Vacation Day 8: MK again??
Today was supposed to be a waterpark day but the weather was looking pretty bad. It was very dark and cloudy and the forecast was saying "RAIN". Sure enough, it began to rain just about the time we started out for the day.

First stop was the Grand Floridian Resort for yet another character breakfast. This one is Alice and friends: Mary Poppins, Mad Hatter, Pooh, and Tigger. For the occasion G wore an "Alice inspired" dress which I love, love, love. It came with a lace key and a little hand made bottle of drink me potion. Adorable! As always, G was thrilled with the characters. I swear I think she could hug Pooh and bounce with Tigger all day long. She never seems to get bored with it :-)

With it still raining we decided to head to MK. For some reason it seemed like the easiest option since, being at the Grand Floridian, all we had to do was go one more monorail stop to get there. We were prepared with stroller cover and umbrellas and, although it was a bit inconvenient for a couple hours, it turned out to be not such a big deal. We tried to stick with indoor activities and after awhile it stopped raining. Thankfully the sun still did not shine so it stayed pretty cool. The park was about as empty as it could be. I don't think any of the rides had waits over 10 mins or so. We watched the Monsters Inc show and Bobby and G were chosen to participate. G always gets chosen for stuff. She's "that kid". You know, the one that always gets picked for stuff.

With nothing too much planned we called it quits pretty early. At this point in the trip, G's getting a bit tired. She's still super well behaved and happy but we can see it in her face. Its a lot of excitement.

In the lobby of the beautiful Grand Floridian


Georgie loved Alice
Making silly faces with the Hatter

As promised, Tinkerbell wearing her winter wear to honor her new sister

We'd met Periwinkle the day prior to leaving for WDW but G was finally able to get her autograph. For some reason the characters that appear at El Capitan for their events are not allowed to sign.

In Tomorrowland we encountered Push the talking trashcan.

Push asked Bobby to open the gate for him. It makes sense that a talking trashcan could have problems with gates.

Chip & Dale in their space suits. Too funny! The annoything is that there are only like 5-10 people in line but it takes FOREVER!!!

Its always fun to catch the princesses with their respective princes.... looking at this pic made me wonder, are Tiana and Naveen the first interracial Disney couple??

There was zero line for Merida so we figured what the heck!

Vacation Day 7: Back to MK
We had an early reservation (before park opening) for the Crystal Palace (CP) which is inside the park. The great thing about having a pre opening reservation is the opportunity to walk up Main Street with it practically empty and get practically empty park photos :-) After hitting up every photopass person along the way we headed to breakfast.

Crystal Palace is a character meal with Pooh and Friends. I'd read mixed reviews about the food quality but I thought it was fine. Anytime I'm presented with all I care to eat lox, capers and red onions, I'm a happy camper. As expected, G loved the characters. We did have one issue with Piglet who, believe it or not, gave me a tude. I know it seems hard for a giant stuffed character to be actively rude but he (she??? heck I don't know who's in there) was. It was so bad that Bobby actually considered complaining but finally didn't. G didn't really seem to pick up on it much although she was aware that Piglet took off without even giving her a hug which is a big deal to her. The good news is, about 45 mins later Piglet reappeared and was really nice to her and interacted quite a bit --a different Piglet obviously --so things ended on a high note.

With it being September (kids in school and hotter than the hinges of hell) the parks are really empty. Most rides were a walk on today which is nice. I'd read on the Disney blog that they were doing testing/previews for the new Enchanted Tales With Belle attraction. I guess it was actually going on the other day when we were there but I didn't notice. I saw some people walk through the door in the wall but wasn't sure what was happening. Armed with my Disney blogs knowledge, we marched up to the guy manning the door-in-the-wall and asked if they were doing testing today and, if so, could we participate. He said he "wasn't sure if they were doing it today or not". I pressed him a bit and he finally admitted that there could "possibly" be testing going on that day and, if there was, it could "possibly" be happening in the next 20 mins or so. Bingo!!! As it turned out we ended up being the second family through the door.

