Our POP surprise!!! (A Sept. 24-28. 2012 trip report)

Hello all, I posted a little over a month ago about my husband surprising me and my daughter with a trip to the World. What a great husband and dad!



Our trip took place Sept. 24-28, 2012, and we stayed at POP Century Resort. A couple warnings before we start off, I’m not the best photographer. I like to point and click most of the time and try to capture the moment the best I can, so these are in no way the best photos you will see of the world. Also, this is my first trip report and I tried to take some photos of things I like to see in TR ‘s that I read, but sometimes I forgot that was plan, but I remembered more so throughout the trip.



Cast of characters:


Rick (DH)
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April (DD)
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And me, Crystal
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Here is Rick’s packing list, with some April flare!
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Day 1: Plane, POP and EPCOT

4:30 AM!!!! Beep, beep, beep… ugh! The only thing that gets me motivated at that time is knowing we are off to Disney. April got up and was pretty excited. She chatted all the way to airport. She was a little grumpy when we got there, hunger hit her little tummy. After we made her eat some ultra expensive eggs (we didn’t take the time to find MD’s, silly us) she perked up in time to get on the plane. Right away she stops at the 3rd or 4th row and declares “I found us some seats”. LOL!



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After our arrival we got on the Magic Express where I took some horrid pictures. April enjoyed the video and cartoons on the way to Pop.
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As we pulled up to Pop I must say I was instantly impressed. The grounds were very nice. Check in was snap, and the CM gave me and April each a carnation, which I meant to take a picture of, but I forgot. They did sit in water by our sink through the length of our visit though. Our room was ready right away. We got a 50’s room facing the pool, just like we wanted. Again, I know the decorations on the grounds are larger than life, but I really liked them.
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After a quick stop in the room we opted to eat lunch at Everything Pop. Rick got a burger and fries, April got nuggets and I opted for chilli cheese fries (which I was not impressed with). April didn’t like her nuggets either, so I ate them, I thought they were pretty good. No complaints from Rick on his burger. I didn’t take food pictures at this meal. Ooops… I get better at that on the rest of the trip though.

We finally got to our first park… EPCOT!!!! (About an hour later then we hoped as became a trend for us most of the trip).

Our first stop was Soarin to see if any FP’s were available, they sure were, so grabbed some FP’s for an eight o’clock return, and hopped in line since it was about a 30 min wait. We met a lady in line who worked at MK at Peter Pan and Small World. She told us to drop her name the next evening if we were there since she was working and maybe she could get us on faster. Hmmm…
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April looooooved Soarin!!! She said the only part that she didn’t like was the fireworks at the end. Uh-oh! She hasn’t really liked fireworks since she was one. We have tried several times to take her to see fireworks and only once did she enjoy them. This trip…. No dice mom and dad. Not worth the agony and guilt.

Next up was Nemo.
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After we hit up Nemo it was time for a Popsicle break, and plan our next move. We decided to start our tour of World Showcase. We opted to start off in Mexico and went on Three Caballeros, we also stopped at the fountain for April to make some wishes. She takes her wish making very seriously. She took about 5 minutes for each penny she threw. (Note to self… only give her two pennies next time.) I’m pretty sure each wish involved something about becoming and mermaid and for her future daughter to become one too.
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Then… margarita time for me!! What a great idea. This might become a tradition for me, to get a marg before we start our Show Case tour and sip it while we walk. Our maybe I will try some of the other frozen alcoholic concoctions I’ve read so much about.
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After my marg purchase we stopped and let April bang on the drums. She made up song about being at EPCOT and Disney while she played.
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Then we stopped in Germany just in time to line up for Snow White. The line got cut off right after us. Snow White is also my husband's favorite princess.
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bucklepants

Active Member
Original Poster
Really appreciate your trip report. I love reading TR's from other parents with a small child since we will be taking our not quite 3 yr old for the first time next May. Plus I noticed you used your Mini City Stroller which I also have. Looks like April rode in hers fine and had a great time.

Thanks again for posting!!

The mini works great. Folds up nice a quick for the buses. Our first with April she was almost 3. She had a lot of the same trouble eating until the last couple days of the trip. We paid $5 for a plain hotdog and was happy to do so just to see her eat. Also, trying to go the hotel for afternoon naps didn't work with her. We'd get to the hotel and she would just want to swim. Of course she was never an easy napper. However, if we just let her zonk out in the stroller while at the parks she would sleep about an hour. If she zonked at lunch or dinner we just let her. It worked well, Rick and I would take turns riding grown up rides while she slept. Then we'd leave the parks around 5/6 and swim in the evenings.

