disney: Cinderella's Royal Table

We started out our second Magic Kingdom day with breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table. This one is a must-do if you have a little princess in your house, but I think they really make it fun for everyone -- there are lots of boys here too (they get swords instead of magic wands, in addition to the wishing stars that they pass out to all the children). I mean, who doesn't want to eat in Cinderella's castle, when you get right down to it?



One of the best things about eating breakfast (as opposed to lunch or dinner) at Cinderella's castle is that you can get into the park early. So you have time to snap some pictures in front of the castle without massive crowds swarming around, and once breakfast is over, you can hit a few attractions before the the rest of the crowd has made it in from the gate.


Given that Caroline wears more satin and tulle on a daily basis than an 80s bridesmaid, I had no doubt that she would want to dress up like a princess for these princess meals. Elizabeth was more borderline in my mind -- she loved to dress up when she was 3 and 4, and she still liked to dress up some around her 5th birthday, but she hasn't really initiated dress up play on her own in a while. But I thought that when she saw other girls dressed like princesses at Disney, she might want to join in the fun, so I brought along a couple of dresses for her as well, just in case. After the princess lunch at Akershus, she told me that she wanted to dress up like a princess at Cinderella's castle. But when we woke up the morning of the breakfast, she had changed her mind and absolutely did not. Forcing my six and a half year old to dress up like a princess against her will to advance my own selfish photo visions seemed wrong, so Elizabeth wore what she wanted to that morning . . . and thoroughly enjoyed herself.



Meanwhile, Caroline was in her glory. I've talked a lot with friends about the "best time" to take kids to Disney World, and I really don't think there is one best time. I think every age is great for different reasons. The 8+ crowd can do most of the attractions and have more endurance. The 5+ crowd will definitely remember the trip in a way that younger kids may not, but they still have some of that little kid magic left in them.

But if you have a 3 or 4 year old who loves princesses, or Buzz Lightyear, or Mickey Mouse, there is really something magical about taking them to Disney World at that age. Because at three and a half, Caroline was not meeting a pretty lady dressed like Cinderella -- she was meeting Cinderella. And watching her awe and joy when she met her (and the other princesses) really ranks right up there with my happiest parenting moments ever.

Being a princess comes naturally to Caroline as the third child/baby in the family, and she broke into a royal strut as soon as we approached the castle.

Her Royal Highness:



Outside the castle:



Oh, about Naked Baby Doll. You might think from these pictures that this is Caroline's special lovey -- but no, it's just one of the 100 random baby dolls that we have lying around the house. Caroline happened to grab it for the car ride and proceeded to carry it around for most of the trip. She does not even have a name besides Naked Baby Doll, yet she is forever memorialized in our Disney World photos.

Caroline walking into the Cinderella's castle for the first time:



After we checked in, we entered the castle, where Cinderella was there to greet us.

This is one of my favorite photos over:



It shows how sweet my kids can be to each other when they are not too busy being not-sweet. Jacob is so happy in this picture not because HE is meeting Cinderella, but because Caroline is meeting Cinderella and he knows how much she loves Cinderella. He is excitedly telling her how awesome it is that she meeting Cinderella! His happiness for her is almost parental in nature. Wish we could bottle moments like this.

Caroline & Cinderella:



Kids & Cinderella:



We then sat down to enjoy our breakfast and wait for the other princesses to arrive.

Caroline and the Royal Uneaten Eggs:



Jacob & Elizabeth



The Wishing Ceremony:



Caroline had fully warmed up by this point:







Jacob and Elizabeth also enjoyed chatting with the princesses, who by now had to feel like old friends:




When we left the castle after breakfast, we had the good fortune of running into the Fairy Godmother right outside the castle!





Such a fun way to start the day! And it was only 9:00 -- we still had a full day left in the Magic Kingdom.

disney: hollywood studios

Disney's Hollywood Studios was on tap for today. We did not realize when we booked the trip that we'd be in Disney World during one of the Star Wars Weekends. and as far as Jacob was concerned, that was a happy coincidence, as there were lots of extra Star Wars activities on the menu!

