jenseib

Single rider queue doe skip some of the main queueing areas. It's for those who will be willing to ride with another stranger and they just add you in when a car needs 1 more person to fill it. Sometimes it is really fast and sometimes it is not. Often on Forbidden Journey it's practically walk on to use the single rider line. Typically on Gringotts its about half the wait time...but not always...like this day where the single ride line was filled to capacity. Also I used it for Rockin roller coaster at DHS and it really wasn't faster that day either.

Oh yes there is. I went away for a week on a cruise with my Mom and tomorrow my oldest daughter is having her baby, so it's been a little crazy around here. I posted on the other one today but it might take me a few days to get another update on this....as I don't think I have anymore written up yet. But I do have a ton of the pictures edited. I do promise to finish this....it just might take me a bit. hehe. . I didn't mean to guilt you into it! but thrilled to see an update LOL. No guilting...I need to get moving. I hate when life gets in the way...though today was the excpetion with the birth of my first grandaughter who is just cute as a button!

When you come over the bridge you are now in the London area. For those who have seen the movies and or read the books, you know that you have to click on some bricks to open up the secret Wizard area of Diagon Alley. Now of course they cannot to it completely like the books, but I thought they did a good job. Also this building on the end is 12 Grimmauld Place….Sirius Blacks home that only those who know the secret password can see. And the Knight bus sits out front. This is the public transportation for wizards…and it can be one crazy ride. You can see Kings Cross over to the side…that is where you would catch the Hogwarts Express….at Platform 9 & 3 Quarters. I, however, was going to Diagon Alley. No need for a train at this point, so I followed the people and found my way in. From this angle you really can’t tell how neat this is, but I have a picture looking back later that really looks like the bricks moved out of the way for you to enter. When you walk in Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes is right there. And if you look straight down to the end of the street…Gringotts Banks….with the dragon on top. Which is where I was heading. So my plan had been all along that I would just do the single rider line. From reports from friends who had gone, that typically had half the wait time of the standby time….so I was figuring 1-2 hours for single rider. The down side to this is that you did miss part of the queue, but I was willing to do that to cut it down from the 3 plus hours of waiting in the stand by line. I approached the entrance and the single rider line was closed! What????? I asked and the TM told me that the wait for single rider was at capacity right now and you would be better off to go in standby at this point. Ok, so I looked up and my heart skipped a beat. It said 90 minutes. I could handle 90 minutes! I asked if that was correct and the CM said yes. Oh Boy!!! So in I went! I looked at my watch and it was 1:50 PM. Unfortunately you only go in there and then out the back side and you wait outside for quite a while The good thing is that there is a ton of queue lines out here but not even a third was being used. I only had about 10 rows maybe to wind in and out of. That made me happy! Not long after I got in the line did fill in a bit further behind me, so I think I came in at the perfect time. There was a little theming out here too. And yes, it was still stinking hot. They do have fans at the end of some of the rows and every time I passed one it was pure heaven. The area I was in was covered at least….this was unused today and that would’ve been right out in the beating sun. As I weaved in and out I finally got to the last row before heading back inside. I saw some people coming in and I asked them what the posted time was and they told me 70 minutes. Well that’s great! It went down by 20 minutes and the line was actually longer now than when I came in, so perhaps I would get on before the 90 minute posted time. One nice thing is that the line does move a lot. We did have moments where we stopped, but never for too long. Finally I was back inside and the air was so nice and cool in there. This is the entrance area, but the queue winds right back through here. Once here they will hand you a ticket and tell you to take your bags to the locker just outside and to the left and you then present the ticket and can get back in line. I made my way to the lockers and kept my phone and grabbed my point and shoot camera and came back and they told me to join my party in line. Well I didn’t have a party, but I just went back in line behind the people I had been following the whole time. I go to turn on my point and shoot and nothing….and look at the batteries….um there are no batteries. Dang it!!!! I had forgotten that I had recharged the batteries and threw them in my bag, but never actually put them in the camera. Well that’s disappointing. I did have my phone, so I took pictures with that, but I will warn you, they are all pretty blurry. When you return to the line you are now in the main bank area with the tellers. If you had watched any of the opening day things or previews, they often showed this area without the queue rails set up yet. Not sure where the stairs led to, but there was a door down there. And because my pictures are so bad, I am going to share with you some of Universal’s press release photos of the same area from Universal. They did a fantastic job in here. We then went down a hallway. A small vault. Once we got to this room they would take each party and take a picture…..I never even looked at mine as I am sure I looked awful. You could see people behind the windows talking…it was a really neat effect.

We didn’t have too long of a wait for Ariel, thank goodness, and she is one of Claire’s favorites. Yeah, we got a lot of Ariel pictures. At least it was nice and cool in there! Time to head back out to the crowds. She’s smiling for me now because she just saw one of her favorite characters. I was really obsessed with taking pictures of this castle. The line didn’t look too bad so we hopped in to see Ariel’s adventure! We really were constantly moving most of the line, so my shots are pretty quick ones as I walked by. And this time I did refrain from taking pictures as I now have so many of this ride…but I still took a couple at the end.

Ok, I lied...I did have some written up that I forgot about...so I will post that now.

Oh yes there is. I went away for a week on a cruise with my Mom and tomorrow my oldest daughter is having her baby, so it's been a little crazy around here. I posted on the other one today but it might take me a few days to get another update on this....as I don't think I have anymore written up yet. But I do have a ton of the pictures edited. I do promise to finish this....it just might take me a bit.

