Is that a character?! Quick, run the other way! A Nov/Dec Trip Report!

Welcome to my trip report – thanks in advance for taking time to read!

Now that the holidays have wrapped and we’re back to “normal” life, I thought it was about time I stopped reading about everyone else’s trip and get rolling on my report! I had so much fun writing my first report last spring that I decided to take another crack at it (I’ve linked my first report to my signature if you’re interested). Thanks for joining me on this adventure!

The Cast & StatsThe trip included me (Mike), DW (Chrissy) and DD (Addie). Addie turned two a couple weeks before we left, so this was her official “2nd Birthday Trip”!

Trip Dates: November 29 – December 6, 2011

Resort: Boardwalk Villas

Chrissy and I are both HUGE Disney fans. We were engaged in the Rose Garden at Cinderella castle in March 2002 (almost 10 years…yikes!) and spent our honeymoon in WDW and aboard the Disney Magic in October 2003. Since then, we’ve visited at least once or twice a year. The only trip that we ever had to be “postponed” was a holiday trip we had planned for December 2009 (I was going to sing in the Candlelight Processional!). We had it all booked and a couple weeks later found out that Chrissy was pregnant and our little princess was due in November. So, we decided to postpone until June 2010 and take her on her first Disney adventure when she was 7 months old. We had an incredible trip but decided to wait until she was two to take her again. There was no way we could wait that long to return, so last March the two of us had a little getaway in the world to satisfy us until this trip! (my trip report from that adventure is posted below!) Although we were really excited to take her back now that she was older, we were also very nervous about the “terrible two’s” rearing their ugly head!

 

[DisneyFan1003]

Addie kept watching the princesses as they made their way around the room and would yell “Hi” to anyone that looked her way. Success!!! Our meals were fantastic and Addie inhaled her noodles – life was good. Our dessert arrived (we both ordered the chocolate mousse – outstanding!) and Addie was presented with a giant cupcake on a platter with a dish of ice cream and small bowls of various sprinkles to add to the frosting. Since it was her birthday, our server brought her cupcake with a candle and a birthday card signed by all of the princesses. He announced to the restaurant that it was Princess Addison’s birthday and everyone sang! (surprisingly, her’s was the only birthday announced). After she blew out her candle, Addie dove into the cupcake.

Happy Birthday Princess Addison!

Ok – if either of us had one complaint about this dining experience, it would be the cupcake. I’m sure I speak for every other parent of a small child at that particular lunch! The cupcakes were beautifully frosted with FIRE ENGINE RED FROSTING! What??!! This was the kind of frosting that was SO red it would stain your fingers and Disney was passing it out to kids who had trouble hitting their mouths, much less keeping themselves tidy during a meal! We looked around and saw dozens of parents grabbing Wet Ones and hovering has their kids ate. I don’t care if she makes a mess when she eats, but she’d ruin her clothes if this stuff got on them – no Tide stick was a match for the red frosting!

 

[DisneyFan1003]

The more we tried to clean her up, the more agitated she got – and that sentiment was quickly spreading around the room. Angry cries from kids being wiped down were starting to be heard from every corner!! After a few minutes, it was evident she had no intention of eating the cake and was simply going to suck down all the frosting. We cleaned her up and said it was time to go, taking our cue from most of the surrounding tables. We grabbed our loot and headed for the spiral staircase. With each step, she was getting closer to meltdown mode and by the time we were walking out into Fantasyland, she erupted. Addie had officially hit the wall and had gone nuclear. As I mentioned earlier, this was uncharted territory for us and, for the second day in a row, we found ourselves in the throes of a tantrum. Fantasyland was swamped leaving few options for a retreat. We found ourselves off to the side between the Cinderella fountain and the princess shop trying to calm her down. No luck – she was gone!

We were trying to stay calm and smile at guests passing by – most of whom gave us a sympathetic smile. Some even said “feel your pain – we’ve been there”. Thanks! Now, most of this approximate 25 minute sequence of events is a blur with one exception. While trying to keep Addie from wiggling her way out of my grasp and falling, she smacked me across the face. Hard. So hard in fact that people around us turned around assuming I had smacked my kid in the Magic Kingdom. I remember Chrissy’s eyes getting really big – I handed Addie to her and said something like “you need to get her away from me for a minute” and I walked away. How did my little princess go from blowing kisses at Snow White to smacking her dad behind the castle!!!

