Let Them Eat CAKE!!! Trip Report

HouCuseChickie · Aug 26, 2011

...but I was in the crowd and we had our priorities.

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With fastpasses in hand, we were off to do fun things in the meantime...

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...or so I thought.

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Apparently, both girls just wanted to be aliens, but I was hoping to do more...so we headed off towards the Phineas and Ferb meet and greet.

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Along the way, the girls tried out the Singing in the Rain umbrella. It really frustrated Kendall not being able to reach the handle, but Sammie just had fun trying to make it rain.

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My fave shot is this one where it almost looks like snow...kind of reminded me of the December trip.

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Speaking of which...I took this shot up the streets of America- kind of sad seeing it without the Osborne Lights. I know Disney doesn't maintain the “every day is Christmas to me” mindset that Jennings Osborne had, but in light of his recent death :cry:

...I thought a fitting tribute might have been to put some of the lights up early. OK- sure some of that is fueled by self serving wishes for amazing holiday lights and I know a display of this magnitude can't be done quickly, but it would have been nice to have some off season tribute.

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***I'll probably post some more tonight after the girls go to bed.

mamamouse · Aug 26, 2011

that's aewsome thanks so much for finding that on ebay,goodstuff that's definately where I'll get it then n this way our park money can go towards other things.I havent been to Hollywood and vine since 2006,we went for lunch n sadly it was one of our worst until last november when garden grill was a total disappointment but if hollywood n vine brought jake in we'd def

inately give it a go again

HouCuseChickie · Aug 27, 2011

mamamouse said:
that's aewsome thanks so much for finding that on ebay,goodstuff that's definately where I'll get it then n this way our park money can go towards other things.I havent been to Hollywood and vine since 2006,we went for lunch n sadly it was one of our worst until last november when garden grill was a total disappointment but if hollywood n vine brought jake in we'd definately give it a go again

I saw a few of them on there...I usually use key worse like disney, park, and the princess name to try and find the park authentic merch on there. While some of the Jasmine bags on there are below park prices, stay clear of some of the merch like the costumes. People jack up the prices beyond what you'd spend in the park knowing that you can't get it in the Disney Store, etc.

I'd heard that lunch and dinner are downright awful food wise. The breakfast food though was on par with pretty much every other highly rated breakfast buffet we've visited. While I'd love to see them put Jake in there...I think it might take a year or two for them to throw in Jake...especially considering how long it took for them to replace JoJo and Goliath. Surely they have to know that they'd have a packed house, like other character breakfast, if they upgraded at least one of the characters. Only time will tell on that one.

HouCuseChickie · Aug 27, 2011

Back on track...we walked by Lightning McQueen and Mater next. We'd never stopped to see them before, but there was no line – so why not? Having never done this, I didn't realize that the vehicles react as you approach. This is probably the one moment I really wish I had on video. Kendall and Sammie approached Lightning first and he began revving his engine. The girls shrieked and ran back to me and then started creeping towards him again. The Photopass photographer and other Cms in the area were laughing hysterically.

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There was no line behind us so we could have done this for some time, but I wanted to get pics and move on. It was about this time when they also realized that Mater honks.

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DH eventually joined the fun and we got a more traditional pic. Everyone was still laughing at the girls' reactions as we walked off.

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It was close to 9:30am when we got to the Phineas and Ferb meet and greet area...only problem, the boys don't come out to play until 10. The girls didn't want to do anything else, so we pretty much just hung out and let them play in the area. I took some pics of the meet and greet set up...

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(do you see Agent P hiding back there!?!?!?)

...and then dragged Kendall into the shop to check out some merch.

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Around quarter of, a mom and her daughter got in front of the rope where they'd open the line, so I guess we'd be second in line. The line opened up shortly after and we followed them in up to the front.

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(the only thing I really had to look at up towards the front of the line)

HouCuseChickie · Aug 27, 2011

The director came out first but he was concentrating on the back portions of the line (which had grown quite a bit).

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He mainly interacted with people towards the back and reenacted portions of the backyard beach scenes from the Lawn Gnome Beach Party of Terror episode.

I started talking to the CMs up at the front...they were asking the girls if they were excited and I noted how I felt silly, but I was probably more excited to see P&F than the kids. They laughed and said they see a lot of that. So, yea- I am a HUGE Phineas and Ferb fan and while I didn't take away from my kids' meet and greet moment and photos, I snapped pics of the boys running in, screamed like a little kid!!!

