Whew... That's a big 'Tato Head! 10 Amazing Days in May '14! **That's a wrap! 10-1**

[anniebabymu]

Grrrrrr!!! I had an entire update on our Epcot day typed out and was adding pictures when my computer decided it needed to restart itself... and instead of clicking "later" I clicked "restart now" by accident! I could scream!

 

[AprilRenee]

I LOVE your closet! We've taken the shoe organizer before but I love the stacked thing too. And I love how girly and pink your whole closet is.

yay for fast updates!!

And OH MAN!!! I have totally lost updates before...usually on my phone. I'll go to submit and the whole thing disappears ugh! If you were typing in word, it will usually save it...so hopefully you didn't lose your whole update. If you aren't typing in word...I'd suggest it! LOL I learned that lesson in my first TR.

 

[pigletgirl]

Those closet organizers are really nice! I think we need to get one before our trip. I can't stand a cluttered hotel room.

Can't wait to hear about your afternoon in Epcot!!

 

[anniebabymu]

I LOVE your closet! We've taken the shoe organizer before but I love the stacked thing too. And I love how girly and pink your whole closet is.

yay for fast updates!!

And OH MAN!!! I have totally lost updates before...usually on my phone. I'll go to submit and the whole thing disappears ugh! If you were typing in word, it will usually save it...so hopefully you didn't lose your whole update. If you aren't typing in word...I'd suggest it! LOL I learned that lesson in my first TR.

Ughhh... not typing in Word and lost the whole thing. Dang! And you should see my house. After we had Addie it looked like Pepto threw up all over the place and then you add Harper into the mix and it's even worse! I'm sitting in my living room now and I see two pink princess couches, a pink birthday bag, a pink tank/shorts outfit, a pink bubble machine, a pink Minnie car, a pink Minnie "dressing room", etc. I could go on and on! Poor Derek!

Those closet organizers are really nice! I think we need to get one before our trip. I can't stand a cluttered hotel room.

Can't wait to hear about your afternoon in Epcot!!

Our hotel room stayed nice and neat for about 4 days... then it all went downhill! Ha ha! The bathroom area stayed looking nice though!

And stay tuned... I hope to have it posted tonight!

 

[anniebabymu]

May 22nd: Day 1, Part 3

When I left you we had just gotten to Epcot! We had hopped on the bus around 1:35 and we were to Epcot, through bag check and through the gate in 20 minutes! And we were through with no problems using our Magic Bands for the first time! Woohoo!!

We stopped to take a few pictures and then we were on a mission to get to our first FP+ attraction of the trip!





We were walking into the Land Palvilion at 2:00 on the dot for our date with Patrick! Our first FP+ was Soarin' from 1:35-2:35.

On our first trip to WDW my in-laws sat out on Soarin' despite me telling them about Rider Swaps. They just decided that they didn't need to go on it and would sit outside the Land with Harper (18 months at the time). So naturally Derek and I decided that his parents should ride first with Addison and then we would ride with her later! Harper, who was a little more than obsessed with Grandma and Grandpa, wasn't too happy that they were taking off with Addison. So we had to do some major distracting, but she got over it quickly and we waiting in the "exit" area for them to return to land. Addison said they got right into the "movie place" without waiting in a line! And my in-laws LOVED it!! They thought it was so cool!

So when they came out we talked to my MIL and FIL about Living with the Land. They decided they'd go check it out with Harper and if the line wasn't too crazy they'd hop on there with her while Derek and I flew over California with Addie!

We had debated pocketing our Rider Swap to use for later, but we were close to the end of our FP+ time and we knew Addie wanted to ride again right away so we ended up using the Rider Swap and not our FP+ so we could ride with her. We went through the first FP+ scanner at 2:35 and had just little line to wait in after the second scanner. So of course we used that time to take some pictures!



We got into the pre-loading area to watch Patrick tell us to put our Mickey ears away at 2:50. And then we were off! Man, I love that ride! So glad it was the first ride of our trip!

We met back up with my in-laws in the exit area, just as they were getting there from riding Living with the Land. Of course, Harper loved the boat ride and they thought it was neat!

After we met back up, it was time for our second FP+! The boys were heading to Mission Space and the girls were heading to Nemo. Both time slots were 2:55-3:55. We sent the boys on their way, praying those directionally challenged boys would actually make it over there! Ha ha!



