Waiting on the bus!
They have changed the security process since the last time we were there, so it takes a bit longer to go through it. {But they have metal detectors now, and it's a bit more thorough.} The thing I was the saddest about was that they changed the morning Welcome Show. Instead of waiting outside the park for the train to pull up loaded full of Disney characters, they allow you into the park and you are free to walk around Main Street and Cinderella Castle, and they have the individual lands roped off until park opening at 9. John headed to Starbucks to get us some coffee while the kids and I headed to the castle to get a spot to see the new welcome show.
I decided to stop on our way to get a PhotoPass photog to take a pic of the girls, and I'm glad I did- turned out so cute!
It was a gorgeous day! Even though the weather was a bit warmer than I had hoped {and planned on initially}, the mornings and evenings were wonderful!
You can barely see Fairy Godmother out on the balcony.
The show is about 5 minutes long and starts around 8:55. A man makes several announcements on the loud speaker inviting guests to come towards the castle to see it. I'll admit that I didn't pay super great attention because I was trying to take pictures, but it was nothing special. The girls were excited to see the characters come out, but the old one would make me tear up because it was so sweet and exciting. This one, not so much. I think it was all changed so they could spend more time on the security detail which I appreciate though, so if this is the trade off, I'm fine with it.
This was the first time I didn't have a detailed itinerary of our plans for the day. I really just wanted to do what the girls wanted and to be flexible. So once the park was open, I asked what they wanted to do and they both said they wanted to ride It's a Small World. Normally when I'm in super planning mode, that would've been some thing we would've waited to do until the park got more crowded since the lines don't get as long as they do for other attractions, but again, I wanted to let the girls call the shots as much as possible.
Had to snag a quick pic on our way there.
This was baby John's first ride! He had been asleep in the Ergo but kind of woke up for a minute while we were riding.
*And let me add here. Baby John's schedule was basically: I would put him in the Ergo when we left the hotel room. He would sleep for about three hours most of the time. When he woke up, he would eat. Then I would put him in the stroller {or sometimes John would carry him to give him a break from the Ergo}. When he was ready to go back to sleep, I would put him back in the Ergo. And repeat. He was such a little trooper and so easy 99% of the time. Seriously a dream baby. And babies can ride any ride that doesn't have a height requirement. Some have different rules, like on the carousel I had to be seated with him on the bench {not like I wanted to ride a horse with him anyway! haha!}, but we were able to do a lot with him. And forgive me for calling him BJ so much- that's just the easiest and shortest way to differentiate between the two Johns when I'm typing.
After Small World, we headed to ride Journey of the Little Mermaid and then went next door to meet Ariel at her grotto.
Checking out her mini me.
Then we rode Dumbo.
John and Sal waiting in line.
BJ's in there too.
Afterwards, Curran and John went to ride Barnstomer while I sat with Sallie Cate and baby John. Then we headed towards Seven Dwarfs Mine Train so John and Curran could use their Fast Passes to ride while Sallie Cate and I used Fast Passes for Winnie the Pooh. On the way there, we ran into one of my good college friends, Anna, and her family! We knew we were going to be there at the same time so it was fun to see them!
SC was anxious to get to Winnie and was not feeling the photo op.
After visiting for a bit, we quickly ran to go use our Fast passes because we were closing in on the end of our window. We went with John and C to check in for theirs so we could get a rider switch pass to use for later. Rider Switch allows for one parent to stay with children who are too small to ride {or who don't want to ride in SC's case} while getting a pass for the parent who had to sit out to ride again later with the older child. The rider switch pass can be used for up to three people and normally doesn't expire for two weeks. {It can only be used once though.} So essentially it's a way to double your fast passses. We had 4-5 fast passes per day by only scheduling them for two of us and counting on rider switch for the other two people.
Winnie the Pooh is always one of those things I hate to fast pass because it's not always super crowded, but that morning I was glad we did because the wait time was already 30 minutes! And we still had to wait a while in the fast pass line. Afterwards we met up with John and C and went to find the girls a Mickey ice cream bar. We stopped at the cart near Tomorrowland and sat in the shade with our snacks.
It was only 10:50am at this point, but I'm surprised we held SC off that long. And she easily agreed to only one ice cream treat per day. I was shocked!! :)
Since we were close to the People Mover, we decide to hop on that. Baby John was waking up, so I needed to feed him and figured the people mover was as good a spot as any. There is never a line for the people mover- it moves continuously so you just ride up an escalator belt and hop on- but something had happened, and they had the ride stopped, so we had to wait a little while to get on.
I bought a few cute graphic tees for this trip- never thought I was that kind of gal, but I was excited about them. However I didn't think about the fact that I would be wearing the Ergo 90% of the time so the shirts wouldn't be seen. :/
After People Mover, I thought we would have more time to ride something else in Tomorrowland, but it was time for our Fast Pass on Peter Pan's flight, so we headed back to Fantasyland.
So happy we dance our way to the rides!
After Peter Pan we saw Mickey's PhilharMagic and then rode the carousel.
She was starting to get a bit grouchy at this point.
We didn't have to wait long in line for the carousel, but for some reason it took forever to start once we were on the ride, and I was scared we were going to be late for the girls' appointment at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutiuqe at 12:30. We screeched in there about 12:32 {and they say to arrive 15 minutes early but we never do that}. Sallie Cate chickened out last time, but she was excited to do it this time! I felt awful when I realized the day before that C's hair was so short that I didn't know if they would be able to do much with her hair! But never fear, they can always work their magic with 82 cans of hair spray. I never thought I'd miss the tight bun, but when she picked the fancy corn rows with blue and purple hair extensions, I was so wishing she had picked the bun! Haha! SC had a great first experience and was so proud of her hair and make-up.
