A 5th birthday at Disney

There were four main reasons that we decided to go ahead and go to Disney now:

1.  We got our Disney Visa as we began Caleb's adoption process.  That meant that the first few months we had our card were BIG expense months and that when Disney Dollars started expiring in December we'd be losing several hundred in the first few months (which adds up to one child's weekly admission).

2.  Going before the high season this spring meant pulling only one child out of school vs. three kids after high season this fall.

3.  The girls are in the height of their princess/fairy stage and we didn't want to miss those magical moments.

4.  By going the first full week of March, we could hit some birthdays.

On Friday, March 9th, it became apparent that reason #4 was a pretty popular one.

By the time her birthday rolled around, we had visited all four parks and so we let DQ direct where we would begin the day.  I wasn't surprised in the least when she requested to head to the Magic Kingdom.  After all, isn't that a fairy and princess lover's dream come true?

For all her dancing and twirly skirts, my my Darcy Q has got a lot of adventure in her and the first place she wanted to visit was the Swiss Family Treehouse.

and there are my three five year olds (on march 9th all the bigs are the same age) plus their 3 1/2 year old sidekick

they were quite curious about the water system so we spent some time observing how it worked.
i was quite honest to ky's school that our trip was to disney, but figured we'd squeeze in some fun educational aspects when we could  

It was pretty hot at that point, so Splash Mountain was calling our names.  The boys saw the big hill and couldn't get in line fast enough, the girls needed a little convincing.  Unfortunately this ride was our one "Disney Downer" as I'm going to call it.  We let Daniel wear his new ($7 Wal-mart) Lightning McQueen crocs that day instead of putting him in tennis shoes and socks.  Not a good choice when height checks are part of the deal.  Strangely enough, he passed the first two checks on the ride, but at the final one he wasn't having any part of standing still ~ in his defense we had waited for nearly 40 minutes AND he had already been checked twice ~ and the attendant wouldn't let him on.  We very calmly tried to explain that attendants at the first two height stations had found him tall enough, but she wasn't going to budge.  Without making ourselves look like jerks trying to put fun over our child's safety, I took Caleb and DQ on the ride and Ian took a relieved Ky and a wailing Daniel to the "baby swap" area.  Word to the wise, the signs that say "You may get wet on this ride" are pretty accurate...

Then Ian took Caleb back on the ride so he could enjoy it himself.  Poor Daniel, he is probably going to be more of an adrenaline junkie than the other three together ~ I'll have to take him to Carowinds to ride the Borg when he's tall enough to make up for his disappointment of missing of Splash Mountain.

Of course when Ian went on the ride Daniel fell apart again, but thankfully the line is very near a stop on the Walt Disney World Railroad and the whistle of the train distracted him from his letdown.  We took a round trip to circle the park and by the time we were done, he was all smiles again.  At that point we hopped a raft over to Tom Sawyer island, did a little exploring and found a picnic table to enjoy our pb & j's, apples and carrots.  The entire island was fun ~ a cave and a mine to navigate, the barrel bridge, a windmill ~ but the highlight was the fort.

Still don't quite understand the draw of the large oak barrel, but three out of four M kiddos seemed to agree that it made a pretty awesome drum.

After spending well over an hour exploring, we rafted back to 'the mainland' of Frontierland and caught the Country Bear Jamboree.  I have one word for that show on the adult side of the spectrum.  Hilarious. Absolutely hilarious.  What made it even funnier were the comments on how beautiful the female bears were by our girls.  And while the girls LOVED the show and Caleb wiggled on to the beat of the music, one M kid found it a little dull.  Could have been that 5 1/2 days of parkin' caught up with him.  Or maybe it was a combo of both...

So it was time to slow down a bit.  Daddy and the girls caught a show in front of the castle

while the boys and I procured fast passes to the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.  And by saying "the boys and I," what I really mean is that I got the passes while they perfected "operation stroller nap."

You know you've got some serious sleepers when they manage to sleep through a parade...

i can still hear the girls excited voices as they told each other, "did you see, belle waved right to me!"

