RoseBug
<font color=royalblue>I'm a Geordie, we don't own
- Joined
- Jun 20, 2011
Sorry if my TR isn't great, got back last night and then got a phonecall this morning to say my mam has been ill all weekend, spent the day at hospital with her and she has been admitted with pneumonia. She is "okay" but I am slightly distracted!
Friday
Anyway, on Friday we set off for the airport at a little after 3pm with a little girl telling us on repeat that she was going to Disneyland to see "Mickey and Minnie Mouse too". She was mega excited at the airport, especially when we were at our gate waiting to board, telling everyone who sat near us that she was going to see Mickey! We boarded the plane and she was a bit of a handful because she was so excited, but she settled down and loved her goody bag that Minnie had asked me to give her for the flight! We had an uneventful flight and touched down bang on time with a sleeping little girl, grabbed our stuff and got into our private transfer and she woke up, asking if she was at Disneyland yet! We arrived at the Cheyenne, and started to check in, had a bit of a nightmare with HB vouchers, as they hadn't given us the premium ones we upgraded to and then had to wait whilst she checked if we could use them at Inventions for Sunday Brunch (still no sure answer so we were told we had to phone ourselves the next day!) and DD had an accident which made it all very stressful.
Finally got our re-printed HB vouchers and went to our room, it was in a perfect situation, 2 seconds from the facilities and right on the lake to walk to DLP (took 5 minutes to get to the village - 10 to get into the park!) in the Sitting Bull building. We were in room 1774, which was very nice, basic but clean, got into the room, got DD cleaned up then noticed the chocolate coins and water which had been left for us and got wrapped up and headed into the Village!
The first thing DD saw when we hit the Village was the statue of Aurora outside the shop so this just made her super excited and she squealed "MAMMY! Look! It's Aurora!" We headed into Rainforest Café for supper but DD was too excited and just wanted to run around the restaurant looking at the animals! We then had a look round the shops but by this time it was 11pm so we headed back to the room, stupidly thinking DD would go to sleep. It finally took daddy getting into bed with her and cuddling her in to get her to stay in bed and stop switching the lights on and off, and by then it was well after midnight! :-(
Saturday
We had a very early start, with a wake up call from Mickey, but it was possibly too early and it set DD off in a grumpy mood. We headed to breakfast which was a bit manic and DD and Hubby didn't want anything so we headed into the park, with me eating a nabbed pain au chocolat and a ham roll.
We got to the park just after 8am for EMH, and DD was so excited to see DLH - thinking it was the pink castle. She started to get really excited as we entered the park, proclaiming how pretty everything was and we headed round the side so she couldn't see the Castle straight away and went to City Hall. We told the CM there that it was her birthday, so he gave her a birthday sticker and made a phonecall, handed her the phone and her face just lit up! She was smiling and looking at us the whole time, I couldn't hear everything but I did hear Mickey talking to her and wishing her a happy birthday!
When we left City Hall, we took her out of the buggy and started to walk round towards the Castle, so I was saying to her "What's around here Rosebug? What do you think it could be?" and when we finally got into view her face was just a picture, mouth wide open, huge grins and shouts of "Wow, mammy, daddy! Look! The Castle! It's so pretty, the princesses castle!!" And she started to run towards it!
[/url] DSC_0046 by rosebug09, on Flickr[/IMG]
So we headed down to the castle and she was so very excited, then went into Fantasyland. We walked onto It's a Small World, which she loved, but by the time we got off she was just too cold and started crying and asking for a hug. So we headed up to Main Street again, had a wander around some shops and warmed up abit, and DD does what she never normally does and asked us to buy her something, all she wanted was a cuddly Mickey Mouse and then we walked out of the arcade and right into the very short queue to meet Mickey and Duffy! DD was waiting so patiently and grinning up at us everytime she caught a glimpse of Mickey, and then Duffy walked out, at this point DD was just awe-struck and kept pointing at him and saying "Wow!" so when he came over to see her, and mimed Happy Birthday to her, pointing at her birthday sticker she was so happy, ran to him with her arms out and gave him a huge cuddle.
[/url] DSC_0067 by rosebug09, on Flickr[/IMG]
It was fabulous and the start of a wonderful weekend of character interaction. Then it was our turn to meet Mickey, and DD ran up to him, he mimed Happy Birthday, played with her and she gave him lots of kisses but the CM who had our camera was too busy talking to get a photo, although she did get a fab one of us all together (which I can't post as I'm a teacher!) and then we headed to the Cable Car Café to warm up. We ordered hot chocolate, donuts and a giant cookie for DD! She loved finally warming up, took her snow suit off and quite happily chilled - until I went out to the arcade to go to the toilet and saw aload of characters! So I rushed back in and chucked her coat on and took her out to meet Chip and Dale! They were amazing with her, played with her for a good few minutes, mimed "Happy Birthday" to her and danced, cuddled and kissed her. Then as we were walking off down the arcade after saying our goodbyes, Dale came running after us and grabbed her other hand and walked right down the arcade with her! She loved it!