Within a few minutes of that, she had started to wear down, so we walked away and headed towards the land of crying kids – the baby care enter! We got her changed and she sat at the little table in the waiting area and became engrossed in the books and Beauty & the Beast playing on the TV. We both took the opportunity to sit and collect ourselves – this one had blindsided us! After about 10 minutes, we decided we should head back to the resort and try to put her down for a nap. Into the stroller she went and no sooner had we hit the doors to Casey’s (parade filming was at a standstill, so we planned to cut through the shops again) Addie fell asleep! So rather than risk waking her up getting back to the resort, we chose to walk around and let her nap. Now here’s where Disney took over and turned our lemons into a couple truly magical moments!!

 

[DisneyFan1003]

We were able to cross Main Street and walked into Uptown Jewelers to do a little shopping. We rounded the corner and bumped right into the Dapper Dan’s! They had just finished filming something for the parade and ducked inside the shop. The place was practically empty so we struck up a conversation with them. They were commenting on Addie sleeping through all the commotion and I asked if we could get a picture of them around her stroller. They obliged and hammed it up for the picture.

Before we knew it, one of them hummed a note and they broke out into “A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes” – the Dapper Dan’s were serenading a sleeping Addie! We quickly grabbed the video camera to capture the moment (minus the first couple seconds) Here’s the video:

Dapper Dan Video:
http://photobucket.com/dapperdan

Chrissy got it all on tape and I was snapping pictures. By this time a crowd of about 30 or 40 people started to gather around to watch. I heard people commenting “oh, she’s sleeping – what an awesome moment”…and it was! It was something we’ll never forget…just a totally random little un-staged Magic Moment from Disney. After what we had dealt with over the last hour, this totally caught us off guard and, suddenly, our Fantasyland episode was a distant memory! When they finished the song (as you can see in the video) one of the performers motioned for the crowd to stay quiet and everyone clapped very softly. I will admit Chrissy and I got choked up for a moment – this blew lunch out of the water….but the best was yet to come!

 

[DisneyFan1003]

After that, we continued through the shops talking about the experience and overhearing others talking about it…very cool! We had been on the hunt for a new topper for our huge Disney tree in our lower level family room. I had gotten a new, bigger tree because we had outgrown the other. When I put it up before the trip I realized it was so tall that my cool Santa Mickey topper (purchased years ago at the Christmas shop in Liberty Square) no longer fit! For now, a pair of my Mickey ears sat atop the tree, and that was about all that would fit. We walked down to the hat shop and found the perfect topper – a set of Mickey ears decked out to look like Santa’s suit – red with white fur trim and a black belt! I had them personalize it with our last name and couldn’t wait to see it up on the tree. Here's a not-so-great shot of it from my iPhone when we returned from the trip...I'll post a pic of the tree later!:

While we waited for our order, we walked outside to watch the filming. Poor Indiana Jones had been stuck on top of his float for the last 20 minutes! The parade was finally moving and we spotted Mario Lopez across the way. He was escorted right past us and I had to laugh because there was a group of college students yelling “We love you AC Slater!” lol! Next thing we knew, he was announcing from the balcony over the candy shop. It was kind of fun to watch the filming and see just how “staged” all these spontaneous holiday moments really are! The magic of television!

Mario Lopez!

We were going to keep walking around so Addie could sleep, but it was far too crowded, so we opted to leave. We took the monorail back to TTC and transferred to EPCOT. Addie slept all the way back to EPCOT and woke up as we were going through security. If only she knew what she’d missed! We had missed the dancing fountains all week so were excited to hear the music start up as we were entering Future World. We watched the show and Addie loved the water. When the show ended, we walked to World Showcase and caught the first couple numbers by Off Kilter. Chrissy and I decided it would be best to take Addie back to the room for a while because we planned on heading to DHS that evening to see the Osborne lights. We took off towards the International Gateway, totally unprepared for Magic Moment #2!

