We're touring Disney like a 3 year old (2TRs in 1!)- UPDATE 5/18 pg. 46

[lbuzz52]

Your hotel in Miami looks nice. What type was it?
I'm glad you had low traffic and were able to get in a little Disney time!

 

[LilAnn]

The shower looks adorable! I love the theming and the girls look so precious

Tiana's dress is my favorite. Everytime I see it I wish I had a little one to buy for

Sounds like a fun but exhausting weekend

The decorations and the execution of the shower was so pretty! I'm glad we went, even after all teh trouble, because the girls got a chance to meet before the wedding. That ended up being pivotal in my DD going down the aisle.

I may have been more tempted if my little princess wasn't changing her mind constantly on which dress she wanted. They are so cute in the little girl sizes though!

All the driving was tiring.

That must have been frustrating having to pay for two hotels for one night but at least you guys were able to make the best of it, the pool looks gorgeous!

I love the strawberry dresses, how adorable, what a creative idea for a shower

It was annoying to have to double pay. Like I said, my husband was NOT a happy camper about it. The pool and the weather was gorgeous that day! So we did make the best of it.

Wow you guys had a busy weekend while on vacation! I definitely wouldn't have been pleased about the rescheduled detour to Miami, but the shower looks like it was beautifully done. Those strawberry cookies are so cute!

I think I would have voted for the giraffe ears, those are so cute!

Yes, it was mostly annoying because we had already planned everything out, including ADRs. So I had to do some stalking to change some around - including a dinner at Le Cellier! We were supposed to eat at Le Cellier that weekend, imagine my frustration at having to try to rebook that one! It was a must-do that trip since it was still 1 TS credit.

The cookies were cute and yummy! The animal ears are all so cute!

Very creative shower. That was so nice of you to travel there for the event after the date got changed. The Miami hotel looked gorgeous. I'm sure if you weren't heading back to disney you would have stayed and enjoyed that hotel a little longer.

I love Boma. Glad you got back in time to do some shopping and enjoy a lovely meal at Boma!!!!

Oh - and the animal print mouse ears - too cute!

My husband is all about relaxing at hotel pools, so that was a nice morning for us. Plus it's always better when you can score a good deal via Priceline! We had to travel to the shower since it's my best friend and it really was the whole reason why we were down in Florida. Disney was technicall supposed to be the bonus portion.

Boma is so good! We love all the choices there and our daughter enjoys the food there too.

Whoa! That is a pretty elaborate shower and the food looks so good, especially those strawberry cookies Yum! The hotel you stayed at looked very nice. Love the pictures you took with Tweedle Dee and Dum, as well as the ones at the Pin Trading store! So cute I'm shocked you managed not to buy anything. I go there and go crazy (when it comes to Disney, I do everything insanely, even shopping), but you managed to not get anything. Well, it probably was for the better I must try Boma sometimes, heard many good things and this is yet another. Can't wait to hear if you got to see Aaron Rodger's in the parade!

Leaving the stores at DTD empty handed was only due to the fact that we still had a lot of days ahead of us. I just hadn't found something that we absolutely needed to have then, and I knew we'd be back in a few days.

We really enjoyed Boma. We wanted to try it after reading many good reviews on the food and a glowing endorsement from Alison (Sunset Cliffs) a few years back.

My daughter was all about posing for the pics. She remembered where the Minnie and Mickey were.

Your hotel in Miami looks nice. What type was it?
I'm glad you had low traffic and were able to get in a little Disney time!

I think it was the Hyatt in Coral Gables. We scored a great deal on it at the last minute through Priceline. Definitely worth it! I'm always happy with a little touch of Disney!

 

[jwwi]

I loved the theme of the shower, and all the cupcake and cookie pictures. Your daughter's dress is so cute. I'm sure it was hard to pull yourself away from Disney, but it looks like you had fun in Miami.

 

[LilAnn]

I loved the theme of the shower, and all the cupcake and cookie pictures. Your daughter's dress is so cute. I'm sure it was hard to pull yourself away from Disney, but it looks like you had fun in Miami.

Thank you! Yes, she can definitely throw a party! The weather was gorgeous that weekend, so we made the best of it.

 

[LilAnn]

After our busy travel weekend, we were ready to jump back into Disney, and what better park to do that at than the Magic Kingdom? We ate a quick breakfast at Boatwright’s Dining hall. I think our daily breakfast was a to share a breakfast platter, a chocolate croissant, and a chocolate muffin. Not the healthiest breakfast, I know, but always yummy and we’re on vacation!

