jenseib

Yes, I totally loved it. It is one of my favorite spots in all the parks now.

100% Disney for me...but I have grown out o my rollar coaster phase and could care less about going on the big ones now.

Claire wanted to play on the little slide and tunnel, so I just stood around and took a few pictures while she ran around. Claire was having a good ole time. I finally told Claire we had to move on. We then headed back to our room. We had to stop and check out Rafiki and see that his butt surgery had been successful. It was about 5:30 now and we decided it was time to go and get freshened up for our dinner ADR.

How cute are these cone cabanas by the pool? This was like a character meet and greet. All these movie characters just right there and you could easily go up and get your picture with them. I guess we were getting a little silly here. I think nature was calling for Claire, so we headed over here to use the restroom. I believe there was a laundry room in there as well. I am not sure why I didn’t take a picture of it. Back out to check out the pool. Time for a quick break, which lasted a nano-second. And back out we went. I think Claire was dancing away as we walked. Oh wait Mom! I didn’t get my picture taken with him! And back to the Nemo area to look around a bit.

We headed out towards the main drag after our fun mission and caught a glimpse of Characters in Flight up in the distance. Believe it or not, we kind of felt ready to leave. Yes we really shortchanged Epcot this trip, but we had done all we cared to do. Test Track was still getting refurbished, so we wouldn’t have a chance to ride that. We stopped for our first photopass pictures of the day. Claire asked if we could stop in Club Cool one more time before we left though. We enjoyed a couple more drinks and Claire tried her favorites once again. Claire also wanted a snack before we left so we stopped off and got her one. I might’ve gotten a pretzel or Mickey bar at this point too, but I didn’t take a picture. On our way out we stopped for another photopass picture. This guy was so much fun. He said it was so nice to have some normal people as for the last few months he has been taking pictures of drunks from the Food and Wine Festival (which had just ended the day before). Then we decided to get silly. He was totally cracking up. I have no clue now why we made this face. But we were having a good time with this guy. And after those pictures we headed out towards the bus stop. We made it back to AoA in good time. We were greeted with some water art. Claire and I had not been over to the Cars section yet and we planned to remedy that right this very moment. Claire then realized she should be in some of these pictures. Though the area was kind of quiet, there were 2 other families doing the same thing we were, and they were kind of rude about it. One was foreign and played dumb …the other…was just dumb. As you can see in the next picture I tried to get the picture without the kid in it, but it was impossible. They would NOT move from the spot, even though it was obvious I was trying to get a picture of the car. I really think this is the best themed area of the resort. They really went all out.

Continuing our journey to Soarin’. I think we stopped and had a seat here for a bit. And then on to Soarin’. The line moved quickly and before long we were Soarin’ over California and having a great time. We then headed over to the Seas with Nemo and Friends. Claire always loves this ride. And after the ride we went and got in line for Turtle Talk with Crush. Another favorite of Claire’s. Claire kept pointing out fish for me to take pictures of while we waited. We took Mr. Rays Pop quiz and sent the certificate to my email. We were then let into Turtle Talk and we enjoyed the show. Claire was slightly disappointed that he didn’t talk to her, but she has had interaction before and I reminded her that you don’t always get chosen every time. Back out we went for a few more photos. Claire wanted to do another Agent P mission, so we headed towards the UK. I pulled the phone out of my back pack and we found it no longer worked. Some we found a kiosk and they told us that they are only good for about 15 minutes after a mission ends. After that you have to get a new one. Good to know. I guess I thought they would keep working when you clicked on it and would give you a choice of another country. So we got a new communicator and headed to the UK for our next mission. Again, I took pictures as we went around, so of the special effects and some just randomly, but I can’t tell which are which in most photos. I will say this mission was much better than the one in Mexico. This mission had us going in and out of different buildings. The phone booth gave us a golf ball. I believe later we had to exchange the golf ball in the Tea Shoppe. (Either that or we had to deposit it somewhere else, I no longer remember for sure) They gave us a packet of tea there. We don’t drink tea, so it’s probably still in the pantry somewhere now. Hmmm……looking at the picture I just posted, that might’ve been where we deposited the golf ball. This is around the back of the Toy store and the end to the mission. Doesn’t he look creepy? And then we took a picture of ourselves in the window. And we turned around and who do we see? Pooh and Tigger walking by. After that we deposited the phone as we were done with all the missions we would be doing that day. This mission was so much better. I liked that we had a bigger area to do things in and we were in and out of several of the buildings. Claire liked that we had to actually handle physical things too. She thought that was so much fun.