We tried to get close enough to meet Pinnochio and Gipetto, but too many people pushing etc. and I didn't want to subject her to that, so we stood back and watched Remy running and dancing up and down the arcade!
By now it was 11:30am so we got wrapped up again and headed towards Auberge de Cendrillion for the most amazing meal ever! We got there about 11:50am, and got a quick photo with the carriage. Then the doors opened and we were the first ones in. When we handed over her birthday cake voucher, there was a quick discussion in French about where we were to be seated, and then a table number mentioned, and we were told with a smile "For the birthday girl!" and we were led into the dining room and sat at the table right next to the fireplace. Suzy and Perla made a huge fuss of DD (and every other child, but they really have a knack of making you feel like your child is the only one there) dancing with her, cuddling her, miming Happy Birthday etc. Perla especially was just amazing with her, and kept coming back to see her and cuddle her. Then hubby took DD to the toilet - and the Princesses arrived! I was gutted watching Snow White and the Prince dancing knowing that DD was missing it. But she didn't mind, and she caught the "entrance" again when they re-entered half an hour later! I saw her face as she walked towards our table, watching the Princesses in front of us. As soon as she sat down Aurora came over and made such a huge fuss of her, talking about how they were both wearing blue dresses and how beautiful she was, asked her about her birthday and if she was having a lovely holiday. She really was truly wonderful with DD, and DD was so smitten with her!
[/url] DSC_0124 by rosebug09, on Flickr[/IMG]
She then went off and Snow White and the Prince came to see her, again they were fantastic (but not as fantastic as Aurora) and spent ages chatting to her about her birthday and her dress. Snow White asked for a kiss, and then the Prince asked for one, and she gave him a huge kiss, that lasted that little bit too long for Daddy's liking and the Prince laughed and gave her a huge hug.
[/url] DSC_0138 by rosebug09, on Flickr[/IMG]
We got a few more visits from Suzy and Perla, in between gettting our appetisers and starters (all lovely but we weren't there for the food and tbh we only ate bread - I am not big into duck, salmon and caviar!) and then Cinderella came over to see DD. She was very lovely, made a big fuss about how DD had the same dress on as her, and said Happy Birthday, gave lots of cuddles and kisses and then went off.
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DD made some little friends and spent some time dancing and playing and eating very little. The Princesses made their entrance again so she got to see them dancing which was lovely. Then we heard whispers between the waiters and Snow White and they all disappeared. Seconds later the music started and we heard "Happy Birthday to you..." and saw the waiters, Snow White, the Prince, Perla heading over with her cake singing and clapping. They stood round the table and sang to her (couldn't pronounce her name, so quickly switched to Princess!) and presented her with her birthday cake and she blew out her candles. Then Snow White, the Prince and Perla (?) started to pose for her birthday photo, and suddenly Aurora appeared and said "Oh can I please be in this photo too? For princess Rose?" and joined in!
[/url] DSC_0177 by rosebug09, on Flickr[/IMG]
It was really the most wonderful experience, and DD was just in awe the whole time, she didn't say too much to the Princesses as she was so awestruck, especially with Aurora, who she is now totally besotted with! As we left she played with her new friend's little brother some more whilst I had a lovely chat with their daddy and then we got wrapped up again and headed out to the freezing cold. We had a wander round some shops and then headed back to the room to get DD warmed up and let her have a nap before we headed back to the parade!
After her nap we got wrapped up again and practically ran back to the park to get a good spot for the parade. We managed to get a fab spot, right at the front opposite the Storybook Store. Rose was getting a tad whingy as she was cold, but then the music started and she stopped whinging and looked at me, then squealed and broke out into a huge grin - pointing to the float coming round the corner, then shouted "Mammy! It's Mickey and Minnie!!" She was in heaven during the parade, pointing at the characters and telling us to "look! look!" as if we weren't already! She loved The Lion King float but the highlight for her was the Princes and Princesses - as they walked round the corner she started to wave manically and shouted "Mammy, look the princesses, they are so pretty! And the Princes too! Daddy - LOOK!" However, little did we know that this part of the parade was going to be TRULY magical for Rose, as first of all Tiana and Naveem (two of Rosebug's favourites) came straight over and said "Happy Birthday Princess!" to her, quickly followed by Snow White and the Prince, who came over full of Happy Birthdays and smiles, but the highlight was - yet again - Aurora (a different one to Auberge) who stood with her for what seemed like ages, saying Happy Birthday, and telling her how beautiful she was! It absolutely made Rosebug's dreams come true!