We really didn't need to use Our FP+ for Nemo as it was pretty much a walk on, but of course we did just because we could! We were going through the Nemo line at 3:10.



Our ride was fun, but we got stopped for a moment on it in the room with the "electric" fish that tries to eat Dory and Marlin. We were stopped for a few minutes and got back going again. I was just glad we weren't in the EAC tube... I think I might have gotten sick!

After our ride in the Big Blue World we decided to check out the dolphin aquarium because he was really active! So cool to see! Then of course Harper caught a glimpse of "Bruce the Shark" and was dying to go over there... well, I'm a mean mommy because I realized that a Turtle Talk show was getting ready to start and we could walk right in! She was a little ticked that she didn't get to see him, but once again was easily distracted by everything in the room waiting for Crush.

Our Crush show was good, but Crush sounded a little awkward. Or maybe I just thought he did because I couldn't hear him through the SCREAMING child! My children are definitely not always the best behaved... but I'm an adult and if one of them were acting that way I would leave! They didn't take that poor kid out of there until halfway through the show! Slightly frustrating.

We got out of the show at the perfect time because as we were heading out towards the gift shop, the boys were heading in! How's that for timing!?

So it was now time for our 3rd FP+... Spaceship Earth from 3:55-4:55. Ended up being a great FP+ pic because the stand by time was 30 minutes! I have never seen such a thing! Pre FP+ we always walked on. Nuts. We were in line around 4:08pm and the FP+ line appeared long, but once we got through that first scanner it was a walk on.

Since both girls with clinging onto Grandma and Grandpa for dear life, Derek and I actually got to ride together! Our pictures were hilarious and we spent most of the time hearing our future laughing at our wonderful pictures! All I caught was that we were going to live in a house made 100% of recycled products... and were apparently going to be wearing hideous sweaters!



After our glimpses into the future, we headed back into the World Showcase for a few surprises for my MIL and FIL! If you were following along with my PTR, you may remember what my MIL's surprise is... but if you weren't, then just hang in there a minute! Addie of course was in on the surprise for my MIL and was so cute. We started in Canada and every country we went to she'd go, "Grandma, is your surprise in Canada?? NO!"

Before we could get to our first destination we were on a mission. Addie had a mini meltdown when we didn't get her a frozen lemonade before SSE because we promised her one in the World Showcase. Well, of course... when you want a dang frozen lemonade you can't find one! Ughhh! So we decided that if we found a frozen lemonade or a non-alcoholic slushie we would get whatever we found first because dang, it was HOT!!! I mean, we knew it was going to be hot because duh, it's Florida. But we're talking near record high's. Definitely weren't prepared for a heat index of 100!

We finally found a lemonade slushie in Morocco, so we stopped to get a few of those to share. Not sure what they were called, but they were a pink lemonade slushie that Addie thought was horrible (surprise, surprise) and everyone else thought was pretty refreshing!

Now that we got that out of the way, we headed to Japan. "Grandma, is your surprise in Japan?? YES!!" Grandma's surprise was Pick-a-Pearl! So we got outside of Mitsukoshi and we paused there. I pulled out the Cinderella's Carriage necklaces I bought off of eBay and gave them to her to open. She loved them! Then I explained that there was a thing called Pick-a-Pearl inside of this store we were outside of and we were all going in to pick a pearl to put inside of our necklaces! She was almost in tears she was touched so much! Addie was all smiles!!

The boys stayed out with Harper who, sometime immediately after grabbing those slushies, passed out in the stroller! While we were in there they rigged our Disney fan onto the stroller to continually blow on Harper without one of them having to hold it! Genius... maybe??



So while they were out there, we wandered into the store and back to Pick-a-Pearl! There was a party of 3 and an individual in front of us, so while we were waiting we had already picked out the oysters we wanted. I had told Addie about picking the ugly hairy looking ones and she had the perfect one picked out.

When it was out turn Addie picked first, my MIL picked second and I picked third. So that's the order she opened them in.



When she opened up Addison's I immediately thought it was way bigger than any of the other pearls we had seen while waiting there. It was gorgeous and HUGE! She then opened up the other two and I knew Addie's was way bigger than ours. So when she measured them she started with mine... a 7 1/4, then my MIL's... a 7 and then Addie's... a 8 1/4! The biggest pearl they had all day (and it was a little after 5 at this point!). The CM's just couldn't get over it and were so excited for Addie! Addie was grinning ear to ear!



