High Five Life

Spooky Season Shopping

noreply@blogger.com (Abby) — Mon, 17 Jun 2024 09:24:00 +0000

I am pretty excited because spooky season shopping has begun! It usually Starts on July 5th but a few stores are jumping in early. At Home and JoAnn's have both released Halloween lines and they are in stores. I did pick up two pieces from the JoAnn's Halloween Moon line. As well as two items from the At Home Halloween line.

My local stores are a little bit behind the trend but I do enjoy the hunt. I am kind of on the look out for the At Home version of The Black Flame candle. So far I have only seen it in YouTube Halloween shopping videos but I am keeping an eye out.

Loss of Pets

noreply@blogger.com (Abby) — Sun, 19 Nov 2023 13:32:00 +0000

We have had kind of a rough year. We have lost three dogs, and its been an adjustment. We had an older dog that was a German pointer lab mix. We also had two “puppies” that were about 8 years old, that came from the same litter. We were never able to get a breed on them because they were so mixed. The vet felt that even though they came from the same liter that they may have had two different fathers.

Last November out little blonde girl, Eevee, got really sick. She was lethargic and had bloody stools, so we took her to the vet. She had stomach cancer and we went ahead and had them try surgery. The surgery didn’t go well. She ended up going septic, and we had to have her euthanized. It was so hard. We were with her and gave her pets and told her we loved her. She did pass peacefully. She was ready to go. Not only did we lose her, but ewe ended up having to take out a loan to pay for her surgery and medical care.

Eevee

A few weeks later my little brown girl, Manda, my shadow, started yelping when we touched her back. We thought she was either constipated or had injured her back. I started making up food concoctions with ground beef, peas and pumpkin. She thought it was tasty, but she was pooping regularly and still yelping about her back. I took her into the vet who said based on how Manda was walking and responding they thought she was also either constipated or injured her back. They also established that she was pooping fine, so they decided to x-ray her spine. Her spine looked fin, but they got an image of a spot, farther up, on the edge of the image. So, there was more testing, and another x-ray. The results were that she had lung cancer. I was floored, and devastated. We were out of money and our only option was euthanasia. I cried so hard.

Manda

I was so shocked that our two young dogs had passed but our older dog, Kadie, who was 15 at this point was still alert, active, and happy. We decided to cherish her that much more. We would give her lots of pets and hugs and treats.

About two months ago we noticed her back legs were starting to not work as well. I took her to the vet and he put her on a medicine to help with muscle deterioration. He said it was just old age and not neurological. So he did blood work and then put her on the medicine, they did more bloodwork a few weeks later and everything looked good. Thing went ok for a few months, and then, this fall, she was not longer able to use her back legs. She lost 15 lbs and her front legs were starting to not work anymore.

Kadie

I had a dream about her. My daughter and I were at what felt like an old school country fair ground with a white wooden grandstand and lush green oval in the middle. Our Kadie girl was playing and romping with ponies. They were playing and her tail was wagging. My daughter and I kept calling her to us and she would look but then run back off and play with the ponies. I remember being stressed because I couldn’t get top her. Then she seemed to tell the ponies by and start running to us. But the ran went to a tired walk. And then her back legs started dragging and she was trying to crawl to us. She was struggling, and panting and she looked so sad and tired. When I woke up, I told my daughter, she said she felt it was time to let her go, she clearly wants to go play with the ponies. So, I told my husband and he called the vet and made the appointment. We stayed with her, we loved on her, and I told her she could go play with the ponies.

I am no longer a dog mom. I miss them.

Not All the Disney, But Still Some Disney

noreply@blogger.com (Abby) — Thu, 09 Nov 2023 06:42:00 +0000

I posted back on May 9^th, 2018, that I was changing this blog from a family blog to a Disney blog. I also mentioned that I was going to create a new blog for me to post about how life changed now that our daughter was an adult and doing school was no longer our day to day. Well, I have been pretty lacking on posting anything to be honest. Actually, I just realized I have purchased some things for my Disney collection that I never shared here! I am a bad, bad blogger.

We never went to Disney for our 25^th anniversary, despite our best intentions. I don’t foresee a whole lot of Disney vacationing in my future to be honest. It’s gotten so expensive.

While I love Disney and love to do little Disney things, Disney crafts, Disney purchases. I also love Halloween, work at a haunted house attraction, garden, craft, have a work life, am dealing with the changes of aging and perception of aging. I have a lot of things on my mind. Instead of starting a new blog, I am going to post more here, but not only about Disney. I will still post about Disney, just not exclusively.

Honestly, at this point I doubt I have any readers. Its fair. I don’t post often enough to hold anyone’s attention. I do however need a venue to get my thoughts out of my head. Maybe even a place for me to look back on, a record of sorts, for my own memory. I had actually forgotten about that original post and my plans to start a new blog. I noticed that the video that used to be in the post had been removed. I think I removed it from YouTube, but I’m not actually sure. It was just a large grey block.

So here we are. I imagine I will be changing the blog header and profile photo. It has always bothered me that Mickey has four fingers when the blog is called High Five Life. So, again, changes to this space, updates to come, hopefully more actual blogging, and I will post some of that Disney stuff I forgot to post here.

TTFN

Theme Park News

noreply@blogger.com (Abby) — Sun, 05 Nov 2023 03:00:00 +0000

Photo by Mice Chat

Well, The Disney Star Wars Galactic Star Cruiser, closed. I never did get to go to the experience. It was just too much cost. Things in my life changed and I couldn’t justify the expense. Instead, I watched YouTube videos and read blogs about others experience at the Star Cruiser. I think I would have loved it, but I was able to see what others experienced, while saving myself $6000. I am including a link to a Mice Chat Blog about the closing. They did attend and have some great photos.

I was actually a little bit surprised by the news of the closure. Disney spent so much money and time on its creation and construction. Initially they said they had no plans to do anything with the building or experience. However, they have since said they may do a smaller, less intense version. I will keep an ear out about the future of the Halcyon.

I would like to go back to Disney at some point. They again raised prices and I feel like there may be one more big trip to Disney, my husband and I, along with our daughter and her man. I don’t think there will be a lot of trips after that. However, we may try a Disney cruise at some point.

I also really want to go to Epic Universe in Orlando. I love the IP’s they are putting into the parks and those new space themed hotels look pretty fun. I have only been to Islands of Adventure, and have never been to Diagon Alley. So, I would actually like to take a week at Universal Orlando. Universal used to be a day 6 park of the Disney trip. My how things have changed.

Did you hear that Cedar Fair and Six Flags have merged? I am interested to see how that changes parks like Cedar Point, a big-time coaster park in Sandusky Ohio, and Kings Island, in Cincinnati, Ohio. Other Cedar Fair parks include Knott’s Berry Farm and Carowinds. I know that some smaller parks that were bought out by Six Flags kept their names but under the main title was added “A Six Flags Park”. It will be interesting to follow along and see what happens.

Mice Chat Post about Halcyon Star Cruiser closing

Cedar Fair and Six Flags merger statement

Cedarfair.com

Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser Media Experiences

noreply@blogger.com (Abby) — Fri, 25 Feb 2022 03:09:00 +0000

I am pretty excited that tomorrow is the release of information from media week on the Starship Halcyon “cruise”. I am really curious to see what their experiences were, what it was like, and the costumes and back stories they came up with for their trip. I just think all of that is super cool.

I am also looking forward to the non-media reviews after March 1^st the general public who are paying for the experience. My husband and I, and for that matter, our daughter and her boyfriend (whose birthday just happens to be on Star Wars day) would all like to go. It would take us some time to save the money for said experience and I would like to see the reviews to know if it is something that we are willing to pay that cost, because yikes!

Starcruiser Costs

There has been backlash to this experience because of the cost (again, yikes!), but also because of the promos being corny and feeling it isn’t very Star Wars. My understanding is that it is geared to the newer Star Wars fans and those who are coming into the fandom through the last trilogy. Which, while not my personal favorite, I also don't feel the need to gatekeep over it, and honestly, I’m not mad about it. Fans are fans. I know that there have been a few issues with the canon in more recent years, but I have more than enough room in my Star Wars love for Halcyon comic books. I personally don’t have any issues with adding to the lore. The Star Wars universe is just that, a whole universe that is always adding to the story.

Lets address the corny. Yes, some of those promos were corny and a little bit on the cringe side. Disney does do corny though. Remember Erin and her crew from the early 2000’s planning videos? (I still have those discs.) The corn and cringe were indeed over the top. Now the planning videos are more, low-key. I’m pretty sure low-key appeals to more people than silly, but I did enjoy Erin and crew. I still hear her in my head with her imitation of Goofy, but I digress.

Stacy, Dave, Erin, Luke

The first promo video had the same feel to me. Corny and bit cringy. I had to look up the guy in the video because I had no idea who he is. His utterance of “oh my gosh!” is also in my head, just Like Erin’s Goofy impression. Maybe it wasn’t the best promo ever, it was odd to watch if I am honest, but that doesn't mean the Starcruiser experience is going to be bad.

First Promo video for Galactic Starcruiser

The second was the welcome video when you book the “cruise”. It did look like a Disney channel tween space show. However, I believe it was supposed to have humor. The video was scrambling from time to time and there was a disclaimer that Chandrila Star Lines is not responsible for piracy, invasion, sabotage, or planetary uprising, nor are they responsible for galactic unrest. It is very clear those events will happen and that is part of the immersion of the experience. Yes, it was also corny and kind of low budget looking. But that is not completely out of character for the Disney corny side.

Chandrila Star Lines Welcome Representative

I also do not agree with the backlash about the iPhone data pad. Clearly you are using your own smart phone as a data pad on the cruise, as well as in the Galaxy’s Edge. That has been on going and shouldn’t have been a big surprise to anyone. It is how you do some of the games and decoding in Galaxy's Edge.

Using the "datapad"

Many complaints have been that it doesn’t look like Star Wars but more like Star Trek. I guess I understand the comparison, but I disagree. Remember, this is a star cruiser for the wealthy (in real life too), not a star destroyer or rebel ship. Aside from that, the hallways DO look like a rebel ship more than a space cruise ship with the stark white hallways.

The ”leaked” photos showing the map of the Halcyon Starcruiser very much remind me of an actual Disney cruise ship. The bridge also gave me Oceaneer club vibes. Many stations and lots of buttons to push. I would be pushing all of the buttons. All of them. They want it to feel different than a typical Disney hotel and since there aren’t any real space cruises, a earthly sea cruise ship seems like as good of a model as any.

I honestly got more Fifth Element vibes, with both the story line, rooms, and especially Gaya. I do however think Gaia will be an amazing singer and experience. I’m pretty sure she is a rebel fighting against the first order! How exciting!

Gaya

Diva from The Fifth Element

The experiences are the thing that sounds so amazing to me. You create a back story and costume and you interact with the characters on the ship. You can behave as a rebel or work for the first order. You could get approached by someone who asks for your help to distract the first order so that Chewy can sneak around, which you can then do. OR, you could report him to the first order instead, although you would be a monster. Why would anyone do that to Chewy? Why? Apparently, there are a plethora of little scenarios like this that you and your group can get involved in. That is the immersive part and that sounds so fun and immersive.

I also trust the imaginers. They seem pretty good at how to bring the magic and the wonder. So far the discussion has focused on speculation, not the experience. I am looking forward to seeing people’s experiences! I am looking forward to living vicariously through those who do go on these first voyages.

Safe star cruising to them all!

I am anxiously awaiting for 9 AM

Starcruiser photo credits go to Disney Park Blog and Disney Parks YouTube
The Fifth Element photo credits go to Sony motion pictures

Chandrila Star Lines

Halcyon Star Cruiser

Home Made Mickey Waffles

noreply@blogger.com (Abby) — Sun, 09 Jan 2022 15:09:00 +0000

I usually make eggnog pancakes for Christmas morning, but I waited too long to get eggnog and it was all sold out. I remembered that I purchased a Mickey waffle maker (why have I not been using this appliance?) and I thought Ahh, holiday Mickey waffles! I just used a regular boxed waffle flour but added a little vanilla extract and green and red food dye! Very festive!

Also on the menu was omelet roll, potato casserole, fruit salad, candied bacon, and cranberry sauce. It was all super yummy!

Fairy Godmother Cosplay

noreply@blogger.com (Abby) — Thu, 05 Aug 2021 03:04:00 +0000

I went to an Anime convention this past weekend with my daughter and some of her friends, along with one of my friends. It was mostly anime but there were some costumes from other IP's, such as Disney. I met several adult cosplayers who cosplay Disney character pretty often and enjoyed my conversations with them.

It got me thinking about my days as an older teen and twenty something and my favorite cosplayers back in the day. I also did some cosplay back then and was feeling nostalgic. As an 50+, plus sized adult, I generally do very generalized, non-specific cosplays. But in recent years I have a dream cosplay of being Fairy Godmother from the original Cinderella animation from 1950. I just adore her. I started discussing it with my friend and wondering how my con experience would be different if I went in recognizable cosplay. My friend and I sometimes get treated as "less than" at cons. It feels ageist. I am wondering how if that would change.

Talking to these older female cosplayers (although younger than me), I decided to go for it. I'm not sure when I will attend the next con, but I have decided to work on this cosplay. I would also like to do a Disney parks version of Fairy Godmother, as the costumes are very different. I would also like to cosplay as the evil queen in her hag form, and as Ursula. I think I would also like to do a gender bent Hades too. All Disney movie characters. Seems to be a theme.

So, I did change the name of my Disney IG and my twitter to Fairy Godmother Cosplay. I am not going to change the name of this blog since I will continue to post many Disney (and Universal) related topics, but I will start a label for Fairy Godmother Cosplay.

So, I need to finish painting my living room and work on the kitchen remodel, but I do plan on also working on cosplay and posting about it here.

Bippidy-Boppity Boo!

Disney Food

noreply@blogger.com (Abby) — Fri, 11 Jun 2021 12:42:00 +0000

Since I didn't get to go to Disney for my 25th anniversary, and it looks like we may not being going for a while yet, I have become interested in creating Disney themed foods, getting Disney cook books of theme park recipes and creating things like Tea at the Grand Floridian or a meal at Casey's Corner here at home. I am also having a hankering for some Mickey waffles, because everything taste better when its shaped like Mickey. I am working on a plan. I hope to have it come to fruition soon.

Have a Magical Day!

My First Disney Memories, Dining and Attractions

noreply@blogger.com (Abby) — Tue, 03 Jul 2018 02:22:00 +0000

Crystal Palace from a post card in my memorabilia

Recently, my favorite Disney Podcast, the Dis Unplugged, did a show about their first Disney Dining experiences. I really enjoyed hearing their stories. As I started thinking about my own first Disney Dining experience, I was sent down memory lane and into full nostalgia mode.

