We finished packing the car, ate breakfast and left for the park by 8:00am. You can see how empty the park was on our way in. We had an even closer parking spot this morning. A minivan parked next to us and unloaded their crew. They had definitely all left for the park and Lew looked over to see the back door of the van wide open. He played parking lot hero and closed it for them. the funniest part was he knew it was the mother who was unloading little ones from that door - not like a teenager raced out and forgot to close it. Nope, Mom was the one with so much excitement she forgot!
Posed a couple times on our way to the ferry....
We didn't take the monorail today...
We headed for the ferry. It took only a few minutes more than the monorail, but it was usually more spacious. I didn't like how crowded the monorail was when we had to bring the stroller on. Of course, today, we had already dropped off our rental stroller and were all walking. We weren't worried, since we had only a few things planned before heading out. Making them tired before a 9 hour car trip is a good thing anyway. Although, they never ever sleep in the car unless it is pitch black outside. Even then, not a guarantee. They have never been those kind of kids who fall asleep as soon as they hit the car seats.
It was so empty - we were literally the first ones onto the ferry!
This woman wins my Best Disney Park Outfit award. We saw many non-sensible shoes and outfits throughout the week, but none as good as this.
This was the only day of the week that we got there before "Rope Drop" meaning the gates were not open yet. We arrived between 8:30 and 8:40 and the park didn't open until 9:00. This was the crowd there waiting for the rope to drop so they could enter... and run to Space Mountain, I guess.
The Mayor of Disney as well as many characters arrived by train to sing, dance and kick off the opening of the park.
Once they dropped the rope so to speak, we all entered and headed towards our first 2 stops. As we walked down Main Street towards Cinderella's castle, Mary Poppins strolled alongside of us! She was holding the hands of 2 little girls, but she did say "good morning" to Gretchen, too.
It was 9:00 as we headed towards the castle. Lew was racing over to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad roller coaster to get 4 Fastpasses so he and Gretchen could ride the roller coaster 2 more times before our vacation ended. While he did that, the kids and I headed quickly to ride Dumbo one more time. When we got in line, the wait sign said "10 minute wait"...
... when we exited, the sign read "25 minute wait". Some of those other Rope Droppers were headed to Dumbo, not just Space Mountain! Lew actually arrived to see us end our ride, BTMRR fastpasses in hand. Then, I ran to the restroom while he and the kids boarded the carousel one more time. When I got back, the line had just closed. They had saved me a horse and everything. I would have had time to jump on if the lady would have let me in. Oh well. Because I was watching them, I got to snap this cute picture!
And here we have Science Daddy and Daughter eyeing the mechanism that makes the horses gallop and jump. You can just barely see Carl's head on the horse to their left.
OK, at 9:30 we headed over to start waiting for Tiana and Naveen. They were, after all, the whole reason we were here today. We wanted to be first in line for sure! And we were! Shortly after we arrived, a college aged guy showed up with his autograph book. He was darling and sweet, and somewhat challenged. He definitely did not have any issues approaching people and staying in their personal space. he wiggled his way right in between us and sat on the brick wall along with the kids and me. Actually, he and the kids had good conversations about meeting characters and how the autograph books were working out. He was funny, he didn't like that Gretchen had the Step Family sign her book. He wouldn't go meet them because they were mean to Cinderella. His mother made a brief appearance, but then she left to go find him his camera. By now, a few more people had shown up and he let a couple families go ahead of him while he waiting to get his camera. I honestly do not know if his mother came back in time or not. I hope so!About 5 minutes before the Princess and The Frog came out, the Disney Photo Pass employee showed up. He was fun to talk to. He looked at the size of my lens and got in really close to see what zoom it was. "OOOOOO!!!!" He thought I had a 70-300 on there and was going to tell me it wasn't wide enough, so when he saw the 24-70/2.8 I had rented (an almost $2K lens) he was impressed. I quickly got it out there that I rented it! He said I would be very happy with my photos and his probably wouldn't be as good. We talked about Nikons and upgrades and dream cameras. He also warned me that they had some funky magenta lighting going on. Boy was he right! He was also right about me loving all my photos from the whole week. That lens was dreamy!!
Here are a couple shots he took of the kids... they are able to add characters into the photos after taking them.
Gretchen and Prince Naveen looking to be turned human again by a princess's kiss....
This shot was much trickier. Carl wouldn't sit still very well at all, but here he is hoping to turn Tiana back into a human, too! You can just feel the enthusiasm, can't you??!