Now this resort is called Royal Pacific and it has the South Pacific type theming…..think Poly. I was just at the Caribbean Beach Resort, where the theming is SUPPOSED to be Caribbean. From the first time I saw pictures of the newly refurbished rooms, I thought to myself that is not a Caribbean theme. Once I arrived, I felt the same way. I liked the look of the rooms, but I do not think the theming is correct for the resort. Arriving here only confirmed it for me. The rooms have very similar looks, colors and theming. Even the soap dish was the exact same for both resorts. I did like this room though and it was very spacious. I also liked the shampoo and conditioner here….and I am a snob with that kind of stuff. See this soap dish…the exact same as at CBR! After a few pictures and getting squared away I headed out. Time to hit the parks! Except I had no clue how to get there. I knew there was a walking path and a water taxi, but the map wasn’t helping me much. As I got to the elevators, there was a family getting ready to go and the lady told me how to get there. It’s really a strange set up as you have to walk through the pool area to get out to the walking path. I didn’t have my camera set right and I took a lot of over exposed pictures, most I couldn’t even begin to try and fix. The signage was kind of confusing, but it looked like I had to walk away from the parks to get to the water taxi and I just decided to walk instead. And it was HOT! If the weather was cooler, like 85 instead of 105, this would be a nice and beautiful walk. I was also getting hungry now. As I got closer to City Walk I decided that I would see if I could get in anywhere and get a bite to eat before heading over to the Studios. I know time was ticking, but I would be a grump and have a headache if I didn’t get something soon. The path exited right next to Margaritaville. Well that sounds like the perfect spot for lunch. We had eaten here in 2012 and really enjoyed it. Yes I should’ve tried some place new, but this was right in front of me and I knew I could easily get a seat and be eating soon. I was asked if I wanted to eat inside or out and of course I said inside. Anything to cool off for a bit! I also decided to order what I got the last time…the super nachos. I did debate on that or the club, which is also very good, but I decided the nachos were calling my name. I also knew there would be no way I could finish them myself. They are very delicious but they are HUGE!!! They were tasty and while I sat there and ate I remembered that I had to do airline check in again for the flight home tomorrow. I got another B boarding this time around as well, but I was alone so it really didn’t matter too much. It was neat because I was able to save the boarding pass to my phone and use that when I checked in at the airport. Yeah…little things amuse me. I felt like I ate a lot of the nachos, but looking at it, I barely made a dent in the plate. There is just way too much. I paid my bill (forgetting once again that many Universal restaurants give a AAA discount) and headed back out into the scorching heat. I would like to say I walked quickly over to Universal Studios, but it was just too hot, so I walked at a nice pace without passing out. The nice thing about entering at this time of day is that the lines were not long, though there was a group holding up one line and several of us switched to another line. Also, another thing to note is that Universal can NEVER pick up my fingerprint. When you scan your ticket you have to do the finger scan there and every time it will not take and every time I have to retry over and over and they usually have me do my thumb in the end. I guess it is back from my bank robbing days when I had my fingerprints removed. I had one mission and one mission only…..get back to Diagon Alley…which is WAY in the back. I did take a couple of pictures along the way though. I came across a little street party. They had the characters from the movie “Hop”, which we have never seen. As I was walking a guy was talking to his friends and said he thinks this building is where Back to the Future used to be. (It was not the right building). His friend asked if it was still here and he said he was pretty sure it was gone. I told them yes it is gone, but it’s not this building, it’s where the Simpson’s is now. They asked what it was like and I told him basically the same ride with a Simpson’s theme. He was sad that Back to the Future was gone and I told him me too as that was my favorite ride of all time….it was his too……we had a bonding moment. LOL. And then I came across the remains of Back to the Future. I love the Simpsons ride, but nothing could ever replace how great the Back to the Future ride was. Speaking of Simpsons, that’s the area I went through next. This sign totally cracked me up. And then the bridge over to “London”.

I then headed over towards Big Thunder Mountain railroad. I checked the wait, which was basically walk on and got in line. I walked right to my little gate and had the choice of several and I took the 2nd row…thought better of it and went to the first row. It was not crowded at all and many were only going to have 1 person in a row. Then I noticed a guy a ways down look at me and he came and joined me. That kind of annoyed me as there we so many empty rows and now I had a partner. He could’ve easily came right back later and did it again in the front row. And of course the whole ride then I was sliding into him. I know he did it to take pictures, but it actually was harder getting pictures for me because he was right next to me the whole time with his camera and sliding into me as well. Oh well. I did take a few, but they are not so great. See! There is his camera. It was still fun! I should’ve road a 2nd time but I had 2 more things I wanted to do before I left and I knew the time was ticking away. Pirates of the Caribbean is my favorite Disney ride, so it would be sacrilegious for me NOT to ride it. I got in line and it was again no wait….till we got right close to the loading area and everyone was stopped. No announcements were made and I wasn’t sure what was wrong, but they weren’t running boats. I stood there for a while and debated what to do. There was a family right behind me and the dad cracked me up. I am pretty sure this was either a first trip or they have not been here in quite some time. The dad was mad about the ride not running and he just kept saying….”We could be getting so much done right now and we’re wasting time in line”. I totally understood as the park was still really empty and everything was practically walk on. Then the wife would name things they could do next and he would ask “What is that”…”Is that a ride too?” So I could tell he wasn’t familiar with the park, but I did know he was smart enough to know that the early hour was the best time to conquer many rides. Finally the boats started going and I was loaded and off. If course we got stopped up at the end and sat by the treasure room for a while. So glad I had the chance to ride it, but time was still ticking and I had one more thing I wanted to accomplish. Looks like a Keys to the Kingdom tour was walking by. I needed a snack and not just any ole snack….a Dole whip float! They only had one side open and there were already several people in line, but at least they had 2 windows serving on the side that was open. Still…..I think they hire some of the slowest people to work there. When it was my turn I ordered my float with the orange ice-cream and I think my guy was new….which I think I get a new guy almost every time… as he didn’t understand what I wanted. But he did get me the right stuff and I was pretty happy with it. I sat on a bench there and ate my treat and enjoyed it, but it was time to move on now. I had a date with Harry Potter to keep. The walls are still up all over, just like during our March trip. It makes it a little less magical….it better be worth it! I went in a few gift shops on the way out for 2 reasons…..1 to keep cooler and 2 to see if anything popped out at me to buy Claire. Nothing did though. It’s getting harder to buy for her as I don’t want to buy junk just for the sake of buying something for her and we need another plushie like I need a hole in my head. I headed back to the bus stop then. A lot more people were arriving now. I saw one of the slinky buses. I don’t think I had ever seen one in person before. I arrived at the bus stop and waited. It did take a few minutes before a CBR bus came, but not too long. I think there were maybe 2 other people that got on with me as well. Probably not the prime time to be heading back to a resort. I decided I would get off at whichever bus stop came first, Old Port Royale or my Jamaica stop. We pulled in and it stopped right at Old Port Royale so I hopped off. I had to go the bathroom anyways, so that worked out best. I then headed back across the bridge towards my car and I noticed several people looking in the water, so I looked too. There was a big turtle taking a swim. Time to get over to the car! I got in and cranked the air. I sat there a few minutes and programmed my phone to give me directions and I had to plug in my phone to my mobile charger as it was already almost dead. It seemed to drain the battery fast today. Soon I was on my way and once again I have to say….I hate driving in this area. I am just not familiar with it at all and there are cars racing around me and it makes me nervous. I was driving about 65-70 on the highway and people were passing me like I was sitting still. I finally sighed in relief when I pulled into Royal Pacific. I parked along the front and the valet said he had to hold my keys while I checked in so I gave them to him and went inside. I took only phone pictures here and they are all pretty blurry. I got in line and there were a few people ahead of me. Soon it was my turn and I got checked in. At RP you have to pay to park there, so he put that parking fee (1 night) on my credit card, gave me my info, told me where to park and told me how to get my express pass. I decided to go get my express pass before heading back out. There are machines over to the side and you go and stick your room key in them and it takes your picture. It takes your picture almost instantly and I did it like 4 times to try and get a normal looking one as the first one I wasn’t even looking at it and the next 2 I just kept laughing because it went so fast. By the 4th I gave up and kept the stupid laughing picture. I headed back out to the car and went to park. They had asked me if I wanted them to take the bags in first but I said no, I would be fine…..I should have. Not that it was hard bringing my bags in, but it was up hill from the parking lot and it was already around 100 degrees. I got parked up and dragged my bags back in and then I went up the elevator…only to realize that my room was down a floor not up. LOL. My room was right around the corner from the elevators, so it was very easy to find. I put my bags down, plugged in my phone to get a little bit of charging going and then proceeded to take pictures of the room. This couch could become a bed….I checked.

I was so happy I had the chance to go! I usually shoot with my highest ISO, which is 3200 on my camera and I use the widest aperture on whatever lens I have on and I shoot in manual so I can adjust the shutter speed. And then I try to hold still while taking it. LOL.