My grandparents moved to Sebastian, Florida in the mid 1970’s. All of my summers following their move involved a trip to visit them. Most times with my mom, but on a few occasions, I was sent on a bus or plane and spent the majority of the summer with them. We always went to The Magic Kingdom for a day during my visits. I always looked forward to that day with great anticipation!

It took about 2 hours to get to the Magic Kingdom from their house. We only stayed on property once and it was at the Fort Wilderness Campground. I don’t remember much about it except that I was terrified of the dark water at River Country and refused to get in, which upset my Grandfather.

Fort Wilderness from a post card in my memorabilia

We usually ate at McDonalds for breakfast while on the road. Then when we arrived to the parking lot I was always super excited about riding in the tram because that meant the next stop was The Magic Kingdom. The anticipation nearly made me burst! I remember entering the park and seeing the castle down main street. My Grandfather bought me my very first Mickey Mouse watch at a shop on Main Street. I remember riding the pirates of the Caribbean and my Grandma laughing because the drunken pirate sitting on a bridge had hairy legs.

Crystal Palace from a postcard in my memorabilia

The one Disney restaurant I remember eating at as a kid was the Crystal Palace. I remember thinking it was so grand and beautiful. I remember that it was cafeteria style at the time, which as I recall was kind of a popular restaurant trend back then. I remember standing in the line and picking food to eat, but in all honesty, I don’t remember any of the food. I’m sure I thought it was tasty.

What I do remember was sitting with my family, my mom and Grandparents, as we ate and talked about what exciting attractions we wanted to ride next. Mostly I remember my grandma. I remember talking to her about the building, and how excited she was for my excitement. I remember her telling me about her favorite attractions and all of us discussing our plan of action for the rest of the day. I think there was pie too.

I remember my mom and I riding Mr. Toad and Space Mountain. The first time I rode Peter Pan's flight and being fascinated by the London scene and thinking that the boats being attached at the top was the best thing ever! The swan boats and how picturesque they were. I remember the skyway and not enjoying it because it was too high. I remember going on the Haunted Mansion for the first time and my Grandfather telling me to look up at that one part in the stretching room, and how much fun it was seeing our hitchhiker in our doom buggy. I remember riding the train to other parts of the park. I remember going on If You Had Wings a million times because I thought the technology was so cool and it didn’t need a ticket. I remember absolutely loving Mission to Mars! I remember running out of E tickets and having to buy more.

Tickets from past trips in my memorabilia

I have so many amazing, warm, and exciting memories. I realized recently that I am sort of a Disney old timer. Disney has been a part of me since I was very young.

Thanks to the DIS team, and you, for my trip down memory lane. It’s been really fun!

Sadly I do not have any photos from back then, just a lot of post cards and tickets from my trips. I should really put them in display boxes.

Disney Haul for Early Summer 2018

noreply@blogger.com (Abby) — Tue, 26 Jun 2018 01:46:00 +0000

I have been picking up several Disney themed items over the last several months and realized I had amassed quite a little haul, so I thought I would share.

This is the Year of Mickey Mouse! It’s his 90^th birthday and everyone is celebrating! Target has come out with a whole line of Mickey inspired items, from a makeup line to boxes of tissues and coffee cups, and a host of home and bath items. My Target had sold out of many of the items but I still managed to find several really cute stuff.

I picked up these super cute packs of enamel pins and pin back buttons. I love the retro styling of the buttons and I collect Disney enamel pins, so these were great to add to my collection. I found these in the stationary area of my Target.

In the bath and beauty I found nail files, nail polish, hair ties, bubble bath and lips smackers is chocolate flavor! I also found a cute little pouch with pockets inside for ID and credit cards. I put my lip smackers in side along with my ID and debit card and run errands.

I also picked up this super cute water bottle and coffee cup. I carry the water bottle with me everywhere and the coffee mug is HUGE and starts my day with a smile. They had a plethora of both water bottle and mug designs. I hope to go back a pick up a few more of both in different designs.

I also found this cute little candy tower near the party supplies. The candy was yummy, my favorite was the Mickey candy bracelet, but how cute are those stacking boxes? I think they might be perfect for push pins, paper clips and maybe staples.

There are more items at Target online and fully plan on picking up more. They have quite a large bath and beauty line.

I also stopped at the Disney store to pick up a plushy for my daughter’s BFF for a birthday present. She is a huge Stitch fan and wanted an Angel (Stitch’s girl friend) plushy. Not only did they have one, but they ran a great deal of buy one get a 2^nd for $2. You read that right! I got two $20 plushy for $22. The 2^ndplushy I picked up was Tramp. My husband collects Disney dog plushy and while he had Lady, he did not have Tramp. I gave it to him for our 24^th wedding anniversary. 24 is plushy? Right?

Disney also had a big blue shopping bag for $1. How could I resist? It has Minnie Mouse graphics on one side and Mickey Mouse graphics on the other. I always need bags and one dollar is the perfect price. They were also running a deal on this summer’s Disney soft side cooler. It was normally, I want to say $20, but with purchase, it was only $8. It’s a giant lemon slice with the seeds being Mickey heads. I couldn’t resist, and much like bags, I always need coolers for picnics and day trips. This cooler has adjustable strap and is really comfortable to carry.

I have been remodeling my bathroom into Mickey Mouse heaven. I saw these suction cup Mickey helping hands on Amazon for $7 and decided to try to use them as tie backs for the curtains. I’m not sure if it will work, but if not, I can still use them in the shower.

I tried to find Disney bathroom tile but had no luck. So I found this set of wall decals that have smaller images. I decided to try and apply these to the tiles instead. Of course I will let you know how well it works.

I found this super cute reusable shopping bag at The Dollar Tree! I love that retro look for Mickey’s 90^th birthday.

We have a local Japanese arcade that also has a gift shop. They often get Tokyo Disney products in the odds and ends they purchase. They had this super cute Minnie Mouse lanyard from Tokyo Disney Resort so of course I had to buy it. It was only $5!

Last, but certainly not least are these three yard sale items a friend found for me. A super cute Mickey head plate, brand new Mickey and Minnie stockings for little treats, and an unopened Mickey and Minnie Pez set! I haven’t decided if I will open the Pez because the packaging is so cute.

Disney Cosplay and Henna!

noreply@blogger.com (Abby) — Sun, 03 Jun 2018 04:12:00 +0000

We recently went on vacation to the Unschoolers Waterpark Gathering at Kalahari Waterpark in Sandusky Ohio. This is a great week of fun and friends! I was able to put a little Disney in my trip on two occasions during the week and thought I would share.

One day is designated as Cosplay day, so I wore yellow shoes, black shorts, a red and white polka dot shirt and my Minnie Mouse ears. It was super cute and I received a lot of compliments. I even made an unhappy little girls’ day happier and we had fun talking about how much we both love Minnie. Unfortunately I did not manage to get a full body shot of my Cosplay, but I did manage to get a selfie of my ears and shirt by the hot tub.

It was very bright that day and I noticed that my own shadow looked like Minnie’s head, so I snapped a photo of that too.

The next night is henna and movie night. I love henna night. I love the way it smells and seeing all of the amazing designs that people create. I however, always make a stylized Mickey Mouse on my own hand. People generally get a kick out of it.

During the last night we have a family dance and get family photos. I wore my Minnie Mouse kigurumi. The photographer thought it was cute and wanted to get a photo of the prop giraffe nibbling on my ears. Only problem is I am short. Its still a fun photo.

Blog Updates and Changes

noreply@blogger.com (Abby) — Wed, 09 May 2018 18:59:00 +0000

Up until very recently, this has been a family blog chronicling our life as unschoolers. Our daughter graduated in spring 2017 so I felt I needed to take our blog into a different direction. I tried blogging as a mom with an adult and how my life was changing, but the tone was very different from how I had been posting. I thought about it and have decided to make this an all Disney blog. I removed all of the past posts except for our Disney trip reports.

My daughter and I have a few Disney videos we made and posted on my YouTube channel so I think I will post those here, although they are older at this point. I’m not sure why I never thought to share our vlogs on this blog, but inspiration has finally nudged me to share.

I plan on posting some Disney at Home and Disney craft posts too. However, we are currently in the process of renovating the kitchen and repainting the whole house. Most future Disney home and craft posts will be after that project is complete.

We are also going to Disney next year for our 25^th anniversary! Go us! Look for the pre-trip and trip reports. Yeah for Disney vacations!

I plan on starting a new “old mom musings” blog soon. That blog will pick up where I left this one when I decided to make changes. I will post the link here when it is ready to go live.

Until next time,

Have a Magical Day!

Disney and St. Augustine “Let Them Eat Cake” Vacation Part 8 & 9

noreply@blogger.com (Abby) — Wed, 17 Sep 2014 21:47:00 +0000

Day 9 & 10 – Castillo De San Marcos, Old City, Drive Home

We woke up early today and ate at the continental breakfast served at the hotel. I liked the St. Augustine Inn. I like the location, the price, the room, staff (it is owned and run by a husband and wife team). However, I have 2 complaints. The shampoo and conditioner were those trial, single packs and if you asked for more you were charged for it. Obviously that wasn’t going to be enough for 3 people. It was cheaper to stop at the local drug store and pick up a bottle of each. My second complaint was the breakfast. It consisted of coffee, tea, juice, a cereal assortment, English muffins, butter and jelly. There was not a piece of fruit or protein in sight. Not even peanut butter. This did not ruin our trip or anything, it was just kind of a shock after Disney.

We had plans to visit the Castillo De San Marcos this morning and we were all really excited about it! As we drove into St. Augustine we could see the light house, followed by signs announcing the city and that it had been established in 1565. That boggles my mind! Soon A1A turned inland, the view opened up and we could see Matanzas Bay, The Bridge of Lions and the Castillo! Very impressive site! I remember being a teenager, a little younger than my own daughter, and driving north up A1A and seeing that site. It has always stuck with me and I always wanted to go back and visit that fort!

The sign says it all!

The St. Augustine Light House

Crossing the Bridge of Lions

Pirate ship in Matanzas Bay

Near the end of the bridge, into old city. That is Flagler College ahead of us.

A lion, on the Bridge of Lions

You can see St. Augustine by Buggy!

The Castillo is just a bit north of the bridge on A1A with ample parking. It is also the best deal around, kids 15 and under are FREE and adults 16 and up are just $7 and the admission is valid for 3 days! We could have easily spent three days there too.

Walking up to the Castillo is impressive! There is a heavy wooden door and the large stone walls. I imagine the British and French fleets would have been quite intimidated when they first caught site of it all! We explored the front for a little bit and then went inside. When you first enter there is a book store/gift shop to the left and an information desk to the left. To the right of the information desk is the officer’s quarters which guests can explore. Going past the shop and information desk is the court yard. There are “rooms” around the perimeter of the court yard and all of them have displays and one even has a short movie to watch. We talked to costumed “history volunteers”, Park rangers, and watched a musket and cannon firing. We learned all kind of things about coquina and how cannon balls would bounce off of it. We learned about history of the town and the fort, and the relationship between the two. We learned about cannons and what is was like to be in the firing end. We learned about their dress, life in the military and that the history of our nation begins a little different than we were taught. We also learned that St. Augustine is a beautiful place full of amazing history and we want to go back.

Fort Sign

Looking back to the bridge from the fort

First gate entrance

Fort gate from inside looking back

Court yard and steps leading up to the sentry level

Another view of the court yard and rooms of the lower level

Sentry tower

Window in sentry tower looking toward a group of cannons and the bridge in the distance

Cannons and the Spanish flag

The girl and cannon

Officers quarters

Inside looking out

A row of cannons

Military drills

Musket fireing

cannon firing

A mortar cannon

Graffiti carved into one of the walls

We are standing at one of the fort "points". This design made no blind spots on the wall so no one could sneak in.

Court yard and steps from upper level

My daughter and husband

a close up of some coquina

We spent quite a bit of time talking with two of the history volunteers in particular. One was upstairs and part of the cannon unit. The other was a very nice guy downstairs who was very knowledgeable about life at the fort. Both told us they enjoyed talking with our family but the guy at the cannons made my day. He started to walk away after our chatting, then stopped and turned back around to tell us he really enjoyed talking to us and enjoyed that we asked intelligent questions. It was a proud mom moment.

The cannon man

Very knowledgeable history volunteer

We had planned to only spend the morning at the fort and the afternoon at the pirate museum, but we never made it out of the fort. The only reason we left the fort was that it was after 4 pm and we were hungry and there is no food service at the fort.

We went out for tacos and then back to our room. We had planned to change into our swim suits and enjoy the pool for a short while but daughter and I fell asleep while waiting for our turn in the bathroom, so hubby let us sleep. I think he was tired too and was happy to just relax.

We woke up bright and early the next morning, packed our stuff in the car, ate at the continental breakfast and headed north to home. We have decided we need a week to really enjoy St. Augustine. We also decided we need to stay in old city and take our bicycles next time too. We were really impressed with how cycle and pedestrian friendly the city is and would love to take advantage of that.

The Pirate museum, next trip!

Neat bridge we crossed

Mountains and dusk

Sun has set, still driving home

We still had cake when we got home. We had been keeping it in a fridge and we had a cooler with ice for the drive home. We ate the last few pieces, then my mom made another cake for daughter's birthday. We did indeed eat cake and I can honestly say we were done with cake for a while.

We took so many photos! Check them out in our day 9 Flickr album

Disney and St. Augustine “Let Them Eat Cake” Vacation Part 7

noreply@blogger.com (Abby) — Mon, 15 Sep 2014 14:32:00 +0000

Day 8 – Fort Matanzas and St. Augustine Beach

We slept in a little today because we were really tired and our beds were really comfy.

Sleeping teen

View from our window. The beach is out yonder.

Our Hotel - The St. Augustine Island Inn

We finally did wake and decided we would visit Fort Matanzas. This is a smaller fort on the Matanzas River. It was built by the Spanish in 1742 to guard the Matanzas inlet, the southern part of the river and the rear entrance to St. Augustine.

The fort is run by the parks services and is only accessible via a ferry. It is free to visit the fort but you have to get a ferry pass and they go quickly. There is a visitor’s center with a short movie, models and maps. There is also a nature trail. The area is beautiful. We got our boarding passes and explored the visitor’s center and the grounds.

