5 Girls and 1 Guy...I think I'm in over my head here! A September Trip Report

What a great trip! Everything was perfect from start to finish, starting with a huge Edmonton Eskimo win over bitter rivals, the Calgary Stampeders, in the annual CFL Labour Day Classic. I was lucky enough to attend the game the day before we left thanks to my wife being so amazingly cool and dealing with the last minute packing and a cranky baby without me. I know she hated me being gone but I was so grateful to get the chance to head to Calgary for the game. I was all packed and ready to go a few days before we were ready to head out, but, thanks to someone, I had to re-pack everything that I had neatly folded and readied for the trip.

You know, it didn’t even dawn on me that I would be surrounded with 5 women of varying ages for the next 9 or so days until my mother in-law brought up the ratio at airport when we were getting ready to board our first plane. I guess I was just too excited to get back to the World after a few years absence that I didn’t really care who I was going with. All of the sudden the thought of banging my head against the wall, looking at my watch while waiting for them to get their hair just right in the morning kept flashing through my head! What did I get myself into?

Day One - September 6

Anyway, back to the trip. Our trek to the World started bright and early on September 6. We were up and at ‘em at 3 am to ensure we were at the airport by 4:30. That meant waking up Ella way before her we should have but surprisingly she was very well behaved. Me, my wife Kelly, her cousin Britt and Ella met my mom (Ally) and Kelly's mom (Deb) at the airport a little after 4:30 to get through customs for our 6:45 flight. A smooth process at that time in the morning so it was nice not to have any glitches. We had time to feed Ella before the flight which was really good for her.

Our first flight was to Houston. I was in a row with Kelly and the grandmas, while Britt was seated ahead if us with a mother and teenage son from Texas. The son caused some stress as he told Britt it was a 5 hour flight to Houston, in reality it was only 3 and a half. Not good to get the heart racing at that time in the morning. Flight was pretty full so I was a little nervous that Ella would turn into a bear at some point and make the early flight a tad tougher for everyone. Thankfully I was wrong. She was great...for the most part. She couldn't sit still and had a tough time figuring out who she wanted more, mom or dad. She slept for about an hour which helped pass a little time. We landed in Houston around 11:30. Kelly remarked how quick the flight seemed to which I responded "that was the fastest 5 hour flight I've ever been on" which drew a quick look back by the teenage son in front of me.

After a quick layover in Houston, we boarded our flight to Orlando at 1:30. This flight was golden. Ella slept the entire 2 two hours and before we knew it we landed at MCO.

A relatively quick cab ride to the Wilderness Lodge was all that separated us from the World! We arrived and were blown away by the resort before we stepped outta the cab. The detail is incredible and the grounds are amazing. We were checked in by a fellow Canadian who was most helpful. She gave Ella a 1st Visit badge upon learning it was her first time at Disney. We made our way to the rooms, which are cozy but very nice, and got things set up and unpacked. A few pictures of the grounds...

The view from our balcony

We were all pretty tired from a long day, especially Ella, but we had a reservation booked at Whispering Canyon Cafe for dinner so relaxing could wait a little longer and I'm glad it did! What a fun place to have a meal. Bob (or as many call him, Geppetto) was our server. He was great right off the bat. He was playful with Ella and she loved it.

We ordered drinks and food and sat back and soaked in the atmosphere. A few tables asked for ketchup which is clearly an event in itself! Just before our food arrived, Bob noticed Britt's pop was empty so he ensured she wouldn't run out for the rest of the meal.

The food arrived and we all dug in. I wasn't overly hungry so I just ordered the pulled pork spring rolls. They were outstanding as was everyone else's meal; at least they said it was. Unlike a lot of people who post reports, I didn’t take a look of pictures of our food, though looking back on it I wish I had, so I apologize for the lack of food pictures. We wrapped up dinner with a few pictures to remember the visit and Bob gave Ella a Mickey plate to take home as a keepsake. We asked if we had to pay for it and he said with a wink “I don’t know nothing about it!”

The beds were calling after that so we called it a night to get ready for the Magic Kingdom and Ella's first Disney experience.

 

[fractal]

I always wanted to get me hair cut @ MK. Looks like fun!

Uncle Tim is great. We enjoyed his schtick very much - and that Florida rain can be crazy. Sometimes we Dads have to take one for the team.

Looking forward to more.

 

[Matt and Kelly]

Day Five - September 10

Another early morning on day five for most of us. We had made reservations at Cinderella's Royal Table at 8:00 am for me, Kelly, Ella and the granny's. By the time we knew Britt would be joining us on the trip I was unable to add her to our reservation as I guess there were no remaining seats. Too bad but she got to relax at the hotel for a while and we planned to meet at EPCOT around 10:30 am or so. The day didn't get off to the greatest start as I found out that the Stampeders had beaten the Eskimos is the annual Labour Day Rematch game the night before. Bah I guess that's what happens when I miss a game.

Yet again we were up and on our way to the bus stop in less than an hour. These women really impressed me with how quickly they could get ready, especially knowing what a stickler I am for being on time. On our way to the bus we stopped at the front desk and Kelly made me a tee time to play a round of golf the next morning...I know, what a great wife, right?

After the tee time was made, we finally made our way to the bus stop. Luckily we had given ourselves enough time to arrive just in case as the bus to MK took forever to get to the hotel. We were stuck waiting along with two other families who were heading to the Crystal Palace for breakfast. There was a cast member at bus stop to help direct morning traffic but when we asked how long the bus might take he told us he was not officially on the clock for another 7 minutes so he couldn't call to find out. I thought it was very odd that he could make a quick inquiry for us but what can you do? We went back to waiting patiently. Ella had made friends with two young children we were waiting with so she was somewhat occupied while we were waiting.

Finally the bus arrived and dropped us off around 7:50 am. We made our way through the gates and rushed down Main Street to ensure we made our reservation time. If we had a few extra minutes I would have taken more time down Main Street to get a bunch of pictures as the streets were virtually empty. We did stop at a photopass photographer to get a family photo with the castle as the back drop but that was it. I was paranoid about making it there on time.

Kelly and I had breakfast at CRT a few years back and really enjoyed it so I was especially excited to take the rest of the family here on this trip. Deb asked where the breakfast was and seemed pretty surprised when she found out it was in the castle itself. We arrived a shade after 8:00 am and checked in. We then stood in line for our photo with our lovely host, Cinderella. The line moved quickly as we were one of the first reservations to arrive for our meal. Cinderella was great with all of us. She made Ella smile, which was quite the feat at that point in the morning, and took pictures with all of us. We made it upstairs and were seated at a long table near the windows overlooking Fantasyland. Of course our table had an extra seat so Britt likely could have joined us. Oh well.