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They both darted for Ferb....first Sammie...

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And then Kendall joined in...

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I took some convincing, but I finally got them over to Phineas...

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Of course, if they had Doofenshmirtz out there- I'd be jumping right in there with the kids. LOVE the DOOF!

We walked by Muppets on the way out...

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... and then headed over to TSMM to use our fastpasses.

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HouCuseChickie · Aug 27, 2011

We missed seeing all of the features of the standby line, but I liked being able to walk right up. I guess at least there were still a few things to photograph...

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Nobody could convince Sams that this was the incorrect way to wear your 3D glasses. She seriously had them on this way the ENTIRE ride.

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We also were randomly pulled up to the front of the line...not sure why, but I don't question it when they give me the chance to move up.

My score wasn't great, but it's significantly better than last trip.

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I rode with Sammie, so you can see just how well those glasses worked out for her. Of course she's also 2, and I scored all of her points for her last trip- so I wasn't expecting anything. She may have also been a bit bitter...she's a big Evil Dr. Porkchop fan and I think she would have preferred Hamm over the Alien.

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After TSMM we headed over towards Beauty and the Beast and Tower of Terror. The Sorcerer Mickey topiary along the way made the kids start asking about Fantasmic.

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(wonder what our HOA would say if I added something like this to our landscaping?!?!)

It would be the first time of many during the day when I'd have to tell them no, we are not doing Fantasmic tonight.

I ran over to Tower of Terror to grab a fastpass...this was the one 'just me- I have to ride it' ride of the trip.

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And then I waited with DH and the kids to get into Beauty & the Beast. He was doing a good job entertaining them...

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... but the signage around us brought up the Fantasmic question again. The answer was still no.

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***OK- I need to work past this insomnia and get some sleep. Will post more tomorrow.

sweetpee_1993 · Aug 27, 2011

I'm glad you said something about the insomnia because at 1:30 a.m. last night when I read that I thought, "Oh me, too", and promptly rolled over and went to sleep. LOL!

Hollywood & Vine breakfast definitely seems more appealing than the lunch we had there. I still have no clue who any of the characters are. When we watched Playhouse Disney we had Bear in the Big Blue House, Rolie Polie Olie, and PB&J Otters. :lol: I love remembering how excited Chandler would get when it was time for Rolie Polie Olie. He'd have his pacifier in his mouth and be hopping around squealing, "Olie-Olie-Olieeeeeeee!!!!" :cry:

I miss those cute little-guy days....

Which leads me to the Phineas & Ferb thing. I tried watching an episode with the boys semi-explaining who was who, etc. Chandler hates the show for some reason. My bet is because it doesn't involve zombies or machine guns or tactical nukes. :lol: I need to revisit this show & try to figure it out. So many people love the show. I have to be missing something. I loved the girls' interactions with these guys. And the Cars characters. Oh my! I was laughing last night reading your description of them sneaking up then running away squealing! Soooo sweet!

This is such a fun TR! I love hearing how the girls take things in, how different they react to things as opposed to less than a year ago, and then the little bits of the things that YOU love or enjoy. So fun! :sohappy:

ashley_marie · Aug 27, 2011

Your daughters are the cutest kids ever

I can't wait to read the rest of your TR

HouCuseChickie · Aug 27, 2011

sweetpee_1993 said:
I'm glad you said something about the insomnia because at 1:30 a.m. last night when I read that I thought, "Oh me, too", and promptly rolled over and went to sleep. LOL!

Hollywood & Vine breakfast definitely seems more appealing than the lunch we had there. I still have no clue who any of the characters are. When we watched Playhouse Disney we had Bear in the Big Blue House, Rolie Polie Olie, and PB&J Otters. :lol: I love remembering how excited Chandler would get when it was time for Rolie Polie Olie. He'd have his pacifier in his mouth and be hopping around squealing, "Olie-Olie-Olieeeeeeee!!!!" I miss those cute little-guy days....

Which leads me to the Phineas & Ferb thing. I tried watching an episode with the boys semi-explaining who was who, etc. Chandler hates the show for some reason. My bet is because it doesn't involve zombies or machine guns or tactical nukes. :lol: I need to revisit this show & try to figure it out. So many people love the show. I have to be missing something. I loved the girls' interactions with these guys. And the Cars characters. Oh my! I was laughing last night reading your description of them sneaking up then running away squealing! Soooo sweet!

