Our 4th and final day at Disney we debated between Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios, but ended up deciding on Hollywood Studios (as it was going to rain much of the day and I remembered the Tower of Terror being my favorite Disney ride as a kid). It was a later bus, so we slept in a bit and finally hopped the shuttle to Hollywood.
We spent much of the day seeing various shows and dodging rain storms. Heidi's favorite show was the Ariel 3D show (which was cool, but Forrest didn't like getting wet). We also saw the Muppets 3D show, the Disney Jr. Live Show, and the Beauty and the Beast Musical.
We didn't end up doing much for rides, other than the Great Movie Ride (which Heidi did NOT like) and the Tower of Terror (which Heidi cried and begged not to ride, so I rode by myself while Josh sat with her in the lobby and waited for me). The Toy Story ride had a Fastpass return after we planned to leave the park and a 75 minute wait, so we had to forego it. We did spend some time playing at the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playsite and Heidi really loved the spider web she could climb up and run down. She was lured to leave only by the promise of lunch.
Lunch ended up being the highlight of the day as Colleen has always wanted to eat at The Hollywood Brown Derby, so we did. Heidi and I had kitty cocktails and many of us had the famous cobb salad. We caught the tail end of the parade, dodged some more rain, and indulged on Mickey ice cream sandwiches before heading out to the bus lot.
It was hard to believe our trip was already coming to an end. Monday dawned stormy and we were glad to be heading to the airport for our trip home. After a slight delay due to lightning (Tropical Storm Isaac was just hitting Florida), we were off. We got to experience running through the airport with two children thanks to a short layover made shorter by our delay, but boarded our second flight, shuttled back to the airport, loaded into the van and headed home.
A perfect trip it was, we couldn't have asked for any better. We're already thinking of when we'll go back so we can see Belle's castle that's currently under construction :)
Friday, August 31, 2012
Disney--Part 3
Saturday's day at Magic Kingdom started with breakfast with Winnie the Pooh and friends. Heidi was excited to see the characters across the restaurant as we entered and Papa even got her to join the character parade (she was excited because Eeyore was right behind them)! Breakfast was very good and as soon as we'd had pictures with Pooh, Eeyore, Piglet, and Tigger, we set off to start our day. We knew we wanted to ride Splash Mountain again since only the guys and Heidi had ridden the first day, but we didn't want to wait as long, so seeing a short line for Tinkerbell, the girls stayed to meet her and sent the boys (sans Forrest) to fetch Fastpasses for Splash Mountain. The Tinkerbell line ended up taking much longer than anticipated but it was worth it when we saw how sweet she was. She ended up being my favorite character that we met at the parks.
Heidi became shy by her and had her fingers in her mouth and Tinkerbell put her at ease immediately, "why do you have your fingers in your mouth? Do they taste good? Do they taste like honey or pumpkin muffins? Pumpkin muffins are my favorite, what's your favorite food?" Heidi answered her and they chatted a bit more before smiling for pictures. Tink even came over to say "Hi" to Forrest, and got a smile from him in return. When we left Tinkerbell, surprisingly, the guys were not outside yet. They came hustling over a few minutes later and said the line was short so they rode before they got Fastpasses. It was already almost time for the passes to be active, so we headed over that way and I fed Forrest for a few minutes before we rode. Only the girls ended up riding this time due to a FP mix-up (and since the guys had already ridden twice, we didn't feel bad). Following that ride Josh and his mom went to ride Thunder Mountain and came back saying that Heidi was big enough to ride and would love it, so Josh, Steve, Heidi, and I got in line for the rollercoaster. Heidi giggled as it rounded the corners, the rollercoasters ended up being her favorite rides.
We left Frontierville and decided to see a show, since we'd yet to see one in MK. We went to Mickey's Philharmagic show and loved it. I wasn't sure what Heidi would think of the 3D, but she really liked it. After the show it was shopping time as Heidi had been promised some Minnie Mouse ears. After a couple of meltdowns in the store (because mean-mom wouldn't let her get the Cinderella "glass" (rubber) slippers), she settled on the pink Minnie ears she originally wanted.