Our server was right behind us as we sat down to hand Ella a magic wand and a wishing star before filling our coffee cups and explaining the menu. It was different from our last visit. I recall getting stuffed French toast with eggs, sausage, bacon and potatoes last time but that wasn't an option this time, though I'm sure they would have put a similar plate together if we wanted. Three of us ordered the full order of stuffed French toast which included two giant pieces of French toast stuffed with cream cheese topped with fruit and syrup. My mom ordered the bacon and eggs. The French toast was unreal. I cleared my plate (shocker) as did most of us. Kelly really wants to find a recipe similar to this to try at home.

As we ate we were greeted by Sleeping Beauty, Ariel, Belle and Snow White. They were all very good with Ella and a few of them even got down on the floor with her to make her that much more comfortable with them. They did a great job playing around with her, even for a brief moment, so that she warmed up to them enough to take some good pictures. She even blew kisses at a few of them which made them laugh in return.

Snow White

Sleeping Beauty

Ariel

Belle

While we had a great time with the whole experience, I can't say the family beside us left with the same warm and fuzzy feeling. The family included mom, dad and their young son. He might have been 8 years old or so. They seemed to like the meal and all but as soon as the first princess was announced and started making her way around the room, the son bolted under the table and wanted nothing to do with her! They left as soon as they had finished eating...well before the princesses finished making their rounds. Poor guy was not happy.

After finishing our meal we made our way out of the castle to stumble upon Anastasia, Drizella and Lady Tremaine. It was the first time I had ever seen this trio at Disney so of course we lined up. They were hilarious! Making quick comments to one another and goofing around with the people in line. I was even singled out after one of them saw me make a quick golf swing with Ella's magic wand! "magic wands should not be used as golf clubs!" everyone had a good laugh, myself included. They were a lot of fun and made standing in line pass by pretty quickly.

From there we jumped on a few rides including Snow White. I made a point to ride it as it will likely be the last time I get to at WDW once the expansion is finished. I rode with Ella and my mom. Kelly went to get Ella her first pair of ears and I guess Deb was too scared as she declined and stayed back at
with the stroller. Ella really enjoyed the ride, as did I. I was kinda sad to think about all the detail and artistry that went into this ride that is not long from being replaced. We also rode the Haunted Mansion before heading out to meet Britt at EPCOT. I loved the refurbished queue. The cemetery is very well done with some great details and fun interactive pieces to help make your wait a little more bearable. Lucky for us it was still very early so after taking our time with the queue we walked right into the stretching room. This ride is still and will always be a classic from start to finish. Ella seemed to handle it very well, even waving to some of the ghosts and reaching wildly for the dog in the graveyard. The new hitchhiking ghosts to close the ride are awesome as well. I had a good laugh at our passenger who decided to remove and juggle our heads!

After HM we left the park and boarded the monorail to get over to EPCOT. By this time it was absolutely scorching outside, at least I thought it was. We don't have this kind of heat and humidity in Northern Canada. We met Britt near Spaceship Earth and decided to head to Soarin' to grab fastpasses but not before I lathered on the sunscreen. Soarin' was nowhere near as busy as I've seen it in the past, only a 25 minute wait, but we didn't wanna wait just yet so I grabbed fastpasses for all of us and we went over to Living with the Land. This is an attraction I have never been on but thought it would be good for Ella and a nice reprieve from the sun. We sat front row so Ella could get a good look at everything. I wasn't too sure about the ride at the start but was thoroughly impressed with the greenhouses and how a lot of the plants and veggies grown there are used throughout the park. Nemo was next. While not as good as the submarine adventure in Disneyland, I still enjoy the WDW version. The granny's took Ella and based on some of the joyful screams I could her, I gathered she liked it. We joined Crush for Turtle Talk next before heading back to Soarin'. I've always liked attractions like Turtle Talk and Monsters Inc because of the interaction and the humour. Crush was pretty funny and handled the questions from the kiddies very well with some sharp responses.

We made it back to Soarin' where the line time had climbed to about 40 minutes. Britt and the granny's rode first while Kelly and I stopped at Sunshine Seasons to feed Ella. Even with fastpass, it seemed to take forever for the others to finish with their flight. The timing wasn't all bad though as just as they arrived, Ella dropped a bomb. We quickly handed her off to my mom and zipped towards the ride without looking back! We seemingly moved through the queue a little quicker than the other group and found ourselves ready for our pre-flight briefing in about 10 minutes. I'm a big fan of Patrick Warburton so I always listen intently to his spiel. We ended up sitting next to a couple gents who have never been on Soarin' before and for a couple of guys who looked like they could fit in at a Hell’s Angels gathering, it was pretty funny to hear them laughing giddily along to the scene changes. As usual, the flight was smooth. This will always be one of my all-time favorites that will never get old, even if they keep the current video for decades to come.

 

[Matt and Kelly]

I always wanted to get me hair cut @ MK. Looks like fun!

Uncle Tim is great. We enjoyed his schtick very much - and that Florida rain can be crazy. Sometimes we Dads have to take one for the team.

Looking forward to more.

Leading up to this trip it is always something I wanted to do as well. About a month before we left there was a thread in General Discussion about that really caught my attention. After reading it, and asking a few questions myself, I called and made myself an appointment. It was such a fun experience. Very unique compaired to what I am used to. It'll be something I do every trip now!

Uncle Tim is awesome! Second time we've had him and he was superb both times. He really makes the dining experience a lot of fun there.

 

[Matt and Kelly]

We returned from our flight to find this….

Figured there was no better time than now to head back to the hotel and give Ella the chance to take a decent nap. Me, Kelly and Britt decided to head back to the resort and take it easy for a bit while the granny’s stayed back at EPCOT and toured the World Showcase. I don’t know they were actually just walking around taking in the sights, or attempting to drink around the World. Perhaps a little of both! We walked to the bus stop and jumped right on the resort shuttle that was waiting at our stop. Lucky break not having to wait. We boarded the bus to find the bus driver chatting with an elderly couple. I couldn’t help but overhear that they were in their 80’s (85 if I recall correctly) and been coming to Disney for decades. They mentioned that they have been so many times now and at their age the hustle and bustle of the parks now took a backseat to the art of people watching. Sounded like they just like to go to a different park, find a nice place to sit and soak in everything around them. It was pretty cool to hear them talk about their Disney experience and made me hope that I have as much passion for Disney when (if) I get to that age.