Hope you have a great first trip with your little one.
 

bucklepants

Active Member
Original Poster
Oh yeah especially when your "plan" is to make them so happy with the trip and have it be everything they've ever dreamed of. When they get cranky it's hard to remember that to them, it's still everything they dreamed it'd be. Half the time if you bring it up a month later they'll deny being cranky at all on the trip! LOL!

LOL!!!! You are so right!!! Very well said. The day we left all of that melted away. She didn't want to leave. She already wants to go back and we are talking about next years trip! Hopefully minus one stroller. We plan on taking lots of walks this next year to train her little legs.
 

6laurac

Well-Known Member
The mini works great. Folds up nice a quick for the buses. Our first with April she was almost 3. She had a lot of the same trouble eating until the last couple days of the trip. We paid $5 for a plain hotdog and was happy to do so just to see her eat. Also, trying to go the hotel for afternoon naps didn't work with her. We'd get to the hotel and she would just want to swim. Of course she was never an easy napper. However, if we just let her zonk out in the stroller while at the parks she would sleep about an hour. If she zonked at lunch or dinner we just let her. It worked well, Rick and I would take turns riding grown up rides while she slept. Then we'd leave the parks around 5/6 and swim in the evenings.

Hope you have a great first trip with your little one.
Really appreciate it! -I figure mine will either want to walk, or be toted around since that's how she is now. I hope it's really worth taking the stroller on the plane. She's not a great napper either so I'm hoping she doesn't melt down from not sleeping during the day. We are planning on staying at a timeshare which is 10 minutes (" ") from WDW so maybe we can get a nap in. Thanks for the advice, I'm sure mine won't be a big eater either but we will take plenty of healthy snacks to offset that.
 

bucklepants

Active Member
Original Poster
Day 3: Hollywood Studios, Cranky Ladies and a Twilight Swim

The alarm was set for 8am today. We wanted to make up a little sleep since we didn’t get to bed until midnight the night before. Mostly I wanted to make sure April got some rest so I let her sleep until 8:30. We finally made it to Hollywood Studios around 10/10:30, and it was busy. April was cranky right away. Awesome! It might have had something to do with Rick trying to get her out of the stroller thinking it would help to get her moving. They had this little battle many times on the trip. Awesome! We made our way to Toy Story Mania right away to grab Fast Passes. You could tell it was an hour after park close the Fast Passes we got were for 4:30, and the line was a 75min wait. YIKES! I love Fast Pass for this reason. 30min is about my limit to wait for a ride, maybe 45min if I know we have lots of time in the parks, but this was not one of those trips. We have 4 days to maximize our park time. Anyways… we walked through the empty streets of New York…

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Then we decided to hit up Star Tours, the wait was 30 min, but actual was something like 25min. Good for me. April liked climbing the rocks in the line; we were hitting a ride so she was cheering up. My little ride junkie! We were beginning to realize if she was cranky a ride is what made her happy. Too bad HS doesn’t have many… foreshadow…

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April enjoyed Star Tours and I took another batch of awful pictures.
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After this looked for a bathroom and ended up by Muppets. We didn’t go on the ride but I did snap a couple pics in the area.

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I wanted April to see the Disney Jr. Live Show and we happened to hit it right as they were seating. YEAH! Rick parked the stroller in the sea of strollers in that large area between Disney Jr. Live and the Ariel Show. She of course was in her element. Me of course had sore achy legs about 5 min after sitting on the floor and letting April sit on my legs. It was worth it though!
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It was a total madhouse of parents scrambling for their strollers outside. Holy cow! Rick braved the crowd and we snuck off to a corner on the other side of Brown Derby. No one was here. NICE! We had a water and popsicle break, then used the rest rooms inside. Again, no one in this area. Very nice, the bathrooms weren’t a zoo. We used this area about 3 or 4 more times in the day.