 

[DisneyFan1003]

Just as we were descending the hill past UK towards the gates, a door opened off to our right and, seemingly out of nowhere, stepped Cinderella!! In all of our many trips, and countless character meet & greets in this location, we had never seen Cinderella. In fact, I honestly cannot think of a time we found her anywhere out in the parks! Our mouths fell open and Addie bolted up in her stroller and yelled “I see Rella!!! I see Rella!!” She was pointing and squirming to get out of her seat. We looked at each other and knew we had to at least give it a shot so we rushed over to the railing to park the stroller before Cinderella was mobbed. By the time we got Addie out and in line, we were only behind 3 high-school aged girls – not bad at all. I was holding Addie and she was grinning from ear to ear. Fully expecting her to “turn it off” as soon as we got up there, Chrissy told me to just take her up and she grabbed my camera to get a few pictures.

Waiting for Cinderella!

Within a couple minutes, we were next. I could hardly keep hold of her so I thought “maybe she’ll go up by herself?!” I set her down and had my arm around her waist while trying to fish the video camera out of my pocket! She kept saying “I see her…I see her!” I whispered that it was that girl’s turn and she had to wait for Cinderella to say “hello”.

Start your engines!

The girl in front of us finished and Cinderella turned around, knelt down and said “Well, hello Princess!” I let go of Addie and she ran right to her and practically knocked her over!

Aaaaaaand she's off!

 

[DisneyFan1003]

Addie threw her arms around her and attacked with hugs and kisses. Cinderella was asking questions (her name, age, etc.) and Addie was talking up a storm and even said “Love you Rella”! It was one of those perfect “Disney should be shooting a commercial of this scene” moments.

There's that tongue again!

Time to say good-bye

My favorite picture from the entire trip...maybe from any trip!

Chrissy got some fantastic pictures and I was able to get it all on video. When it was time to go, there were goodbye hugs and kisses and Addie waved and yelled “Bye bye Rella – love you so much!” and blew a kiss as we walked away. The crowd was full of “Awwww’s” as we were leaving and an older lady stopped us and said that was the cutest Disney moment she had ever seen! I wholeheartedly agree!!
:sohappy:

 

[DisneyFan1003]

We got Addie back in her stroller and she was turning around and craning her neck to keep her eyes on Cinderella as long as she could. She kept waving and blowing kisses until Cinderella was out of sight and we made our way through the International Gateway. We both practically skipped back to the BW – finally, after so many character disappointments and the rush of the Princess lunch, we had THE PERFECT Disney character moment. I told Chrissy that we could go home right then because I got exactly what I wanted out of the trip! We laughed at the thought that if she hadn't thrown a tantrum, our timing might not have worked for us to pass that spot at that exact moment. We were truly lucky! For the next few days, any time we’d walk through that gate, Addie would point to the spot where we met Cinderella and tell us that‘s where she saw her. To this day, if someone asks her what she did at Disney, the response is “I see Rella!”

We returned to the room and decided to crash for a bit. We got Addie cleaned up and changed and let her watch a video and play for a bit. I decided to head back to DTD to pick up my print while Chrissy and Addie relaxed. After the insane crowds down there the night before, I knew it would be easier to go alone. I left around 4:00 and a DTD bus pulled up at the stop as soon as I walked up (the Magic continues!). We had some Disney Visa rewards burning a hole in our pockets so I decided to use those towards my purchase – only problem was that I didn’t have a rewards card with me! When I got to the Marketplace I headed down to Guest Services. I noticed a Disney Visa service desk with no line – perfect! When I got over there and explained to them what I needed, they told me I could only get a rewards card from Guest Services and not from them. What? Aren’t you the Visa card service desk? Made no sense, but I went to the other counter and stood in a very long, slow moving line. There was a couple in front of me that literally drove to DTD for the first time, had no tickets, hotel reservations or clue where they were going or what they were doing. Who does that? They do apparently! I finally got to the front, got my card and was on my way to the Art of Disney. Hooray!