Day 3, August 24, 2014, Sunday I had set my alarm once again for 6 AM. I did not really have too many issues getting up because I really had slept so well. The new mattresses at CBR are like heaven. Before I left I even took the sheet back so I could see what kind they were…..just so you know they are BeautyRest. I got showered and gathered everything together in my suitcase. I wasn’t moving fast, but I wasn’t moving slow either. My plans had changed though. Originally I planned to get up early, even earlier than 6 and get right ready and going and head over to Universal. I was moving hotels today and I was heading off to Royal Pacific. My plan had been to get over there and get checked in and then go to early entry at Universal Studios and head directly back to Diagon Alley. It was a good plan too! I knew all would have to work well for me to get up and get going that early, but I knew it would be worth it. Well that plan went right out the window a few days before my trip. A “mystery” friend had contacted me via facebook and started out by saying “I know you have plans to head to Universal early on Sunday……BUT…….I can get you in the Magic Kingdom for free that morning if you would like to ride the Mine Train”. I have to admit, I was shocked and not quite sure what to do. I hadn’t done a lot of planning for this trip, but I did have a few things set in my mind already. Did I really want to give up going to early entry at Universal? It could mean I might have to wait 3 plus hours to ride Gringotts. And after all the whole reason I added this extra day was so I could go there especially for Diagon Alley. Of course I would be a complete idiot if I gave up a chance to go on the Mine Train….who knows when I’ll be back to WDW and I told her after thinking it over for about 5.8 seconds….. YES! She had told me a time and place to meet. Mystery friend has asked to remain anonymous so I won’t be talking about her too much from here on out. Once packed I took everything out to the car, and then I headed to the food court to get something to eat. My camera was really fogging up this morning, so some of my shots have a glow to them. And yes, it was already steaming hot outside. As I crossed over the island I saw that the playground gates were open and I walked through there quickly and took a few shots on the way. Today I decided on a chocolate muffin and large milk. Would you believe that this was actually a few cents higher than the whole kids meal I had gotten yesterday…and not nearly as filling either, but it was still good. I then made a pitstop in the bathrooms. And then I walked out front to catch the bus. I took a seat and waited. Of course every bus BUT the MK bus came. I texted Jeanne. She was going to meet me as well this morning and we were going to head to the Mine Train together. Her daughter Holly had not yet rode it either. She was at the bus stop as well at her resort. Both of us got on the bus about the same time, but she said she had a scooter that was being loaded so she would probably be a little later than me. This was my only experience of catching a bus from CBR and it was perfect as this was the last stop and we headed directly to the parks as soon as I boarded. It wasn’t long and I was walking up to the MK…and they were already advertising MNSSHP. I sure wish this had started already as I would’ve loved to have gone. My friend Nikki said a few days later the park started putting up the Halloween décor as well. I headed to bag check. I think it was around 8:10 at this point. I waited off to the side and found Mystery friend and shortly after that Jeanne and Holly arrived. We got in line…most were already pretty long, but they hadn’t opened many either. After a few minutes they opened a few more off to the right and we made the mad dash over there. We were now very close to the front. The train arrived and the opening show started….I have never seen this and I can still say I still have never SEEN this. I did hear it though at least this time. We were under the train station basically waiting to get in and the call of the Mine Train was stronger than my desire to see this show. Soon we were let in and Mystery friend had to leave. They walked us back behind ropes. Jeanne said we had to stay to the right. So we did. As we walked slowly along Main Street, we took the right sidewalk, but was always mindful of staying behind the CM’s walking everyone in. As we got to the hub we went to the right and came to a stop. We were on the extreme right side and waited till they started to walk us back towards the Mine Train. Then we started off slowly, but then it was more of a brisk walk. Everyone had one destination in mind and we all tried to behave, but keep our spot as well. As we approached the queue the CM told us Mine Train to the right and we got right in. Not too many people ahead of us either. Jeanne pointed out the crowd coming in from the left side. Word of advice…don’t go left! Those people had to fight to get in line with the whole group that came in from the right and they were at least 30 seconds behind us. That’s a lot of time when people are flowing into a queue. Needless to say we continuously walked through the whole queue without stopping…I did try and take a few shots as I went though. Jeanne started counting the people in front of us and she hollered back “I think we’re going to make the first train!” The theming is GREAT! As we arrived an EMPTY train was pulling out….but we made it….we were going to be on the first passenger vehicle of the day! We loaded up and were ready to go! Wooohooooo!!! Jeanne hollered up to me to turn around and took this picture! My view at the top. And here we gooooooooo!!!!!!!!! I took a lot of blurry pictures on this ride. After twisting and turning a bit we slow down and went through the Dwarves mine. We sped along again and then came to a stop outside the cute Dwarves Cottage. Then we pulled into the station and I quick got a picture of the old Hag. When we got off Jeanne went to check out the wait time now and it was already at an hour. So what did I think of it? AWESOME! It was really fun and cute. It also was funny as many people on facebook asked me how long I waited in line….Um zero minutes technically! It really paid off going at opening and using the strategy that Jeanne had. Before parting ways I had Holly take a picture of Jeanne and I. Actually she took like 10. LOL. My phone just kept clicking them over and over. We said goodbye and I think they were heading to Peter Pan or something in that area. I decided since I was in the park I would hit a few things before leaving. The first thing I hit was the bathroom! And you can never get enough pictures of Rapunzel’s tower. As I walked by the Haunted Mansion I noticed it was walk on so I stopped there first. I waited for the guy hanging but it never happened…..and I crazy? There usually is a guy in the ceiling hanging right? Well not today. I always try to get pictures on this ride and most never turn out. That was a nice ride and a good way to cool off for a bit.