It was perfect though because the girls got to do two very girly things while the boys got some much needed rest and we were able to make the most of our pre dinner hours.  Just after the parade, we noticed that the line to meet the princesses in Town Square Hall was only 15 minutes long.  The girls, Daniel and I headed in while Ian rested his feet on a bench with Caleb still snoozing in the stroller.

aurora, belle and then cinderella entertained my crew ~ the girls are convinced they really are princesses

While Daniel may have met and hugged a princess, his highlight of the day came when he got to drive A RED CAR (I'll never forget his squeal of 'Nook Mommy, I drive Yight-nin Mah Quee!') at the Tomorrowland Speedway!

The best part?  His big sister saw how much he enjoyed driving and when we rode the second time she passed up her time to drive so he could again take the wheel.  Makes my heart smile when my kids are so sweet to one another.  

While the girls aren't much on fast roller coasters, they do enjoy their "spinny" rides and since the Astro Orbiter had a short wait, we blasted off for another view over the Magic Kingdom.

We caught the Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor and then decided it was time to head out for dinner.  As we got off the ferry boat back to the parking lot, Daniel noticed that there was 'pow pow' in the sky, so we took in the fireworks show from a different vantage point.

they even pipe in the music over at the parking area.  less crowds, better view of the fireworks ~ catching the show from the parking lot may just be the way to go...

After a fast and cheap dinner at CiCi's pizza there was just one item of business left for the new five year old ~ opening her birthday gift.  

a fairy house with a mini tinkerbell and terence was right up her ally

Happy 5th birthday to my littlest fairy.  It was such a fun day of celebrating!

Wordless Wednesday {the birthday girls}

5
3/09/12

6
3/10/12

who we met

The second time we ventured over to the Magic Kingdom ~ day 5 of parkin' it (Thursday) ~ it was much more about who we met than what rides we rode.

Our two little water talents ~ that would be water fairies to those of you non-versed in fairy speak, water talent fairies create dew drops and help fish swim up waterfalls ~ were set on heading to Pixie Hollow to meet the fairies this day.

And meet them they did.  Thankfully the line was reasonable and there were fairy video clips playing to entertain their squirmy brothers.  Once we made it back into Pixie Hollow our girls were thrilled to make acquaintence with both Tinkerbell

and Rosetta.

One of the photography assistants made conversation while we were waiting for our turn with Tinkerbell and asked if Caleb and Darcy were twins.  When I told her that while they were very close in age and the best of friends that they weren't actually twins, she smiled and said that she was a twin and that my two seemed to have that special connection.  We continued chatting and so I asked her if Silvermist was in the park today as she was the common favorite at our house.  She told us that Silvermist was only able to take a break from her water responsibilities on special occasions but that Terence would be stopping by in a little bit and if we wanted to come to the back door of Pixie Hollow she'd personally let us back in without waiting in line again.

That gave us enough time to catch a jungle cruise (so, so cheesy to Ian and I after taking our safari in the Animal Kingdom, but the kids LOVED it) and come back to visit with Terence for a few minutes.  All four were enamored with him.

What tickled me was that Caleb seemed to have enjoyed meeting Terence even more than the girls did.  He was so giggly and cute after we walked out.

terence e is after all a dust fairy and maybe caleb hoped he had been sprinkled with a little pixie dust so he could fly...

While the pixie dust didn't work out, we hopped a magic carpet next and flew above Adventureland.

Daniel charmed a snake.

can't tell you how glad i am that he didn't choose this as his "one thing"
(to prevent a never ending chorus of "can i have" or "i want" we told the kids that they needed to keep their eyes open and at the end of the week could choose ONE gift each ~ worked like a charm)

Then we waited in our longest character line of the week to meet Rapunzel.  This was a time that packing our lunch worked in our favor, we ate to pass the time.  Finally it was our turn...

the girls were so cute with concern that rapunzel would be offended they were wearing silvermist dresses instead of their rapunzel ones.  i told them to explain to rapunzel that they had worn their dresses over the first day we came but that we didn't get to meet her that day.  ky held me to my word and i overheard her apologizing.

It was especially hot that day and we were all worn out, so with a brief stop to admire the castle, we headed back to the condo for much needed naps and a Chick-fil-A fix before continuing our Disney day.