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We then intended to start having a wander round the different lands, as we still hadn't made it off Main Street/Fantasyland, we managed to walk onto the teacups which she loved and wanted to go on again, but the queue was too big at this point.
[/url] DSC_0288 by rosebug09, on Flickr[/IMG]
She then asked to go onto the Carousel, but started to get tired and cold again, and decided she didn't like it anymore, so we headed out of the park, grabbed a McDonalds (via the very easy and quick fastpay thing) and ran back to our room. Enjoyed our McDonalds more than we should have done and then got wrapped up, DD put her Cinderella dress back on and headed over the road to the Red Garter Saloon, stopping off at the store first to buy Rosebug a Tiana doll for her castle (she had birthday money to buy things). We got into the bar and on the bloody screen was the match and Newcastle were getting beat 5-0, so that put hubby in a bad mood! Thanks to this forum I was obsessed about getting a Glow-tini, so hubby went off to the bar and Rosebug and I opened Tiana. When hubby got back to the table Rosebug was quite taken with my glowing drink, and her fruit juice cocktail in a shaker cup. She then went off to play with hubby, and I noticed you could buy Glow-tinks, so I sneaked off to the bar and bought one and popped it onto her shaker for when she got back. You can imagine her face when she came back and saw a glowing tink sitting on her drink!
[/url] DSC_0311 by rosebug09, on Flickr[/IMG]
We then headed back to the room, I ended up in the bunk bed and hubby and Rosebug fell asleep in the double bed (I have a dodgy pelvis so struggle to lie in one position with a toddler in the bed!) all dreaming about Princesses and our hopes for the next day!
Sunday
Well, the alarm call from Mickey came at 7am, then 7:30am and finally we managed to drag ourselves out of bed at 8:30am. We skipped breakfast and made it to the Studios at around 10am. My favourite ride is Rock n Roller Coaster so we headed straight to that, only to find it closed. The queue for Crush (which is the ONLY ride I REALLY want to try that I have never done yet!) was over an hour, so we trotted round to Toy Story Playland. We walked onto Slinky and DD LOVED it, laughing and squealing with her arms in the air the whole way round, and made us queue up again for it straight away!
We then tried to queue for the Cars ride but it had started to get bitterly cold again and DD started to get upset again, so we headed out and made our way to the store, hoping to get hubby a retro Mickey t-shirt (no luck). And then DD asked for a giant cookie – so we headed back into the park, and straight to Cable Car Café to get Rosebug her giant cookie, and donuts and hot chocolate for us (oh how I wish DD would drink hot chocolate, or hot milk, even tea (decaf) but she just won’t! Water or juice only!) She loved it in the CCC, especially the piano music playing – so she sat there quite happily pretending to play piano on the table. We then got wrapped up again (those snow suits are such a chore to get on and off little ones!) and had a wander round some stores, and told DD she could choose a dress to buy with her birthday money – I was quite surprised she chose Aurora, but after the amazing character interaction yesterday, I shouldn’t have been that surprised! We then decided to head down to the Tangled meet & greet for the 12pm session, as Rapunzel and Flynn are DD’s FAVOURITES! And this where the CM’s really made the magic happen for little Rosebug! We got there and were told that it was cancelled and they wouldn’t be appearing, Rosebug looked really sad, and I said to the CM “Oh, that is such a shame, Rosebug will be devastated, and she made a present for her too! Nevermind!” and at that the CM said to me “Well, if she has a present for her, take it to City Hall and they will sort something out!” So I thought she meant that they would take the present and arrange for it to be given to her, we were heading up to Inventions for lunch anyway, so popped into City Hall and told the CM there what we had just been told, he smiled at DD and said “Okay, can you just come into this room here, and I will be right back!” We were ushered into a side room and the doors closed. Literally 2 minutes later, a knock came on the internal door and in walked the CM and another CM, and then in walked Rapunzel!!!!!!!! Just to see DD! She was AMAZING, sat with her and chatted to her, even though DD was in total awe and just sat gazing at her, whispering her name. She had made a purple bracelet for her (her own idea, with her birthday present bead set, I just had to tie the ends!) and gave it to Rapunzel, who put her hand out and DD slipped it onto her wrist. She said she would wear it always, and asked Rosebug about her birthday, chatted about her holiday and told her how beautiful she was! She got lots of hugs and kisses, we were in there for about 5 minutes and it was just magical! As soon as we left, DD started chattering on about how she had met Rapunzel, and how pretty her hair was – if only she did this when she was actually with her!