Thankfully, the store was much less crowded than the night before, but I could not find a cast member anywhere. I finally spotted someone on the other side of the store with another customer and waited. And waited. And waited! I walked up to try and get her attention and it sounded like this guy was simply in there to chat about the art and had no intention of buying anything. He was just bored and chatty! I’m on a mission dude….let’s move it! Finally someone came out from the back and I told him what I wanted. He explained that it was a limited edition, signed by the artist and was a limited edition of 20. I said “Wow, only 20,000 of them?” and he replied “No, just 20 – two-zero”. WOW!!! He went in back and returned to tell me that he had #10 of 20 for me! I was thrilled! I paid for the print, arranged shipping home and was on my way! I didn’t have my camera with me that night, so this is a picture from my iPhone. The print arrived within a week in perfect condition and is now proudly displayed!

I took off for the bus stop and was able to jump on the bus right before it pulled away – I got off at the Swan at 5:15 – and hour and 15 minutes there and back. Not too bad! I texted Chrissy and she told me that she had taken Addie for a walk on the Boardwalk and they were near the Dance Hall. I found them playing on the Boardwalk and Addie was having a riot dancing to the music. She said “Shoulder ride Daddy” – my pleasure! That was one of my top moments of the trip – the three of us wandering down the Boardwalk, Addie on my shoulders in no rush to get anywhere. Loved it! We started to discuss dinner and, since we did not have ADR’s and options are limited at DHS, we chose to grab something on the Boardwalk, eat in the room and then head out. We stopped at Big River Grille and ordered some fantastic salads. I had the grilled chicken cashew and Chrissy had the grilled chicken Caesar. Both were excellent – filling but not too heavy. We ducked in at the General Store to grab some drinks and were surprised to find that they carried the Fairytale Cuvee recommended by Hollybelle, but out of stock at DTD! We attempted to purchase a bottle, but knew we couldn’t take it on the plane (and did not want to risk it in our checked bags) and were shocked to find out that they won’t ship it home! What a bummer. Next time we’ll just have to buy the bottle and drink it there!

 

[DisneyFan1003]

We got back to the room, ate dinner, changed and headed out for DHS. It was a beautiful evening – the weather was perfect. We enjoyed a really nice walk to DHS but were shocked by how crazy the bag check/ticket lines were! There were cheerleaders EVERYWHERE! Some of the groups were beyond obnoxious in line – I’m not interested in your spirit while trying to get through the turnstiles! I will, however, give props to a coach from one squad – when we made it through the gate, I hear her pull the team together and tell them that no one was here to listen to them cheer and be annoying so to keep it in check. She said if she heard them, or found out they were bothering people, they were going back to the hotel, no questions asked! BRAVO!!! I wanted to personally thank her, but they took off and I didn’t have the chance.

The park was packed that night and Mulch, Sweat and Sheers were playing a concert in front of the hat. It was so loud I swear the ground was shaking. With the incredible noise and crush of people, we were on a mission to get out of the hub as fast as possible. We were attempting to fight our way back to the Osborne lights and, I will say, it was the most disorganized I’ve ever seen crowd control at Disney. It was very confusing trying to follow the signs in the dark and very few cast members along the way to help guide the crowd.

We finally made it back there and it was a sea of humanity. Holy cow – I’ve never seen that attraction so slammed. Addie was totally zoned by the lights and loved the music. It’s always amazing to see what they can do with the lights and getting them do “dance” with the music. We snapped some pictures and got in line for PhotoPass. The couple in front of us was next and we thought they’d go pretty quickly – no such luck. Just as they were called forward, a caravan of HUGE scooters appeared out of the crowd and their group went from two to 8! Improper line etiquette if you ask me! After our picture, we started to make our way out of the crowd.

Addie fell asleep in her stroller as we left the park, so we enjoyed a slow walk back to BW. We grabbed some FANTASTIC cupcakes for us and a cookie for sleeping Addie at the Sweet Shop. She was still out, so we stopped to watch a little street show – it was a guy doing magic and he was really funny. He pulled someone from the audience, asked where he was from and turns out he was also from Peoria, IL and worked at the local paper…small world! The show as a lot of fun! When it ended, we walked back to the room. Addie woke up as we got back, but she was so out of it, we got her changed and she was in bed within about 15 minutes. We took our cupcakes to the balcony, enjoyed our dessert, listened to Illuminations and talked about our wild, magical day at Disney!

 

[joanna71985]

Awww! I love the Cinderella pictures!

