Disney World 2013, Day 3

Day 3 started bright and early as we were intent to capture opening ceremonies at Magic Kingdom. One of the perks of staying at the Contemporary is the convenience of walking to Magic Kingdom!

A few early morning shots at the hotel on the morning coffee run... 

Ready for the show!  If you've never seen the opening of the park, please put it on the next trip's agenda! The train pulls in, characters unload and the magic begins!  It will definitely put anyone in a Disney kind of mood!

Loving the harvest decorations...

Tomorrowland, anyobody?

 

 

 

Thank heavens for this arcade attached to Space Mountain. It kept Frances entertained while we swapped off riding with the twins a time or ten;)

 



We love this picture of Walker because while the girls visited with Princess Tiana, Walker chatted up this sweet Cast Member;)

Tiana has become one of my favorite princesses.  Her dress is super cute, she talks in a southern accent and tucked between the castle and Liberty Square, there is rarely a line to see her!

Onto Frontierland and Thunder Mountain!

Squeezing in a little lunch at Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn and Café! This is one of our favorite counter service restaurants!  The kids and adults alike enjoy the menu, and there is a HUGE condiments bar.  Who doesn't love that? I usually get the Southwest Chicken Salad or the Taco Salad and load up with lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, mushrooms, cheese and salsa! Yummy and a little healthier than the Deluxe 1/3 lb Angus Cheeseburger I could have ordered;) Means I can snack on a few of the kiddies fries too!

Tummies full, we headed to Tom Sawyer's Island and Splash Mountain...

Walker and Daddy patiently hung around Fantasyland while the girls and I visited Rapunzel and Snow White at the new Princess Fairytale Hall.

We may have taken a little longer than expected, and that was with a Fast Pass!

 

Frances, our Alice in Wonderland fan, was thrilled to bump into the White Rabbit!

Sadly, Peter Pan's Flight was canceled so we didn't get to ride it. I hope we get to ride it next time. 

 And the wait time for Merida was C.R.A.Z.Y. but worth every second!

Of course, we had to ride the Jungle Cruise! It's another favorite!

We left Magic Kingdom and headed to Epcot for dinner!  We enjoyed our meal at Nine Dragons Restaurant in China so much last year that we returned for a repeat.  It's such a relaxing spot, and we dined so late, we were able to see parts of the fireworks seated comfortably at our table! 

 

We couldn't let the night end there!  Magic Kingdom was open late, so we decided to hop back over and enjoy the shorter lines and cooler weather that makes Disney at night so wonderful! Can you tell we like our Park Hopper tickets!?!

These two could stand to be locked up more often;)

 

 

 I think Tomorrowland was definitely the family favorite this trip! Follwed by Fantasyland!

Day 4...Return to Epcot and Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party...coming up next!

Disney World 2013, Day 2

Didn't think it would take me until the "next year" to finish up my Disney posts, but it seems life's been a little busy since October! So let's just pick up where we left off...Disney, Day Two!

We've always visited Hollywood Studios later in our trips, so we decided to start our official day in the parks here this year.  It was also Matt's birthday, so we had an Italian dinner and Fantasmic show in our sights for his big day!

Last trip, we never made it to Tower of Terror, so it was a must do this go 'round! I'm thinking Walker's not a fan;)

 

 

Thank heavens for Fast Passes!  We might have never made it through Toy Story Midway Mania with out them! And we still had a fairly long wait in the Fast Pass line.  Hanging out with the army men before hopping in line!

The park was a little crowded this day, and we were later getting there than we'd hoped.  All of that to say, we didn't get a spot for Jedi training.  But that didn't stop us from enjoying Star Tours a couple of times;)

We were especially excited that Frances made the cut!  They checked her height at the entrance to the ride and also before getting on the ride, so needless to say she was close. I think the big pink bow pushed her over the top:)

She was just a wee bit excited!

One of our favorite picture spots! 

Here's the birthday boy settling in for his birthday dinner at Mama Melrose's.  We were definitely ready to sit a while, and this was a great spot to take a rest.  This was our first time to eat here (and we probably didn't plan to well in that we had eaten lunch at Pizza Planet which is basically pizza, pizza and pizza but with a pretty cool atmosphere;), and I thought the food was pretty good and the desserts were especially yummy!

Of course, I couldn't get any of my kiddos to agree to the Spaghetti and Meatball cupcake offered as a dessert option on the kids menu! Please promise if you go, you'll get one! I guess it could look a bit gross to a child, but sure looks yummy to me!!

