Disney - Day 7

This was our last day at Disney and we started with breakfast at 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian.  In the morning there are different characters then at dinner.  We got to see Mary Poppins, Pooh, Tigger, the Mad Hatter, and Alice in Wonderland. 

Friday was the only day I had not planned because I wasn't sure what the girls would feel like doing after 6 days at Disney.  Once we finished breakfast, we decided to go back to the Magic Kingdom because that was girls' favorite park.  We headed to Frontierland to get on the train because Bailey loves trains, but before we got on, Emma Catherine wanted to ride Splash Mountain one more time since there was no wait.  She rode it with Ryan and then we hopped on the train and rode 1 1/2 times around the park.  We got off in Toon Town and rode the barnstormer one more time.  We then rode the tea cups and it's a small world.

At that point we felt the crowds were too much to handle, even though I realize the crowds weren't even that bad, but we had been spoiled all week.  We got fast passes for Peter Pan because the girls were hoping to ride it one more time and we headed back to our hotel to swim a little bit. 

We ate an early dinner at our hotel and went back to the Magic Kingdom to see the fireworks one more time.  First off, we got Mickey Mouse ice cream that we had been waiting to try and we got a good place to watch the fireworks.  We finished our ice cream and still had a little bit of time before the show so the girls and I ran (literally) to use our fast passes and ride Peter Pan one last time.

I can't even say what a great end the Magic, Memories, and You show and the fireworks were to our week!

Disney - Day 6

We continued the theme for the week, and started the day at the opening of Epcot.  We headed straight for Soarin' because we knew it always has the longest lines.  Bailey wasn't tall enough to ride the ride so we did a rider swap and Emma Catherine got to ride with each of us.  We then rode the Living with the Land boat ride, Journey into the Imagination with Figment, and the Nemo ride again.  We then did the Turtle Talk with Crush.

We then went back to the Land Pavilion to watch the Circle of Life movie and then we ate lunch there.  It was then nap time since we knew we would be out late watching IllumiNations.

The girls had no problem taking a nap and then we headed back to Epcot.  We rode Spaceship Earth and then the girls played in the Spaceship Earth Pavilion.

Next up we rode Ellen's Energy Adventure and then Ryan wanted to ride Mission: Space.  I took the girls to play in the Innovations building and then we headed to our reservations at Akershus for Princess Storybook Dining.  It was another good meal and the girls got to see Belle, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Cinderella, and Ariel.  One point all the kids got to go on a parade through the restuarant with the princesses.  Sleeping Beauty asked Bailey to hold her flower basket.  It was another special moment that Bailey still talks about.

We still had a little bit of time after dinner before the show, so we rode the Maelstrom ride in Norway and the Gran Fiesta Tour boat ride in Mexico.  It was then time for IllumiNations.  We really liked the fireworks over the water.  After the show, we looked in a souvenir store to let the crowds die down and then we headed back to our resort.

Disney - Day 5

We started Day 5 at the opening of the Magic Kingdom.  Once the park opened, we headed straight for Tomorrowland.  It was so odd because we felt like we were in the only ones there.  It was so quiet and we walked on Buzz Lightyear, the Astro Orbiter, the Tomorrowland Speedway, and grabbed fast passes for Space Mountain.

It was then 10:00 and we headed right for the opening of Toon Town to see Tinkerbelle and the faires.  There were only a few people ahead of us and when we came out, the wait was 45 minutes.  We then decided to see the princesses next door.

Next we rode the Barnstormer, or the Goofy coaster, as Bailey called it.  Bailey was actually tall enough to ride it so we all got to ride it together.  She was very nervous while we were riding the coaster but after it she was so proud of herself.  We toured Minnie's house, and then it was time to go to our brunch/lunch reservations at Chef Mickey's.  We got to ride the monorail to the Contemporary, which the girls thought was fun.  We loved Chef Mickey's.  The breakfast was yummy and we got to see Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, and Pluto.  Minnie loved the girls' red polka dot bows.

After lunch, I had planned to go back to the hotel to take a nap, but Ryan convinced me to go back to the park since the weather was great, the crowds were low, and the girls were happy.  We headed to Space Mountain to use our fast passes.  Emma Catherine wanted to ride and went with Ryan.  Once again, it wasn't quite what she expected and she didn't want to go on it with me.  We then rode the people mover and the Carousel of Progress.  As we headed across the park to see if Splash Mountain had opened, the show on the castle stage was starting to we decided to watch it.  As it was finishing it was about to be time for the parade, but we decided to keep walking.  Eventually, though, the parade caught up to us so we just stopped and watched it.  We finally made it to Splash Mountain and Emma Catherine and I rode it while Ryan stood in line with Bailey to meet Jesse and Woodie. 