Next to no one was going in the Muppets. And I found a Stormtrooper who would pose for me. I was shocked to find him walking around with basically no one around him. Others soon caught on. And then I came across ANOTHER one! The Sand dude had a long line but I quickly snapped a picture of him. There was no chance of even getting close to Vader. I then found a queued line for Stormtroopers and thought it was funny because it was so long and if they just walked down a ways they would find 2 or 3 just roaming and taking pictures. I also saw another Star Wars character…who it is, I have no clue, but I wasn’t sure if she was a real character or someone dressed up. I later saw Jeanne post a picture of Holly with her, so I guess she was real. I strolled back down by the Evil Queen who had a massive line and it was already cut off for the night…..by the way …MANY lines were cut off early this evening and I heard a lot of people complained about this. I then strolled by where they were selling the merchandise. The line was cut off for that as well and I overheard that those still in line only had the option of buying party pins. Everything else was sold out. I just don’t get this. I know they limit how much you could buy in the first place, but why don’t they still stock enough? Disney does some really crazy things and this is one of them. As I walked around some more I saw a lady stop a CM and really laid into him that she had been in line for one character for hours and then went to buy merchandise only to be told she couldn’t get in line. I am not sure what happened, but he took her off somewhere to help her. I am not sure if she was able to get anything, or they did something to compensate her. Oh….and that’s another thing. I had heard afterwards that many people were mad about how the party was handled with both merchandise and characters and were asking for refunds. I am not really OK with that. Unless they had a really bad time, it’s just how these things are. Disney just never has enough merchandise and the character lines, especially rare ones, are always crazy long. I circled around the front and saw the band playing a little bit. I went to find a spot to sit as I was just so hot still and look who I ran into. It was close to 11:30 now and I was super tired and mostly just super-hot. I think it was still a heat index of the mid 80’s at this point. I had wanted to stay for the fireworks but I think they were still over an hour away. I messaged Jeanne and told her I think I was going to call it a night as I was so tired and couldn’t handle the heat anymore. She had already left. LOL! I felt kind of bad not doing a lot of party things, but I still had a good time and really enjoyed myself, but I just couldn’t go on anymore. I thought maybe I would be able to see the fireworks from CBR once I got back. So with that thought I headed towards the front. They were handing out goodie bags as we left…. I heard later that again they didn’t have enough for everyone and many people didn’t get them…… They had some autograph cards from some of the different villains and some Malificent pins and a few other things I think….I gave them all to Claire. As I walked out, I took one last picture of Olaf, because he was so darn cute. And I walked over to the boat launch as I was too tired to walk back to the Dolphin. On the boat, I took this picture of one of the cards they had handed us. On the back there are autographs. On the boat, a little boy was sitting by himself on the window ledge and fell asleep in the funniest position. I was sitting at the back, but inside and I think his parents were sitting just outside the window. It was just the cutest thing. I exited back at the Dolphin and made my way back to the car. I made it to the car and it was still all wet from the rain earlier so I ran the wipers and had to turn on the defrost because it was so steamy and hot outside that everything was fogging up. I headed out to the gate where I waited behind a guy who was having issues getting the gate to open for him and he had to get out of his truck and do a few things before it open. It was finally my turn and put my validation ticket in for parking and it kept giving me an error. UGH. I had noticed earlier when everyone else was leaving that they had CM out there helping them exit, so I wondered if there was a problem with the tickets. So I hit the help button and explain my problem. They ask if I had the original white ticket….yes I do….put that in first and then the validation ticket for payment. OMG! I am sure they all had a good laugh about that one. It worked like a charm once I did the right procedure! The drive back was quick and I parked and went back to my room. I was so hot and as soon as I walked in my door I stripped down......another nice thing about staying by yourself. I was just soooo hot and I thought about a shower, but I just didn’t have the energy, so I decided to just wash up. And I was in luck! I had left a note to ask for extra washcloths that morning since I didn’t have any before and I had a pile of about 6, plus some on the racks. I felt much better after wiping down with a cool cloth and got ready for bed. This guy was greeting me tonight. I plopped in bed and I have to tell you these new mattresses are super comfy. I made a note to myself to strip the bed in the morning to find out what kind they were as we may be getting a new mattress at home in the next year or so. As I drifted off to sleep I heard the fireworks start up. Oh well, I guess I will miss them, but that was fine with me. What can be more magical than hearing fireworks in the distance as you drift off to sleep?

Our food came out then and I took so really crappy pictures of mine. The little chips were really good, the beef slider was better than the chicken. Neither were what I would call fabulous, but they weren’t bad either. It was just different than normal food I would normally eat…and I did eat them all. Cruella kept making the rounds. And then look who appeared! How exciting. I don’t think I have ever seen the Queen of Hearts before. I took a picture of Jeanne with her and then I had Jeanne take one of me, but it didn’t take. She didn’t know how to work my camera and she just let the flash go off and didn’t hold it long enough for the picture to take…so I grabbed Holly and we went and stalked the Queen so I could get a picture too. Of course I look like a total dork in this picture. While sitting at the table, just relaxing and enjoying ourselves, I noticed the people in the booth next to use got some dessert and it looked cute and yummy…at least in the dark it did, so we quickly looked at the menu and found it. There was a Club Evil Dessert Trio which consisted of Hade’ Blue hair, a Raspberry Sphere filled with and Orange Truffel on Pop Rocks, Malificent Fury, Dark Cherry Gelato in a Vanilla Cornet, and Cruella’s Evil 7 Layer Chocolate Cake, White Chocolate Oreo Mousse, Raspberry Jam and Dark Chocolate Ganache. Yep, we wanted that! Holly said she was too full, but when the waiter came by, she ordered one too. LOL. I started on the Hades’ first and it was not bad, but it was weird. It had the texture of an eyeball, so that was a little strange and the pop rocks exploding in my mouth was really a weird feeling. It also had cotton candy on top. Without even realizing it, the Malificent was gelato and that started to melt fast. In fairness I think it was already melting when the waiter brought it out. So we quickly switched over to eating that next and it was pretty much liquid at that point. It was good, but had it actually been in the frozen form, I think it would’ve been better. The Cruella Mousse was really good too. The service was very slow, but it was also really busy. All the tables were full and they had some stand up tables as well and those were full and still there were a few people just roaming around. At one point across the way Jeanne noticed a lot of people hovering around a table. We wondered if someone famous was over there, so I walked over to take a look…pretending like I was looking at the decorations. I saw no one I recognized and was about to walk away when a family asked if I needed a seat. LOL. Oops caught in the act. I told them no, I was just looking at the decorations and went back and sat down. We also knew another co-worker was in Club Evil as well…Nikki. We had been messaging back and forth and she kept saying she was near Pain and Panic. I took a walk around, but I could not find her at all. Nor did I see Pain and Panic walking around anywhere. I didn’t think the place was that big, but maybe there was another room? We kept saying that we were by the blue bar. Finally I went back far enough and found her. I had been looking behind a pillar, but never stuck my head into that room far enough. Sure enough she was there with her husband and there were statues of Pain and Panic back by her table. I grabbed her and took her back to our table and we chatted a few minutes and had Holly take our picture. Nikki went back to her table and then we sat and chatted some more and we noticed the step sisters were roaming around. I only got a glimpse of Anastasia, and the picture is really bad. Drizzella however, did come over. A bit of a stalking picture. Or two…. Cruella also came back over. And another visit from Drizzella. Cruella then overtook the podium and sang…I don’t think she was really supposed to do that, but she was feeling the spirit. Our bill had come out and we paid. This was not a cheap meal/experience as I believe mine was close to $50 when I added a tip, but to me it was well worth it. I was not out in the extreme heat (though it still was pretty warm in here) and I got to see characters that I hadn’t planned on, and it was nice chatting with Jeanne and Holly and meeting up with Nikki as well. I would do it again in a heartbeat! We decided it was time to head out, though we wouldn’t have mind staying there all night. We went back to say good bye to Nikki and her husband and then I took a few pictures of the Pain and Panic statues too. As we got up a guy asked us if we were leaving and we said yes and he quickly grabbed our table. Look at this cute little “Brown Derby”. After saying our final goodbyes to Nikki we headed out. Jeanne said we had to stop in front of the cauldron with the Evil Queen and get a picture for our friend Deb. We have a running joke of being the “evil girls” so this was for her. First we had to brew up the smoke. And then our evil poses. Ok, we might have been doing a bit more laughing than looking evil….. We all hit the restroom there and then had plans to meet up the next day……….. And said our goodbyes and went our separate ways. I headed off by Toy Story and the wait said 20 minutes…which we all know is pretty much unheard of, so I got in line. The wait was slightly longer, maybe 25 minutes, but it was still fast moving and I didn’t mind. My score. I had gotten into line at the right time as it was not a bit longer when I exited, still not bad, but closer to a 40 minute wait now. I moseyed along and found the Wandering Oaken's Trading Post. I went inside and took a look around. It was so cold in there and it felt like paradise! There were a lot of cute things in there but all overpriced and I didn’t feel like spending that much on items I am not sure would get enough use by Claire. I did linger in there for a bit to cool off though. This was truly the only place I went to the whole night were I was not sweating. I then moved on. I found a whole slew of characters, but the lines were so long and I was not about to wait for them, so I stood to the side and took their pictures that way. Many that I am going to post are from my phone and are bad, but I am posting them anyways. This is a guy dressed up as Ursala…what a great costume. People were stopping him to get pictures with him. Many characters were down here.