Visitors center

Ready to watch the movie

The Movie

Map of area

Neat tree

Spanish moss in tree

Boarding Passes

Eventually we went down to the dock and boarded the ferry. We could see the fort from the dock and it was kind of exciting to know we were going to take a boat ride over. The ride over was nice and as the fort got bigger we got more excited. There is a dock on the other island with a path over to the fort. We had a ranger who led our group and told about the history, the fort itself and the landscape. We were allowed to explore the fort for about and hour and he was available to ask question. It turns out he was from Cleveland Ohio. We chatted with him for a while and he asked about some of the parks here in Ohio that he had not visited in a while. It was a neat exchange.

Signage

careful on the river beach

River beach - the river connect to the Atlantic so it is salt water

Fort sign n foreground and the fort in the distance

Docks - Daughter wanting to know what I am doing

On the ferry on the way to the fort, which you can see just left of center

Fort from island docks

The fort was impressive despite its small size. It held 6 men, a captain and five soldiers. They rotated out from the larger fort in St. Augustine once a month. It is made of coquina which is a natural limestone composed of broken shells that solidified when mixed with sand and calcite from the shells. It is very durable even though it is about 90% air. The Spanish found that cannon balls would bounce off of it making it a great building material for the forts. There was a big battle between the Spanish and the French here in 1565, which is when St. Augustine was established. The French were slaughtered and that is what Matanzas mean, slaughtered. However this fort was not built until sometime later. The cannons at the fort were real and had been used at one point. The park ranger told us that these could fire cannon as far as the bridge that now crosses the inlet. It was all really interesting and the scenery was beautiful. We all really enjoy history and this was a really informative excursion. I recommend a visit if you are ever in St. Augustine.

Our ranger telling us about the fort. You can also see the beauty of the coquina.

Ready to explore

View from fort window

Cannon aimed at the bridge in the distance

Inner workings of the fort

Items the soldiers used to pass the time

Quarter artifacts

Stunning view of the river, looking south, the Atlantic ocean is just to the left of that strip of land on the left

Supplies

Barracks

View from fort looking south

Cannon packing tools

This thing

Spanish flag on top of the fort

We went back and purchased a few items at the gift shop then headed back to our hotel. We decided to get dinner and stopped at a subway on the way back. We chatted with the lady working there. She was very nice and had lots of insight on the history of the area.

We went back to our room and changed into beach clothes then headed over to St. Augustine Beach. We walked via the Ocean Hammock Park Walkway. It is a trail for pedestrians and bikes much like the trails we ride at home. We passed several people walking and bike riding and everyone was very friendly. Part of the is trail is located on highway A1A, so they have these pedestrian flags to use while crossing the street. You take the flag from the side you are on and leave it on the other side for you or whoever crosses the other direction. It was neat.

Our hotel was on the same side of the street as the walkway to the ocean so we didn't have to cross, I was just impressed that it was there. It was a beautiful walkway but much different surroundings than what I thought we would see. I thought a line of palm trees and then sand, sand and more sand. Instead, the area was marshy grassland that eventually opened up to the Atlantic Ocean beach. It was a really pretty walk.

Walkway trail head sign

Entering the walkway

This area is a protected wetland. I thought the green was beautiful.

Long walk to the beach. It took us a while and we rested a few times.

More grassland to the right of the walkway. Left of the walkway was a high end residential area but once we also passed the beautiful homes the landscape was open like this on both sides.

marshy grassland

there were embankments on each side just before we see the beach and ocean

The multi million dollar homes on the south side of the trail

Walking down a sandy ramp to the beach

Panorama of where the walkway and the beach meet.

A bench on the ocean side of the walkway

Signs you only see at an ocean beach

Another sign only seen at the ocean

It was low tide and the beach seemed to go on forever. So beautiful!

We collected shells, built a sand castle and eventually our daughter put on her mermaid tail and I took some photos of her. She splashed her fin around in the water but none of us really got in the water. The water and beach were beautiful and we enjoyed it.

Collected shells

Building a sand castle - love her hair!

People on the beach. There was a lady on a modified skateboard using the kite to pull her down the beach. She is just left of center with the kite stretched out to the right and pulling her along.

Husband and wife selfie

My mermaid girl

Mermaid daughter

I love this photo, a mermaid looking toward the sea

The Atlantic Ocean

The sun was setting so we wanted to get back to our hotel before dark. We hung out in our room and ate leftover cake (yes we still had cake) and talked out our plan the next day to see the big fort.

We took so many photos! Check them out in our day 8 Flickr album

Disney and St. Augustine “Let Them Eat Cake” Vacation Part 6

noreply@blogger.com (Abby) — Sun, 14 Sep 2014 18:26:00 +0000

Day 7 – Checkout, Downtown Disney, Drive to St. Augustine

Today was the day we checked out of Art of Animation. We were bummed because no one ever wants their Disney vacation to end. We packed up all of our stuff and loaded the car then headed to check out. We still had two counter service meals each and something like five snack credits each. Our parking pass and dinning credits were good until midnight today, verified with a cast member, so we ate breakfast at Landscape of Flavors one last time and then caught the bus to Downtown Disney Marketplace.

We shopped for several hours with highlights being the Christmas Store, Goofy’s Candy Company, Once upon a Toy, World of Disney and the Lego Store. We had so much fun shopping, even thought we didn’t spend much. We did manage to spend all of our snack credits on various goodies we could take with us. The construction had begun for the Disney Springs remodel but was in the very early stages of putting up construction walls so it wasn't too hard to navigate.

Disney Marketplace Entrance

Fountain

The Disney Christmas Store

My family!

There is a Nightmare Before Christmas section of the Christmas store!

Fun Ceiling

"Cool" ornaments

Goofy's Candy Company - This sign is made of jellybeans

Marshmallow wands

Fun house mirror in Goofy's

Tinker toy sculpture

Daughter at the pin Trader Booth. This is the photo I take every trip.

Once Upon A Toy

Watch it! Stitch spits!

Yo Ho Yo Ho A pirates life for me!

Having fun!

Miniture castle

fly past the 2nd star on the right then straight on 'till morning!

These are made of Legos!

My family and the Disney Lego family pose for a picture

Pick a brick wall

Lego Snow White and Dopey

Lego sea serpent

As we started to head back towards the Christmas shop, because I need to look some more, there was a middle and senior high band and orchestra getting ready to play a concert. My daughter wanted to watch so we grabbed seats near the front and enjoyed a little afternoon music. They were from a local (to Disney) school district and played several Disney themes. It was a nice little concert.

It was getting near 6pm so we decided to spend our final counter service at Earl of Sandwich. So Yummy! Hubby and I both got the Holiday Turkey with pasta salad and a drink. Daughter opted for the Chipotle Chicken Avocado with fruit and a drink. I tweeted a photo of my meal and that it was our final Disney vacation meal and they tweeted back to me! It was so cool!

Holiday turkey is turkey, stuffing, gravy, cranberry and seasoned mayo.

Chipotle Chicken Avocado

She said it is nom nom nom

After we dinner we strolled through the Christmas store one last time, then we caught the Disney bus back to AoA.

Disney Christmas store window

ornaments

She is customizing ornaments for people

Villians Stockings

Marketplace Bus Stop

Bus to Art of Animation

We said our good-byes to AoA, got in our car and headed toward St. Augustine. It was about 7pm when we were finally on the road. We had late arrival reservations for St. Augustine Inn which is near St. Augustine beach. It took a few hours, and we had to stop for gas, but we made it safe and sound. We unpacked the essentials for the night and we all crashed, tired from our awesome Disney vacation.

Good Bye Animation Hall

Good-Bye Ariel, Nemo and Simba

Good-Bye resort sign! Until we meet again!

You know I took tons of photos and put them in our day 7 flickr album, go ahead, check them out!

Disney and St. Augustine “Let Them Eat Cake” Vacation Part 5

noreply@blogger.com (Abby) — Sat, 13 Sep 2014 16:05:00 +0000

Day 6 – EPCOT, Magic Kingdom,

Today was our last full day at the parks. We decided to sleep in a little later today and then go to EPCOT and spend some time at world showcase. Our only ADR for the day was schedule for Via Napoli in the Italian pavilion at 4:30pm. Our fast passes were scheduled for Magic Kingdom in the evening for Space Mountain at 6:25pm, Big Thunder Mountain RR at 7:25pm and Splash Mountain at 8:25pm.

So thirsty!

Daughter decided to give homage to the Villains and Disney’s dark side by wearing a black asymmetrical skirt dress, sash and tiara with the black knee high chucks. Say it with me, adorable! She wanted to get photos in the Little Mermaid courtyard so we spent a little bit of time taking funny photos of her.

We caught the bus to EPCOT and I wanted to stop at the restroom near the entrance. When I came out daughter was sitting on her dad "noming", as in nom nom nom, on his face. She told me she was being a lazy zombie. A+ for creativity!

Daughter sitting on Dad

Lazy zombie noming on dad's face

We went to the Electric Umbrella for a late breakfast/early lunch of burgers and fries. We just sort of hung out and took our time, enjoying our last full day. We were sitting across the breezeway from Mouse Gear and as I was looking at the sign I suddenly got the idea that daughter needed maleficent ears. She agreed! After we finished we headed over to mouse gear and shopped. They have so much interesting stuff in there but our mission was those ears. I am happy to say out mission was completed!

My lunch at the Electric Umbrella

Mouse Gear - must get ears!

In touch with her Disney dark side!

We headed back toward world showcase and stopped at the memory maker stop in front of the Sorcerer Mickey topiary. Daughter cracked this photographer up as she kept casting pretend fireballs and thunder spells in the photos.

We skipped the Mexican pavilion and went straight to Norway. We took a few photos and then headed back to Maelstrom sans fast pass. The wait was around 30 minutes but we really enjoy this ride. As it turns out it was t be our last ride on Maelstrom before they changed it over to Frozen.

Rune Stone

Troll Topiary

Maelstrom

We walked through the stores and then into the Stave Church for the new World of Frozen Exhibit. The exhibit was actually really interesting. They would post a photo of a scene from Frozen and below a location photo from Norway that inspired the scene. The exhibit talked about the people and culture, the clothing, etc. Kristoff was based on the indigenous people of Scandinavia called the Sami. There were displays of clothing, jewelry, household goods, musical instruments and other artifacts. It was really quite interesting. Daughter was especially taken with the Hardanger Fiddle. It had eight strings, four were played or bowed. The other four were strung just below the bowed strings and reverberated off the sound they made. She wanted to play it so bad. (She plays violin) We really enjoyed this exhibit because while it was about the Making of Frozen, it really got into the culture of Norway.

Stave Church

Doorway to Stave Church and Frozen exhibit

Creating the World of Frozen

Stave Church model

Musical instruments and household goods

That amazing fiddle

Women's adornments

We walked around world showcase, skipping the pavilions we had spent a lot of time in during our October trip and focusing on the pavilions we had missed. We passed some wonderful topiaries and Flower and Garden Festival booths.

Lion King Topiary

Flower Festival Booth

She marches to the beat of her own drum

We made our way to the German Pavilion. We took a peek into Karamell-Kuche but didn’t buy anything. We enjoyed all of the shops especially the Christmas shop. I found a cuckoo clock just like the one my Grandma had. It gave me a thrill of nostalgia when I saw it. We sat outside and watched the Hummel’s come out of the big clock. We got a pretzel to share and hubby got a beer in a collectible Germany EPCOT mug.

Approaching the German Pavilion

The Christmas Store

Mushroom and acorn ornaments

Horn steins on the top right.

"I know a little German" T-shirt

Glass violin

German glass

The clock tower

The Hummels ringing the bell

The Toy Store

Cuckoo Clock - Just like Grandma's

Enjoying a beer in a collector's mug

We discovered the very large train display which we had never taken the time to observe before and spent quite a bit of time looking at all of the details.

We also enjoyed looking at the topiaries of Snow white and all of the dwarfs and the Muppets.

We headed over to the Italy Pavilion and looked at the architecture and statues.

It was still a little early for our dinner reservation so we went over to the American Pavilion. We checked on the times for the next American Adventure show but it was during our ADR. As we were coming back out a nice cast member asked us how many years we had been married and we told him we were celebrating 20 years. He had a pad of paper that was printed with the fab five and could be customized for whatever celebration he saw happening. He made one up for us to commemorate our 20^th anniversary and then told us we had a phone call. He directed us to a phone and told us what number to dial. On the other end was Mickey wishing us a Happy Anniversary! It was so cool! After our call he told daughter to dial a different number and it was Goofy wishing her a Happy Birthday! (We were our wearing our anniversary and birthday buttons this day) It was a nice little bit of extra magic.

American Pavilion

Goofy wishing her a Happy Birthday!

Mickey wishing us a Happy Anniversary!

It had started to sprinkle so there was an announcement that the Drum and Fife band would play in the Liberty Inn. We headed over to catch their show. I enjoy drum and fife and was happy we got to see them perform. As it turned out, this was to be our last time to see them perform in EPCOT because they (and several other performance acts) were phased out shortly after.

We went back to Italy and to Via Napoli for our dinner. Via Napoli is a traditional Neapolitan pizzareia with big beautiful wood burning pizza ovens. The restaurant is beautifully decorated and had a great atmosphere. Our cast member was very enthusiastic and I had to focus very hard on what he was saying to take it all in. My daughter was so excited because he sounded like the character of Italy form one of her favorite Anime, Hetalia.

Via Napoli

Beautiful chandelier

Pizza ovens - Named after Italian volcanoes

Very fun cast member at Via Napoli

Hubby ordered a build your own pizza with pepperoni and black olives. I ordered the Prosciutto e Melone Pizza which is a white pizza with fontina, mozzarella, prosciutto, cantelope and arugula. It was pretty darn tasty. Daughter ordered the spaghetti and veal meatballs. They both ordered lemonade but I had two glasses of fruit sangria. I was feelin’ mighty fine! They both ordered the pistachio gelati and I opted for the tiramisu for dessert. It was all very tasty and filling.

Spaghetti and meatballs

Fruit sangria

Hubby's Pizza

Abby's Pizza

Gelati

Tiramisu

When we left Via Napoli it was pouring down rain. We had to get out our OSU rain ponchos and umbrellas. We waited for a little while under the awning but I soon realized we were still getting very wet and our back pack was soaked. Once the rain let up a little we headed over to the monorail to park hop over to the Magic Kingdom. On our way we were met with a chorus of O-H and go bucks!