With pleasantly full bellies, we headed to the Magical Kingdom. With it being February, this was one of the first times we were at Disney when we weren’t sweating, so it was nice to be able to walk around at a nice pace. Since we weren’t there during President’s week (aka school break), the lines weren’t that bad. We headed over to Fantasyland and stopped to visit a silly old bear. Since there wasn’t a line, we decided to stop and play in the new waiting area.

We tried to ring the bell before we went inside, but no one came out to meet us.

There sure were a lot of “hunny” pots, inside and out.

We stopped to take a look at the map before continuing on.

Rabbit’s garden proved to be quite a fun experience.

Looking for all of those pesky groundhogs.

We played around some more before we headed in for our little ride through the hundred acre woods. Lucky for us, this ride went over pretty well with the little one. We were hoping that our little girl was going to get over some of her fears this trip with rides.

We wandered around some more and then you know what it was time for? Character greetings, of course. You didn’t think we would make it through a whole morning without a character meet and greet, did you? Not just any character meeting, a princess meeting.

Princess Tiana was under the gazebo, without Prince Naveen (a key element to this greeting). If you remember our Aladdin and Jasmine experience, our little princess would get excited to see Princess Tiana out and about, but refused to go up and meet her if Prince Naveen was there as well. So we got lucky here (other people may disagree, as I am sure Prince Naveen is a big draw).

I love how Tiana’s dress just flares out when she crouches down.

Princess Tiana was so personable and so great, I can see why people rave about this meet. As you can, our little girl was mesmerized herself.

Princess Tiana was quite taken with out little princess as well. She asked us if she could keep her and our little girl was just all smiles with that.

Do you think the character greetings ended there? Ha, of course not! I felt as though there were characters out and about everywhere this trip. Maybe I just never noticed them before I had my daughter, although I doubt that since I was always one for characters. Who did we see next? But a practically perfect lady, Mary Poppins.

Can you tell that our little one was a little nervous to meet Mary Poppins? I’m not sure what it was, but she got a little scared while waiting in line. She asked me to go up with her, but apparently decided she could go it alone at the last minute.

Always watching them sign her book.

It looks like she got over her fear, don’t you think?

After we said good-bye to Mary Poppins, we went for a ride on the carousel. I mean, how could you not go for a ride when you are so close? Our little girl was still a bit nervous with the up and down motion of the horses so I had to stand next to her the whole ride.

She looks so little up on that horse!

After that dizzying ride – I definitely got a bit dizzy just standing there, we made one more classic stop.

Do you think she was strong enough to pull that sword out of the stone?

Considering she could barely see over the sword, I think that would have been quite impressive!

She gave it her all, but alas, it was not to be.

Next: more MK fun and would we see Aaron Rodgers?
​

 

[tinkgurl]

The Pooh line looks so cute! I can't wait to see it!

I'm glad she's doing better with meeting the characters. Do you think she has a better time warming up to the face characters since she can interact with them?

 

[SoonerGirl]

The new Pooh queue looks so fun! I want to play in it myself

The Mary Poppins you saw was really pretty!

 

[LilAnn]

The Pooh line looks so cute! I can't wait to see it!

I'm glad she's doing better with meeting the characters. Do you think she has a better time warming up to the face characters since she can interact with them?

Hi Tink! The Pooh line is so fun! I can imagine that it helps to pass the time when the line gets long.

I feel like once she turned two - it was like a switch turned and she wasn't as afraid of the characters anymore. Or at least, it wasn't as bad. She did ask me why some of the characters can't talk.... I had to change the subject fast!

The new Pooh queue looks so fun! I want to play in it myself

The Mary Poppins you saw was really pretty!

I have to say that we had fun ourselves playing in there.

The Mary Poppins was really pretty, she had amazing eyes. She was really nice too, but a bit more reserved than some of the other characters. Maybe because she is so proper?

 

[PlutosRHM55]

The Winnie the Pooh queue looks really cool. It is sad some parts of it have been closed off. If only I had gone on the ride while I was last there I could've experienced it all I love the pictures of your daughter with Tiana, especially the one where Tiana hugs her. Too bad Naveen wasn't there for your daughter to see or meet (possibly), since he may be leaving the M&G to become a special occasions character, like Flynn Rider. :'( And that's great to see she got over her fear of meeting Mary Poppins, maybe that's a sign for other characters And that's so cute, with her trying to pull out the sword Can't wait to read about if you got to see Aaron Rodgers!