This was worth being first in line... as Tiana & Naveen approached, Gretchen and Carl were right there to run up and greet them! The other little girl in her Tiana costume was there celebrating her 5th birthday. She was beside herself with glee at seeing the Princess! We learned from her mother that Tiana and Naveen were only signing on Saturday from 10:00 to 10:45. So glad we got there when we did! Can you imagine being turned away from the line after making a special day for it?
Here is my camera talking buddy, Michael at work. the Photo Pass photographers are at most of the meet and greet stations. They take pictures of your child's visit and then put them onto a card for you right there. You are issued a credit card that holds all these photos and then you can buy prints or the whole disc later on. Since you saw the shots with the frogs in them, you know we bought the disc. We knew we would be buying it, that's why we stopped often to have our photos taken by Photo Pass people all over the park. It is a really nice way for the photographer in the family to get to be in some magical photos, too. Plus, they will take your camera from you and take pictures for you using that if you wish. They don't care if you are buying their photos, they are simply there to take vacation photos for people. I can see it being an awesome way for someone not lugging a huge camera and (rented) lens around to have lots of nice pictures from their trip.
Here is Carl reciting his favorite lines form the movie - his Louis the alligator quote. Tiana and Naveen laughed right out loud when he finished! He also asked them if they serve cheeseburgers in their restaurant. If you are not familiar with the story, it takes place in New Orleans and surrounding bayous. Tiana longs to open her dream restaurant. She is then mistakenly turned into a frog along with Prince Naveen. They must figure out how to become human again. They fall in love. They get married as frogs. They get back to human (because once they get married, she is now a princess... and so when she kisses him - being a princess - she can turn him human.) Then they live happily ever after once they have opened her dream restaurant. Anyway, Carl wanted to be sure they serve cheeseburgers... which they do. Phew! This is a fairly recent movie. I'm sure Disney marketers are planning to open a restaurant on site called Tiana's. If not, they oughta!
And people were right, this interaction was so much fun. They really engaged the kids and even between themselves had great chemistry.
Boy, Carl hugged a lot of princesses this week!
We didn't get to meet any other princes... so this hug was very special!
After all that magic, we headed to the roller coaster for Lew and Gretchen to ride twice. The line was so short, they actually got to go 3 times in a row! This put their Big Thunder Mountain Railroad roller coaster count for the week at 9! Nine times! Gretchen would have gone 90 times if we could have!
They are right in the middle of this next shot...
Once they were done, we headed back to Mickey's PhilharMagic for one last viewing. We ended up with 2 empty rows in front of us and it made for the best 3D view of the week! We saw that 4 times during our stay. Once each of the 4 days we spent in Magic Kingdom. the repetition was wonderful for the kids. They knew their favorite parts were coming up and loved seeing it all again! You can actually search "philharmagic" on You Tube and find videos of it that are fairly decent. People put the 3D glasses on their video camera and it makes it kind of neat. Obviously, not like being there, but you get the idea. Here's the curtain while we were waiting for the show to begin...
Grabbed our final Disney pretzel....
... on our way to Toon Town. All 4 of us rode the little roller coaster called Goofy's Barnstormer. We had been on 3 times earlier in the week. Carl asked to go again, but Gretchen wanted to see Minnie Mouse's house one last time. So, we briefly split up - meeting in the gift store for some quality shopping time when we finished our individual fun.Here is Gretchen playing with Potato head parts. I know it's blurry, but it shows you how big the display of parts is there. You buy a cardboard box for $20 and fill it with as many pieces as you can. The only catch is you have to be able to close the lid. I think I did a good job engineering us a tons of accessories for our potato heads at home!
We hopped onto the Disney Railroad to ride back to the front of the park. Of course, we stopped and bought some goodies for Miss Sweet Tooth. She picked a Christmas tree cookie. They were very good!
But, these smore squares were insanely good! We only bought one. We dropped the ball there!
As we headed out of the park, Lew eavesdropped on 2 workers discussing why anyone would choose to live in Buffalo NY and he couldn't resist jumping in and defending his Queen City!
Waiting for the ferry to return us to the parknig lot. Carl, how do you feel about leaving Disney World?
Right from there... we headed for the highway and headed back home!!!!! We survived, even thoroughly enjoyed a week long vacation in Disney World with twin 4 year olds!!!!This final photo of Carl and his Mickey Mouse was taken in the car. I simply turned around, probably traveling 80 mph and captured it. It won a ribbon at one of my recent photo competitions! "A Boy and his Mouse".
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.
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!!
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. 
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! 
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.
This was in the closet in the kids' room. Gretchen was so happy that her dolls had their own crib all week! 
So, our forecast... 6 more weeks of winter.
