Disney World 2012--Day Two (Magic Kingdom)

Monday morning, we got up bright and early so that we could arrive at the Magic Kingdom in time to see all the characters open the park.  I could not wait to really get our vacation started.  I had sat down the night before and planned out our day.  I'm not one to miss opportunities to do things while on vacation so we had a packed schedule.  To save time each morning, Kevin would take all of our refillable mugs, run over to the resort, and get coffee for himself and mom, Powerade for me, and lemonade for Ava.  Mom, Ava, and I would quickly get dressed and be ready to head out as soon as he got back.  The park opened at 9 that morning and we arrived about 8:30, had our bags checked, and joined the crowd to get ready to see Mickey and the gang make their appearance.  The citizens of Main Street came out singing and dancing to greet us.  As they finished up, we heard a train whistle in the distance and Mickey and friends pulled up waving and blowing kisses.  At this point, I was already teary eyed.  I discovered on this trip that Disney World makes me emotional. :)  The characters got off the train, lined up, and then we all did a backwards countdown from 10 to open the park.  At 1, fireworks shot up from the ground, cannons erupted with streamers, and the characters threw pixie dust onto the crowd.  It was definitely a magical way to start the day.  I can't remember why I didn't take any pictures but now I'm upset that I didn't.  But just when we thought it couldn't get any better, we walked down Main Street and came upon this iconic view.

A picture of my family in front of Cinderella's castle on my daughter's birthday--it doesn't get much more magical than that!  It was amazing.  We all just stood there and stared for a moment and then starting taking tons of pictures.  Such tourists!!  As we entered the park, we also had a visit from Tinkerbell!

After we took in Main Street for a few minutes and just looked around in wonder, we set off to find Rapunzel.  We found her in the Fairytale Garden and hopped in line to meet her.  I was really disappointed that Flynn Rider wasn't there with her because he is my favorite "prince"--who knew animated characters could be so hot?!  Apparently, he doesn't do appearances any longer but I did find this picture included on our Photopass.  

We didn't have to wait too long in the line but it filled up quickly so I was glad Becky told me to head there first thing.  Ava was still trying to take everything in as we waited.  

Rapunzel was super sweet.  She chatted with Ava for a few minutes and told us that Eugene, Maximus, and Pascal had gone out to pick apples for their breakfast.  She was just as we imagined she would be in real life.  Poor Ava and her sensitive eyes were having a hard time without her sunglasses!

Then, we headed into Fantasyland and mom, Kevin, and Ava hopped on the Mad Tea Party.  I do not ride anything that involves spinning, dropping, or going backwards because I get motion sickness.  So basically, I don't ride rides.   Mom managed to get a picture with her cell phone.

Next, we set off for Tomorrowland and Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin.  I did actually ride this one since I could control the spinning and we set out to help Buzz defeat the Evil Emperor Zurg.

We did lots of shooting with our Astro Blasters and I'm proud to say that yours truly earned the highest score in our group (I am just a little bit competitive).   Then, we enjoyed a hilarious show at the Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor.  It was one of those shows where they interact with the audience and I sat there half hoping they would put the camera on us and half fearing that they would!  It was a lot of fun.  We decided to walk over to Frontierland and get FastPasses for Splash Mountain before we had lunch.  On our way there we caught the Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It! Street Party in front of the castle.

Mickey and Minnie

A side view of the castle--isn't it gorgeous!

We also stopped to hang out with the Main Street Philharmonic.

Once we got into Frontierland, we ran right into Donald Duck.  Ava got to meet him

 and compare shoe sizes.