After a few minutes of conversation, the bus driver took his seat and drove us back to the resort. Ella kinda slept on the ride back but for the most part she was up waving at the elderly couple beside us. Thankfully they didn’t call her a boy which really made Kelly happy! We arrived back at the resort and went straight to the room. Kelly and Britt got ready to spend some time at the pool soaking up some of the sun while I agreed to stay back with Ella while she slept. I spent about an hour or so working on my trip report in the Notes section of my iPhone, flipping through the numerous ESPN channels all while kicking my feet up and re-energizing for the evening. When the girls returned, I made my way down to the pool to spend some time in the hot tub. Even though it was scorching outside, I must have spent about 30-40 minutes in the spa, soothing my aching muscles. I wondered to myself if I was getting too old for this stuff at 27. Something I thought about for maybe a minute before spotting the same elderly couple we saw on the bus holding hands and walking through the courtyard area surrounding the pool. I concluded I was still young and spry at that point!

The granny’s returned to the room not long after I made it back from the hot tub. They seemed to enjoy their time walking around the WS. They stopped at the Rose and Crown for lunch, and a few beers, which they seemed to really enjoy. I’ve wanted to eat there for a while now but haven’t had the chance just yet. Besides, Kelly and I had reservations at LeCellier that we had to get ready for so I started getting excited for a nice steak dinner. With all the options in WDW to eat, we Canadians decided to go the Canadian restaurant as one of our stops. You’d think we’d be a bit daring and try something different but we thought it would be cool to get a taste of home while so many miles away.

We both got a little dressed up for the night seeing as it was just the two of us going. Kelly put on a nice dress and I wore dress shorts (no way I was even contemplating putting on pants at any point on this trip) and a button down. I received a nice compliment from my MIL on how nice my hair looked…thanks Harmony Barbershop! Once we were ready we made the trek back to EPCOT around 5:00 pm to make it to LeCellier on time for our 5:45 ressie. The rest of the group planned on heading to the Boardwalk for dinner and then meeting us at EPCOT later in the evening.

We arrived with plenty of time to spare, checked in and were seated very quickly. Must have been a coincidence but we were seated in the “Alberta” section where our hostess told us all about the Calgary Stampede and, more importantly, about the biggest mall in the world, West Edmonton Mall. She then asked where we are from only to laugh when we responded “Edmonton!” I really liked the interior of the restaurant. I reminded me of a place I used to frequent quite a bit while living in St. Albert (just outside Edmonton) a few years back…just a much classier version. As was the norm for our trip, we had a fantastic server from Ottawa. She was also happy to find out we were from Canada and we reminisced about home for a few minutes.

We mulled over our options for dinner. This was not an easy choice for either of us. I was so tempted to order the cheddar cheese soup based on the good things I have read on here but I couldn’t bring myself to order soup on such a hot day. I did however order a pint of Trois-Pistoles (three pistols) to cool off with. Kelly decided to get the New York Strip and I went with the Grilled Rib Eye. We also ordered a side of mac and cheese to share. It was great to get away and relax, just to two of us. We talked about the trip and what we’ve enjoyed, what we’d do differently and when the next trip might take place in the future. I really enjoyed being alone with Kelly, even for a short time and not worrying too much about what’s going on around us. Our food arrived a short time later and we dug in. As our entrees arrived, a gentleman beside us ordered the cheese soup and immediately regretted not getting a bowl. Oh well, the steak more than made up for my mistake. It was cooked perfectly and was super moist and flavourful. I was barely able to finish my meal and we couldn’t finish the mac and cheese. Everything was awesome. We paid our bill and made our way towards the WS to walk around before meeting up with the others. Even though it was the most expensive meal we had on the trip, it was well worth it. I would go back in a heartbeat.
Kelly wandered through the shops in England, finding a few Beatles shirts she liked and purchased. Just as we got the entrance of the International Gateway, we got a call asking where we were. Apparently Ella was proving to be quite the problem for the others as they were trying to eat at Kouzzina on the Boardwalk. We decided to walk over and meet them to see if we could calm her down. We found them a short time later and it looked like they had been in a fight or something. Both granny’s had baby food all over them and Ella was an absolute wreck! Upon seeing us, well mostly mommy, Ella calmed down enough for us to feed her dinner and somewhat clean her up. Now she was back to laughing and goofing around which made the granny’s pretty upset! Can’t beat a mother’s touch I guess….and I helped!

While on the Boardwalk I took a few pictures of the beauty around me before heading back to EPCOT.

The granny’s were happy to head back to the hotel and put Ella to bed since they had been going pretty much nonstop all day. Me, Kelly and Britt stayed at EPCOT to get on some of the rides we didn’t go on earlier in the day. Our first stop was one of Kelly’s favorites, Test Track. At this point in the evening, about 7:30 pm or so, the posted wait time was 30 minutes. We did have to wait but only about 20 minutes tops before we were loaded into the vehicle. I’m not a huge fan of this ride, at least I wasn’t, but I must admit I had fun this time. I just I didn’t remember how jerky and fast the ride can be, which I definitely like.

After Test Track we made our way to Mission: Space. Kelly’s not a huge fan but we were able to convince her to take a spin on the orange side. The wait said 15 minutes but it was at most 10. The majority of our wait time was eaten up by watching the briefing video. We were a man short for our mission but forged on anyway. Britt figured she could play dual roles so we were in good hands…I guess. It had been a while since I’ve been on M:S so I forgot just how much force is put on your body during the ride. We tried to see who could keep their head off the seat the longest before having it sucked back by the ride. Nobody lasted very long once we got going but I’m pretty sure I won. The ride was great, no one got sick and we decided to try and make it to Spaceship Earth before the park closed at 9:00 pm.

Britt reminiscing about Star Tours

Typical tourist picture

On our way we ended up stopping in Mouse Gears to look around and stayed a little too long. We ended up leaving the store just after 9:00 and by that time SSE was closed for the night. Oh well, admittedly I am not a big fan of SSE so I wasn’t crushed that we didn’t get to ride.

Shockingly no money was spent but this guy seemed to catch Kelly's attention

We decided to call it a night and head back to the Lodge to get some shut eye. That was fine with me as I had to be up early to make my tee time at the Palm in the morning!

 

[TheMouseFan]

Great TR so far! I can't wait to read more. Your breakfast at CRT sounded delicious. It makes me look forward to our ADR on 10/18 even more!

 

[Matt and Kelly]

Great TR so far! I can't wait to read more. Your breakfast at CRT sounded delicious. It makes me look forward to our ADR on 10/18 even more!

