. He agreed to do it again later.

We headed to get a fast pass for Winnie the Pooh. Kylie and Scott waited on me while I fetched them. It took me a long time because it seems most of the fast pass machines were not working right or had run out of tickets or something and they had someone working on them. It took me a while but I finally got them. We then headed to It’s a Small World. It was closed in 2004 when we had come so dh had never been on it. Yet he was already dreading it, lol! I’ll admit I mainly wanted to ride it to torture him but I used the cover that we were riding it because I thought Kylie would find it fascinating. She did seem to like it but not anywhere near as much as she had Philharmagic. Dh wasn’t too thrilled with the ride and I am pretty sure he got sick of me singing “It’s a Small World Afterall” and “It’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow” all day long. Hmmm, gee, how was I to know those songs could possibly get on anyone’s nerves?! I bet all of you are wishing you had been with us that day, aren’t you?! Anyhoo…

We still had some time to kill before our fastpass time for Pooh so we decided to watch Philharmagic again. This time both dh and I watched Kylie during the whole Peter Pan/Donald falling part and we both laughed uncontrollably when she once again jumped about a mile in the air at that part! It was just too funny! People were once again looking at us like we had lost our minds. We then knew we would have to watch this show again during our trip. Kylie never even glanced at us. She just kept watching the show. She really seemed to enjoy it. She even recognized the pictures on the walls on the way in the 2nd time and got pretty excited. The best part about it was that we never had to wait in line for it. I love Disney this time of year!

We still had time before our fastpass slot so we headed to do something I swore I was going to do on this trip. We decided to go get a Dole Whip. I had read so many rave reviews about these things. People were constantly telling me I had to try one on my next trip so I decided I would. I told dh what it was and he decided to stick with soft-serve vanilla instead. Dh is not too daring when it comes to trying new foods or drinks or really anything for that matter. I completely expected to pay OOP but to my surprise and delight Dole Whips are now considered a snack option on the dining plan! Actually a lot of things were this trip. A CM told me that basically anything under $4 was. That seemed to hold true most places.

We found a table and sat down. This was it, the moment of truth. I took my first bite of my Dole Whip. People had raved and raved about how this was the best thing they had ever eaten in their lives (okay, maybe I am over exaggerating a little, but only a little!) and I was about to see what the fuss was all about. I swallowed my first bite. Huh? This was the best thing ever? Really? Um, okay. I have to be honest. I don’t get it. It was simply pineapple flavored ice cream. Nothing more, nothing less. It was not that great or unique to me. Sorry to all you Dole Whip lovers out there but this has got to be one of the most overrated Disney snacks I have ever had. BUT if it makes you feel any better Kylie really seemed to enjoy it. That isn’t really saying much though since if it has sugar in it she will eat it. Sigh…I am going to continue to blame that on my dad for as long as I can!

Dole Whip mission completed and marked off my to do list at least! We were about to leave when I noticed that Rafiki and Timon were only a few feet away and there wasn’t much of a line. We headed over there. When it was our turn I asked the nice young CM if she would mind snapping the picture of us. She said sure. I confess that I don’t yet have a digital camera. I was going to get one with our income tax return this year but my computer pretty much blew up so I bought a laptop instead. Priorities, ya know? So anyway, I will not own a digital camera until Christmas this year. The point of this is that since we still have our stone-aged 35 mm camera we cannot see what the pictures are going to look like in advance. So imagine how disappointed I was to get our developed pictures back and discover how this one turned out! It was disappointing to see we were completely shrouded in shadows! I will definitely have a digital camera on our next trip, that’s for darned sure!

Rafiki was such a gentleman though! He kissed my hand and bowed to me. I told him I would be going home with him and he giggled. Timon flirted with Kylie and she just laughed and swatted at him. Dh humored us by at least getting in the photo. He was still not sure about the characters but we were working on him and I just knew by the end of the trip he would come over to the dark side!

After our visit with the characters was over we headed to Pooh. It was now our fastpass time so we were anxious to get there as Kylie really likes Pooh and we were sure she would like the ride. This was going to be our last ride for the afternoon because it was starting to get hot and the crowds were starting to arrive now. It was great bypassing the 40 min. wait time and practically walking right onto the ride. Fastpass is awesome. I will never understand those who choose to wait 40 min. for no reason but that’s their prerogative of course! The only problem we had was that we were told to go to row 1 and it was a bit backed up with other people so we were not all the way to the front. An older couple actually cut us! So we ended up on row 2 instead. What this means is that the older couple ended up on the same ride with us sitting up front and we ended up in the back. Not a huge deal but we were supposed to be up front and I do think it would have been a little better since Kylie could have seen just a bit better. I don’t think the couple meant to do that though as they looked a bit confused and no harm was done so we didn’t get upset. Kylie really did seem to like the ride either way. She also loved coming out into the gift shop.

Another confession…I had decided I would buy Kylie 1 souvenir while on our trip because it was during her b-day after all. The problem was I wanted to get her the 1 thing that she seemed to like more than anything else and for goodness sakes she’s only 1! She likes EVERYTHING! So I decided to watch her with everything at the gift shops and buy her that special something the day we left. She was quite thrilled with all of the Pooh stuff but her room is done in Pooh and she has tons of it already. She also seemed to really like the Donald stuff in the gift shop coming out of Philharmagic (big surprise since he’s a duck and all). What to do? What to do? Hmmm…I decided to wait. I know this was not a huge deal and she’d be happy with anything but as a Disney obsessed nut it had to be perfect. I am not revealing what I got her just yet. You will find out when I post about our final day, our departure day.