The new attraction is super cute! I'm a Belle lover and it did not disappoint. The detail in the "cottage" part of the attraction is really good. G was fascinated by all the stuff in there and wanted to touch it all. The animatronics (Wardrobe and Lumiere) are awesome!!! I also liked that its not a show but rather an interactive attraction where the kids get to be up and participating. The cast members are going to have to be on their toes though because when little children become part of the show you can never be too sure what will happen. Anyway, it was so cute that we actually jumped the rope on our way out and did it again --don't tell!

Even with my untrained eye, I could see some problems with the mechanics of the whole thing. People are going to want to take pictures and there's really not an opportunity for that. The kids sit on the floor and the parents on benches behind. If you're not sitting in the front/middle part of the bench you cannot snap a photo of your kid. They have a photopass person there but a lot of people aren't going to want to use that because it costs money. And, they hand you a group photopass card on the way out but I didn't even realize that's what it was. It had a pic of Belle on it. I thought it was just a little give away and may have tossed it or let G play with it which guarantees it will be lost. The other problem I see is that if you don't participate in the show by volunteering you will not have a picture taken with Belle. Some smaller or more shy kids may not want to participate in the show but will be bummed that they won't get to have a moment with Belle. As soon as she's done she leaves the room and they politely but very insistently skooch everyone out of the room. It will be interesting to see how Disney deals with these issues.

Anyway, after Belle we took advantage of the short ride lines and spent lots of time seeking AC and cool drinks. Finally having filled up another MK day with fun, we were off to dinner.

Dinner was Mickey's Backyard BBQ at the Ft Wilderness Lodge campgound. Getting out there was a bit of a production. We have a car but you still have to park and then take their bus into the campgrounds. The BBQ food was really good. I mean its BBQ food (mac and cheese, ribs, chicken, cornbread, etc) but it was really tasty BBQ food. There was also a big freezer with all you care to eat mickey ice cream bars. For anyone who has never had one, you're missing something. They are fantastic!!! The entertainment was, not surprisingly, country themed: western singing, rope twisting, etc but we were there for the characters!!! Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Chip & Dale in western wear. It was super cute but wow!! I have never seen anything so chaotic in my life.

The kids were invited out to dance with the characters. Everyone was crowded around trying to take pictures, etc. and it was a complete mad house. I saw one of the chipmunks literally plow down a little boy who was probably not yet two. Craziness I tell you. Overall, it was a fun time and G really did enjoy herself. She was chosen by the emcee to do some sort of announcement which she loved :-) Even  with all the positives, I don't think this is something I would repeat, mostly due to the cost. I think its so expensive because they have unlimited beer and wine but, for us, that's not a selling point and having to fight to get a moment with the characters is not that fun.

Once the BBQ was over, G was pretty much done. It had been a super long day. Again, fun but exhausting.

Tons of pix from MK:

An empty MK is a wonderful MK!
 
At the Crystal Palace... G loves Tigger. They bounced A LOT!!

With "tude" Piglet

The restaurant wasn't very busy so Pooh made his way around a few times. I think G could hug on him all day long. She just loves him!

They do a parade around the room with the characters every so often. G was thrilled she got to hold Pooh's hand. I'm pretty sure she maneuvered herself in front of  another kid for the honor.

In front of Belle's cottage. The way its landscaped and situated you really do get the impression that you've happened upon it out in the woods. I'm not sure the feeling would be the same if you'd just waited in line for an hour but for us, walking in pretty much alone, it worked!

That's the Beast's castle up on the hill

G was excited to see that she was the same height as Belle was when she was 6! G thinks of herself as being quite tall :-)

In the background is a portrait of Belle and her mother. I loved that!

Wardrobe's facial movements are very impressive.

The Lumiere candalabra seems real

First time through, G was a magic mirror (laughing mirror??) can't remember exactly.

Second time through she wanted to be Philippe the horse. When they asked for a volunteer who could neigh, G neighed super loud and jumped up and down kind of like she had at the pirate tutorial thing a few days earlier. She was picked!

Again with the carousel

Thought it would be fun to post a photo of how empty Fantasyland was11:43am. Crazy empty.

haha! G loved the theme queue for Pirates

Visiting with the fairies. The following day they would switch out Vidia for Periwinkle (Tink's sister) and transition to their winter wear.