Thanks a lot for reading! :wave:

I have no doubt you will enjoy CRT. Food was great, character interaction is awesome and you certainly can't beat the setting!

 

[wishes2013]

I know everyone else has said it, but Ella is adorable! I love that you got some daddy daughter time, even though it rained. Great report, I'm looking forward to more.

 

[Disneyfalcon]

Another vote for Ella being adorable! That's so wonderful that she enjoyed the characters! Traveling with little ones is a completely different experience than when they get older, but both ages have their advantages!

Keep it coming!

 

[Matt and Kelly]

I know everyone else has said it, but Ella is adorable! I love that you got some daddy daughter time, even though it rained. Great report, I'm looking forward to more.

Thanks for reading! :wave:

I was pretty excited to get to spend some time alone with her, even if it was cut short. I did enjoy the few hours we spent at MK together.

Another vote for Ella being adorable! That's so wonderful that she enjoyed the characters! Traveling with little ones is a completely different experience than when they get older, but both ages have their advantages!

Keep it coming!

Thanks for reading! :wave:

I'm very much looking forward to the age when we don't need a stroller, where she can stay and play at the parks all day and where she will actually remember the trip but taking her this past month was something I will never forget.

 

[Matt and Kelly]

Day Six - September 11

I was up early on day six, before everyone else. I had a 7:30 am tee time at the Palm Golf Course and was pretty excited to get out and swing the sticks at a Disney course. I had no intention at all of playing golf on this trip so I was quite ill-prepared. I certainly didn't have my clubs, shoes or balls...I didn't even have a collared shirt. Because we were staying at a Disney resort, the club rentals were free and I took care of the collared shirt by getting a Mickey embroidered Nike golf shirt. I was hoping to get on as a single and rip through the course rather quickly to meet up with everyone at the parks but instead I was paired with three Army soldiers. While I would have enjoyed playing alone it was pretty cool to be paired with some active members of the US Army, especially on the anniversary of 9/11.

I think I may have been either a little overwhelmed by the course or perhaps I was a little nervous playing with three gents I have never met before because the first hole was a disaster! I thought a relatively easy par 5 would be an easy way to start the day until I carded a solid 9! Yikes!

Luckily for me the next hole was a little more my style. A near miss for birdie and a tap in par settled me down. It did help that the guys I was playing with were extremely nice and easy to get along with. The course was fabulous from tee to green, albeit very wet and soggy which made for some interesting shots from the rough and greenside bunkers.

Each hole has a plaque stating a historical fact about the previous PGA tournaments held there which was very cool to read throughout the day. There was even a few spectators hanging around making sure you could find your ball if you trickled into some water.

Tough to see but that is a gator swimming around right beside the 9th tee box

For me it was a big adjustment just getting used to the grass on the course. Edmonton golf courses are much different as our grass doesn't tend to be as raspy and thick which lead to some very awkward lies and a few duffs along the way. After four hours of baking in the Florida sun, I carded an 88 and was happy that I had the chance to play even though I knew I could have played better. Oh well, as a spur of the moment thing I couldn't have been happier to get out on the links while at WDW.

The rest of the group had decided to go to MK in the morning. While I don’t have a lot of detail about what they did, I do know they rode a few rides and met a few characters, I do have have some pictures of their adventures.
I guess the first stop upon arriving was the Rapunzel meet and greet. We had stopped by there on our first day at MK but the line was huge and we didn’t think it was wise to wait 40 minutes to meet her at that particular time. I really enjoyed Tangled and judging by the lines to meet Rapunzel, a lot of other folks did as well. Kelly took Ella up to meet her and from what she said, Ella was really good with her. She tried to pull her hair pretty much the whole time but it sounded like Rapunzel was cool with her and let her play around while she was up there.

With Donald again

Hamming it up in a hat that Grandma Deb would later buy for her!

I jumped in a cab at the golf course and made my way back to the resort a little before noon. I messaged Kelly to find out where they were and she responded that they were just getting ready to leave MK. They showed up at the resort about 20 minutes or so after I arrived back. Sunday was another planned shopping day for the girls, so again, being the totally awesome guy I am, I stayed back at the hotel with Ella. This time their goal was to hit the outlets and see what they could pick up. As much as I would have loved spending three hours with four women at an outlet mall, I quite enjoyed kicking my feet up after getting beat up by the Palm earlier in the day. I think Kelly was happy that I didn’t attend any of the shopping journeys as I couldn’t get on her case about spending too much! She would have been in her glory without me there.

Ella had a good nap, nearly three hours, and I took her down to the pool for a bit when she woke up. The girls finally made their way back to the resort somewhere around 4:30 or so. Amazing how they can muster the strength to carry 20 shopping bags but can’t seem to twist the lid of a jar of pickles at home. At any rate, it looked like the shopping trip was a success. Even though they were with each other for the last three hours buying clothes, they had to show off their purchases to one another. I was happy that Kelly picked me up a few items. She hit the Nike and Lulu Lemon outlets for me which was ideal. She knows me so well…well enough to know that if she threw me a bone with a couple golf shirts here and there I could over look the copious amounts of stuff she bought.

 

[Matt and Kelly]

We debated on what to do next now that Ella was up and ready to go. We did know that MK was the park of choice for the night as Extra Magic Hours had the park open until 1:00 am. The biggest decision was whether we should go out to eat or just grab something at Roaring Forks. We mulled over going to eh park to eat but decided just to head to Roaring Forks and eat in our room before we head out. I split a pepperoni flatbread with Kelly which was more than enough to tide me over until we got to the park and I could get some goodies. Britt wasn’t feeling very well, I think the sun and the heat were getting to her, so she decided to stay back for a while and take a nap.

Me, Kelly, Ella and the granny’s jumped on the boat and made our way to MK. I must say the transportation to MK from the Lodge was great. It always seemed like the bus was waiting for us when we went to the bus stop and the boat made things a little easier when we didn’t want to fold up the stroller. I enjoyed taking the boat over the bus even though it added a few minutes to our commute. The ride around the lagoon was peaceful and provided some cool views of other MK resorts. Deb was always blown away by the detail of the Grand Floridian whenever we would pass by, be it up close on the bus (WL buses to a few parks stop at GF to pick up guests as well) or from a far on the boat. I told her she should go and check it out while she had the chance but she didn’t end up getting over to get a closer look.

