Tackling the Mountains - 234/365

Today were starting our day off at Epcot! It was going to be a hot one, but we didn't care.

We were there nice and early for our character meal at Akershus in Norway. Reagan really seemed to enjoy the character interaction there the last time, so we were hoping it was the same.

Turns out, it was awesome as always. Snow White took Reagan's hand and led her around the room in the "Princess Parade." Reagan was on cloud nine! She loved it!

This afternoon, it was pretty hot, so we did decide to head back to the Lodge and enjoy some pool time. The couple times we have stayed at the Lodge we didn't really swim since it was just Jim and I. Reagan really took a liking to the little slide they have and went down about a billion times.

I had my new Nikon water camera, so I was able to get some awesome shots of her in the water.

This evening we were going to head over to Magic Kingdom to see if we could get her on Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain in her "magic shoes." Sure enough, she was tall enough!

She LOVED both rides. She really took a liking to Splash Mountain. But she didn't like the little black vultures at the base of the big drop. She kind of ducked her head, but other than that she was brave.

Jim and I were a little nervous on Big Thunder Mountain because you kind of have to hold on to her. She feels like she would fall out even though you know she won't. I really clutch her though.

So proud of our brave girl. She is growing too fast!

One last thing we decided to do before heading back to the room was the Country Bear Jamboree. We NEVER take the time to do it, but we just happened to walk by as the last showing was starting. We wandered in and were three of eight people in there, so it was nice.

It really is a hoot because it is kind of dated. Reagan really liked it.

EPCOT!

Walking with Snow White

Swimming

First time on Splash Mountain!

First time on Big Thunder Mountain

Country Bear Jamboree

 

 

Ohana, Swimming and Christmas - 318/365

This morning, we were going to the character breakfast at Ohana. 

Reagan had a Lilo dress to wear, she looked super cute. The minute we got to our table, Lilo happened to be there. She was making gestures about Reagan's dress. It was adorable! At the same time, they were starting the Ohana Family Parade, where all the kids get to follow the the characters around the room, while shaking maracas. Lilo grabbed Reagan's hand and away they went. It was so stinking cute to see them in the same dresses, marching around the room. Just melted my heart! Reagan just had the biggest smile on her face. 

When they got back, the characters came fast and furious. We saw, Lilo again, Stitch, Mickey, and Pluto. It's so fun to watch Reagan get excited when they came over. 

The food was great! It was served family style and they gave you a ton! There was Mickey waffles, scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon, potatoes, biscuits and sweet rolls. They also had a fruit boat, with strawberry dip! Delicious! 

After we stuffed ourselves, we went out to spend some time on the beach at the Polynesian. Reagan was loving "putting her tootsies in the sand." We watched a couple boats roll by. And, there was a bunch of ducks hanging around, she got a kick out of. 

We finally headed back to the resort to hit the pool for awhile. Today, we thought we would walk down to the next group of buildings and try out the Ariel Pool. It's not quite as elaborate as the Nemo pool, but she really got a kick out of the huge Ariel, Ursula and Sebastian. She was pretty wound up and splashing around. She was shrieking, calling us "monsters" and trying to get away. It was pretty funny! 

We then decided, to head back to the Nemo pool, where there was a little more action. They were having a Simon Says game for the kids in the water, where they had to pretend to be different characters. Reagan was playing right along. She acted out, Goofy, Mickey, Simba, Rafiki, a dolphin and a bunch of other stuff. What a hoot that was. 

We finally decided to head back up to the room for a little rest, before heading out to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. I was SUPER, SUPER excited about this! 

We got into the Magic Kingdom and wanted to grab some dinner right away, before the party actually "started." We just decided to go to Pinocchio's for their yummy flat-bread pizzas. 

After Pinocchio's, I really wanted to get our picture with the seven dwarfs. You NEVER get to see them, except on special occasions. The line was already around 40 minutes. We almost bailed, but I decided to stand in line, while Jim took Reagan on a few rides, right near there. Everyone was doing other things, so nearly every attraction was a walk on. When we finally got up to the front, it was so fun standing there with all the dwarfs. What a hoot! 

