Disney Day 7, Friday 11/12

If you have read my reports of the previous 6 days in Orlando, you already know the twins were awake at 5:30am.

Today the kids wore their Prince Charming and Cinderella outfits again as we headed to the Magic Kingdom for our final day of magic. We had several characters yet to meet. Cinderella's Step Family were definitely on the list. We saw them during the week, but the line was always closed. We did have that walking comment from the Step Mother to Gretchen "Well, helllllooooo, Cinderella" one day as the 3 characters left their meeting spot to go back inside. Gretchen had been a bit leery of them because she was afraid they would be mean to her, but curiosity was getting the best of her and she did want the chance to confront them in person about being mean to someone we saw earlier in the week. We saw the Step Mother pull a pen from someone with a broad swooping motion and it looked a little rough. I asked a few other mothers who had seen them if they were playful or more like bullies. I was assured they were fun and harmless. The child we saw the pen incident happen to was quite a bit older than Gretchen & Carl. My guess is they tailor their antics to the audience. So, we needed to be dressed like a Prince and Cinderella for that meeting. You understand that, right? Lew was OK with it.

Back to characters to meet today... Snow White was another important one. We wanted those photos to be really special too because Snow White was one of Gretchen's very favorite princesses. I say "one of" because it is hard for a princess herself to narrow down her best friends. Plus, at the end of this day's report, you will see another princess ranks high as well. So, the princess dress and Prince Charming shirt would be perfect for this meeting, too. We had also figured out by this point in the week that she could wear her Cinderella dress and not only be comfortable, but be fine getting around rides and other attractions.

We arrived at the park early enough to get our usual Pluto 11-15 awesome parking spot, but the monorail was not working so everyone had to take the ferry to Magic Kingdom. This meant a lot more people were waiting for the ferry. We did not arrive in the park until close to 10:00.

The first stop I made was in City Hall to inquire about the characters we wanted to meet still. the kids still had pages in their autograph books and they really loved meeting all the characters, so this was the most important thing on our agenda for the day. I asked the girl behind the counter about Snow White, Stitch, Tiana, Jessie and the Step Family. She wrote down the times and locations for 4 of them. Stitch didn't have a place, he was just wandering around in the Tomorrowland area. You had to find him if you could, but you couldn't be guaranteed to meet him. Kind of a bummer we cancelled the breakfast with him yesterday, but not the end of the world, either.

First on the list was Snow White. We had to hightail it across the Main Street Square to find her tucked away right inside the gate. People were entering the park and didn't even realize they were passing her gazebo. We really lucked out because we were the last kids they let in her line! Gretchen had been saving the front page of her autograph book just for Snow White to sign. It would have been horrible if we had missed her!! Even though she was going to be leaving after we were done, she didn't rush talking to Gretchen & Carl at all. She even let me take more pictures when it looked like they were trying to head out. I needed a horizontal cropped shot to use for the November calendar and I knew the outfits and Christmas decorations behind Snow White would make a great one.

Our next stop was near the carousel to find the Step Family. Well, their line was closed, but their worker told us they would be returning at 11:00. This gave us time to cruise through Tomorrowland and look for a chance encounter with Stitch. No luck. But, we headed back at 10:45 to wait for the Step Family. We were first in line. A mother and daughter arrived shortly after us and we got to chat with them. They were long time Disney comers and told me that the Step Family had only started meeting and signing autographs the year before. So, they were still pretty popular with guests. Then, another woman showed up and insisted that we were in the Peter Pan line. She was positive we were waiting for Peter Pan and she even forced us to move a lot more forward to wait right at the rope rather than letting us stand in the shaded area we had been chatting in. I bit my tongue something fierce and did not perform an "I told you so" song and dance as the Step Family returned to the spot at 11:00! The step sisters immediately began fighting over the handsome Prince!! Gretchen approached the Step Mother and informed her, "I have not been mean to you. You should not be mean to me." That was totally uncoached. I never even said anything similar to her. Well, the Step Mother looked her right in the the eye and replied, "Do you say that to everyone you meet for the first time?" Which I thought was a well placed response. Certainly nothing that would offend a (then still) 4 year old, but it did keep with her character in tone. And honestly, it might be a good thing to say to every person you are meeting for the first time. I got some great photos and then, just as our turn was almost over, one Sister said to Carl, "I want you to buy me a big diamond ring." Carl didn't skip a beat. He pointed to the other Sister and replied to the first one, "I will buy her one!" Of course, the first sister was upset and the second sister was gloating. It was a riot!! And Carl made his exit. After these 2 fun character meetings, we were ready for some rides. We headed over to It's A Small World. It was actually one of the longest waiting lines we encountered all week. 10 minutes. I had never been to Disney before, so I didn't have any childhood memories of the ride like so many other have. I have to say, I was prepared for cheesy and annoying music, but I loved it! OK, maybe not as much as Carl's therapist's daughter did. They went when the little girl was 3 and they had to ride it 14 times in a row! They went in early December and there was no line at all. 14 times back in line. I might have liked to ride it a second time, but not another dozen. I think the kids liked it as much as I did. They were pretty into the whole thing and checking out each scene. Lew didn't seem as enthused. He did later report that he enjoyed watching the wiring for the underwater pumps and smelling the old ozone mechanical electronic smell. I guess to a science geek, that is considered magical.