Ella's first set of ears

With Grandma Deb

We arrived at MK somewhere around 6:30 – 7:00 pm and decided to do a few rides we haven’t done to this point. We made our way to Tomorrowland and jumped in the Monsters Inc. queue. I know MILF always receives mixed reviews from the crew on these boards but I quite like this attraction. Like Turtle Talk, I love how interactive it is. The theater wasn’t packed but there was a good amount of people attending the show. We had enough space in our row to let Ella stand up on the bench and move around a little. She loved it, especially when people started clapping, she would clap along with everyone despite not even looking at the stage screen. Sadly, everyone they chose to pick on during the show was pretty lame. The dancing guy didn’t dance, and a few of the others they singled out pretty much sat on their hands. The exception was “That Guy”. He was pretty funny. He threw everyone for a loop when they showed him on camera it looked like he was wearing a visor and had his hair messed up all over the place. Turns out the hair was fake and attached to the visor so when he tipped his cap to reveal next to no hair on his head everyone had a good laugh.

After Monsters Inc we rode Buzz. This game is nowhere near as good as Toy Story (obviously) but fun to play nonetheless. I suck at this game so I wasn’t expecting much. I can never tell where the laser is shooting so I just randomly fire all over the place. Ella sat between me and Kelly while the granny’s rode together. Kelly and I were pretty sad. I don’t think either of us broke the 100,000 mark but somehow the granny’s were certified space rangers. My mom totaled something like 200,000 and Deb racked up over 700,000! I couldn’t believe it! I was certain they had misread their score screen but they were both adamant that they were correct. I called BS as neither of them had their glasses on. At any rate we all agreed Toy Story is much more fun to play and wanted to make sure we made it back to DHS the next day to play it once more before the granny’s went back to Edmonton.

Playing around in line for Buzz

From Buzz we went to TTA. This, like Buzz, is a ride that neither granny has been on before so we figured why not. It would be a relaxing little break for all of us. There was pretty much no line so we were loaded very quickly. At this point the sun was down and it was cooling if nicely but I could see where this ride would be a great break from the sun on a hot day. The views of the castle as we ripped through Tomorrowland were the best part of the ride. The colour changes were awesome so I was primarily fixated on that while we were outside of the buildings. Both my mom and Kelly’s mom agreed that this was their kind of ride. The relaxed pace of TTA was something we all enjoyed.

A few different castle shots (not the best quality. Shot from my iPhone)

After TTA Kelly wanted to feed Ella something as she was past her usual bedtime, but not acting like it. She found a quiet spot near Cosmic Rays and I took the moms to Mickey’s PhilharMagic. We planned to meet up with Kelly right outside the attraction after we were done. PhilharMagic is my favorite 3D show on property. I love all the songs that are featured during the show and the fact that Donald is creating a ruckus throughout always makes me laugh. It was approaching 9:00 pm and I think most people were getting ready for Wishes which left us as part of maybe 20 people in the theatre for the show. I tried to keep my toe-tapping to a minimum as not to let on that I was really enjoying the music but I’m not sure I was successful. Kelly ended up right outside the exit and we arrived just as Wishes was taking place. We caught the tail end of the fireworks as we stood behind the castle. I was shocked that Ella had no problem with the noise created by the show and she seemed to be entertained by all the colour. We didn’t catch much of Wishes but what we did was very cool.

Ready for bed

We planned on meeting Britt at the beginning of Main Street at 9:30, which was a terrible idea considering the crowd exiting the park as Wishes ended. It took us a long time to reach the front of the park from behind the castle and was the only time during the whole trip that I really despised having the stroller. Maneuvering through the sea of people was quite difficult. We finally reached her after a long, slow walk down Main Street. The granny’s took Ella back to the Lodge to put her to bed and the three of us set out to have some fun during EMH. We hit all three mountains (Splash and Big Thunder are so much better at night!), rode Pirates and HM, stopped for a brownie sundae and finally decided to call it a night around midnight. We figured we had a pretty successful evening getting on everything we wanted to with minimal wait time.

A sea of humanity!

We jumped on the bus back to the Lodge and quietly climbed into bed when we arrived. The next morning we had planned to take a break from the World and hit Universal to check out the much discussed Potter Land.

 

[DisneyFan1003]

Great report - sounds like you had an awesome time! How old is Ella? We took our daughter last summer when she was 7 months old and had a blast. Certainly a "different" kind of trip, but in a good way. She'll have just turned 2in November when we head back - somehow I doubt she'll be quite as content to sit still!

Nice that you had the grandma's along with you to provide some relief!!

 

[Matt and Kelly]

Great report - sounds like you had an awesome time! How old is Ella? We took our daughter last summer when she was 7 months old and had a blast. Certainly a "different" kind of trip, but in a good way. She'll have just turned 2in November when we head back - somehow I doubt she'll be quite as content to sit still!

Nice that you had the grandma's along with you to provide some relief!!

Thanks for reading! :wave:

Actually, Ella will be turning one on Monday. This year flew by! You're absolutely right...it is a different trip but definitely different in a good way.

It was really nice having both grandmas around. They know how much we love Disney so they really wanted to be a part of her first trip. Plus they made it a real point of offering to help in any way they could after we grilled them about spending too much time at the bar in Mexico in April!

Have a great trip. Christmas in the World is outstanding!

Hopefully I'll be able to post another day to my report tomorrow morning.

 

[Matt and Kelly]

I apologize for taking so long to post an update on my report. Today is Ella's first birthday so Kelly and I had a busy weekend planning and preparing her party yesterday! Check out the cool Disney cake Kelly picked out for her...

It tasted even better than it looked!

Anyways, here is the first part of my latest update from our most recent trip!

Day Seven – September 12

Today was the day we decided to take a break from the World and head over to Universal. This being a Disney chat board I won’t get into quite as much detail as I have with the rest of the report but since it was part of our trip, I figured I might as well cover it and provide a little information about our first visit to Universal since Potter opened.

We had originally planned to do Uni the day before but we decided to reconsider as we didn’t want to deal with potentially higher weekend crowds. That was fine by me but I also felt kind of bad as this was the granny’s last day before heading home and I would have been happy spending a day at the parks with them and Ella. They didn’t want to go to Universal because they don’t like the intense rides they have there. They were happy taking Ella for the day and spending some alone time with her.

We were up early to get ready and grab a cab over to Uni in time for park opening around 9:00 am. Even if we felt that the crowds would be light we wanted to ensure we were there early enough to avoid any potential log jams in Potter Land. Having read the stories of wait times just to enter that area of the park had us worried of what could be. We left the Lodge and jumped in a cab a right around 8:30. Traffic was light so we made it to the park fairly close to 9:00 am. We made our way through the City Walk and pointed out stores we wanted to visit on our way home. We rushed to the gates, scanned our passes and avoided the photographers lined up to take your picture underneath the Island of Adventure signs.