Just around the corner was Starring Rolls!!!! And it was around lunch time. So I bolted in. It was time to try a much anticipated Butter Finger Cupcake.
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Well… let’s just say it was everything I dreamed of. Maybe it was the white frosting. Rick loved it though. I also scored some points and found him some sushi. Yeah for the wife!! I also had a ham sandwich. It was okay. I didn’t care for the spread much that was on it, and it was a little dry for me. April had declared she didn’t want anything when I went in. But she gobbled up the banana I got with my meal and decided she was then hungry for some real lunch. YEAH!!! She was hungry!!!! It really was hard to get her to eat sometimes so I was happy to hear this.

We ended up down by Fair Fax Fare and got her a pizza meal. Which she chowed down! Is there anything better than watching your kid eat and knowing they will have a full belly?

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Since April was busy eating and we were right next to it, Rick and I took turns doing single rider on Rockin’ Rollercoaster. LOVE!!! I always forget how much fun this ride is, what a rush! I chatted a bit with a preteen boy behind me in line who said he went to Disney World twice a year. I told him it was my daughters second time. He acted surprised and said I looked to young to have any kids. He said I looked like I was 20. Thanks kid!!! J
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After Rockin’ Rollercoaster we hit up the Ariel show.
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I love this show and always tear up on it. I guess she is my favorite though. I don’t know why, but as the show started I was reminded of the trip we took before April was born. It was just me and Rick. We were 2 years into trying to have kids, and we took a last minute 1 week trip to Disney World to forget our troubles and take a break. During the trip we hit Sci-Fi Dine In (love the theme!) Our waitress had congratulated us on our anniversary and gave us some pins, and said “bring the kids back”. I remember thinking “yeah right if we ever get to have any”. A month after that trip… we were pregnant with April! Anyway, here we were now on our second trip with April! I have no idea why being at this show brought back that memory, but it did and it made me very thankful and happy that we have April in our life. (Tears of joy.)
 

bucklepants

Active Member
Original Poster
Okay, sorry for all that emotional junk… After the show we spotted that Jake was out with a short line. We stored the stroller in our little spot by the quiet bathroom and got in line. April made friend in line named Fred, he’s from across the pond.
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Then we show Handy Manny was out too, and his line was nice and short as well.
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After this we hit the Great Movie Ride.
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After we hit the tail end of Pixar Parade, from a distance, and wondered a little in front of the hat and took some photos.
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Family photo! (Okay is it just me or does April look like a certain character from Full House in this picture?)
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April then HIT A WALL! We tried to get some frozen Icee Drinks, but she declared they were gross, so Rick and I indulged. April kept asking to do the Toy Story Ride and we kept having to tell he it wasn’t our turn yet, but soon. Somehow we ended up getting her some Cotton Candy to cheer her up and took in Beauty and The Beast.
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Then, it was finally time! YEAH!!! Midway Mania here we come!
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We like that ride a lot, and hopefully next trip we will get to ride it a couple of times. April hit a wall right away after, again. She wanted to do the ride again, but we told her it was an hour wait, and we asked her if she wanted to wait an hour, and she said “yes!” with lots of attitude. I don’t think she really understood what she was agreeing to. Then she said how about another ride. We offered Star Tours or Great Movie Ride. Her response “NO!!!” then she declared Hollywood Studios was no fun and a boring park. YIKES!!!

We decided, whether she wanted to or not Rick and I were going to do some shopping and push her around in the stroller, and we lowered the seat so she was in a prone position to nap. Ten minutes into shopping she was out! HAZAAAH!!!
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Rick hit up Tower of Terror while she slept, and right after she woke up. A little groggy, but in a much better mood. We told her we were going to head back to Pop to have dinner and a twilight swim. She was all for it! Back to Pop!

Then, I hit the wall! Uh-oh! I was hungry! Rick went to drop off the stroller at the room while April and I went into the food court. I was super hungry and cranky and April… April had the after nap sillies. She was twirling and singing and climbing on the line poles and ropes. She was very happy, and bumping into people in the food court. UGH! I about lost it with her. Not to worry though. Soon, I was happy after having the tastiest chicken sandwich ever (I think it had a garlic mayo spread on it) with some soggy, greasy fries and chocolate cake!!! I even mixed some mayo with bbq sauce to dip the fries in. Man did I grub out; I was so full, and happy!
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April had mac n cheese and Rick had.. guess!!! A cheese burger. J Everyone was full and happy at the end of our meal. We hit the pool for a twilight swim at the Hippity Dippity Pool. It was a bit chilly for me and Rick, but April loved it. I think she really got a kick out of swimming outside at night. Nearby Pop was showing a movie under the stars. I really wish we could have done that one of the nights, and had more time to stroll around the resort. That would be for a different trip though. As we only had 4 short days to see the parks. So, after our swim we showered off and hit the hay. Our last day was tomorrow and we were going to hit it hard.
 

