Disney World 2010 Part 2

Good evening, again!

Well, I'll try to catch you all up on what we've been doing the last few days...

Because of the heat directly from Hades, we decided to try a water park on Tuesday. I don't have any pictures from it (don't want to kill another camera) - but we had a pretty good time, even though I hit my head very very hard on a roof of the kiddie water slide clubhouse type building (why yes, it was concrete!).

Yesterday, Alli and I took Sophie back to the Magic Kingdom. Stacy wasn't feeling very well, so we made her stay back at the room. It was a good thing, too, because it was insanely hot - Alli and I barely lasted 3 hours, and Sophie was actually sweating and had rosie cheeks. (Yes, we kept forcing her to drink water, and we all were staying hydrated).

Anyway, it was a good day for characters, because Sophie was able to get a few meetings with the ones she had missed on Sunday.



First and foremost, Daisy Duck!



Then we got in line for Pluto...





And then I took Sophie to Pinocchio (we didn't want aunt-aunt to skin her other leg).



We went on the Aladdin's Carpet Ride, which Sophie wasn't too sure about until we were done, ad we started making our way back toward the castle, with the intention of seeing the show that runs in front of it every hour and a half. We found Woody and Jessie from Toy Story, and got in a line that was longer than it looked, and we began baking...

Sophie did get her pictures and autographs, finally...





And then we decided that it was enough heat, and we managed to get back to the bus area and beck to the resort before we burst into flames.

Today we went to Epcot, because we had a reservation for Sophie's lunch with the princesses...

Funny story. I had in my head that the lunch with the princesses was on Thursday around 2:00 - maybe 1:30. We knew we'd check the reservation in the morning, so we weren't worried about the exact time.

Wait for it...

So I opened up my email with the confirmation information in it...

Wait for it...

And the time was 1:55pm - so I thought, okay, that should work just fine. Then I looked closer...

Wait for it...

And the reservation was for...

Sunday the 16th.

Yes, we had missed it by four days.

Because I am a moron.

I literally hung my head in both hands, and was about to cry. I managed to pull it together when Sophie came into the room, and asked me, "what's wrong, daddy?" I called the dining reservation number, in hopes that we could get squeezed in anytime before we left (i.e, today or tomorrow). They were very helpful and understanding, and we were able to get a new reservation at 3:20 today, so the day was saved!

It was a very very hot day today, and we clung to the shadows of the buildings as we got into Epcot. This was a very good thing, as it allowed us to run into both Stitch, and Daisy Duck again.



Sophie can't get enough Daisy, so we got more pictures, and another signature.



Aunt-aunt found the Character Spot, where they have five characters lined up, similarly to the princesses from Sunday, and you can get the autographs and pictures with all of them in one swoop.

It was very nice that it was inside, and air-conditioned. It was good and bad that the line took an hour to get through. Good, because we had time to kill, and it was way better to do it in air conditioning, like God intended, and bad, because it was an hour long line.

Sophie saw Mickey again...



And Minnie too - this time separately.





And here she is, dancing as she is waiting to see Donald Duck.



Here's Donald...





And the elusive Goofy!



Aunt-aunt wanted her picture with Goofy too! That is aunt-aunt, not a lobster-woman (hard to tell, I know).



Next up, we found Chip and Dale, just outside!



Chip is on the right, and Dale is on the left, in case you don't know which is which...



And then the time finally came - we went to the restaurant in Norway, and Sophie was greeted by Princess Aurora, who she happened to be dressed as...



Included with the meal is an actual photograph (hard copy) of the two together, and the princess was so impressed with Sophie, that she hand-delivered the picture to Sophie at our table. She didn't do it to any other girl that we saw... It was very nice!



After the meal started, we finally saw the other princesses start making their way around the restaurant, stopping at each table. All of the princesses were very kind, and were genuinely happy to spend a few minutes with each little girl.

First to visit was Jasmine...



And then the also-elusive Snow White...





And here's Sophie waiting patiently for her favorite to come...



Princess Ariel!



Sophie was so happy to meet them all, and she had a great time that I hope she remembers. At least she'll have a bunch of pictures and this blog to help...

Somewhere along the line, Sophie had a conversation with our server that we weren't privy to, and the server thought that Sophie was celebrating her birthday. She got a button, a cupcake, and a special card, signed by all the princesses. It was very very cool. We're calling it an early 4th birthday celebration...

Well, we have one more day here, and then we head home on Saturday. I'll possibly get another blog entry done before the end of the weekend, to wrap things up, but it may also take a week or so - please be patient!

Talk to you all later!

Larry

Disney World 2010 Part 1

Good evening, everyone!

As you have probably guessed already, the Internet access here at the DW is not included in the terrific cost of your room, so we opted to go for hitting just a couple of days, and bulking our Internet activity up.

Today is the first entry to chronicle our fun time here, and it won't be the last. Expect another blog entry Thursday evening, and a final wrap-up sometime next week...

I'm going to be very heavy with the pictures, and try to tell a few stories too. This is not all of our picture es by any means, (we have about 200 so far, and I'm posting just under 50. That also doesn't include the pictures we'll get on our Photo Pass CD from the Disney photographers)

We got to the airport on Saturday with plenty of time, and were able to relax before the flight boarded (including grabbing a lunch).

The flight itself was pretty good - Sophie was a little harder to keep occupied this time, and she had to go potty every other minute. It's a good thing the guy sitting in the aisle seat was a good natured fellow, and it didn't bother him at all.

