Sun,Fun and Mickey Mouse Our 2 week vacation About This Page:

[tikibird]

Angelina,

Congrats on getting the picture posted - love it! [img]graemlins/love.gif[/img]

Looking forward to more pictures and reporting! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[joyjoy]

I love your report and I can't wait to see more pictures. You go, girl.
Your little one is so cute - I wish I had taken mine to WDW when she was that little. The purse thing totally cracked me up, even though it was a little uncomfortable for you both. Don't worry, though - everybody understands. [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

Write some more, please! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[angelina]

I'm going to have to back track a little to add some pictures. These pictures are all from our PSB in Norway on our second day. DD with Princess Aurora DD with Belle A hug from Snow White

[angelina]

More pictures from PSB in Norway. DD with Alice DD with Pocohantas DD with Mary Poppins.

[joyjoy]

Awwwwwwwwwww!!!! [img]graemlins/love.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/love.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/love.gif[/img]

[angelina]

Right before the infamous purse tantrum in Japan. Oh how quickly they turn.
Enjoying our wonderful dinner at Rose and Crown. I love this picture because you can see the reflection of the sun setting in the window behind us.
Illuminations from the priority viewing area in Morocco

[angelina]

The wonderful Minnie Mouse in the Toontown Hall of Fame on our third day
Running into the same Snow White and Belle from our PSB the day before
Fantasmic! Before I ran out of film of course

[Grumpygal]

Great start to your report and I really love the pictures. Can't wait for the next installment. [img]graemlins/read.gif[/img]

[angelina]

Feb 14 Our Fourth Day in DW: AK
We started our fourth day pretty much the same as the others. First things first, the Mickey wake-up call. Getting up doesn't seem so unpleasant when Mickey wakes you up. A quick workout and we're off. Today was AK EE so we really wanted to get going, so we grabbed breakfast to go from the food court.
We got a great parking spot at AK and headed in. They had about four turnstiles open with signs that said resort guests only, so we headed in and were ready to go by about 8:15. They had characters everywhere and their lines were pretty long, but we really wanted to get to KS. So, we headed towards Harambe, stopping to admire the Tree of Life. AK is just so beautiful, all the flowers and trees are especially a treat for us because we know we're going home to snow. We made our way quickly to KS. There was no wait. The wait time was posted as 5 minutes, but as a CM put it, that's just the time it takes to get through the queue area, there was no actual waiting in line. We had our own row, the last one on the truck. Now either I'm not remembering correctly or being in the last row makes the ride bumpier. Because I don't remember KS being as bumpy as it was this time. I had to hold on for dear life to DD with one arm, my camera with the other arm. And I kept DD's head against my body by hooking my chin over her forehead while she sat on my lap. It was bumpy! But what a great ride. I really aggree with all the recommendations to ride KS first thing in the morning. For one, there's no line. But for another reason, there wasn't an animal we didn't see. They were all out and about. DD just loved it. We take her to the zoo all the time at home, so she knows all her animals and their sounds. But she had never seen any animals this close before. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the bridge over the alligators used to almost "collapse" as you drove over it? This time it was a different bridge that "gave way" as we drove over it. We had a great Safari.
We headed out of Harambe and stopped to watch a man in Tribal Costume playing the drums with about six kids. It was really neat. We thought we'd see if the characters were still out and they were. Except they had moved to the entrance to Camp Minnie Mickey. We saw Mickey, Minnie, Pluto and Goofy. The characters had no lines, even Mickey was just standing there! So we got some great time with them.
We decided to see the first showing of the Festival of the Lion King, which is my favorite show in Disney. While we were waiting for the show to start a CM from Pocohontas and her Forest Friends was asking people to come watch their animal training demonstration. It was really neat. They do these training sessions with the animal trainers and Pocohontas and of course the animals. They invite an audience so the animals get used to people watching them. It's just amazing what they can teach these animals to do. When that finished we headed over to the Lion King to get our seats. Up next: The Festival of the Lion King and DinoLand, USA

[tikibird]

Hey, you're doing great with those pictures - I particularly like the purse one! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Enjoyed hearing about your morning at AK and looking forward to your next post!