We had one "land" we'd yet to explore: Tomorrowland, so we headed off. The crowds were fairly large, but we hopped in line for the Astro-orbiter and got Fastpasses for Buzz Lightyear's ride. These still ended up being our longest waits based on the time of day we were there, but we made it through both, got Heidi and I a hot dog, and headed for one more show: Monsters Inc. Laugh Factory. After the show, the parade was ending and we were all hot and tired and decided to take the bus home and come back later for the parade and fireworks. Heidi, of course, wanted to swim back at the hotel, so they spent most of the afternoon in the pool before Josh and I and the kids took a taxi back to MK.
The parade was very cool with all the lights, but we were all exhausted. After the parade, and some cajoling by Mom and Dad, we convinced Heidi to leave and watch the fireworks as we took the train/walked to the taxi stand. Forrest had slept through the entire parade and Heidi fell asleep on the train, so two tired babies got back to the hotel and straight to bed for one more day of Disneyworld.
To be continued...the final part!
Heidi became shy by her and had her fingers in her mouth and Tinkerbell put her at ease immediately, "why do you have your fingers in your mouth? Do they taste good? Do they taste like honey or pumpkin muffins? Pumpkin muffins are my favorite, what's your favorite food?" Heidi answered her and they chatted a bit more before smiling for pictures. Tink even came over to say "Hi" to Forrest, and got a smile from him in return. When we left Tinkerbell, surprisingly, the guys were not outside yet. They came hustling over a few minutes later and said the line was short so they rode before they got Fastpasses. It was already almost time for the passes to be active, so we headed over that way and I fed Forrest for a few minutes before we rode. Only the girls ended up riding this time due to a FP mix-up (and since the guys had already ridden twice, we didn't feel bad). Following that ride Josh and his mom went to ride Thunder Mountain and came back saying that Heidi was big enough to ride and would love it, so Josh, Steve, Heidi, and I got in line for the rollercoaster. Heidi giggled as it rounded the corners, the rollercoasters ended up being her favorite rides.
We left Frontierville and decided to see a show, since we'd yet to see one in MK. We went to Mickey's Philharmagic show and loved it. I wasn't sure what Heidi would think of the 3D, but she really liked it. After the show it was shopping time as Heidi had been promised some Minnie Mouse ears. After a couple of meltdowns in the store (because mean-mom wouldn't let her get the Cinderella "glass" (rubber) slippers), she settled on the pink Minnie ears she originally wanted.
We had one "land" we'd yet to explore: Tomorrowland, so we headed off. The crowds were fairly large, but we hopped in line for the Astro-orbiter and got Fastpasses for Buzz Lightyear's ride. These still ended up being our longest waits based on the time of day we were there, but we made it through both, got Heidi and I a hot dog, and headed for one more show: Monsters Inc. Laugh Factory. After the show, the parade was ending and we were all hot and tired and decided to take the bus home and come back later for the parade and fireworks. Heidi, of course, wanted to swim back at the hotel, so they spent most of the afternoon in the pool before Josh and I and the kids took a taxi back to MK.
The parade was very cool with all the lights, but we were all exhausted. After the parade, and some cajoling by Mom and Dad, we convinced Heidi to leave and watch the fireworks as we took the train/walked to the taxi stand. Forrest had slept through the entire parade and Heidi fell asleep on the train, so two tired babies got back to the hotel and straight to bed for one more day of Disneyworld.
To be continued...the final part!