When plotting out our day, the first big decision was whether Jacob wanted to try to participate in Jedi Training Academy. I was pretty sure that he would, given that he spends approximately 3 hours per day wielding a light saber even when we're not in Disney World, but somewhere in the middle of the Disney research he did before our trip he decided that Jedi Training Academy was more for younger kids and that he was "too old" for it. I told him that I did not think that was the case at all (the info. about the attraction says it's for kids 4-12, so he'd be right smack in the middle of that range) and that if he wanted to do it, we would try to do it, and that his fellow padawans would surely include some kids younger than him, but also some kids older than him. But he didn't waver on this -- he decided that he did not care about doing it. Which was fine with David and me, as it saved us from having to get to the park an hour before rope drop to line up for it! {But don't think he valued our extra sleep that much; what he REALLY wanted to do was get autographs of some of the Clone Wars stars on Saturday, which would require us to line up nearly 3 hours before rope drop. More on that later.}

We grabbed a quick, character-free breakfast in the lobby, then the kids looked for the hidden Mickey in the oversized globe in the lobby:



And then we started the walk to Studios. Unlike Epcot, which is just a 5 or 10 minute walk away, Studios is over a mile from the hotel. So it's a bit of a hike, especially for little legs, but a pretty one, and the kids managed it fine.


The requisite Studios shot in front of Mickey's Sorcerer hat:


We sent David to get fastpasses for Star Tours, and the kids and I wandered towards the general vicinity of Toy Story Mania:


David caught up with us, and the stated wait for Toy Story Mania was something in the 45 minute range, so we got in line.

Er, I was trying to get their silhouettes in front of Mr. Potato Head. Yeah, that's it!

I tell you what, when I was a kid, we didn't have these cushy indoor, climate-controlled Disney World lines with attraction-appropriate decor and talking Mr. Potato Heads to entertain us. No, we inched our way uphill into the blaring hot sun and passed the time by counting how many times we zigzagged past the same dude in the Pink Floyd t-shirt, and we liked it!

Not only was the Toy Story Mania line super pleasant, it was shorter-than-advertised as well! We caught up with the fastpass line after only 25 minutes and hopped onto the ride. Now, I can take or leave the roller coasters, but put me in a decorated slow-moving vehicle that is propelled on a track past animatronic robots and I'm in theme park heaven! So Toy Story Mania was my kind of ride. Even my thrill-seekers loved this one:






And it met with the approval of the most discriminating member of our travel party:



After Toy Story Mania the big kids wanted to meet Mr. & Mrs. Incredible, and of course Caroline would have none of that, so she and I wandered around while David took Jacob and Elizabeth celebrity stalking.

Success!



Jacob and Elizabeth showing off their autographs:



Elizabeth really wanted to go to Honey, I Shrunk the Kids!, so we headed in that direction next, stopping first to snap a picture in front of a bush shaped like Sorcerer Mickey. If you put it up to a family vote, I'm sure that my incessant random photo demands would easily earn me the "Most Annoying Travel Companion" award. Still, they {mostly} indulged me.



Here are my miniaturized kids, riding an ant and dwarfed by the blades of grass at Honey, I Shrunk the Kids!



This particular attraction was really fun until it wasn't. I've blocked out the details, but I think it involved Elizabeth and Caroline fighting atop the ant. Perhaps over who got to sit in front. I remember removing them from the insect and leaving in a hurry. I'm sure the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground has seen worse {please God, let the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground have seen worse.}

To cool everyone off, David took the girls to see Muppet Vision 3-D, and I took Jacob for his second spin through Star Tours. He loved it the first time he rode it with David, and he loved it again the second time. After we finished the ride, we were funneled into the Star Tours gift shop, naturally, and Jacob took me over to the photo art area to show me the souvenir that he had been coveting ever since his first Star Tours ride earlier that day. After issuing the obligatory "are you SURE? If you get this, that is it for souvenirs" warnings and being assured that there was no doubt in his mind, this was the one, Jacob lined up to have his photo taken.

Behold, Jacob-wan Kenobi:



After seeing the finished product, Jacob and I agreed that it was really, really cool, and maybe just a little bit creepy.

After all this morning fun, it was time to think about lunch. We had a reservation at the Hollywood Brown Derby, which I made mainly to get priority seating at Fantasmic, a highly popular fireworks and water show that people start to line up for hours ahead of time. But it was clear by lunchtime that there was no way we were going to make it all the way through to Fantasmic, and going back to the hotel for a few hours and returning later wasn't really looking feasible either. Therefore, we decided to save Fantasmic for our next trip and cancel the Brown Derby.