 

[snookie5605]

i almost cried with the guys serenading your little girl and with cinderella! i hope something like that happens when we go with ours! ill be a mess :ROFLOL:

 

[DisneyFan1003]

Awww! I love the Cinderella pictures!

Thanks - it was just about as perfect as we could hoped for! :sohappy:

i almost cried with the guys serenading your little girl and with cinderella! i hope something like that happens when we go with ours! ill be a mess :ROFLOL:

Awww, thanks! I hope you guys get your own "magic moment" while you're there! For me, the best part about both of those experiences was that they happened totally by chance. We just happened to be in the right place at the right time. The princess lunch was great, but we PAID for that magic! (Well, technically, I guess we paid for all the magic, but you get the point! )

Thanks for reading...glad you're enjoying it!

 

[accord99cutie]

I am enjoying your report very much! Our son will be 23 months on our next trip (he was 13months for his first) so I am enjoying reading about how your daughter did with different things! She is quite the cutie! I have started planning out our dining reservations and I have decided, after reading your report, to include more face character meals just incase our littlest one is not into the "big" characters this trip! Can't wait to read more!!

 

[angieandtrevor]

Thanks so much! Yeah....I'm rather biased, but she's pretty darn cute! :ROFLOL:

Your son will have a blast - we took Addie when she was 7 months and it was much easier than this time! haha! I think the main thing we screwed up was our overall daily schedule. Part of it was due to the fact that I made all of our ADR's back in June and, at this age, their schedules change so quickly that our times didn't match up by the time the trip rolled around. If I had it to do over, I think I'd skip making any lunch ADR's and head back to the room earlier for naps. Would have saved us a lot of headaches! The last few days of the trip we did that and things improved greatly. It also helped that she had her toys/dvd's back at the room so, when we were there, she had her "stuff". That helped her have "chill out" time. Meals were probably the most difficult thing to deal with - she's not a super picky eater but wasn't too keen on most of the stuff we had down there. We always packed a lot of snacks when we left the room (grapes, cheerios, cereal bars, etc) so at least she'd eat something! We had a villa with a kitchen, so that was really helpful. Ordered Easy Mac through the grocery place and 9 times out of 10, she was happier eating that in the room!

Have a great trip!!QUOTE]

As much as we are trying to plan this vacation we realize by the time we actually go things could be completely different since that is how things go with little ones. We are really going to try and just go with the flow and the planner in me is going to relax and just enjoy things as they come. We are only doing 4 days at Disney and then we are hopping the Fantasy for 7 nights. We did a B2B Cruise when Oliver was only 6 months and even though we have been on many cruises it is definitely much different travelling with children. However seeing things through their little eyes for the first time certainly makes it all worth it.

Oh and the pictures of her running to Cinderella really brought tears to my eyes, that was such a sweet and special moment !!!!

 

[DisneyFan1003]

I am enjoying your report very much! Our son will be 23 months on our next trip (he was 13months for his first) so I am enjoying reading about how your daughter did with different things! She is quite the cutie! I have started planning out our dining reservations and I have decided, after reading your report, to include more face character meals just incase our littlest one is not into the "big" characters this trip! Can't wait to read more!!

Glad you're enjoying the report! Dining with face characters is a good move - she just would have nothing to do with the others. At first we were disappointed but knew we'd be back this year to try it again! It was funny to realize how quickly we adapted and learned to just roll with it! I'm a bit behind but should have another update later today!

Thanks so much! Yeah....I'm rather biased, but she's pretty darn cute! :ROFLOL:

Your son will have a blast - we took Addie when she was 7 months and it was much easier than this time! haha! I think the main thing we screwed up was our overall daily schedule. Part of it was due to the fact that I made all of our ADR's back in June and, at this age, their schedules change so quickly that our times didn't match up by the time the trip rolled around. If I had it to do over, I think I'd skip making any lunch ADR's and head back to the room earlier for naps. Would have saved us a lot of headaches! The last few days of the trip we did that and things improved greatly. It also helped that she had her toys/dvd's back at the room so, when we were there, she had her "stuff". That helped her have "chill out" time. Meals were probably the most difficult thing to deal with - she's not a super picky eater but wasn't too keen on most of the stuff we had down there. We always packed a lot of snacks when we left the room (grapes, cheerios, cereal bars, etc) so at least she'd eat something! We had a villa with a kitchen, so that was really helpful. Ordered Easy Mac through the grocery place and 9 times out of 10, she was happier eating that in the room!