Soon the parade was getting ready to start! And then we wait! And a little bit of bad video off my phone as it was getting ready to start! I see the Beast! Our spot yesterday was actually better and I am so glad we had seen it then too. With everything coming around the corner of the circular hub it was harder to get shots. Today I actually captured Cinderella and Prince Charming. And then the two sisters! Today I didn’t get Tiana and Naveen though. Next up, Rapunzel’s group. Today I was also trying to get a few more phone pictures so I could text them to Janet. I did get a few better shots of Flynn today. Now time to get Under the Sea! That darn Ariel did not want to look my way today though. And now for some Lost Boys! Again, today, they all had fabulous expressions as well. I swear I can never get a good front shot of Mr. Smee. And another one of our favorites was next…..Merida! LOVE the hair! I see the Dragon! Will today be the day to see fire? His head has lifted and I see smoke!!!!!!!!! YES!!!!!!!!! Sadly he was still coming around the corner so I didn’t get the best shots, but I sure was happy! I was hoping he would blow again, but no such luck. The next group was on its way! Everyone loves the Dwarves Pinocchio! Love the balloon hair! I just love these girls! Hi Mickey!!!!! And that was another fabulous parade. I do think our spot yesterday was actually much better. With the preferred spot I have found you really need to get there even earlier than the time says if you want to be along the rope. I would probably prefer to be right where they enter the hub as well since I think getting pictures would be easier there. We were so happy that we had gotten to see this parade twice and it is on our favorite list now and probably our favorite of the now existing parades left at WDW. I am not exactly sure where we headed next….. probably to make a bathroom stop somewhere, but we got behind this CM carrying this tub…and it was full of food! (I think it was corn). Did I mention it was crowded? I can’t tell you how many times people would just stop right in front of us and we would basically step on them as we were all in motion still. Or we would try to pass them and they would seem to double in size almost every time making it impossible to pass. We now were working our way to our next FP+ of the day. And yes, it had something to do with a special mermaid. But wait, there’s the Mine Train! Ok, not the actual Mine Train, but it was exciting to see more of it than I had in 2012.

After each segment of the conference we got a 30 minute break, but segment 2 was running long. I kept looking at my watch and knew this presenter wasn’t even close to being done. It was interesting stuff, but I didn’t want to be there longer than 5 PM. Finally one of the guys putting on the seminar came up and I knew he told them to wrap it up as it was rushed through the rest of the material after that. We got a shorter break then and came back about 10 minutes late for the next presenter. The nice thing was, after segment 1 we got a snack. That was tasty. I also messaged my friends and I think the heat index was around 110 at that point….it was hot! And here is an oddly parked car out front. I did take a random picture at some point that afternoon to show how full the conference room was. After segment 2 we got another snack! Those were tasty too. And the heat index was 106! Honestly segment 3 was not that interesting for me, but her product was something I needed for this certification and the purpose for being here, so I sat and listened. 5 Pm came and went and I stood up around 5:15. So did many others. Sorry, but this was to be an hour long and it was running late as well and I had a party to get to. I had been messaging Jeanne at this point and she told me it was storming out…really badly! She said the winds were really high and the rain was sideways. UGH. The guy in charge of the seminar then made an announcement that there were 50 mile an hour winds so no rush to get out….well I still was feeling like I needed to rush. LOL It was actually closer to 5:30 before we were completely done. I hightailed it out of there and made the fast walk back to my car. The ground was wet, (and slippery ) but for the most part the rain had stopped. I grabbed my bag went back inside to change but I am a clutz! As I took a step up the curb and I totally slid in my go walks, which I have found are really slippery on wet pavement, and I fell to my knees. I didn’t get hurt, but I felt so dumb! Of course a few people witnessed it….and you just want them to go away. LOL. So embarrassed I went back inside and changed quickly….including my shoes and walked back out to the car to return my bag. The new pair of shoes were much more friendly for wet pavement. I went out to the ferry dock to see if there would be a boat leaving soon….yes there was a boat….but NO they would not be leaving as there had been lightening in the area and they were not allowed to move at this point, so I decided to walk. At least with the rain that came through it was now closer to 89 than 110! You could tell the storm had been a doozie. Lots of fallen leaves and branches all over the place. Of course about halfway there the ferry goes by. I was messaging back and forth with my friend Jeanne and her and her daughter Holly were already inside and in line for merchandise. I wasn’t that interested in getting something. I wouldn’t mind it, but I was not about to wait in a long line in hopes of buying something. And I had some FP’s to use. I was able to pick 3 with my party ticket, but only 2 were good for after 5, which is when we were allowed to get in with the ticket. Sadly, the first one, Star Tours, was already expired because of the late release of the meeting. Well isn’t this cute? I found the party entrance and scanned my band and got my lanyard for the party. I made my way towards Tower of Terror, which is where my last FP+ of the day was good for. Party sign! I am not sure if going on this as your first ride of the day is wise…but oh well. I tried to capture the ghosts! And then that moment….you know the one…where you are pushed out to the shaft and you know at any moment you are going to drop, but it teases you and waits. I think that is the most nerve wracking part of the whole ride…and being the first ride of the trip I swear I had more anxiety than usual. But it was fun and I laughed and screamed and had a great time! I decided that Rockin’ Rollercoaster would be my next ride. Can you believe I have only rode this once before and it was many years ago. I went for the single rider line, but it was actually long. I started talking to the couple in front of me and also a few others. There were 3 CM’s in line as well and they were there for the party too. The wait didn’t seem so bad as we all chatted away. But in reality, if I had gone in the regular line it would’ve been faster. There just didn’t seem to be much of a need for single riders tonight. Finally they just let us all go and I sat with the one CM. She has only rode it once before too and she warned me she would scream, which was fine with me as I would too, especially during takeoff. I also heard a CM who was working the ride say that he had cut off the line now for non-party goers and only those who had a lanyard were now in line. I thought that was strange as it was now only about 7 PM but the party didn’t start till 8. The ride was great…and that take off really gets me, but it was so much fun! We screamed and squealed and had a great time. You can barely see me, but I am in the back…we were actually in the very last car. I went back out and tried to message Jeanne, but my phone froze up…..and it has been doing this off and on now which really annoys me. I hope it’s not going to die as I have a few months yet before I am eligible for the upgrade. After I let it just sit a bit I was able to turn it off and restart it and it was working fine again, but this happened a few times during the trip. I decided it was time to find a map for the party. My favorite show! There were no maps to be found anywhere, so I headed back to the front. There were a couple of CM’s handing them out and they were really strict. Only 1 map per family. I got in line to get one and a guy steps in front of me and takes his and asks for more and she says again Only 1 per family….we don’t have enough….. Really? They know how many tickets they had available for sale and they didn’t print enough maps up? Come on…Who the heck is planning this out? I got to get my map and she tells me “only 1 per family” and I say I know and again she tells me that…and I tell her that’s fine, but I am here by myself, I have no family. She acted leery as she handed me one. Yes, people do come by themselves! I was just in line with 3 CM’s who were all there by themselves. LOL. I read later that they did run out of maps and people were not happy. The lines for the characters were already super long too. At 6 PM the Malificent line was already 2 hours long. I pretty much knew at that point that I wasn’t going to go meet characters as I am not a patient person when it comes to lines like that. Many ended up getting closed off early in the evening too. I then headed towards Star Tours. I figured I would get in one more ride before the party officially started….and then I would need to find food as I was getting hungry. Jeanne messaged me that she was in line for the Brown Derby for Club Evil now. I told her I was getting in line for Star Tours and then finding food. The ride was walk on and basically empty. Not even 2 full rows. I was in the 2nd row and there were only 3 of us and they told us to sit where ever we wanted to. After the ride was over the party was started. I had missed the opening show, which I really never thought about till I was on the ride. Oh well. Jeanne messaged me and she was in Club Evil and told me to come and she had a table and she gave me the password to get in. I walked up and the line wasn’t too bad, but I told the CM that I had a friend in there with a table and gave the password and they let me cut in front of everyone and go right in. I found Jeanne in a few minutes and sat down. Her daughter Holly was with her and they had ordered some red light up drinks. She wasn’t sure what it was, but the waiter told us it was called One Bad Apple, but I think we kept calling it a Poison Apple and I ordered one too. Look at the cute glow cube. It’s a skull! The menu….there was more on the other side. The drink was a little too strong for me and a little too sweet. It was good, but I was only going to drink one. Soon we all ordered waters as well. It was still hot and even though it was cooler in here, it still was pretty warm. We just sat and relaxed and chatted. This was the first time I had ever been in the Brown Derby. It was smaller than I thought it would be. They had it all decorated for the party though and it was cute. There is a bar lit up in blue lights in the middle and I swore I took a picture, but I guess I didn’t. After a bit this lady came out and sang and talked. For the life of me I can’t remember her name now. It took a while before our waiter took our orders….it was very busy in there, but Jeanne and I decided on the Captain Hook and Mr. Smee Sliders (2 sliders one with Wagyu Beef and on with Adouille Chicken) and Holly got the Malificent Loaded Staffs ( It has some sort of spring roll and stead fries I believe). We called them the sticks as that is what it looked like. This lady came on over and posed for us. We then got excited……Look who is roaming the room! We didn’t know that there would be characters in here! What a treat! Hi Cruella!