This is such a fun TR! I love hearing how the girls take things in, how different they react to things as opposed to less than a year ago, and then the little bits of the things that YOU love or enjoy. So fun! :sohappy:

I'm glad you got some sleep. I will probably posting in insomnia mode again tomorrow as I prep to take on the girls' preschool over some carseat issues. I guess at least that means I'll probably make a lot of progress on this report.

Give it a few years and we too probably wouldn't recognize any of the Playhouse Disney character crew...and that's kind of why I did this. I initially booked Brown Derby, but replaced it with two character meals figuring their interest will only be in the pre-school set for only so long.

That's kind of funny about the zombies...my kids ask to watch things like this, but immediately freak when I turn it on. I think DH and I like Phineas and Ferb more than the girls. I believe the creators worked with The Simpsons and Family Guy- so while still kid friendly, the comedic element is elevated beyond the standard child cartoons of today. They also do a musical number each show that adds to the entertainment. The haven't been showing many of the "older" episodes of late, but you can find comprehensive episode lists on line and many of the episodes are on YouTube. The episode that got me hooked (FlopStarz) was the episode that also convinced Disney execs that they needed to have at least 1 musical number in every single show. This is a link to that episode. I'd like to give you a few other good ones to try and catch, but my short list is around 20 episodes. :lol:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVwBatvXPcA

The Cars thing was just pure vacation gold...it helped that it's something I wasn't aniticipating either.

Glad you're enjoying!

For whatever reason, this trip felt far more whimisical to me than the Dec. vacay. I just felt like I wanted to bottle each moment, so I took tons of pics and notes...and there's so much to come!

ashley_marie said:
Your daughters are the cutest kids ever
I can't wait to read the rest of your TR

Awww- thanks! I'm going to try and post more tonight. Who knows- I might even finish off this day tonight. Thanks for reading! :wave:

HouCuseChickie · Aug 27, 2011

*A side note before I start again- I was looking through the pics from this day and was reminded of a conversation DH and I had before leaving that morning...concerning his shirt. It was one of those “you're wearing that?” discussions. The shirt he's got on for park time is one of his favorite t-shirts... one that should be relegated to rag status IMO. So naturally, he packed it and wore it on the trip! Gotta love it.

We got into B&B pretty shortly, but then the wait for it to start began.

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It wouldn't have been a big deal if it weren't so hot and humid in there. This would be the only time during this trip that we were uncomfortably hot. I know Disney in August is hot for many, but considering the constant triple digit heat plaguing the Houston area (it hit 109 degrees here today!!!)...we actually went to Florida to cool off. In any event- the theater was brutal...small breezes from the a/c here and there and the occasional spritz from a neighboring misting fan, but for the most part- hot, moist, stagnant air. The show eventually started...

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...I thoroughly enjoyed it, but DH fell asleep and Kendall kept telling us they did it wrong. She expected it to follow the movie exactly and couldn't grasp that it was an abridged version. She handled this better with the Little Mermaid at DHS back in December, but she was also 8 months younger at that point. I will say this...we were hot but wearing light summer clothes. The cast members in the show were wearing heavy costumes and had to be feeling much worse than us...professionalism at its finest!

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After B&B I rode ToT. I expected DH to take the girls into a shop with air conditioning or something, but he just had the girls play in a shaded area of one of the ramps leading up to the Fantasmic theater. They at least found another little girl to run around with them.

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This was my first time on ToT. While I LOVE roller coasters that have 200-400ft lift hills that drop you straight at a steep angle and you come back up to another hill and drop, I am not a huge fan of rides that just drop. My friends always dragged me on Free Fall at Great Adventure in NJ as a kid and I despised it, but I decided it was time to try ToT at least to see the elaborate theme worked into it. The Fastpass line was pretty small so I got all the way into the air conditioned hotel before stopping. There were a number of families around me who had ridden it enough times that they were discussing and timing what was about to happen in that first room. Since it was just me...I inched away from them to a quieter group in the room since I didn't want any warnings as to what was about to happen. We were soon in the room with the lines and elevators and I moved up quickly since I was a single rider. I got into the second row along the aisle, buckled up and was ready to go. The actual lead up to the dropping is awesome- nice and creepy, but I'm mixed on my feelings with the rest of the ride. After it went dark and moved a bit I knew we were close to our first drop because the air conditioning was suddenly at our backs and we were facing a lot of heat (i.e. from the outside). Part of me really enjoyed it- I mean I screamed like a little girl and came out with a smile on my face, but I was starting to get that "I hope we're done dropping" feeling towards the end. I've also only ridden drop rides that have shoulder and lap harnesses...so this was the first time I've had that flying out of your seat feeling you get on lap belt roller coasters with a dropping ride. Still glad I did it- total rush, but I'll probably try RnR next time.