ExtinctJenn

Well-Known Member
Hah! Yet another similarity and memory of past trips for me with DS6. That whole "wall" thing and the attitude about wanting to wait an hour to do a favorite ride again. SO been there and y'know what? In almost every case we too discovered a sleeping child in a stroller a few minutes later. LOL! This next trip will be interesting because we may skip the stroller... I wish you luck when it's your turn! LOL!

Oh and let's just be honest... most little kids think DHS is boring in general (which is why it's usually a half day park for us). :D
 

bucklepants

Active Member
Original Poster
Nice report! Your daughter is cute! :) We just missed you guys:( , we stayed at AOA from the 23-28 then, we moved over to POP from the 28-30!!!
Oh thank you. We really liked POP. We wanted to walk through AOA since it was so close but we never got the chance. We got some views of it from the bus though.
 

bucklepants

Active Member
Original Poster
Hah! Yet another similarity and memory of past trips for me with DS6. That whole "wall" thing and the attitude about wanting to wait an hour to do a favorite ride again. SO been there and y'know what? In almost every case we too discovered a sleeping child in a stroller a few minutes later. LOL! This next trip will be interesting because we may skip the stroller... I wish you luck when it's your turn! LOL!

Oh and let's just be honest... most little kids think DHS is boring in general (which is why it's usually a half day park for us). :D

Oh, good luck! I hope it goes well. Next year we are going to try no stroller. Everything we do now we make her walk, grocery shopping, etc. Plus taking her on walks as well. Gotta build up those Disney legs!

We may have to start making DHS more of a half day park as well. She saw me posting this TR and she said again that HS was boring. LOL! Hint taken. :) That's cool by me though really, I wanted to spend more time at the resort, swim, walk around and snap photos, and do the movies under the stars.
 

bucklepants

Active Member
Original Poster
Day 4: Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom, Torrential Down Pour and Electric Light Parade

Early Am start and off to AK!!! We noticed there was hardly anyone there. Not to worry though, we found everyone! Taking photos in front of the tree! LOL!

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After many evasive maneuvers we hit Kilimanjaro Safari. I love this attraction, our whole family does. I can’t wait to bring my Dad on it next year.
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We hit up a snack after.
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April played the drums again, and made up another tune about our trip.

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We ended up going to the bird show, which April really enjoyed. It reminded me a lot of the one at MN Zoo.
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The plan after that was take April to do Primeval Whirl and Triceratop Spin, while Rick and I traded off to do ride Dinosaur. Afterwards we would check our time and head out to Magic Kingdom.
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It was a good plan, however, I didn’t know Primeval Whirl had a 48” height limit. April took it well, and then to my surprise The Bone Yard was open! Yeah! I thought it was going to be closed off for maintenance during our trip. Score for April!
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I took off to ride Dinosaur while April played at the Bone Yard. When I got back it was all drama!!! April scraped her knee pretty good right before I got there. Mom to the rescue with band aids and antibiotic cream! After I bandaged her up she limped to the stroller. At that point we asked April if she wanted to go to Magic Kingdom now and do some rides (plus we had a late lunch ADR at Liberty Tree to make). We had no problem convincing her to go.
 

bucklepants

Active Member
Original Poster
We took the Monorail to get to MK. Once we boarded we were delayed for about 10-15 min for some sort of maintenance being done on the train before us. No biggie, we just sat back and relaxed. But, hold on… delay… I see some delays in our future.

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Once inside we got April a much promised Jasmine dolly, ah a new grandchild! April also tried her first couple of pin trades. (We got April a starter set they were selling if you bought X amount of stuff, so you could tell the CM’s had seen these pins pleanty and didn’t really care for them. But oh well, April traded anyways.) I thought it was cute she was getting into it a little, but I think Rick was feeling like it took too much time away from other things. We shall see if she gets into again next year. We may go on ebay or something and get her a bunch.