I then wanted to try and get a few pictures of the lobby before we had to go back for the next session….and search for a diet coke as that water was just not cutting it for me. It’s a very pretty resort. The ceiling was kind of odd though….it had like a draping cloth. I found a coffee type shop, but it didn’t appear to sell bottles of coke, so I kept moving and taking pictures. I found the gift shop and headed there hoping they would have something. It was actually pretty small in there and I asked the ladies working where I could find something and they acted put out and told me downstairs, but I have to say they were not friendly and almost acted like they didn’t understand me. So downstairs I went. This place was closed. I think this was a table service? But whatever it was, it wasn’t going to help me. Aha! I bet that will be my best chance. Yay! They had some and I got in line to make my purchase! I then headed back to the conference with just minutes to spare….of course that didn’t matter as so many people were late and had no concept of time. The 2nd session started and I took my notes, etc. A few times we had to break off in groups to do an activity…how I hate that, but the one lady was really nice and I later got to talking with the other girl on my other side and she was really nice too. At one point several people came in and started handing out flyers to everyone. I just assumed it was part of the conference, but then the lady who checked us in came running and yelled at them and scurried them out. One guy dropped his paper and one of these people picked it up and threw it at him. I looked at it and it was about mold in hotels…..OK? At first I thought why are we getting this as it has nothing to do with our conference AT ALL! Then when the lady scurried them out, we found out they are some kind of environmental terrorist group and they were “spreading the word” I guess. They were escorted out by security after they were reported to the Dolphin staff and from then on, our door was locked on the outside. If we had to leave, the lady outside would use her key to let us in. Who says conferences are boring? LOL At 11 we broke for lunch and Skip called me and I talked to him for a few minutes. I then headed downstairs to the Buffereria…only to find out they would not be serving lunch till 11:30. I had about 15 minutes at that point to wait and I decided I did not want to. I decided to head towards the Yacht and Beach Club and perhaps go to Beach & Cream for an ice-cream lunch. OH! And it was HOT! Like over 100 degrees hot! My friend Jeanne was also in the area with her daughter and she had been messaging me off and on throughout the day and she said she thought we were setting record highs for this particular summer on this day. Oh goodie! I think I take this picture every time I walk by here, but my room a few years ago was on the first floor on the left corner. As I got closer to Beaches and Cream I had a thought. I should check out the Captains Grille. I have never eaten there before and I have read it’s often easy to get a lunch as a walk in. I checked at the podium and sure enough I could be seated, they were cleaning up from breakfast and it would be just a few minutes. So I took a few pictures while I waited. And then I was being led to my seat. It didn’t take me long to decide what I wanted…the soup and sandwich…with the sandwich today being a shrimp salad. (I think tuna was the other choice). Clam chowder was my soup choice. It came our really fast too. And I inhaled it! It was really good! Both the sandwich and the soup were delicious! I was done quickly and I paid my bill and set off. I was glad I made the choice of trying this out and I would love to come back again. I still had a little time yet, so I sat by the pool and messaged some friends. It was now time to head back to the seminar. Did I mention it was hot? Boy!... that walk isn’t that far, but I was already getting super sweaty. I went a different way back to the dolphin….I think it was slightly shorter. I got settled back in and we had 3 more segments of the conference.

You can just call me crazy now!

then it was worth every penny then Yep...but it would've been nice if she told me that DURING the party! children! (yeah. . that's why our baby has 4 legs and fur ) Exactly!