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It was now time for our Sunday Brunch at Inventions so we headed up to the DLH and couldn’t believe it when we got to the restaurant – as there was Rapunzel and Flynn (but a different Rapunzel!) I was so worried that DD would realise it was a different Rapunzel – but she was too in awe of Flynn, I swear she loves him. We were seated near the window, with a fab view of the castle and were desperately trying to get DD looking half decent (hat hair and twenty layers of clothes) but they arrived at our table before she managed to get her new Aurora dress on, they stopped for a while (she didn’t have her birthday badge on during this meal, and I regret this, as she loved getting happy birthdays the day before!) and chatted, Rapunzel was nice, but quite quiet – Flynn was AWESOME with her, he played with her hair and told her it was obviously magical, and she was prettier than Rapunzel. Rosebug went all shy at this point, and kept smiling up at Flynn! They posed for a photo and headed off.
[/url] DSC_0384 by rosebug09, on Flickr[/IMG]
We then got DD into her dress, and crown, hair all over the place but she didn’t care and plonked her into a highchair in the vain attempt to keep her seated and eat something! Well, this was all pointless, because at that point in walked Princess Minnie and Prince Mickey – I was so excited when I saw them, and they came straight over to see DD, as we were right by the door and they spent ages with her. Mickey told her (with help from me reading his sign language, and getting the thumbs up from him for the help) that her dress was beautiful and the same as Minnie’s. He made her hair go all static and thought it was hilarious so kept doing it, danced with her, hugged her, kissed her and made her feel so special. Princess Minnie was wonderful too, making DD do a twirl, and giving her a huge hug, at which point Mickey put his hands on his chest to say how lovely it was!
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Once they went I tried to get DD to eat (this is a touchy subject in our family!) and managed to get her to have a few pieces of chicken, I had some Irish stew, followed by pasta and then chicken korma. It was all very lovely but again, we weren’t there for the food.
Then we had a visit from Rapunzel and Flynn again, they stopped by to tell her how beautiful she looked in her dress and Flynn *whispered* that she best be careful because he liked her crown! Once they left Dale came over, and made such a huge fuss of her, dancing with her, making her courtesy whilst he bowed etc. He spent ages with her, and signed her book “To a beautyiful princess” which she thought was brilliant when I read it out to her “Me? Really! Wow, thank you!” and she was truly smitten.
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We then did desert, and headed out to have a wander round DLH. We had half board premium vouchers and had had to phone the manager the day before to see if he would allow us to use them, as we had been mis-sold by the CM on the phone. They were fantastic, and only took 2 of our vouchers (as DD ate practically nothing and it was noticed), leaving us with the child one spare. We got very wrapped up and headed into the park, we bought one of the souvenir coins on the way in, with Princess Minnie on and DD was thrilled with it, held onto it tight and said it was her treasure. She promptly fell fast asleep, all wrapped up – so we used this as an excuse to FINALLY see the rest of the park.
[/url] DSC_0420 by rosebug09, on Flickr[/IMG]
I got a fast pass for Space Mountain, but never got back onto it due to technical problems, but not really bothered. We walked round the lands, caught a distant glimpse of Peter Pan, admired the frozen Skull Rock and had a mooch around the shops.
Then headed back to main street for the Parade. Hubby got a spot, right outside Casey’s so I headed in and asked if we could use the spare child voucher, which we could so got some hotdogs, chicken nuggets for DD and hot chocolate. Just as I finished my hotdog and lifted DD out of her buggy she started to shout “Daddy, LOOK it’s Donald Duck!” and this marked the start of another magical parade for DD. First interaction came from Piglet, who came over and mimed Happy Birthday to her, and then started playing peek-a-boo with her, which she thought was hilarious.
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Then during the Peter Pan section, one of Hook’s Pirates came up and started singing “Happy Birthday little girl, Happy 3rd birthday to you!” and beeped her nose! She turned to her daddy and whispered “That was a real pirate!”.
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Then came the Lion King float, which again was met with much excitement from DD – followed by the Princesses and Princes! Tiana came over to DD and wished her a happy birthday again, and then the only Princess we hadn’t had interaction from (besides Ariel and Jasmine, who are on the float), Belle, came over and told her she was very pretty and to have a lovely birthday!