From there, we went back to see Mickey's PhilHarmagic again.... our 3rd time this week! We all have loved this movie! Carl calls it the "Donald is flying at you" movie. Lew was even quoted as saying, "It's a good show." Not only are you hearing your favorite Disney songs, but you have the 3D effects mixed in with smells and feeling, too! In one scene, you could smell baked goods. In another one, you get blasted with whooshes of air from popping champagne bottles and later you get wet from flying buckets of water. You are not hit by buckets, just splashes. We met a couple while waiting to go in and the wife had a "300th visit" button on. Lew asked her, "really? 300?" She said they were Florida residents and had been season ticket holders for 27 years. They come a lot and she said they always see PhilharMagic because it is the husband's favorite. Pretty cool! Then, after the movie, we rode the carousel again. Always fun!

Next we were off to Frontierland.... let me stop here. All these "lands" are different areas in the park. At first, we were worried about the time it would take to go between them, but as the week went on and we got more comfortable with the layout of everything, we learned it wasn't terrible. Especially with the kids in a stroller and limited crowds. We could walk pretty fast throughout the park.

So, we headed to Frontierland for a meet and greet with Jessie and Woody. The line was pretty long which gave us plenty of time for Lew to go pick up 4 Fastpasses for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad roller coaster and then bop over to buy a pretzel for a snack while we snaked along in the queue. Big, soft pretzels are his favorite anyway, but they really made good snacks of many occasions during this vacation. Carl didn't eat any of this one though (foreshadowing). Being in line for a good amount of time gave me the time I needed to completely change the kids' outfits from Prince Charming and Cinderella to their 2010 Halloween costumes... Jessie and Woody. A lady in line ahead of us gasped and asked where did I get the Jessie suit. When I told her I made it, she said, "I thought so. It's a really good one." (beaming) Lew was not terribly keen on this costume change. But now, he likes the photos. Gee, that's a typical husband for you, huh? At one point in line, the Disney worker informed us that Jessie and Woody had to go inside for 5 minutes to check on Bullseye. Gretchen bought that completely! Sure enough, less than 5 minutes later, they reappeared to resume signings. By the time we got to the front of the line, Carl was getting hungry for lunch (note the previous foreshadowing). He was kind of fussy and even tried crying even though he'd been excited to meet Woody & Jessie all week. We managed to get a few cute pictures. Gretchen was really into it - and Jessie and Woody played with her a lot!

They wondered where her boots were....

I didn't photograph today's lunch, but we ate at Pecos Bill's Cafe. Carl had a cheeseburger, Lew had a pulled pork barbecue sandwich and fries, I had a cheeseburger and apples and Miss Gretchen had yogurt. Moods improved greatly after this!!

Another costume change... this time, just back to play clothes. Well, for Carl, that simply meant removing his Woody vest. For Gretchen, I had shorts and a tee shirt so she wouldn't have to put her dress back on if she didn't want to. We split up at this point with Lew & Gretchen going to the roller coaster to use their Fastpasses for 2 rides in a row. Carl & I headed over to Tom Sawyer's Island by raft. Tom Sawyer's Island is a playground on the entire island. A lot of stairs, paths and walkways and places for your kid to duck out of sight. Did I mention all the stairs? When they finished their roller coaster fun, Lew & Gretchen took the raft over to meet us. You can see Lew - the tall, pensive guy in the middle with the purple shirt. Gretchen is on his left with her arms on the side of the raft. By then, Carl and I had a little knowledge of the island. The kids liked the rickety bridge a lot. We did find an old mining town with only one entrance which allowed us to stand and talk while they played and we did not have to chase them up and down all the steps.

