Who Invited My Mother In Law? A Moderately Deluxe TR All New X 3 & PTR Link 2/3 !!

[CandleontheWater]

Oh no, getting sick on vacation is the pits! I hope it didn't negatively effect your last day!

I love the pics of Maddie with the characters! I think she has wonderful taste because pluto is my favorite too! I also love the way he signs autographs, and he is always so personable. I haven't run across a bad pluto yet!

 

[afwdwfan]

I'm sorry that you weren't feeling very well that day. Hopefully you were able to power through...

It looks like another successful character interaction for Maddie, and another great meal for all of you.

 

[lvcourtneyy]

oh no! I just read all 101 pages of this TR only to realize that now I have to wait for an update

Maddie is adorable and it sounds like she and I would get along fabulously! I'm 22 and still want to be a princess when I grow up. Also, I totally met all the princesses more than once on my trip in January.

Rest assured. The princess phase may disappear during the awful middle school/high school phase when nothing is simply cool anymore but it will likely return when she's older (without the cute dresses though )

I would start saving for that MK wedding now I'm slowly convincing (blackmailing? torturing?) those around me that they will help me pay for mine when the time comes! Bf: check Bf's parents: check My parents: continuously remind me of the student loans ...

 

[hollyrose]

I can't believe I have reached the end/caught up!!!!! Maddie is the CUTEST-- I am only just engaged....but after we get married....find a house....and have a little Maddie of our own (yes I realize this is in 7 to 8 years from now IF we're lucky : ) I can't wait to take her to Disney and experience the joys of princess stalking and the BBB! How fun!!!!!

Anyway- I can't wait to hear how the end of the trip turned out and also you MUST go on another trip soon so you can do another trip report!

Thanks for the great entertainment and sharing your sweet family.

 

[shan23877]

Hello friends! I apologize for not getting an update posted in the last week (or two ). It's been unbelievably crazy around here. I know that most of you are feeling the same way getting ready for the holidays, so hopefully you'll all understand.

I really hope to have time to get an update done very soon. In the meantime, thanks again for all of your patience and friendship.

 

[TinksThree]

Hello friends! I apologize for not getting an update posted in the last week (or two ). It's been unbelievably crazy around here. I know that most of you are feeling the same way getting ready for the holidays, so hopefully you'll all understand.

I really hope to have time to get an update done very soon. In the meantime, thanks again for all of your patience and friendship.

Totally understandable!! I am so far behind and I desperately need to do an update on my two! Things seem to be so very crazy lately!! Got to love the holidays!!

 

[TanzUnited99]

Hello Shannon

I'm back on the boards and hoping to catch up with your TR over the next few days. Therefore, I'm grateful for an update being postponed!

Tanz

 

[megan511]

I'm sorry you were sick on your last day! The Ohana pics are great! I love the one of Maddie so excited & the parade pics with Pluto. Ohana is our family favorite, we went back on our most recent trip.

I hope you have a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

My grandpa grew up by where the Cubs use to have spring training so he always pulled for them. My dad grew up in Rhode Island though so we are all Red Sox fans. Theo helped the Sox, I hope he can help the Cubs too!

 

[KatMark]

Shannon, just popping in to wish you and the family a very Merry Christmas.

 

[petals]

 

[amandaw]

Hello friends! I apologize for not getting an update posted in the last week (or two ). It's been unbelievably crazy around here. I know that most of you are feeling the same way getting ready for the holidays, so hopefully you'll all understand.

I really hope to have time to get an update done very soon. In the meantime, thanks again for all of your patience and friendship.

I am so glad I'm not the only one!

This is my 1st time on the boards in a little over 2 weeks. I need to get caught up and get back to updating. It's just so hard during these busy times of the year. Hope y'all had a Merry Christmas!!!

 

[shan23877]

Shannon, just popping in to wish you and the family a very Merry Christmas.

I am so glad I'm not the only one!

This is my 1st time on the boards in a little over 2 weeks. I need to get caught up and get back to updating. It's just so hard during these busy times of the year. Hope y'all had a Merry Christmas!!!

Thanks so much guys! I hope that all of you and your families had a wonderful holiday.

I hope to get caught up on all the TRs I'm following, and get this one up to speed in the next couple of days. It's been crazy around here!