Our first fast pass was at Space Mountain so we made a beeline to Tomorrowland. Hubby decided he wanted to look in the stores and told us to text him when we were finished. We let him know that depending on stand-by wait time we might ride twice and he was fine with that. We headed over for out fast pass and got in line. The lines were pretty short on both sides. We rode, cackled the whole time and in general had a great time. We exited, saw the wait times were only about 10 minutes and hopped back in the stand –by line. As we got near the loading area the cast member pulled daughter and I out of line and asked about our birthday and anniversary pins. We explained and he congratulated us both and then he gave us a fast pass good at Space Mountain for up to 4 guests that could be use by 11pm that evening! We were so excited! It was very unexpected and really made my night. I tucked it away for use as the last ride of the night. We rode and again cackled with laughter and enjoyed the ride.

We were in our splash mountain fast pass window so I called hubby and let him know we were on our way to Frontierland. He had managed to get all the way over to Main Street USA and said he would mosey over and meet us. When we got to Splash Mountain it was closed. However the cast member told us it would be honored at a list of other rides. One was out next fast pass of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, which is located next door, so we went there. We ended up riding it twice. I had never ridden this ride before. I’m not sure how it happened but it did. Daughter and I loved this ride with great Disney themeing and atmosphere. It is a runaway train in a mine town complete with new dynamite special effects. It was really fun!

We hooked up with hubby who shared his fun shopping adventures with us. We decided to head toward adventureland and catch a boat at the Pirates of the Caribbean. On the way we realized that the first show of the Electrical Parade was getting ready to start. We had planned on catching the second round but decided to go ahead and watch the early show since it was starting and we were in a great place to watch. Daughter and her dad took funny selfie photos while we waited for the parade to get to our location.

Finally, it was here! The music, the lights, the characters! I love that parade! This was daughter’s first time seeing it. She loved it too! Cinderella waved at us!

We next headed over to Adventureland and got it line to ride Pirates. Sadly, it broke down while we were in line and they had everyone leave the queue and told us to check back in 20 minutes. We tried to go to the Tiki room but it was also closed. So we headed to the Jungle Cruise. I don’t think we had haven ridden in the dark before so it was fun. I had forgotten how corny all the jokes were but we enjoyed all the yucks and groans.

We decided to go to the bathroom and when we came out there was a custodial cast member drawing the famed water art. We had never seen this before so we watched in awe as Mickey came to life in water on the concrete! It was super cool!

We headed back to Pirates, which was still closed so we decided to head back to Tomorrowland and use our special fast pass to ride Space Mountain one last time before saying good-bye to the Magic Kingdom. Hubby looked in the Tomorrowland stores while daughter and I had one last ride!

We decided to make our way back to the park entrance. As we walked we saw the castle all lit up in beautiful pastel colors so I had to take photos. Then we realized there was a Disney photographer so we had to get photos from him too.

We caught the tail end of the second round of the Electrical Parade in Town Square, then we headed back to Art of Animation happy and tired.

As always, you can view our Day 6 photos at our Flicker album

Disney and St. Augustine “Let Them Eat Cake” Vacation Part 4

noreply@blogger.com (Abby) — Fri, 12 Sep 2014 18:47:00 +0000

Day 5 – Daughter's Birthday! Magic Kingdom, Cinderella’s Royal Table and Chocolate Shoe, Festival of Fantasy Parade, Elsa and Anna, EPCOT, San Angel Inn and more cake

We woke up and sang Happy Birthday to our daughter! We started our day with a breakfast of birthday cake! Hey, you turn 16 once; why not eat cake for breakfast. Today she wore her blue sequined dress that we thought had a mermaid look, her tiara, sash and white knee high chucks. Adorable as ever.

Merida and our daughter

This morning we were headed off to the Magic Kingdom with fast passes scheduled for Peter Pan’s flight at 9:15am, Enchanted Tales with Belle at 10:35am and an Anna and Elsa meet and greet at 3:40pm. Daughter also really wanted to meet Merida this morning, so that would be our first stop. We caught the bus to Magic Kingdom, caught the end of the rope drop show and headed straight back to the Merida Meet and Greet area.

Waiting in line to meet Merida

The Merida area is a large stone circle with cast members at the entrance to control the flow of people in and out. After entering the “circle” there is a ramp to the right that serves as the queue for meeting Merida. The area is covered with colorful banners, "tapestries" and art from the movie. Merida was lovely wearing her green dress. She and daughter talked for quite a while. Merida told her that they celebrate her father’s birthday every night but tonight they would celebrate in honor of our daughter's birthday instead. Daughter asked how the queen and her brothers were doing and they chatted about them. The memory maker photographer took wonderful photos. I can’t say enough good things about the photographers at Disney. Then Merida and daughter hugged and posed for photos and they took a selfie together. It was a great meet.

Meet and greet area

Tapestry

Merida Selfie

After meeting Merida you come down of the ramp and there is a table with coloring pages as well as an opportunity to shoot an arrow at a target. The arrow has a soft end so no one can get hurt. Daughter got a bullseye! Must be from all of that archery at Girl Scouts. The cast member at the table gave a coloring page of Merida’s horse to her but we put it in our back pack for her to color later. It was a really wonderful visit!

Merida archery

Next we headed into Fantasyland for our Peter Pan fast pass. This is my favorite ride at Magic Kingdom. It was down for refurb when we were there in October so I was really happy to get to ride it this time. The ride cars are sail ships and they are connected at the top so they sway as they move through the ride. We start out in Wendie Darling’s room and Peter Pan’s shadow tells us to follow him then we are flying high over London. We follow the 2^nd star to the right and end up in Neverland as we pass various scenes from the animated movie. This ride is all about nostalgia for me which is why I think it’s my favorite.

We headed across the “street” and through the gates of new fantasyland to Enchanted Tales with Belle. It is a combination of a show and meet and greet. You enter through Maurice’s cabin and are then taken to the magic mirror room. Since hubby was in a wheel chair they had us enter directly into the magic mirror room from the side, so we didn’t actually see most of the cabin. The cast member talked to us about favorite books and Belle’s favorites. She told us about the magic mirror that Beast gave Belle so she could check up on Papa Maurice. She told us to chant “Take me to the day Beast and Belle fell in love”. Then we saw the mirror glow green, get bigger and turn into a door. I watched it, with my own eyes, and I am still not exactly sure what I saw. It was truly magical!

Fortunately there is another magical invention called YouTube that allows me and you to watch it over and over.

We walk through the magic doors into Beasts castle and are greeted by the magic wardrobe. She talks to us and with the help of a cast member, picks people to play different parts in the story. Daughter got picked to play Papa Maurice.

Papa Maurice, cold and in Beast's dungeon, and wearing a dress.

We then entered Belle’s beautiful library where we are greeted by Lumiere. He was amazing to watch. He moves and talks and his face is animated, it was mesmerizing. Lumiere wants us to surprise Belle so he dims the lights and calls her in and when she entered and we all yell Surprise!

Lumiere and Belle

Belle thanks and welcomes us all and then we act out Belle’s story. Here is a little bit of video from "the show".

Each of the players gets a photo with Belle and she gives them each a bookmark with her autograph printed on it. There is a memory maker photographer there taking photos of the whole show and as we exit they pass out cards that allow access of the photo online for purchase or to download through memory maker. It was really a very cute show and everyone should see it once.

Our daughter and Belle

When we exited we noticed the Seven Dwarfs mine train was doing test runs so we decided to walk around and see if we could board for a test run too. We tried several times but it just wasn’t to be on this trip. We have added it to our Disney bucket list.

So we headed to Mad Tea Party, the classic spinning tea cup ride. This is a daughter and dad ride. I can’t even watch it spin without getting motion sick. So I dropped them off at the entrance and told them I would meet them around the corner when they finished.

Daughter and Dad on the Tea Cups selfie

Alice and white rabbit topiary

I parked the wheel chair near the Alice in Wonderland topiary and went to the Cheshire Café and bought two gourmet cupcakes for us to share. The white rabbit is vanilla cake and icing with white chocolate ears, a sugar daisy and edible pearls. The Red Queen cupcake is vanilla cake with strawberry icing and strawberry gel, topped with a fondant queen of hearts card and a sugar rose. They were both really good but my favorite was the all vanilla. Hubby also liked the vanilla but daughter loved the strawberry.

Cupcakes!

While I was waiting and taking photos of the cupcakes several people stopped to ask where I got the amazing cupcakes from. They are pretty amazing.

After our snack we decide to go back to new fantasyland and visit Gaston’s tavern and the shops there. We never did see Gaston himself but really enjoyed the area.

Fountain in front of Gaston's tavern

Gaston's

Next door was Prince Eric’s castle and The Little Mermaid ride. Wheel chairs go through the spacious, very intereactive queue but when we get near the boarding area we are taken through a wheel chair entrance that actually takes us to the offloading area. This is a ride with a moving sidewalk that matches the speed of the ride vehicles. Entering from the exit gives more time to board and get seated for those with mobility issues. As a matter of fact, all rides with a moving sidewalk have those with mobility issues go through the queue and then taken past the loading area to the exit to board the ride. I talked with the cast member that helped us with boarding and he told me they also have the ability to slow the ride down if needed with little notice to other riders. It was smooth and easy.

Prince Eric's castle

Ariel - Is she a ship ornament?

Go on and kiss the girl!

We checked the wait time to meet Ariel in her Grotto but it would have gone past our 12:10pm ADR at Cinderella’s Royal Table. We decided instead to take a slow stroll toward the castle. We checked in at the podium and were taken around the corner to meet Cinderella. We decided to just have daughter in the photos with Cindy this time and of course she got that Cinderella selfie.

Cindy and Daughter

Cinderella Selfi

The mice watching

After the photo you are taken upstairs to the dining room. There are stairs but wheel chairs go up in an elevator. We were seated to the left on the upper level. They had hubby remain in his wheel chair and rolled him up to the table.

Celebrating at Cindy's Place

Lunch begins with a chef’s tasting plate that includes salad, hummus, assorted cheeses, pita, crackers and grapes. Hubby ordered the fish of the day which I believe was salmon. Daughter and I both ordered the braised short rib with parsnip mashed potatoes and wilted spinach. It was all pretty yummy.

Tasting Plate

Fish of the day

Braised short ribs

We ordered a chocolate shoe dessert for daughter inscribed with "Happy Sweet 16". Hubby ordered the cheese cake and I ordered their signature dessert “The Clock Strikes Twelve”.

Daughter's Chocolate shoe

Cheesecake

Signature dessert

We met with Snow White, Aurora, Ariel and Jasmine. Ariel really liked daughter’s dress and thought it looked like a mermaid dress too. Ariel was also thrilled that she was on daughter’s i-touch cover. All in all in was an enchanting lunch.

Snow White

Aurora

Ariel

Jasmine

After lunch we all need to go to the restroom. The regular restroom is accessed through a set of stairs so we were directed to take the elevator down to the companion bathroom on the main floor. The doorway had about a 2” rise and try as I may I could not get the chair over it. Fortunately there was a nice man sitting near and he was able to push the chair over the rise for me. I’m not sure if this would be an issue for someone driving an ECV. I don’t think hubby could have rolled himself over either. It is something to keep in mind for the future and now you know too. The more you know.

Daughter really wanted to find Peter Pan and the Fairy Godmother to get autographs and photos so this was our next mission. While we were eating it had rained and the skies were still looking a little bit threatening as it sprinkled. We went to where Pan meets and talked with the photographer there. She said that characters won’t come out for outdoor meet and greets in the rain because it will ruin their clothes but if it lets up to check back. We kept going back and forth between the Peter Pan area and the Fairy Godmother area via the shops in between. While we were doing this the skies opened up and it poured. We quickly pulled our dollar store OSU rain ponchos out of our back pack and put them on. Several people were trying to fit under the overhangs. The stores were doing killer business selling Mickey Mouse rain ponchos. We realized that neither of these characters were going to do meet and greets so we added them on our “to do” for next time. Eventually the rain let up even though it was really wet in the park.

We decided to hear toward Frontierland and try to find a place for the new afternoon parade Festival of Fantasy. It was delayed about 15 minutes due to the rain but the parade did go on. It didn’t dawn on me then, but there are handicapped viewing areas and we probably should have gone to one of those. We will think of that next time.

We really enjoyed this parade. The costumes and the floats are just amazing! Here are a few highlights. Notice those dark skies in the back ground. Yikes.

Cindy and her Prince

Naveen and Tiana

Flynn Rider

Ariel

The Lost Boys

Pan and Wendy

Tink

Malificent

Mad Hatter

Minnie and Mickey

After the parade we headed over to The Haunted Mansion, another family favorite. This is another ride that loads with a moving sidewalk. We went through the regular line and instead of boarding at the regular load area we were taken to the exit to load.

Master Gracey's final resting place

The Captains Tomb

Assorted Tombstones

It was time for out Anna and Elsa meet and greet fast pass! We headed over to Princess Fairytale Hall and entered the proper line. We waited in a hallway decorated in the finest fantasy royal décor. Several families at a time are let into the meet and greet area so we watched and listened as we waited for our turn. Anna was really funny. She said that her sister pointed out that she too has a special power, she can make chocolate disappear! Elsa was very elegant and her dress is beautiful. Elsa thought daughter’s dress paid homage to her own and they spent some time discussing princess fashions. Daughter got a selfie with them, which they called a “snowfie”. We all three had a great time visiting with them.

Snowfie

Her magic power is eating chocolate

Anna, daughter, and Elsa

Their visiting princess was Aurora. Several people were just sort of saying hi and moving on without really spending time so daughter wanted to be sure to spend quality time with Aurora. They made eye contact and both smiled and daughter walked right up to her and gave her a hug. Aurora was really wonderful. She asked daughter how old she was, when she answered 16, Aurora told her to watch out for sewing spindles. Daughter was wearing green cupcake earrings and Aurora asked if Meriwether baked them and said her baking is getting better. Daughter really enjoyed her visit with Aurora and we like to think she enjoyed visiting with daughter too.

Aurora Selfie

Daughter and Auroa

We had a 6:30pm ADR at San Angel Inn in the Mexican pavilion at EPCOT so we decided it was time to park hop via the monorail. We went straight back to the Mexican pavilion and checked in. We requested a seat by “the river”. The cast member at the podium told us we would have to wait an hour. (I think she wanted us to get seated and be done with us) I asked daughter if she was willing to wait and she said yes. So we told her we would wait the hour. We sat down in their little waiting area and 15 minutes later we were seated at a table by the river.

San Angel Inn is modeled after a 17^th century hacienda and is in perpetual twilight. (No vampires) Across the river is an Aztec pyramid and a smoking volcano in the distance. It’s a really nice setting for dinner and daughter loves Mexican food. We all ordered the Carne Asada which is steak served with a cheese enchilada, black refried beans, peppers, onions, Mexican rice and guacamole. (I didn't take food photos, I was too hungry)

Daughter's cake

While we were eating dinner I kept waiting for the volcano to erupt. I hadn’t eaten here in a while but I was pretty sure I remembered that the volcano erupts. I asked our cast member and he said that it used to erupt but it frightened little kids so they just have it smolder now.