Have a great trip!!QUOTE]

As much as we are trying to plan this vacation we realize by the time we actually go things could be completely different since that is how things go with little ones. We are really going to try and just go with the flow and the planner in me is going to relax and just enjoy things as they come. We are only doing 4 days at Disney and then we are hopping the Fantasy for 7 nights. We did a B2B Cruise when Oliver was only 6 months and even though we have been on many cruises it is definitely much different travelling with children. However seeing things through their little eyes for the first time certainly makes it all worth it.

Oh and the pictures of her running to Cinderella really brought tears to my eyes, that was such a sweet and special moment !!!!

Thanks for reading! Yeah...that whole Cinderella encounter could not have been more perfect. Add to that the Dapper Dans and our heads were spinning by the end of the day!

Going with the flow is about all you can really do with a little one! We're both crazy planners as well and our first two trips with Addie have pretty much smashed those plans, but it's OK. It is so cool to watch them take it all in that, after awhile, you don't care that you missed half the rides in the park! I'm going to enjoy it now because someday, she either won't want to go or we'll get down there and be too "un-cool" to spend time with! THAT'S when we can take off and do all the stuff we missed! :ROFLOL:

Hope you post a report about your upcoming trip/cruise! We JUST booked our Disney cruise for next fall to celebrate our 10 year anniversary. We've done the Disney Cruise twice, but this will be Addie's first...can't wait!

Glad you're enjoying the repot...hoping to update later today!

 

[DisneyFan1003]

Sorry for the delayed update! I guess life doesn't care that I have a WDW trip report to finish!!!

Day 6 – Sunday, December 4

Chrissy and I were both up early on Sunday – we had a big long day ahead. We were starting the day with ADR’s at Kona for breakfast at 8:30 and ending with MVMCP that evening! We were both up and ready by the time Addie woke at 7:30. We were all out the door by 8 and on our way to the bus stop. There was a Disney Transportation rep at the bus stop that morning and he was a lot of fun – talking up the guests and playing with the kids. He spotted Addie’s birthday button on her stroller and gave her a pink pirate bandana as a special birthday prize. She thought that was great and played with it the rest of the morning – many thanks for the distraction!

The bus took a few minutes but finally arrived and we were at the MK in no time. We hopped off the bus and took off for the resort monorail and just missed it! By the time we caught the next one, and made our way to the Poly, it was about 8:45, so we checked in 15 minutes late. The hostess was very understanding and we were seated in less than 10 minutes. Chrissy and I had our first breakfast at Kona back in March and were instantly in love – how did we miss this on all our past trips?! She ordered the French toast and Addie got a Mickey pancake. I failed to try the Tonga Toast on our first visit, and was very tempted to have it this time, but those darn Pineapple/Macadamia pancakes were calling my name. Sadly, I had been thinking about them since March and could hear them calling my name. Sorry Tonga Toast…maybe next time!

What's more fun than jelly packets?!

We enjoyed a fantastic breakfast that was only less than perfect due to the INCREDIBLY loud guest a couple tables over. Apparently she thought that the entire restaurant was interested in everything she was saying and could not control the volume. We noticed people seated around us tossing glances her way as if willing her to shut up….alas, it did not work! The poor manager got trapped when he stopped to ask if everything was OK and she cornered him to expound on how wonderful their server was. I’m all for giving props for great service, but you would think this guy had given them a free meal, park tickets and resort stay on top of it! And the volume only increased with her excitement! I quickly paid the check and we took off – listening to her voice echo through the lobby! We checked out the Poly for a bit and found someone to snap a picture of us near the Poly tree.

 

[DisneyFan1003]

It was decided we would take a trip to GF to show Addie the gingerbread house and GF tree. Addie didn’t seem too interested in the house, but was blown away by the big tree! She had fun in the lobby and quickly found the little chairs in front of the TV playing Mickey cartoons. I took lots of pictures of the decorations and attempted a few more gingerbread shots for my project.