So we run outside to show the boys our pearls, tell them about Addie's and put them in our carriages! Well, since Addie's was so big it wouldn't fit in hers. Ensue another meltdown. Ughhh! She's 6 so had no idea how cool it was that she picked such a big pearl. All she saw was that everyone else had necklaces and she didn't. So what do I do? March right back in with her and pick out a setting for a necklace for her. Shelled out $50 more bucks on a necklace I wasn't planning to. Normally I wouldn't have done that, rewarding that behavior, but it really was such a beautiful pearl that it was a shame to not have it showcased. Needless to say, this necklace will be safely kept in my jewelry box because no 6 year old should be in charge of a $70 necklace!

They told us it would be 6 at the earliest to come back and pick up her necklace, so we ventured onto Italy. We were browsing through the Pavilion when all the sudden Addie started freaking out! Remember that fan that was so geniusly placed on the stroller to keep Harper cool? Yeah... Addie's mile long hair got tangled up in the blade! About 8 inches to be exact! Just wonderful. Took me forever, but I got most of the hair out except the last few inches of her hair that we just had to cut. There was no way around it! Luckily it wasn't obvious in Addie's hair! So after that, the fan was put away so it didn't happen again... even though we knew it wouldn't happen again because it was BROKEN. Nooooo!!! Head index of 100 and no misting fan. Wonderful.

After our adventure in Italy it was time to head back to Japan to pick up Addie's setting. We got it and it was gorgeous. Addie picked a seashell that the pearl sits in. Here's a picture of the necklace! Keep in mind it's on a tiny 6 year old's neck, so it really is pretty big!



She was told she couldn't wear it for 24 hours to let it really set up, so she was bummed. But with the necklace in hand we decided we should venture on through the rest of the World and head to dinner!​

 

[Jackiemarie21]

I am so excited you started your TR! I am loving it so far! Looks like you had a great start!

What a bummer about Addie's pearl being so big it wouldn't fit in the carriage. But it does look pretty awesome in the shell. I would have done the same thing in that situation myself.

Sounds like your FP+ worked out really well!

I can't wait to hear more!

 

[anniebabymu]

May 22nd: Day 1, Part 4

So where was dinner? Germany? China? Norway? Mexico?



My FIL had a Birthday Date with the princesses!

We got over to Norway around 6:25 and spent the next 15 minutes waking Addie up (who fell asleep in the stroller on our walk over), getting her in her Rapunzel dress, trying to wake Harper up (unsuccessfully) who had been sleeping for 2 hours now and trying to put her Belle dress on her (unsuccessfully). She was having no part of putting on a frilly dress. Addie is my princess and Harper is more my tomboy... that's for sure! I wasn't about to rock the boat with forcing a sleepy *almost* 3 year old into a fancy dress... so her arrival outfit was perfectly fine!



My baby was wiped out!

Ended up being a good thing that she passed back out because there was a HUGE line at the check-in podium. For a moment I thought Anna and Elsa were there... Kidding of course. I got in line to check-in at 6:40 for our 6:50 ADR and looking at the line I knew there was no way we were getting in on time. Turns out, their system went down and they had no way of pulling up reservations. There were some really angry people and I really felt sorry for the hostess at the podium! It wasn't her fault people... lighten up! I understand, I'm hungry too... but leave that poor Norwegian girl alone! Eventually they got the computer working by the entrance to the restaurant so they started calling names and taking people 1 by 1 to check-in up there.

According to my camera, we got in and took our picture with Belle around 7:15. Harper had just woken up and Addie was still pretty sleepy so our picture with Belle was pretty rough!



I forget what our server's name was, but she was great! And of course she paid extra attention to the Birthday Boy! She grabbed our drink orders and then I went up to the buffet to grab some food for Addie and Harper. Harper has become so picky lately, but one think I can bank on her eating is salad. Plain old lettuce. So I got her a plate full of lettuce, turkey, carrots and a roll. And that's about all she ate. I got Addie the same and she just picked on it.

RIGHT after getting back to the table with their food, we had our first visitor!



And this was Harper's reaction to Snow White...



Immediately following Snow we were visited by...



Addison was so excited because she was dressing up as a certain princess the next day! Aurora paid extra attention to the birthday boy... I think he may have even blushed! Ha ha! Harper looks like she was starting to warm up a bit...

Then BAM we were met by yet another princess! All before even ordering our food!