Pyramid and smoldering volcano

I had ordered one more birthday cake to be delivered for dessert at the San Angel Inn. This is one of six EPCOT countries that are not bakery serviced by Disney. The others are located in France, China, Morocco, Japan and Italy. To order a cake from one of these you must call the restaurant directly. You can order a 6”, 8” or 10” all vanilla or all chocolate cake and pick characters and inscription for the cake. The characters are printed with edible inks and papers. I ordered the 6 inch vanilla cake and requested Anna and Elsa with the inscription of “Happy Sweet 16” and was charged $21.

We quietly asked our cast member about the cake and he checked and came back and said yes it was there. Daughter and I were facing the river but hubby was facing the restaurant and he saw them bring out the cake and add a candle. A group of 5 or 6 cast members brought over the cake and sang a birthday song in Spanish then wished her a Happy Birthday! It was the only true cake surprise I managed to pull off this trip. The cake was really pretty and decorated based on the colors in the character image. It was also really good. It was her 2^nd favorite cake after the green cake that collapsed. It had such a nice vanilla flavor to it. Just Yum!

Daughter and her cake

After dinner we decided to look at the Mexican Market and ride the Gran Fiesta Tour starring the Three Caballeros. It is a boat ride that features sights and sounds of Mexico with the Three Caballeros running around the screens.

"street" market

Market

Scene from the ride

We decided to head back to our resort, with cake, because daughter wanted to swim in the mermaid pool. I will be honest, I was tired and hurting and I was happy to go back to our resort. We caught the bus back to Art of Animation, went to our room, changed into swim suits, grabbed our beach towels and went to the mermaid pool for a relaxing evening swim. I didn’t take any photos of us at the pool, but we enjoyed it. We were all pretty tired and in bed by 10:30pm but daughter had a very Happy Birthday!

See all of our day 4 photos in our Flickr album

Disney and St. Augustine “Let Them Eat Cake” Vacation Part 3

noreply@blogger.com (Abby) — Thu, 11 Sep 2014 11:05:00 +0000

Day 4 – Animal Kingdom, Garden View Tea Room, Restaurant Marrakesh in Morocco, Disney Studios

Today we had a full schedule and went to three parks! Daughter dressed in her pretty green peacock dress, tiara, sash and black knee high chucks. We headed out to the bus stop and took a bus to Animal Kingdom!

Animal Kingdom sign with a Beastly Kingdom dragon in the middle

Before we left home, I told them both about the Beastly Kingdom and how there were still nods to it at various places in Animal Kingdom. Because of this we were more interested in getting our photo by the Animal Kingdom sign because of the dragon in the middle. There were not many people in line for this Memory Maker photographer because everyone wants to get their photo in front of the Tree of Life, which is also super cool and we got that photo later.

We had fast passes scheduled for Expedition Everest at 9:40am, Kilimanjaro Safaris at 10:55am and Dinosaur at 1:00pm. After entering the park we decided to head through the DinoLand U.S.A. on our way toward Everest. As we were walking through a cast member told us that Daisy and Donald were doing meet and greets so we decided to meet them. Their meet and greet area was super cute and I was particularly taken with the elephant bees that were hanging from the ceiling. I think I may have to Paper Mache’ elephant bees for home now. Seriously cute!

Elephant Bee

Next it was our turn to meet Daisy! She was wonderful! So fun and engaging! She was very taken with daughter’s dress and her handler said she should get Donald to buy her one. Daisy rubbed her fingers together and pointed to Donald insinuating he is too cheap to buy her a new dress! All of the women laughed, the men rolled their eyes. Dudes! We girls need new dresses sometimes! Daisy took off her bracelet and put it on daughter for the photos and she started her new tradition of taking character selfies with Daisy. The photographers were again amazing and took the best photos!

Meeting Daisy

Daisy put her bracelet on daughter and posed

Daughter and Daisy selfi

Next we went on to meet Donald. He wanted to know if she got her drivers license yet and she told him she is a cyclist. He wished her a Happy Birthday anyway. He was really funny.

Posing with Donald

Donald selfie

As we were heading back up the path daughter had a dress malfunction. She had detachable straps on this dress and the hook on one of the straps fell off. I had brought a sewing kit just in case but left it in our room. It did a lot of good sitting in the room instead of in our backpack. Daisy was walking up the path with her handler to take a break, she waved at us, and the lovely handler asked if we needed help. I explained the issue and she said she would look for a safety pin. She came back out shortly with two safety pins and she saved the day!! Dress malfunction fixed thanks to a kind Disney cast member.

Next we headed over to Expedition Everest, still in our fast pass window. As we walked, we passed Devine doing her thing. Daughter didn’t remember ever seeing her so we stopped for a few moments and watched while daughter snapped some photos.

DeVine

We arrived near the entrance to Expedition Everest and hubby found a place to park and watch as the trains come down the mountain while daughter and I proceeded to the line. When we got there the lines were closed and cast members said it would be open in a few minutes. So we waited and sure enough in a few minutes the lines opened up and we scanned our magic bands and went through the fast pass line. Daughter and I love the queue but we really didn’t get time to look since the line was moving at a quick pace. Although, that is not a complaint, boarding quickly is always awesome. We boarded our train and we were off to face the Yeti! We had so much fun! Hubby said he saw us since I was wearing bright red and daughter was wearing bright green.

Expedition Everest ride photo

After the ride we headed over to Anandapur Local Foods Café, also known as the Yak and Yeti counter service, for an early lunch. We got there just before they opened at 10:30am so we had a few minutes to look over the menu. We were on the dinning plan so we each got an entre’, drink and dessert. Hubby and daughter both got the sweet and sour chicken and I went for the beef lo mien. We all got a soda or tea and banana pudding for dessert. It was good!

Sweet and sour chicken

Beef Lo Mein

Banana Pudding

Chicken good

Very happy!

We sat outside under the covered area and just enjoyed our food and talked about what was next on our itinerary. I also posted a few photos on instagram, because I wanted to share the banana pudding. I believe it was during this time that I realized I had gotten a text from Disney saying that Expedition Everest was closed and our fast passes had been canceled. Except that they worked when we went through the line earlier, so I’m not sure what to say about that.

On the way to the Safari

Next we headed over to the Kilimanjaro Safaris. This was the only time I ever saw a fast pass line longer than the stand by line. It was kind of an odd sight. The cast members used ropes on poles to create a line that looped 3 times outside of the fast pass entrance next to the fence. The corners were a little tight for the wheel chair but we made it around with a little help from some of the other guests. Once we passed the fast pass magic band scan the line moved pretty fast. When we got to the covered jeep loading area we were motioned to a wheel chair entrance at the end of the first loop. It turns out that all of the guests in wheel chairs or ECV’s are loaded on a second dock area past the main loading area. So everyone on that jeep is using some type of mobility assistance. They have that loading area worked out to a science. The person in the mobility device is rolled to their row and told to go ahead and load in the waiting jeep. Their family loads with them and the chair is taken and parked nearby. When the jeep comes back to that dock, their chair is there waiting for them. It was kind of amazing. I should have taken a photo of the area, but I didn’t.

The jeep in front of us

We had a great time on the safari. I love it because it is different every time you ride. We saw lots of animals, including an Ostrich that ran along next to our jeep. We also saw ostrich eggs. Pretty cool!

Waiting for our jeep to depart. You can kind of see the handicap dock behind us.

White Rhino

Hippos

I think this is one of the tour bridges, but maybe not

waterfall

gator

elephant

Giraffe says Hi

Upside down tree. I believe they are called Baobab.

zebras

Ostrich racer

Ostrich eggs, I wish there was something next to them to give scale.

coming into dock, the handicap dock is the 2nd building.

On our way out of Harambe we watched a drum band play. I believe they are called afrikanische Band. They were really good and many people shook their booties as they watched.

Band in Harambe

We went into some of the stores and looked and then headed back toward Asia and went on some of the paths. It was at this point I realized how tired I was. Animal Kingdom is the hardest park to navigate with the wheel chair. It is hilly and some of the paths are narrow. This is the one park hubby is not comfortable wheeling his self through because of the terrain. We found a table near the restrooms and took a little break. We decided to go ahead and head to DinoLand U.S.A. to our Dinosaur fast pass and then go to the Pocahontas meet and greet and then leave the park for our afternoon tea at the grand Floridian.

Expedition Everest

The Tree of Life

We had ridden Dinosaur in the past and enjoyed it. It does jerk hubby around but since he had ridden it recently he felt okay with ridding it now. It was different than it had been in October. The ride seemed much darker, as in not very well lit, and much jerkier than remembered. Every time I see the ride photo I crack up because we all look dazed and confused.

We are in the back row, looking confused.

After this we headed over to Discovery Island to find the Pocahontas meet and greet. We had to ask directions on a few occasions but we did eventually find the correct spot. Pocahontas was wonderful! She and daughter chatted a little and got photos and a selfie and daughter was very happy.

Pocahontas meet and greet

Pocahontas selfie

We decided to get a family photo with the Tree of Life in the back ground on our way out. One of these days we are going to spend a whole day at Animal Kingdom on the trails. It’s on our bucket list.

That's the Tree of Life sprouting up between hubby and myself.

So we headed out of the park and caught a bus going to the Grand Floridian for our afternoon tea ADR at 3:40pm. As we got closer to the resort, daughter started talking about how fancy the resort looked. When we walked past the carriages and the door man welcome us her eyes lit up. When we walked in and were greeted with “Welcome Home”, she was absolutely glowing. We were a little bit early but went back to the Garden View Tea Room and let them know we were there but we were all going to go to the bathroom to freshen up. The cast member told us take our time and that our table would be ready when we returned. As I walked into the women’s restroom I looked back at daughter and saw her twirling like a little girl.

When I came back out she was talking to a lovely cast member named Cheyla. They were talking about hair, clothing and birthdays. We all chatted with her for a little while and took photos with our new found friend. She was really lovely and we enjoyed meeting her.

Daughter and Cheyla

We headed back to the Tea Room for afternoon tea. We were seated to the right of the door near the windows that look out at the wraparound porch and over gardens and the lake. It was a really lovely view. Daughter sat on a bench seat and Daddy-o and I sat in chairs across from her. Daughter was sitting up with her back straight and her legs crossed at the ankles, just like Queen Clarisse taught Princess Mia in the Princess Diaries. My girl had her Princess on in a big way.

Our waiter, Patrick, was wonderful! Shout out to Patrick for being awesome! You are given a menu to decide which tea service you want. We all chose the Buckingham Tea which includes your choice of a pot of tea and 3 courses which include tea sandwiches, scones, tarts and dessert. It was actually much more filling than we had anticipated.

The super awesome Patrick!

The tea menu is quite extensive and Patrick explained a bit about each of the menu sections. In the end daughter chose the Mad Hatter Tea, Daddy-o chose the Vanilla Earl Grey and I chose the Strawberry infused Green Tea. We tasted our own teas and we tasted each others. All of them were very good but everyone’s favorite hands down was the Mad Hatter blend. I need to get my hands on this for enjoyment at home if at all possible.

Looking at the menu and feeling happy.

Cozy Teapots

Pouring tea

Our 1^st course arrived and was a sandwich plate that included cucumber and watercress, egg salad, salmon, curry chicken salad, roasted pear and gorgonzola, and an onion tart. I was intrigued by the onion tart. I thought it would be savory but it was actually fairly sweet. My favorite of the sandwiches was the egg salad. I’m not sure what herbs were in it but it was delish. Daughter surprised me by declaring the salmon her favorite. Hubby really liked the curried chicken salad.

1st course and tea

The second course was the scone plate and included a strawberry jam tart and a raisin scone with strawberry jam, Devonshire cream and lemon curd. Each of the spreadable items were tasty by themselves, but put them all on a bite of scone at the same time and it was heavenly.

2nd course

Daddy-o enjoying a scone

The last course was the dessert, to which my husband commented that he thought we had just had dessert. There are a few options but we all decided to pick two of the pastries off of the pastries tray. We all picked a swan cream puff with orange cream. Daddy-o also picked a pistachio cream filled donut and I picked the guava fruit cupcake. Daughter couldn’t decide between the huge chocolate covered strawberry and a guava fruit cupcake so Patrick gave her both as a birthday celebration. Everything was so tasty!

Swan cream puff and guava fruit cupcake

Chocolate covered strawberry, guava fruit cupcake, swan cream puff and tea.

The Garden view Tea room does not participate in the Disney Dinning plan so we paid via credit card. The Buckingham Tea was $25 per person plus tax and gratuity and was worth every penny.

She is really enjoying that chocolate covered strawberry

Eating my sugar flower, still a kid.

When Patrick came back with hubby’s card, he brought a pink rose for daughter. Her eyes lit up and she was so high on cloud 9 that I think she floated everywhere the rest of the night. Thanks to Rikki of the Be Our Guest Podcast and LissaLuvsWDW from the Be Our Guest Forum for the suggestion. This was by far, hands down, unparalleled to everything else, daughter's favorite experience during this trip.

Rose

My Princess

After we left the Tea Room, I asked the cast member at the podium about the décor in the Grand Floridian lobby. There are tiles in the floor in front of The Tea Room of a rose, Mrs. Potts and Chip. The very large chandeliers reminded me of the chandeliers in Beasts Ballroom so I asked about them. He said that the chandeliers were supposed to represent pineapples, a symbol of hospitality and that those tiles were there specifically for the Tea Room but that there were others in different areas of the lobby. So we decided to explore for the tiles.

Mrs. Potts

Chip

Grand Floridian Lobby

There was a Peter Pan Scene behind the grand staircase, Cinderella and her Prince in front of the 1st floor elevators, Tinkerbelle in front of the 2nd floor elevators, and a floral design with Pluto at the entrance. There was a band playing on the second floor during our tile adventure and we enjoyed listening to them very much.

Peter Pan

Cinderella and her Prince

Tink

Grand Floridian entrance

Pluto detail

The band

We went to the 2^nd floor to catch the monorail to EPCOT. We had 7:05 dinner ADR for Restaurant Marrakesh in the Moroccan Pavilion. We stopped at a couple of Memory Maker Photographers on way back to world showcase. We really had fun with the young lady that took photographs at the soccer topiary area.