We opted to skip MK this morning and get Addie back to the resort by lunchtime for a nap. My hope was that if she napped during the afternoon, she’d stay awake a bit longer that evening so we could enjoy MVMCP and the parade! We stopped at the Contemporary and took a few more gingerbread pictures and checked out the decorations. I will say that I was kind of disappointed in the gingerbread tree at Contemporary – they had a boring black “trade show” drape behind it – I expected more! We stayed at BLT on Addie’s first trip and it was funny to watch her walk around the lobby like a big kid – the last times she was there, she couldn’t even walk!

After we left the Contemporary, we hopped the monorail to the TTC and then transferred back to EPCOT. We enjoyed an uneventful and leisurely stroll through WS on our way back to BW. We fed Addie and got her down for a nap – she slept for over 2 ½ hours!!
:sohappy:

 

[DisneyFan1003]

Taking advantage of the 1Br villa setup, while Addie napped in the living room, we sadly broke out the suitcases and started gathering our stuff. We weren’t leaving until Tuesday, but thought we might as well get it done! We organized our “piles” and got quite a bit packed before we decided it was too depressing! To lift our spirits we began discussing the dates for our next trip. Typically we would have had that figured out and booked before leaving for our current trip, but November was a crazy month and it had slipped past us. We knew we wouldn’t have a chance this spring, and already had a bunch of summer plans, so settled on late October. Our anniversary and Chrissy’s birthday are earlier that month, and Addie’s will be just around the corner, so we’ll have lots to celebrate. Plus, we’d have a chance to check out MNSSHP – possibly even on October 31! I called DVC member services and booked a 1Br villa at SSR – our home resort. I’m planning to call back at our 7 month booking window in March and try to switch for WL or BC, as we are on a mission to try them all!

Balcony view

Next trip is booked....time to relax!


Addie finally woke up around 2:45. Chrissy and I, still full from breakfast, had skipped lunch earlier. By this time we were starving. I had 6:00 ADR’s at The Wave, but knew we wouldn’t last. I had heard great things about Beaches ‘n Cream so we opted to give it a shot. I cancelled our Wave ADR’s (maybe next time!) and we walked over to BC. The wait was only about 15 minutes, which seemed like an eternity for two starving folks! We both ordered burgers and fries and I enjoyed the BEST vanilla coke I’ve ever had! Addie at a big lunch and wasn’t too interested in food, so she colored and picked at our fries. Our server was great and was really fun with Addie. We met the nicest lady seated next to us. She was by herself and started flirting with Addie. We struck up a conversation and found out that, after she retired, she bought herself a condo in Celebration and made a permanent move to be closer to the magic! She was an AP holder and had just come to Beaches & Cream for dinner and was meeting some friends later to catch the fireworks! Chrissy and I decided that it was the PERFECT way to spend retirement….now we only have to wait about 25-30 years and we’ll be all set!

 

[DisneyFan1003]

Before we left, I made the call that milkshakes were in order so we took them to-go and enjoyed them on our way back to BW. We quickly changed for MVMCP and were on our way. All week, the evenings had been very cool, so we dressed for a chilly evening and had our Santa hats with us. Just our luck, this was the warmest evening of the trip! We quickly shed our jackets and hats – figures it was the one night we were HOPING it would be a little cool! I wanted to try and get a couple “evening” pictures in front of the EPCOT topiaries, so we walked through WS and stopped for some pictures. We then headed straight out of EPCOT and caught the monorail to TTC and on to MK.

It was CRAZY outside of the park – people everywhere. I waited in line at the ticket window and picked up our tickets and wristbands. The ticket lines were crazy and people were looking disgruntled, so my assumption was that the party was sold out. I was glad we had ordered our tickets way back in August! Chrissy and I have traveled to WDW many times at the holidays, but have always arrived on Christmas day or after, so we’ve never had a chance to attend the party and were very excited. Our only hesitation was that we were really looking forward to all the great character opportunities. With Addie’s track record for the week, we weren’t holding our breath that we’d get to take advantage of many character meets. We made our way up Main Street around 6:30. The park was chaotic with party guests arriving and others making their way out. It was almost worse that parade filming day!

 

[DisneyFan1003]

Addie kept talking about riding on a boat, so we headed towards the Happiest Cruise that Ever Sailed for another journey on Small World. It wasn’t exactly what I had hoped to be doing, but Addie was thrilled, so that’s what counted!