This place was just really neat inside. I loved it! We made our orders and bread was served. I have to say I was slightly disappointed we had a female server. I had heard how hansom all the men were there and I was hoping for a little eye candy. LOL! Before long our appetizers arrived. Claire got the fruit dish which had many of her favorites in it. I believe I got the Arancini - fried risotto balls filled with mozzarella and meat ragu. These were fantastic and I could’ve eaten a whole plate of just these. After a bit our entrées came out. Claire went with basic pizza. I had heard they really don’t allow changes to what’s on the menu, so we just got her cheese pizza. I am not sure if that is true, but I didn’t want to upset the balance of things. I got a pepperoni pizza. I took some of my pepperoni and put it on Claire’s pizza for her. The waitress saw it and worried she had brought Claire the wrong pizza, and I assured her it was right and that I just added a few pieces of my pepperoni to it. The pizza was awesome. We loved every bite. I don’t know how I have read some bad reviews of the place because everything was heavenly too me. But I guess if you like a thicker crusted pizza (which I don’t) then this might not be that great for you. I don’t think we could eat all of our pizzas. It was a lot, but I know I packed away as much as I could in my big ole gut! (no wonder I gained weight this trip). We made dessert orders and I ran up to take a few pictures of the ovens. I guess I didn’t take a picture, but they were pulling out a pizza that was HUGE! I couldn’t believe the size of it. It would take up a table. I have since been told it’s called a meter pizza (I am sure it has a fancy Italian name) because it is 1 Meter long. I did the conversion and a meter is over 3 feet long. I sat back down and told Claire about the huge pizza and soon our desserts arrived. I believe Claire got the Vanilla Gelato. I got the Zeppole di Caterina - Ricotta cheese fritters, served with whipped cream and chocolate sauce. YUM!!!!!!!! My Dis Friend Karin has had these a time or 2 when she has visited and they always look so yummy and it was on my bucket list to try. They did not disappoint at all. VERY GOOD! I just wish I had more room to eat them all. We did have a wait for our bill. Our waitress was a little slow and I had a hard time understanding her and I think she had a hard time understanding English. Perhaps she was new. She wasn’t bad, just a little slower than I like. While waiting to pay the bill the Meter pizza came by and I pointed it out to Claire whose eyes got really big. It was delivered to the table next to us and there were only 3 people sitting there. They had to put it on a stand as it was so big for the table. We couldn’t imagine how they were going to eat it all. Maybe next year when I go with my parents we can order one too. We finished up and got ready to roll out of the place. We were so stuffed and it was one of our favorite meals of the whole trip. This is now a must do place for me. We left Via Napoli and back into the beautiful sunshine. I know I have said it several times, but I am a huge fan of Disney at Christmas time with all the decorations. I think Claire had to go to the bathroom, so we went in search of one and found one in America, which was the first time we ever used them there. I have to say, we still have not made it into the pavilion yet and I hope to remedy that someday. I think this next picture is funny. The theatre is closed, but evidently the birds stand guard to be sure no one enters. One looks like he might be a little bored. I think we just wandered around a bit till it was time to head up front for our Soarin’ Fastpass time. And now it was getting closer to our Fastpass time so we headed that way.

On with our Mexico mission……I believe this Skeleton did some sort of dance. And I think the parrot talked to us. One thing I did notice was that there were several others doing a mission here as well and they were not going in the same order was we were, so I am guessing each country has several different mission orders to keep people from bumping into each other too much. We had a few people ask us what we were doing as well and we told them and many seemed interested in trying it out as well, but I did warn them that it was kind of long. I don’t remember if our mission took us outside or if we just went out to decide what to do next. But I did take several pictures while we were out there. I think Claire was trying to convince me to do another mission, but I was telling her not right now, but maybe later and we put the communicator in my backpack. The decision was then made to go back inside Mexico and ride the Gran Fiesta. We always enjoy this simple ride. I always try to take a picture here and it never turns out nice. And I always try to take the ceiling fireworks, and again, I just can’t catch them right. Once we got done with Gran Fiesta we headed back out once again. We pretty much did a leisurely stroll around World Showcase. I don’t think I have never been in Karamell Kuche, so I believe we went inside quickly and took a look around. I can’t believe I didn’t take any pictures. We didn’t buy anything either. (Maybe I went in on my solo trip in 2011?) It was now close to our lunch time ADR and we headed that way. Via Napoli! I have read many reviews about this place. Some love it, some hate it, and some say it’s just OK. So I went in with an open mind, but I was kind of excited to eat here. We didn’t have to wait too long to be seated, mostly it was due to a slower staff at the check in desk. This place was MUCH bigger than I thought it was. We checked out the menus.