 

[catherines_mama]

MERRY CHRISTMAS! Can't wait to hear more on your TR

 

[TinksThree]

Sheesh! I can't believe I had to go back to November 20th! that is about when everything went crazy for me though!! California Grill looked so amazing and now I wish I had gone that route for October. I was so indecisive on that trip!!

We love Ohana for breakfast and supper. It is definitely opne of our favorite character breakfasts! Sorry you were sick! Madison ran into that in July on our final day.

I hope you had a Merry Christmas!

 

[Caretames1]

Stay behind!! I'm so behind it isn't even funny.


I hope you had a wonderful Christmas!

 

[shan23877]

Many, many moons ago I left off with our heroes boarding the monorail and heading for the Magic Kingdom. For once the monorail didn’t stall, and we made it to MK 5 minutes before the Welcome Show.

The Welcome Show had been on my wish list for this trip as none of us had ever seen it in person. It did not disappoint.

​

Once we were welcomed, we made our way into the Magic Kingdom. We made it about 50 feet before we stopped again. Having missed Rapunzel on both of our previous MK visits, we had to see her on our last morning. Unfortunately Maddie had declined to wear her Rapunzel wedding dress on our last morning, so we wouldn’t be getting any Rapunzel/Rapuzel pictures.

The view from the line

The princess didn’t begin greeting the public until 9:20, but we had a pretty good spot in line. We were done meeting her by 9:30. I have to say that I’m very relieved that they no longer have Rapunzel M&Gs in this area (poor Aurora) because the lighting in the early morning is awful, and the backdrop pretty bland. I can’t wait until the official Princess M&G area is open.

Maddie seemed to have a pretty good time, but she wasn't wowed.

​

Up next on the little princess’s agenda was a visit with Ariel and Eric. We buzzed on over there as quickly as possible because they began greeting at 9:35.

Along the way--One of my favorite photos of the two of us

We got into line at about the same time that they came out. The line wasn’t too long, but there was a very chatty young lady of about 10 years old lined up in front of us I believe that her name was Ruiner of Innocence. She overheard Maddie talking about who she’d met and who she still needed to meet, and decided to join in our conversation. She told Maddie that she’d just met Mary Poppins and Snow White in the Town Square. Maddie very maturely said “Ohhh, that’s nice. Sometimes they are hard to find!”. The Ruiner replied that it was kind of fun but she didn’t really care since “they are just people in suits anyway”

Well folks, you can imagine how my daughter reacted. Her face fell and her eyes filled with tears. She turned to her dad and I with question written all over her face. I immediately went into damage control mode and said everything a bit more loudly than necessary hoping that the Ruiner of Innocence and her father would overhear and get the hint that the Ruiner of Innocence should keep her mouth shut henceforth.

I told Maddie that of course the RoI was mistaken. I asked if she believed that she’d been meeting the real princesses, mice, etc, reminded her that the princesses knew way too much to be imposters, and hugged her very tightly. I could tell that Maddie really really wanted to believe me, but was on the fence. We were gonna need a miracle from Ariel and Eric.

Soon enough it was our turn. Maddie had a burning question for Eric so she got that out of the way immediately. She really needed to know where Max the dog was if A & E were out in the park all day. Eric asked Maddie if she’d been to DHS. Mads of course said “Yes, I love your musical there. It’s my second favorite musical in all of Walt Disney World”. Eric valiantly fought back laughter and told Maddie that Max waits at DHS until they got there to do the show with him. Mads had a few more questions about who takes him for walks and plays with him, but was basically pleased with the answers she got. The three of them chatted a bit more, well the royalty did more listening than talking, and then it was photo time. After hugs, as Maddie was moving away (and still talking) Eric was doing his best to get Maddie’s attention. He was holding one of her hands and just before she left them, he leaned down and kissed her hand. Maddie stopped mid-sentence, stared at him, and then began to grin. She floated back to us. I happened to glance back at Ariel and Eric as we walked away, and they were both grinning ear to ear. I like to think that Maddie had made there day as much as they’d made hers.

Trying to get her attention

​

That M&G went a long way to restoring Maddie’s faith, and she was ready to power on. We made an attempt at meeting Peter Pan, but once again missed his line (he’s going on the must meet list for next trip). Since we’d missed Peter, we made our way deep into Frontierland to find Woody and Jessie.

