Magic Kindom (day 7)

Day 7:

Magic Kingdom.  

I don't know what is is about Disneyland/Disney World.  It's magic.  I'm not sure if it stems from a childhood of going to both, if it's just inherently magical....or a combination of both.  But even as an adult, I can still feel it.  Christmases, birthday's, holiday's have changed as I've gotten older.  They don't hold the same 'magic' for me.  Don't get me wrong, I still love them, love celebrating...but it's different.  I was afraid that's how this would be.  Thankfully I was wrong, and I was just as excited as the girls.  

For this little adventure we went with Kelsey and Guy.  Brittany and her family were also doing Magic Kingdom this day, just more on their own.  The rest of the group was doing their last day, of their 3 day hopper at Universal.  It was quite a beautiful day, the concern not being rain...but heat.

We woke up early, got ready and arrived just as they opened, so as not to miss a minuet.  I was already feeling the magic, and just hoping that the girls would too.  As we were waiting in line to check our bags...a cast member came up to the girls and sprinkled them with mickey confetti.  They were officially excited and in awe. 

When we walked through the gates, turned the corner, and faced down Main St., they couldn't believe that Cinderella's castle was right there.   I was so happy, they were at a loss for words.  Eyes as big as saucers, roaming into every corner.  Eagerly awaiting what the day held. 

We ran to Peter Pan first since that line tends to be one of the longest and it doesn't have a fast pass.  We got right on, and the magic continued.  Kels and Guy went off on their own for a while, while we hit up all the rides in Fantasyland.  By the second or third ride, I started to notice something.  Aubree's pretty princess hair wasn't so pretty anymore.  It was SO hot, that the rubberbands holding Aubree's hair melted off!!!  Seriously!!! One by one they started to snap :(  

(on the tram SOOOO Excited)

Pretty princess hair

(Hair falling out :( and a mickey confetti that was still clinging)

After Fantasyland it was time for lunch. 

I had read on a blog that if you want to eat at Cinderella's castle (which we did) you have to make reservations by at least 90 days in advance to your trip!  So I started to plan.  I called and called but never got through.  I tried to do it online, but again no luck.  So I thought I'd just try to get in when we were there.  We showed up without a reservation, and of course, they turned us away :( they said we could try back around noon and see if all the reservations showed up for lunch.  So, we were back, and again...no luck.  I told Dave I wanted to hang around ''just in case",  so he took the girls to wait in line to meet Merida.  I checked in with the restaurant a coulpe of times, but I didn't want to bug them.  They said they were really full for lunch and it wasn't going to happen.  I saw them turn person after person, and family after family away who also didn't have a reservation.  But still I stayed.  Finally after 40 minuets of waiting they asked me if my party was with me.  I said no, but they could be at any minuet.  There still wasn't an answer yet if they were going to let us in, but I took it as a good sign.  I called Dave and told him it actually might happen, and if I call him again, to RUN as fast as he can and get back.  A few minuets later they said they could fit us in!!!!!!  I don't know if they were sick of me hanging around, or knew I wasn't going anywhere, or what, but we were in!  I called Dave and he RAN.  

It was the most memorable part of the trip.  I can't believe we got in, and we got to create this memory with the girls.  They let you in one by one (family) so you have your own experience.  As we walked in, and turned the corner we were in a huge, ornate, amazing castle.  Cinderella was there and the girls had some 1 on 1 time with her.  

They were beside themselves.  Sheer joy and happiness written all over their faces.  A photographer came and took a picture, to be presented to us before lunch was over.  We went up a spiral staircase to enter the dining room.  We were greeted as "Lord" and "Lady", and the girls "little princess".  It was quite spectacular.  Aubree and Sophie were presented with a wand and a wishing star.   Then the whole room was asked to get out their wands (and swords for boys).  They did a little program about wishing upon a star.  They asked all the kids to close their eyes, get their wands and wish as hard as they could.  

Then touch their wand to their wishing star, and their wish would come true....(this is Sophie doing exactly that :)

Next was the princess part of the program.  A little intro was given for each princess.  Then, said princess would emerge and join the room.  Cinderella was a guarantee (it is her castle) but then they just say three other princesses will be in attendance.  Well, we got 4, plus Cinderella!  It was a very good bribing tool to get the girls to eat their lunch.  