I know...It has taken me forever. Everytime I get on a roll, something seems to come up. I am close to done now. I almost have all the pictures edited and have gotten several things written up finally. I do think it will be a bummer going back again and not see the lights and decorations, but I know I will still have a good time. But I think the Christmas decor is truly the best! I will be writing Williamsburg. I actually have half of it written already and as soon as I get this one done, I will start posting that one. Our next trip right now is offsite to Disney next year. We will stay at my Mom's Marriott time share. I will do a day at legoland as well, and maybe universal, but not sure yet on that. I am also looking at possibly adding a cruise to the end of that trip, something short, and probably not Disney as I want to try other ships. I am also hoping we can do something before the end of the year, but I am not sure if we can fit it in. My Mom keeps saying she wants to do a cruise with Claire and I, but she has been busy with her job and a project that she thought would be done, isn't yet. So we'll just wait and see.

I guess I tried to get those flowers again. Looking at my pictures, it looks like we were taking some crazy kind of walk. I think we must’ve used a restroom in this area. And then we headed to Spaceship Earth. I remember the line being longer than I like, but it moved fast and we didn’t have much of a wait. I didn’t take any pictures during most of the ride as I have taken so many in the past, that I just rested this time around. Of course it’s always fun to take pictures of your video. It looks like I have a heck of a lot of teeth is my picture. And out back to the park we went. And we I had a plan. We have NEVER gone in Club Cool before and we were going to remedy that now. It was really neat inside and I loved all the holiday Décor. Of course we had to try a few beverages. Now I am not the mean Mom and didn’t play tricks on Claire. I told her that some would be better than others and some were supposed to be darn right nasty. We tried them all and some were pretty good and even though I didn’t care for the Beverly, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. It was drinkable. (that picture shows the Beverly as out of order, but other drink dispensers DID have it) Claire really liked some of the fruity tasting ones though and had a couple of cups full. After we had our fill of Coke products from around the world, we headed back out to the park once again. And we wanted to try something else new. We had never done the Kim Possible adventure before, so this was a totally new experience for us. We got signed up and were given some quick instructions. Our mission was in Mexico, so off we went. Well not without a few pictures of the tree first. I loved these trees. They were real too! Hello Mexico! We got right to work. I am going to tell you upfront now. Claire LOVED this and I didn’t. I couldn’t hear much and Claire was hogging the phone so that I couldn’t play along, which was fine, except that she didn’t understand everything, so then I would have to try to figure out how to replay it so I could hear it and help …or at least guide her the right way. As time went on though, she seemed to catch on more, but it seemed to be sooo long! I took pictures as we walked around in there. Some of the pictures are of things happening, but looking at my pictures I really can’t tell which ones are just random shots and which are from the mission. This one is from the mission. See the lighted numbers on the bottom of the piñata’s? I believe there was a clue here, but I don’t remember what it was. And this was a clue as well.