Potter was the first stop for us, as it was for many of the guests who were there for park opening. Thankfully there really wasn’t enough of a crowd to make us worry about the long waits we had read about. As we wondered through Suessland we reminisced about the last time we were there and meeting the Grinch. Still can’t get over how good his costume/make up was. The walk to Potter is not that short so it took as a few minutes to finally reach the entrance. It was only a little after 9:00 and the sun was already beating down on us. It was the start of another really hot, humid day which made us look forward to the water rides like Jurassic Park, Popeye and Dudley Do Right. We finally reached Potterland and I must admit I was pretty impressed with the layout of everything.

In my eyes, this is the only time at universal that you get the feeling you are somewhere other than a theme park. Disney does such a great job themeing the different parts of the parks that you can’t help but feel you are swept up in a different location but I certainly don’t get that feeling at Uni. Now I have never read a Potter book or seen a movie so I really have no idea about anything going on throughout Potterland. Britt is a big fan so if I had questions I’d just ask her. We made our way straight to Hogwarts Castle and the Forbidden Journey. The castle/queue is amazing. It almost pains me to say that for some reason but full credit to the crew at Universal for creating such an amazing experience. I was taken aback by how big the queue is from start to finish. I couldn’t imagine how long the wait could be when that thing is fully loaded with people. Thankfully we pretty much walked right through the castle and into the loading area. Still took a while because of the size of the castle itself. Again, not having seen anything that has to do with Potter, the detail in the castle almost made me want to start watching the movies. Almost, but not quite. I’ll stick with the Pirates series instead!

We loaded into the vehicle pretty quickly and were off on our journey. I had read nothing but good things leading up to our visit about the Forbidden Journey and the ride lived up to the hype. The ride was very cool from start to finish. I was really impressed with the different elements that are instituted throughout the ride. I will say the video portions kinda made me a bit nauseous but it was well worth it. It’s also a pretty long ride (at least I thought) so at least you get something in return if you have to wait a long time. Very impressed with the Forbidden Journey though I am hoping that the recent announcement of the Avatar project at Disney will result in something that surpasses what they have done at Uni.

From the Forbidden Journey we jumped on the Flight of the Hippogriff coaster which was a big disappointment. We were ready for more thrills so we made the short walk over to the dragon Challenge and rode it twice. Once from the middle of the coaster and once from the front row. I loved this ride when it was Dueling Dragons and it certainly didn’t disappoint other than the fact that you no longer go at the same time as the other track so you don’t get that feeling you are going to smash into the other ride vehicle when you go through areas in the track. Oh well, I could let it slide I guess. By the time we got off the second ride, the crowds were getting bigger. The lines for Butter Beer were bigger than anything we had seen at Disney to this point. I wanted to try the Butter Beer but didn’t want to wait 15 minutes to get a glass. We decided to head out and explore the rest of the park.

From Potter, we made our way to Hulk and worked our way through the rest of the park. Potter had eaten up most of the crowds so the lines for Hulk, Spidey, JP, pretty much everything were 5 minutes at most. We did everything relatively quickly but the one ride we looked forward to the most, Popeye, was closed for maintenance. As mentioned, it was hot so we really wanted to cool down. Thankfully we got soaked on Dudley but only because a couple other guests paid the quarter to spray the water cannons near the end of the ride. If not for that we all would have escaped with only a few drops of water on us. I didn’t mind getting soaked as it was very refreshing and we all dried pretty quick thanks to the hot sun. We did end up spending some time, and a few bucks, at the water cannons after our ride on Dudley soaking others as their flumes sailed past the guns. We figured why not cool people down on a hot day. Though Kelly seemed to get into it a little too much. She kept pumping quarters into the cannons and sprayed as many people as she could. I was concerned we may lose our cab fare if she stayed there much longer plus the creepy laugh made me think she'd had enough!

We walked by Potter again before leaving Islands of Adventure and contemplated riding the Forbidden Journey one more time. The post waited was 30 minutes so we decided to skip it and get over to Rip-Ride-Rock it instead. We all agreed that we should have rode it once more as soon as we got off it the first time but hindsight is 20/20 I guess.

Once we got to Universal, Rip-Ride was the first ride on our list. This was open the last time we were there and we stood in line of an hour only to have the ride breakdown just was we climbed the stairs to get to the loading platform. This time we were waiting for sure. Kelly nearly bailed as we entered the line as she was really nervous about the giant climb straight into the sky to start the ride for some reason. We finally begged her enough to change her mind and we were all on our way through the line. We walked right through the queue, up the stairs to the loading dock but for some reason it took forever to finally load up and get on the ride. I was trying to decide which song to select once we did sit down and while I had a few options in mind, Kick Start My Heart won out. How could you not select a song like that to get your heart pumping on a ride like that? I quite enjoyed the ride and judging by the non-stop screaming beside me, Kelly seemed to like it too. The rise was cool, but even better was the video they take during the ride which you can watch afterwards. Both Kelly and Britt didn’t open their eyes once and were constantly screaming. It was pretty funny to watch.

From there we went on to the other rides at Uni and decided to leave the park and head for lunch at Margaritaville around 2:00 pm. Not bad to get through pretty much everything in 5 hours. I did have fun at Uni but there was nothing better than getting into the air conditioned restaurant and ordering a cold beer! I ordered a BBQ Bacon Burger which was the best burger I had eaten on the trip to that point, though it would get surpassed a few days later. After lunch we did some quick shopping at a few of the stores on City Walk and decided to head back to the Lodge to meet up with the Granny’s and Ella to spend a little time with them before they had to head back home the next morning.

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

I agree with you on the fact that it pains me to say how awesome WWOHP is.. The first time we rode FJ (November of last year, Thanksgiving week) we waited 55 minutes. I was blown away with how great the ride was. We rode again in May and only waited 20 mins at around 5:00pm. We let the large crowds hit it up first while we did Uni and walked on pretty much everything.

Both coasters on DD went at the same time last time I was there.. Maybe that's a new change? :shrug:

Rip-Ride-N-Rock It is great! One of my top 10 coasters! Did you guys get on The Mummy? I really like that one too!!

Ella's cake is SO CUTE!! Looks super yummy!!

 

[Matt and Kelly]

I agree with you on the fact that it pains me to say how awesome WWOHP is.. The first time we rode FJ (November of last year, Thanksgiving week) we waited 55 minutes. I was blown away with how great the ride was. We rode again in May and only waited 20 mins at around 5:00pm. We let the large crowds hit it up first while we did Uni and walked on pretty much everything.