Starting to get primped!
I packed their princess dresses, so they changed when we got to the boutique.
The big reveal!
pixie dust
They.were.thrilled.
After BBB, we headed right across the breezeway for a 1:20 lunch reservation at Cinderella's Royal Table. We got a great table by the window, and baby John slept in the Ergo the whole time.
Waiting to meet Cinderella
The girls loved the chocolate clock on John's dessert.
We ended up finding a great spot, and I headed to Capeau to get baby John's mouse ears while John waited with the girls at our spot. BJ was waking up at this point, so I left his hat while it was getting monogrammed. I asked a cast member what time the parade would get to us {it starts at 3:00 in Frontier Land}, and when she said 3:19 I realized I had time to go to the baby care center and nurse baby John in private. So I did that and made it back a short time before the parade made its way to us. The parade is wonderful and we love every minute of it! The girls got lots of waves and kisses blown from the princesses and were so excited! When Alice saw them, she curtsied {since they were in their princess get ups}, and then came over to say hello. She spotted baby John in big John's arms and blew him lots of kisses. It was so cute. And Smee also came over and gave the girls high fives so they were thrilled about that.
Alice spotted royalty!
Paying her respects
And I love that smile on Curran's face. She was so tickled!
After the parade, Curran was dying to ride Mine Train again, and since BJ was awake and not in the Ergo, it was a good time to do it. So we used our rider switch pass. When we checked in, I was trying to scan my magic band {like you do when you have a fast pass}, and after a few tries of it not working, I finally remembered we had the rider switch paper pass and handed it to cast member. I guess she felt sorry me because I looked flustered, so she let me keep the ticket! They are supposed to take it so you can only use it once.
After we rode Mine Train, we headed for our Fast Pass to meet Elena of Avalor! The girls had been so very excited about this! However, I was super bummed when I later realized the pictures were almost completely dark!! Ugh. The photopass people can be great; but they can also be terrible. I was so annoyed. I had accidentally left my big camera in the room that morning. Normally I take pictures on it in addition to the photopass person just in case. But I didn't use my phone at any of the meet and greets that day because I was relying on PhotoPass! Oh well. I tried to lighten them up at bit but they're still pretty bad.
Cinderella meets with Elena, and she noticed that SC was holding her wand she got at lunch {where we had already met Cinderella}, so when the girls held out their autograph books, she said "Oh I met you earlier today! Are you sure you want me to sign your book again?" Clearly it was another Cinderella, but I love how they stay make an effort to the children to act like there's only ONE Cinderella. Curran has finally realized it's a person in a costume, but SC really hasn't yet.
And SC is seriously the worst about blinking during photos, so I would say more than half of our pictures are with her blinking or about to blink. :(
After the princesses, we went towards the tea cups. John took the girls while I stayed with the baby. Poor Big John was feeling pretty rough after SC had their tea cup spinning like crazy.
Hanging out while the sisters ride!
Sallie had been BEGGING to meet Gaston, and we had tried earlier in the day but they had closed his line off. So she and I went to try again while John took Curran on Mine Train again using the rider switch pass they let me keep earlier. She was thrilled to get to ride it three times!
After they rode, they came and joined us in line.
Gaston is so funny {staying true to his character- very cocky and arrogant}, and I'm not sure the girls knew what to think.
After Gaston, we looked at the wait times and everything was pretty busy. We saw that Tinkerbell was only 15 minutes so we headed towards the Town Square Theater. We have met her twice before, but the girls love her!
After Tink, we walked out of the theater right as the Move It! Shake It! parade was starting, so John and the girls stayed there while I took BJ to the baby care center to nurse. The parade moves from Town Center up Main Street and stops in front of the castle, so I met the rest of my crew up there where they were dancing away. John has some cute videos on his phone but I couldn't get them to send to me.
A Photopass guy grabbed this one of C bug.
Then we had to grab a family photo in front of the castle. He took a few, but none of them were very good. Curran was trying to show off the Mickey booties. :)
We were ready for dinner at this point, so we went towards one of our favorite quick service places, Pinocchio Village Haus. On the way, we passed by Peter Pan's meet and greet {which we had also tried earlier in the day but the line was closed}, so we stopped to meet him. The girls were so excited!
He told Sal, "I like adventure just like you, Princess Elena!"
He looks a little creepy here, but he was lots of fun. :)
Blurry pic but SC was holding up her Tink anxiously awaiting the real Tink to fly over our heads!
And there she goes- it just looks like a blob of light, but in person it's really cool!
After fireworks, we left the park to catch the bus back to our resort. Baby John had been awake since before dinner for all but 20 min at this point. When we got back to the hotel, I fed him and tried to get him down, but he started freaking out. I had no idea what was going on, but we could not get him settled. I ended up walking him around outside for a while and finally got him to fall asleep on my bed and then moved him to the crib later. I realized that he was just overtired since he had been awake for several hours, and it made me feel AWFUL. That was the worst moment of he trip because he never gets like that, and I felt like a horrible mom for allowing it to happen. Thankfully he slept well that night and woke up happy the next day.
I tried to get a picture of us in our matching jams that Santa brought us, but you can see that only 2/5 of us were feeling it. And you can't even see John's pj bottoms. You win some, you lose some.
Whew, long post. You deserve an award if you made it this far! And thank goodness for the time stamp on iPhone pics and PhotoPass pics to help remember the order in which we did things! I do jot down notes at the end of each day, but I on this day I didn't remember to until later in the trip.
Next up, Animal Kingdom!
1 comment:
I like the child led method :)
Looks like a fun day!
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