We then went back to the resort to just relax for a couple of hours. I gave Kylie a couple more Cheetos to tide her over until dinner that evening. I promise she rarely eats junk at home! It sounds like all I gave her on our entire trip was junk but that was just a vacation thing…really! Dh napped and Kylie played. I think Kylie and I did end up taking a short nap but I can’t recall now.

A couple of hours later it was time to get ready to head to the Poly for our ADR at Ohana. I was so looking forward to eating there! When I made all of our ADRs the CM I spoke to told me that was an excellent choice when I told him Ohana. He didn’t say that about any of the others, just Ohana. I had also heard great things about it on the DIS and elsewhere so I figured it must be good. Besides the CM I spoke to on the phone informed me that he shares Kylie’s b-day so he must be an intelligent, wonderful person, no?

We took the bus to the MK and then hopped on the resort monorail and departed at the Poly. This was our 1st time at this resort and I had been dying to see what it was like. I actually almost stayed there once when I was 11. We lived in Florida then. My mom booked a night at the Poly and made a reservation for the Luau and everything. BUT then the Dolphin resort offered the military a great deal. My dad was in the Air Force (we lived on MacDill AFB at the time) and this was during the Gulf War around 1992 or so. Those serving in the military were offered a 1 night free stay at the Dolphin for 6 people (I think) as well as 1 day park tickets for FREE! Of course Mom cancelled our Poly reservations and our reservations for the Luau. We stayed at the Dolphin. It was free! It was also a great resort so we couldn’t complain! My grandmother and aunt (Dad’s mom and sister) also joined us. So I never did see the Poly. To this day both my mom and my dad still talk about wanting to go to the Poly and the Luau and they are now divorced. Ah, memories. I seem to really be getting sidetracked during this post and I apologize! I am obviously writing too late at night to really stay on topic I guess! I hope I haven’t bored you all to tears yet!

Anyway, I was very excited to finally see the inside of the Poly. Wow! I instantly fell in love with it. I know people talk about it being cheesy and stuff but I guess I am not too hard to please. I really thought it was a pretty resort. We didn’t have time to tour the outside and we wanted to try to catch Spectromagic and WISHES that night so we decided we would go back the next day just so I could tour the outside as well. I was already instantly in love though.

We made our way to Ohana to check in. We then took a seat at a table outside the restaurant with a beautiful view of the water below. A waitress stopped by to see if we wanted to order drinks while we waited. Dh and I aren’t big drinkers but we both enjoy the occasional mixed drink. Dh always plays it safe and almost always orders either a strawberry daiquiri or a strawberry margarita. This time he went with the daiquiri. I decided to try the Island Sunset which the waitress recommended to me. It was very good and dh wished he would have gotten it too after he tried it. Kylie wanted to try it too but don’t worry! She doesn’t always get what she wants! She’s 1! You don’t seriously think we’d let her drink alcohol, do you???

I had time to give Kylie a bottle before our buzzer went off. We were seated in an area overlooking the water with a view of the GF. The only complaint I had was that our table was very close to the aisle so when they did the parades and activities for the kids it seemed like they were right on top of us. Other than that it was a very nice restaurant. Kylie was her usual cheery self while we were there.

I thought the food was very good but it seemed like they brought the next course out before we had barely tasted the previous course! It was all very good though. Kylie was really enjoying the wontons but then I made the mistake of letting her try some of the shrimp. She had never had shrimp before and apparently she did not like it. This is the 1st thing she had tried that she did not enjoy. After that she would not take another bite of anything I offered her no matter how much I know she would have liked it.

Kylie was very spoiled once more though. Our server brought our dessert and then said he had brought something special just for Kylie. He brought a huge, heaping bowl of vanilla ice cream for her! I swear I saw her whole face light up when she saw it. Kylie LOVES ice cream and would eat it all day long if I’d let her! Again, I blame my dad! Anyway, for a child that wouldn’t touch anything seconds before she devoured that ice cream. I did not let her have more than a few bites though much to her disappointment. I felt she probably would be on sugar overload from all the sweets she’d had that day if I let her have any more. As far as Ohana goes I thought it was very good and I definitely recommend it. Lots of food and it's all very tasty. Dh says it’s okay but doesn’t care if we eat there again or not. I don’t know why he wasn’t that impressed. There was so much food that there was virtually something for everyone. Kylie doesn’t recommend the shrimp for the record though! I liked the shrimp personally in case you're wondering.

CONTINUED NEXT POST...

 

[Tasha+Scott]

CONTINUED...

After dinner we hopped on the monorail so we could get to the MK and find a good spot to watch Spectromagic. When we arrived at the park I started chanting, “I’m a mommy on a mission!” over and over again as I made my way through the park for a good location. Dh accused me of being buzzed from my drink. Silly boy! Doesn’t he know I’m always crazy? We’ve been together for almost 8 years and married for nearly 7 and he still has so much to learn!

We ended up finding a good spot near the Hall of Presidents. I don’t like being right on Main Street because the crowds there are always insane. This mommy on a mission found a good spot and I was proud! I took out a 99 cent glow stick that I had bought at Wal-Mart before our trip to entertain Kylie while we waited. Dh threatened to confiscate it if I didn’t quit acting drunk and swinging that thing at him while chanting, “Mommy on a mission is a success!” Funny...I didn’t feel buzzed. Guess I was just high on life!