[joyjoy]

When I go back I'm buying that baby that pink purse. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[angelina]

I know she would greatly appreciate that [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[rebecca c.]

LOVE all the details! You are a strong mother for not buying that sweet thing a pink purse. [img]images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] The picture was too cute - make sure and write the history of that picture- she will love hearing about it when she gets older. I hope I can get my DS(3)to keep it to only one temper fit. I wil have my mom and my DH there with me who cave at every whimper! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[angelina]

Day 4 More AK
We got great seats for Festival of the Lion King. We were giraffes. How do you make a giraffe sound? DD just loved the show, especially the tumbling monkeys. I must confess that I cried, yet again. My favorite part is when they sing, "Can you feel the Love Tonight" and the "blue bird" flies. It's so beautiful, and very romantic I might add (after all this is Valentine's Day [img]graemlins/love.gif[/img] ) The performers in this show are so spectacular, their voices are amazing! We got to sit about three rows up from the stage and the characters really interacted with us, especially the stilt walkers. It was really cool. The whole show is just incredible, If you haven't seen this show you absolutely must go!
After the show we headed to Flame Tree BBQ to have something to eat. I had a BBQ chicken salad, DD had some french fries and milk, and DH had a beer (after all what's the point of being on vacation if you can't just have a beer for lunch?) The total came to $18.35. We walked down a long path to where the seating was and we sat on a patio over looking a lake (in Asia I think.) It was just beautiful, but the birds were vicious. My DD would drop a fry and ten birds would be there to eat it. I had visions of Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" in my head. The salad was very good, it was huge. Definitely enough for two people to share. During our meal Tarzan Rocks started up. I forgot how LOUD it is. The ground was practically shaking. We could hear every word of the performance.DD had a 100 Years of Magic bar for dessert. Think she enjoyed it a little? Ok, I must confess, I helped her eat some of it. But it was melting and she wasn't eating it fast enough (isn't that the excuse we always use?) We headed into DinoLand USA and DH did Dinosaur while DD and I shopped. DH compared Dinosaur to combining Test Track with Alien Encounter. He liked it, but would probably skip it next time. DD and I would never give up an opportunity to shop. We spent most of our time looking at the Disney World playset with the monorail, some of the rides and some resorts. How cool is this? I'm amazed we made it home without one. Everytime we saw one I know DH was mentally imagining where it could go in our house. We did manage to purchase some new coloring books for DD. We used our radios to track down DH after his ride. We checked out the waits for all the rides but by this time they were all 45 minutes or more, and we just didn't want to wait. So we headed to The Boneyard. One of our greatest discoveries on this trip was playgrounds. DD just loved them, and we loved them because she burned off so much energy. One great thing about all the playgrounds in the parks was they all had areas for toddlers. DD loved climbing up the stairs and going down the slides by herself. Of course, that didn't stop DH from enjoying some of the bigger slides with her.
It was getting pretty close to nap time, so we did a little more shopping, bought our AK picture, and headed out.
We stopped at Gooding's in Buena Vista Crossroads before heading back to POFQ. We picked up some essentials, like bottled water and milk. DD fell asleep in the car and we headed back to our resort.
Up Next: Valentine's Day at California Grill and fireworks at MK

[angelina]

