Dinner with the Tremaine's

For our final dinner we ventured to the Grand Floridian Resort to have dinner at 1900 Park Fare. We enjoyed a nice boat ride across the Seven Seas Lagoon and a quick peek around the resort before checking in for dinner. Much to Josie's surprise she was saw Cinderella, Prince Charming, Drizella, Anastasia and Lady Tremaine buzzing around the room as we were seated at our table. She could hardly focus on making it through the buffet area in fears of missing a visitor to our table!


Wedding Pavilion



Grand Floridian

Nice beach....until we saw the snake swimming in the water

First to visit was the ever pleasant Drizella. While Drizella definitely stayed in character, she was patient with Josie who was a bit shy.

Prince Charming was next to visit and boy was he.........charming. Finally some eye candy for the moms! He was incredibly sweet with Josie and even came back for a special dance later in the evening.

Cinderella, beautiful as always, chatted with Josie and gave her a big hug.

Lady Tremaine commented that Josie should wear her Cheshire hat to school each day even if the teacher didn't like it. Josie got the courage to ask where Lucifer (the cat) was and was told that Prince Charming doesn't allow cats near the food so poor Lucifer had to stay back in the castle.

Finally gaining a bit of courage, Josie told Anastasia that Gus Gus (the mouse) was on her shoulder. True to character Anastasia freaked out a bit.

At one point during the evening Cinderella and Prince Charming shared a dance and then looked around the room for other prince and princesses to dance with. Josie jumped right up to enjoy a dance with the Prince and claimed she was just like Cinderella the rest of the night!

Sigh....maybe a trip to that wedding pavilion is in our future some day. Better start saving now!

Worst ride yet

Just boarded the worst ride of the trip: Magical Express bus back to the airport. We've had a fantastic trip and are sad to head home. Then again, cooler temps, a queen bed and a break for the wallet are welcome changes.

Josie is already planning our next trip and is insisting that we stay for 18 days next time. While we can't grant the second half of her request, we will definitely be back. And soon! But I think mom and dad need a little time away from the magic before we can start to consider any possible dates.

I'll work on the rest of the photos and video when we get back to some high speed internet. I'll also post details of our fabulous dinner with the step-sisters and Josie's dance with Prince Charming. So long for now!

Lions and tigers and Chesire, oh my!

This year's Animal Kingdom day went much better than last year's! We started the day with the Safari and got to see lots of animals. I'd love to try the safari multiple times in a day just to see how the animals move around throughout the day, but we had other things to get to before the day got too hot.

A nice BBQ lunch was followed by a trip through Dinoland. Josie loved the climbing area but it was just too hot to let her run around in there for too long. She thought coming in winter might be a better idea. She might be on to something here!

I got to try out Expedition Everest while Brent and Josie tackled yet another Mickey ice cream bar. That seems to be a theme- I head to a big thrill ride and they occupy themselves with ice cream. Two peas in a pod!

We checked out a few of the animal trails and saw some beautiful tigers and creepy bats amongst other animals.

Josie finished the afternoon by finally getting the Cheshire Mickey ear hat she's been coveting since day one. I have to admit she makes a pretty cute Cheshire!

Tonight: swimming, dinner, more swimming, and maybe the campfire or a movie under the stars.

Tomorrow: our last full day at Disney (sniff, sniff). We'll spend the day at Magic Kingdom and have dinner with Cinderella, Prince Charming, the Step-mother and Step-sisters. Should be a fun day!

Princesses and pools

Wednesday was the day for breakfast with Cinderella and her friends. I love having a reservation before the park opens and walking down main street essentially by yourself. I got some great shots of the castle but every darn picture was fogged from the condensation on the lens. Way to humid at 8AM to have that happen!

Breakfast was fun and Josie was treated like royalty. She enjoyed her interaction with Cinderella and her time with Snow White, Ariel, Sleeping Beauty and Belle. She was then surprised with a cupcake and signed birthday card from the princesses. Very fun breakfast!

We made the mad dash to meet Rapunzel immediately after breakfast. Luckily we were a part of the first group and Josie enjoyed coloring some pictures while waiting for Rapunzel to arrive. Right after leaving Rapunzel we ran into White Rabbit (no Alice- bummer!) and then headed for some rides while lines were low. We got a few runs on Tea Cups, Winnie the Pooh, Snow White and Pirates (even got to meet Pirate Goofy!) but ran out of luck when Splash Mountain went down before we even got in line. With the temps on the rise we decided to grab fast passes and head back to the hotel for some time at the pool.

We ventured down to the French Quarter Resort and Josie really enjoyed the pool and water slide. She must have gone down that thing 25 times! We enjoyed some cool "beverages" and had a good time in the sun without having to stand in line.

A quick shower and change had us heading back to Magic Kingdom for the evening. We were able to use our Splash Mountain fast passes and got a couple of times in on Big Thunder Mountain as well. Pretty hot and pretty crowded so we took our time getting around and stuck to some low key activities like the People Mover. Then it was finally time for our dessert party reservations! We were escorted to a front row table, grabbed an assortment of desserts and enjoyed watching the Electrical Parade while chowing down. The "Magic, Memories and You" show was awesome (wish we could see it again this trip) and the Wishes firework show was amazing. We had a great unobstructed view and got to see Tinkerbell fly right over our heads. The disaster of trying to get on the bus at the end of the night took away a bit of the magic but overall we'd do the dessert party again in a heartbeat.