Spectromagic finally started and Kylie’s reaction was just as I had expected it to be. Lights, colors, and a 1 year old are a priceless combination. Her eyes grew wide and she just stared in awe. After a while she squealed and screamed in delight and even waved at the parade. I was so happy with her reaction since I also love this parade! I remember watching it for the 1st time when I was 4 and I just can’t go to Disney without seeing this parade at least once! I hope to make lots of memories during this parade with my own children over the years!

After Spectromagic was over we decided to watch WISHES. Unfortunately I have always skipped this in the past and this was to be my 1st time seeing it and I didn’t do enough research on it beforehand. I thought I picked a great spot. We could see Tinkerbelle flying out of the castle perfectly! I even took a picture of it but it didn’t turn out. Sadly, we were not in a good spot. The fireworks actually were shot on the opposite side of the castle from where we were and our view was blocked by trees! Kylie had fallen asleep in her stroller by this point. Oh, well, we will know better next time. Grad nights was scheduled for the next 2 nights so there would be no fireworks for us on those nights and we were leaving the next day so this was the only night we had for WISHES so we once again technically missed it and won’t be able to see it again until our next trip. Our next trip will be great at least because we now know where to go to view it (and where not to go!)

After WISHES was over we decided to wait to leave the park until after the crowd had cleared some. We looked in some gift shops. Kylie was still asleep. I decided to go ahead and buy Kylie her first set of mouse ears while we were there. I decided on the pink Minnie ones. They also had Cinco de Mayo ones since the next day was Cinco de Mayo. I seriously considered getting those since Kylie was born on Cinco de Mayo but I just didn’t like those as much so I stuck with the Minnie ones and handed them to Scott to go pay for them. While Scott was buying them I walked a few feet behind the counter to get out of other people’s way. I swear Scott watched me do that. I was only a few feet away. I was looking at something and when I looked up Scott was gone! You’ve got to be kidding me! I watched him walk back and forth through the different sections of the gift shop looking for us. He was too far away for me to get his attention though. I’ll admit I was a little annoyed too. I mean we were literally right behind the counter where he checked out! Did he not know how to look in front of him? Instead he searches the rest of the store. How can he possibly get so lost everywhere? He does this at home all the time too. He does not look for things well and they are always right in front of him. Finally I got his attention (about 10 min. later!) and we left. Ugh! I literally had to stay by him and not move an inch the rest of our trip for fear that it would happen yet again. Remember how he got lost trying to find Buzz? I did NOT want to go through that again!

We headed to City Hall so I could pick up a birthday button to pin on Kylie’s shirt the next day. Sniff, sniff…my baby would be 1 in just a few hours!

We then headed over to have Kylie’s name stitched on the back of her hat. I thought it was so cool that they do that. I had mouse ears on my first trip as a kid but I did not have my name on it. I don’t know if they did that back then or not but I know I didn’t have it done if they did. The CM working there saw the b-day button in my hand and asked if it was Kylie’s b-day. I told her it would be tomorrow. She said as a b-day gift to Kylie she was not going to charge us for stitching her name. The CM's name was Echo. She was awesome! She said she had worked there since 2003 and you could tell. I think she could probably stitch names in her sleep! She was very nice and if any of you see her you can tell her she has an honorable mention in my trip report!

After she finished Kylie’s ears we headed to the bus stop. It was still pretty crowded but not as bad as I’m sure it was when the park 1st closed. Nothing major happened there other than Kylie waking up and flirting with more people, which was basically the same 'ole, same 'ole.

We went back to our room and much to my delight Kylie did not cry or whine when I put her down so I could get ready for bed. Instead she played with her toys in the floor. This was a nice change from the previous nights. Scott was glad he didn't have to take her outside for once too. She still wouldn’t sleep in the playpen but by then I was used to letting her sleep with me so no biggie. She layed down beside me and instantly fell asleep. I sat there with all kinds of thoughts going through my head. I had a happy yet bittersweet realization as my baby drifted off to sleep and the clock ticked to midnight...my baby was now officially 1!

TO BE CONTINUED…
Up Next:
My baby turns 1 (aka My baby officially enters toddlerhood!)
Scott finally meets his crush!
Kylie’s magical b-day lunch at the Crystal Palace (complete with reviews)
Kylie’s 1st experience in a pool!
Evening EMH at Epcot!

*(As you can see "tomorrow" is a busy and exciting day for us so stay tuned!) *

 

[kaysmommie]

Still love reading your trip report. Kylie is just adorable. I miss my DD 6 being that age. She also loved her first Disney trip. Now we will be taking DS 2 on his first trip this September. I guess we shouldn't watch the parade by Hall of presidents . Can't wait to read the rest

 

[Tasha+Scott]

kayesmommie~ Actually, watching the parade near the Hall of Presidents was great! We normally pick a spot a little closer to the castle but we always have to get there really early to get a good viewing spot and we couldn't get there early enough from our ADRs so it was already crowded by the time we arrived. Plus I didn't want to wait any longer than I had to with a 1 year old. We enjoyed the H of P viewing area though. The spot we then walked to so we could watch WISHES was what was so awful. We walked to a spot near a refreshment building that was a sort of side view of the castle (it's hard to describe). It was the perfect view of Tinkerbelle coming out but it was the wrong side from where they shot the fireworks and our view was obstructed by the trees. We were not the only ones that made this mistake. We were surrounded by a lot of people that did the same thing which made us feel a little better anyway! We'll know better next time!