Along the way Mads declared that she was starving and had to have popcorn. None of the carts were open yet, and she was not pleased about having to wait.

We found Woody and Jessie and got into their line at 10:15. The day was getting warm, and I was starting to feel even worse. Maddie was getting grumpy, and Bryan was getting sick of both of us. He left us to wait and went off in search of popcorn.

Luckily he came back before Maddie met Woody and Jessie because they turned out to be some of the most fun characters we’ve ever encountered. They were having such fun “competing” over who was the most popular, sticking their hands in front of each others face while photos were taken. Maddie ate it up. She came away with good humor restored, and another notch closer to forgetting about the Ruiner of Innocence.

From the line

​

 

[shan23877]

We headed back toward Main Street where the popcorn is a given, but along the way Maddie spied a Mickey shaped pretzel and changed her mind. She declared it the ‘best pretzel ever’.

A few feet away from the pretzel cart Maddie spotted Frontier Donald and insisted that we stop. His line was only a few people long, so we were meeting him within a few minutes. She loves hugging Donald since he’s so soft, and she made sure to remind him that she’d be seeing him that night at dinner.

​

Good spirits fully restored, Maddie declared that it was time to do one of the “scary rides” that she’d been putting off. She was now brave enough to give Pirates of the Caribbean a whirl.

There was absolutely no line, and before we knew it we were on a boat. Maddie giggled during most of the ride and told us often that none of the pirates were real. Once the ride was over she was thrilled with herself, and spent the next hour or so saying “Arrr me hearties, I’ll make ya walk the plank”

As luck would have it, Pirate Goofy was waiting just outside the Pirates dumpshop. Obviously we got in line to meet him. He was fun as usual, and Maddie reminded him that we’d be seeing him later too. He nodded as though he already knew that, and Maddie later told us that she assumed that he’d talked to Donald.

Mads was on a roll, and declared it to be teacups time. On our way to Fantasyland, we popped into the Christmas Store to buy another ornament that I'd decided I couldn't live without. I swear the best CMs work in Liberty Square, and this one did not disappoint. She was a joy and spent a ton of time talking to Maddie and giving her stickers. Then she suggested that she take Maddie outside to see Santa's 'real sleigh' and told her all about how he stores it there during the off season. Maddie loved it, and the magic had been officially restored.

I have photos of the real Liberty Bell, yet I still photograph this one.

The lovely CM suggested this photo with the castle in the background. It's too bad that Mads wouldn't look at the camera

We made it to the teacups, and while we waited in line Maddie saw that Alice and the White Rabbit were out. She could not wait for a chance to meet them. Sadly Alice was gone by the time we were through, but Maddie jumped at the chance to meet another new character.

Waiting in line for the teacups-self decorating with stickers

​

White Rabbit thoroughly entertained her by putting her book on top of her head to sign it. She giggled the whole time and still talks about that meeting today.

It was nearly time for our lunch reservation, so we decided to slowly make our way toward the front of the park. For those keeping score that's 2 rides between rope drop and lunchtime, but I guess that’s how we roll .

 

[smidgy]

for the ROI and her parents!!! sheesh!!!!

(when our oldest, Todd, was about 6 he lost a tooth, and we put it under the pillow. we went out that night, and the babysitter told him that there was NO tooth fairy, his parents put the money there!!!!!! I was FURIOUS!!!!!)


I'm happy her faith was restored!!! she is just darling!

 

[amandaw]

Love the update!

Y'all got in so many character meets! It's so interesting to see a different take on touring since Reid is all about rides and rarely wants to meet a character.

As for that ROI! I'm glad you were able to do damage control and that the characters that morning helped to restore her belief in the magic.

And that's great that Maddie braved Pirates! Love that ride so much!

 

[shan23877]

Oh no! I'm sorry you weren't feeling well. The breakfast looks like it was so much fun! Maddie looks so happy. I love it!

Ohana breakfast was great! We had a lot of fun and will definitely go again.

Thanks. It was a sucky cold.

Oh, no. That sucks.... uh... considering your condition, I'll change that to:
Oh, no. That blows.

I knew I could count on you.

And I'm sure he bought that, right?