They met:

Sleeping Beauty

Ariel

(I think I took about 7 shots with Ariel, and Sophie was making this face in ALL of them.  Ariel is her favorite and I don't think she could quite contain her excitement) 

Belle

and Snow White.  

The staff were truly amazing.  We had a small incident with Aubree.  It was truthfully small, but the staff were right there to make sure she was happy and having an amazing time.  They were ALL very patient, loving and just incredible with kids. 

After our amazing lunch we ventured to the rest of the park going on as many rides as we could.  

We waited in line to meet Jasmine... (Sophie was alone.  Aubree had heat stroke, I think.  We were a little worried for a minuet because she was totally non responsive.  Hot, and glossy eyed.  Thankfully she ate a frozen lemonade a perked back up.)  

We ran into Brittany and family...a few times

Watched Sophie "die" in the middle of a line, only to be awoken by a kiss from her prince (Guy)

Killed us some Zurgs'

Waited in line to meet Merida (Aubree's hair was pretty sad by this point, and Sophie's rubberbands had started to snap as well.  Did I mention that it was HOT?!?!)

Got a text from my Sis, about their day at Universal.

And went on more fun rides.

Kelsey and Guy were awesome and watched our kids so we could go on a few bigger rides.  Sophie was too short for them, and Aubree was too scared.  Splash Mountain will forever be my favorite.  The smell, songs, characters...so many memories.  Toward the end of the night, we let the girls each pick their favorite ride to go on before the park closed.  At first Aubree picked Pirates!  I was so proud of her!  But then she picked, It's a Small World.  Which actually ended up working out better since Sophie picked Peter Pan and they are directly across from each other.  We stayed up until the very last minuet.   The girls loved the fireworks, and each picked out a souvenir (Aubree, a set of Jasmine polly pockets, and Soph an Ariel pillow)  Kelsey was starting to feel really sick, and threw up on our way out of the park :(  Thankfully she got to spend a fun filled day, and only got sick toward the end. (But being sick and pregnant is THE WORST) Sophie had fallen asleep on the walk back to the tram and had had an accident.  I guess it was my turn to have pee all over me!  I would'h've left her in the stroller but unfortunately we had to get outta there, get Kels home, and the trams were too full to wheel on any strollers.  It ended up being a little crazy of an evening, but overall another amazing day, with amazing kids who were quite spectacular.

Orlando (day 6)

Orlando Day 6:

This was our down day.  Having kids, we knew they wouldn't last very well doing two FULL days in a row.  So we took a chill day.  My older sister and her two older kids took this day to go to Sea World.  They left Bradlee, and Kelsey, Guy, and I helped watch him.  Really Kelsey watched him...but I helped where I could :)  My Mom, Dad, Ben, Cha, and Eric headed back to Universal with their hopper pass.  They sent me this fun picture :)  

On our day off, we took the time to RELAX.  The girls pretty much lived in the pool.  We went swimming with them for a while...but after, we took turns sitting out with them.  It was a perfect day for them to still have lots of fun, but not too active....restful, to gear up for tomorrow.  

On one of Dave's "shifts", they found a lizard.  They tried to catch him...but he got away.  

That night I made a quick trip to Walmart, to get last minuet items to pack our bag for the Magic Kingdom.  Of course, being me, I left my diaper bag there....almost fully packed for our day tomorrow with my wallet...cash...etc.  And of course, I didn't notice until we got home and I went back to finish adding snacks and stuff.  By this time it was after midnight.  DEATH.  My brother drove me back and THANKFULLY it was still there.  We came home {again} and found a little scavenger in our trash.  A cute little raccoon.  But I'm not going to lie, a little scary.  As cute as they are...they freak me out.   We all finished our preparations...and went to bed. A little later than I wanted to since we were waking up early...but that's the life of a Mom, right?

Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure. (Day 5)

Day 5:

Almost the whole family was together for Islands of Adventure.  My older sister and her family were the only ones that didn't come.  We were really praying for good weather since we were only going to be in Orlando for 3 more days.  2 of them to be spent at theme parks.   It was a beautiful morning.  Warm, but not hot.  Overcast, so the sun wasn't beating down on us.   By the time we parked, got the strollers...walked the "miles" to the front gates, it had started raining.  And then pouring!  It was warm...but wet.  We had poncho's and we were happy to put them on.  It was amazing how much heat those things trapped!   It ended up raining off and on all day.  But it really only poured once.  It  was quite nice and the only complaint I had, were my shoes.  I wore exactly the WRONG shoes and ended up tossing them.  They were totally hammered and my poor feet were A LOT happier out of them than in them.  