 

[kaymak]

Really enjoying reading you trip report. By any chance, do you know any Childers that live in Fulton? I know it is a pretty small town so I was just curious!

 

[Tasha+Scott]

Really enjoying reading you trip report. By any chance, do you know any Childers that live in Fulton? I know it is a pretty small town so I was just curious!

It's possible. I am not always good at connecting last names unless I have first names too. If you want to PM me the names I might know them but I'm not sure. Dh works in the Fulton area as well as several other areas in MS and some in AL so he has quite a lot of customers and is more likely to recognize the names than I am. He knows a lot of people in this area.

I see you are from Decatur. We went to the water park there a couple of times before Philadelphia, MS, opened one up. Now we go there instead.

ETA: Dh just got home and he said yes, he knows a John Childers.

 

[Lovemy3babes]

Great report! I've spent a lot of my morning reading it. Can't wait to hear more.

 

[llij]

Tasha - Your trip report is great! I love seeing all the pictures of your family. Kylie is such a cute little girl.

 

[spoiltrotten12]

Your trip report is great! Your DD is sooo sweet!!!

Our DD was 1 when we went to WDW last year and was also in awe whilst watching Spectromagic!

 

[Tasha+Scott]

Day 7 (May 5, 2006…aka Kylie’s 1st b-day!)

Let me preface this by saying this was one of the busiest, most exciting days we spent at the World and for that reason it will probably have more “stuff” than usual. That means that there is a good chance Day 7 will take me a little longer to write. So I may not finish all of this in this post and may have to continue it next time but I will post as much as I can right now! Thanks for bearing with me! Now on with the TR!

The wake up call came early on this particular day but I was wide-awake as soon as the phone rang. I picked up the receiver and hung it back up without even listening. Shame on me doing this every time, I know! Anyway, I was completely aware that my beautiful little angel was now 1! I looked at her sleeping beside me on the bed. I don’t know if I expected her to have suddenly changed overnight or what but I couldn’t help but look for signs of something different. She is our 1st child, a much wanted child, a child that we would literally die for. Her 1st b-day was a big deal to us. Not everyone gets or understands that but it’s just the way it is. She looked exactly the same as she had the day before though. Go figure!

I woke the lazy little family up (again!) and Scott and I told Kylie happy b-day. Then we all proceeded to get ready for the day. I knew exactly what Kylie would be wearing on this particular day. The day before we left to head to Disney Kylie received a package in the mail from my grandmother. She sent her several outfits for her b-day. One was so perfect that I added it to Kylie’s already packed Tinkerbelle suitcase. It was so cute (or I thought so anyway!) and had Pooh on it. What a perfect b-day outfit since we were going to be dining with Pooh and friends for lunch today! My grandmother adores Kylie in ways you cannot imagine and yet she has never even met her! She lives in Florida but we didn’t make it to see her on this trip. We are hoping that my mom, Kylie, and I might make a quick trip to see her next year or something. She is such a wonderful grandmother and no doubt will be a wonderful great-grandmother to Kylie and I can’t wait for her to meet her. Okay, that was my tribute to my grandmother. I think she deserves it since she has done so much for Scott and me (and now Kylie) over the years. As a finishing touch to Kylie’s outfit I added her b-day button that we had received at City Hall the night before.

Oh, yeah, and didn’t we also buy her Minnie ears? Why, yes, we did! We’d better get a pic of that too! So we put the ears on her and snapped a picture!

She didn’t wear the ears long though because they were way too big. She has a small head. You may not be able to tell since she has quite a bit of hair though. She still wears newborn sized bonnets and hats. So the hat literally fell past her nose even though it was the smallest size they had. It took a little creativity to get it to look like it fit in the picture I took!

After the first round of pictures of the day it was time to head out. We left our room and headed toward the lobby. As we approached the doors we saw EMTs and a couple of CMs rushing to a lady who was lying on the sidewalk passed out. I don’t know what happened but they were talking to her as we passed so I am guessing she regained consciousness. I hope to God she was okay! I sent up a prayer that she was and I feel she probably was but still. Not a fun thing for her to have to endure on her vacation, that’s for sure!

We got in the MK bus line and once again Kylie was the center of attention. I didn’t even think about how much more attention she would receive while wearing her b-day button. Wowza! It was like she was a celebrity or Mickey Mouse or something! She was taking advantage of her newfound fame and posing like a movie star so maybe people thought she really was one. She is definitely a show-off!

Another thing that happened while in the bus line was that Kylie bit a hole in her binky! And nope, dopey me, I did not pack another one to bring to the park. She didn't seem to mind using it though so I didn't have to buy her another $8 one! Yay! I swore that we would be getting rid of the binkies as soon as we got home from our trip. Aw, well, I confess...it has been nearly a month since we've been home and we did try once which was a nightmare! We managed to get her completely off of formula and the bottle and she only uses a sippy now but she still has that darned binky! Ugh! We are going to give it another shot in a month or 2 but who knows how well that will go!