As Ariel was finishing up with our pictures, they started playing the music for the little princess parade. Harper didn't want to join, but Addie jumped right up! As the parade was going on, Derek got back from the buffet. He left for it right after Snow so he missed Aurora and Ariel. As soon as he got back (during the parade) our server took our order.

Shortly after the parade we were visited by our final princess...



As you can see, Harper was finally totally awake and into it! The two girls had fun chatting with Cinderella and Addie told her that she was her favorite. Then Cinderella had fun twirling with the girls. She was the best interaction of them all!



After Cinderella left our food arrived. It was delicious! My MIL, FIL and I all ordered the Oven-Roasted Chicken Breast that was served with a quinoa, asparagus and sauce. Yum, yum, yum! Derek ordered the Mushroom-Stuffed Pasta and gobbled it up. I think he could have eaten two orders of it! Harper ate some of my chicken, but mostly the stuff she got off the buffet. And then Addison ordered the Meatballs... even though I knew she wouldn't like the meatballs. She really just wanted the corn and mashed potatoes. Crazy girl. So Derek ended up eating her meatballs.

Before dessert came out our server brought out a Birthday Card for my FIL signed by all the princesses there. He loved it! Then of course there was the surprise I had ordered for him! His birthday cake! He was so surprised! He saw the cake coming from across the room and said, "No you didn't!" I told him I got him the cake so maybe he would forgive me for getting him on a 6am flight on his birthday! Ha ha!



After a rousing round of Happy Birthday, the candles were blown out with the help of the tiny princesses with us. I think he had a wonderful birthday! We shared the cake and then our server brought out the dessert that goes with dinner. We all shared it and were done. Roll us out of the building because we can't walk anymore!

Only little snafu with dinner was that my MIL and FIL's Magic Bands weren't working to charge back to their room. They noticed this earlier in the afternoon when he went to buy sunglasses (because he forgot his at home). So they decided when we got back to Pop they needed to investigate what the deal was. Every time they went to use it it came back as "over limit" which was impossible because they hadn't put anything on the room!

So with full bellies, we were officially EXHAUSTED! What a jam packed day! Plans were all along to head out back to Pop after dinner because I knew we'd be tired and wanting to hit the hay.

All in all, it was a pretty perfect day! It was dusk on the way out of Epcot, so I had to stop and take this picture. Pretty perfect picture... I just wish I would have taken one with the "real" camera too!



We got back to Pop at 8:30 and couldn't just head straight to bed. We stopped by luggage services and grabbed our Garden Grocer order, which was RIGHT this time! And my in-laws stopped by the front desk to get their bands squared away. Turns out, the person that added their card typed in $0.00 instead of the $500.00 they usually put on as the "limit". So of course, anything over $0.00 was over the limit! Once they got it fixed, it worked right the rest of the trip!

We went back to our room and put the groceries away and then checked our door! When we left the room the maintenance guy was still there working on it and he was determined to fix it... and he did! God bless than man! What a sweetheart! We then threw the girls in the tub and Derek and I both decided to take showers before heading to bed. We ended up hitting the hay around 10:30. LONG day!

Why did we not want to take time in the morning to shower?? Because we had to be up bright and early in the morning!!! We had to "Rock Our Disney Side"!

On that note... I will leave you to relish in the joy of our Epcot day for a few days because I have to work ALL weekend! Definitely will have zero time to update unless they MAKE me stay home!​

 

[anniebabymu]

I am so excited you started your TR! I am loving it so far! Looks like you had a great start!

I'm loving reliving it! Towards the end of your trip it's harder to remember everything that happened the first day... until you start writing your TR! I feel like it was just yesterday!

What a bummer about Addie's pearl being so big it wouldn't fit in the carriage. But it does look pretty awesome in the shell. I would have done the same thing in that situation myself.

It really did turn out beautiful... she should be happy her chain is too small for me. I can't steal it!

Sounds like your FP+ worked out really well!

Our FP+ really fit in perfectly every day! Hmmmm... I guess all that planning pays off! Ha ha!

I can't wait to hear more!

I just finished up our first day! Unfortunately I have to work the next 3 nights, so unless I get "mandatoried" (where they MAKE you stay home) I won't be getting to touch my TR for a bit!

 

[AprilRenee]

Woohoo! You're so speedy at updates! Don't get out of the groove with your 3 days of work. I'm gonna expect a good update on day 4!!!

Poor Harper. You just totally wore that kid out! Lol

What a great first day!

