Disney Day 4

Yes, indeed, we got a late start today. The kids didn’t get up until around 9 a.m. – and it was after 10 o’clock before we left the hotel room. But, the kids were well rested and in better moods.

We started the day at the Magic Kingdom, and since we got there much later than we originally hoped (10:45) – all we could do was a bit of shopping before our lunch reservations at the Crystal Palace. The Crystal Palace features a nice buffet with Pooh, Eeyore, Piglet, and Tigger.

We’ve been really impressed with how much character interaction we’ve gotten at these meals. We saw each of the characters twice today except Eeyore. Once again, Morgan was our character groupie and Tanner was our chicken.





He would jump & shout whenever he would see the characters, calling out their names, pointing – but whenever they would get within 10 feet, he would retreat behind our legs, backs, or any available structure.

He did better today, however, and we did manage to catch a few pictures of him with the characters…usually as long as mommy or daddy were nearby.

This one caught early in the meal….



This interaction caught at the end of our meal….





He got better towards the end…we managed to sneak in pictures with Pooh & Piglet





We then went and hit a few rides that Randy & I wanted to see – even if we knew they might not be to the kid’s liking. We hit the Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise (dorky, but a Disney classic), and the Haunted Mansion. We finished the day up with the daytime parade.





They both loved the parades – especially the princesses. But, really, that has turned out to be both of their favorite part of this entire trip.

Then we packed up & headed back to the hotel. We stopped by at the gift shop & purchased the kids a Mickey animal (Tanner) and Minnie (Morgan). For the kids, it was love at first site.





You know it must be serious if Minnie sleeping with Prayer Bear and Morgan.

After nap, we watched the animals for a while. We had two giraffe, three zebra, a couple of wild boars, and a bongo. The giraffe were about 100 feet from our window while the bongo was literally 18 feet below our balcony. It’s neat to watch them.




(this is a Bongo – kind of like an antelope, called the “Shadow of the Forest”)

We then headed out for a quick dinner at the hotel café (the Mara). And, let the kids play in the wading pool. They literally cried and threw a fit while putting on their swimsuits, but had a ball once they started splashing water.



I can’t believe that we only have one full day left. We hope to get to the park earlier tomorrow – we’re trying to get the kids to go to sleep now. We now have late lunch reservations in Epcot with Chip & Dale, Mickey, & Pluto. Tomorrow we plan to spend in Fantasyland (Small World, Mickey’s Philharmagic, etc) and Toon Town (Minnie & Mickey’s Houses, Goofy’s Boat, and Meet & Greet with the characters ~ hopefully the Princesses).

Tomorrow evening / night, we plan on hanging out at the lodge. We’ll have to leave in good time on Saturday morning (9:30 or so), so we want to make sure bags are packed before we leave. We may try swimming again, playing on the camp equipment, or checking out the animals again.

Morganism

Morgan's middle name is Olivia (after my much loved paternal grandmother). Whenever, she is in trouble, we do what every good parent does, and give her a firm warning "Morgan Olivia".

Tonight, I must have been doing something she didn't like. She turned to me and said:

"Mommy Olivia"

Day 3 Take Two - Chef Mickey & More

This was a big planned evening for us. I had managed to order an egg-free birthday cake for the kid’s at Chef Mickey’s. Now, I know that their birthday isn’t for another 1.5 weeks, but we wanted to celebrate it while we were down here. And, in the spirit that Disney can do nearly anything, they were able to make Tanner & Morgan an egg-free cake.

So, off on the monorail to Chef Mickey’s. The kids loved the monorail and it was a very convenient form of transportation. The characters were in full force. This was much to Morgan’s great delight. And, Tanner would squeal everytime a character came near, jumping in his seat, shouting their name, but when they got close….



“Tanner, do you want to meet (insert character’s name here)?”

“NO!”

Morgan LOVED meeting the characters.









And, of course, the highlight was when the birthday cake came our. They play a birthday song about every 30 minutes. Our waiter delivered it to the table:



And, then the characters come around to wish the kid’s happy birthday. In this photo, Tanner did not know Goofy was behind him.



When he found out, he hightailed it to the other side…you can see the empty seat in this picture:



He wanted nothing to do with it when Mickey came over to help blow out the candles. Thank goodness Morgan loved the help.




After dinner, we headed back on the monorail to the Magic Kingdom. We had considered skipping it, but we had promised Morgan the night before that she could ride on a carousel “tomorrow”. Of course, she had not forgotten.



This was Morgan’s first sighting of the castle…



We walked down main street towards the castle (we’ll do some shopping over the next few days), and made our way to the carousel. We actually walked right onto the carousel with no waiting.

While on the carousel, Morgan spotted the Dumbo ride and said “I want to ride that!”. Now, Dumbo is known for little kids loving it, and incredibly long wait times. When we got the line, there was a lady there, so I asked her how long the line was.