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And that was the end of our holiday, we headed out of the park, back to our hotel, grabbed our bags, DD insisted on putting her Aurora dress on again, and now that she didn’t need to be wrapped up we let her, and got our private shuttle (not so private, as the guy picked someone else up on the way?!? But they were at the same terminal so no biggy, except for the price of a private shuttle!) to the airport. My daughter had everyone in stitches as we went through security at our gate, hubby had to go off to the loo and get some sugar so we went through to get a seat, except DD had other ideas and as I was trying to get the bags off the belt she sat down like the Princesses do, with her dress flowing out, and when I said “Come on, get up we need to go round here!” She looked at me and said “But mammy, I am a princess!” I think she had been told so much by the characters that she was a princess, she now believes it!
We had a truly magical time. The CM’s and characters were ALL amazing and made the weekend fantastic, when it could quite easily have been a nightmare because of the cold. All of the things I was worried about were fine, the toilets, DD’s problem (which only happened when we were at the hotel!) the smoking, the crowds were all nowhere near as bad as I had feared, and the magic that they weaved for us just made it the most magical birthday trip ever! We have the most amazing memories from our little Rosebug’s 3rd birthday trip!
Friday
Anyway, on Friday we set off for the airport at a little after 3pm with a little girl telling us on repeat that she was going to Disneyland to see "Mickey and Minnie Mouse too". She was mega excited at the airport, especially when we were at our gate waiting to board, telling everyone who sat near us that she was going to see Mickey! We boarded the plane and she was a bit of a handful because she was so excited, but she settled down and loved her goody bag that Minnie had asked me to give her for the flight! We had an uneventful flight and touched down bang on time with a sleeping little girl, grabbed our stuff and got into our private transfer and she woke up, asking if she was at Disneyland yet! We arrived at the Cheyenne, and started to check in, had a bit of a nightmare with HB vouchers, as they hadn't given us the premium ones we upgraded to and then had to wait whilst she checked if we could use them at Inventions for Sunday Brunch (still no sure answer so we were told we had to phone ourselves the next day!) and DD had an accident which made it all very stressful.
Finally got our re-printed HB vouchers and went to our room, it was in a perfect situation, 2 seconds from the facilities and right on the lake to walk to DLP (took 5 minutes to get to the village - 10 to get into the park!) in the Sitting Bull building. We were in room 1774, which was very nice, basic but clean, got into the room, got DD cleaned up then noticed the chocolate coins and water which had been left for us and got wrapped up and headed into the Village!
The first thing DD saw when we hit the Village was the statue of Aurora outside the shop so this just made her super excited and she squealed "MAMMY! Look! It's Aurora!" We headed into Rainforest Café for supper but DD was too excited and just wanted to run around the restaurant looking at the animals! We then had a look round the shops but by this time it was 11pm so we headed back to the room, stupidly thinking DD would go to sleep. It finally took daddy getting into bed with her and cuddling her in to get her to stay in bed and stop switching the lights on and off, and by then it was well after midnight! :-(
Saturday
We had a very early start, with a wake up call from Mickey, but it was possibly too early and it set DD off in a grumpy mood. We headed to breakfast which was a bit manic and DD and Hubby didn't want anything so we headed into the park, with me eating a nabbed pain au chocolat and a ham roll.
We got to the park just after 8am for EMH, and DD was so excited to see DLH - thinking it was the pink castle. She started to get really excited as we entered the park, proclaiming how pretty everything was and we headed round the side so she couldn't see the Castle straight away and went to City Hall. We told the CM there that it was her birthday, so he gave her a birthday sticker and made a phonecall, handed her the phone and her face just lit up! She was smiling and looking at us the whole time, I couldn't hear everything but I did hear Mickey talking to her and wishing her a happy birthday!
When we left City Hall, we took her out of the buggy and started to walk round towards the Castle, so I was saying to her "What's around here Rosebug? What do you think it could be?" and when we finally got into view her face was just a picture, mouth wide open, huge grins and shouts of "Wow, mammy, daddy! Look! The Castle! It's so pretty, the princesses castle!!" And she started to run towards it!
So we headed down to the castle and she was so very excited, then went into Fantasyland. We walked onto It's a Small World, which she loved, but by the time we got off she was just too cold and started crying and asking for a hug. So we headed up to Main Street again, had a wander around some shops and warmed up abit, and DD does what she never normally does and asked us to buy her something, all she wanted was a cuddly Mickey Mouse and then we walked out of the arcade and right into the very short queue to meet Mickey and Duffy! DD was waiting so patiently and grinning up at us everytime she caught a glimpse of Mickey, and then Duffy walked out, at this point DD was just awe-struck and kept pointing at him and saying "Wow!" so when he came over to see her, and mimed Happy Birthday to her, pointing at her birthday sticker she was so happy, ran to him with her arms out and gave him a huge cuddle.