Both coasters on DD went at the same time last time I was there.. Maybe that's a new change? :shrug:

Rip-Ride-N-Rock It is great! One of my top 10 coasters! Did you guys get on The Mummy? I really like that one too!!

Ella's cake is SO CUTE!! Looks super yummy!!

It's pretty impressive what they have done with Potter. I had a lot of fun there. Maybe it was just so early in the day they would just send one side of DD whenever it was ready? Not sure but was looking forward to riding at the same time.

Rip-Ride was a lot of fun. It would be in my top ten rides without doubt. We did ride the Mummy. I really like that one too. One of their staffers always seems to freak Kelly out by staring at her or scaring her.

The cake was outstanding! Luckily I am still working on the bottoms tier!

 

[Matt and Kelly]

While we were off on our own at Universal, the granny’s had a free day with Ella. They decided to head back to EPCOT as they really seem to like drinking, I mean, walking around the World Showcase. Besides since they aren’t too keen on rides, the walk around EPCOT is something they really seem to enjoy. I’m not too sure of what all happened during their day together but they did take a few photos of their adventures which really made me sad that we missed out on what seemed like a great day.
As far as they reported, Ella was very well behaved and didn’t seem to miss mom and dad while we were gone so that’s a big plus for the granny’s, especially with how Ella pretty much ruined their dinner on the Boardwalk a few nights earlier.

Ella and Marie. As you can see, Marie was awesome with her!

She loves the water!

We arrived back at the hotel around 4:00 pm at which point Ella was about an hour or so into her afternoon nap. The granny’s were getting things packed up and cleaning their room (code for finishing their bottle of Crown Royal…their second bottle this week, mind you) when we walked in. we sat around in their room for a little bit while they continued to get their luggage together. We discussed what the plan was for the evening and they seemed somewhat excited to go back to DHS and try their luck at Toy Story one last time. No one was overly hungry at this point so we figured it was easy enough to pick up a hot dog or a pretzel at the park when we got hungry. Britt must have been tired from our day at Universal and decided to stay back and enjoy some quiet time while everyone else was out of the resort.

Ella woke up and we readied ourselves to head to the bus stop around 6:00ish by the time we fed her dinner. The sun was slowly starting to set and the temps started to drop a little making walking around the parks much more bearable. Ella seemed to be quite refreshed after her nap and continued to ham it up at the bus stop for us and a few other guests waiting for the bus.

Ella waking up after her nap

After a quick stop at Fort Wilderness we made it to DHS pretty quickly. On the bus I met a very nice fire fighter from Milwaukee who left his family at Whispering Canyon to head over and get a head start on DHS. Of course we spoke about the Packers/Saints game a few nights previous and he told some stories about some of the wild scenes he has seen during his time at the fire station. He was a really nice guy and Ella really took a liking to him as well which was great. Just another reason I love going to Disney…everyone is usually so friendly and willing to strike up a conversation with a complete stranger at the drop of a hat. Aside from the conversation, I really enjoyed the bus ride to DHS because you passed a number of cool looking resorts along the way. Our very first reservation for this trip had us staying at Port Orleans French Quarter which was one of the resorts we drove passed. Both Port Orleans resorts look very nice…certainly like place I would enjoy staying at.

Hamming it up waiting for the bus

DHS was pretty slow, so it seemed when we walked through the gates. We started out straight for Toy Story and found the posted wait time was 70 minutes. I didn’t think Ella could make it through that length of a wait without getting a little fussy so I decided to wait in line with my mom while Kelly and her mom took Ella to Voyage of the Little Mermaid before finding us in line after their show. Seemed like a great plan right of the bat as the line for the ride extended just outside the queue. Once we got in, the line flew by. It took us about 10 minutes to get to Mr. Potato Head which is where we decided to stop and wait for the others. People didn’t seem to mind that they were passing us on their way to the ride and made playful jokes as they walked by. We probably waited for an extra 10-15 minutes before the rest of the group arrived from Voyage. Ella was in the middle of a bottle and was starting to act up a bit so we worried this might be it for the night.

We rejoined the line and made it through the loading process pretty quickly. I took Ella on my lap and played against my mom while Kelly and her mom played against each other. I think Ella was getting the hang of the game as she was starting to pull the string herself and reach for the gun. Even if she was getting tired and crabby, she still screamed at the different game screens and clapped her hands at all the characters. Her involvement might have cost me a couple thousand points but I still finished with a score of 190,000 and change, topping the group yet again. My mom and Kelly showed improvement on their previous scores but Kelly’s mom regressed back to about 50,000. What a shameful display!

The sun was fully set and park was dark when we left Midway Mania. We walked around near the hat for a little taking in some of the sights and sounds. Ella was started to get really tired now so we looked for a quick bite before heading back to the Lodge for the night. It took a long time for our bus to arrive and by this point, might have been close to 9:00 pm, Ella was beyond tired and was really a handful to deal with. Kelly and the Granny’s tried to entertain her enough to calm her down while I stood waiting for the bus. Good thing I did as a large amount of people had also made their way to our bus stop. It was the first time on our trip that the bus was actually packed with people.

We finally got back to the hotel around 9:45 pm and quickly put Ella to bed. Once she was down we went over to the granny’s room to hang out for a bit before we said our goodbyes. I was happy to see that they were indeed able to polish off that second bottle of Crown before having to leave. We talked about the good memories we made on the trip and how quickly everything seemed to go by. Tired from a long day, we decided to head to bed ourselves around 10:30 pm. We had a big day with Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party ahead of us and the granny’s had to be up by 3:00 am to make it to the airport for their flight.

After a teary goodbye, my mom cries for everything, we said good night and that ended our great Disney experience with our mom’s. We are both very thankful for them being there for Ella’s first Disney trip. They were a big help, but furthermore, it was really awesome to have them along with us.

 

[Raven66]

Happy Birthday to Ella!!! That cake was great.

The pictures with Ella and Marie were adorable.

 

[Matt and Kelly]

Happy Birthday to Ella!!! That cake was great.

The pictures with Ella and Marie were adorable.

Thanks very much! It's amazing how quickly this year has gone by. I was pretty hard on my wife after learning how much that cake cost but it was worth it!

Those pictures are awesome...disappointed we missed that moment while we were at Universal.