 

[anniebabymu]

Whew. I'm pooped after work this weekend! Of course it's never a dull moment in Labor and Delivery. I ended my shift this morning with *almost* delivering a baby in the hospital lobby! What!?!? After finally getting her into a wheelchair, I booked it to L&D in the elevator she says, "I just want my epidural!" and in my mind I was thinking, "Don't worry, I'm sure nobody wants you to get an epidural more than me because it means I'm not delivering your baby in the elevator!" Ha ha!

On that note, as promised... after my 3 night shifts I'm back at it! So, April, here's your update!

Oh and before I start the update... I don't think I mentioned this before, but my pictures are a combo of our Nikon D3100, and mine and my husband's iPhones. So some of the pics aren't exactly stellar quality, so bare with me!

May 23rd: Day 2, Part 1

After an amazing, but long, arrival day we were up and at it bright and early... well, it wasn't exactly so "bright" out! I had my alarm set for 4:00, 4:10 and 4:20 because I knew I couldn't just set it once! And I knew I was NOT going to sleep in today! Why??? Because we needed to "Rock our Disney Side"!!

24 hour party... here we come!!!

I *cough, cough* sprung out of bed, got myself ready really fast, woke my hubby up and made sure we had all of our stuff situated in our park bag. I had already laid out the girls clothes and had their breakfast out and ready, so all we needed to do was wake them, throw their clothes on them, brush their teeth and out the door! We made plans before heading to bed the evening before with my in laws to be at the buses at 5am.

The girls were pretty sleepy on the way to the buses but Addie was starting to perk up a bit! We ended up getting to the bus line a little after 5am... and it was already backed up to in between the Epcot and Hollywood Studios line! (The 2nd and 3rd "stations" from Classic Hall with Magic Kingdom being the 1st.) Not only was the line that long, there were no buses in sight. Ughhhh!!

I decided to take that moment to fill our Brita refillable water bottles up at the water fountains inside. On my way in, I spotted DIS'er Katt (katt789) in line with her friend and planned to say "hi" on my way back. Unfortunately, on my way back she had just hopped out of line and was booking it to, what I presumed an alternative form of transportation (and later found out that's exactly what she was doing!). I wasn't about to stop her!

Meanwhile, I was texting Julie from our May Facebook group because she was in line up in the "chains". Never did get to "officially" meet her! I say "officially" because *spoiler alert* I have my suspicions that I actually bumped into her twice in the Magic Kingdom that day! We were both a little frustrated I think that no buses had arrived yet!

Finally at 5:15 we saw this!



We really were only there for like 10 minutes, but it felt like an eternity!

Luckily, once one bus came they just kept coming. We ended up hopping on the 3rd bus. We were standing, but didn't care... because we were on it and heading to the Magic Kingdom!!!

When we arrived at the Magic Kingdom, it was a mad house. I thought "Wonderful... it's going to be a zoo in there!" I wanted to get there prior to opening because I was hoping to hit up a TON of stuff in the first few hours. Did we accomplish our goal? Or was it a zoo??

The Welcome Show was getting ready to start, so my FIL and I decided to take the girls in the "no bag" entrance while my MIL and hubby went to the bag check. We found a spot in between the security check and the turnstiles... although, maybe they're "tapstiles" now. We were dead center in front of the "Rock your Disney Side" sign. Right in front of us was a mother and her, what appeared, college-aged daughter... who I think was Julie (from my Facebook group) and her daughter. I never mustered up the nerve to ask her if she was Julie and when all the camera, iPads and grown adult... not child, grown adult!... stood up on something when the Welcome Show started they left to find a different spot. Dang! Missed opportunity!

Here's a few pictures of the Welcome Show! It was so cute because they had Disney heroes and villains on the train instead of the "normal" train characters!









10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1...



Ahhhh... one of my most favorite pictures of this trip! Welcome to the Magic Kingdom!

During the Welcome Show Derek had sent me a text and we decided just to meet each other inside the park at the circle since it was such a madhouse and we had no idea where he and my MIL were! So we went left and through the "tapstiles" and were in! After we were in we grabbed a couple of the Maleficent pins they were handing out. We got inside and I took a deep breath in. I was in my happy place!

We met up with Derek and my MIL and decided to head up Main Street with the masses. Pretty soon Harper said, "Look!"



What did she see???



"The Castle, mommy!"

She was still a little sleepy, but just kept pointing at it. She was in awe!