Nov. 13, 2012, Tuesday ~ Day 13 Our last full day. How depressing! This trip just seemed to go so fast (even though I have been working the report for 10 months now). I don’t remember how early I woke, but I am sure I was up by 7. I think I took a quick walk around the pool after I showered and let Claire sleep a little longer. I didn’t bring the camera with me for some reason though. At some point in time I had to get Claire going. She is just not a morning person and the long trip was taking its toll …on both of us, as I noticed my eyes were getting more saggy and puffy each day …..but we had 1 more day of fun to be had. While she got ready I took a few pictures around the room. This was the bathroom tile. The shower curtain. I think Claire was actually taking a shower then and was worried I was going to get her in the picture. LOL And I finally took a picture of the new Disney Dooney I had purchased a few days earlier. Finally Claire was fresh and clean and we headed out to the bus. But wait. She reminded me that she had not yet been over by the Ariel icon. I had walked around the pool in the morning and took pictures the day before, but she never did yet, so we went the long way around. She was very chatty this morning and talked about all the fun she had been having and how she couldn’t wait to tell her friends at school about her trip. 2 of her best friends were going to be traveling to Disney in the next few weeks, so she had many tips to give them. We arrived at Epcot around 9:45. Not a super early start, but not the worst either. Sadly we really short changed Epcot this trip and this day we still didn’t give it all our attention. There was one ride that Claire insisted we ride right away this day. Figment! ...Journey into the Imagination. We had missed it the last trip together and she was disappointed that she hadn’t been on it in a while. I figured it was best to tackle it right away and make her happy. We had a nice ride, but we all know the old version was better! We had to make another quick stop. If we wanted any chance of riding Soarin’ later today we had to get some Fastpasses, so we collected those quickly. Well it’s never quick because I always get behind the family with like 15 tickets. And Claire was a bit hungry at this point too. So I told her we would get something here that I always wanted to try. The Strawberry Shortcake. MMM! It was pretty darn good and it was a nice treat to share to give us enough energy till lunch. Well actually at this point, with deluxe dining, I was almost full at all times of the day. LOL. But it still tasted good. And then we headed back out after our tasty treat. It looks crowded in the picture, but it was actually less crowded than it had been for our entire stay, but the crowds never did dwindle down much while we were there. I had heard that after we left it, so did everyone else. It was much quieter the rest of the week…darn it. Isn’t this such a sweet picture. I wish I knew who the parents of these kids were and I would send them the picture. I am thinking that I took this picture to get those flower arrangements, but people are in the way.

After the parade we decided to get some hot chocolate and cookies. I think we got snickerdoodles. We sat down over near Aloha Isle and just relaxed for a while. Either Amanda (my sister) called me or I noticed a missed call from her and called her back at that point. I had totally forgotten, but remember, she sent an email to Geoff while on the cruise saying I had a flat tire. UGH. So she asked me what to do about it. She was going to have AAA change it. There is a care center right around the corner from her house and I think she was going to drive it over there. She had been busy and hadn’t had time to do anything about it and that was ok, as I wasn’t due home for a few more days. After nibbling on our cookies ….we were really still really full from our 2 dinners, so we didn’t eat much …..we got up and started moving again. We saw this little band playing music. I am not sure if we rode anything or not, but we did go and find Uncle Scrooge. This was another character I kind of made Claire meet for me. She wasn’t too thrilled, but I made a big deal about him being rare and she was more agreeable then. We wandered around a bit more, and again, I don’t remember if we rode anything or not. If we did, I didn’t take any pictures. I know we sat down and just stared at the castle a few times. We just found this to be our happy place and we never wanted to leave. We probably also called Skip at some point in time. We did get another photopass picture. Honestly, I have never seen the park more beautiful than this night. The decorations and lights are just fabulous. Sadly it was getting close to midnight and time to head back to AoA. LOOK!!!!! It’s snowing!!!! This just made it feel even more magical. If I could have, I would’ve tried to get tickets for another party night. It just felt so magical, but sadly our trip was coming closer to an end and the next party would be held after we have left. I am always trying to get a balloon shot, but never happy with them. Sigh!!!!!!!! Time to leave. We headed out to the bus stop where I am sure we had to wait for a bus, but I don’t remember it being too bad. We were pretty darn tired and got ready for bed. We had one more full day left and yet time seemed to be going so fast. We had so much more we wanted to do. I had met up with Jennifer from my Facebook group this morning while waiting in line for the bus to AK. It was so funny that she recognized Claire and her dress. It was nice to meet her. Oh the People We See! We went to our very first Christmas party this evening and I really hope I can get to many more in the future. Oh the Places We Go!

The Ponies were so cute. Cindy gave me a big smile and wave though. Here it is!!!!! That float that has been around for AT LEAST 15 years. I know it was there in the mid 90’s when I took my older two. They just keep adding a little something to it to make it look different. Sorry Disney…it’s not working, we all know it’s that same float…..and it needs to GO!!!! They say Spectro isn’t coming back because the floats are falling apart ….why can’t this one fall apart too? One thing I hate about this float is it is not photographer friendly. Those Spires seem to always be in the way to catch a face in a shot. Gotta Love Goofy! I noticed these girls were all wearing wigs …and that got me thinking. Do they have a wig to match their natural hair color, or do they get any old color to wear? And again …How cute are these Gingerbread guys? They are flat on the back side from laying on the pan. Clarabelle is so much fun. I am not sure why he has Nemo in his pocket? The toys are coming!! I think Woody is telling us it’s past our bedtime. And the best part of the whole parade ….the Toy Soldiers. These guys are amazing. I would go back to the party just to see them alone. Have you ever seen this on Youtube. I just love this video of the toy soldier auditioning to be in the parade. If you get a chance, watch it. It’s so neat. On with the parade. The reindeers were pretty cool too. Santa!!!!!! Hey Santa! I want a trip to Disney for Christmas!!! That was such an awesome parade. I really hope to get back there for the Holidays to see this again someday. I had hoped that maybe we could squeeze in a small trip this year, but I don’t think it’s going to work out for that to happen.