After that, we headed over to Frontierland to grab a spot for the parade. We grabbed a spot right outside the Horseshoe Saloon, where they were having a character dance party. Woody, Jessie and Bullseye were there from Toy Story. It was a great little party! Reagan took to Jessie right away and didn't want to leave her side. It was adorable! 

The parade was getting ready to start, so we popped back outside. What an AMAZING parade. We LOVED it. It was so fun seeing all the Christmas floats. They had toy soldiers, real horses, santa, all kinds of stuff. The music was great, too! Super fun!

After that, we headed back over to Fantasyland to see Christmas Minnie and Scrooge McDuck. The lines were kind of long again, so we did the same thing, only Jim waited this time. I took Reagan on Barnstormer and Dumbo. Reagan and I got to see Holiday Wishes from Dumbo! It was amazing seeing the fireworks from that high. 

Next, we decided to pop back into Pinocchio's to get our complimentary cookies and hot chocolate! Each person got two cookies and a big hot chocolate. Not too bad! YUM! 

After that, I really wanted to see the parade again from Main Street, with the snow, to take a few pictures. I headed over there to get a spot, while Jim and Reagan did a few more attractions. They popped in to see the new Mickey at the front of Magic Kingdom. This one has the moving mouth and actually talks to you. They were the only ones in there, so I guess Mickey just talked and talked to Reagan. The were holding hands and bouncing, just having a good time. We have the most adorable video! 

Finally, we decided to take in the last Celebrate the Season stage show at Cinderella's Castle. What a great show. A lot of the same characters from the parade were in it. It was such fun to see! 

We ended with the Tomorrowland show. It was pretty good, but nothing like Celebrate the Season, obviously. We closed down the Magic Kingdom, not leaving till almost 12:30. We had a blast! 

There is nothing like Christmas at the Magic Kingdom!

The photo of the day is us with the seven dwarfs.

 Next, a picture of the awesome parade...

Finally, a picture of Lilo and Reagan from breakfast.

 

Magic Kingdom and Cinderella Dinner - 316/365

 We were going to spend the day at Magic Kingdom today! 

We got going early, to make sure we got in line for some bigger stuff. We left our room at 8:15. Getting to Magic Kingdom is always a pain in the ass. We got parked and hopped the resort monorail, which tends to be faster, if there is a huge line for the direct one. After we boarded, and moved out of the station, they told us we were on a hold. The orange monorail was having a door problem and they would have to wait for that one to get moving, before we could get moving. It ended up being only 10 minutes, but still. We haven't had a monorail ride, in our last three or four trips that there wasn't some kind of problem. They are just old now.

We got off the monorail, to see a SEA of people outside the gates of Magic Kingdom. The Magic Band system, does not seem to be making things faster. We had another 10 minute wait to get in! 

When we FINALLY got in, we headed straight to Enchanted Tales with Belle. The wait was only 20 minutes, which was great for that attraction. The line was moving pretty good for awhile, but then, a cast member said, it will be a few minutes, some of Belle's magic is broken. It ended up being about a half hour delay, 20 minutes turned to 50. Reagan was a trooper. I think mom and dad were more frustrated than her. We also had a lady, just hacking up a lung in front of us the whole time. GROSS. When we would have to move up, Jim would say, "Ok, lets move into the germ cloud."

Once we finally got in, it is REALLY cute! Some of the kids get picked to act out the story with Belle. Reagan got picked to be the salt shaker! She got a little shy, but she still had fun! At the end, the kids get a bookmark from Belle and their picture taken. She was in heaven. 

We got done with that, and it was 10:15, it took us 2 hours from the minute we left our room, to get to our first attraction. LOL! OH well! 

Next, we went over and rode the Ariel ride twice. She really loves that ride! She just lights up and points the whole time. It just melts your heart. 

After that, we were off to Winnie the Pooh and lunch!  We went to Cosmic Ray's, another one of our favorite quick service places. We love the self serve pickles! LOL!

After lunch, we went over and rode Goofy's Barnstormer three times in a row! She LOVED it! I took her the first time, when we got off, she looked up at me and asked, "Can we go again?" I said, "Of course! Daddy is going to take you now." We had a good time riding that! She just giggled the whole time! I got to take her on the last go around, too! 