I met back up with DH and the girls and we headed back to get fastpasses for StarTours.

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HouCuseChickie · Aug 27, 2011

We had some time to kill after that, so we headed back to Muppet Vision. This didn't go over too well last time, but the girls were doing well with 3D glasses this trip so we gave it a try again.

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I love the Muppets to this day and while I don't see 3D well, how can I pass up a chance to see Beaker???

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(we're all short, so I don't think we have to worry about this)

We walked right in and found seats fairly close to the front...not long after Waldorf and Statler came out and I tested some more settings on the camera. I just love these old guys!!!

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This time the girls left on their glasses and LOVED the show. Part of the time, I just sat there watching them reaction...reaching for everything in front of them and cracking up at every little gag that didn't go over their heads. I was also close enough to try and photograph Sweetums. YAY!

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The only sad part was no visible Swedish Chef at the end. It was totally lost on them when I channeled my best Swedish Chef voice and sang “Yorn desh born, der ritt de gitt der gue, Orn desh, dee born desh, dee umn bork! Bork! Bork!” Oh well, we moved on to shopping.

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The girls naturally gravitated to the plush and I was sooo tempted to buy dresses for them (sorry for the blurr), but..

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HouCuseChickie · Aug 27, 2011

I managed to pacify them with pens and for myself, a Beaker key chain and a Toy Story Vinylmation (ended up with Buttercup).

I still don't know how I managed to get them to part with these plush pals.

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It still wasn't fastpass time so we headed into PizzaPlanet. We had no desire to eat, but we though the girls would enjoy stepping into something from one of their favorite movies.

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(the Claw!!!)

DH and I weren't up for paying for video games and the girls are still young enough to not really care, so they just went up to various machines and faux played. DH and Kendall did some tandem driving while Sammie was tearing things up flying solo.

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I don't know where Sammie got the idea, but she started checking all of the change returns for money. I was shocked that she actually found a quarter. I wanted to get the most of that found $ so I directed them to a basketball game. They had fun shooting at first...not really caring if anything went in.

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Then Kendall sunk her first basket...shock then total excitement!

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That one basket created a monster!!!

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fractal · Aug 27, 2011

Great pictures!

I love Sams wearing her glasses that way. Also - every man is allowed one shirt - no matter how tattered or worn - to keep and wear. It's a guy thing.

HouCuseChickie · Aug 27, 2011

fractal said:
Great pictures!

I love Sams wearing her glasses that way. Also - every man is allowed one shirt - no matter how tattered or worn - to keep and wear. It's a guy thing.

Thanks!

I can handle one shirt, but he's got quite the collection at home and they're all on rotation. :lol: What's really funny- he always talks about needing new t-shirts and I buy them for him, but the old ones still manage their way in. Oh well, I saw far worse in the parks during our trip, so I know it could be MUCH worse.

HouCuseChickie · Aug 28, 2011

They kept shooting but that was the only ball to make it in...at least that's what I thought. This picture seems to tell a different story...

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The girls didn't exactly understand that they only had a limited number of balls/shots. Next thing you know, Kendall was trying to climb into the game to get more balls. Yes, it was a proud moment.

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It was finally fastpass time for StarTours. I opted to have DH ride this with Kendall while I went off to play with Sammie.

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Sadly, Sammie was a screaming crying mess as soon as they walked off. For a good 10 minutes I swore she was screaming that she wanted to ride in the stroller...so I put her in the stroller and pushed her around the area. We talked about Indy and Gertie and pretty much everything else in sight... Then it hit me...she was saying “I want to ride Star Wars.” That wasn't happening, so I needed a suitable distraction. I think we had all 24 of our snack credits left at this time, so I started thinking cupcakes...gee, imagine that! In fact, MillerPoppins' trip reports and glowing reviews of Starring Rolls popped into my head...so I whisked Sams over there to get our sugar fix.

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I took her inside and her eyes popped as soon as she saw the desserts. She originally wanted something that may have been an eclair, but I steered her towards the cupcakes and brownies- hey, gotta go for the really good stuff!!!

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She ended up picking the chocolate peanut butter cupcake. With Kendall off on the ride and a backpack loaded with Clorox wipes and baby wipes, I figured it was safe to have it.

