Disney Day 6 - Magic Kingdom!

Our last night sleeping in Disney World was probably Grey's worst.  We went to bed early (for vacation), and it was a good thing we did.  He slept from about 9:45pm to about 1:30 am, and after that was pretty much either awake or nursing.  Once again, I gave up around 5 am, and we took a stroll around our resort...

"I'm tired, mommy."

"Ha ha!  Just kidding.  Who needs sleep when you'll hold me or push me around if I'm awake?"

Even though we were up crazy early, we didn't get to Magic Kingdom as early as I wanted.  We missed the opening show, and walked up to the bag check area around 9 am (official opening time).  James took Charlotte to ride the Indy Speedway cars since she missed them the last day we were at Magic Kingdom.  Hunter, Grey, and I went to get in line for Merida.  We walked up right at 9:15, which is when Merida arrives.  There was already a line of people, so we had to wait about 15 minutes.  After Charlotte and James were done, they came to us so Charlotte and Hunter could switch places.  James took Hunter to ride Buzz again while we met Merida...

Grey was so flirtatious with Merida.  The photo pass photographer got a really good shot of him smiling at her.  Merida was eating it up!  When we finished, we headed over to ride the Little Mermaid ride again (Char's favorite!).  Ariel's meet and greet is right next store, so we went on to meet Ariel in her grotto when we got off the ride...

(I only have my blurry iPhone pictures because our photo pass pictures aren't ready yet.)  Charlotte had been talking nonstop about meeting Ariel in her tail, so I was so excited to watch the moment when it finally came!  Char proudly showed Ariel her shirt, and then hopped up beside her for a good chat.  I think the moment lived up to all of her dreams!

After our Ariel high, Charlotte and I decided to head over to the Barnstormer, because Hunter had ridden it, but Charlotte hadn't had a chance yet.  She was not a fan...it really scared her!  So, to calm her down, we stopped by the Confectionary to pick up some sweet snacks before heading to meet the boys in Frontierland, where they had just ridden Pirates again.

We ate our snacks, and then headed over to the Haunted Mansion.  I am not a fan of anything scary.  I hate scary movies (and scary movie previews, which give me nightmares after I accidentally stumble upon one!), haunted houses, and scary costumes at Halloween.  So, I wasn't super excited about Haunted Mansion and was a little nervous about how the older kids would handle it.  I rode with Hunter and kept reassuring him that it wasn't real.  He didn't really need my reassurance, though.  Both kids did great!

Then we headed over to Adventureland to use our fast pass pluses at Jungle Cruise (which I liked much better this time during the day...last time we rode it at night) and Magic Carpets of Aladdin.  I needed to feed Grey, so we went to the Enchanted Tiki Room next so we could sit in a cool place and nurse him.  It wasn't a favorite of any of ours, but it was a good spot to cool off:)

After that, we walked back to Tomorrowland for one last ride on the People Mover...

We love that one!

 

Hunter kept seeing Stitch's Great Escape when we would walk around Tomorrowland and really wanted to ride it even though I warned him that everyone said it was terrible.  He insisted, so he and I went there - because the other kiddos were too short - while James, C, and G went to the Monsters Inc Laugh Floor.  It turns out I (and everyone else) was right about Stitch.  At least it was a good lesson for Hunter that I do know what I'm talking about;)

 

Finally it was time to head to Be Our Guest for lunch in Beast's Castle!  I had been so excited about eating here.  Since I heard lines were crazy long, we waited until 2 to walk over.  The line was still insane at that time!  We waited in line about 20-30 minutes (and it was HOT), but it was totally worth it...

We ate in the West Wing...

There was a picture of Beast (before he became the Beast) in that torn painting above the mantle, but it didn't turn out in our picture.

Interestingly, the rose didn't turn out in our picture either...

After lunch we only had a little bit of time before we had to head back to the resort to board the Magical Express.  I took one last shot of Hunter with the castle...