Next, we headed over to find Tiana in Liberty Square. Reagan has been totally into her lately. Her little eyes LIT up when she saw her standing there. She ran right up to her and gave her the biggest hug! Tiana asked who Reagan's little friend was and Reagan said, "Mr. Fuzzy!"  Tiana said, "My, it looks like you've had him a long time!"  It was so cute! 

Before we left for the afternoon, we stopped in the hub to take some pictures. Just as we were finishing up, they were getting ready for the stage show. We got right up front on the side. Reagan was LOVING it, until, Maleficent came out. She kind of put her head down. Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy had everyone chant, "Dreams come true!" to get her to go away.
After the show was over, we were walking back to the car, Reagan looked up and said, "Mama, Dada, I didn't like that lady with the green face." Then she just started chanting "Dreams come true" all the way back to the car. It was great!!! 

We got back to room with no problems and were ready for a little rest. We wanted Reagan to be fresh for our dinner tonight. She fell right to sleep, she was pooped! 

We got back up, ready and went over to the Grand Floridian for our dinner at 1900 Park Fair. It is a character meal with just Cinderella, Prince Charming, her step-mother and step-sisters. It was really nice. The buffet was FANTASTIC! They had everything you could want! Jim chose a grapefruit beer, which was excellent!

Reagan was into watching the characters roam around the room. When Prince Charming came over to the table, she was totally smitten. She looked at him and said, "You're a good dancer!" Then, she gave him a big kiss on the cheek. It was so cute!

The step-mother and step-sisters were so funny, too! Reagan had a Cinderella shirt on and when they took pictures with Reagan, they crossed Reagan's arms to cover up Cinderella's face. It was a hoot! 

We got done with dinner and decided to run back over to the Magic Kingdom for a litte bit. We got a lot done! We rode the Jingle Cruise, which is the Jungle Cruise re-vamped for Christmas. Then, we went over to Aladdin's Magic Carpets. It was really cool, because the fireworks were going on as we were flying around. It was awesome! When we got off, Reagan looked up and said, "I really loved that Magic Carpet ride!"

After that, we went over and rode Ariel again. There was no wait for the Ariel meet and greet, so we went in there. It was really cool how they had it. It was a beautiful room and Ariel was actually a mermaid. Her tail was beautiful! 

To finish up the night, we rode It's a Small World. This is always one of Reagan's favorites, too! She was pointing out all the animals! LOL! 

We closed the Magic Kingdom down, by watching Disney's Electrical Parade. We got front row and really enjoyed it! Reagan was in awe! 

We finally headed out and hopped back on the monorail to go back to the Grand Floridian to get our car. Of course, the monorail broke down again, giving us another 10 minute wait. I think it's time for Disney to replace those. Disneyland's Monorail puts these to shame! 

While we were on the monorail heading back, Reagan was WIDE awake. She asked, "Can we go to Epcot now!?"  I think she's having a blast!!!
After our rocky first two hours, we really made up for it. We had a great day! 
The photo of the day is Reagan kissing Prince Charming...

 Next, Reagan and I on Goofy's Barnstormer....

Finally, Reagan and Jim on Dumbo...

Cinderella, Bugs and Mustaches - 314/365

It was going to be a busy day today! 

Our first stop was going to be Animal Kingdom. 

 For our anniversary this year, we decided we would splurge on another Disney family photo shoot, like we did on Reagan's first trip to Disney. It was so fun and the pictures came out gorgeous. We had them taken at Epcot last time, so this time, we chose Animal Kingdom. 

We met our photographer, Ty, at the drums. He was super nice and got some great shots! Reagan was awesome! She stood still and smiled right on cue. We had a great time! The very last shot, he asked if we wanted to do something funny. We said, "sure!" He pulled out a package of fake mustaches. He had us hold up a picture frame and put the mustaches on. They even offered to take a picture with my camera. It was so funny! We can't wait to see the pictures!

After the photo shoot, we decided to stay and play in the Animal Kingdom. We went for a ride on the safari. It was probably one of the best ones, we've had in a while. All of the animals were right there. We got to see the baby giraffe and baby elephant. They were precious!! Even the rhinos where right there. Which is kind of unnerving when you see their size. 