Thursday's agenda: Animal Kingdom and more pool time!

A little screaming, a little mermaid and a little nap

Today we hit Hollywood Studios at opening in hopes of a few rides on Toy Story Mania and Tower of Terror. Josie was incredibly interested on ToT so we headed there while Brent grabbed Toy Story fast passes.

I gotta tell you- that girl has no fear! You ride an out of control elevator that shoots you up and drops you down at unpredictable intervals. The screams and look of pure terror on her face was priceless (and somewhat alarming) but she immediately asked to ride again. Apparently the second ride wasn't as much fun because she politely asked to NEVER do that ride again. Point taken.

The rest of our time was spent waiting outside, waiting in line, waiting in the holding area, or watching a show. Lots of waiting today and very few rides but it was still a fun day. We did get to see the Disney Jr. stage show, the Muppets in 3D and the Little Mermaid amongst other things.

After a spin through Toy Story, and Josie commenting that she can play much longer on the Wii version than what the ride lasted, we headed back to the resort for lunch and naps. We woke up in a much better mood (what's with this heat making kids crabby?) and plan to spend the rest of the day finishing laundry and enjoying the pool.

Up next- breakfast in the castle tomorrow with a full day at Magic Kingdom. We have reservations for special seating during the Wishes fireworks show that includes a dessert buffet. I'm excited about the show (tinkerbell flies right over our heads!) but Brent keeps asking what sort of desserts are available. Hopefully we'll both be happy!

Apricot Day

Today's adventures took us to the pool for a quick dip before heading off to Apricot, known to all but Josie as Epcot. It was hot and crowded last year so we had big plans to see all that we missed. Turns out it was still hot but we definitely saw more and enjoyed Epcot better this year.

The day started with a quick visit with Daisy and a plan to pick up Fast passes for Soarin and Test Track. Crowds were relatively low today but Fast passes let us zip back on the rides after a late lunch and a trip around the World Showcase.

The early wake up call 180 days prior to our trip was well worth scoring our Le Cellier reservations for today. Brent and Josie both enjoyed steak while I made sure to check out their famous cheddar cheese soup and pretzel bread. Josie was surprised with a birthday treat at the end of the meal- very cute!

Josie tried out a Kim Possible mission in France (following clues using a cell phone- she was a bit young but still enjoyed it) while Brent and I shared an orange Grey Goose slush. I think we got the better end of the deal in France! A Viking ship ride in Norway, drums in Japan and beer in Germany rounded out our whirlwind trip around the world. I definitely want to keep pursuing World Showcase as Josie gets older. So much more to see but she's just not patient enough quite yet.

Drum show in Japan

O Canada

Our first experience with Test Track was great. Josie hopes to drive that fast some day- I'll have to alert the authorities.... All of us enjoyed Soarin (hang gliding simulation ride) and hope the lines aren't bad when we sneak back to Epcot for dinner later in the week.

We were tired and hungry by the time we returned to the resort, so we grabbed a pizza, dessert and uber expensive beer and watched some of the Monday night football game. A couple of rounds with the ice pack on my knee calmed things down enough to hopefully sleep well tonight.

Up next- Hollywood Studios for rope drop tomorrow (gotta be ready for that Toy Story Mania mad dash- don't want another 75 minute wait this year!) and a relaxing afternoon of swimming and laundry. Wait- did I just say laundry was relaxing? Apparently everything IS better in Disney.

Pirate by morning, princess by evening

Josie started the day with a fun surprise- a pirate cruise! She was outfitted with a life jacket, pirate bandanna, water bottle and eye patch. The group set off on a search for buried treasure that took them up and down the river and ended at a giant treasure chest. Josie was a little hesitant at first, but by the end of the trip she was confidently holding Eddie (the skull atop the pirate flag) and leading the group to the final treasure.

After a trip back to the room to unload the treasures, we hopped the bus to Magic Kingdom and the transformation to princess began. First stop- Mickey Mouse of course! Then a trip across the hall, I mean Town Square Exposition Hall of course, to see Cinderella, Belle and Sleeping Beauty.

Another surprise- a haircut in the Main Street Barbershop! They specialize in "baby's first cut" but do plenty of kids (and big kids!) and Josie really enjoyed herself. She desperately needed a cut but the pink hair color and hidden Mickey were all she really cared about. Those ladies do a fantastic job- I highly recommend them!



Hidden Mickey

Enough with the signatures and beauty stuff- it was time for rides! We spent the entire afternoon, evening and late night (left the park around 11 PM) on rides. It was a great day crowd wise so we took advantage of short lines and decided to save the photos and autographs for another day. We hit many of the main rides:

Thunder Mountain (many, many times- during the fireworks was awesome!), Splash Mountain (Josie loves it, Brent- not so much), Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride, Dumbo, Cinderella's Carousel, Small World, Peter Pan, Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, Philharmagic and Buzz Lightyear.

3D glasses

See that gold ribbon? That means its Cinderella's horse!

Overall it was a wonderful day. My favorite part? Josie snuggled into me and said "my heart is full of fun today", Makes it all worth it!

FYI- I have tons of great video, and while Disney is great at many things, Internet speed is not one of them. When I get home I'll probably load them all to Picasa and post some of my favorites on the blog.