EPCOT

EPCOT - blocking the goal

We decided to head back to the Morocco and explore the pavilion some more. We again got lost in the stores and architecture. We were greeted by several cast members who recognized us and asked daughter about her dress. We also saw the lovely man who organized the Jasmine and Aladdin meet and greet line. He chatted with us and we told him we had dinner reservation and he was very excited for us and told us we would really enjoy it.

Moroccan Pavilion

The restaurant is really beautiful. There was a live band playing traditional instruments. We were seated to the right of the main floor, about three steps up to a raised section and seated by the wall. There was a bench seat on the wall where daughter and I sat. Tables were in front of the bench seats with chairs and Daddy-o sat across from us. Shortly after we were seated a belly dancer came out and performed on the main floor. She eventually asked several of the kids to join her and they all got to shake and shimmy together.

Inside Restaurant Marrakesh

The Restaurant Marrakesh is on the Disney Dinning plan and is 1 table service credit which includes an entre, drink and desert. Daughter and I both ordered mint tea to drink and I believe hubby ordered soda, plus we all had ice water. Hubby chose the vegetable couscous, Daughter chose the lamb shank with savory couscous and I chose the chicken kabobs with sweet couscous. The sweet couscous was sweetened with raisins and dates and was very good. Daughter said her lamb shank was perfect. Next was dessert, which none of us were really hungry for after tea. However, hubby ordered the Bastillia which was a vanilla cream on a cinnamon sugar chip. Daughter and I both ordered the Marrakesh Delight which is a bowl of fruit topped with chocolate chip ice cream. Daughter and I ate most of our ice cream and a little fruit. We all had a few tastes of hubby’s, which was super yummy; we were just too full to eat it all.

Vegetable coucous

chicken kabobs and sweet couscous

Lamb shank and savory couscous

We went from here to the International Gateway and caught a boat to go to Hollywood Studios. This was the late night park staying open until midnight. There were two shows of Fantasmic so we decided to take advantage of this and ride the rides instead of attending the show. The boat was also super easy to board with the wheel chair. There was a metal ramp attached from the dock to the boat and we just rolled him right on. The boat is covered and just inside the door on both sides are areas designated for those in wheel chairs and ECV’s with areas to lock down and strap them all in plus bench seats for family members. The ride was smooth and comfortable. The boat passes through the EPCOT area waterways and made stops at the Yacht Club Resort, The Swan and Dolphin and the Boardwalk then went on to Hollywood Studios.

Our ride to Hollywood Studios

After exiting the boat and entering the park we stopped at a photographer on Hollywood Blvd. There was no one in line and we wanted to be sure to get a photo. Daughter posed with her rose. She loved that rose. She was still floating from the Tea Room experience and was curtsying to every little girl we met in a princess costume.

Hollywood Studios

We needed to determine if we needed to get those rolling fast passes so I checked my lines app and found there was only a 6 minute wait for The Great Movie Ride. Daughter did not remember riding this as a kid and it was on her wish list for this trip. Most of the wait was in the room where they show old movie clips while waiting to board a ride vehicle. Those in mobility assisted devices were taken to a line in the front. It seems like they would load one family per car in the front row, but don’t quote me on that. I believe they had us fold up hubby’s chair and put it in the car with us. I remember thinking, this is different, but the space was plenty big enough to accommodate us and the folded chair. The ride was fun and we all enjoyed it. Daughter and I both jumped when the alien came out of the ceiling.

The Great Movie ride

When we came out of the ride, the first show of Fantasmic was nearing its end and it had rained lightly. We checked the lines app again and decided we would next go to Star Tours which had a 10 minute wait, and then daughter and I would go to the Tower of Terror and Rockin’ Roller coaster. The longest line of the rides we wanted to ride at that point was Tower of Terror at 30 minutes so we decided to forgo the fast passes. The only ride we considered and did not ride was Toy Story Midway Mania. Even at night, even in the rain, even during Fantasmic, it was a 50 minute wait.

We headed over to Star Tours, hubby’s favorite ride! Persons in a wheel chair or ECV that ride Star Tours are always seated in the front row, along with their family. When the doors opened they had him transfer to his seat and then when we exit the chair is waiting on the other side. It is really well organized. We rode the ride and C3PO was neurotic, and the ride was moving all over, and we flew in space, and Darth Vader stopped us, and daughter was the rebel spy! I can’t say I am surprised by this. I ended up putting my hands over my eyes and praying that my sweet couscous stayed where I put it and finally it was over. After the ride I had to sit down for a few minutes. Seriously, just thinking about it now is making me feel nauseous. I can’t ride that ride in the front row any more. I think in the future that will be a father daughter ride and I will find something else to do while they ride. We stopped in the store and asked a cast member about the new plush ton-tons and banthas that had been announced. They had not yet been released for sale. Bummer.

When we went back outside it was still raining lightly. Between this and the second showing of Fantasmic it seemed like there were very few people in the park. Daughter and I decided to head over to the over to the Tower of Terror and Rockin’ Roller coaster. They are conveniently located near each other. Most of the guests that were in the park, and not at Fantasmic, seemed to be in this area. Hubby went over with us and then decided he wanted to go shopping while we did the coasters. He told us to text or call when we were finished and that he would probably be back over on Hollywood Blvd. We waved good-by and he wheeled himself back down the street.

Daughter and I started up the hill to the Tower of Terror and as we passed the expected stand by time it changed from 30 minutes to 50 minutes. We prepared ourselves for the wait. We got in line and I hit the timer on my phone to see just how long the wait really was. We had so much fun talking in the line and looking at the décor that it felt like no time at all. When I checked my timer it had been 35 minutes. Not that bad for standby. We were placed in the front row on the left side. I have a love hate relationship with this ride. The theme and detailing is incredible and I love looking at all of it. The ride cars are unique in that they move forward on a track and also drop like an elevator. I really enjoy the show aspect of the ride, the ghosts, the twilight zone features, all of it. Until we get to the point where we are moving into a dark space and I can feel the car seat itself. It is in those few moments, just before the drop, when I know it is going to happen, that I HATE it. I will be honest in that for me, the drop is never as bad as the anticipation of the drop. However in those moments I can never figure out what in the world possessed me to get on this ride. It is in that thought that we drop. I remember the ride narration saying something about being trapped in the twilight zone and me saying out loud, “Oh darn!” and I remember the laughter, the hating my choice to be on this ride and then bam, we are falling to our doom! I also love the pause on the floors with video screens in them. It helps break up the terror.

Tower of Terror Ride Photo - just yikes

Next we headed over to Rockin' Roller Coaster. As we walked over everything had a sort of anime convention feeling to it. There was a guy who was singing lines from “Do You Wanna Build a Snowman” song from the movie Frozen. He would sing a line and then people around would sing the next line, he would sing the next line and folks around him would sing back the following line. My daughter participated in this call and answer version of the song. It was really quite fun to see and hear happen.

We got to the Rockin’ Roller Coaster queue and the posted stand by time was 20 minutes. WOW! The majority of the wait was in the room where you see Aerosmith in the recording booth and then the queue that follows to board the "limo".

Outside of Rockin' Roller Coaster

We boarded the limo, put my Minnie ears and her glasses in the provided pouch, pulled down the seat restraint and sat back for the ride as Aerosmith blared in our ears. The countdown started and we were off and upside down, and this way, and that way, and through a giant Day-Glo donut, and I don’t know what else. I actually really enjoy this coaster. You can’t tell that by my face in the photo though.

Ride Photo

As we exited I checked the stand by time and it was still only 20 minutes. I told daughter we had time to ride it one last time if she was up for it and she said it gave her a headache and she was ready to find dad and head back to our room. I was surprised but okay with the choice. So I called him, he told us what store he was in over on Hollywood Blvd and we headed over to meet him. We met up, looked at a few things and then headed for out resort bus stop.

He had no problems rolling himself around at Hollywood Studios. Many people asked him if he needed help but he always said no. He did have trouble getting around a display in one of the stores and some one moved it back for him. It makes me happy to know that people were good to him while we were in different places.

Earlier, while we were in line for Star Tours, I received a phone call. I didn’t recognize the number but knew it was the Florida area code so I answered. It turned out it was the Food and Beverage Concept artists at Art of Animation. Before we left I ordered a surprise cake to be left in our room for daughter for her birthday. The idea was that by the time we got back to our room it would be her actual birthday so we thought it would be fun to have a small cake waiting as a surprise to end our night. I ordered a 2 tier mini wedding cake with a chocolate Mickey ears topper. It was vanilla cake with strawberry mousse cream filling, covered in green butter cream frosting and piped with purple Mickey silhouettes. I was quoted $50 for the cake and room delivery. I ordered the cake through Art of Animation but it was baked at Yacht and beach Club bakery. During the transport process, the cake collapsed. Our concept artist was very upset because he knew it was a sweet 16 surprise and didn’t want it ruined. He let me know that they were going to go ahead and deliver the collapsed cake but were going to refund the cost. He said they would also leave a replacement cake. It wouldn’t be as fancy because it would be one of the podium cakes that are available in the Landscape of Flavors ready case but he wanted to be sure she had a cake that was not collapsed when we got back to our room. I feel like he went above and beyond to make this right for her and I was very happy with the way Disney handled it.

Birthday cake surprise!

When we got to our room, there on the table, was a boxed cake that had a balloon tied around it, plates, forks, candles and matches along with a lovely letter. He had placed the collapsed cake in the refrigerator to eat also. The podium cake was a 6 inch, all vanilla cake, but they had gone out of their way to personalize it by adding her name and an inscription on some white chocolate that they place on the cake, along with some chocolate Mickey faces. It was a lovely gesture.

Replacement cake

Letter

We got out the collapsed cake and it was a big mess but we all tasted it and it was the yummiest cake we have ever had. It was seriously good. We went ahead and put the candles on the whole cake, sang Happy Birthday and had her make a wish and blow out the candles. Then we ate the mini cake!

The collapsed cake

We had a great day and next was her actually Birthday! We were ready to celebrate, after a good night sleep.

You can view all of our day 4 photos in our Flickr album

Disney and St. Augustine “Let Them Eat Cake” Vacation Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Abby) — Wed, 13 Aug 2014 21:52:00 +0000

Day 3 – Magic Kingdom and EPCOT

We woke up bright and early so we could get to the Magic Kingdom in time for the rope drop show. We had 9:45 am reservation at Crystal Palace for the Pooh and Friends breakfast buffet and daughter wanted to meet Tinkerbell and one of her fairy friends before we ate.

Our Birthday Girl!

Daughter got dressed in her blue sequined party dress, tiara and “Sweet 16 Birthday Princess” sash and her black knee high tennis shoes. She was adorable! I’m not just saying that because I’m her mom. She got many compliments from cast members and guests alike. So it’s not just me being a biased mom. Seriously.

Hubby and daughter listening to the Magic Kingdom rope drop show

We took the Disney bus to Magic Kingdom but chose to get in a line to enter the park rather than in front of the train station to watch the rope drop show. Even though the platform is raised, since Hubby was sitting and everyone else is standing, he couldn’t really see the show. However he did bebop along to the music. This was a choice on our part. I imagine that if we had gone in front of the train station instead he would have been able to see the show just fine. When the show was over they started letting guests through the gates and we were already in line and ready to go see Tink!

Rope drop show from the line to enter the park

We had some concern because the Tinkerbell meet and greet was taken off the Disney website the week before. We knew that they were getting ready to move her to a new location and her fairy friends would not be moving with her. We were hoping we got into the Fairy nook before that change happened. We did check the Disney app that morning and she was listed as meeting in her nook so that is where we headed as soon as we entered the park. Sure enough, Tink was there along with her friend Silvermist! We had so much fun visiting with those fairies! They told daughter that she looked like she had been in a blueberry fight and they love blueberry fights. Silvermist felt that daughter had been sprinkled in two scoops of fairy dust and there is a one scoop limit per person. We convinced her that no rules were broken. They were wonderfully engaging. The Memory Maker photographers were awesome too. I was pleasantly surprised with the candid shots the photographers took. It really makes the photos extra wonderful.

Daughter and Tink

Next we were off to Crystal Palace for our breakfast ADR (Advance dinning reservation). We were seated to the left of the entrance at one of the tables by the windows. We had a wonderful waiter who was friendly and made sure we always had a fresh juice or coffee on the table. The buffet is pretty typical breakfast fare such as eggs, bacon and sausage, potatoes, cereals, pastries and fruit. They also served a yummy concoction called “breakfast lasagna”. It is full of pancakes, custard, bananas, berries and more. It was decadent and full of sugar and oh so yummy!

Celebrating our 20th Anniversary at Disney!

After eating all of these decadent sugar covered carbs, our waiter surprised us with cupcakes! He brought a cupcake for each of us and a card signed by the characters for daughter and a postcard for hubby and myself. It was a really sweet gesture that kicked of our day with a special start.

Anniversary cupcakes!

We met Pooh, Tigger, Piglet and Eeyore! They were all so fun and lovable! Daughter was so cute; it was like she was a little girl again.

So much cute!

We were done with our day at the Magic Kingdom so we started to head out of the park but stopped first to get photos with the memory maker photographer. I recommend getting photos taken at off hours, not just as the park opens or as the park closes. There is rarely a line and the photographers have more time to personalize your photo poses.

A princess and a castle!

We were park hoping to EPCOT so we took the express monorail from Magic Kingdom to the TTC and then over to EPCOT. Let me tell you about that express monorail ramp and a wheel chair. It was a challenge. It is a fairly steep ramp but there are flat areas just large enough for a wheel chair or ECV every so many feet. However stopping at those platforms caused me to lose momentum and make the next section that much slower. My daughter took to waiting until it was clear and running the wheelchair from the bottom to the top. That was more than I could do so more power to her.

Transferring a wheel chair onto the monorail was a breeze! There is a specific gate that wheel chairs go to and there is a cast member who stays in that area. When the monorail comes into the platform the cast member lays a metal ramp over the gap between the platform and monorail. Our only job was to center the chair on the ramp. Super easy!

EPCOT - Canopies in Future World

We had FP at 12:05 at Test Track, 1:35 at Spaceship Earth and 2:45 at Mission Space. Test track and Mission space with a wheel chair are straight forward. You just go through the line until near the landing area where a cast member took the wheel chair and we loaded the ride car. Part of test track is a ramp but hubby would just put the brake on the chair and I always stood behind the chair as some added support. We all enjoyed Test Track, especially seeing how well "our" car did in all of the tests, Our daughter enjoyed looking at the cars in Test Track. She found a green (her favorite color) one that she spent time with. I think they exchanged Skype names.

I’m glad I had the chance to ride Mission Space. I enjoyed the story. My husband and daughter loved the ride. I never feel the need to ride it again. Ever.