Valentine's Day at California Grill and MK Fireworks
We put our little Sleeping Beauty down in her little bed and hoped she would get a good nap. We had a busy night ahead of us. I should mention that when we returned from the parks to our room everyday not only had it already been cleaned, but our housekeeper had arranged DD's toys in cute little scenes in her Pack and Play (where she slept) She also folded our towels into the coolest shapes. She made our washcloths into little ducks. It was so cute, and just another reason Disney is the best!
DH and I cleaned up while DD napped and by the time she awoke a couple hours later we had plenty of time to head outside and play.
DD and I headed to the POFQ playground which is located by the pool. Once again she went crazy going down the slides. I was glad she was burning off energy now, so she would be nice and hungry and maybe a little worn out at dinner. DH joined us and we all went for a stroll. We walked along the path by the river down to POR. It was beautiful outside. A little overcast, but nice and warm. We headed back up to our room to get dressed. Once we were all ready, we strolled around the resort again and took some pictures.
As you can see from the picture, most of the trees at POFQ were not in bloom yet, which is a shame, because those magnolia trees are so beautiful. But there were some beautiful flowers that were in bloom. We had a 6:00 PS for the CG, so we headed to the Contemporary Resort.
Once there we valet parked and headed inside. The resort lobby was full of dressed up families (as was POFQ by the way) I could only assume a lot of people, like us, were going out to celebrate Valentine's Day. We had to wait for three elevators before we could finally fit on one. We got on one with a young family with four kids. They too were all dressed up. We piled in and a couple came in behind us. The woman got half way in the elevator took one look at all of us, made a disgusted face and pulled her companion off the elevator. The other DH on the elevator said, "there's plenty of room" to which the woman, still looking very irritated said, "we'll take the next one" After the door shut DH turned to the other DH and said, "well I guess they didn't want to ride with us" the other DH replied (in his thick NY accent) "well they came to the wrong vacation spot" We all got a good laugh out of the whole ordeal, and got off the elevator as the doors opened to the CG. We were seated right away, one table away from the window. The restaurant was not full which surprised me. But it was clear we were seated in the "kid's section" of the restaurant. Do you ever notice that at some restaurants? How they put the families with kids all in one area. Like we have to be quarantined or something, oh well. Our server, Rich, was a little snotty at first. It was clear he didn't want to be the server for the "kid's section". But he warmed up to us, when he realized that DD was well behaved. Once again we brought her crayons, coloring books, stickers and some Valentine's presents. We started out with some cocktails, and took a look at the menu.
We love the food here. Everything on the menu is delicious. DH thinks the food here is as good if not better than V&A. The view is breathtaking. Here's what it looks like from the balcony.

The inside of the restaurant is beautiful as well
We had our server pick a wine pairing for us for each course. We started with the sushi sampler platter and the chicken caesar faltbread. Both were excellent. Our waiter even brought DD an appetizer of goldfish crackers. The sushi here is the best I've ever had, even from Japanese restaurants. Then we had our entrees. DD had cheese pizza, which she loved. I had ahi tuna with noddles in a broth with asian vegetables. The tuna was so good, it melted in your mouth. DH had a steak, which he said was incredible. We put in our dessert order early, beacuse we were having the chocolate banana bread pudding, which takes longer to cook. DD had the cutest little dessert. It was a cup of chocolate mousse with a cup of whipped cream and a cup of sprinkles. She ate the whole thing, sprinkles and all. We were surprised by how quickly all the food came, the whole meal only took about an hour and a half. DD was perfect for the whole dinner. I have no idea what the meal cost, because we used our wish features and our server never brought us a receipt with prices on it. We were told CG was two Magical Wishes per person, but our server only charged us one MW per person. The total for DD food (except her dessert, which he counted as one of ours) and for our alcoholic beverages came to $68.16. With the tip it was $93.16. Now that might seem like a lot, but the Magical Wishes only allow for a 15% tip on the meal and we wanted to give him extra.
We decided to head over to the MK to see the fireworks, so we got our stroller and just walked over. We got a great spot on Main Street where we could see Tinkerbell's Flight and the fireworks very well. It was the topper to a very romantic Valentine's Day. DD new phrase of the day was, "ooh pretty castle". We finished out the night with some shopping (of course) and headed back to our resort.
When we got back to POFQ we were all wide awake, so we slipped into our suits and headed out to the hot tub. We enjoyed a relaxing soak under the stars. Then we headed inside The Mint (the main building at POFQ) where DH picked up a couple of nightcaps from Scat Cat's and we all sat in the lobby and watched cartoons. DD loved the little rocking chairs. We finally headed up to our room at about 11:00 and put DD to bed. She went down without a fight and we all fell asleep.
Up Next: Day 5 MGM and oh my gosh did they ever change TOT