She said “Well, as chance would have it, I need a co-pilot for Dumbo, would one of your kids be willing?” This lady was part of the “Year of a Million Dreams” – and the “dream” she granted was a co-pilot for Dumbo’s ride – front of the line, no waiting, with a pilot’s license to prove it.



While it wasn’t a night in Cinderella’s castle, I was excited, and Randy was pretty amazed when he figured out what was going on.

Then, we rode the Winnie the Pooh ride. It was deemed to be very kid friendly, it still scared Morgan.

And, then, Randy & I decided that we would try to stay for the parade. We actually got excellent seating, and then waited the hour for the parade to start. Amazingly the kids were pretty good for the entire hour, and I think they (and we) were rewarded. They were very intent on the parade:





It really is a gorgeous parade with the nights on all of the characters and floats. We considered sticking around for the fireworks, but it started to rain just as the parade ended, and we really weren’t prepared for that. So, we took our four weary selves back to the hotel.

It’s nearly 8 a..m., and the kids are still out. So, it will be a late start today. We’re headed back to the Magic Kingdom for lunch with Pooh & friends (any wagers on whether or not Tanner will warm up to these guys?).


In other news…we’re starting to get really worried about Tanner. He has been doing wonderful with potty training down here. He’s had no accidents, even when we haven’t been able to get to the potty for 20 minutes after he’s asked (bus ride). However, he hasn’t pooped since we left Kansas (Sunday night). He’s tooting, so I’m more worried about whether or not I’ll have to change him when he does finally explode.

Disney Day 3 - Animal Kingdom Revisited

I think Vacation Mode finally kicked in today. Instead of setting the alarm and hustling out of the room, we let the kids sleep in (until 7:30 ET). They slept much better last night, and were well rested this morning.

Today, we conquered a few things in



I really only had two things I wanted to do while I was there – the Kilamajaro Safari & the Nemo musical. We headed to the Safari first, and even though we were in a mob of people, we basically walked right on the ride. We were in the front row of the “bus” and Tanner & Morgan enjoyed it. But, they always love all of the animals.

We spent some time hanging out in the “Africa” portion of the Animal Kingdom, which included some lively music demonstration.



Tanner is our music lover, and I think he really enjoyed this.

We then ate lunch at the Tusker House in Animal Kingdom. I have to say, for anyone heading out to Disney soon & on the dining plan, this was one of the best meals that we had as a “counter service” the entire time we’ve been here. We purchased the kids Mac & Cheese, Randy had Salmon, and I had a ½ Roasted Chicken. What I had of the chicken was good – Morgan polished off more of it than I did, and Tanner had a crack at it, too. The vegetables were great (fresh green beans and carrots). We felt this was one of the best bang for our bucks.

Then we headed out to the Nemo Musical. As we headed in that direction, we noticed that Pooh, Eeyore, and Tigger were available for meet-n-greet, so we decided to stop by and say hello. Based on the kids normal personalities, we were expecting Morgan to be very shy during this whole thing. Boy, did we get it wrong.

Morgan LOVED the characters this time…



Tanner did not.



After that, we headed to the Nemo musical. To find that we’d missed the showing by about 20 minutes. The next showing wasn’t until 1 p.m., and with our scheduled outing tonight, we didn’t think that would work (of all of the “rules” we have here, naps are the most set in stone).

So, I took a deep breath and reminded myself that we can’t do it all while we are here and still have an enjoyable time. So, we skipped the Nemo musical and hit a few of the shops on our way out of the Animal Kingdom.


Now, I’m going to take a few minutes to comment on why people return over & over & over again to Disney. We have had exceptional service & accommodation so far during our stay. We have never encountered a place that did not take Tanner’s egg allergy seriously – or without concern for what he could eat (and to make sure that he did have something to eat). We’ve worked with the head chef at every sit-down meal that we have had. This has just been a huge burden lifted from our shoulders.

It’s also the people that help you every single day. Yesterday, I decided to change our Friday night reservations. Instead of Downtown Disney for Wolfgang Puck’s, we decided to stay closer to one of the parks. The lady who helped us was so patient checking the different restaurants until she found us reservations at Liberty Tree Tavern. The lady in the store today talked to Morgan – one on one. Yesterday at Downtown Disney, the checker let Tanner help scan our purchases.



The maid made a “crown” to put all of our toothbrushes in. It’s really been top-notch exceptional service. The wait staff has been knowledgeable, helpful, and friendly. I haven’t had a single even slightly negative encounter yet. It is truly amazing to me.

Oh, and the view doesn’t hurt either…(this was taken on our walk to our hotel room from the lobby).



And, lastly, gratuitous picture of my favorite little boy enjoying his “Mickey” ice cream sandwich:

Disney Day Two - We've Got Ears!