Kevin got our FastPasses for Splash Mountain and then we decided to grab some burgers and take a minute to relax at Cosmic Ray's Starlight Cafe.  The little break revived us and we headed back to the ride.   I agreed to ride Splash Mountain because I was under the impression that it was essentially just like the log ride I had ridden at Libertyland--just up one hill and then one single big drop.  I can handle just one drop.  Well, my impression was dead wrong.  Almost the entire, loooong ride (again I thought this was a short ride!) took place in the dark and you had no idea what was coming next.  Oh, and my mom and I were in the first car of the ride of all places!  We went over one big drop and I was frantically screaming, "Was that it?!  Is it over?!" to which mom replied, "Um, no, I think it is just getting started."  By the end of the ride, my poor mom had Splash Mountain bruises on top of her airplane bruises from her darling daughter.  She was a good sport about it.  The picture the took of us on the ride is hilarious.  You couldn't even see my face as I was shrinking away and attempting to crawl into my mom's lap.  I would not let them buy the picture.  Next, we walked over to Adventureland and the famous

We did have to wait in line here for about an hour due to "technical difficulties" with the ride.  As we got closer to our turn, I interrogated the poor cast member about the ride and she put me at ease by letting me know there was just one 10 foot slide into the water.  It was a really fun, relaxing ride and Kevin and I really loved the addition of Captain Jack Sparrow.  He looked incredibly realistic.  We got off the ride and ran right into Pirate Goofy!  He loved on Ava,

she showed him Katie,

he hugged on Katie too and acted like he wasn't going to give her back!

Ava said, "That Goofy is silly!"  She loved every moment of it.

Ava passed some time driving a toy boat and riding Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride with Kevin while we waited to use our FastPasses for the Jungle Cruise.

Here we are on the Jungle Cruise (yay, something else I could ride!)

 Our skipper was great and cracked corny jokes the entire time which mom and I, in particular, thought were hilarious.  Though when one of us starts laughing it doesn't take much for the other to start in and we end up inevitably crying with laughter.  We kept wondering why everyone else in this large group with us was sitting there stone-faced and not even cracking a smile.  The skipper even made the comment as we were finishing the ride, "Well, of all my groups today, y'all have been my most.....recent."  Poor girl--tough crowd.  As we were getting off the ride, they started talking to one another and they were French.  A-ha!  Hopefully they just didn't understand what our skipper was saying.  That or my mom and I just have a really horrible sense of humor.  

 Ava didn't seem too perturbed by all the natives with their spears and the wild animals.  She just stretched out and made herself right at home on the boat.  I love this kid!

At this point, we decided to start making our way back toward the entrance because our dinner reservation was at 5:10.  On the way out, Ava passed out in the stroller we rented for the week.  

We had some time to spare, so we decided to let her get a nap and we sat down and people watched on Main Street.

Ava got a good 45 minute nap and we boarded the ferry to take us over to the restaurant at Wilderness Lodge.

We enjoyed the relaxing boat ride and checking out the other resorts from the water.

The lobby of Wilderness Lodge is 8 stories of massive logs!

We ate at Whispering Canyon Cafe which is quite rowdy and anything but quiet.  Ava enjoyed playing with the very fitting Lincoln Logs during our short wait for our table.

Whispering Canyon serves all you can eat skillets full of smoked pork ribs, brisket, chicken, and sausage.  Yum!  They also have the most delicious cornbread I have ever tasted.   Just be warned--do NOT under any circumstances ask for ketchup!  The servers will yell for all the other patrons to bring their ketchup to your table.  The table next to us ended up covered in about 40 ketchup bottles.  It's a great place for kids (who seemed to think the ketchup thing was hilarious) as they do a hobby horse parade around the restaurant.  Because it was her birthday, Ava was chosen to lead the parade!  Here she is listening to directions and preparing to lead the other 30 or so kids.

I just love the look of sheer joy on her face that I was able to capture in so many of the pictures from the week.  This right here is what Disney World is all about.

After the parade, our servers Bob and Claudia, brought Ava a birthday cupcake.  She blew out her candle as the entire restaurant sang Happy Birthday to her.