We exited the New Fantasyland and went for a ride on Pooh. I always love this store. Pooh stuff is just so darn cute. We saw Scrooge was out, but we had to get a spot for the parade and couldn’t stop. UGH!!!! This parade was super packed too. I had hoped going to the later one would be less crowded but both this one and the Halloween ones were jammed with people. We were lucky and found a decent spot and some guys let Claire sit on the ground in front of them and I was back and could stand on a ledge. I found out that everyone around…all adults, were there for pictures too. I tried not to get my arms and elbows in the way of others as I shot pictures. I did a pretty poor job. It was so dark and my flash was not recharging correctly (I think it had a low battery). The best way to work it was to turn off the flash and camera and return them both back on to take the next picture. It was slow, but faster than waiting for the recharge. In the end, I am not happy with my pictures, but we LOVED this parade. I just love Scrooge! Chip and Dale were so cute. They were having a snowball fight. Who doesn’t love the Dwarves? I couldn’t get Snow to look my way. She was too busy gazing into the eyes of the Prince.

Our next stop was the Little Mermaid ride once again. We had loved it so much a over week ago that we had to give it another try. I probably got a lot of the same queue pictures, but I couldn’t remember what I took before and this time I tried a few more flash pictures too. The line was walk through again and soon we were on our way. Of course we all know they fell in love. That was another fun and fabulous ride. We really do like this one. We exited and we had quite and exciting site. The Holiday Wishes had started and watching them from the New Fantasyland was quite a treat. We had fireworks virtually going off on all sides of us. We could turn around in a circle and see different things. This one was a wrapped present….how cute is that? We were VERY impressed with the fireworks and would love to see them from here again.

We exited Enchanted Tales with Belle and we noticed that they were taking walk ups for Be Our Guest. Well we did just eat not too long ago, but we really wanted to experience this as well, so we decided to go in for some dessert. I believe they said the wait was around 30 minutes and we got a beeper. This thing is pretty useless as you have to stay in the immediate area for it to work. I asked about going out to see Scrooge while we waited and she said it wouldn’t reach that far. So I asked about walking through the rest of New Fantasyland ….nope, it won’t reach that far either. They suggested that I just stay in the area and explore and take pictures. Um…..there really isn’t much here and it’s PITCH black out. Well we had a bit of time so we did wander over near Gaston’s. And we took a couple of pictures of Beast’s Castle lit up. See how dark it is? Not very good lighting for pictures. I think this is the Little Mermaid ride from afar? And we were afraid we would miss the buzzer, so we went back near Be Our Guest. We decided to chance it and walk back over by the Little Mermaid ride quickly. But we were too afraid we would miss our calling and went right back. Right at about the 30 minute mark we did get called in! We were so excited and I will tell you the pictures are not great. Lighting is horrible in there. Flash pictures don’t come out quite right, nor do non flash pictures. I need to go a few more times to hopefully get it right. We were seated in the ballroom and they told us we could watch the snow falling out the window. They almost made it sound like it changed from day to day, but from what I have read from others, it is always snow falling. We had a cute rose napkin on our plates. Claire was super excited. We made our orders. I decided on the French onion soup and the chocolate cream puff. Claire insisted she was very hungry and ordered the kids steak meal and the strawberry cream cheese cupcake. We took a few pictures while we waited. My pictures are super grainy. I just couldn’t get much of anything with the low lighting. We took pictures of the West wing from where we sitting. Rolls arrived. We had a roll and then we set off to look in the West Wing. The dessert trolley was sitting right there. I have heard this picture turns to beast, but we never saw it change while we were in there. It was kind of hard to get a picture of the rose. You cannot get one if you use a flash. See, this is a flash…no rose in there. Back to the Ballroom And the door to what I think is called the Rose room was closed, but we saw others going in, so we went in as well. I believe this area is for the quick serve meals. I really liked this room. As you can see, this room had better lighting, so I got quite a few more pictures. Then we headed back into the Ballroom again and we walked over by the falling snow window to have a better look. This was a testing phase and service was VERY slow. I didn’t complain though, as I was happy to be able to have a chance to try it out and I knew they were trying to work the kinks out. Food finally did arrive. Claire’s steak. And her fries. The steak had good flavor, but it was a bit too thin and a little fatty. She loved it though. The fries were great and sadly I heard they did away with these and are now serving just basic fries. My soup. It was very good, but nothing over the top in the way of French Onion soup, but I enjoyed it. Our waitress brought out the dessert trolley and we chose what we wanted. Here is Claire’s Strawberry cream cheese cupcake. And my chocolate cream puff. Her cupcake was awesome, but she could only eat a little bit as she was so full. I couldn’t finish it off for her either sadly. My cream puff was good, but a bit too much. Very rich and I was good with just a few bites. Not to mention this was our 2nd meal of the evening and we were already making pigs of ourselves. Our waitress kindly took a picture of us. It did take a while to get the bill and I did get a little antsy about that. I was missing party time as it was and now that we had tried the place we were ready to leave and try some more new things. Of course we had to make a bathroom stop on the way out. And I took a picture of now what is referred to as the Prince with no pants. Seriously, look at it! It looks like he is naked from the waist down. And back out to New Fantasyland we went. We had a mission of one other thing to do before we headed back to the party.