 

[LilAnn]

The Winnie the Pooh queue looks really cool. It is sad some parts of it have been closed off. If only I had gone on the ride while I was last there I could've experienced it all I love the pictures of your daughter with Tiana, especially the one where Tiana hugs her. Too bad Naveen wasn't there for your daughter to see or meet (possibly), since he may be leaving the M&G to become a special occasions character, like Flynn Rider. :'( And that's great to see she got over her fear of meeting Mary Poppins, maybe that's a sign for other characters And that's so cute, with her trying to pull out the sword Can't wait to read about if you got to see Aaron Rodgers!

Have some parts of the Pooh queue been closed off? How come?

Tiana was totally in love with our daughter (or so I choose to believe ) and it was so cute to watch them interact. I think my daughter was in awe of her huge ball gown!

I heard about Flynn Rider leaving! And Rapunzel and Flynn Rider are all my daughter talk abotu now, as in "we never got to see rapunzel and Flynn Rider." However, I am sure as long as I can get her in to see Rapunzel, she will be happy. Now I just have to figure out how to do that without waiting hours in a line.

Hope to have the info on Aaron Rodgers in the next update or two.

 

[dawnbu40]

I loved the update! You already know how much we liked the Pooh queue and your pics are so cute!

IMO Tiana is the most engaging princess so I can totally see why the little one had so much fun.

 

[LilAnn]

I loved the update! You already know how much we liked the Pooh queue and your pics are so cute!

IMO Tiana is the most engaging princess so I can totally see why the little one had so much fun.

I know, I thought it was funny when I read yoru update that it was so parallel to mine! It's such a fun area.

Tiana was so great, she was sooooo nice and personable.

 

[ctink23]

Cute bridal shower! My cousin is getting married in May, and this is a great theme for a shower. Though I highly doubt I could make such cute baked goods. Sorry your BFF's cousin didn't keep you in the loop and that your plans got shuffled around!

Love the animal print Mickey ears! Glad you got to watch the Superbowl at Boma,even if the Pats weren't playing.

The new Pooh waiting area is great! You got some great pictures, and it looks like fun! And your daughter looks so excited with Tiana. Also, some great pictures!

 

[4forWDW]

All of the pictures of your little one with the characters are so cute.
I really like the one of her and Mickey-where she is trying to hold her arms out like his but yet hugging him at the same time.
I'm sure she'll be adorable as a flower girl.
Can't wait for the next update.
Amy

 

[RachelNinja]

Oy, I didn't know that there was such issue with the booking of two rooms! I just remember that the dates changed because initially we thought we'd get our DIS meet. Hopefully, all the free dining stuff made up for the cost of the room that extra night!

Ahhhhhhhh, the pic of your munchkin' sleeping in the bed is the GREATEST!

Your DD has to learn that taking photographs of the things you want is just as good as having them. Okay, who am I kidding. That's just what I try to tell myself, haha. In all honesty, it does work for a lot of things though. That's why Howard and I take pics of everything! MUCH cheaper! (She would look darling in that dress though! Just sayin' hehe!)

Having 3 plates of food isn't being a piggie. It's getting your money's worth! Haha, I think I'd get yelled at by my dad if I didn't eat enough at a buffet. Eating at a buffet with him as a kid was kind of stressful!

 

[LilAnn]

Cute bridal shower! My cousin is getting married in May, and this is a great theme for a shower. Though I highly doubt I could make such cute baked goods. Sorry your BFF's cousin didn't keep you in the loop and that your plans got shuffled around!

Love the animal print Mickey ears! Glad you got to watch the Superbowl at Boma,even if the Pats weren't playing.

The new Pooh waiting area is great! You got some great pictures, and it looks like fun! And your daughter looks so excited with Tiana. Also, some great pictures!

It was a cute shower. I just felt bad for my BFF because there was so much drama and stress around it. It was supposed to be a special day for her and I don't know if it ended up being that way. But we made up for it later on in the week.

Tiana really was such a great princess. She was so happy to be there and just great with everyone. I love when you come across cast members and characters that are totally happy in their job.

All of the pictures of your little one with the characters are so cute.
I really like the one of her and Mickey-where she is trying to hold her arms out like his but yet hugging him at the same time.
I'm sure she'll be adorable as a flower girl.
Can't wait for the next update.
Amy

Hi Amy, thanks! She is always so happy when she is around her favorite characters. She did an awesome job as a flower girl - I'll have to remember to post pics later on.

Oy, I didn't know that there was such issue with the booking of two rooms! I just remember that the dates changed because initially we thought we'd get our DIS meet. Hopefully, all the free dining stuff made up for the cost of the room that extra night!

Ahhhhhhhh, the pic of your munchkin' sleeping in the bed is the GREATEST!