It was fabulous and the start of a wonderful weekend of character interaction. Then it was our turn to meet Mickey, and DD ran up to him, he mimed Happy Birthday, played with her and she gave him lots of kisses but the CM who had our camera was too busy talking to get a photo, although she did get a fab one of us all together (which I can't post as I'm a teacher!) and then we headed to the Cable Car Café to warm up. We ordered hot chocolate, donuts and a giant cookie for DD! She loved finally warming up, took her snow suit off and quite happily chilled - until I went out to the arcade to go to the toilet and saw aload of characters! So I rushed back in and chucked her coat on and took her out to meet Chip and Dale! They were amazing with her, played with her for a good few minutes, mimed "Happy Birthday" to her and danced, cuddled and kissed her. Then as we were walking off down the arcade after saying our goodbyes, Dale came running after us and grabbed her other hand and walked right down the arcade with her! She loved it!
We tried to get close enough to meet Pinnochio and Gipetto, but too many people pushing etc. and I didn't want to subject her to that, so we stood back and watched Remy running and dancing up and down the arcade!
By now it was 11:30am so we got wrapped up again and headed towards Auberge de Cendrillion for the most amazing meal ever! We got there about 11:50am, and got a quick photo with the carriage. Then the doors opened and we were the first ones in. When we handed over her birthday cake voucher, there was a quick discussion in French about where we were to be seated, and then a table number mentioned, and we were told with a smile "For the birthday girl!" and we were led into the dining room and sat at the table right next to the fireplace. Suzy and Perla made a huge fuss of DD (and every other child, but they really have a knack of making you feel like your child is the only one there) dancing with her, cuddling her, miming Happy Birthday etc. Perla especially was just amazing with her, and kept coming back to see her and cuddle her. Then hubby took DD to the toilet - and the Princesses arrived! I was gutted watching Snow White and the Prince dancing knowing that DD was missing it. But she didn't mind, and she caught the "entrance" again when they re-entered half an hour later! I saw her face as she walked towards our table, watching the Princesses in front of us. As soon as she sat down Aurora came over and made such a huge fuss of her, talking about how they were both wearing blue dresses and how beautiful she was, asked her about her birthday and if she was having a lovely holiday. She really was truly wonderful with DD, and DD was so smitten with her!
She then went off and Snow White and the Prince came to see her, again they were fantastic (but not as fantastic as Aurora) and spent ages chatting to her about her birthday and her dress. Snow White asked for a kiss, and then the Prince asked for one, and she gave him a huge kiss, that lasted that little bit too long for Daddy's liking and the Prince laughed and gave her a huge hug.
We got a few more visits from Suzy and Perla, in between gettting our appetisers and starters (all lovely but we weren't there for the food and tbh we only ate bread - I am not big into duck, salmon and caviar!) and then Cinderella came over to see DD. She was very lovely, made a big fuss about how DD had the same dress on as her, and said Happy Birthday, gave lots of cuddles and kisses and then went off.
DD made some little friends and spent some time dancing and playing and eating very little. The Princesses made their entrance again so she got to see them dancing which was lovely. Then we heard whispers between the waiters and Snow White and they all disappeared. Seconds later the music started and we heard "Happy Birthday to you..." and saw the waiters, Snow White, the Prince, Perla heading over with her cake singing and clapping. They stood round the table and sang to her (couldn't pronounce her name, so quickly switched to Princess!) and presented her with her birthday cake and she blew out her candles. Then Snow White, the Prince and Perla (?) started to pose for her birthday photo, and suddenly Aurora appeared and said "Oh can I please be in this photo too? For princess Rose?" and joined in!
It was really the most wonderful experience, and DD was just in awe the whole time, she didn't say too much to the Princesses as she was so awestruck, especially with Aurora, who she is now totally besotted with! As we left she played with her new friend's little brother some more whilst I had a lovely chat with their daddy and then we got wrapped up again and headed out to the freezing cold. We had a wander round some shops and then headed back to the room to get DD warmed up and let her have a nap before we headed back to the parade!