When we got to the airport, we realized I had screwed one thing up - I had failed to put the special "Disney Magical Express" tag on our stroller, so they wouldn't know to retrieve it from baggage claim and deliver it to us later. I went to the counter, and had them add all of our claim tickets to our vouchers, so that, in theory, they'd be able to find the stroller. It turns out I wasn't the first one to veer do that!

We got on the bus, and started our trip to Disney World, which took about a half hour.

Aunt aunt and Sophie in the Disney Magical Express bus - that took us from the airport to the All Star Music resort.

Alli is pointing out the entrance sign for Sophie, who has a very appropriate "wow" expression.

When we checked in., Sophie was focused on getting a balloon (as she often is) - so we asked the lady behind the counter for one. Later on Saturday evening, the cast member (employee) who delivered our dinner came back with a bundle of balloons for Sophie, which she loved, and was really cool for her to do.

Sophie enjoying her dessert on Saturday night - apples with caramel sauce.

A very cool thing, at least in the resorts, is that they have a kid-sized sink that doesn't require a stool - it was very cool to not have to hold her up as she washed her hands. As Sophie says, "It's my size!"

Sophie eating her breakfast - you may recognize the shape of the straw...

Sunday we started our week of fun at the Magic Kingdom.

Her Cuteness, as we entered the Magic Kingdom.

Alli decided to leave something of herself behind on a sidewalk, not long after we got into the park. She was trying to run up a curb with Sophie in her hands, and instead of falling on Sophie when she tripped, she put Sophie down successfully, and sacrificed herself...

Cinderella's Castle!

One of the first things we found was a little nook to the side that was labeled Storybook Garden - the show was set to start in a few minutes, so we sat down. It turns out that it was a small play where the story of Beauty and the Beast was told by Belle, with the help of kids from the audience. Sophie was very excited!

Sophie went up on stage with no problem at all - we were amazed and happy to see her just dive into the whole experience!



They gave Sophie a prop to be Lumiere from the movie...



She had a great time!

She wasn't scared of Beast at all, and she was very happy to see him.

Being newbies to the whole thing, we didn't know until Sophie and I were in line for pictures with Belle that there are autograph books that all of the characters will sign for you. Aunt aunt ran and got one from a close-by stand, and we were able to get her first signature from Belle!

Our next character meeting was with the White Rabbit and Alice - to be honest, Sophie only wanted to see the bunny. We had a close call on this one, too. The people who dress up as the characters, especially in the full suits, are not only insane, but their time out in the heat (thus the insanity) is controlled very carefully so that they don't start dying off in the middle of the day. We were in line for about 15 minutes, and about three kids back, when the rabbit was taken away to be replaced. There were two kids who only got to see Alice, and then, for the kid before Sophie, the White Rabbit came back, and she was able to meet him. That was a close call...

The next stop was to meet the princesses in the own place. There was a room with three tents, each with a princess in them. This was half the reason for us coming here, so that Sophie could meet the princesses...

Princess Aurora, aka Sleeping Beauty...

Cinderella...

Finally there was Belle, in her yellow outfit...

All of the princesses and characters were very kind, and genuinely loved the kids that came to see them (especially Sophie). I was very happy that not only was Sophie very comfortable with all of the characters, but also that they lived up to Sophie's expectations - it was very very wonderful... (I'll stop crying in a minute)

Here's Minnie's house. Inside were a bunch of places that you could sit down and get pictures taken...

This is the kitchen, where there was a tea set permanently attached to the table - although Sophie started to try and get the kettle off...

Next door was Mickey's house - unfortunately, all you could do was walk through it.

Behind Mickey's house was the judges tent, where Sophie got to meet both Minnie and Mickey!

Kissing Minnie on the nose...

Giving Minnie a big hug while Mickey signs...

Mickey gets a big hug too!

And he gives her a big hug back!

Sophie was so happy to get to meet them both!

We went to a few things in Tomorrow Land, like the Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor, and the Buzz Lightyear ride, and then we left for the day around 3 in the afternoon (we got there around 10 AM).

On Monday, we went to Hollywood Studios, getting there around 10 AM again.

The attractions here centered on the movies, and we did a few things that Sophie loved...

First, we wen to the "Voyage of the Little Mermaid" show, which was a blend of live action, puppets, and movie in the background, which told the story of the move in about 10 minutes.

Ariel, with one of her Whatsits...

The Ursula was a huge puppet, with glowing eyes, and a head the moved pretty well.

The finale had Ariel being transformed back from a mermaid to a human form, it was a pretty neat effect, done right on the stage.

Sophie was so happy to get to see the "real" Ariel!

More characters were there for Sophie to meet, including Hand Manny...

June, from Young Einsteins...

and both Lightning McQueen and 'Mater from Cars!

As we were getting tired, we stopped in the animation building, and Sophie got to meet one of the new characters from the upcoming Toy Story 3 (opening June 18th - there were literally posters for it everywhere) - Snuggly-Bear!

I love this picture, because whe alomost entirely disappeared into his fur!

And here's the more traditional picture.

We left Hollywood Studios around 2, and then cam back, ate lunch, and then Stacy and I started to get ready for our special night out at Victoria and Alberts.

We had a 7 course formal meal, over about two and a half hours, and had a very nice time. A once or twice in a lifetime event.

Whle we were enjoying fine dining, Alli and Sophie had ice cream for dessert, and then went swimming for two hours, followed by watching a movie or two in the room.

Well, it's very late, so I'm going to get going. I'll provide info on the next few day's when I blog again, hopefully on Thursday.

By the way it is VERY HOT down here.

Talk to you later!

Larry