Your DD has to learn that taking photographs of the things you want is just as good as having them. Okay, who am I kidding. That's just what I try to tell myself, haha. In all honesty, it does work for a lot of things though. That's why Howard and I take pics of everything! MUCH cheaper! (She would look darling in that dress though! Just sayin' hehe!)

Having 3 plates of food isn't being a piggie. It's getting your money's worth! Haha, I think I'd get yelled at by my dad if I didn't eat enough at a buffet. Eating at a buffet with him as a kid was kind of stressful!

Hi Rachel! I was so bummed that the dates changed because I was getting excited that we might actually get to meet!

She sleeps like that all the time. Sometimes I'll find her upside down in her bed with her feet on her pillow. I don't know how I'll ever get rid of the bedrails without her falling out.

I would have gotten her a princess dress if she had picked an absolute favorite. But she was pointing out that she wanted each and every one and my wallet could not handle that! However, she is now asking for a princess themed birthday party because she wants to be Cinderella. She also told me that she wants to be Jessie again for Halloween.

Oh my goodness, I never really ate enough at buffets to get my money's worth as a kid. I usually try pretty hard at Boma and Ohana though. And have you ever been to a Minado before? I think there are some locations near NJ/NY. It's a Japanese sushi buffet. Can you imagine how much I ate there? I totally thought I was going to be sick leaving.

 

[LilAnn]

I forgot to mention in my last update that on our way into the parks, we caught sight of a familiar show in front of the castle.

It’s so much more enjoyable to sit and watch the show when you aren’t sweating profusely.

It was at this point that she first saw Maleficient and Captain Hook. She definitely did not like the “green witch” and currently refuses to watch the new Disney Junior show “Jack and the Neverland Pirates” because Captain Hook is in it. I guess she is a good judge in character. I don’t blame her about Maleficient either. Ever since I read the Kingdom Keepers books, I find her to be even more sinister.

Okay, back to the rest of the day.

Once we finished trying our luck with the sword in the stone, we found another friendly face to say hi to. Our little girl has never seen the movie or even heard the story of Pinocchio, but she still knew his name. I think it has to do with some of the Look and Find Disney books we have (kind of like a Where’s Waldo, but with Disney characters). Lucky for me, I had left a few pages blank in her autograph book. I didn’t think we would run into so many characters this trip!

She wasn’t at all intimidated by Pinocchio, maybe it’s because of his smaller stature?

Another happy encounter for our little girl. Then it was on to a favorite attraction of hers. She has the song memorized and asks to hear it in the car over and over and over again.

Yup, it was time for a ride on It’s a Small World. I love that she even tries to sing the parts of the song in other languages. I happen to enjoy the ride as well, so we are able to just hang out in the boat and relax. I feel like I always see something new when I go on it.

Passing by Big Ben and the royal guards.

I wonder if they were getting ready for the Royal Wedding? (By the way, who was totally obsessed with that wedding? Yup, me)

Don Quixote? That was new to me.

Are those llamas on top of the mountains?

Back outside, our little princess found the construction walls to be mesmerizing. She told me she needed a picture with Ariel.

Prince Eric and Ariel were a little lost in their own private moment, so they didn’t notice our little girl posing off to the side.

On our way to our next ride, we stopped for one more picture. I just needed one last picture before it was gone for good.

Goodbye Toontown! Well miss you!

We were headed to the Speedway. Our little one felt the need for speed. Unfortunately, half of the track was being worked on, so there were only two open tracks. This was literally where we had the longest waits over the vacation.

We parked the stroller, but before we jumped in line, our little one spotted something that just put a smile on her face.

A nearby castmember was filling the air with bubbles.

And she was off and chasing them down.

I love how something as simple as bubbles just creates so much fun for little kids. The joys of being young again.

Once she had gotten her fill of the bubbles, we got in line and waited for our turn at racing a car. She was so happy to be behind the wheel!

See that sign over the walkway?

Yup, we were a spectacle alright. If you had watched us on the roadways, we were swerving left and right and left and right. I guess that’s what happens when you can barely see over the steering wheel. Each jerk to the side brought out hysterical giggles from our little girl, so it was worth the bumpy ride.

After our tour on the racecourse, we headed towards Main Street. We had a simple errand that we needed to do…..it was time for a haircut. Anyone who read about our May trip knows that we made a trip to the Harmony Barbershop for her first haircut. Well since then, our little diva has decided that Disney World is where all of her haircuts will be. Ummmmmm, okay, lucky for her we had a trip planned when she made that comment. (We have since tried out a local Snip-Its and convinced her that not ALL haircuts need to be done in Florida).