Of course when we left Pop's food court wasn't open, so my MIL, FIL and hubby didn't get their coffee. We passed by Starbucks and it was CRAZY in there, so we decided we'd find some somewhere else. We walked up and were right next to Casey's Corner when we had a close encounter of the Villain kind!





Alice and the Queen of Hearts! How cool is that!?

After those two went on their merry way, we peeked into Casey's and the line wasn't horrible. So my MIL and FIL went in to grab some coffee for the coffee drinking adults. And one of those is not me! Can you believe after 9 years of working nights, I still don't like coffee?!

While waiting we took the opportunity to snap some pics!



Love seeing the sun rise over the Castle!



About 5 minutes later my in-laws were out with coffee in hand and we were headed to the Castle! Of course we had to go through it... there's no other way to do it when it's your first day at the Magic Kingdom!



Just 10 minutes later and look how much sunnier it is!



After we went through the Castle, Harper saw the thing she had been talking about for months... the Carousel! So after a quick stop in Sir Mickey's to look for the Elsa and Anna Flip Dolls and the Anna coronation dresses we knew exactly where we were headed! Sir Mickey's didn't have any flip dolls, but they did have the coronation dress in a size 2/3. Harper is just getting into size 4's, so I knew she'd outgrow it in no time so I didn't get it. Dang!



I decided to sit out with my in-laws and Derek hopped on with the girls. According to my camera, Derek was in line with them at 6:26 and hopped right on.







And here is Derek's point of view!





After they were done, we parked the stroller and headed to our next destination... Peter Pan's Flight of course! There was a 10 minute posted wait and we weren't about to pass that up! "10 minute wait" apparently means "walk-on" because that's basically what we did! We were in line at 6:34.

Oh... and BTW, I was pretty good at keeping the times for this day because I was curious to see how much we'd get done in the early morning hours. After today, I wasn't so good with the times so I'll have to rely on my pictures!

Harper was so excited to ride the "Peter Pan Ride!!"



"Come on sissy!"



She LOVED this ride! And every time we'd walk by it later in the trip she'd demand to go on it. Really stinks it has such a long wait most of the time because we had to bypass it a few times and she wasn't so happy!

And remember that "Magic Kingdom Main Street Mania" zoo that was Main Street when we arrived... luckily the crowds dispersed quickly into the different lands because here was Fantasyland at 6:44. This pic was snapped on the way back to the Carousel to grab the stroller.



So now that we accomplished the Carousel and Peter Pan's Flight... where were we headed next?!​

 

[AprilRenee]

Woohoo!! What a good trip report updater!! I'm proud of your dedication! Haha
I'm SO glad Harper liked Peter Pan!! I LOVE it and I was hoping Caden would too!! Yay!!

 

[disneydreamer1970]

I am so in on this TR! We are planning on taking our two youngest in May of next year. This will be their Christmas gift. I can't wait to really start planning with them, but will need to until December 25.

Keep the report coming!!

Trish

 

[anniebabymu]

Woohoo!! What a good trip report updater!! I'm proud of your dedication! Haha
I'm SO glad Harper liked Peter Pan!! I LOVE it and I was hoping Caden would too!! Yay!!

I'm sure he will! We rode it quite a few times on our trip and the last few times she knew what was coming before we even got to it. So cute!

I am so in on this TR! We are planning on taking our two youngest in May of next year. This will be their Christmas gift. I can't wait to really start planning with them, but will need to until December 25.

Keep the report coming!!

Trish

Welcome! How fun!! What a great Christmas present! Want to be my mom??

 

[awalker1015]

Love your trip report! Can't wait to read more. I was a night shift nurse a few years ago and I don't know how you stayed up 37 hrs the day before the trip! Excitement goes a long way!

 

[Jackiemarie21]

Watching the sun rise in the MK looks amazing! Looks like you all were able to accomplish a lot that morning! What a great start to your trip! I am so impressed you all were up and moving at 5am!

 

[anniebabymu]

Love your trip report! Can't wait to read more. I was a night shift nurse a few years ago and I don't know how you stayed up 37 hrs the day before the trip! Excitement goes a long way!

Thanks! Excitement, stress, a million things to do... ha ha! I was most definitely running on fumes Wednesday night!

Watching the sun rise in the MK looks amazing! Looks like you all were able to accomplish a lot that morning! What a great start to your trip! I am so impressed you all were up and moving at 5am!