We arrived at the MK and decided to once again do Mickey’s Philharmagic. We felt it should be the 1st thing we did that day since it was Kylie’s favorite attraction and it was her b-day and all. She loved it just as much as before and laughed and squealed in delight. She also jumped at the Peter Pan part again much to dh’s and my delight. Yes, we loved to watch her jump if you haven’t figured that out by now. It was pretty hilarious. She doesn’t do little, dainty jumps either. She does full-fledged arms sprawled all the way out, leg-jerking, full 10-feet in the air type jumps. It is pretty entertaining stuff to her easily amused parents. It’s times like these that I understand what people mean when they say we need to get lives. Ah, but then I remember that I wouldn’t trade my life with anyone…it’s just that good. So the joke’s on them!

After watching Mickey’s Philharmagic and getting our first jolt of true Kylie entertainment of the day we noticed that it was almost time for Ariel to make her grand appearance at Ariel’s Grotto. I swear to you that Kylie could have cared less about Ariel. She is more into the Mickey type characters at this age, not the princesses. I think we all know it was dh that was just dying to meet her! For someone who never wanted to deal with the characters he was very intrigued when I told him he could also meet the princesses. Go figure! He wanted to meet Ariel and Jasmine. Sadly, he never did get to meet Jasmine. Poor baby! Anyway, we got in line and I could tell Kylie was getting sleepy. We had to wait quite a while since we had arrived before she started greeting guests. By the time it was our turn to see her Kylie was not a happy camper. I had to indulge dh though since this was the moment he had been waiting for and all so he and Kylie headed to meet Ariel. Ariel offered to hold Kylie and Kylie started whimpering and fussing and wanting her “mama”. Ariel said something along the lines of, “Oh, I guess I must be your 1st mermaid, huh?” And my dopey dh actually says to her, “You’re my 1st mermaid too!” with a big sly grin on his face! Oh, boy. She just laughed. I snapped a couple of pictures and then dh’s moment with his favorite fish was over. He was a little disappointed to hear the high-pitched chipmunkish voice Ariel was sporting but that didn’t stop him from bragging to my family after we got home about his encounter with Ariel. It’s a good thing I love him and we have a solid marriage, the knucklehead!

After our brief encounter with Ariel I put Kylie in her stroller and we walked to Peter Pan. It only had a 20 min. wait time which was really good since most of the time when we passed by it the wait time was 50 min. long. Now I like Peter Pan and all but I also know from past trips that there is no way I will ever wait 50 min. to ride it. It just isn’t a long enough ride to wait that long. Twenty min. seemed doable though. I took Kylie out of the stroller and got in line with her. Dh went to park the stroller. Yes, I am one of those evil people that has a family member go do that and then lets him get in front of us in line when he returns. I don’t see the big deal and I never get upset when others do this but I know there are those that get really upset over it. Just thought I’d confess this now so you will know exactly what kind of person you are dealing with here. While dh was gone Kylie fell asleep in my arms. I knew she was tired. Dh returned and we rode the very short ride known as Peter Pan. Kylie continued to nap through it which was fine by me. A well rested Kylie means a less grumpy Kylie!

After Peter Pan was over (I think about 30 sec. later!) dh insisted we head to the Crystal Palace for our ADRs. We still had nearly an hour before our reservation and I really hated to waste it by sitting around but dh has always had this paranoia that if you don’t arrive extra early they are just going to give your table away…even though you aren’t even late. I am used to his quirks though so I humored him. We arrived at the CP and checked in. The hostess informed dh that they did not start seating for lunch until 11:30, which was our ADR time, so that we would not be able to get a table until then. He was a bit sheepish when I gave him my famous, “I told you so!” look but we found a bench and sat down to wait. It was actually kind of nice though. Kylie settled comfortably on my lap and continued to nap and dh and I enjoyed people watching and chatting with eachother. About 15 min. before our ADR time the people started to pour in. It got packed! My one complaint is the way they have check in set up. They really need an area kind of off to the side and not so close to the entrance or something. It was like fighting a mob when it was our time to be seated. When our buzzer went off we had to try to get in front of all of the people checking in just to get inside the entrance. This one woman was so incredibly rude and blocked our way. Dh said, “Excuse me!” She rolled her eyes and would not let him through. Sigh, the poor woman doesn’t know that you don’t keep dh from getting to his food or else. He “accidentally” pushed past her rather hard to get through. Okay, that was one way to get past I guess. So Kylie and I tried to follow him and this same woman steps in front of us and will not let us pass! OMG! What the heck was her problem? Did she really think we were trying to cut her in the check in line or something? Sheesh! Only at Disney! Anyway, it basically went the same way as it had with dh. I was holding Kylie and I calmly explained that our buzzer had went off and we were simply trying to get inside. She rolled her eyes and ignored me so I had to “accidentally” shove past her too! I am not the type to shove someone out of the way but good grief! What was I supposed to do? I nudged her out of the way with my shoulder. I didn’t just right out push her down or anything so don’t worry. Some people get crazy when they think you are trying to cut them!

We quickly reunited with dh and were led to our table. We were pleasantly surprised to see that our table was decorated with streamers and Mickey head confetti in honor of Kylie’s b-day. The CM I talked to on the phone when I made the ADRs had said they *might* bring her a cupcake or something when I asked if they did anything special for b-days but that I would have to let them know about it at the podium during check in. I didn’t bother saying anything at check in but since the CM that made our ADR had made a note of it they honored her b-day anyway!

Since we were one of the 1st ones seated for lunch we were lucky enough to have Eeyore at our table about a min. after we sat down. I took so many pictures at the CP because Kylie really enjoyed the characters here so I will try to only post a few and not a million (which is tempting since I took so many!). Kylie was very excited to see Eeyore but since she could see Tigger only a table or 2 behind him she was more interested in trying to look at Tigger. We did get a couple of shots of her with Eeyore though.