Oh, as an aside, I'm sure it sounds like we had an insane number of meal reservations for this trip. And we did. But the reason we did is because we were on the Disney Dining Plan, which was supposedly "included" with our package. While I believe in Disney Magic as much as the next person, I HIGHLY DOUBT that we ate at Disney World for a week for free. But still, we ended up having three meals per day (table service or quick service) plus two snacks per day per person. The meals included an appetizer, and entree and dessert. And because of the recent popularity of the Dining Plan, it is apparently much more difficult to get meal reservations than it used to be if you wait until you are in the Parks. So we made all of these meals reservations six months ahead of time (knowing that we could cancel them if we didn't want them when the time came) in an effort to get our money's worth out of the dining plan (you know, on the off chance that the Mouse was not actually paying for it).

Anyway, we decided that we did not want to bother with a sit-down lunch, so we cancelled the Brown Derby and ended up outside at a quick service joint. The kids really enjoyed the break. Elizabeth broke out the figurines in her new Aladdin playset and had many adventures with Abu and her french fries:








David & Caroline:



After lunch we heard blood-curdling screams coming out of the Tower of Terror, so naturally we decided to stop for a picture in front of it:



Next, the Ariel ride:



Then Jacob and Elizabeth wanted to meet Buzz & Woody, so I took them to do that while David and Caroline wandered off somewhere. David had the camera, but fortunately I had my iPhone with me to capture the kids enjoying the various line diversions, such as strapping themselves to dynamite:





And posing with Stinky Pete:



Finally it was time to meet Buzz & Woody!



We then got another breather as we sat in a covered amphitheater and watched Beauty & the Beast. Caroline did not love the Beast, but only said "I want to go home!" twice, and was cheering enthusiastically by the end of the show.

Beauty & the Beast:



We had five fastpasses to the Tower of Terror, so we decided that Jacob and David would ride it once before dinner, and I'd ride it with Jacob again after dinner. The girls and I sat and chatted with a super-friendly cast member who sang Disney songs, asked the girls who their favorite Disney character is, etc. while we waited for the boys to emerge from the Tower of Terror. Once they (giddily) did, we headed for dinner at the Sci Fi Dine-In Theater, by far the kids' favorite meal (at least non-character meal) in Disney World:



You eat in a car in a darkened drive-in theater; how cool is that?



The kids all had Glow Soda with their meal; Caroline had a glowing Tinkerbell:



After dinner, the plan was for David to head back to the hotel with the girls while I took Jacob on the Tower of Terror one more time. I said to David, "Do you think it's a good idea for me to get on the Tower of Terror right after eating a huge dinner?" And he replied, "oh, you won't be getting right on it; you still have to walk there." For some odd reason, that answer seemed satisfactory, so ten minutes after leaving the restaurant Jacob and I handed in our fastpasses to get on a ride that involves numerous 30-foot free falls and multiple jerking stops. I worried for a minute there that I might add a new dimension of terror to the ride, but thankfully, my dinner stayed put. FYI, you might want to consider waiting an hour after a meal before stepping into the Hollywood Tower hotel.

Jacob and I chatted the on our walk back to the hotel about how fun and exciting it is to be at Disney World at night. I hate to be completely cheesy, but it really was another magical day.

disney: {another} character meal plus epcot

We started day 3 with a classic character meal at Cape May Cafe, which is in the Beach Club, the Yacht Club's sister resort (they share the pool and other facilities and have the same management staff). I really thought long and hard about cancelling this after witnessing Caroline's previous reaction to the characters, but we needed to eat breakfast, and the restaurant was so convenient for us, and the big kids wanted to go, soooooo . . . we decided to go for it.

The time, Minnie, Donald and Goofy (no Mickey at this one) are dressed in beach attire (get it? They're at the Beach Club!):


Turns out we had kind of a Pooh-esque experience with Caroline this time; she (really really) didn't like it, but she was at least willing to come into the restaurant and hide. Since David was there to take some of the pictures, I grabbed the chance to get one with Minnie myself:


As was the case at Crystal Palace, the staff here was SUPER sweet and concerned about Caroline, and went out of their way to talk to her, inform Minnie, Goofy and Donald that she was a shy one, and generally reassure her that it was all going to be okay. Minnie and our server even hatched this plan to get a picture of Caroline and Minnie in the same frame - Minnie snuck around to the back of the booth where Caroline was sitting:


In between greeting the characters, we enjoyed our breakfast. This is what happens when you give a six year old autonomy at the breakfast buffet:

1 mickey waffle, 3 hard boiled eggs, pineapple, sausage, and a heaping cup of chocolate chips

David and the big kids with Donald:



Goofy is one tall dog:




Our plan was to head to Epcot after breakfast, and finally Touring Plans recommendations matched with with our largely-inflexible-due-to-meal-reservations plans! Whereas the past two days we'd gone to the "park to avoid," today Epcot was considered a Touring Plans "best park." Yay!