We wrapped up the day at Epcot, riding Spaceship Earth (Ian rode with the boys and ended up getting the German commentary due to little fingers on the screen) and playing some of the interactive games after the ride is over,

the girls did slightly better than the boys and powered up a mega city

We traveled The Seas with Nemo and Friends, again.

We listened to Turtle Talk with Crush, again.   At least Crush was more exciting this time because Caleb was one of the kids that got to talk to him, a true highlight of his trip!

crush getting into position to chat with caleb about swimming

Caleb and I even got to squeeze in a trip to Mars on Mission SPACE.

But again, the evening was highlighted by who we met.

There was Pluto,

Goofy,

Donald,

Mickey,

and...

wait for it...

Minnie.

Not that Minnie herself was the show stopper.  Did you notice who was in that picture with her?  

My big girl actually decided she could put her fears behind her to tell Minnie hello from her friend Corrie.  She was a bit nervous, but determined to approach Minnie without holding my hand.  I was so proud of her!

We spent a good deal of our time waiting to meet some of the characters that day.  But from DQ's proud statement that she got to touch Rapunzel's hair to Caleb's pixie dust giggles to Daniel's squeals of Meeh-kee Moss to Ky's big step, it was totally worth it!

Tinseltown Disney Style

Wednesday will go down in our books as "show day."  There aren't that many rides at Hollywood Studios, and out of those, most are too intense or have height restrictions that are too tall for our crew.  Our plan was to start with Toy Story Mania, let Ian and I get in the single rider lane for Rock 'N Roller Coaster, catch a few shows and OF COURSE "meet" Mater and McQueen and then head out early and take advantage of our hopper passes.

Toy Story Mania is wildly popular and by the time we arrived at the park the line was already 80 minutes long with fast passes available for long after we were planning on leaving.  So Toy Story was a no go for us, good thing our kids aren't too crazy about Woody, Buzz and their friends.

Next part of the plan, Ian accompany the kids to Little Mermaid (Ky was a bit nervous about Ursula appearing and requested Daddy's presence) while I hit Rock 'N Roller Coaster.  There were two more single riders in front of me when the ride went down.  Really?  Really??

At that point I wondered if I was going to get to ride a roller coaster on this trip.  And of course Ian and the kids had missed the Little Mermaid show, and it started to look like we were on track for a second day of major derailment.  Enter time to improvise again.

Ian wisely headed directly to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids movie set play lot and they had so much fun there they were totally oblivious to my frustration.  Once again I learned so much from them and decided to go with the flow.  So we played.

Then it was show time.

my girls are pretty big miss piggy fans

We caught the Muppet Vision 3-D, Beauty and the Beast, the Little Mermaid AND Disney Junior Live on Stage all pretty much in a row.  We'd ask if they wanted to see another show and each time they'd instantly answer 'YES!'  Well, the kids did.

Cause during Little Mermaid I did indeed get to ride Rock 'N Roller Coaster and during the Disney Junior show, Ian got to ride it twice and catch the Tower of Terror.

The only breaks in show time were to meet some characters.  We hugged on Handy Manny,

wee one actually was pretty excited to meet manny, don't  know why he froze up  at photo time

 flexed muscles with Jake from the Neverland Pirates,

during both of these photo opps i had a very close companion

and had our first sighting of McQueen.

do you see those smiles?

 And then THE moment for the boys.  I'm pretty sure we could have told Daniel immediately after this picture was taken that it was time to go home and he would have happily headed back to NC.

Of course we're a whole family of Cars fans, so we all did step in to schmooze with McQueen and Mater.

please note that Daniel couldn't be bothered to glance at the camera, he was far too enamored with LMQ to look up

Then it was time for a little pick me up in the form of frozen treats.

three out of four chose strawberry fruit bars instead of chocolate covered vanilla ice cream in the form of mickey.  i have weird kids.  :)

It was early enough in the day that we made a beeline back to Animal Kingdom.  At the entrance I very politely asked the gate assistant if Everest was back up.  When I explained how we missed it twice the day before, she apologized and happily wrote us a fast pass for the ride.  Wouldn't you know though that we arrived just in time to get stuck on the wrong side of the parade from all the attractions.  Thankfully we had missed the Festival of the Lion King show (on our side of the parade route) the day before, and walked in just as they started seating.