We next headed over to the Magic Kingdom. We had some fast passes to use! We took the monorail over and then entered and went directly to get a locker to put her doll and a few extra things in. Then we headed down Main Street and stopped for a few photos. As you may have noticed, she is still wearing her party dress…..there is a reason why. Oh yeah, I was wearing another pair of hoochie momma shorts today too. I always try and ask for magic shots when I think about it. Some are more than happy to do it, some are reluctant and some tell me no. Off we go! And it was hot again today, I am not sure why some people are wearing sweatshirts. And we stopped again for more pictures…and we got a photobomber bubble! And as we entered the hub, the Move It Shake It parade was coming around. We didn’t stay to watch, but of course I got a few pictures of it. It was time for our FP+! We headed right over as we were going to meet some princesses. I bet you can guess who! Yep! We just had to get a picture of Claire with Rapunzel! I want to thank my dear friend Janet for loaning us this dress…without it we never would’ve gotten this special picture. Needless to say, Rapunzel was very impressed with the dress. The other Princess in the room was Snow White! She loved Claire’s dress as well and they had to do some twirling. That was fun. Before I would let Claire change out of the dress there was one more spot I needed to go. It’s important to get Rapunzel in front of her tower. And of course near her bathrooms! We then got Claire changed into some comfy clothes and headed out to find some more fun. My next picture shows Splash, but we didn’t ride it. I think we might’ve went to go see how long the wait was as this is a favorite of Claire’s and it must’ve been too long. We then decided we wanted a snack. We headed over towards the Dole Whip stand, but it was still crazy crowded so we went to the little stand near the Aladdin Flying Carpets and got a Citrus Swirl. This was a first for us, but I had read about them and it did not disappoint at all. We sat near the exit to the Tiki Room and enjoyed it without too many people bothering us. We then set off towards the Hub. If your remember…Today was the day I had FP+ for the new parade, but the system messed up and only had Claire showing up as having one. I wanted to check with a CM in the area to be sure all was fine and that I would be able to get in. The CM I talked to said it would be fine and to find her when it was time to go in. We still had a little more time to waste and Claire wanted to go see the laugh floor again so we did that. We got out just a little before our parade viewing FP time was to open so we headed straight back there and found our special CM and she let us in. It was already getting crowded. I was shocked…we weren’t late at all, right on time, but evidently they allowed people in much earlier than the set time. I worried we wouldn’t find a good spot to see the parade as all along the rope it was already full. I found a family with a little bit of space and a stroller parked next to them so we decided to stand behind the stroller as we would not be blocking anyone’s view. Well I guess I picked the wrong spot. It was a family with the grandparents along as well. All were sitting along the ground, except Grandpa, who was nowhere in sight. Grandma turns to me about 5 minutes or so after we have been standing there and says that we are in Grandpa’s spot, so when he returns we will have to allow him in. I say OK, but there really was more than enough room. The lady next to her looks at her and at me and says “I can scoot over and your daughter can sit on the ground next to me”. I thank her profusely and Claire goes and sits down. Grandma gives that lady some dagger eyes. Not sure why it was such a big deal, but I guess it was to her. Grandpa comes around and says I am in his spot could he please get his drink…sure thing! I move over a bit and there is still room for both of us, but I can see he will block my view. Grandma has a satisfied look. After about 45 seconds Grandpa gets impatient and walks off….never to come back to his “spot” again. He walked around the area the whole time the parade was on, so I lucked out, but I am sure that made Grandma annoyed. LOL! While waiting for the parade I was texting back and forth with my friend Janet. I think she was as excited as I was for the 2nd viewing of the parade! LOL! I took this picture while I waited. It would’ve been a cool picture if it didn’t have the darn crane in it, so I played with photoshop and though it’s not perfect in any way, this is my fixed version.

then it was worth every penny then Yep...but it would've been nice if she told me that DURING the party!

Aug. 23, 2014, Saturday, Day 2 Today was going to be a busy and long day, but I was ready! I set my alarm on my phone for 6 AM and it took me a minute to realize what was going on when it went off. I got up and jumped in the shower. The nice thing about being alone is you don’t have to shut the door when you go to the bathroom….yeah, little things in life entertain me! One thing that irritated me is that I looked for washcloths and there were none to be found. I had plenty of hand towels and bath towels but no washcloths. I always get annoyed when there isn’t enough towels in a room…..a real big pet peeve of mine. But then I thought about it and remembered the Mickey head that was on my bed when I arrived and went to look at it and sure enough, that had 2 washcloths so I unrolled one of those to use. It was still dark out in the morning when I first went out. I sat in the courtyard and answered a few emails and messages. There was this HUGE toad who was planted right in his spot and he was NOT moving for anyone. (I know that is a bad picture…..but I took it with my phone….I actually took a lot of pictures with my phone this trip) I went back to my room and finished blow drying my hair and getting ready and then I had to go in search of breakfast. Now I wasn’t sure if the seminar would offer anything or not. Most do, but it didn’t say anything in the paper work and I knew if I didn’t eat and arrived with nothing there I would not be a pleasant person, so to save everyone else from my wrath, I headed over to the food court. I zoomed in on the hammock from the bridge. The playground is on the island….and I think it might’ve still been closed at that time…or I just didn’t have enough time to go in and look. I thought this little seating area was so pretty. I headed inside to Old Port Royale to look for some breakfast options. I ended up getting the kids Mickey waffle meal….and what a deal! This was only $5 and some change for the waffles, sausage, applesauce and milk! It filled me up nicely and then I headed back to my room. I packed a bag with the clothes to change into later for the party and a sweater for the seminar…as often those rooms can be so chilly…and headed off and made the drive over to the Dolphin. The nice thing about having a car was that I could drive straight over to the Dolphin and not worry about taking buses and transferring to get there…the bad thing was that the Dolphin charges $16 to self-park. But I felt it was worth it to get there faster and not leave at the crack of dawn to try and make it there on time. It was a very easy and quick drive, but it took me a few minutes to find the self-park area, which was actually the next driveway after the main entrance. I took my parking ticket and parked up. I wasn’t exactly sure where the conference center was, but it looked like the end where the parking lot is was the best option and I went in a side door. This place is HUGE! I didn’t see any signs of the seminar I was attending down this long hall, but once I turned the corner near the lobby I found people, so I knew that had to be it. I got signed in and SCORE! they handed me a parking validation ticket…..and then I went into the conference room. I debated on sitting closer to the front, but I usually get up to go to the bathroom once or twice and I didn’t want to disturb people so I found a spot in the back row. I also like space so I allowed a seat open between me and the girl on the end. I was hoping it wasn’t a full conference. I then went back out to take pictures of the offerings for breakfast, which wasn’t much…blueberry muffins, which I don’t like and coffee and several kinds of tea…neither of which I drink. I was so glad I had eaten before I came. I did a search for some water or milk, but there wasn’t any. Back inside the room I found some water and poured myself a cup full. Another lady sat next to me and we started talking. The room was really filling up. Close to 8:30 when the conference was to begin, another lady sat next to her and asked if we would move down so her friend who was running a little late could sit next to her when she got there. OK, fine….but the lady next to me wasn’t too happy and said something like “maybe you should get here earlier if you want to choose your seats and sit by each other.” I thought that was kind of funny as I had thought the same thing. The conference started promptly but for the next hour people kept rolling in. I was shocked at how many people were arriving so late. In the end every seat was taken and they had to put more chairs along the back wall for people to sit in. Someone said later in the day that they were told we would have 80-100 people and we ended up having around 120. What surprised me is this was something you had to sign up for and pay for in advance so you would think they would’ve known the number of attendants ahead of time and would’ve had enough chairs and tables set up. After our first segment we had a break and I went outside. Believe it or not, the conference room was actually kind of hot. I had heard from others sitting in the middle under the AC vents that they were freezing, but where I was sitting was warm and I, whom am normally cold at things like this, never once put on my sweater. On the way out, I saw Paul, a guy from one of the facebook groups I belong too and he had seen me posting on facebook the day before and told me he would be at the same seminar. We said a quick hello as we exited out of the room. Outside I checked my emails and I called home to see if Paige had picked up Claire for the day. There was a mix up where Mil was supposed to get her later in the day and Paige said she called to tell her what time she would bring her home and MIL said she already had plans. I am not sure how that happened as she had the dates on her calendar for a month, but she moved things around and arranged to be home later. I went back inside and found a bathroom nearby. This one was not as close to the conference room and I don’t think many knew about it, so I used that one and was in and out.