It was amazing. And soooooo worth getting there by 6am! Honestly, I was surprised that we were all up and moving at 5am too. The night before my FIL kept making comments like, "What time do we have to get up?!?!". I ended up telling him that everybody could sleep in and meet me there... but I WOULD be there for the Welcome Show! I think they were very happy that they got there when we did because it was such a fabulous day!

 

[pigletgirl]

Another installment!

Can I just say what a trooper your girls are?!?! Your oldest DD held up really well on the first day! And your youngest seemed to do well after her nice nap. That is awesome! They also did well waking up before dawn for MK! Fantastic!

Excited to hear about the rest of the Rock Your Disney event!

 

[anniebabymu]

May 23rd: Day 2, Part 2

When I left you we had just hopped off our flight to Never Land and were headed to get the stroller and head to our next destination! We decided with the low crowds that we were going to head back into New Fantasyland/Storybook Circus area, do that "loop" and see how much we could get done before our first FP+.

As we headed over to Winnie the Pooh, I immediately noticed a flurry of activity at the 7 Dwarfs Mine Train. It was open!!! There was speculation that there would be Soft Openings during the 24 hour party and those were right! We contemplated for a hot minute hopping in line... and then we saw it was a 120 minute wait time! No thank you. We'll come back later in the week when I managed to score FP+ for it!



First stop... The Hundred Acre Woods to meet up with our friends Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore and Tigger!





It was now 6:48 and Pooh had a 5 minute posted wait. Pretty much exactly 5 minutes later and we were boarding our honey pots!

Up next... a quick spin on the Tea Cups where we ran into our friends again!



It was 7:02 when we arrived and it had a 5 minute posted wait, but the gang literally walked right on it. I'm liking this no wait business! My MIL and I opted out. I've got a pretty weak tummy so I'm not so into the "spinning" rides and my MIL just wasn't feeling it... so we gladly watched and took pictures as the boys rode with the girls!



When their spin was over, we gathered up the stroller and headed onward to Dumbo! But not before snapping a pic of the CM at the end of the 7 Dwarfs Mine Train line... it was past the Tea Cups! Crazy!



While we were parking the stroller, Harper was mesmerized by those flying Elephants and couldn't wait to get on! So much so that when we got the the indoor play area, she didn't think twice and passed it right up without a fuss.



We got into the Dumbo line at 7:09 with a 5 minute posted wait, that once again we walked right on! Addie rode with Grandma and Harper actually wanted to ride with me so that meant Derek and his dad got to squeeze into a flying elephant together!







After Dumbo we headed right over to the Barnstormer so Harper could experience her very first roller coaster! We had planned on bringing her onto the 7 Dwarfs Mine Train with us, so we figured we better try a "smaller" coaster first to see how she did.

We got into the Barnstormer line at 7:16 with a 5 minute posted wait... that once again we walked on! Addie loves anything and everything roller coaster, so of course she loved it! I sat next to Harper and even though there are lap bars, I held onto her for dear life because I just knew she was going to go flying out of there! Can you tell I'm not the hugest roller coaster fan?? Needless to say, Harper LOVED it! She squealed with delight on every turn and dip. We got off and she said, "Again!!" There was no wait, so we could have gone again, but we decided to venture back into uncharted (for my in-laws) territory!

We were headed back into New Fantasyland! Our first trip with my in-laws, NFL wasn't open yet and they weren't with us on our last trip which was our first experience with NFL... so my MIL was excited to check it out!

Up first... meeting our finned friend again! We got in line at the Grotto at 7:25 with a posted wait of 15 minutes. 15 minutes? Really?? We were in and out of there in 5 minutes!





As always, it was a great Meet & Greet! She loved the girls shirt and Ariel looked pretty familiar... I'm thinking she had her legs on at Akershus the night before!

If you're keeping track... we did 7 rides/attractions in an hour and it was only 7:30! And we weren't really booking it to places either, just walking at a normal pace and enjoying ourselves! Sooooo glad we were all up at 5am!

After meeting Ariel, we decided it was only fitting that we ride her ride! And of course, it was right there so it was a no brainer. We got in line for Journey of the Little Mermaid at 7:34 with a 20 minute posted wait. Maybe it was posted at 20 minutes because it takes you that long to walk back, because it surely wasn't because there were people in line! We walked right on! Loved it just like we did before!