Such a great birthday dinner!  We hopped back on the ferry and headed back to the Magic Kingdom for the Electric Light Parade.  When we got back, it had just started so Kevin and Ava watched the parade while mom and I claimed a spot on the bridge for the Wishes fireworks.  Kevin and Ava joined us just in time for The Magic, the Memories, and You which was absolutely incredible.  If you haven't been, it is a projection show that turns Cinderella's Castle into a canvas where they display images of Magic Kingdom guests and the memories they made that day as captured by the Disney Photopass photographers.  The pictures along with the music, colors, and everything else they projected onto the castle were breathtaking.  Then, it was time for the Wishes firework show.  Mom was standing and holding Ava right in front of Kevin and me and during the show Ava looked back at us and noticed that I was crying (what's new, right?) and whispered something to my mom.  I later found out that she said, "Neena, mommy's crying." to which my mom replied, "That's okay, Ava, it is because she is so happy." All throughout the rest of week, I would notice Ava looking at me periodically during the different shows that we went to.  I guess she was checking to see if I was crying again. :)

It was pretty late when we got back to the room, but Ava really wanted to put on one of her new swimsuits and go to the pool.  Since it was her birthday and vacation, bedtimes just went right out the window.  She and Kevin went to swim and mom and I planned for the next day.

I cannot imagine a more magical way for Ava to spend her 5th birthday.  It was definitely a day that I will always remember.  Day 3 next--Animal Kingdom!!

Disney World 2012--Day One (Epcot)

Kevin and I stayed up very late Saturday night finishing up last minute stuff to get ready to leave the next day.  Sunday morning came very quickly but we weren't upset about having to get up early to go to Disney World. :)  My dad dropped my mom off at 10:30 and we loaded up all our luggage into my car and were on the road to the airport.  At this point, I started getting nervous.  I had never flown before because flying and spiders are my greatest fears.  Kevin flies on just about a weekly basis and he has always insisted that it is no big deal and it's just like riding a bus.  If I had a penny for every time someone found out that I had never flown and then said, "Oh, but it's just like riding a bus" or another favorite, "You have a much greater chance of being in a car accident!" then I could have financed this trip to Disney World!  I know that my fear is not rational but really, how many fears are?!  We drove to the parking garage where we were leaving my car for the week and they shuttled us over to the terminal.  As soon as we walked in the airport, Kevin noticed that our fight had been delayed by a half hour.  Great, now I had longer to sit and stew.  We checked our bags and went through security and it was actually kind of neat to see what Kevin has to do every time he goes out of town.  Then, the waiting began.  It was getting close to lunchtime so we found the airport Lenny's and mom, Kevin, and Ava got some lunch.  I was too nervous to eat which was good because I probably would have seen that lunch in reverse later.  

After lunch, we checked out some of the stores and then went over to the gate.  Our travel planner, Becky, had given Ava some Disney coloring books and things to do on the plane so Ava set to work coloring while we waited.

Finally, it was time to board.  Ava, Katie the Koala, and Kevin sat in the two seats directly in front of me and my mom.  