And we hopped in line for one last ride on the carousel...

 

Then we got on the bus to head home.  I think we stayed a perfect length of time this trip.  I wasn't nearly as sad to leave as last time, but I didn't feel like it was too long.  Grey still hasn't recovered from his sleeplessness (and we've been home for 14 days!!), but last night was better.  We are looking forward to going back in several years when he's a little older.  Hopefully my mom, sisters, and their families will join us on our next trip!

 

Favorites of the day...

JAMES - Haunted Mansion

CAROLE - Lunch at Be Our Guest

HUNTER - Haunted Mansion

CHARLOTTE - Meeting Ariel in her grotto

GREY - Meeting Merida



Disney Day 5 - Hollywood Studios!

Grey had another terrible night of sleep after Downtown Disney, but we were still down at the bus stop for Hollywood Studios bright and early...

 

 

The bus took what seemed like forever to get there, though, so we didn't get to the park until after they had already opened at 8:45.  James went through the long bag check line, while the kids and I booked it to Toy Story Mania.  We got in line at 8:55, and the line was already 35 minutes (the park doesn't even technically open until 9)!  James took longer than I anticipated to get to us, so I had to let several people in front of us, because I didn't want to be in the inside part of the queue where he couldn't see us.  I didn't time it, but we probably waited close to 25 minutes...

We weren't able to ride Toy Story Mania on our last trip, so I wondered if it would live up to all of the hype.  James and the kids liked it, but I didn't see what the big deal was.  I was wearing Grey while we rode, and it kept jerking us around every time the vehicle turned.  I think I was too nervous that his little brain was getting shaken around in his skull to be able to enjoy the ride:).

After Toy Story, James and Hunter headed to ride Star Tours, while Charlotte, Grey and I got in line for Sofia.  The line wasn't terribly long, but we had to wait about 10-15 minutes.  Charlotte did okay, but she could see Sofia and wanted to meet her right then, but it was "taking so looooong".  When we were 2 people away from meeting her, Sofia's handler announced that she would be taking a break soon to go feed her pet rabbit, but that she'd be right back.  Thankfully, she didn't leave until after we met her.  I was a little nervous that Charlotte would have a meltdown if she left right before it was our turn.

After we finished chatting with Sofia, we met back up with the boys to go to the Legends of Jack Sparrow attraction.  Please skip it the next time you go because it is laaaaame. 

Then, James and the big kids headed back to Toy Story Mania with our fast pass pluses, and I took Grey to go eat.  H, C, and J met Grey and I at Starring Rolls for a yummy, sweet snack when they were done riding.  We all rushed to finish our treats (Charlotte and I loved our butterfinger cupcake!), because we all had fast pass plus scheduled for the Disney Jr. show, and it would expire soon.  We made it to the Disney Jr line just before they stopped letting people in.  Since we were running late, we didn't get special seating, but we got to go in front of lots of people waiting because we had out FP+.  It was a cute, fun show that we all enjoyed.

When the show was over, we headed back to Mama Melrose's for lunch.  The food was good, and we were stuffed after we finished.  The kids were getting antsy waiting for the check, so I took them outside to explore while James paid.  We found this "snow" outside of a Christmas store...

We were hot, tired, and ready to head back to the hotel for a nap.  I honestly can't remember if Grey napped that day.  James and Hunter had to leave earlier than the rest of us because we were going to different shows.  Lugging the double stroller, the backpack and both kids onto the bus by myself was really stressful, but we made it back to Hollywood Studios, and Grey and Charlotte both did great at the Beauty and the Beast show.  While we were watching Belle and Beast sing and dance, James and Hunter were watching the Indiana Jones stunt show.  Hunter loved it!  It was one of his favorites from the entire trip. 