It was a late afternoon start. We didn’t heat down to the bus to our next destination until almost four o’clock. We still would have gotten to our destination quickly if it weren’t for the world’s most careful bus driver…if careful means driving 15 – 20 mph LOWER than the posted limit, and only driving on side streets so as to avoid mutli-lane traffic. Our trip to downtown Disney which only took 13 minutes to get home, took about 30 minutes this afternoon.

We decided to mix our trip up a bit. We decided to hit Downtown Disney tonight instead of waiting until the last night. I think this turned out to be a great plan. We found a lot of things in Downtown Disney, but amazingly, no t-shirts we liked for the kids. So, now we can still shop for those without feeling like we have no time to get something else.

When we first entered the park, we found the Pooh store, and beside it was a quiet bench. Tanner & Morgan were more than happy to take pictures with these characters.





Then, we hit the Lego store and Wide World of Disney store. I don’t know what I was expecting, but something different. So, we got a few things, but not as much as I had planned (my wallet and my husband are grateful). We did let the kids pick out “something” – I think they were overwhelmed with their choices, so it was kind of funny when Tanner settled on his ears. What one has, the other usually wants.





We’ve got ears, say cheers! (Any mom of toddlers who watches the Mickey Mouse Club will appreciate that…)

By the time we ate supper (Earl of Sandwich – very yummy sandwiches), rode the bus back home, gave baths, and got the kids to actually fall asleep, it was nearly 10 p.m. My guess is we’ll get a late start tomorrow.

On tomorrow’s agenda, a final tour of Animal Kingdom. Supper at Chef Mickey’s. This is our “big” affair. We’ve arranged to have an early birthday there for Tanner & Morgan. I was just so pleased when they were able to make an egg-free birthday cake for the kids. Afterwards, we’ll probably ride the monorail around the resort and possibly see the evening parade & nighttime fireworks at Magic Kingdom. It all depends on naps and level of grumpiness.

Disney Day Two, Take One

You know the day is starting out right when your almost-three year old jolts you out of bed at 5:50 a.m….

Thankfully, it did actually get better when we peaked out the window and saw these guys peaking back….



So, we gathered up the herd. Tanner really would have preferred to sleep awhile longer, but Morgan was excited to FINALLY! SEE! THE! PRINCESSES! So, off we went to Epcot:



Since we got there early (8 a.m.), we used the opportunity to ride the Spaceship Earth ride. It scared Morgan to death (you’ll notice a reoccurring theme here). After that, we decided to check out the all new Nemo ride. Unfortunately, we got there a bit early & had to wait awhile. Which, in mommy’s world, means photo opp.



It was a fairly short ride, and cute. It scared Morgan. I would have said it was hardly worth the wait…until I saw the animation in the water. I’m not sure how they did it, but they actually make an animated, 3D Nemo “swim” with the real fishes. That was incredible.

On the exit of the Nemo ride, we encountered a bunch of aquarium displays. Morgan & Tanner loved watching the dolphins swim in the tank, and then we let them count Nemo.



Now, for those of you who know Randy & his background, you’ll understand how much he enjoyed finding the following item:



Yup, that is a Walt Disney World survey marker. We spotted a few different ones around the park, and to say the least, Randy was very tickled by this.

We then did a ride through The Land, which talks about how plants have been grown in the past, and what Disney is doing to grow things in the future. I remembered this ride from long ago, and it was still really enjoyable. And, yes, even this ride scared Morgan (pretty much any dark ride is going to scare her). We were tickled by the 9 pound lemons (they can each produce a gallon of lemonade!) and the Mickey Mouse shaped pumpkins.

Finally, off to see the Princesses. We had originally booked the Princess lunch for Morgan – boy, did we underestimate Tanner. He totally & completely fell in love with the Princesses. Where yesterday, they wouldn’t go near the cast of characters, today, they did not hesitate to see the princesses.

We got to start by greeting Sleeping Beauty (thankfully my kids know which princess is which)…



Tanner literally ran up to her to give her a hug and about knocked Morgan out of the way. We should have read this as an early indicator of what was to come.

And then, the other princesses came out:

Ariel



Belle



Jasmine (probably Tanner’s favorite)





and finally, Cinderella…



Each princess stopped at our table and took time to ask the kid’s name & age (and usually if they were twins). The kids ate it up. That smile that Morgan has on with Jasmine above – she had that on almost the entire time that the Princesses were near.

When lunch was finished, we went to leave and had to literally carry Tanner screaming & kicking out of the restaurant. He kept pointing at the door where all the Princesses had entered from – he really wanted to see them again.

We then left Epcot & headed back to the Animal Kingdom. Thankfully, it’s a short bus ride. This time, there were only three families on the bus and we learned that Disney is 40+ square miles and employs over 57,000 people (that doesn’t count some of the food vendors or bus drivers which are subcontractors). Truly amazing when you think about it.

And that, that was all done before 1 p.m. The kids and Randy are napping now. Take Two coming soon.