We were some of the first to board so it took a minute to get everyone loaded up and carry-ons stowed away.  Then, the engines started and we started moving in reverse.  I did not do well.  At this point, I was already crying and getting strange looks from the flight attendants.  When we starting speeding up and then took off, I really lost it and went into full blown panic attack.  Kevin said later that he had no idea that I would react that badly (even though he has known about my fear for years) and he was legitimately worried for a moment that I was going to jump up and cause a scene. Fortunately, we had a direct flight and were only in the air for about an hour and a half.  That was plenty of time for me to give my mom bruises all over her arm and leg from gripping them so hard.  When I felt that we were descending, I was able to open the window and watch the landing process and that was pretty cool.  I think I figured that if I was close enough to the ground to make out trees and cars then we might have a decent shot of surviving if we crashed. :)  Ava thought the flight was fun and she watched Tom and Jerry cartoons on my laptop until she feel asleep for the last ten minutes.  I was trying hard not to let her see how scared I was because I didn't want her to be afraid as well.  I must have hid it well because she didn't seem to notice.  When we landed and got off the plane, I was immediately impressed by how much nicer the Orlando airport is than ours here in Memphis.  We found our way to the Disney Magical Express shuttle and the fun and excitement really kicked into high gear.  We arrived at our resort, Pop Century, about 5 pm.  The Magical Express pulled up to a red carpet and cast members greeted us by blowing bubbles all around us as we walked into the lobby.  It kind of reminded me of when Kevin and I walked out of Carahills to get to the Porsche as we were leaving our wedding. :)  When working with Becky to choose our accommodations, she sent me information on deluxe, moderate, and value resorts.  My first thought was to go for a deluxe resort because who doesn't love deluxe stuff?!  Then I started looking at price differences between the different resorts and considering the fact that we would probably only be at the resort long enough to sleep.  We ended up choosing Pop Century, a value resort, and we are so glad we did! It was such a cool place to stay, especially if you have young children.  The theme is pop culture throughout the decades and everything is big, bright, and colorful.  The walls in the lobby are covered in memorabilia dating back to the 60's, there is a great food court and huge gift store, an arcade, three different pools (shaped like a flower, a bowling pin, and a computer), etc.  I will post some pictures of the resort later.  We checked in and were given a birthday button for Ava and 1st Trip buttons for Ava, mom, and myself.  We found our room which was in a great location looking right over the computer pool.  The room was a little on the small side but my way of thinking was correct--we were up and out of the room by 8 a.m. each day and didn't get back until about 10 or 11 p.m. each night, so just long enough to sleep.  I would definitely recommend staying there and saving your money to use on something else.  We got settled in quickly and walked over to board the shuttle to Epcot.  Since we knew we would be getting in late that afternoon, we made our dinner reservation for 8 that night.  We got to the park and made our way over to the restaurant, Coral Reef.  We ate some great mahi mahi with shrimp and enjoyed their yummy Chocolate Wave dessert as we watched sharks and fish swim all around us.  

The park was closing down as we left but we did find the Nemo area at The Seas.

It was late when we got back to our room at the resort so we just relaxed and made our plans for the following day at the Magic Kingdom!  After our busy and exhausting day, we had no trouble going to sleep and dreaming of Cinderella's castle!  Day 2 at MK to follow.

Ava's 5th Birthday

We just celebrated Ava's 5th birthday.  Sigh.  Five years.  How did that happen so quickly?!  Each year, I like to decide on a theme for her party, find a large space to hold the party that is a blank canvas for me, and then craft away on different things to make her party unique.  We've transformed a golf course clubhouse into Sesame Street and an entire gymnastics facility into a carnival.  It's always a lot of work but a lot of fun.  I usually start planning for Ava's party about four months in advance.  This past summer, we read a lot of Fancy Nancy books and I was toying with the idea of a Fancy Nancy/Spa party.  Then when we asked Ava what she wanted to do for her birthday this year, she told us she wanted a moon bounce and slide like the one we rented last year.  Hmmm, that didn't quite fit with my Fancy Nancy theme.  But what kind of mom does not let her almost five year old have what she wants for her party?  Not this mom.  That is how Kevin and I ended up at Pump It Up in January to set up her party.  Ava's idea of a great inflatable is one with a giant slide--the bigger, the better.  So Kevin and I toured both party rooms and chose the one with the largest slide.  Then we were given the paperwork that states that you may not hang anything from the walls or ceiling, we would only have a short amount of time to set up the party room, etc.  Ugh!  There went all my control and creativity right out the window.  So I just decided that this was what Ava wanted and I would just sit back and enjoy a laid back birthday party this year.  The only area I could really personalize was the cake table so I whipped up some stuff for it to fit in with our theme for this year--hot pink and zebra print.  I found some pictures of cakes online and let Ava pick her favorite.  Then I printed out the picture and took it to Miss Muff'n Bakery in Germantown and had them replicate it.  

Once Ava picked out the cake, I headed over to my trusty Hobby Lobby to see what else I could find.  I got some balloons that I had blown up and bunched to put on either side of the cake table.

I picked up some papier-mache letters and spray painted them hot pink.

I took a canvas and covered it with fabric then made and glued tissue paper flowers in the shape of a five.