Disney--Part 2
The Friday of our trip we traveled to Epcot center. We got to sleep in a little bit as the shuttle didn't leave the hotel until 9:20. Unfortunately this was also the hottest day! We got into Epcot quickly off of the shuttle and after snapping some pictures of Josh, Steve, and Heidi in front of the giant Epcot ball, we spotted Daisy Duck taking pictures just inside the entrance. The line was short (maybe 2 or 3 kids in front of us), so we excitedly went for another character encounter. Finally, we ventured farther into the park and found a short line for Spaceship Earth so we hopped in line and within a few minutes were tucked into our "cars" and off on a visit through time. It was at this point that I started to think maybe I had never been to Epcot before. I traveled to Disney with my extended family as a teenager, but couldn't remember exactly what we did. As the day progressed I knew this was my first visit to Epcot just as it was the kids; ironically, two of my favorite rides ended up being here.
After Spaceship Earth we attempted to get Fastpasses for the Character Spot, only to find that they don't exist, so I ran to get Fastpasses for Soarin' which already had a long wait. Next we headed to the Nemo and Friends ride/exhibits. The line was nice and short for the Nemo ride and Heidi enjoyed looking at the fish exhibits afterwards (especially the dolphins which were in prime form for tricks). After feeding Forrest (and listening to an entertaining lecture a father was giving his three young children), we headed off into the World Showcase.
This is where it started to really stink that it was so hot. So much of the World Showcase is things that you really want to take your time to look at and enjoy, but we spent much of the afternoon dashing in-and-out of air conditioned places. Luckily the two rides in the World Showcase (Mexico and Norway) were both nice and cool boat rides. After we completed the rides I was able to convince the rest of the party that we needed food! Despite being in the awesome World Showcase, we settled on pizza in Italy for lunch. The ice water was the biggest hit, even with Forrest, who took Josh's glass with a death grip and cried whenever Josh tried to take it away.
After lunch we rode the boat across the pond to go back and use our Soarin' Fastpasses. Forrest couldn't go on this one, so we sent the grandparents first while we waited with the baby. Upon their return, Josh, Heidi, and I went to ride. Such a cool ride, it ended up being my favorite of all. Heidi was totally sucked in and asked where we were when the ride ended, she thought we had really been flying over all the different countryside scenes. Then, wanting to catch the first bus home (rather than wait until park close), it was already time to head out to the parking lot. It was nice to get back to the hotel earlier and Heidi loved being able to go in the pool again.
Day 3, Saturday, was another day at Magic Kingdom. I honestly feel that with a child Heidi's age we could have done all 4 days at MK and been happy as clams. To be continued...
After Spaceship Earth we attempted to get Fastpasses for the Character Spot, only to find that they don't exist, so I ran to get Fastpasses for Soarin' which already had a long wait. Next we headed to the Nemo and Friends ride/exhibits. The line was nice and short for the Nemo ride and Heidi enjoyed looking at the fish exhibits afterwards (especially the dolphins which were in prime form for tricks). After feeding Forrest (and listening to an entertaining lecture a father was giving his three young children), we headed off into the World Showcase.
This is where it started to really stink that it was so hot. So much of the World Showcase is things that you really want to take your time to look at and enjoy, but we spent much of the afternoon dashing in-and-out of air conditioned places. Luckily the two rides in the World Showcase (Mexico and Norway) were both nice and cool boat rides. After we completed the rides I was able to convince the rest of the party that we needed food! Despite being in the awesome World Showcase, we settled on pizza in Italy for lunch. The ice water was the biggest hit, even with Forrest, who took Josh's glass with a death grip and cried whenever Josh tried to take it away.
After lunch we rode the boat across the pond to go back and use our Soarin' Fastpasses. Forrest couldn't go on this one, so we sent the grandparents first while we waited with the baby. Upon their return, Josh, Heidi, and I went to ride. Such a cool ride, it ended up being my favorite of all. Heidi was totally sucked in and asked where we were when the ride ended, she thought we had really been flying over all the different countryside scenes. Then, wanting to catch the first bus home (rather than wait until park close), it was already time to head out to the parking lot. It was nice to get back to the hotel earlier and Heidi loved being able to go in the pool again.
Day 3, Saturday, was another day at Magic Kingdom. I honestly feel that with a child Heidi's age we could have done all 4 days at MK and been happy as clams. To be continued...