After her nap we got wrapped up again and practically ran back to the park to get a good spot for the parade. We managed to get a fab spot, right at the front opposite the Storybook Store. Rose was getting a tad whingy as she was cold, but then the music started and she stopped whinging and looked at me, then squealed and broke out into a huge grin - pointing to the float coming round the corner, then shouted "Mammy! It's Mickey and Minnie!!" She was in heaven during the parade, pointing at the characters and telling us to "look! look!" as if we weren't already! She loved The Lion King float but the highlight for her was the Princes and Princesses - as they walked round the corner she started to wave manically and shouted "Mammy, look the princesses, they are so pretty! And the Princes too! Daddy - LOOK!" However, little did we know that this part of the parade was going to be TRULY magical for Rose, as first of all Tiana and Naveem (two of Rosebug's favourites) came straight over and said "Happy Birthday Princess!" to her, quickly followed by Snow White and the Prince, who came over full of Happy Birthdays and smiles, but the highlight was - yet again - Aurora (a different one to Auberge) who stood with her for what seemed like ages, saying Happy Birthday, and telling her how beautiful she was! It absolutely made Rosebug's dreams come true!
We then intended to start having a wander round the different lands, as we still hadn't made it off Main Street/Fantasyland, we managed to walk onto the teacups which she loved and wanted to go on again, but the queue was too big at this point.
She then asked to go onto the Carousel, but started to get tired and cold again, and decided she didn't like it anymore, so we headed out of the park, grabbed a McDonalds (via the very easy and quick fastpay thing) and ran back to our room. Enjoyed our McDonalds more than we should have done and then got wrapped up, DD put her Cinderella dress back on and headed over the road to the Red Garter Saloon, stopping off at the store first to buy Rosebug a Tiana doll for her castle (she had birthday money to buy things). We got into the bar and on the bloody screen was the match and Newcastle were getting beat 5-0, so that put hubby in a bad mood! Thanks to this forum I was obsessed about getting a Glow-tini, so hubby went off to the bar and Rosebug and I opened Tiana. When hubby got back to the table Rosebug was quite taken with my glowing drink, and her fruit juice cocktail in a shaker cup. She then went off to play with hubby, and I noticed you could buy Glow-tinks, so I sneaked off to the bar and bought one and popped it onto her shaker for when she got back. You can imagine her face when she came back and saw a glowing tink sitting on her drink!
We then headed back to the room, I ended up in the bunk bed and hubby and Rosebug fell asleep in the double bed (I have a dodgy pelvis so struggle to lie in one position with a toddler in the bed!) all dreaming about Princesses and our hopes for the next day!
Sunday
Well, the alarm call from Mickey came at 7am, then 7:30am and finally we managed to drag ourselves out of bed at 8:30am. We skipped breakfast and made it to the Studios at around 10am. My favourite ride is Rock n Roller Coaster so we headed straight to that, only to find it closed. The queue for Crush (which is the ONLY ride I REALLY want to try that I have never done yet!) was over an hour, so we trotted round to Toy Story Playland. We walked onto Slinky and DD LOVED it, laughing and squealing with her arms in the air the whole way round, and made us queue up again for it straight away!
We then tried to queue for the Cars ride but it had started to get bitterly cold again and DD started to get upset again, so we headed out and made our way to the store, hoping to get hubby a retro Mickey t-shirt (no luck). And then DD asked for a giant cookie – so we headed back into the park, and straight to Cable Car Café to get Rosebug her giant cookie, and donuts and hot chocolate for us (oh how I wish DD would drink hot chocolate, or hot milk, even tea (decaf) but she just won’t! Water or juice only!) She loved it in the CCC, especially the piano music playing – so she sat there quite happily pretending to play piano on the table. We then got wrapped up again (those snow suits are such a chore to get on and off little ones!) and had a wander round some stores, and told DD she could choose a dress to buy with her birthday money – I was quite surprised she chose Aurora, but after the amazing character interaction yesterday, I shouldn’t have been that surprised! We then decided to head down to the Tangled meet & greet for the 12pm session, as Rapunzel and Flynn are DD’s FAVOURITES! And this where the CM’s really made the magic happen for little Rosebug! We got there and were told that it was cancelled and they wouldn’t be appearing, Rosebug looked really sad, and I said to the CM “Oh, that is such a shame, Rosebug will be devastated, and she made a present for her too! Nevermind!” and at that the CM said to me “Well, if she has a present for her, take it to City Hall and they will sort something out!” So I thought she meant that they would take the present and arrange for it to be given to her, we were heading up to Inventions for lunch anyway, so popped into City Hall and told the CM there what we had just been told, he smiled at DD and said “Okay, can you just come into this room here, and I will be right back!” We were ushered into a side room and the doors closed. Literally 2 minutes later, a knock came on the internal door and in walked the CM and another CM, and then in walked Rapunzel!!!!!!!! Just to see DD! She was AMAZING, sat with her and chatted to her, even though DD was in total awe and just sat gazing at her, whispering her name. She had made a purple bracelet for her (her own idea, with her birthday present bead set, I just had to tie the ends!) and gave it to Rapunzel, who put her hand out and DD slipped it onto her wrist. She said she would wear it always, and asked Rosebug about her birthday, chatted about her holiday and told her how beautiful she was! She got lots of hugs and kisses, we were in there for about 5 minutes and it was just magical! As soon as we left, DD started chattering on about how she had met Rapunzel, and how pretty her hair was – if only she did this when she was actually with her!