There was a little bit of a wait at the barbershop, so while we waited for our turn, we stopped by to say hi to these people.

They were letting some people try out their fire engine as well and ring the bell.

What little kid can resist a fire truck and bells? Not ours.


cont. in next post​

 

[LilAnn]

Soon it was our turn as a chair opened up. She hopped right on and waited patiently as her hair was being cut.

She was given a few Mickey stickers and tons of Mickey confetti to play with while her hair was being worked on. It worked like a charm and I actually don’t think she was ready to stop playing when the lady was all done.

The lady even gave us an extra set of stickers and a little baggie of confetti so we could continue her fun in the hotel room. She told us that the mousekeepers love finding confetti in the rooms. Ha, I’m sure they do.

After the haircut, we decided to pay a visit to Pixie Hollow. We knew that Toontown was closing in a day or so and with it, Pixie Hollow and the fairies. There was still a bit of time before the afternoon parade and the Superbowl MVP parade, so we made the executive decision to check on the fairies and hope that the wait time wasn’t too bad.

When we arrived in the tent, we saw the wait time was about 30 minutes, so we went for it. I didn’t want to miss out on meeting them just in case, and they always have such a long wait. Maybe the arrival of Rapunzel and Flynn Rider in the Magic Kingdom helped with the wait times. There were also a ton of Packers fans staked out on Main Street waiting for the parade to start, so that may have helped.

Soon we were being led into Pixie Hollow by Fawn. I didn’t ask who was inside before we got in line, so that was a nice surprise.

First came the autograph book, of course.

Then came the posed pic.

And with it, a slightly inappropriate hand position. She can’t help it, it’s just where her hands fall. All was forgiven.

Next up was Tinkerbell. I just love all of the decorations in this area.

She was perfectly nice, but our interactions last year were better. I think the group we saw in May last year was just more playful and kept improvising. This group was a little more composed, I guess you could say.

And our last fairy? It ended up being Vidia!

And yet another inappropriate hand placement.

No worries, easily cropped out.

By the time we were done with Pixie Hollow, we found that it was close to 3pm, time for the Dreams Come True Parade. We had heard that Aaron Rodgers would close out the end of the parade, so we made our way to the castle to see if we could find a spot.

There weren’t any front row spots left, but there were a ton of visible areas. My husband and I didn’t care so much about the regular parade, but we wanted to see the Superbowl MVP. Our little one of course, wanted to see the main parade.

I love this photo because you can see just how happy she is to be watching a parade. She waves at everyone as they go by.

Apparently Aaron Rodgers’ flight had gotten delayed so he didn’t end up rounding out the parade. A lot of people vacated their spots after the main parade ended, unaware that he would be making an appearance. We heard that he would show up close to a half hour after the end of the parade at this point. So we decided to stand our ground because we now had a front row spot at the castle. The bad news? It looked like a storm was blowing in. the clouds were looking dark and ominous and the temperature had dropped about 10-15 degrees and the wind was starting to blow. Would we see him? Would they postpone the parade again?

Never fear! We heard cheers and clapping and soon were treated with the sight of this banner rounding the corner.

There he is!

Our biggest problem? We were on the wrong side of the street!

We couldn’t get a good shot of Aaron Rodgers in because we happened to be standing on Mickey’s side. Oops. But look how cute football Mickey is?

It’s okay, though. I got a decent picture of him on my phone, so those of you who are FB friends with me may have remembered me posting it. I was so excited that we got to see it. I love that all of the Packers fans were there and cheering him on. And he just looked almost overwhelmed with it all, but happy at the same time.

So we had accomplished our missions for the day. Haircut – check. Fairies – check. Superbowl MVP – check. Now it was time for us to run out of the park before the storm hit.

Up next: Will our little one make it through a signature dining experience?
​

 

[dawnbu40]

What a great day you had and how fun that you saw the Super Bowl parade! The pics with the fairies are adorable but the one on her daddy's shoulders is the best

 

[tinkgurl]

Another great update!

I loved watching the Royal Wedding as well!

I am SO excited for the new Little Mermaid ride. Have you watched the video of the ride over in Disneyland? It opened in June! It looks so neat! The clam-mobiles look similiar to what we ride in for Nemo at Epcot.

Wow, such a big girl getting her hair cut! I always get nervous taking Little Guy because he sometimes does not like to sit still that long. But, I really want to take him to get his hair cut at Main St. because it would be such a fun memory. How does getting in there work? Do you just walk up and ask? Do you call ahead to make the appointment?

Even though I don't like the Packers..it was neat that you got to see Aaron!