DisneyWorld Day 3 - Hollywood Studios

So I believe I forgot about an extremely strange end of our first day in the parks.  When we returned from the Magic Kingdom the previous night, TWO Disney cast members were waiting at our room (4109), and informed us that due to some maintenance issues, we were being moved to another room.  When they saw the strange look on our face, they then informed us that all of our luggage and stuff had been moved to room 4210 (6th floor, make sense yet...).  Still in a daze of not understanding what was going on, we walked up to 4210 with the Disney cast members to find our room almost in exactly the same condition.  We were told that they tried to put everything in the same place it was in the previous room.  When asked if we could come down and make sure they got everything, they said for us to just let them know if anything was missing, and they would send someone to get it out of the room.  Hmmm...strange.  So something happened and it seemed crazy because they still had two people in our room that looked like they were waiting for us to erupt or something.  But we were just a little dumbfounded...so I did ask why they didn't upgrade us to a magic kingdom view, he said he tried.  Then came the magic I was looking for...for this inconvenience, we were given three extra Fast Passes for the next day at Hollywood Studios.  And we needed them.  

Fast Pass Plans for the day

• Toy Story (11:10 AM)
• Little Mermaid Show (12:50 PM)
• Star Tours (2:50 PM)

As you notice above, no fast pass for Rockin Roller Coaster or Tower of Terror...No problemo, we got super fastpasses.  Good for any additional three rides.  

Supper Reservations - Prime Time Cafe (4:15 PM)

That is Pat Morita from the Karate Kid, so we practiced the crane kick.  Today was an Aurora princess day for the girls.  We were able to visit with Princess Sofia the first.  And Belle was so happy she was there, and laughed when Sofia and Jake (from the neverland pirates) walked off for a break together...holding hands.  We purchased some bling for our magic bands (Yes, Disney has thought of every way possible to get money from you).  Side note:  Magan said she overheard the boys talking about toys they wanted, and Davis told Sam that things were just way too expensive at Walmart.  Sam replied, at least its not as bad as Disney.

At the Disney Jr show, it still amazes me how much kids like bubbles.  Bubbles from the ceiling is like some kind of trigger for them to start going crazy...then throw in some confetti...did I mention it was golden confetti that needed to come home with us.  What??

Belle rode her first Big Kid ride, and she LOVED star tours.  We rode twice taking advantage of the rider Swap.  Our first ride had Princess Leia, and the second had a hologram Yoda.  I knew Big Kid rides would be different with my sweet little girl when flying through a galaxy far far away, and hearing from Leia that "We were her only hope"...Belle looked up at me and said "She is so pretty".  :)  I also learned on this trip that I had to keep Sam in front of me and Davis behind or vice versa...cause those boys can pester the fire out of one another.  :)

At the prime time cafe (Set in the 50s), our waiter quickly warned us about having our elbows on the table.  He made the kids set the table with the napkins and utensils.  And when the food came, they were told they better eat their vegetables.  I saw one waitress cutting up the kids chicken for them.  Pretty fun, and we got dessert because at least I cleaned my plate.  But even the 50s Prime Time waiter had a magical futuristic device to help charge our bill to my magic band.

So can you tell what Sam's new favorite ride is...I was a little scared getting him on the Rockin Roller Coaster, because this is an actual BIG KID coaster.  And he was bouncing to get back on that ride.  I mean bouncing.  We strategically used both our bonus fastpasses and Mom and Belles fastpasses for this ride.  And Sam and Davis rode the Tower of Terror...And Davis was a bad idea...He started screaming about the time the elevator door shut, and did not stop until it opened again.  Very bad...funny now, bad then.

We made it back to the Toy Story Mania (80 minute wait), but 0 minutes with bonus fastpasses.  Rode that, then headed back towards the gate.  Having to wait for a bus was horrible, we felt like we should have been picked up curbside to be taken back to our hotel.  Kidding, we weren't that spoilt...yet.

DisneyWorld Day 2 - Magic Kingdom

We began our first day in Orlando visiting the Maingate church of Christ.  The church met at a Baymont Suites just about 1 mile from the maingate, and very convenient.  I think we were also having camera problems as these pictures seem like they fit a widescreen.  After church we parked at the hotel and walked over to the Magic Kingdom.  That is still kind of neat to say.  

Fast Pass Plans for the day

• Enchanted Tales with Belle (1:55 PM)
• Peter Pan's Flight (3:10 PM)
• Thunder Mountain (5:00 PM)

Lunch Reservations - Crystal Palace 11:45 AM

This is the first time I have seen SO MUCH construction around the magic kingdom.  We also had a giant crane working on the castle during the morning.  Maybe Magan can photoshop that out on any pictures we print out.  As we walked in Princess Cinderella (Belle) had to hold her dress as the princesses do.  She was in full princess mode all week, and I believe Magan packed a full suitcase of nothing but dresses and princess onesies for the girls.