We went to meet Tiana next, but we had a few minutes to spare so we looked around the Christmas store and Ryan went to get us a fast pass for Peter Pan.  We loved meeting Tiana and Naveen because they were so friendly and at one point they even hopped around like frogs with the girls.  Also, Naveen remembered blowing the girls a kiss during the parade.

To finish a great day we rode Peter Pan, the carousel, watched Mickey's PhilharMagic, and ate dinner.  We then headed to our hotel to get a good night's sleep.

Happy Birthday, Bailey

Our sweet Bailey girl turned 3 today!  I can't believe it.  She is so funny and keeps us laughing all the time.  She says off the wall and random things all the time.  For example, last Saturday she woke up and ran into our room and said, "Hey guys, let's talk about Rapunzel."  Then she proceeded to tell us parts of the Rapunzel movie.  Sometimes all Ryan and I can do is laugh. 

Today I took Bailey to ride the carousel while Emma Catherine was at school.  I had a good time being with her and celebrating her.  Tonight for dinner she chose Taco Bell.  She had a hard time deciding between Taco Bell, McDonalds, and Chick-fil-A and every time we asked her she said something different.  She finally settled on Taco Bell.  We came home for her to open a few presents and to have her Sleeping Beauty cake. 

In my family we have a little birthday tradition.  When we are celebrating someone's birthday, after we say the blessing, we all yell, "God bless the birthday girl (or boy)."  Tonight when I was getting Bailey ready for bed she said, "God bless the birthday girl.  Today is my birthday, so God bless me."  I love her so much!

Disney - Day 4

We started Day 4 at the opening of Hollywood Studios.  As soon as the park opened, we headed straight for Toy Story Mania.  It seems as if everyone else was going there too but we got right in line and walked onto the ride.  I thought it was so fun and definitely one of our favorite rides.  We decided to go ahead and get fast passes for it so we could ride again in the afternoon.  We then went to see the Voyage of the Little Mermaid.  Ariel is Emma Catherine's favorite princess, so she was very excited about it.  A cast member asked if the girls wanted to open the show, so they both got a turn to say, "Welcome to the Little Mermaid."

We then headed to the Rock 'N Roller Coaster.  Ryan and I took turns riding while the girls decorated records with stickers.

We then headed to Muppets: 3D and then we rode the Studio Backlot Tour.  After lunch we used our fast passes for Toy Story Mania, and then we headed to the Tower of Terror.  We tried to explain to Emma Catherine what it was as best we could, and she insisted that she wanted to ride it.  She went on it with Ryan, and he said during the ride she said, "This is not what I expected."  Needless to say, she didn't want to ride with me when I went on it.  We then saw the Beauty and the Beast Show.

After the show we rode the Great Movie Ride and then spent some time in the Honey I Shrunk the Kids play area.  The girls really liked this area and didn't want to leave.

It was then time to head to our dinner reservations at 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian.  Because of our transportation problems the day before, we wanted to give ourselves plenty of time to get there, and we actually got there early.  We decided to explore the Grand Floridian a little while and we ended up in the back by the water.

We then headed to our reservations.  At night the characters at 1900 Park Fare are all from Cinderella.  The stepsisters were so funny and really into character.  When Cinderella and the Prince came out, they did a dance together and then they picked a few kids to come dance with them.  Bailey got to dance with the Prince and I can't even tell you how precious it was.  He tried to let Emma Catherine have a turn too but she didn't want to.

After dinner we called it a night and headed back to our hotel.

Disney - Day 3

We started off very early because we had breakfast reservations at 8:15 at the Tusker House restaurant in Animal Kingdom.  It was a yummy breakfast and we got to see Donald Duck, Mickey, Goofy, and Daisy while were eating.  This was Bailey's first experience with these characters and she wasn't a fan.  She's not in most of the pictures because she was scared.  

Before breakfast, Ryan had picked up Fast Passes for the Safari ride, so after breakfast we headed to ride it.  We enjoyed it and actually got to see a lot of animals.  We then boarded the train to the Rafiki's Planet Watch area mainly because the girls wanted to meet Pocahontas.  While we were in that area, they also got to touch a snake and pet some animals.

We then headed to the Nemo Musical, which will all enjoyed and then we let the girls play in Dino Land and Ryan and I took turns riding Expedition Everest.  We had eaten such a big lunch we decided to just use a few snack credits from our meal plan to hold us over for dinner.  We then headed to watch the Lion King show.  At that point we decided we had seen all of Animal Kingdom that we wanted to see.  It was really too late for naps so we decided to head to Downtown Disney for a little while. 