We met up to see Muppet Vision 3d after our shows were over, but Grey was struggling during it, so I took him outside and fed him some dinner.  When the bigs were done, we headed to find some dinner for the rest of us.  I think Hollywood Studios doesn't get enough credit.  Most people are negative about it, but our family really looks forward to this park.  The one thing that is a bummer, is that they close a lot of their counter services restaurants early.  So we had to run around a little bit to find something for dinner.  We finally asked a cast member and headed to ABC Commissary.  We got our food to go and ran all the way to the other side of the park to see Fantasmic!  My burger and fries were really good, so I wouldn't mind going back there on our next visit.  We had the Fantasmic! dinner package with our Mama Melrose meal, so we didn't have to line up ahead of time, but just walked in and got special seating.  It's definitely worth it to do that if you don't have a fast pass plus for the show.

We ate our dinner in our seats while watching the preshow entertainment...

Fantasmic! was AWESOME.  One of my very favorite things of the whole trip...

My iPhone pictures don't do it justice...

We skipped this show on our last trip, but definitely won't do that again!

Favorites of the day...
JAMES - Fantasmic!
CAROLE - Fantasmic!
HUNTER - Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular!
CHARLOTTE - Beauty and the Beast - Live on Stage
GREY - Disney Jr - Live on Stage!

Disney Day 4 - Downtown Disney!

Grey had another terrible night of sleeping after the Halloween party, but James got the morning shift this time.  Luckily, we had planned a low key day for Saturday, so we got to relax and sleep in shifts that morning before heading to our late breakfast reservation at 1900 Park Fare.

 

We had been to 1900 Park Fare on our last trip for dinner with Cinderella and her family, so this time we went to the Supercalifragilistic breakfast.  We had to wait a while for our table, and while we were waiting James leaned over to tell me that Steve Young had been standing right next to him while I was checking us in.  I asked him if he talked to him, but of course, he didn't.  I asked if I could go over and ask for a picture, but he said no way!  James doesn't embarrass easily, but he will never talk to celebrities or quasi-celebrities if we see them, and I am just the opposite.  I didn't want to embarrass him, so I just let it go.

 

After waiting with our pal, Steve, for about 15 minutes, our table was ready.  The food was delicious!  I wasn't as impressed with these characters as a whole, but Tigger was a trip!  He kept leaning in right when I took the picture so that it looked like this...

You can see we all thought it was pretty funny:)

We also met Alice...

And of course, Mary Poppins...

They had an awesome variety of breakfast dishes, from your standard pancakes, Mickey waffles, cheesy hashbrowns and scrambled eggs to eggs Benedict, salmon, and bananas foster French toast!  Even though there was a wide variety of sweet danishes and breads, they had a breakfast bar, including gummy bears.  We let Hunter get 2 helpings...

Hey, it was vacation!

We also met the Mad Hatter...

And Winnie the Pooh...

After we were done eating and meeting all of the characters, we loaded up the backpack and headed out...

We went back to the hotel and rested a little bit before going to play in the pools.  The first pool was right out our window and it was FREEZING, so since I'm such a wimp, we headed to the main pool that was "heated".  Except it wasn't...at least to me.  I lasted about 5 minutes, and then Grey and I headed up to the room while James and the other 2 played a little longer.

That night we went to Downtown Disney for dinner and to walk around.  I loved it there!  We hadn't been on our last trip, but the next time we go to Disney World, I'll for sure schedule it in.  There are so many fun shops and things to see.  We went to the Lego store and saw a ton of huge Lego creations, including this huge sea monster...

We also went to the World of Disney store and got the kids their souvenirs...

Charlotte chose a light up Minnie toy and Hunter chose a Zurg gun...

Hunter loves that gun and still plays with it every day.  I'm so thankful we had this rest day, because it really rejuvenated us!  I had way overscheduled us the day before and may have told James, "We're NEVER coming back here!"  But Saturday gave us the rest we needed to have a great time our other days, and to improve my attitude:)

Favorites of the day...
JAMES - Downtown Disney
CAROLE - Downtown Disney
HUNTER - Swimming at Hippy Dippy pool
CHAROLTTE - Shopping at the World of Disney Store
GREY - Looking at the lights of Downtown Disney

Disney Day 3 - Magic Kingdom and Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party!