We really enjoy Spaceship Earth and it is always a part of our EPCOT visit. Spaceship earth cannot accommodate wheel chairs or ECV’s in the regular line so we have to enter at the exit. As a matter of fact, on any ride with a moving sidewalk or platform we were directed to the exit for boarding. This gives folks with mobility issues a little more time to board the ride car. Also the cast members can slow down the ride a little bit to help with the boarding. It’s not a huge time delay but just enough.

Happy Anniversary to us!

We had some time in between fast pass times so we enjoyed a few of the topiaries and garden. We spent a while in the hummingbird garden near the Test Track area. I love the sound of the grown bamboo rattling in the wind. It’s a very peaceful sound.

Entrance to Hummingbird Garden

Bamboo in the hummingbird garden

Next we headed to World Showcase. There were specific countries that daughter really wanted to spend time in that she felt we hadn’t given enough time to in the past. We walked through England (which we had spent several hours visiting in October) and headed straight to Canada. We took time and enjoyed the gardens and waterfall, shopped in the gift shop and even ventured to the top of the pavilion and spent some time just sitting on a bench and listening to the water fall below. The pavilion is wheel chair and ECV accessible but some of those ramps are mighty narrow. Fortunately there are platforms here and there so if there are to wheel chairs or ECV that need to pass one can stay on the platform until the other passes.

Bambie Topiaries

Canada Pavilion

Next we traveled to France! Our first stop was to the Memory Maker photographer at the fountain. He got some super cute photos of us. My favorite is the one of hubby and me giving kisses to daughter. We explored the gardens, stores and watched the movie. We had a nice time in France.

France Pavilion

Our Next stop was in Morocco! This is one of my favorite pavilions! I love getting lost in the shops and talking to the cast members. We were there specifically to meet Aladdin and Jasmine so we went straight back to their area. The cast member who directed the line was really nice man who was full of great information and lots of jokes. He made the wait seem really quick. I really liked this meet and greet location. There were drafting tables with blue prints of various lamps and one dedicated to THAT lamp. The back ground for the photos is a scene of Agrabah and really set the scene for meeting Aladdin and Jasmine. The characters were AMAZING! She had so much fun talking to them.

Aladdin and Jasmine Meet and Greet Area

Aladdin and Jasmine Meet and Greet - This photo cracks me up

We decided to spend more time exploring Morocco – we got lost in the shops looking at all of the stuff and things, talking to cast members and we spent some time in the Gallery and the current exhibit called Moroccan Style: The Art of Personal Adornment. We learned about Moroccan dress, jewelry, henna and makeup. We also enjoyed looking at the architecture throughout the pavilion.

Moroccan Shop

Moroccan Pavilion

Moroccan Style

It was getting close to our ADR at Rose and Crown so we headed back to the U.K Pavilion and checked in at the podium. While we waited we enjoyed the fun topiaries in front of the Sportsman Shoppe.

Peter Pan Topiary at U.K Pavilion

Captain Hook Topiary in U.K. Pavilion

Crocodile Topiary at U.K Pavilion

We were soon called and seated in the dining room near the back door to the patio. We love the atmosphere here and it is the one restaurant we always eat at when we visit Walt Disney World. Hubby ordered his usual, fish and chips and a Guinness beer. I also got the fish and chips and daughter ordered the Corned Beef and Cabbage, we both drank the minute maid punch. We had a lovely waitress, Igraine from Ireland. We chatted with her about Ireland and how she liked Disney. While we were eating a nice guy was seated next to us. He was sitting by his self so we started a conversation. It turns out he was on a business trip and had one day off so he decided to spend that day at EPCOT. We chatted about Disney, work, family, and life as homeschoolers.

Rose and Crown

Daughter took a selfi with her dad in Rose and Crown

Rose and Crown interior

Before we left for our trip I ordered a special 20^th anniversary cake from EPCOT Food and Beverage (407-560-6395) to be delivered for dessert. I was quoted $62 and I ordered an 8” vanilla cake with white chocolate mousse, with a thin layer of white butter cream and covered with white fondant. It was topped with a white chocolate anniversary Mickey and Minnie and inscribed in milk chocolate with “Celebrating 20 Magical Years”. I told them to just do the decoration in white, whatever they thought looked good and they piped Mickey silhouettes around the cake. It turned out really cute and tasted amazing! I forgot to take photos of the inside of the cake, but trust me, yum! Since we chose to not eat the dessert on the meal plan they deducted $10 from our cake cost which was a nice surprise. We shared some of the cake but it was still a lot of cake so we had to have it boxed to take back to our room.

Our Anniversary Cake

When Igraine came back with the box she also brought daughter a Rose and Crown U.K collectible beer mug, without beer. It was a really nice surprise that daughter really appreciated. Igraine offered to let us go out on the patio to watch Illumination but we decided to just sit at our seats since we could see the globe from the window and we could hear the music. It was nice to just relax while and enjoy the music. After the show we strolled our way to the bus stops to head back to our resort. It was a really good day!

You can view all of our day 3 photos in our Flickr album here

Disney and St. Augustine Family Vacation 2014 – Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Abby) — Thu, 31 Jul 2014 01:42:00 +0000

Day 1 and 2 – May 10 and 11, 2014 - Let them Eat Cake!

The countdown was over and it was finally the day we leave for Walt Disney World! My husband had to work on that Saturday so we decided to leave that evening and drive straight through to the Disney Art of Animation (AoA) Resort.

My daughter and I slept in and then spent the day finishing with packing, running errands and making sure everything was ready at home. Hubby got home around 7:15 pm and we all sat down to a homemade dinner and discussed our car packing strategy.

Since hubby had such a difficult time navigating the parks in October and we ended up renting a wheel chair most days, we decided to take our home wheel chair with us this trip. It made packing a bigger challenge but over all made his trip more enjoyable for him and we saved money by taking our own.

My unrealistic goal was to leave by 8:30 pm. We ended up pulling out of the drive way around 10:00 pm which was still okay.

We traveled south on I-77 and I-95 which was approximately 966 miles. We stopped 4 or 5 time for gas which averaged $3.00/gallon. We also had 3 tolls at $2.00 each. We had several potty breaks along the way and stopped at the I-95 welcome center to enjoy some orange and grapefruit juice, stretch our legs and take a few photos.

Welcome to Florida!

Postcard moment

We arrived at Disney around 2:00 PM and got excited when we passed under the Walt Disney World sign. There was a scramble for camera devices by the non-drivers to snap a picture as we passed.

We have arrived!

We made our way to AoA and pulled into the parking lot. It was such a surreal experience. We saw all of the larger than life images of Ariel, Nemo and Simba, the Disney buses and it all just hit me and I started crying happy years. None of us could believe we were back on Disney property so soon after our previous trip because we usually go once every decade. It felt lush and almost forbidden! We all took a few moments to let the environment soak in then headed to Animation Hall to check in!

Turn right at the sign

We are really here!

Animation Hall is really cool. When you enter from the parking lot all of the art is in black and white sketch form. As you walk deeper into the building the pictures slowly get color and definition added and at the far end they are in full color. Disney cast member were helpful, kind and fun. We looked around a little and then headed to our room in the Little Mermaid section.

Animation Hall - from full color side looking toward black and white side

Animation Hall - art wall]

Animation Hall full color cell wall

Chandelier made of black and white sketches

I requested a room on the 4^th floor with a lake view. You don’t necessarily get your request, but it never hurts to ask. It turns out we got building 9, room 9870, 4^th floor facing the Little Mermaid pool courtyard! We were so excited when we turned the corner and saw King Triton’s head and the pool and courtyard!

King Triton from our balcony

Panorama of Little Mermaid pool area

Then I opened the door to our room! We had all looked at photos and videos of the Little Mermaid rooms but it still did not prepare me for the awesome theming of this room! I gasped, my daughter’s jaw dropped and my husband got big eyes and a big smile! Then we ran around the room snapping photos and laughing! Yep, it was that good!

Double beds

Dresser, TV, curtain in front of vanity area

Behind the curtain, vanity, dresser, shell chair

Top of table

Bathroom vanity

Bathroom, shower curtain

Bathtub tile is Ariel's grotto

Since it was mother’s day, we called our mom’s to wish them a happy day and let them know we arrived safe and sound. We organized our luggage and stuff and then we headed back to Animation Hall to take a free animation class! Daughter and I did the drawing and my husband snapped photos of us. It was a really cool Mother’s Day thing to do together. We learned to draw Chip and Dale. There is a little room to the side of the registration desks with benches. They pass out art board (kind of like an oversized clip board), paper and pencils. Our animator had a desk that has a projector so he can project what he is doing on the wall for us to follow. He was really friendly and everyone had a great time.

Art class at Art of Animation

Daughter and I working hard on our drawings

My fat chipmunks

Since it was now almost 6 pm we decided it was time to go to the Landscapes of Flavors, AoA’s food court, for dinner. This food court has different sections that represent the different themes of Art of Animation Resort. We always sat in the Little Mermaid area and really enjoyed the decor. There were large pictures of Atlantica around the area and I noticed that light above blinked and were creating a light in the water effect as though we were under water and looking at Atlantica in the distance.

Light above the Little Mermaid area.

Atlantica pictures around dinning area

I had heard that this food court was unlike others in quality and general scrumptiousness, but I was still pleasantly surprised with just how good. We had dining plan which allows for 1 table service, 1 counter service, and 1 snack per person, per day. Counter service, which is what the food court is considered, include 1 entre, 1 dessert and 1 drink. The dinning plan also includes a refillable cup. Hubby ended up getting the meatball sub which came with salad, a decadent muffin concoction and a chocolate milk plus soda in his mug.

Enjoying that sub!

Daughter got the veggie pizza, salad, chocolate milk and a marshmallow wand. The cool thing about the wand is the marshmallows are on a Mickey crazy straw, so you get the straw for later!

Hungry!

I got the build your own pasta. You pick the type of pasta you want, the sauce, a protein and the veggie and they make it up fresh for you right then. It was so YUM! It came with garlic bread and I also got a juice, and a Mickey chocolate ganache tart.

Bad photo of my pasta - I went with bow tie pasta, white sauce, chicken and all the veggies

Another bad photo of really yummy chocolate tart

My daughter and I were enjoying the iced tea in our mugs. The meal was pretty good and it was nice to just stay at the resort for dinner.

We decided to explore the different areas of the resort but at this point hubby was going to need to use the wheel chair. So we headed back to our room to get the wheel chair and more cameras. We toured our own section, the Little Mermaid area, first. We liked how they used the plants to look like sea plants. We also noticed that all of the fish on the building were swimming to Ariel and away from Ursula. While King Triton and Ursula are engaged in a battle for control of the courtyard!

Next we walked over to the Lion King Area. There is a play ground here but no pool. I loved the landscaping!

Next is the main pool area in the Nemo section. We looked at the pool but we never went in and tried it out. There are a ton of activities going on at the main pool at any one time so there is always a crowd. I realize now that I only took a few photos of that area.

Last was the Cars area. I was most impressed with this section. It was like walking into the animated movie, so very cool. We sat by this pool for a little while and just enjoyed the theming of the area.

It was night time at this point so we talked about going to the outdoor movie at the Big Blue Pool but opted instead to head back to our room, shower relax and go to bed. We were all asleep by 10pm. We had been awake for more than 24 hours at this point so we were all ready to sleep and wake up the next day refreshed and ready to celebrate!

You can view all of our day 1 and 2 photos in our Flickr album

Let Them Eat Cake, Pre-Trip Report Part 4

noreply@blogger.com (Abby) — Wed, 07 May 2014 15:43:00 +0000

This is my last pre-trip report! I meant to keep up with this more but it has been so busy these last couple weeks.

I ordered two T-shirts for my husband and I to wear during our trip. I created 20th anniversary shirts over at Zazzle. They turned out really cute! They are a pale yellow because my husband said he didn't want white, and say "Celebrating 20 Magical Years together" with a picture of old school Mickey and Minnie giving a smooch.

Zazzle T-shirts "Celebrating 20 Magical years together"

I also made two T-shirts for hubby and I to wear on our daughter’s Birthday from Custom Ink. I chose them because they had a stock tiara design that I liked. I think these shirts turned out super cute too. I double checked with my husband before we had them printed to make sure the design was not too girly for him. I chose purple and green because these are our daughter’s favorite colors. They say "My Princess is Sweet 16" with a tiara dotting the "I" in princess. We thought about having "The Mom" and "The Dad" printed on the back, but I'm kind of cheep and didn't do it.

"My Princess is Sweet 16" T-shirts

I will probably alter mine because I am not a fan of crew necks. I like to turn them into a kind of trapeze tank top.

I also ordered a sash for our daughter to wear announcing that she is a “Sweet 16 Birthday Princess” as well as a tiara. I ordered both of these from Shindigz. Anyone can make a custom sash at shindigz with many design choices for $18.99. We found that most pre-made Sweet 16 sashes were all pink and she didn't want pink. She opted for green lettering is a sort of fancy scroll font, a purple tiara and black skull and cross bones border. She picked the "Charisma" tiara because it looks kind of like ice and she is enamored with Elsa from Frozen. I had a really hard time getting a good photo of these but you get the idea.

Sweet 16 Birthday Princess Sash and pin

Charisma Tiara

Since I had been having some issues with my sewing machine (which I managed to fix, thank-you youtube) we ordered a 4^th dress instead of my making it. (Time had become an issue.) It is a black asymmetrical skirt dress. It is super cute and was only $30. However the bodice is super sheer so she is going to wear a tank top under it. Also the train is a little long but she did not want me to shorten it. I foresee that she will have to hold it up on several occasions during her day.

I also ordered her 4 pair of microfiber shorts to wear under all of the dresses. We washed both her black and white pair of knee high chucks. She is pretty much ready to spend 4 days as a princess!

Dress

I also splurged and ordered another cake to be delivered to our room the night before her birthday. It is a two tier mini cake with green butter cream frosting, purple Mickey silhouettes and a chocolate Mickey ears topper. The cake is vanilla with a strawberry cream filling. They say it only feeds 1 but I have heard others say they shared it among three or four and it was fine. Here is an example of what it should look like, just in different colors.

I made one more reservation for lunch at Raglan Road over in downtown Disney. We all really wanted to eat there on our Downtown Disney day so I thought it wise to make an ADR.

Disney announced the opening date for the 7 Dwarfs Mine train and it is after our trip. So no FP+ for that ride for us. If we see they are running it on a soft opening we will try to ride. However we are going to go ahead and enjoy the other things we want to do and not get too caught up in waiting for it to soft open.

So with that, we are going to start packing for our trip!