Next item of business?  Trying to catch a safari.

mission accomplished!  oh, and the orange addition to c's glasses?  a confetti banner from the disney junior show.  he's currently using it as a headset, not sure who he's talking to...

And then there was the grand finale.  Everest.  It was pretty cool!  And you know who rode it more than anyone else in our family?  Let me introduce you to our newest roller coaster junkie!  Caleb rode it with me and then again with Ian.  You know, so neither one of us would have to ride alone.

that's my boy ~ the roller coaster junkie!  

funny that the first day he was the one that wouldn't pose with me in front of everest.

So five shows and very few rides in one day.  But it sure made them happy...

Munchkin favorite moments.

Ky ~ The Belle show!  She was enthralled every bit of it, but the highlight was "when Belle fell in love with the beast and broke the spell!"

Caleb ~ "Being brave and riding the big, scary roller coaster.  Oh, and I liked Lion King too.  I like the song (starts singing) just can't wait to be king."

Darcy ~ "I LOVE the Little Mermaid!"

Daniel ~ "McQueen!"  (of course!)

A day on the wild side

Our day at Animal Kingdom was not quite the Disney postcard that our first few days had been.  It started out just fine and spirits were high despite the insane number of people that seemed to be squeezed in everywhere.

ready to roll in their safari themed clothing

But then Expedition Everest went down.  Twice.  And Ian, Caleb and I didn't get to ride.  At all.

And then there was only four of us taking the safari.  I sat that one out with Daniel.  But at least I wasn't the parent that got puked on.  (Thankfully it seemed to be a fluke ~ he was a bit puny for the rest of the afternoon, but perked up after a granola bar and water and was back to full speed today).

We did lots of double tracking just trying to get away from the crowds.

Initially I was pretty cross about having our perfectly laid out day ruined.  But instead of getting bent out shape, I ended up being able to slow down and enjoy the beauty all around us.

We took time to do all the nature walks.  We rode the train over to Rafiki's conservation station.  We let the kids play in the dino boneyard playground.  We took time to find all six junior conservation stations so our kids could collect the stamps and do a little learning in the process.  We caught a show and the parade.

In reflection, the whole "so what you had a great outline but your day isn't going to happen that way" experience was really good for me because I was reminded that even "off schedule," there is enjoyment.

At the end of the day two of our kids said it was their favorite park so far.

Their highlights:

Daniel ~ Loved his playtime at the boneyard, especially the excavation site.  That's where he and I hung out after he started feeling better while we were waiting for the rest of the M6 to finish the safari.  But he also LOVED the TriceraTop Spin and was all smiles before we took flight.

who cares that triceratops weren't known for their flying abilities; maybe they took lessons from dumbo?

Darcy Q ~ Said that while she liked the whole day, that getting all of her junior conservationist stamps was her favorite part.  Hands down.

earning her dino stamp.  she was all business at each of the stations.

Caleb ~ He didn't hesitate at all before answering that his "best part" was the Nemo show.  He kept talking about it all day.  (And I have to agree, it has been one of my favorites here too).  Of course there was no photography in the theatre, so I'll have to show him at his body's favorite part of the day...

he did actually ask at one point if he could lay down in the stroller ~ we got in a nature walk and the girls rode triceratop spin twice while they were sleeping

Kylie ~ We had gone in reverse age order in asking about highlights of the day.  After Caleb finished his answer, we didn't even have to ask her.  Her eyes got huge and she confidently said, "My best thing was the Sa-Far-E!"

ian kindly took lots o' pictures for me on the safari ride ~ ky's excitement in this one is hard to miss

All in all, it wasn't a "Disney perfect" day.  But it was a really good one, one that created memories for us as a family spending time exploring each side path we found.

And it was topped off with hash browns at IHOP.  Cause you know, fried, shredded potatoes can make anything better, even missing a really cool roller coaster.