Disney Trip--Part 1
Long time, no blog. Life with two children is definitely busy and exciting. To add to that, we decided we HAD to get our princess to Disneyworld while it was all so magical for her (and before Little Man became a toddler and wanted to run in all directions). The grandparents were gracious enough to go with us as adoring kid-helpers, and I highly recommend having 2x as many adults as children.
We flew out on a Wednesday, first thing in the morning. Heidi was excited to get to the airport and see the planes out the window (even if Papa did try to pull her leg by telling her our airplane had a flat tire). We loaded on board and of course Heidi insisted on sitting with Grandma and Papa since parents are such old news. Here is the point where I emphasize: my children are awesome travelers. Obviously I was a bit worried about taking a 4.5 month old on a trip like this--not knowing how he'd react on the airplane or in the parks. Forrest did awesome. Heidi Jean did amazing. We were even complimented by random strangers on the plane, they were that good.
We arrived in Florida around 1pm on Wednesday and Heidi was a bit disappointed that the plane didn't drop us off right at Disneyworld. She was appeased by being able to swim in the hotel pool. We stayed at a Staybridge Suites and highly recommend it. We had two full bedrooms, two full baths, a full kitchen, and a livingroom. It was perfect for the six of us. The beds were comfy, the hot breakfast was a great perk (scrambled eggs, sausage, waffles every day=yes, please), the pool was almost always empty, and the staff were super.
Thursday was the BIG day. The first day at Magic Kingdom. The day we had lunch with the princesses. We got to the park right around opening, got Heidi a "First Visit" pin, and headed back through the castle to Fantasyland. The crowds were surprisingly manageable and within the first hour we'd ridden Winnie the Pooh, Tea Cups (girls only as the boys don't like spinny rides), Dumbo, and the Great Goofini (twice). We headed back to the other side of Fantasyland and hopped on It's a Small World (where I thought of my Grams--it's her favorite), we grabbed Fastpasses for Peter Pan (what an ingenious thing, the Fastpass, we got one any time the wait was more than 20 minutes) and headed to the Haunted Mansion at Josh and Steve's request. Heidi was leary about it and after being closed in the dark room didn't want to ride the ride, but we convinced her that the room was scarier than the ride. She survived it but stated emphatically upon exiting that she did NOT want to go on that again. Finally, we headed to Frontierland where the waits were a bit longer, but having an hour or so before we could go on Peter Pan we sent the boys with Heidi to wait for Splash Mountain (the stated 40 minute wait ended up being more like an hour).
Then it was almost time! Heidi had an appointment at 1:10 at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique to get all princess-ified. We had about 20 minutes and debated if that was enough time to use our Fastpasses for Peter Pan--it was, we walked right on and were on and off within 10 minutes. Heidi was so excited to get her Tiana dress on and then her fairy godmother called her back to her chair and let her pick which hair and make-up she wanted and off-to-work they went. It was comical because Heidi just sat there stone-faced, even as the goofy photographer tried to get her to smile. I knew inside she was enjoying it, but she looked like she was sitting in a torture chamber. Probably partially because getting her hair put up is painful. But at the end, she was a princess! We hardly recognized her with her hair all pulled up in a tiny bun, a tiny pink tiara, and make-up! After a Cheetos melt-down and a few minutes in an air-conditioned shop, we were off to lunch with the princesses.
First we got to get our pictures taken with Cinderella. She was beautiful and graceful, what an amazing moment. It was Heidi's first character experience and we didn't know if she'd be shy, but she went right up to her and smiled happily for pictures. We were ushered upstairs for dinner and throughout the meal four more princesses came to our table: Ariel, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Belle. The food was wonderful, the princesses were so sweet, and we all agreed it was worth the money, especially for a princess-loving girl like Heidi.
We rode a few rides in Adventureland (the Jungle Cruise, Aladdin's Magic Carpet, Pirates of the Caribbean, and walked through the Swiss Family Treehouse) and then it was off to catch our bus (or rather, catch the metro-train to the bus parking lot, miss the bus, take another bus to Animal Kingdom, finally catch a bus to our hotel, go back to the hotel and crash hard).