The crystal Palace is probably our favorite place to eat, and it knocks off a few characters on the list of ones to see.  The steak is really good, and bread pudding...is a must.

Our enchanted session with Belle had...Belle as one of the salt and pepper shakers.  We tried to get Davis to participate, but I guess he was too embarrassed after being the beast last time.  Sam...Do you even have to ask?  I really don't know when Magan found time to visit Tinkerbell, but they did, and I was not there, but Magan said she was almost overbearingly perky...

I love this picture and the one later with Sam holding Belle's hand.  Of course there were many fights, and trials of our patience, but they had to keep up with Belle for Magan this week, and they both did well keeping Belle with the pack of Junkins.  Baby Cinderella was just the hit of DisneyWorld for everyone walking by...I have to admit, she is pretty adorable.

Our first ride of the day was the 3D movie Philharmagic, and always fun to wear the glasses.  Magan later found a parasol to protect little Ruby from that hot sun.  And we found out that Fastpasses, now limited to three a day, were extremely valuable, as lines to It's a Small World were 50 minutes...Crazy!  And the line to the Little Mermaid ride which was very easy during the soft opening in 2012, was a crazy long 30 minute line for keeping up with ruby and three other pestering kids.  :)

OK it does not take much, but give Belle a tiara, and put her in front of a camera, and she was dancing and posing for Magan.  These are only 2 of many.

Magan let Belle pick out her own parasol as a present, but Belle did not want one for herself, but told her Mom in a whisper that she wanted to get a "humbrella" for a "hurprise" for pooh.  "He will love it" she told us.  And she would not take it out of the bag once we got it because it was a "hurprise for pooh".  "He will be so excited when he sees it" she said.  Belle turned on her dress as it got dark that night and it glowed and played music.  And when we finally got home that night, I think she was right, Pooh just loved his new "humbrella".

DisneyWorld Day 1 - The Drive Down

Packed to the gills...I don't really ever say that, but we really had no more room.  Finally able to leave our house around 7 on a Saturday morning, plenty of movies for the ride.  Kids did really well, and we surprised them with where we where staying...The Contemporary Resort.  Magan got a good video of their reaction as we pulled past Magic Kingdom parking and headed towards our hotel...They were super excited.  But me, very excited, but don't do well with hotels I am not supposed to be in that put me out of my comfort zone.  If that hotel has bellboys and valets...out of my comfort zone.  We finally made it up to the room after a long time getting checked in, parking the car, then figuring out how to get to our room.  Room 4109...Which of course is on the 5th Floor...make sense?  

Out of our window, we had a view of  Bay Lake, and ... our swimming pool, so out we went into the 60 degree night to go swimming.  It was OK, and the pool was heated, but we quickly found the hot tub, and stayed there.  The boys loved the water slide, which I tried also on a later night...pretty awesome!  Out of the pool and after a quick shower, we ran down to the 4th floor main area and watched the fireworks over the Magic Kingdom.  So cool.  

I remember sitting on the monorail when I was a kid speeding through this hotel looking out onto the main lobby of this hotel.  The cast members waved at the monorail going by, and I knew they were waving at me.  How cool would it be to one day stay in this hotel, and ride the monorail every day.  At this point in my monologue, if you listen close you will hear "When you wish upon a Star".  Wait for it...still playing.... "...come to you".  Ok, this was always my dream vacation to stay at the Contemporary, and the fun had just begun.  All for the kids, remember.  :)

Oak Mountain with the Scouts

I keep missing things with the Tigers, because Davis is always with the Bears.  Anyway, another fun trip with the scouts to the Oak Mountain Wildlife Rescue Center.  Belle came with us too to give mom a break.  We all had a good time and hiked up to the rescue center, then toured the center, then hiked back down.  My jokes about bears being in the woods (bear scouts) was overly cheesy for both the scouts and their parents.  

After the scout visit, we brought our bikes and headed over to the BMX track, and while the big track was taken by some saturday races, we had fun on the smaller track.  Sam got some good air, and Davis did too...then he crashed, and it was not much fun after that.  I should have got a picture of the big scratch Dave got on his side, it was pretty bad.  I was proud to see Sam jump off his bike and beat me to check on Davis after the crash.  They are good friends...sometimes.  I guess I should have taken more pictures, but found that in coordinating this event, I was a little busy setting things up.