After the Little Mermaid, we made a Pit Stop at the bathrooms back in Belle's Village. I took Addie and then when we were out, my littlest who is sooooo against potty training decided that she needed to go to. And actually went! What!?! Keep that potty-training Pixie Dust coming!

Here is where I believe that I ran into Julie (from my Facebook group) again! I was in such a hurry with the littlest that I didn't have time to stop to ask. We had been texting back and forth and I told her I thought we ran into her a couple times and she said that it very well could have been her because they stopped at Gaston's for a cinnamon roll!

I was really tempted to stop and grab a Lou Few's Brew, but the line was out the door so I passed on it. We passed by Enchanted Tales with Belle and kept going because we knew we had FP+ for it the next day!

When we got back into Fantasyland, we couldn't pass the Carousel without riding it again. The girls love it! My MIL and I hopped on with them this time. We walked right on and were on our horses at 8:08.





We were on our way over to our first FP+ for the day and had some time to kill before our time started, so we couldn't pass up It's a Small World! We were in line at 8:14 with a 10 minute posted wait time that... wait for it... we walked right on! Harper loved it... and I almost took a nap.





I love the "winter" room, probably my favorite! Except for these...



Creepy clowns!!!

After we were done, we started walking over to our FP+. We passed the Rapunzel bathrooms and crossed into Frontierland. Contemplated stopping at the Haunted Mansion, but just decided to head on over to... Splash Mountain!

We had a 8:35-9:35 FP+ for Splash and we got over there at 8:30 to see a 5 minute posted wait time. Because of this we decided to not use our FP+ and ride stand-by instead. We grabbed a Rider Swap and Addie rode with my in-laws first. Derek and I took Harper up on the bridge where the logs go under after the big drop because I was hoping to get a picture of them!





Success! They got soaked... definitely wetter than my MIL likes to get! Ha ha!

I forgot to tell them to grab their picture number for our Memory Maker, so I unfortunately don't have their ride picture.

After we saw them pass under us, we decided to head over to the Splash exit to meet them. We met them and then Derek and I rode with the Rider Swap with Addie. If I could go back and do it again, I would have pocketed that Rider Swap for a later date and used our FP+ because we ended up not even changing our FP+ for another ride. Intentions were to change it for when we planned to come back before dinner, but we never did!

Splash is mine, Addie and Derek's favorite ride so we had a great time! And got REALLY wet!



When we got out, we met my in-laws and Harper in the Woody and Jessie M&G area. They had just started setting up the ropes for the lines, so I think my FIL thought they'd be meeting soon... but they weren't going to be out for another hour or so. Because of this we decided to venture on.

What did we venture on to? Using up our first snack credit!



Mickey Pretzels!!!

Delicious... and what a great Dining Plan Snack choice! We later found out that the cheese cup comes with the pretzel when you use a Snack Credit! So you can bet your booty we got cheese with our Mickey pretzels from there on out!

We grabbed our pretzels at 9:35... so for those of you keeping tabs we rode the Carousel, Peter Pan's Flight, Pooh, Tea Cups, Dumbo, Barnstormer, met Ariel, rode Journey of the Little Mermaid, the Carousel, It's a Small World and Splash Mountain (2 times) in 3 hours! I was pretty happy with what we were able to accomplish in that amount of time!​

 

[anniebabymu]

Another installment!

Can I just say what a trooper your girls are?!?! Your oldest DD held up really well on the first day! And your youngest seemed to do well after her nice nap. That is awesome! They also did well waking up before dawn for MK! Fantastic!

Excited to hear about the rest of the Rock Your Disney event!

Oh my gosh... they really were troopers! Our first few days were pretty jammed packed because of the 24 hour party and then our friends coming up to play with us. They did really well! The 3 year old was great the entire time, unless she was getting sleepy... then she was a bit of a beast. The 6 year old did great, when she wasn't begging for us to buy her something! Ha ha!

I was so happy when I found out that the 24 hour party was going to happen while we were there! So glad that we got to experience it!

 

[Jackiemarie21]

Wow that is impressive! Totally with the 5 am wake up!

Charlotte did he same thing last year in Disney, she went on the potty several times!! Tinker Bell must have been using temporary pixie dust because I now have a three year old so opposed to the potty, even the mention of it sends her into a tantrum!

I didn't know you could get a cheese sup with your pretzels with the snack credits...very useful info! Disney pretzels are the best!

Good call on skipping the mine train, that's why you didn't have any lines for rides, everyone was waiting in the mine train line, lol.

Great update!