It was now time for Belle to arrive. And she was very surprised! Again, I am going to be a bit caddy, but doesn’t Belle look like she could play one of the step sisters? Ok, this really is a bad picture of her and she wasn’t horrible, but in years past we just had some really beautiful princesses. I believe we then acted out Belles story. Soon it was time for Claire to make her move. The nice thing is they have photopass in there! Because with the no flash rule…..I wasn’t getting all that great of shots! This little girl was the Beast. And Chip! Then we all paraded around the room! And a quick hello with Belle. Belle is so surprised to see me! She is probably wondering why I have a major eye squint going. Beast says goodbye to Belle. And then we got to pose with Belle for a picture, but from where I was standing I couldn’t get a good one of Claire. Good thing photopass did. Belle gave everyone a bookmark after the picture. My turn ….squinty eye and all Time for Belle to leave. One last picture of the light fixture and then we headed out and they were passing photopass cards to everyone as we walked out. This was a fun experience. I don’t think it will hold our interest for too long in the future though. As long as Claire wants to meet Belle, we’ll probably do it, but after another time or 2, I really don’t see this as being something that we can’t miss. Especially if lines are long.

Again, I was not following the proper party rules where you need to do as many of the party activities as possible. We had something else on the agenda first…..The New Fantasyland! Yep, I wanted to get back there AGAIN! We didn’t even have to ask this time, they just waved people back and off we went. This time we had something new to try, Enchanted Tales with Belle. They told us the wait was about 30 minutes and we thought it would be worth it so we got in line. Beast’s castle off in the distance. It wasn’t too long and we were let into the cottage. I know the wait was much less than they had predicted at that point. It was so exciting and I just randomly kept snapping pictures so I could try to remember everything. Claire was taller than Belle was at that age. Claire was measuring at 9 years old, and she was still 7 at the time. They really did put quite a few people in that area, so I tried taking pictures without people in it, but at times it was just impossible. Casts members would come in and out every so often, but I got the impression the group in front of us were taking longer than normal. Of course this was a testing phase, so they were still working out kinks. After a while, we were then let into Maurice’s work shop. While in there we got some stories about inventions and other facts about Belle and her father. We were then told from that point on we could take as many Non-flash pictures as we wanted. Now I prefer non-flash pictures, but sometimes you just need to use a flash because of lighting …and this was the case. The lighting was very poor and it was hard to get anything decent for the rest of the tour. After we spent some time in the workshop, a Magical thing happened. The mirror opened into a doorway. Now I knew this was going to happen as I had watched a video of it before coming on the trip. But when I got in the workshop, I kept looking at it and I could not figure out how it would open because it just didn’t look like it could expand or that a doorway was hidden there. They really did use some Disney Magic for that trick. It really was neat to see. The next room we went in had the Armoire. We were then allowed to volunteer to be part of the show. I told Claire she had to if she wanted a picture with Belle. At that point in time I had read only those who were part of the show actually got a picture with Belle. I am not sure if this has changed or not. I heard there were quite a few complaints and it was talked about being changed, but I haven’t kept up on the issue much. Sadly, Claire was not chosen as the Beast, but she was chosen to be Phillppe. Adults could volunteer as well and after the main characters were given out, they asked if anyone wanted to be something and I said yes and became a picture frame. (sorry, there is no picture of me in all my glory!) I believe we had to practice a few things and then were led into the library. I believe the story was that we were surprising Belle. While we got settled in I took a lot of pictures of the room. There are benches to sit on, but most of the kids got up front on the floor. Lumierre was amazing!