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As you can see, we found a nice table outside and contemplated the cupcake attack. It was at this point that Sammie also told me “no, this my cupcake.”

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To which I responded that I love her and all, but we're sharing!

The cupcake was DIVINE!!! It was also about this time I got a call from DH looking for us. It took them a little while, but they found us and thankfully we were just about done with our cupcake- so I could clean up the area and us to make it safe for Kendall.

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(she actually ate most of it!)

Kendall and DH went inside to pick their snacks and then she marched out and took a seat...

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HouCuseChickie · Aug 28, 2011

...as you can see, she was very excited about her selection.

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I think she's also still excited about Star Tours- she and DH LOVED the ride!

DH came out with an m&m covered brownie. Apparently, the cupcakes weren't safe b/c the nut free ones were housed too closely to the varieties containing nuts (makes sense). They also gave DH a free Mickey cookie with chocolate dipped ears b/c they initially messed up billing...unfortunately, they couldn't guarantee that it was nut free.

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DH and Kendall loved the brownie- said it was really heavy- but equally yummy!

It was time to move on...and Sammie was now navigating...

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...no really. OK, well, we made our way over to the Animation Courtyard. We went into one of the shops and found a shirt I nearly decided I must have...

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...DH must have seen me eyeing the Lenox because he pretty much dragged us out of the store as I was taking this pic. I'll admit it, I have a Lenox addiction. Every year I add at least 5 or 6 Lenox ornaments to our tree and I think he was afraid I'd be coming home with some full priced porcelain (I prefer to bid or buy at discount) if he didn't put an end to this.

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...and then we walked by some of the character meet and greets. The lines were longer than we were willing to wait and FroZone and Mr/Cpt Incredible were about to take a break...so the girls just decided to run around and spin.

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There was a ton of interesting info on the way out- I could have spent hours taking it in...and then I found a case of these beauties...

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(I would like the thank the Academy...)

HouCuseChickie · Aug 28, 2011

We left and I shot some pics under the Disney Jr Mickey (we'd be going here for our next activity)...

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...and made a quick stop in a small shop (a prince fashion collection, really??? :lol

...

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(even Kendall laughed at this one:ROFLOL

...and then we waited on line to be let into the Disney Junior theater. We saw some of the Little Einsteins as we waited, I snapped some pics (imagine that...

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(I can NEVER remember the name of Leo's sis

)

... and then it was time to go in.

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HouCuseChickie · Aug 28, 2011

The girls LOVED this show! I tried to take pics along the way, but they'd always get shy when I tried to photograph them getting into the show. We all knew the songs- so we were all singing along- myself and DH included. The gold doubloons and the bubbles were the biggest hits of the show, but seeing many of their faves on stage was huge. Just hearing them call for Tootles still makes me so happy. In fact, they're still singing the songs from the show! And I unpacked a few more of the small bags today and found some of the gold doubloons I had stashed away for Sammie. I took a ton of pics in the show (it's almost like a flip book for the kids), but here's a sample of some of the better ones (it's tough to take good pics when you're bouncing around)...

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(Oh Tootles!!!)

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(bubbles?)

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(no- LOTSA BUBBLES!!! YAY!!!) <-- the gold doubloons would come down the same way.

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We decided it was time to call it a day. We had an 8:15pm adr at 'Ohana and I wanted these girlies rested. I started taking some "good-bye DHS" pics on the way out...

good-bye hat...

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good-bye film and stars everywhere...

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HouCuseChickie · Aug 28, 2011

I snapped pics on the way out including some street performances going on.

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(we were walking really quickly at this point and very little was in focus)

And finally we were in the home stretch to the gate...

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...bye bye Pluto

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...bye bye Mickey

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Hey, at least we'll pick up the bus at a more normal spot than our drop off!

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Here's DH now walking the stroller/girls back to the room...

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And waiting for us were toys ready for nap time and our one and only towel creation of the trip (we didn't even get a towel Mickey on day 1!

).

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fractal · Aug 28, 2011

Great update and pics!

It's amazing how we are both doing a report of a vacation at the same Resort, yet few of our pictures show the same thing. Your experience was very different than mine. How many vacation spots can you say that about?

This is what I try to tell people when the say "you're going to Disney again?".

One thing that was the same was eating at "StarringRolls". I took the same recommendation from Miller Poppins and yes it was yummy!

Looking forward to more!

Let Them Eat CAKE!!! Trip Report

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