After the safari, we decided to have lunch at Pizzafari. We really like that little quick service place. We scarfed down our pizza and decided to hit one more attraction before taking a break. We were going to check out It's Tough to be a Bug, since there is never a wait. We got our 3D glasses and were on our way in. It started out OK, but when the termite spit water on us, Reagan wigged out!! She started bawling. Luckily, we were in the back row, so Jim just hopped over the back, and took her outside. When it was over, I found them on a bench right outside. Reagan was OK, by then. I asked her what happened, she said, "I didn't like when that 'dog' spit water on my pants." LOL! She was more mad that there was actual water on her pants, then scared, I think. 

After that, we decided to head back to the room for a little rest. It had been a late night, the night before and an early morning for pictures. Reagan went right to sleep, which was great. 

After nap time, we were off to Epcot for the evening! We had dinner reservations at eight, so we had some time to play before we headed over. We rode Nemo first. Reagan was a little afraid of the seagulls out front. I think she thought they looked like the termite in It's Tough to be a Bug. She said, "I don't want them to spit water on me." LOL! 

Next, we hit the Character Spot! They just re-did it and it looks great! All the characters were fabulous with her. We saw, Mickey, Minnie and Goofy. 

 Next, we were off to World Showcase. We still had a little time, so we went to ride the Mexico ride. We had about a 10 minute wait, which we have NEVER experienced. Epcot was PACKED! There were people everywhere. It was the second to the last night of the Food & Wine Festival, so we think a lot of locals were there. 

Finally, we went over to Norway. We were having dinner at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall, which is a princess character meal. Reagan was pretty pumped up. We saw Belle, right when we checked in and got our picture with her. She was so sweet with Reagan. 

After that, we were escorted over to our table. The food was really good and we were enjoying ourselves, when out of nowhere, popped Aurora! Reagan scrambled to get her autograph book. She must have told her three times, to "color" in her book. When she was done, Aurora was trying to talk to her and Reagan just kept saying, "No, you have to put my pen back in here." Aurora looked up at us, smiled and said, "My, she is a very organized princess." It was a hoot, because she SO is! 

Next up, was Cinderella! She was great to her, too! Just then, it was the Royal Procession around the room. All the little kids got to parade around the dining hall. Cinderella took Reagan by the hand and led her around. It was so adorable! Reagan just chatted with her the whole time. 

Finally, Ariel and Snow White showed up. Reagan's bracelet got stuck in Ariel's hair. You could sense there was some panic that her hair would "get ruined." LOL! We got it out with no disaster! Reagan was too funny with Snow White, too. She asked her, "Why are your sleeves so puffy?" She said, "they are kind of puffy, huh? I will have to have my birds work on that." It was so cute! 

 All in all, she was so pumped up to be there with them. When they would show up, she would say, "get me out" of her highchair to give hugs. 

We had a great first full day! Looking forward to the adventures ahead!

The photo of the day is Reagan and her pal, Cinderella.

Next, "Thumbs down, It's Tough to be a Bug."

 Finally, our crazy photo from our photo shoot. 

 

Hello Ariel! - 22/365

Today we spent the morning at Disneyland Park. We did a lot of the Fantasy Land rides for Reagan, which she loved. The lines were non-existent so we really got to see a lot of stuff. Even the lines for the bigger rides were slow, so we hopped right on Space Mountain! Space Mountain in California puts Florida to shame! It's awesome! The effects are better, the cars are better, the music is better....it's just BETTER! We loved it!

When lunch time rolled around we headed over to California Adventure to have lunch at Ariel's Grotto, which is a princess character lunch. We got all checked in and headed downstairs to get seated. While your waiting for your table, Ariel greets you and you get to have your picture taken. Reagan has been great with all the characters, not really afraid, but shy. She will walk up to them and hug them but never says too much. This time, we went around the corner, she dropped my hand and RAN full speed over to Ariel! It was totally ADORABLE! Ariel and everyone else got a big kick out of it! Reagan and Ariel is today's picture of the day! :)