Then, I made dozens of sugar cookies, dyed the dough hot pink, rolled them in pink sugar, and placed a Hershey's Hug in the middle of each one.  My mom bagged them up for me and those were favors for the kids.

I set it all up on a black tablecloth along with black silverware wrapped in hot pink napkins with strips of zebra printed scrapbook paper taped around the napkin to hold it all together.  These were things that I could set up very quickly but helped create the theme that Ava chose.

The kids had a blast jumping, sliding, and running around.

Ava also discovered she enjoys air hockey.

We were able to get a group shot with most of the kids.  Some of them were a little difficult to track down or just really did not want to have their picture taken. :)

Then it was time to move into the party room for cake and presents.  Ava blew out her five candles while we sang to her.

The kids chose either chocolate or yellow cake and chowed down.

Finally, it was present time.  A moment Kevin and I had been waiting on for two looong months.

See that big black and white box on the left side of the table?  That was our present for her.  Back in early January, Kevin and I were watching TV late one night after Ava went to bed.  Normally, we DVR everything and fast forward through the commercials.  However, this night we happened to be watching live TV and a commercial for Disney World came on.  I had never been to DW and Kevin had been once when he was eight.  That commercial did exactly what those ad execs wanted it to.  It made me want to take my kid to Disney World.  I looked at Kevin and said, "Wouldn't it be fun to take Ava to Disney World?" to which he replied, "Yeah, that would be great."  Then I sat there and thought some more.  "Kevin, I was just thinking...".  He answered as he always does when I begin a sentence this way since he knows this means I'm about to lay one of my elaborate master plans on him--"Uh-oh."  "I was thinking that it would be fun to surprise Ava with a vacation to DW for her birthday!"  Kevin said, "That would be really fun.  If you can pull it off in two months, go for it."  WooHoo!   So I went into mega planning mode immediately.  First, I called my mom to see if she wanted to go with us.  Mom went with the three of us on our beach vacation last summer and we had a blast so we thought it would be great if she could join us again.  She, of course, said yes, she would LOVE to go.  So that was settled.  Then I got in touch with Becky, who I found through Facebook months ago.  She is a Disney vacation planner and I knew I had to have someone help me to set all of this up since I had zero knowledge of how Disney worked.  She was amazing!  She gave us info on all the different resorts on Disney property and helped us reserve a room for the week of Ava's birthday.  She gave me her picks for favorite restaurants at each park and made all of our dining reservations for us once we had decided where we wanted to eat.  She set up an appointment for Ava at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique and answered countless questions.  Without her, there is no way I could have put together the amazing trip that we ended up taking in two months.  There are so many little details and it really helps to have an expert walk you through everything.  Kevin booked our flight.  All I had to take care of myself was reserving a stroller for the week.  Now that all of this was coming together so nicely, we had to decide how to tell Ava about the trip.  We decided to surprise her with the news at her party which took place on a Saturday.  We would be flying out on Sunday.  This way, it would really feel like a birthday surprise to her and also we didn't have to hear "Mom, Dad, how many more days until we leave?" a million times over the next two months.  It was so hard to keep the news from her because I was SO excited myself.  In the middle of January, I decided to help Ava make a birthday countdown chain to hang on her bedroom door.  I told Ava we would use it to count down to her birthday party but really I wanted it to help me count down to the surprise.  

I enlisted the help of our friend, Doug, to locate a very large box.  He was able to get me one from work and drop it off (thanks again, Uncle Doug!).  We hid it upstairs until the big day.  I ordered Ava the cutest monogrammed Mickey shirt and an adorable hot pink and zebra print Minnie Mouse pillowcase dress from Etsy.  I also ordered t-shirts, nightgowns, water bottles, an autograph book, a tote bag, and a Princess Belle (Ava's favorite princess) costume with headband tiara from the Disney store.  All of these things went into hiding along with the big box.  On the day of her party, I placed all the items in the bottom of the box and filled the top of the box with helium balloons.  Then we just had to wait until party time.  On a side note, Ava has gotten very into writing sentences and often asks us to help her spell words as she writes them.  The morning of her party, she was writing in one of her notebooks and out of the blue said, "Daddy, can you help me spell "I want to go to Disney World"?  He got a big kick out of that.