Of course! He knows I wouldn't lie about such a thing.

I'm guessing there was a driver too.

You haven't heard about the magical Disney buses? They drive themselves!



But I'm sure your hair still looked great.

I miss Laura too Ponz.


That's great! And I'm sure that even though 50% of the parents at the table were feeling under the weather, they were both grinning from ear to ear.

They certainly were. It was great.

Classic. Fist to mouth pose. Boy you sure can tell she's excited.

Isn't it funny how the enjoyment of a meal/place/etc can be measured in your child's enjoyment? We loved 'Ohana.



You know those people (and we all know who those people are) who say you shouldn't take kids to Disney until they're old enough to remember everything?

Those people don't get it at all.

But it's nice that she was kind enough to give him an option. :

She's super reasonable.

Can't wait to hear about it. Hope the sniffles didn't put too much of a damper on the day. Thanks for the chapter Shanuffles.

Thanks Ponzaloopy.

Hopefully your allergies calmed down soon!!

Your breakfast at Ohana sounds really good! We've never been there before, but it looks like fun!

Thanks! It actually turned out to be one of the worst colds I've ever had, but luckily the worst of it didn't hit until the next day.

'Ohana was tons of fun! Not too crowded either.

Hopefully you started to feel better soon. The Ohana is my all time favorite restaurant in all of Disney, I just think the entire thing is so great. It's moments like Maddie marching with Pluto that makes Disney so magically.

Thanks so much. It was a pretty rotten cold. I loved Ohana, for breakfast and dinner-I can't wait to go back!

I tell you, that was one of the moments that keep me coming back. There's just nothing like it.

Hi Shannon! I loved reading about your Cali Grill meal - as you know, I am planning on our first signature dining experience this coming year, so it was great to read such a positive review. The view looked amazing!!!

It was awesome! I would totally recommend it to anyone. In fact, we'll probably try to go back next trip!

Oh no! I’m sorry that you got sick. I mean, I guess it was good that it was on the last day, but it just bites to go home sick. The ‘Ohana breakfast always looks like so much fun! I really need to break down and give it a try - I was so disappointed with the much-hyped dinner there that I haven’t really been able to make myself book the breakfast!

I don't blame you. If our dinner had been less than good there, we'd have been super disappointed and turned off too. The breakfast was awesome though. The characters were so much fun, and it wasn't crowded at all. I loved that it was family style, so no schlepping to the buffet either!

I'm sorry to read about your allergies, but glad that you had such a good time at Ohana. Your dd looks so excited! Adorable. We go to Ohana quite frequently on our trips, it is a great meal, beautiful location, wonderful characters - doesn't get much better than that!

It was a perfect breakfast, runny nose and stuffy head not withstanding. I can't wait to go back to 'Ohana for breakfast and dinner!

I love O'Hana breakfast. Looks like Maddie had a great time all breakfast times should be that much fun!

She had the best time! and so did we!

There is nothing worse than feeling bad in Disney! I guess the only good thing was it was your last day.

It's a really good thing that it was the last day, because by the next day I was REALLY sick. I'm glad that we were able to enjoy the last day though.

Oh no...I can't believe you woke up not feeling well on the last day of the trip.

We've never done Ohanas for breakfast...couple of reasons--don't like Stitch and the lack of food offerings (the only way I eat eggs is in an omelette and I prefer to have a variety at breakfast.

BUT oh what a morning for Princess Maddie. I can't pick a favorite picture because they are all wonderful. But if I was forced to do so, it would be the one of her holding hands with Pluto.

It was rough feeling so lousy.

I wish that you'd get a chance to meet Mickey in his Hawaiian gear, cause that's really adorable, but I totally understand. The food wasn't the greatest, but we're resigned to not always having the best food. Once we're out of the character phase we'll start seeking the good food.

She had such an amazing time. It was the best morning.

Ugh. Being sick on vacation is terrible. Sorry you woke up sick. At least it wasn't a stomach virus.

Thanks. I am relieved that it wasn't that.

Breakfast looks great! We've always had great interactions with Stitch...

And Maddie with Pluto is just adorable. Seems like a very magical morning.

It was so much fun! That was our first time meeting Stitch, and he did not disappoint.

It was most certainly a magical morning. One we won't soon forget.