To be continued...
We flew out on a Wednesday, first thing in the morning. Heidi was excited to get to the airport and see the planes out the window (even if Papa did try to pull her leg by telling her our airplane had a flat tire). We loaded on board and of course Heidi insisted on sitting with Grandma and Papa since parents are such old news. Here is the point where I emphasize: my children are awesome travelers. Obviously I was a bit worried about taking a 4.5 month old on a trip like this--not knowing how he'd react on the airplane or in the parks. Forrest did awesome. Heidi Jean did amazing. We were even complimented by random strangers on the plane, they were that good.
We arrived in Florida around 1pm on Wednesday and Heidi was a bit disappointed that the plane didn't drop us off right at Disneyworld. She was appeased by being able to swim in the hotel pool. We stayed at a Staybridge Suites and highly recommend it. We had two full bedrooms, two full baths, a full kitchen, and a livingroom. It was perfect for the six of us. The beds were comfy, the hot breakfast was a great perk (scrambled eggs, sausage, waffles every day=yes, please), the pool was almost always empty, and the staff were super.
Thursday was the BIG day. The first day at Magic Kingdom. The day we had lunch with the princesses. We got to the park right around opening, got Heidi a "First Visit" pin, and headed back through the castle to Fantasyland. The crowds were surprisingly manageable and within the first hour we'd ridden Winnie the Pooh, Tea Cups (girls only as the boys don't like spinny rides), Dumbo, and the Great Goofini (twice). We headed back to the other side of Fantasyland and hopped on It's a Small World (where I thought of my Grams--it's her favorite), we grabbed Fastpasses for Peter Pan (what an ingenious thing, the Fastpass, we got one any time the wait was more than 20 minutes) and headed to the Haunted Mansion at Josh and Steve's request. Heidi was leary about it and after being closed in the dark room didn't want to ride the ride, but we convinced her that the room was scarier than the ride. She survived it but stated emphatically upon exiting that she did NOT want to go on that again. Finally, we headed to Frontierland where the waits were a bit longer, but having an hour or so before we could go on Peter Pan we sent the boys with Heidi to wait for Splash Mountain (the stated 40 minute wait ended up being more like an hour).
Then it was almost time! Heidi had an appointment at 1:10 at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique to get all princess-ified. We had about 20 minutes and debated if that was enough time to use our Fastpasses for Peter Pan--it was, we walked right on and were on and off within 10 minutes. Heidi was so excited to get her Tiana dress on and then her fairy godmother called her back to her chair and let her pick which hair and make-up she wanted and off-to-work they went. It was comical because Heidi just sat there stone-faced, even as the goofy photographer tried to get her to smile. I knew inside she was enjoying it, but she looked like she was sitting in a torture chamber. Probably partially because getting her hair put up is painful. But at the end, she was a princess! We hardly recognized her with her hair all pulled up in a tiny bun, a tiny pink tiara, and make-up! After a Cheetos melt-down and a few minutes in an air-conditioned shop, we were off to lunch with the princesses.
First we got to get our pictures taken with Cinderella. She was beautiful and graceful, what an amazing moment. It was Heidi's first character experience and we didn't know if she'd be shy, but she went right up to her and smiled happily for pictures. We were ushered upstairs for dinner and throughout the meal four more princesses came to our table: Ariel, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Belle. The food was wonderful, the princesses were so sweet, and we all agreed it was worth the money, especially for a princess-loving girl like Heidi.
We rode a few rides in Adventureland (the Jungle Cruise, Aladdin's Magic Carpet, Pirates of the Caribbean, and walked through the Swiss Family Treehouse) and then it was off to catch our bus (or rather, catch the metro-train to the bus parking lot, miss the bus, take another bus to Animal Kingdom, finally catch a bus to our hotel, go back to the hotel and crash hard).
To be continued...
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