We saw a little of the afternoon parade on our way from Tom Sawyer's Island over to Adventureland. We had stopped to see parades on a couple other occasions this vacation, but the kids were not interested in them at all. Even today, we really only stayed to watch because you couldn't cross the street due to the parade. I thought Gretchen would be more into it because of the princesses and princes, but not really. I was happy to get to see some of this one. I liked seeing the princesses and princes! Check this out, Prince Eric (Ariel's prince charming from The Little Mermaid) seems to have chosen me out of the crowd!

The Step Family shot turned out to be full of personalities!

My mother would have loved watching Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum dancing their way up the street. They were pretty funny!Once the parade ended, we crossed over and worked our way to Adventureland to ride Aladdin's Magic Carpets. This was a pretty Dumbo-esque ride. All four of us fit in one magic carpet. The front seat had control of raising and lowering the carpet while the back seat had control of the tilt of the carpet. Just like Dumbo, it is a 90 second ride. The kids loved it! You circle around and there is a huge camel statue who randomly spits like a thin fountain. Gretchen was so happy the camel didn't spit on us!

Every report I read of Disney stressed the importance of eating Dole Whip when you were there. So, we did. Orange pineapple swirl. OK, I will confess... having lived in Buffalo where Anderson's served dole whip, I found the Disney version nothing new and special. Must be other people had never had Dole Whip at all. I do enjoy orange pineapple ice cream a lot, so it tasted good, but it surely wasn't something to fret over finding.

By now, our day was over. We worked our way back to Main Street passing Tiana's signing place, but she was done for the day. We knew this meant we were going home without her signature or any photos. I was pretty disappointed because all the reports I had read told how she and Prince Naveen were 2 of the best characters for interacting with the kids. The stuffed characters don't talk, so only the face characters could hold conversations with 4 year olds. And since many were in our lunch in the castle, they were kind of rushed. Oh well, not much I could do about it. We surely had plenty of wonderful memories of the trip and missing one set of characters would be forgotten as they told their stories of roller coasters and chicken nuggets. But, when Gretchen asked when we were going to meet Tiana and learned we weren't, she cried. She had one page left in her autograph book which was bad enough, but honestly, 'The Princess and the Frog' was at that time, their favorite princess movie. Carl was visibly upset he couldn't meet her, too. Brainstorming between the parents began.

We were still on our way out of the park for the night. That wasn't changing. We stopped in the confectionery shop on Main Street for one last cookie and cupcake to bring home to the condo for dessert if the kids stayed awake that long. Another thing we didn't get to do was see any evening fireworks. We pushed through every day and returned to the condo for dinner rather than going home for a mid-day nap and returning for fireworks. But, they didn't care. I told you they weren't at all interested in parades, who knows if they would have been interested in fireworks.

As we walked out of the park, Lew and I discussed changing our Saturday plan from 'a little shopping at Downtown Disney and then hitting the road' to 'Magic Kingdom to see Tiana and Naveen and then hitting the road.' Still in the vague brainstorming phase.

We got back to the condo and headed over for a swim. We met two girls from Canada in the hot tub. Gretchen talked their ears off! They were so sweet and listened to all her princess stories. They were going to Universal in Orlando and at one point, one turned to the other and said, "She is making this sound like so much fun. Maybe we should be doing Disney instead."

Dinner for the kids was hot dogs, fruit and rolls. During dinner, Carl said, "I am just feeling soooo tired!" At bedtime, when I asked Carl what his favorite ride was, he thought and said, "Dumbo." Gretchen said hers was the magic carpets "and the camel didn't spit on us!" They were in bed by 8:00 pm!

Look how grown up Carl looks waiting for dinner, watching TV laying on his bed.

They thought it was funny (well, so did I) that their "bowling monkey" pajamas mathced the sheets perfectly! They don't call them Sock Monkeys, just Bowling Monkeys. This was in the closet in the kids' room. Gretchen was so happy that her dolls had their own crib all week!
Once they were in bed, Lew and I decided this trip was for them and we were definitely going to Magic Kingdom in the morning. Oh OK, I wanted to meet Tiana and Naveen as much as they did! We mostly packed the car and cleaned the condo so that in the morning we could get an early start. We knew the kids would wake us at 5:30 anyway.

There will be one more report still to come from me... our final day at Disney and the trip home.