Sadly, it was beginning to rain when we left dinner, and we had spent a long day at the park.  We were in need of a change of pace.  So instead of sticking around in the rain hoping all would clear up for Fantasmic, we headed to Downtown Disney!

We've never been to Downtown Disney with the little ones, so this was also on our to do list for this trip.  Disney Quest tickets were included with our water park tickets, so we decided to give it a try!

Matt took the big kids and although they played for about two hours or so, they ultimately decided it was nothing to write home about!

 

Little Miss and I had fun scouting out the shopping in Downtown Disney, especially the World of Disney Store!

 

Here she is with Tick Tock Crock...

 

 

In front of the magic mirror...



 

And with her souvenir purchase!

 

 

After Downtown Disney, we headed back to our hotel rooms for a good night's rest.  After all, we had Magic Kingdom opening ceremonies to mark off our list the next morning!



Disney World 2013, Day 1

Also known as the day we went to three parks and stayed out until 1 AM:)

What can I say, it was our first day back in "the World" and we just couldn't get enough!

Let me back up a bit though and give you some background on this trip. 

First off, we decided to go in the fall this year as opposed to Christmas time.  In hind sight, I'm not really sure why we decided this, but one of the reasons was to experience a Disney water park and the other was to attend Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. 

As for hotel selection, we were back at the Contemporary this year mostly because it's in walking distance to Magic Kingdom, and we really love that convenience! We left on a Friday afternoon and drove into the wee hours of the morning to Orlando. We stayed off site that first night because it's ridiculous to pay Disney prices for just a couple of hours of sleep:)

All of that to say, we were up bright and early Saturday morning ready to check into our "real" hotel and make our way to Blizzard Beach. 

Blizzard Beach Review:

This was an extremely nice water park.  The twins took advantage of every water slide there.  Yes, even the twelve story free fall Summit Plummet!

There was also ample for Frances to do although these preschool sized attractions were separate from the others which kept our little group of five divided most of the time! (As a side note, life jackets are free for the littles.  The addition of the life jacket gave Frances more freedom (and momma more peace of mind) and allowed her to try a few more slides). 

After about five hours in the park, however, we were ready to call it a day!  It was warm and there's lots of stair climbing involved to get to all of the beloved water slides.  After a ride around the Cross Country Creek lazy river, we were ready to call it a day!  I don't know how people endure the parks in the heat of the summer 'cause we were pooped!

Not pooped enough to go back to the hotel though:)

Walker couldn't wait to get to EPCOT, so to EPCOT we went.  Mind you, I only packed some "play" clothes to change into at the water park, assuming we would stay there until it closed and head back to the hotel.  So, you can see from this picture on the tram into EPCOT how homely (and tired;) we all looked at this point!

Finally, we made it to Walker's favorite ride....Mission: Space!

                                  

I think he was a little excited!!!

Announcing this mission's navigator...

And Kathryn, the pilot...

 

 

Thank heavens for a shower and a change of clothes because up next....Chef Mickey's!

 

 

Chef Mickey's Review:

 

This was our only character meal of the trip.  I've learned that character meals are stressful especially if they involve a buffet.  Trying to figure out when to get your food and not miss a character in the process all while wrestling extremely excited kids and forcing them to eat makes for a not so exciting meal. 

 

Case in point, we decided not to wait to see Mickey Mouse during this meal.  We saw the other four characters: Goofy, Donald, Pluto and Minnie.  The kids had already finished their food and were wild and wooly.  We knew we would see Mickey in Magic Kingdom, so we decided to check out early.

 

Character meals definitely have their advantages, especially if interaction with characters is on your list! I would recommend these dining options that offer character interaction and table service meals: EPCOT's Garden Grill with Farmer Mickey, Pluto, Chip and Dale or Akershus Royal Banquet Hall Dinner (also in EPCOT in Norway) for fun with a slew of princesses!

 

After dinner, we decided to make our way to Magic Kingdom.  Why not, right!  It was only 9:00 p.m. and the park was open until 1:00 a.m.The lines were short, and we just couldn't pass it up!



We were so glad we did because Walker was able to make his debut as The Beast at Enchanted Tales with Belle.

 



The kiss from Belle was worth the late night!

Oh, and let's not forget Ariel in her tail:) We've only seen her with her land legs! So this too was a treat!

 

 

And lastly, Frances' first ride on Splash Mountain!  She just did make the 40 inches height requirement:)

 



 



Next up, day two at Hollywood Studios and a Birthday Boy!