I love the expression on G's face in this picture. I think it shows how much she truly enjoys her interactions with the characters.

Dancing with Minnie several hours later at the Backyard BBQ.

Minnie cowgirl dress by this seller was a huge hit! She really was adorable. The light up tiara hat and pink boots from Target were the perfect finishing touches. G love, love, loved wearing it!

Getting a picture with the characters during the dance party was nearly impossible.

The only official photo op of the evening. Check out Minnie's boots!

See Bobby's sunglasses tucked into the right pocket of his shorts??? Last time they'd ever be seen...

Vacation Day 6: Animal Kingdom
We got to sleep in this morning. Yay! We woke up to our "Georgie alarm clock" instead of the cell which is so much nicer. After a quick breakfast in the room we headed off to Animal Kingdom for the day. First stop The Boneyard which is a dinosaur themed playground. I can't figure out what G loves about this area so much. It thrills her though so we spent quite a bit of time watching her run around and get super sweaty. When she felt she'd had enough we moved on to the rides.

Our last visit to AK was in February. G rode on the Dinosaur ride that time but immediately vowed to never do so again. But then, later that same day she started asking to ride it again and became pretty insistent that she wanted to give it another try. Even though I was happy she was trying to overcome her fear the wait times were far too long and we couldn't give it another go.

This visit, wait times are not an issue. We merely walked on to Dinosaur. She did better this time and wasn't so terrified. At the end of the ride she was complimenting herself on her bravery and her realization that the dinosaurs weren't real. To celebrate she got a stuffed dinosaur from the gift shop that she immediately named "TT Rex Rex" haha!!

Hmmm, I'm trying to remember what we did the rest of the day. I guess it wasn't too much really. We went on the safari and G was thrilled we got to see her current favorite animal: the elephant. We caught the Nemo show (which is awesome!!!) and the Lion King show (which is even more awesome!!!) and hunted down several characters. I love the characters at AK cuz they're always wearing safari clothes, so cute!! At that point it was really late in the day, starting to look rainy, and getting to be time for dinner so off we went.

Next stop was the Polynesian Resort for the O'Hana dinner. The Poly is a beautiful resort, very lush and way out of our current vacation budget. Maybe another time. I'd read tons about the O'Hana dinner and really wanted to try it. No characters this time just lots and lots of really tasty food! Hint: if you're not super hungry and really into meat, don't go to this dinner. The amount of food they bring you is staggering. Bobby and I had a discussion about how amazing it was that there are starving people in the world and here we are waving away these enormous skewers of meat. G loved the food and they also had some activities for the kids including coconut races and some kind of limbo dance/maracas shaking thing. It was all very loud and chaotic but we had a good time.

Another day down. Shoot!! Tomorrow will be the halfway point.

First stop, the Up characters. Up is one of my favorite animated movies. I love this picture of G. It seems like it be in the Animal Kingdom catalog or something, you know, if one existed.

Just off the Dinosaur ride and in possession of her brand new dinosaur stuffed animal from the gift shop

During the entire safari ride G instructed me to get out my camera and take pix... slave driver.

At the Lion King show (which I think is absolutely fabulous!!) we happened to sit in a good spot and G was chosen to participate in the show a little.

G's kind of a ham so this appealed to her

In front of the Tree of Life. I find this tree absolutely fascinating. On our next visit to AK I took some close up photos of the detail of the trunk. I can spend a lot of time looking at it. Not that AK is that big, but it also helps a lot when we're in the park. Its like the Matterhorn at DL, you can use it to figure out where you're going.

Dinner! Meat, meat, more meat, shrimp, salad, noodles... yum!

In between bites G participated in the kid activities. First there was the cocunut push. Its a good thing for G that a person's skill level on "cocunut push" is not relevant to success in life... she's not good at it all :-) After awhile I told her to just kick it. That was soooo much easier!

Maracas and limbo. This height level looks a bit too easy for G, don't you think??

We were all big fans of the O'Hana dinner. I'm pretty sure that by the time I took this pic G was in some sort of food coma.

Just doing a little hula in the lobby of the Polynesian.


Great day!