Thanks

And then Aurora made her way to our table. And one of Claire’s favorites!!!!! Ariel! Again, I am being caddy, but I didn’t think she was a very pretty Ariel from the front. And then we were done. We were full and happy and ready to head out to the park again. It was a better experience than last time, but nothing can top our first time there. We headed back out into the sunshine again. I guess I felt the need to take this picture. And then of course we had to make a stop to try the sword once again. Each time she did this, she was sure she could feel it start to move and it would come out at any minute for her. But once again, we did not have success. Claire then requested we hit Small World. The line was kind of long, but it kept moving at least. Soon we were on our boat. I have yet to eat in Pinocchio’s at one of these tables. This is my sneaky picture of the baby in front of us. He was a few people ahead of in line too and we just kept laughing because he looked hysterical and cute in this little hat. And he never fussed about having it on. It’s a Small World After All! We had another fabulous trip around the world. The party time was now approaching so we got our wrist bands and then did one of our favorites ….a jungle cruise at night. And now it was party time! We made a stop in the bathrooms so Claire could change for the party. And we found some Carolers out who were have a fun time. And they graciously took a picture with Claire. And then Claire showed off her flashing necklace, which didn’t show up with a flash picture and a non-flash picture was horrible. We loved how they had red and green lights accenting on the buildings. More water art.

It was now close to our dinner time. We made an early dinner so we could enjoy the party later that evening. Our destination? The castle! We got ourselves checked in and entered. I had debated on doing this again. We have done it twice before and the first time we had excellent food and a great meet experience with Cinderella. We had one of the last reservations of the day and she came over and sat with Claire and visited for a bit. It was truly a magical moment. That was back when they did the show during dinner rather than character meets, but it was still the best experience we have had there. Last time, which was April of 2011, the food was not all that good and it just wasn’t as magical. We did have nice meet and greets, but it just wasn’t a highlight for me. When Claire and I talked about where we planned to eat this trip, she mentioned that she must eat at CRT. I tried to talk her out of it, but she wouldn’t budge, and luckily I was able to get a reservation at a decent time. This was also one of the reasons we upgraded to deluxe dining. We had a couple of 2 credit meals and it made sense to just have more credits. The nice thing about this visit is that it had a few Christmas decorations out. Soon we were called to get in line for Cinderella. I took pictures while we waited. And our turn! The photopass photographer asked if I wanted to be in the picture, and I said yes, but I also wanted one snapped of just Claire too. She said no, she could only take 1 picture as that was all that was included. I told her I knew that, but just wanted her to take a picture anyways. She refused and I gave up. I snapped a couple of Claire myself and bowed out of getting one with me. Now when we got our picture later, I was NOT impressed. Cinderella looks like she is in pain with that smile. I almost was tempted to ask for a retake. Well I am glad I didn’t because after seeing my sisters pictures….and she had the same Cindy….and a few others posted on the boards with this same Cindy….I have found that is how she smiles. In real life she is pretty, but her smile is just not good. I am surprised Disney hasn’t either trained her to smile differently or taken her off to do something else. I am sorry if I sound mean, but I thought she looked awful. After our pictures, we headed up to our table. We had a nice spot next to a window. This was a first for us. Claire got herself all situated. She started coloring and our rolls were then served. We had made our orders and soon food started to come out. I got the Rock Shrimp Cocktail - rock shrimp with tomato marmalade. It is pretty decent tasting. Not fabulous, but I think it tasted better this time around compared to the last time I had it. Claire got the cheese and grapes. She really doesn’t eat plain cheese, so I nibbled at that. I should’ve just asked if she could have all grapes. Claire chose chicken nuggets for her entrée ….big surprise there. I believe I had the Roasted Beef Tenderloin - Sliced Roasted Beef Tenderloin with Duchess Potatoes, Asparagus, and a Chasseur Sauce. I am thinking I asked for no sauce, as last time I had it I found it pretty nasty. The food was definitely better this time around, but still not as good as the first time we came. I wish they would bring that menu back. It was so much better. Soon it was time for the wishing ceremony. She really gets into this. Close your eyes tight to be sure the wish sticks! And Snow came twirling by then. This is an attractive pose. Time for dessert! Claire chose the decorate your cupcake. I don’t remember exactly what mine was. I think it was a seasonal dessert and I think it was some sort of pumpkin cheesecake. Claire really put a lot of time and effort in her cupcake decorating. And knowing her, she probably only took one bite, or licked off the frosting. So where are the characters? Yeah, we were wondering too. We actually were close to done eating before any made it to our table. First up,…Snow White. And then Jasmine. I used to have a stomach like that. Claire ruined my body. I looked great after Michael, Paige took a toll, but I popped back decently…after Claire nothing has been the same. LOL.