After Eeyore left Kylie was thrilled to see Tigger. He snuck up behind me and patted my head and poor guy. It startled me and I accidentally head-butted him in the mouth! Oops! But anyway, he recovered nicely and spent quite a bit of time with Kylie. He even took the streamers off the table and covered Kylie with them. She loved it! I can honestly say that as much as Kylie loved all of the characters none of them compared to Tigger. She was practically in love with him. She was very disappointed when it was time for him to leave our table and she kept trying to get his attention while he was visiting with other diners. She kept yelling at him which the other diners did find humorous at least. Tigger made her day when he walked by and patted her on the head one last time before leaving our section. And of course Kylie had to give Tigger a kiss before he left!

Shortly after Tigger’s departure Pooh arrived! She wasn’t quite as thrilled with Pooh as she had been Tigger but she was still quite pleased to see him. After Pooh left we decided to go get our food. Piglet was greeting people in the lobby but our server said she was pretty certain he would be stopping by tables in a little while as well. So dh got his food and then I went and got mine. We were having a great time but I can honestly say the food wasn’t the best I had eaten. It was mediocre at best. About halfway through our meal Piglet made an appearance. Unfortunately right as it was our turn they started the parade. Poor Kylie was so excited to see him and couldn’t for the life of her understand why he didn’t come see her right then. She watched the parade in awe and shouted at Piglet as he passed. After the parade was over Piglet came to our table. We had the hardest time getting shots of Kylie looking at the camera. She kept looking at Piglet and then turning at her daddy with a huge grin. Finally she grabbed Piglet’s hand and posed for me. I swear, she knows exactly what she’s doing!

After we saw Piglet we went and got dessert. I got Kylie some chocolate ice cream as a birthday treat. I did not realize they might bring her something. When I got back dh told me that our server said she was going to bring Kylie a birthday cupcake but that she was waiting until I got back first. I went ahead and let Kylie have a few bites of the ice cream while we waited. Hmmm, ice cream always has the power to make her smile for some reason!

A few min. later our server returned with a cupcake, complete with a lit candle. The only bad part was the server made the mistake of setting the cupcake right in front of Kylie and before I could stop her she had turned it over. Thankfully I was fast and had it picked up before the candle could catch anything on fire. She then had everyone nearby sing happy birthday to her. About halfway through the song Kylie turned around to look at everybody with a huge grin on her face and started clapping. (She learned to clap the night we ate at the Whispering Canyon!) Everyone stopped singing and laughed at her and then we finished the song. They then gave Kylie a birthday card signed by Pooh, Eeyore, Tigger, and Piglet which she loved since it had Mickey Mouse on the front.

I must admit that I got a little misty-eyed when everyone started singing happy b-day to her. I quickly recovered when Kylie made us all laugh though. Kylie must have sensed mommy about to shed a few tears and saved the day! That’s my girl!

Anyway, Kylie enjoyed a few bites of her cupcake and while she was eating that she got to see Eeyore, and Tigger, and Pooh again. It made her entire day when she realized Tigger was back!

After seeing the characters again (minus Piglet) we left. As far as our reviews I definitely recommend this place for the experience. The food is only average but they made Kylie’s b-day extra special which we truly didn’t expect and the characters were great!

Once outside we started to get Kylie’s stroller and realized we were in the perfect picture spot. I asked a woman waiting nearby if she would take our picture and she said sure. On the 1st attempt, Kylie was too fascinated with the lake and the castle to look at the camera. She took a 2nd shot but Kylie looked down at the ground so we gave up after that.

We then headed back to the room to rest for a while. I will have to continue this later as Kylie has woken up from her nap. I will try to finish this part of our trip either tonight or tomorrow! Thank you for your patience!

TO BE CONTINUED…
Up Next:
Kylie’s 1st experience in a pool!
Evening EMH at Epcot!

 

[momrek06]

TASHA: THOSE EYES ON KYLIE....BEAUTIFUL and that picture of her and POOH is FABULOUS...her expression is PRICELESS = such memories you all have from Kylie's first birthday!!! The trip reporting is outstanding...and as usual waiting for MOREEEEEEEEEE!!!

 

[Alice28]

Love the pic of Kylie kissing Tigger! Priceless! Can't wait to read more, Tasha!

 

[ryan840]

Still loving it Tasha, can't wait to read the rest! Reading about Kylies birthday makes me so sad to think my baby is going to be three soon! I remember doing everything you did the night before he turned one, and saying the same thing about him not looking different Sadly, except for pictures I can barely even remember that time, it seems so long ago. Hold onto it!!!

 

[Tasha+Scott]

Day 7 Continued (still May 5, 2006...and still Kylie's b-day)

We arrived back at our room and the first thing we noticed was how mousekeeping had arranged Kylie’s toys. She had received an Elmo water baby doll from dh and I for her b-day and it was lying on the bed with one of Kylie’s rattles in it’s hand and a rubber ducky at it’s side. It was even covered with one of Kylie’s receiving blankets! It was very cute and I wish now that I would have thought to take a picture but I didn’t. We had entered our room with every intention of just resting. However, Kylie was quite wound up and excited after her experience with the characters. It was also pretty hot outside and I had been dying to go swimming since the day we arrived. The pool was just calling our names. I had brought an infant float for Kylie and couldn’t wait to try it out. Unfortunately I realized we didn’t have an air pump and the thing was way too hard to blow up by mouth. Even dh couldn’t do it and I thought for sure all of his hot air would do the trick. Uh-oh, I’d better stop before I get in trouble by the Mr.