We went to the bus station to find the bus to Downtown Disney and found out that there wasn't a direct bus.  I asked a bus driver how to get to Downtown Disney and he told us to go to Saratoga Springs resort and we could walk to Downtown Disney from there.  On the bus we ran into a sorority sister of mine at Auburn (small world) and she told us we could actually take a boat there.  We decided to try that and after getting lost at the resort just a little bit, we finally found the boat and rode to Downtown Disney.

The main thing the girls wanted to do was to spend some of their birthday money that they got from their aunts.  They both choose the same Minnie Mouse.  We looked around at the stores and then found out that we could use our meal plan at Downtown Disney so we found a quick service spot and had dinner. 

That night we wanted to go the the Electrical Parade at the Magic Kingdom which started at 7:00.  At 6:00 we headed to the bus station to find the bus to the Magic Kingdom.  For the 2nd time in the same day, the buses didn't go directly where we wanted to go.  The bus driver for our hotel really wanted to help us out so he called up to the bus that went to the wilderness lodge and had him wait for us at the next Downtown Disney stop.  We then hopped on the Wilderness Lodge bus.  At the wilderness lodge we had to then wait for the Magic Kingdom bus.  Once we finally got to the Magic Kingdom it was 7:05.  We decided to go ahead and go in and try to see the parade because it was only offered on 2 nights.  We rushed in and were able to see most of the parade.  After the parade we left and headed to bed!

Happy Valentine's Day

One of my favorite memories growing up was how my family celebrated Valentine's Day.  My mom always cooked a special dinner and then Mom, Dad, Lauren and I had a candle light dinner.  I decided this year that I wanted to try to do a special candle light dinner with the girls, and we even used our china, which sadly, we've only used a few times in our 7 1/2 years of marriage.  Emma Catherine and I made heart shaped brownies and then she and Bailey decorated them with pink icing. 

Of course things never quite turn out as we envision them.  Emma Catherine didn't like the candle light and argued for awhile about wanting the lights on.  Then Bailey looked at her food and told us she didn't like it and didn't want to eat it.  We reminded her that we made the special dessert but it didn't make much difference.  She whined about her dinner the whole time.  Oh well, we'll try again next Valentine's Day.

Disney World - Day 2

We spent day 2 at the Magic Kingdom.  We made the choice to be at the parks each morning at the opening.  The crowds are less and the waits are less, and usually there is some sort of little opening show.  We thought the opening at the Magic Kingdom was great, especially when Mickey came riding in on the train.

Once the park opened we headed straight back to Fantasyland.  We rode Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, It's a Small World, and the Tea Cups all with no wait.  I then wanted to try to find Rapunzel because the girls wanted to meet her.  We found where she was and they had just started her little show, so we decided to go ahead and wait.  Ryan went to get Fast Passes for Big Thunder Mountain and the girls played their leapsters and had snacks while we waited.  The wait went really fast and then we went in.  All the kids got to go around a big table and color a Rapunzel coloring sheet and the parents waited in line.  Rapunzel and Flynn Rider came out and did a dance with all the kids and then they came and got in line to meet them.  It was a lot of fun.

After that the girls got changed into their princess outfits and it was time for our reservations at Cinderella's Royal Table, which was in the castle.  I can speak safely to say that this was our favorite character meal.  It just felt so special to be in the castle and the room felt more intimate than other character meals we went to.  Cinderella greeted everyone at the door for pictures, and then while we were eating, Ariel, Snow White, Jasmine, and Belle all came to our table to sign the girls' books and to take pictures.  Because we were celebrating the girls' birthdays, they got cupcakes and ice cream sundaes for dessert. 

After lunch we headed back to our hotel and the girls and I took a nap while Ryan did work outside by the pool.  The girls took a good nap and as soon as we got moving again, we headed straight back to the Magic Kingdom.  We picked up fast passes for the Jungle cruise and then headed to use our fast passes from earlier on Thunder Mountain.  Emma Catherine took turns riding with Ryan and then with me.  She really liked the ride.  We then rode the Jungle Cruise and headed to grab a bite to eat.  After dinner it was time to get a seat for the new Magic, Memories, and You show and the fireworks.  I can't even tell you how great the new show was.  During the show they project pictures from the day on the castle and at one point toward the end, pictures of Emma Catherine and Bailey individually were on the castle.  It really was an unforgettable memory.  The fireworks were great too.

After the fireworks, we decided to stay for extra magic hours for a little bit.  We rode the Magic Carpet ride, Dumbo and Peter Pan, and then decided to call it a night.