Make the music stop!

Creepy moon over the castle

We started walking through Fantasyland and noticed the characters were out. I made the mistake of pointing out a few to Addie and hands when over the eyes followed by “Noooo…I go bye bye”. I guess the Cinderella love was over! We needed to make a stop at the Baby Care Center and when we came out; we noticed that people were already lining up for the parade. We found a spot about halfway down Main Street – right on the curb. There was a really nice family seated next to us with two girls several years older than Addie. They were playing with her and she was totally entertained for quite some time. I had to laugh to myself….we spent all this money on party tickets, etc. and she would rather sit on the curb and goof around with strangers!

We took turns walking her around Main Street – unfortunately we were sitting right in front of an entrance to The Emporium so she wanted to go wander through the merchandise! She kept walking by a display of Baby Minnie plush and talking to them – always with her hands behind her back. When it was time to go back outside, she blew Minnie a kiss and say “bye bye”. I got her settled outside with Chrissy, went back in and bought Baby Minnie…. Ok…I’m a sucker! While she was playing with her new prize, I went off in search of hot chocolate and cookies. I found the treats up where Tomorrowland Noodle Station is usually located. Chrissy and I enjoyed our hot chocolate and cookies – Addie was happy with her own milk but devoured the cookie. Before the parade started, we grabbed a PhotoPass photographer and got some pictures with those darn Santa hats it was too warm to wear. (I honestly don’t know how people can stand to wear those types of hats around the parks in the summer!)

 

[DisneyFan1003]

Before we knew it, the parade was starting. I was excited to use my new camera to hopefully get some great pictures. Foiled again! Addie had become a “Daddy’s girl” over the course of the trip and wanted to sit with me, so Chrissy had camera duty. Unfortunately, the first float came by, there were characters on the street, and Addie plastered her hands over her eyes! C’mon kid…it’s the Christmas parade! I was able to pry her hands off long enough to wave to Cinderella, but that was it. After a bit, we gave up and decided to enjoy the parade ourselves so the evening wasn’t a total bust! It was fantastic – easily one of my favorite parades at WDW. You can’t beat the toy soldiers and I love all the smells coming from the various floats. It was also really cool to see some of the more rare characters getting some parade time. Our seats were perfect and despite Addie hiding from the whole thing, we loved it! Just as Santa was approaching, Addie decided to uncover her eyes and turn around. Big mistake. She is more afraid of Santa than the characters! Back in November we had taken Addie and the boys (our dogs, Sam & Jack) to a charity event where you could have family pics with your pets and Santa. She was so afraid of Santa, they had to ask him to leave the room while we had our pictures taken! So, once she saw him up on the float in front of her, she wanted to leave…NOW!

Taking a peek at Cinderella

Chrissy took her into the shops and I was left on the curb to gather up all our bags and grab the stroller, which I had parked back in a corner near a store window. I had my camera around my neck at this point, and my hands were full with our bag, jackets, etc. (all the stuff you don’t want to leave unattended in the stroller). I got back to the stroller and my camera was bouncing around my neck, so I set down the bags, took off my camera and set it on a very wide window ledge. I bent down to get my camera bag to put it away when it happened – the camera slid off the ledge and hit the ground. I froze. I had been SOOOOO careful all week to keep it protected and this happened?! I quickly grabbed it and started to check it out – turning it on and snapping pictures. It still worked, but I noticed the “lip” around the lens glass was scratched and dented. I didn’t understand how it could have fallen – this window ledge was probably a foot wide. I took a look and realized that the ledge was built at a very slight angle – I think the camera strap slid and the weight pulled the rest of it down. I felt sick!

I packed everything up and set off to find Chrissy and Addie. As soon as she saw me she said “what happened?” I guess it was on my face! I told her about the crash and got one of those stern wife-ly looks that I love! Haha! Thankfully, the camera worked fine for the rest of the trip. I took it in to my local camera shop and they found that, in addition to the lens, my control dial was slightly chipped and loose. I’m actually taking it in this weekend and they are going to ship it back to Nikon for repairs – I wanted to get through the holidays and a few other big events we’ve had over the last month before being without it for a few weeks. Lesson learned on my part!