Anyhoo, I decided to call the front desk to see if they by any chance had an air pump. I got a woman that was no help really. She didn’t know what an infant float was and started telling me she didn’t think those type of things were allowed on property! Huh? Okay. I realized this call was not going to lead to much help but I waited patiently. I had to explain what an infant float was and it seemed it took forever until she finally got it (or so she said). She giggled and said, “I bet you can tell I don’t have kids!” Even so, I was surprised she didn't understand what an infant float was. She then called recreation and asked if infant floats were allowed. See how patient I am? I should have just hung up but I waited and waited. I know that infant floats are okay so I knew she still didn’t truly know what that was but I was very nice and polite. She got back on and said why, yes, they are allowed in the pool! Imagine that! Okay but all I had asked is if they had an air pump I could use. OH! Well, now she had to call to find out. Geez! Finally, she tells me that no, they don’t have one. I finally decided it didn’t matter and we would just forfeit the whole floatie idea and take Kylie in the pool without one. I asked if they had lifejackets and she said she thought so but she wasn’t sure. She was very nice even though she really didn’t know anything. I hope she was able to check people in better than she was able to answer questions.

After my long, unnecessary phone call we put on our bathing suits and slathered on sunscreen. We headed down to the pool and asked the lifeguard if they had any lifejackets small enough for Kylie. She said she wasn’t sure if they were small enough for Kylie or not but they might be. She pointed out where they were and we went to search for one. We found one that was small, the smallest they had, and tried it on her. It fit okay but was still a little big and she wasn’t fond of the clunky piece of plastic so we decided to skip it. She was going to be in our arms the entire time anyway so we figured she’d do just fine without it.

Now it was time for the moment of truth. Kylie had never been in a pool before. She loves baths though and has since her very 1st one. She can be in the worst mood ever but if you put her in the bath she is all smiles and giggles. She's a water baby (just like I was at her age). I figured she would probably love the pool but wasn’t sure how she’d respond to the cold water. I slowly entered with her. She started swatting the water immediately, a very good sign! So we lowered all the way into the water and she was just fine. Scott and I took turns passing her back and forth between us. While dh was holding her I went under water in front of her and came up splashing. She found that quite entertaining. She also enjoyed splashing dh and me. We would put her on her stomach and she would instantly kick her legs and arms in the water. I think my part fish child will be a great swimmer like her mommy and daddy one day. Her favorite part about the pool though was waving at Lady and the Tramp. We swam in the bowling pin pool since it was closest to our room and she had an excellent view of the pups. She also really enjoyed going to the side of the pool and splashing the water at the edge. All in all, the pool was a hit!

After about 30 min. she had had enough though. We got out and decided to sit on a chair to dry a little before heading back to the room. Kylie kept walking between the chairs and thought that was the greatest thing.

Suddenly I heard a woman say, “I thought I recognized that happy smile.” I looked at the woman sitting in a chair nearby. I recognized her but wasn’t sure from where. She was a middle-aged woman and she just looked so familiar. Where had I seen her? She then said to the man next to her that she remembered Kylie from the bus on Sunday (our 1st day there) because she was such a happy little girl and had laughed and giggled and flirted with everyone the entire bus ride. Ah, yes, I remembered her now. We chatted for a bit. She was very friendly. If I had been thinking about it I might have asked her what her name was and if she was a DISer, but alas, I didn’t. I do know she is from Canada b/c she mentioned how drastically different the weather in FL was from where she lives. Apparently the temps in Canada were still very cold. I cannot imagine what it must be like to go from wearing a heavy coat and all that other winter gear (that I have never really worn before due to living in the south) and then go to Florida and be able to put on a bathing suit and go swimming! I think my body would go into shock or something. We had just left temps in the upper 80s and lower 90s where we live so the heat in Florida was nothing new for us. I can’t handle cold weather though for the record!

Anyway, we chatted with Ms. Canada for a while and then decided to head back to the room for a while. I gave Kylie a bath and then Scott and I both took showers. We decided to rest for a little while and Kylie napped. A couple of hours later we headed to the busses to go to Epcot for EMH.

The one thing we really wanted to do that night was watch Illuminations because although I have been to Epcot several times I have never taken the time to actually watch it. We found a great viewing area and sat to wait for it to start. Kylie fell asleep. Everyone told me to skip the fireworks because it might frighten Kylie. Shows what they knew! Kylie slept through both WISHES and Illuminations and never even stirred! Dh really, really enjoyed Illuminations. I did too but I must confess I am not a huge firework person. I don’t really know why. I enjoy them and find them pretty but I don’t get totally awestruck by them either. I guess this proves to those of you who were still on the fence about whether I am normal or crazy that I am in fact crazy, huh? Still, I was glad to finally see it and it was fun to watch. It was also a beautiful breezy night and very relaxing.

After Illuminations was over we headed to Morocco. This is another thing I must confess I had never done. I had been to Epcot several times and had yet to go to Morocco! I was determined that I would see it this time and I really wanted to eat there as well. We went into the Tangierine Café and it was quite crammed. I told dh what to order for me. Kylie and I then headed outside to a nice secluded table to wait on dh. I never knew it was a bad thing to hold a table while someone else in your party gets the food until just recently when I was reading on the DIS. Huh…who knew? Oh, well, add it to my WDW crimes because there was no way I was going to wait with dh for our food with a very sleepy, hungry 1 year old. I gave Kylie a bottle while waiting on dh and sitting at the table was a good call for that I think.