Claire kept telling me that she thought this whole thing was a little bit babyish. I was sad she wasn’t enjoying it more…for one reason being that it was so pricey…but I think if she had a friend with her things would’ve been totally different. Our food came out next, which were cute finger sandwiches. Claire is very picky, so she only ate the fruit and the jelly sandwiches, but I didn’t let anything go to waste and ate her other ones. While we at Baron Von Branch came around and signed autographs. I had a little more food on my plate and all the little sandwiches were tasty. I noticed a lot of the parents just picked at their food and only had a few bites. I was a pig, I ate it all. First off this was expensive, so I was not about to be dainty and leave half my plate (or Claire’s) and secondly, I was darn hungry! Claire and her new doll. Oh and I forgot to mention there were a few little boys there as well and I think they got Teddy Bears. One little boy was really too little and didn’t really enjoy the party at all. Rose Petal talked some more and did some twirls. And then all the girls had to gather around. Claire didn’t want to but I made her. And then Aurora arrived! They paraded around and Claire did not look happy about it at all. See? She was giving me evil eyes…that ungrateful child! Claire was happy to sit back down. She and the other girl did start to talk a little bit and we found out she was 10. I was shocked because she seemed much younger than Claire, and of course Claire was the tallest of all the kids. But they did talk a bit and that made things seem a bit better for Claire. Cake was then served. This cake was some of the best cake I have ever had! It was darn good! And all the kids got a back pack to put their dolls in. Aurora came around and gave each girl a rose and signed their books. Rose Petal did too and she gave the girls a necklace. While all this was going on Baron Von Branch had been playing music…different Disney songs. At one point he started playing “Let It go” and Claire and the other little girl locked eyes and they both started singing every single word. It was so cute. This guy had been helping Aurora out. Aurora made the rounds again and handed out a thank you type card. And then she left and it was kind of over, though Rose Petal mentioned something about getting a picture taken. Some people left, but we were gathering our things when we saw some people now were lining up to be taken to get a picture. Claire did not want one taken, but I told her too bad. And of course she had to go to the bathroom and the mean mother that I am told her she couldn’t go till she had her picture taken. I think she also got a wand like the one in that last picture too. We then made a quick potty stop and went back downstairs so I could try and take a picture of her on the stairs, but there was a family in the background that let their little boy roll up and down the stairs and we soon just gave up. I believe the party lasted about 2 hours. I enjoyed it and Claire complained a lot about it, but later on she admitted she did like it and was glad she had gone. We won’t be doing this again and if someone asks me about it, I would recommend the child be a little younger and maybe more outgoing. Claire is really becoming very shy lately and she won’t “let lose” in front of others till she knows them. I know if she had a friend her own age she would’ve been more comfortable there too.

Closer to $300 with tax...and no it's not. Very pricey indeed. But it was something we have talked of doing for several years. I just wish I got her there before she started her "too cool" phase. Ine the end she did enjoy it and told me after we got home it was one of her favortite things....go figure.

Thanks!

Once we arrived at the Grand F I had to talk Claire into taking some pictures out front for me. She wasn’t too pleasant about that. Um…that’s not a smile. Nor is that! Oh well, I am not going to argue over the small things. We headed inside. And went to check in for…… The Perfectly Princess Tea Party. Yes it was mega bucks, but Claire is getting older and this was our last chance to give it a try. I was surprised by how many people were there already and we had to wait in line to get checked in….and of course I took pictures while we waited. We got all checked in and Claire got a name tag, which evidently is pretty embarrassing for a 9 year old for some reason. We all crammed into a small area while we waited to be seated, but I took a few more pictures. Ironically that was where we ended up sitting and that was our doll! It was clear very early on that Claire was much older than most of the girls attending and that made her very self-conscious. Rose Petal came out to greet us. All the little kids were so excited and cute, Claire did a lot of eye rolling. Uh oh! Then they started taking the kids in and you could take a picture with Rose Petal and then someone else would seat you. Since Claire was clearly older…..and much cooler…..than many of the other kids I told her to hang back and let the little ones go in first and she was fine with that. Rose Petal then complimented her for being so nice. As they each child went up to Rose Petal they had flower petals sprinkled on them. And given a crown. Then they would pose. We then were taken to our table. We had another girl and her mother sitting with us. There was a bracelet wrapped in the napkin…but I think we were told not to open them yet at that point. And we were seated right next to Baron Von Branch. Rose Petal than began with the story of how she came to be. A close up of the cake, which in reality I think was just a prop/decoration as I think our cake came from the back and was precut already …..and cold like it had been refrigerated. I believe Rose Petal told the girls to put their napkins on their lap now and that is when they found the bracelets. They served the kids apple juice, but the adults had tea. I do not drink tea, so I asked for apple juice as well. I found out later from my friend Janet that I could’ve asked for diet coke…wish I would’ve. Claire put on her bracelet, but it JUST barely fit her….another sign that she was on the older end of kids here.

I made my way to the food court quickly. I looked at the different selections and decided on something with pasta. I asked what the person in front of me was getting as it looked tasty…it was chicken parmesan, which I love so I decided on that as well. I debated on a dessert….after all that is the best part of the meal, but I decided to wait and see how full I was after this and went and found a table. I also had decided on milk to drink after have several diet cokes throughout the day I figured this would be better for me. I then started to eat and called home. Claire was in bed, but I talked to Skip for a bit and let him know that it had been a long travel day (I had talked to him once while I was at the Columbus airport and he knew I was delayed). I can almost hear him smile whenever something doesn’t go smoothly or the way it was planned. After I ate, I decided to check out the gift shop. My friend Brook had asked if I would look and see if they had a headband that she liked and had recently lost, they did so I grabbed that. I also bought a 2014 zip up sweatshirt. I usually get one every year (though I never did manage to get one in 2013) and had planned to get one while I was down here in March, but I waited till our last day so I wouldn’t have the extra bulk in my suitcase. That was a dumb plan. Our last full day we had dinner at DTD and I went to World of Disney to get the sweatshirt and they were out completely. Of course the parks still had them but I was not going to any parks at that point, so I figured eventually I would order one online, which I had not done yet either. So I was happy to find one and quickly made my purchases. I went back outside then after my shopping. I then realized I didn’t see any magnets inside and went back in to see if they had any resort specific ones but I did not find any and I just wasn’t in love with any of the other magnets they had on display. Back out I went and decided to take a look at the pool. CBR does have a really nice looking pool. I debated going back to the room to get my swimsuit on and sitting in the hot tub, but I wasn’t sure how much longer the pool would be open. A look past the pool. And another hot tub. The locker rooms/ bathrooms. I then took a few pictures of the pirate splash area. The pool started to empty out now. It was now around 11. Such a shame that the pool closed then as it was still really hot and there were still a lot of people out and about. The bar area was still hopping though. I started to walk back to the room…..this is a look towards the lighthouse, though it is a very dark picture. This little courtyard was just around the sidewalk from my room…very cute area….but it is a smoking area, so if you are sensitive to smoke, keep that in mind. Looking back at my building from the courtyard. I then headed back to my room and took a few more pictures. I then got ready for bed and turned on Stacy. It has been a while since I have watched her and there was some new stuff in there….and of course a lot of the old stuff. I was happy to see the TV’s had timers so I set it to go off in 30 minutes and I set the alarm on my phone to go off at 6 AM and I settled in and soon drifted off to sleep.