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Then we hit up Peter Pan for FP’s… good thinking! Since Small World was next store, we hoped on. On Small World we got stuck, or “delayed” , right before the goodbye signs. We sat for a good 5 minutes, maybe more. Enough to where they made a couple announcements and the song started to get annoying. At one point I did say to Rick they could at least turn off the music. April pipes up and says “Why would they want to turn off the music?” Why indeed April, why indeed.

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After Small World it was lunch time. We made ADR’s the day before for a late lunch at Liberty Tree. MMMMM!!!! We checked in early and they called us a minute later. Nice!



April got Mac N Cheese

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Rick got some sort of Pork Sandwhich

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And me… The Pilgrims Feast! I love me some turkey!
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This is what I got when I asked for extra gravy. LOL!

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Jasmine, of course, joined us.

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Rick and I split a Gooey Toffee cake. MMMM!!!!
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Jasmine helped April finish her ice cream.
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With full belly’s we clomped off to Frontier Land, snagged FP’s for Thunder Mnt and hopped on Splash. Where we got… delayed! LOL! This time it was only a couple minutes. We thought it was funny.

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Then it was Big Thunder Mnt to use our FP’s.
 

bucklepants

Active Member
Original Poster

We were really hitting this stuff just right, because after BTM our Peter Pan FP’s were up. Awesome! Uhm… we got “delayed” on Peter Pan. LOL! It was less than a minute that time though. We really chuckled that time, and it became a joke the rest of the evening.

At this point the heat was getting to Rick, so we opted to hop in Philharmagic. We again hit it just right only waiting 5-10min. What a great show, and great escape from the heat. April was really into it, reaching for jewels and stuff.

After that we checked to see if Merida was available. She was! What a great meet and greet! April got to shoot an arrow and color while I held her place in line and the cut off was right after us!
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And then…. MONSOOOOOON!!!! HAHAHAHAHA! It rained, no it poured! Actually it started to sprinkle in line for Merida so April and I were already in our poncho’s. You could see this storm rolling in for awhile. But it really started to down pour when we were done with Merida. Thankfully Rick had parked the stroller in a covered area by Stich. April and I made the best of things and went over to the Buzz Ride again. Rick opted to try and start to dry off since he didn’t put on his poncho.
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Then we checked on Daddy.
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April decided to play in the rain. Lots of people were doing that, it was neat to see that some people just embraced it. It’s to be expected on a Disney trip, so why get grumpy, just be prepared.
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The rain died down after maybe an hour. April’s feet were water logged in her tennis shoes. (Note to self either get April Crocs for the next trip or carry a pair of flip flops for instances like this.) I ended up getting April a $15 pair of flip flops that she thought were pretty but only wore on two rides and declared they hurt her feet. Awesome! Oh well, live and learn.


Time was running out on our last day. At first our plan was to do rides during the parade, so we headed to Pirates, then were supposed to hit Barn Stormer, or is it Great Goofini and swap on Space Mnt. Well, after Pirates I really wanted one last Dole Whip float and April was hungry, so we changed plans.


We found our awesome parade spot by the Diamond Horse Shoe, I think, right up front. WOW! I ran and got my float and April a corn dog. (She had wanted one since day 2). Rick then ran and got me and him dinner from Pecos Bills. He had a burger and fries. No really, he had a burger and fries. J I tried the BBQ pork. Wow, that was good! No pictures on this meal. We had enough to handle with balancing the tray on top of the stroller while we waited. Then came the coolest parade I've ever seen. I can't even put it in words correctly, how spectacular this parade was to experience. The Electric Light Parade!
LOVE!! Make way for some horrid photos.
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After that we hit the Carpets, even I went on them as April wanted us all to ride as our last ride at Disney. Yes, the Carpets was our last ride. LOL!


Then we made our way through the heard to get out of the gates before Wishes started. Man what a mess to get out. At least Disney tries to keep everyone to the right if you’re trying to leave, if only people would just move forward then when being told to keep to the right if leaving. LOL! Oh well, we made it out and heard wishes start as we waited for the bus. Not a long wait either. NICE!


Poor April, back in the room we made her shower since she hadn’t yet that day. After drying her hair I told her to brush her teeth to which she replied “Can’t I just lay down? You guys never let me rest.” L Holy crap! Did we push her to hard this trip? Am I am terrible mom? She was out 5 minutes after she laid down. I tried not to think of her comment as I knew the next morning there would be no alarm and she could sleep as late as she wanted.
 

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