Dh returned with our food and Kylie started fussing since she was hungry. I had ordered the chicken and lamb platter and I let Kylie have a bite of some of the Moroccan bread before I ever took a bite of anything on my plate. Can I just say that by Kylie’s 1st b-day she had tried Moroccan food before I had?! Anyway, the food was okay. I hated the Moroccan salad! It was just nasty to me. The bread and the hummus and something called tabbouleh were quite good. The lamb and the chicken were okay but not anything extraordinary. Dh ordered the Rotisserie chicken with rice and it was very good. I kind of wished I would have ordered that but then what would have been the point of eating at Morocco since I had already had that before? I like to live dangerously and try new foods after all! We had the baklava for dessert and it was okay, but a little too chewy for my taste. Dh didn’t seem to care for it himself. The food here is a toss up. I think it depends on what you order. I am very glad I tried it though.

After dinner Kylie was wide awake and in a great mood so we decided to walk through the World Showcase. I must admit that although it was pretty at night it was almost too dark to really see everything. It was nice to have the park nearly all to ourselves though! While in Germany I decided to try some German chocolate. I got 2 small pieces that were $0.99 a piece! Geez! That’s expensive but I really wanted to see what the fuss was about. It tasted just like a lot of American chocolate I have had but at least I can say I have tried it now. Dh did not like it but he is very picky so that was no surprise.

While in Norway Kylie and I sat on a bench outside while Dh rode the Maelstrom. After he was done he sat with Kylie while I rode it. We literally both had ridden it within a little over 10 min. There was absolutely no wait and we both walked right on.

We then headed to Mexico. I absolutely love Mexico. I love going inside the pyramid. It is so festive and I feel like I am at a real bazaar (sp.?). I also love the boat ride. I know some people find it corny but I have always enjoyed it. Kylie also seemed to find it fascinating.

After Mexico we decided to head back to the room. We headed to the bus stop and we didn’t endure a long wait because for once the busses seemed to have it together. We had 2 busses come to our stop at once and they did it that way several times in a row! They should do that more often! We were on a bus before we knew it.

We went back to our room and Kylie was in good spirits as I got ready for bed. I got her ready for bed, gave her a bottle, and then she laid down beside me and went to sleep. I watched a little TV and then decided to go to sleep myself. Dh was snoring by this point for those of you who are wondering where he was. As I drifted off to sleep I couldn’t help but think of the irony of all the firsts Kylie had done on her 1st b-day. She experienced Crystal Palace. She went swimming in a pool for the first time. She ate Moroccan food for the first time. What a busy and wonderful 1st birthday this had turned out to be! I know she won’t remember it but her mommy and daddy always will and these are memories that we will always cherish. Plus, we have plenty of pictures to show Kylie when she is older and I am sure she will enjoy seeing those since I love looking at my baby albums as well. Oh, and did I mention that oh my gosh! My baby is now 1!!! Oh, how the time flew!

TO BE CONTINUED…
Up Next:
Our last full day at WDW
Also our last time at MK for this trip
Our last time at Epcot for this trip
Dinner at Rose and Crown Pub (complete with reviews)

 

[vald1977]

Great report, Tasha ! Kylie had quite the memorable first birthday . Just wanted to ask, did you find the evening emh parks to be overly crowded?

 

[fizz13]

Hi Tasha

I just found your report this morning and I'm so pleased I did. Kylie is just gorgeous, I especially liked the photo of her on the morning of her birthday, with her outfit and the bunches so bubbly, happy and beautiful. You brought back happy memories for me as I was there for my youngest's 1st birthday last January and we had lunch at Crystal Palace too, its a great choice for a 1st birthday, as you know. I have enjoyed so many moments from your trip and will be sad when its over, great writing, and thankyou so much for sharing your special memories with us, lets jut hope you get another trip before too long,
Claire xx

 

[Tasha+Scott]

Great report, Tasha ! Kylie had quite the memorable first birthday . Just wanted to ask, did you find the evening emh parks to be overly crowded?

MK was the most crowded one. We went to EMH at night at the MK in 2004 and it was wonderful. It was like we had the parks to ourselves. However, that was when you still had to pay for the EMH bracelets which kept some people from attending. It was also a rainy day and a lot of people didn't go for fear that they would be rained out. It was drastically different this time. As I'm sure you know you no longer have to pay for the bracelets. Plus, the weather was great so it was much more crowded than in 2004. Not as bad as during the day but still a lot of people...a little too crowded for EMH for us really. We also did EMH at AK and Epcot and it was not crowded at all at those 2. Those were the perfect times to go to those parks. We skipped MGM's EMH since we had already done all we wanted to do there but I am sure that one wasn't very crowded either. I definitely recommend the nightly EMH! That's our favorite time to go! (I hope that made sense. I only got 2 hours of sleep last night so I am not thinking as clearly as usual and it may have affected this post!)

I am glad everyone is enjoying the report so far. I have 1 more full day at WDW to post, a half day and our drive home, and then I will do an Epilogue so I still have a few posts left to do. I am glad you all are not totally bored yet! We had such a great time and I am happy to be able to share about it with all of you!