Disney, DAS and Disabilities

noreply@blogger.com (Abby) — Wed, 16 Apr 2014 01:00:00 +0000

You may or may not be aware of the recent changes at Disney for guests with disabilities. In the past, guests with disabilities could obtain a GAC (Guest Assistance Card). This card let guests with multiple types of disabilities (and up to 6 family members) that may not be able to stand in long lines or who used mobility assisted devices such as wheel chairs and ECV’s that did not maneuver well in lines, a separate queue with less waiting and more room for maneuvering .

Then this happened... Rich Manhattan moms hire handicapped tour guides so kids can cutlines at Disney World.

Obviously not in the spirit the GAC was intended.

Disney decided to change their GAC policy to the DAS (Disability Access Service). The DAS basically works like a fast pass. You take your card to the Disney Cast Member and they give you a return time based on the current wait times for that ride. The family can then go do something else and then return to the line and get near instant access. If your disability is a mobility issue, you are no longer eligible for the DAS because your issues can be taken care of by renting a wheel chair or ECV. The queues have been changed to accommodate wheel chairs and ECV’s with ease.

How does this affect my family and our Disney vacations? I’m glad you asked. My husband was born with Spina Bifida. Spina Bifida is a neural tube birth defect. It literally means “split spine”. There are 4 classifications of Spina Bifida with the most severe being the most common. Hubby has the 3^rd classification.

When he was born there was a hole in his spine and a sack that protruded out of his back. The sack contained 3 vertebrae, spinal fluid and muscle that were supposed to be in his left leg. That sack was REMOVED in surgery. When he was 15 he had a spinal fusion surgery on his lower back. Basically a rod was grafted onto his spine and he cannot bend his lower back. He can bend at the waist, but he cannot round his back. His back is always in some level of pain. Hubby is not wheel chair bound. He does walk with a cane. His left leg is visibly thinner and lacking muscle. His left leg is shorter than his right leg so he wobbles when he walks. He is physically unable to walk at commando park speeds and he cannot run. If he stands or walks for long periods of time he gets fatigued. If he does not rest he will end up rolling the ankle on his left foot which almost always results in a sprung ankle.

Hubby however does not let this bring him down. He enjoys riding his bike and we often ride as a family on our many local trails. He enjoys martial arts but he does have to modify stances to accommodate his leg. He especially likes cane martial arts; it’s very useful for a man with a cane. He has many hobbies which include reading, writing stories, and leather working. He has a full time job, does stuff around the house and is a good husband and father. He is a proud man. He is often in pain, but doesn’t complain too much. He used to refuse to take any pain killers, even aspirin or ibuprofen, but he recently realized that there is no reason to live in pain when a simple anti-inflammatory medicine could help alleviate that. Part of that is him feeling the need to prove himself. I think he has gone above and beyond.

Getting back to touring Disney, even with his issues he has never requested a GAC. We could never tour the parks in the super fast commando style that some people tour. People wiz around us but we don’t care. We understand that faster folks can, and should, go around us because we are taking it in at our pace. A pace he can manage.

This past October, while we were at Disney, is when they switched from the GAC to the DAS. It was also the first time he needed to use a wheel chair while at the parks. I tend to get focused and start walking too fast for him. I would realize he wasn’t with me and would turn around to see him struggling as he trudged on trying to catch up. He kept apologizing for being slow but more concerning was that I could tell he was in more pain than usual. I want him to enjoy our vacation, not feel like he is holding any one back and certainly not be in pain. Around the third day he was moving extra slow and having difficulty so I suggested we rent a chair for him for the rest of the day. He was against it; he would be fine if he just rested. Even after a nice long and yummy meal, he was still having issues and I could tell he was in pain. So I finally said I was going to rent a chair for him and he would just rest that way. He reluctantly agreed. He doesn’t want to feel like he is disabled. I think renting the chair was a good move. We could store the back pack we carry on the back of the chair, which gave everyone a break. He could sit in a chair and move at the same pace as the rest up us. I didn’t have to worry about him because he was with me, sitting, not turning his ankle or struggling in pain. Waiting in the queue was not an issue because again, he was sitting.

We did experience some grief from other guests. It was primarily people being impatient and people passing judgment about things they have no knowledge. We just ignored it but it adds to his reluctance to use a wheel chair while at the parks, despite his pain and struggle.

We do not have any issue with the DAS because it hasn’t changed anything about our park touring.

However, a group of parents that have children with cognitive disabilities feel that the new DAS is not working for their situations. Now this is happening…Lawsuit: Disney Not Helping Autistic Kids.

Some of the parents’ feel that the new DAS is unacceptable, too stringent and does not account for all circumstances. Other parents’ feel that the new DAS is fine and that they know what their children can and cannot tolerate and adjust. I don’t know. I don’t have any family members with cognitive disabilities. I have never toured Disney with a child or an adult with a cognitive disability. I cannot comment to it in favor of one way or the other. I do want to see it work out for everyone.

Here is a blog post by Jack Burgin, who is a lawyer and a Disney fan, on the subject of the lawsuit. The post is interesting.

What ended up being more interesting are the comments. This subject, as it turns out, is a hot button. In various Disney forums, facebook and various places on the internet, lines are being drawn and sides are being chosen. Able bodied people feel that those in ECV and wheel chairs are lazy and parents with autistic children are just entitled. Parents with autistic kids feel that their needs are being ignored and those in wheel chairs are just lazy and should not have a place in the discussion. People in wheel chairs permanently feel that those who can transfer from the wheel chair are just lazy. It seems to have turned into a big “which disability is more disabled” argument. It makes me sad to see people behaving this way. It makes me sad to see people calling each other names. It makes me sad to see people not giving the same respect that they want to others.

In this made up hierarchy, my husband, a proud man, good father and husband, hard working and born with spina bifida seems to have fallen on the bottom of this totem pole. He isn’t “handicapped enough” for common courtesy or compassion. I cannot express how much this breaks my heart.

Disney is supposed to be the Happiest Place on Earth. We love going to Disney and the whole Disney experience. We want to enjoy our vacation, which cost as much as yours, without snarky comments and judgments from those who do not know our experience. We treat you with kindness and consideration; please do the same for us and for everyone you see, able bodied or handicapped.

Let Them Eat Cake, Pre-Trip Report Part 3, Cakes, Star Wars, ADR's, and FP, Oh My!

noreply@blogger.com (Abby) — Fri, 28 Mar 2014 20:19:00 +0000

I ordered cake!

We discussed several celebration ideas for our anniversary. We went to La Nouba and did a wishes cruise for our 10^th. We inquired about getting Re-Hitched, which we also did for our 10^th, but Disney doesn’t offer that anymore. We looked at some activities like meeting the dolphins and various tours, but we decided, we mostly want to spend time at EPCOT. We are getting old and kind of slow and we really just want to eat and enjoy the country pavilions. (Which also matches with our daughter’s goals, although she is neither old nor slow.) We decided to get an ADR for Rose and Crown and I ordered a fancy fondant 20^th Anniversary cake.

I requested a 6” but was told we would need to bump up to an 8”, so 8” it is. I requested yellow cake with white chocolate mousse filling, butter cream frosting, white fondant, all white decorations and a white chocolate Mickey and Minnie with the inscription of “Celebrating 20 Magical Years Together”. I was quoted a price of $63.00 +tax and gratuity. I am really looking forward to this! I can’t wait to share photos of what they come up with.

I also ordered a milk chocolate shoe dessert for our daughters Sweet 16 lunch at Cinderella’s Royal Table. My husband had ordered one for my birthday in October and she was really taken with it, so I ordered her a Happy Sweet 16 shoe. The cost is $12.50 +tax and gratuity. Here is a photo of the one from my Birthday in October. They say it only serves one but we split it among 4 and everyone was happy.

My daughter's favorite food is Mexican and she request we eat at the San Angel Inn in the Mexican Pavilion, next to the river of time, for her birthday dinner. I have checked into ordering a cake for there as well. I am going to wait until 2 or 3 weeks out to place that order though because it is an outside company that creates the cakes for some of the EPCOT Restaurants, the Mexican Pavilion being one of them. I have read that it is $23 for a 6” chocolate or vanilla cake and that we can get a character screen and inscription for no additional charge. I will be checking into that soon.

We talked about doing something special for Mother’s Day but honestly, I will be tired and I am just looking forward to hanging out at our resort. I thought about ordering a cake to our resort but there are so many great snack options that I think we will want to do that instead. Just hanging out with my family at a Disney resort has got to be the best Mother’s Day ever!

Several days ago, Disney released information on two new character dining experiences for Star Wars weekends. One is dinner at Hollywood and Vine with Disney characters dressed as Star Wars characters. The other is breakfast at Sci-Fi Dine In with the classic Star Wars characters and Star Wars clips on the screen instead of the usual B movie reel. Both meals include a photo with the characters. The meals are actually available through the week, not just on the weekends. My husband LOVES Sci-Fi Dine In for the atmosphere and we all enjoy Star Wars so I jumped on booking that. They are on the expensive side, but I cant imagine not doing this while we are there. I called the Disney reservation line after 3pm, was on hold for about 20 minutes but was able to get the ADR for the day, time and meal we wanted. There were high fives and happy dances in my living room.

ADR's, FP+, Character Meets

I have finalized all of our table service ADR’s and am pleased to have it taken care of and able to check it off of my to do list. The only reservation I never could get was for Be Our Guest. We may try for the counter service one day but at this point I’m not sure where we will fit it in.

We have fast passes picked but some of that will change as we wait anxiously for the 7 Dwarfs Mine Train Ride to open up for FP+. We got FP for Anna & Elsa too. We have never made a FP for a character meet and greet before but these two ladies are super popular and I will not stand in a line for 4 hours to meet them.

Our daughter has a list of character meet and greets she would like to accomplish on this trip and they include Anna & Elsa, Rapunzel, Tiana and Naveen, Merida, Tink and any of her fairy pals, Peter Pan, The Fairy Godmother, Eyore, Mulan and Pocahantas. It is a long list! There a a few must meets (hence the fast pass) and the rest we hope to meet.

Sewing Update:

The timing on my machine decided to go all wonky. I have been working on getting it working again so it will sew properly.

Let Them Eat Cake, Pre-Trip Report Part 2, Teen Princess Dresses

noreply@blogger.com (Abby) — Mon, 24 Mar 2014 17:45:00 +0000

The three fancy teen princess dresses are all here and I took photos!

The first two are from PacificPlex, but I ordered them through Amazon. The photos do not do these dresses justice. The light in my basement is ish so the color is off a bit. Both dresses come with a wrap which you can see hanging on the hangers. I am going to have to make a slight modification in each of these dresses to make them fit perfectly but they are pretty close off the rack.

The detailing on the green peacock dress is really pretty The peacock "feathers" are fabric and are appliqued onto the front and wrap around to the back. There are also little gems sewn on through out the bodice.

Dress Back

Bodice Detail

She loves how there are a series of different colored underskirts that add to the overall look and color combination on the dress.

Under skirts of peacock dress

The blue dress has a sequined bodice that is just gorgeous and multi-colored underskirts that add to the look of the dress.

Dress Bodice Detail

Dress underskirts

The back of this dress laces up, kind of like a corset, making it a lovely teen princess dress.

Dress Back Detail

The third dress is by U.S. Fairytales, again ordered through amazon. When we first saw this dress on the amazon webpage my first thought was it looked like a modern version of Cinderella. However when we got it, we both thought it had more of an Ariel feel! This dress fits perfect! It also comes with a wrap. This dress ended up being her favorite.

The dress looks more turquoise and the sequins reminded us of fish scales, while the skirts kind of look like ocean waves. The bodice detailing is beautiful. This dress also laces up in the back. The wraps with the other two dresses are plain but the wrap for this dress has beads sewn on the edges. Just gorgeous!

Bodice Detail

Dress Back

Dress Underskirts

Bead detail on wrap

She wants to get capri or bike length leggins to wear under the dresses and will be wearing sandles or high top tennis shoes. This princess has some tomboy in her. She is also talking about dying her hair purple for the occasion.

I bought all of these dresses at a very discounted cost so my wallet is very happy too. She looks and feels amazing in them and ultimately that was the goal, for her to feel like a princess.

Let Them Eat Cake!

noreply@blogger.com (Abby) — Sat, 15 Mar 2014 08:08:00 +0000

I was talking with our daughter about our upcoming Disney trip. She is now old enough to get her driving temps and I asked if she wanted to do some of the driving for this trip. I told her that as a new driver she would be limited to day time driving, mostly on straight roads and not in larger cities or during rush hours. Her response was, no, she does not want to share in driving duties but would prefer to be chauffeured and eat cake. So with that this trip has become our “Let Them Eat Cake Trip”.

I am going to do something I have never, ever done before. I am going to post pre-trip reports. They do this over on The Dis Boards and it is fun to follow along. I’m not really into posting there but I thought it would be fun to blog about some of our trip preparation and share here. I know I’m not fooling anybody; this is to make the scrapbooking easier later.

Her vision is to be a Sweet 16 Birthday Princess. She still loves the whole Disney Princess thing but most of the Princess events are geared to younger girls. So we are creating our own teen Princess celebrations. We have been looking at fun, flirty, fancy party dresses that she can wear in the parks and have found and ordered three. We have received two of them but the third I ordered the wrong size and had to exchange for a smaller size. They should all three be here by Monday and I will post photos. (I am using my Mom’s camera and I should be getting my tablet back this week.)

I am also plan on ordering her a tiara and a sash. I have had some issue ordering from the website so I may have to call them, or it may have just been my computer, either way I am sure we can get the issued taken care of.

She has asked me to make her a Wa Lolita style dress for one of the park days. Lolita is a street style from Japan that gives a nod to Victorian era clothing. It has expanded to include such sub genres as sweet Lolita, gothic Lolita and more. Wa is kanji for Japan and so it is the Lolita silhouette but with the addition of traditional Japanese styles such as a short kimono and obi. I have found some really cute “off the rack” Wa Lolita ensembles online. However, none of them quite meet her vision. So, I am going to make one. We found this beautiful Jade green fabric with gold dragons on it at Jo-Ann’s and I think I am going to make the kimono out of this fabric, maybe lined in gold. I think we are going to make the obi purple but not yet sure about the skirt and ruffles.

She also wants something comfortable and a little retro to wear while we are at Downtown Disney. I was inspired (again from The Dis Boards) by a dress a lady made from “vintage” 90’s Ariel sheets. So I tracked down some and plan on making her a rockabilly dress out of the sheet fabric (lined, of course).

This is a photo of the dress posted in the forum

Thus begins the sewing portion of our pre-trip planning.