Grey started his streak of sleepless nights on Thursday night after our day at Epcot.  So after much bouncing and feeding throughout the night, I finally gave in and left to go walk him around our resort at about 5 am on Friday morning.  Here, he looks about how I felt...

We went straight to the lobby so I could take our refillable mug to get some Coke to wake me up...

Unfortunately, Everything Pop (where the food/drinks are) was closed from midnight until 6 am.  Boo!

So I took my empty cup and tired baby, and we headed back out for a tour of the Pop Century grounds...

The new resort, Art of Animation, is right across this man made lake.  You can see the lights of it in the background...

Goofy...

Around 6am, we headed back to the room so I could get in the shower.  Because we were up so early, we made it to Magic Kingdom plenty early that morning.  Hunter was not thrilled that we had to wait to get in, but I reminded him of how long we had to wait for Soarin' the day before and assured him there would be no long waits for rides this morning because we were there so early.  As you can see, we had plenty of company!...

Finally, the welcome show started at 8:45...

And then, the gates opened!  We headed straight for the Buzz ride.  James and Hunter got to ride the first day, but this was my and Charlotte's first ride this trip (and Grey's first ride ever!)...

For those of you that always get to hear my hair complaints, see the above picture.  This is my hair dilemma...even if the front is cute and curly, the back is wavy-straight and stringy.  Ugh.

Charlotte aiming at the Z's...

My sweet boys...

Zurg!

After defeating Zurg, we headed to Astro Orbiter...

Another walk on!

Great views of the park on this ride...

Then we had to split up again because Grey was too little for the Speedway, and neither of the bigs were tall enough to ride alone.  So James and Hunter rode the Indy Speedway cars...

while Charlotte, Grey, and I rode The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.  I thought this would be a great ride for Grey, but had forgotten that it's got some really bumpy parts.  I think he liked the bright colors, but wasn't so sure about our honey pot car (or whatever it is) bouncing around so much! 

J and H still weren't done when we finished Pooh, so we headed to ride Journey of the Little Mermaid.  This ended up being a favorite of Charlotte's.  I think we rode it 4 times throughout the trip.

The boys finally finished, so we went to meet them at the Barnstormer, but it was broken down, so we rode Dumbo instead...

Then all the boys went to the Casey Jr Splash area, while us girls went to meet Minnie and Daisy in Pete's Silly Sideshow...

There was a 6 year old boy in line ALONE behind us just chatting us up.  I finally asked who he was there with, and he said his grandma who was on the other side with his little sister.  Maybe I'm just paranoid, but that seemed a little crazy to let your six  your old child get in line alone....even if you were on the other side of the tent.  Stranger danger, people!

Since I felt like the teacups were a little intense for baby Grey, he and I went to look for a card we had lost at dinner on Wednesday night while James took Hunter and Charlotte to ride them.  Then we met at It's a Small World...

I thought Grey would love this slow moving, bright ride, but he ended up falling asleep in the middle of it.  I guess it can be boring for all ages:)

We had a quick, yummy lunch at Columbia Harbour House (one of our favorite quick services), and then headed back to our resort for nap time.

It was a short nap because of course Grey didn't want to sleep, and Charlotte had to get to her appointment at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique!

Waiting...

The boys left the resort a little while after us, but stopped by as soon as they got to Magic Kingdom to see Charlotte for a second before going to ride Buzz again.  Charlotte loved BBB, and we both loved her Fairy Godmother in training...

All of the staff make such a fuss over all of the little girls there.  They have these 2 older adults dressed up that walk through the boutique and loudly talk with each of the girls about what princesses they are.  We LOVED it!