The famous Epcot ball:





On numerous tips, we decided to start our day in Epcot by grabbing fastpasses for Soarin', Epcot's most popular attraction.



You enter Epcot from the Beach & Yacht Clubs the back way, into the World Showcase. Therefore, even though we got there right when the park opened, we had a bit of a hike to get to Soarin' in Future World. We just kind of meandered there, as the kids stopped to play along the way:


Jacob wasn't quite tall enough to peep through the top hole, so he waved instead

Next time one of us will sprint to get Soarin' fastpasses while the other takes his/her sweet time ambling with the kids, because we grabbed our our fastpass at around 9:30, and the return time didn't begin until 12:10. That would have been fine except our lunch reservation -- a princess lunch at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall in Norway that Caroline was seriously excited about -- was for 12:35. At that point we were still operating on the {bad} information we got at Animal Kingdom that whether or not fastpasses had to be used during the stated one hour window was in the discretion of the attraction operator. And there was no way we could get to lunch on time if we did Soarin' at 12:10 (and we couldn't count on pulling another fastpass to Soarin' later because it would either be for a very late ride time, or they'd be gone altogether). So a considerable amount of time was wasted that morning on the phone with Disney dining to see if we could move our lunch reservation, walking to Norway to see how late we could be and still get our table, walking BACK to Soarin' to see if there was any way we could get on a little early, etc. The good news is that I really feel like we've now worked out most of the logistical bugs associated with navigating a day in the theme parks! The bad news is that we probably unnecessarily wasted two hours in Epcot that morning because we didn't know for certain that fastpasses could be used from the stated return time until park closing. KIDS, TELL YOUR FRIENDS. IF YOUR FASTPASS SAYS RETURN BETWEEN 12:10 AND 1:10, IT REALLY MEANS RETURN BETWEEN 12:10 AND PARK CLOSING. When we got to Soarin', that is exactly what the cast member working the attraction told us, and our problem immediately went away.

In between the hand-wringing about all this, we still had tons of fun! The kids loved the Seas attraction:



Outside the Seas are the famous Epcot seagulls -- noisy, yapping seagulls who chant "mine mine mine." My kids were magnetically drawn to them -- coincidence?



You can watch these hilarious birds yourself here.

We got into clam shells to ride on the Nemo ride (everyone loved it), and then the kids checked out the aquarium and explored the sea-themed play areas:



I then wandered towards our lunch spot in Norway with Caroline while David and the big kids headed to Italy to get instructions for their Kim Possible mission. They LOVED these missions. It felt good to be able to help save the world while on vacation.

Walking with Caroline:



We checked in at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall and waited for the rest of the gang to arrive:



Akershus was one of the best, most fun meals we had in Disney World. Its only drawback was that it was a really dark dining room, so the pictures are pretty flashy.

Belle greeted us when we got inside:



At our royal table:



The children were invited to join in a royal procession around the restaurant. Here's Snow White leading the procession:



During lunch, the princesses came around to greet us. Here are the kids getting Cinderella's autograph (she's such a rock star!!)





Aurora (a.k.a. Sleeping Beauty):



Ariel:



To the great relief of everyone, Caroline LOVED the princesses. She asked for their autographs, posed for pictures with them, danced and spun for them and showed off her dress. It was really great to see Caroline finally enjoying a character meal!

Twins!


Caroline even had a hug for Snow White. What a difference a day (and the lack of a huge three dimensional mask) makes!


But we were right back to normal after lunch, with the big kids hankering to meet new characters and Caroline panicking at the very thought of it.

Dale:


Lies, all lies!

After lunch we did tons more stuff, and the kids were getting tired. We were trying to hold out for our 6:00 dinner reservation at Le Cellier in Canada, a steakhouse that gets rave reviews and is apparently a difficult reservation to get.


David and I thoroughly enjoyed our amazing meals. I believe that one (or perhaps three) of my children rejected their steak in favor of plain pasta with butter while we were there. I died a little that day.

Like the steaks, we were stick-a-fork-in-us done after dinner, so we headed back to the hotel. First the kids looked for Hidden Mickeys in Canada:


When we got back, I tried to get Caroline to bed and David took the big kids night swimming. They told me that they watched the Epcot fireworks from the top deck of the water slide (and I was able to peek out our window to see them). A really cool way to end the day!