  

As we walked in we saw Dr. Suess land.  The girls fell in love.  They were so excited to be there, and be able to go on rides.  This was their official first time at an amusement park.  We went on the carousel first.  It was fun because your "reigns" did something different on each animal.  On mine, the head moved.  Sophie's blinked, Aubree's mouth opened and closed etc...

Then we headed to a train ride, Suess style.

There was a really fun play area for the kids.  A lot of interactive toys and a water splash area.  We headed here a couple of times when the adults wanted to do bigger rides.  The girls were very patient with us when we did things they couldn't.  I was very proud of them.  

The park was really fun.  It has a Marvel area where we went on The Hulk.  It was AWESOME.  There is a Jurassic Park land, and a few others that we didn't even get to since we only had one day.  Both girls passed out, giving us a nice break.  Only, Sophie did pee all over Dave as he was holding her when she fell asleep.  We still stayed for two more hours!  Poor them.  But we weren't about to leave.  We didn't leave until closing, and we totally maximied our day there.

Now for the BEST part of the day, and almost the best part of the whole trip: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter:  It was A.M.A.Z.I.N.G!  They spared NO expense.  Every detail was thought of, and it was very magical.  Right as we walked through the gates the music swelled and went full into the main theme.  The timing was perfect.  We walked up to the Hogwarts Express and right then the steam engine blew.  For our first experience it was quite breathtaking.  You really feel like you're part of the world and excited to experience everything.  Dave and I decided we need to go back when we can spend a day there with out kids.  It's not huge, but the detail is incredible, and we didn't get to FULLY appreciate it.  We walked by a lot of cool shops including Honeydukes, but didn't go in.  The line for Oliviander's was too long, so we ended up skipping that as well.  What we didn't miss out on though, was the magic!  Cheesy, I know..but really!  We went on the Dueling Dragons ride quite a few times.  It was SO FUN!  And the line into the ride was amazing by itself.  We saw lots of fun things like Ron's crashed car and The Goblet of Fire.  We ate lunch at the Three Broomsticks.   We all ordered butterbeer.  I could spend a whole post on butterbeer.  Needless to say we came back for more.  Hogwarts was probably my favorite though.  We didn't even really know what it was.  We got in line and saw that it was a ride, but the only description was that it was a tour throughout the castle.  This was by far the longest line we waited in.  Over an hour.  And again the girls were just amazing.  They waited the whole time without any major problems.  Sophie was being a tootie magee...and she passed out toward the end of the line.  Once we got close to the entrance of the castle it became entertaining again.  With all the props and effects.  I'm running out of words to use....but it was just amazing :)  We did rider swap with our kids and got to go on it a few times for the wait.  It was awesome.  The ride itself was very fun.  It's like a mix of Star Tours and Indiana Jones.  I am pretty much a scardey cat and I covered my eyes during some particularly creepy parts.  Definitely worth the wait.  And to be honest you want to wait a little bit in line so you can take in all the detail once you walk in the castle.
It was sad to leave such an awesome place.  But it was a great introduction into what amusement parks are all about for the girls to get ready for Disney World.    

Post office :)

Inside the castle waiting in line:

Everyone was amazed at this part.  We walked into a great hall of paintings.  They looked like REAL paintings.  Then they started talking to each other...and walking into each other's frames.  I have no idea how they did it...but WOW!!!

My parents were quite amazing also, they took the kids on a couple of rides so that Dave and I could have fun with out them.  Normally I would have said no, they're our responsibility.  But My parents got a 3 day hopper pass to the park, so they said and hour out of their time was fine.  SCORE!  We raced to a few more rides....and ended our night with Dueling Dragons :)

Walking back to the car we were talking to the girls, asking them their favorites, and such....they had so MUCH fun.  I was very glad.  Both of them had three favorite rides.  The Cat in the Hat ride (it was fun), Flight of the Hippogriff, and Flying Pterodactyls. The last two were the ones my parents took them on, so I'm sure glad they did.

Amazing, Amazing day!