While we were waiting to get called back,  I showed Charlotte all of the different looks you could get.  She told me she wanted the fairy tale princess and that she thought the Disney diva looked silly, but when we got her back in the chair she changed her mind and said the diva wasn't silly after all.  Diva isn't the look I loved, but it wasn't my day at the boutique, so we went with it...

Don't you love the two toned hair?

Such a diva!

Pixie dust!

So pretty!

Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique is definitely worth the money!  We had such fun!

After BBB we had some time to kill before our reservation, so we went to ride the carousel while Grey and James watched...

Then we got to go eat at Cinderella's Royal Table IN THE CASTLE!  Charlotte has been talking about eating in the castle since our last trip to Disney World, so we were thrilled! 

Character meals were kind of stressful during this trip because everything moves so quickly, and we had to deal with getting out Grey's food and feeding him, ordering for us and the kids, and getting the camera, pen and autograph books out for the 2 bigs.  It seemed like the first character would get to us before we got most of these things settled, so we always felt really rushed.  The food at Cinderella's Royal Table was great, though, and we got to meet tons of princesses, and we were IN THE CASTLE, PEOPLE!, so it was worth it.

First we met Aurora...

Then Snow White...

Hunter doesn't love the princesses, but Snow White asked him to take a picture with her, so he reluctantly got up...

Ariel was so outgoing.  She was really excited that Charlotte's Ariel pen had bubbles.  She started blowing them at the table and yelled out to the other princesses around her that we had an Ariel bubble pen! 

Charlotte was glad to meet Jasmine because we had tried twice the day before at Epcot and kept missing her...

You meet Cinderella downstairs before dinner and get a picture with her that they print out for you.  I didn't ask for them to take one with my camera, so I don't have that one here...we did meet her, too, though.

After dinner, we went to pick up my and Charlotte's party tickets because they weren't handing them out yet when we got there for BBB.  Then we headed to the Barnstormer, and it was fixed and open, but both Charlotte and Hunter needed an adult to ride with them and Grey was too young, so we went to ride Journey of the Little Mermaid again...

This time we got stuck and sat for about 5-10 minutes, which made us really rushed for the Villain Mix n Mingle show.  We raced to the castle stage and made it just as the show was starting.  Hunter and I walked up to watch it close to the stage, but Charlotte was scared, so James stayed a little further back with her and Grey.  You can get in line to meet the villains after the show, but H and C weren't interested, so we just went to ride more rides. 

We rode several things, and eventually split up so Hunter could ride Splash Mountain with James.  Charlotte, Grey, and I went to Mickey's Philharmagic, and things started to unravel a little.  Charlotte was scared of the 3Dness of it, and Grey started crying when the water splashed him.  This is a show, so it really stressed me out that both kids were being kind of loud in a dark theater setting.  When it was over, we met back up with James and Hunter, and I told James that we couldn't split up anymore because I felt like I was about to have an anxiety attack...the lack of sleep was already starting to get to me;)

We took the kids on several trick or treat trails, rode some more stuff and then found a spot to sit and watch Celebrate the Magic on the castle and HalloWishes (the Halloween fireworks show).  Charlotte freaked out before the fireworks started because she was so scared (and then the next day tried to tell me it was her favorite thing...ha!).  They were really loud, but it was a good fireworks show. 

After we calmed Charlotte down, we went to ride Pirates of the Caribbean and maybe something else? and headed back to watch the second parade of the night.  Hunter fell asleep in the stroller (sitting up!) before it even started.  It was a great parade, so I was bummed he didn't see it. 

It was 11:00 by the time the parade was over, so even though there was still an hour left of the party, we headed back to the resort because we were all exhausted.

Favorites of the day...
JAMES - Mickey's "Boo to You" Halloween parade
CAROLE - Disney Villains Dance Mix and Mingle
HUNTER - Splash Mountain
CHARLOTTE - Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique
GREY - Under the Sea - Journey of the Little Mermaid