We read all of the sweet birthday cards from her friends and family.

Then, Ava opened all her gifts.

Her friends sat right in front of her birthday "throne" and kept asking her to show them all of her new stuff.  It was so cute!

"Uncle" Doug and "Aunt" Stephanie have started a tradition of giving Ava a pair of sunglasses for her birthday since Ava is the sunglass queen.

Most of our family and friends knew about the surprise that was coming so many of the gifts were Disney themed although Ava still had no clue what was in store for her.  Doug and Stephanie also gave her a little Dooney & Bourke Disney wristlet bag for her to put her birthday money in to spend on the trip. 

I have to say that Ava is truly blessed to have so many friends and family that love her.  She got the sweetest, most thoughtful gifts from everyone (big thanks again to everyone who was there!).  Just the fact that they were there celebrating with her was the biggest gift of all and I really feel that although she is only five, she would agree.  All she really wanted was for her friends to come play with her and I think she would have been happy with just that.  Now it was time for our big surprise!  We had no idea how she would react.  I know that when I was little I hated attention and surprises, so this was a gamble on our part.  I handed her the big box and we had to set it on the floor in front of the "throne" because of its size.  I made the first mistake at this point.  Kevin had been taking pics with our camera and I had him switch to video but in the chaos I neglected to give our camera to someone else to take pictures.  My mom took a few on her cell phone and that is all we have. 

So, I helped Ava open up the box and as soon as the balloons floated out, the kids went nuts!!  

I can best describe it as a "kid riot".  All the kids crowded around the box with lots of "ooohs' and "aaahs" and began helping Ava by flinging Disney stuff out of the box. At this point, I'm trying to say, "Ava, we're going to Disney World!!!" but she couldn't hear me over all the excitement.  We even had one little friend lean so far into the box, she fell in and Kevin had to haul her out!  Here is Ava as Doug came into the room carrying big Mickey and Minnie Mouse balloons for her.

Kevin gave up on the video because he wasn't really able to get a clear shot of the action.  Poor Ava was so confused and overwhelmed and still had no idea what was going on.  I gave my mom and Kevin presents to unwrap as well.  I had gotten us all Mickey shirts to wear while we were down there as a surprise.  Mom came over to Ava to show Ava her new shirt and to tell her that she was going with us.  Ava just looked at her blankly and then smiled.  Our time in the party room was up and the party was winding down.  We said good-bye to all the guests and handed out the cookie favors.  After mostly everyone was gone, Ava came over to me with this puzzled look on her face and said, "Mom, are we really going to Disney World?"  I said, "Yes, we are and we leave tomorrow!!!"  She was still very unsure of what just happened and then mentioned that she didn't want to go and got emotional (she 

comes by that very honestly from me).  I sat with her for a minute now that things had quieted down and explained to her what we would be doing.  After that, she decided that she was very excited after all. :)  So, this was the second mistake I made.  Next time, we will not surprise her in front of a bunch of people.  The reaction as a whole was great, but next time we will do something low-key at home.  Once we got home from the party and got the suitcases out, we had a very excited child on our hands and we were glad we had decided to wait until the day before to tell her. :)  She tried on her Belle dress and helped me pick out the clothes she wanted to pack.  Then she packed her suitcase all by herself.  She is getting so big.  We put her suitcase and carry-on along with Katie the Koala (her class mascot that her teachers so graciously allowed us to take with us to DW) by the front door so it was ready to go and then set to work trying to get a very excited Ava to go to sleep.

Fortunately, the party and all the excitement had worn her out and she went to sleep pretty easily.  It was such an amazing day full of great memories that I will cherish.  I can't believe our baby is five but we can't wait to surprise her with another trip to Disney World!  Disney blogs to follow!!!