After we met the Princesses, we noticed that Mickey’s line was not very long at all either. Well we have never met him her in his special room, so we got in line there as well. And here he is!!!! I guess Claire was taking a quick nap? The whole area was so cute. As we walked out I just had to get a picture of my favorite costume. And back out to the park we went. We headed up main street next. Oh No!!!! Someone lost their balloon! We stopped for a few fun photopass pictures. I surely didn’t want Claire to end up like that fly away balloon. We had a little time till dinner so we roamed around a bit. And some more photopass. We spotted Tigger & Pooh on the move. We then got in line for Barnstormer. Checking the time on the new watch I had gotten on the cruise. It wasn’t too long and we were making our fast and short zip along the tracks. Most of the pictures I took were the back of the head of the lady in front of me, so I don’t think you want to see those. After the ride I took a few construction photos. And then we made our way to our dinner destination!

We agree. It's amazing that not only did she survive, but she had minimal injuries for that type of accident. Now I am doing the car hunt with an uncooperative husband. Let me tell you how fun that is....NOT!!!!!!!!

I then went back to my chair and pulled out the kindle for a while. OK…I did still take random pictures. Time flew by and after a short swim it was time to head back to the room to get changed and ready for our ADR. This is so sad. So much of the greenery was turning brown. I wonder if it came back to life or if they had to replant the whole area? Hmmmm….Rafaki was getting some butt surgery. Claire thought this was hilarious…..I might have snickered a bit too. More brown leaves. Claire had to take a run through the cave. I don’t know if there is any hope for these plants. Once back to the room we cleaned up and got dressed and our bag packed for the evening. Big happenings tonight baby!!!! And then we headed off to the bus stop once again. Come on you dang bus!!!!! That dang bus finally came and we were off to the Magic Kingdom! As we entered, the parade was going by, so we stopped and watched a bit of it. We decided to slip in and see which princesses were meeting. Claire was hoping for Rapunzel, but she was not meeting at the time, but the line was short, so we went in anyways. You can never see Cinderella too many times. And the photopass photographer got a cheesy smile from me. I love you Cindy! Aurora was waiting next. I am not sure why she is making this face. They must’ve been talking about something funny. Claire is all about hugging. And they were the only 2 meeting right now, so we headed out.

Now it was time to head to the front of the park. We had to make time for swimming today for Claire. We stopped off for a few more photopass pics. I like this one of us. I think this is so dumb. Why the heck do they tell you to put your hand on your chin. I look like a dork. They did take a couple with my camera too. And off we go. Goodbye Christmas tree. TTFN We headed back to AoA for a little swim time. We made our way back to our room and Claire changed her clothes and I grabbed my mug to bring along. I had given her the choice of which pool she wanted to swim in and she chose Big Blue. Of course we had to circle the area first and check it out. I can’t help but see McDonalds French fries every time I look at this. I was given instructions on where to sit and Claire got in. She is sporting her new swimsuit she got on the cruise. I still kept taking pictures though. Would you like fries with that? Is this ping pong? I told Claire I was going to walk up to the bar and fill my mug. The nice thing they did here was add a refillable station right by the pool. The bad thing….it’s a MAJOR bee magnet. Bees were all over and the area was very sticky. I hope they figure a way to keep this clean and the bees away.