 

[Matt and Kelly]

Day Eight – September 13

With the granny’s leaving in the early morning hours to start their long trip back to Edmonton, Kelly and I awoke to find Ella and Britt still sleeping. Thankfully for us, the adjoining door to the granny’s now vacant room was still unlocked so we climbed on one of the beds to watch some TV before the other woke up. I made myself some bad in-room coffee and flipped through the channels trying to find something that caught our interest. I don’t remember for sure but I’m fairly certain we just ended up on one of the WDW resort channels watching something about the must-do’s at the park. We talked again about how quick this week seemed to fly by and how it was sad not having our moms still here with us.

I was pretty excited about the day as we had tickets to MNSSHP later that evening. I have never been to a Disney holiday party and the Halloween Party was the reason we ended up extending our trip a few extra days once the schedule was released. We wondered aloud what it would be like and what type of costumes we would see while strolling through the park. Before the party, the initial plan for our day was to hang out at the Lodge, lounge by the pool and take it easy. I threw that plan out the window pretty quick and told Kelly I was going to take Ella to MK in the morning while the others stayed back and relaxed. Kelly is like me, for the most part, I think she’d rather be at the parks rather than lounging around so she agreed to come with me and enjoy a slow paced morning at my favorite park.

Britt and Ella finally woke up around 8:00 am or so which is pretty much considered sleeping in for them. We told Britt of our plan but you could tell she was getting pretty worn out from the heat and all the walking. She was growing weary of the parks and decided to proceed with her relaxing day as planned while we battled the heat at the park. Besides, she knew we were all going to the party in the evening so that seemed to be enough park action for her.

By no means were we in a rush as this would have marked our fourth or fifth visit to MK already in the week we had been there so we took our time getting ready and feeding Ella. Kelly and I made our way out of the hotel room a little after 9:00 am and went straight to Roaring Forks for a quick breakfast. I had the oatmeal which was dynamite. We sat outside at a table on the patio area and enjoyed some early morning sun. We figured we might as well enjoy the heat while we still had the chance to bask in it as fall/winter comes very quick back home around this time of year. We ate our breakfast and soaked in some of the atmosphere of the hotel before making our way to the dock to catch the boat over to MK.

We arrived probably close to 10:00 am and found the crowds to be very manageable. It seemed as if the biggest lines we would encounter would be for the characters near the Main Street train station. Both Kelly and I decided that today would be dedicated to meeting as many characters as we could and getting pictures and autographs for Ella. The one character that we hadn’t even attempted to see yet was the main mouse himself so we grabbed fastpasses to meet Mickey and stood in the character lines to meet some of his friends.

Like I said, the lines for the characters near the train station were packed but we jumped in line to meet Pluto while lines for Daisy, Pinocchio and Mary Poppins filled up around us. We killed time waiting for Pluto by taking pictures with some of the Halloween decorations and taking turns going into random stores where we could still see the progress of the line. After about 20 minutes we finally made our way to the front of the line and had Ella spend a few minutes with Pluto!

We started out down Main Street and contemplated heading to Fantasyland to ride a few things but instead opted to head to the Tiana meet and greet spot behind the Christmas store as she was one Princess we hadn’t met yet either. The place was empty but for a few Cast Members awaiting Tiana’s arrival. We spoke with them for a few minutes until she arrived on the scene at 10:30. She was very sweet and since we were the only people around at this point, she spent a lot of extra time with Ella making her laugh and smile.

After meeting Tiana, I wanted to get out of the sun and suggest Pirates since Ella really seemed to like that ride now. We made our way over through Liberty Square and found pirate Goofy greeting guest’s right at the entrance of Pirates. I parked the stroller and jumped into the line which was pretty short, made only a little longer by Goofy needing to take a break to get back to his pirate ship for a few minutes. Ella seemed to like him when we did get to the front of the line and even bite his nose. He goofed around with her for a bit while we took pictures and got her autograph booked signed. We left Goofy and walked right into the Pirates queue to give ourselves a break from the heat.

Ella was really warming up to the dark rides now. She seemed to remember the ride a little as she somewhat braced herself for the drop this time. She was pointing and waving at a bunch of the pirates still and again went wild for the dog with the key near the end scene. We stayed in Adventureland and made our way to Aladdin’s Magic Carpets and the Jungle Cruise. Ella didn’t have the same interest in the magic carpets as she did for Pirates but she did seem to enjoy getting squirted with water by the camel as you fly by.

Just as we exited the ride, Aladdin and Jasmine had appeared in their meet and greet spot so again we lined up for a photo. Aladdin got Kelly’s blood boiling by asking how old our son was but that is somewhat commonplace by now! Aside from that, these two were so great! They both got down on the ground and played with Ella while others looked on. At one point Jasmine had Ella resting on her pants only to watch her slide right off her legs due to the slippery surface.

After our visit with Al and Jasmine we hoped aboard the Jungle Cruise to get off our feet for a bit. Last time I took Ella on the JC she was half asleep, this time she was more alert and interested in checking out the animals throughout the tour. We had a good skipper but you could tell she was just a little too used to her spiel as she didn’t quite put the same effort into it as some of the other skippers. Oh well, it was still fun nonetheless.

After JC, we decided to head back to cash in our fastpass to meet Mickey before heading back to the Lodge to rest up for the Halloween party. It was past noon at this point and well past due to get Ella down for a nap. We made our way back down Main Street towards the theatre. We parked the stroller out front and handed our fastpasses to the Cast Member who quickly ushered us into one of the meeting rooms. We lined ourselves up behind a few other families with young children and waited our turn. It was cool to see that both Mickey and Minnie are part of this meet and greet but since we saw Minnie already a few days earlier, Mickey was the main attraction for us. The wait inside the meeting room was relatively quick…maybe 10 minutes at most before we were next in line. A friendly CM grabbed our camera and autograph book so we could go interact with the couple. Ella was her usual self with both Mickey and Minnie, biting/licking their nose and blowing kisses to both of them. The played along for a few minutes while each character signed her book before lining up for a picture. Ella didn’t really pay much attention to the camera which prompted the CM to ask “what is your son’s name?” in order to get her attention. After Kelly exclaimed “ELLA!” the CM quickly corrected herself and somewhat got her attention. We said our goodbyes and decided it was a good time to head back for some R & R.

On our way back to the boat launch, Kelly grabbed a popsicle to share with Ella as a way to beat the heat. Ella enjoyed it a little too much and while it made for some great pictures, it pretty much ruined her outfit!

After a peaceful boat ride back to the Lodge, we met back up with Britt who was really enjoying the sun by the pool. We put Ella to bed, which was much more difficult without the convenience of another room to lounge in while she napped, and we took turns heading to the pool (hot tub in my case) and lying in a dark room trying to be as quiet as possible! We knew the nap was necessary though as we planned on really enjoying the Halloween party later that evening.