It was now time for our Sunday Brunch at Inventions so we headed up to the DLH and couldn’t believe it when we got to the restaurant – as there was Rapunzel and Flynn (but a different Rapunzel!) I was so worried that DD would realise it was a different Rapunzel – but she was too in awe of Flynn, I swear she loves him. We were seated near the window, with a fab view of the castle and were desperately trying to get DD looking half decent (hat hair and twenty layers of clothes) but they arrived at our table before she managed to get her new Aurora dress on, they stopped for a while (she didn’t have her birthday badge on during this meal, and I regret this, as she loved getting happy birthdays the day before!) and chatted, Rapunzel was nice, but quite quiet – Flynn was AWESOME with her, he played with her hair and told her it was obviously magical, and she was prettier than Rapunzel. Rosebug went all shy at this point, and kept smiling up at Flynn! They posed for a photo and headed off.
We then got DD into her dress, and crown, hair all over the place but she didn’t care and plonked her into a highchair in the vain attempt to keep her seated and eat something! Well, this was all pointless, because at that point in walked Princess Minnie and Prince Mickey – I was so excited when I saw them, and they came straight over to see DD, as we were right by the door and they spent ages with her. Mickey told her (with help from me reading his sign language, and getting the thumbs up from him for the help) that her dress was beautiful and the same as Minnie’s. He made her hair go all static and thought it was hilarious so kept doing it, danced with her, hugged her, kissed her and made her feel so special. Princess Minnie was wonderful too, making DD do a twirl, and giving her a huge hug, at which point Mickey put his hands on his chest to say how lovely it was!
Once they went I tried to get DD to eat (this is a touchy subject in our family!) and managed to get her to have a few pieces of chicken, I had some Irish stew, followed by pasta and then chicken korma. It was all very lovely but again, we weren’t there for the food.
Then we had a visit from Rapunzel and Flynn again, they stopped by to tell her how beautiful she looked in her dress and Flynn *whispered* that she best be careful because he liked her crown! Once they left Dale came over, and made such a huge fuss of her, dancing with her, making her courtesy whilst he bowed etc. He spent ages with her, and signed her book “To a beautyiful princess” which she thought was brilliant when I read it out to her “Me? Really! Wow, thank you!” and she was truly smitten.
We then did desert, and headed out to have a wander round DLH. We had half board premium vouchers and had had to phone the manager the day before to see if he would allow us to use them, as we had been mis-sold by the CM on the phone. They were fantastic, and only took 2 of our vouchers (as DD ate practically nothing and it was noticed), leaving us with the child one spare. We got very wrapped up and headed into the park, we bought one of the souvenir coins on the way in, with Princess Minnie on and DD was thrilled with it, held onto it tight and said it was her treasure. She promptly fell fast asleep, all wrapped up – so we used this as an excuse to FINALLY see the rest of the park.
I got a fast pass for Space Mountain, but never got back onto it due to technical problems, but not really bothered. We walked round the lands, caught a distant glimpse of Peter Pan, admired the frozen Skull Rock and had a mooch around the shops.
Then headed back to main street for the Parade. Hubby got a spot, right outside Casey’s so I headed in and asked if we could use the spare child voucher, which we could so got some hotdogs, chicken nuggets for DD and hot chocolate. Just as I finished my hotdog and lifted DD out of her buggy she started to shout “Daddy, LOOK it’s Donald Duck!” and this marked the start of another magical parade for DD. First interaction came from Piglet, who came over and mimed Happy Birthday to her, and then started playing peek-a-boo with her, which she thought was hilarious.
Then during the Peter Pan section, one of Hook’s Pirates came up and started singing “Happy Birthday little girl, Happy 3rd birthday to you!” and beeped her nose! She turned to her daddy and whispered “That was a real pirate!”.
Then came the Lion King float, which again was met with much excitement from DD – followed by the Princesses and Princes! Tiana came over to DD and wished her a happy birthday again, and then the only Princess we hadn’t had interaction from (besides Ariel and Jasmine, who are on the float), Belle, came over and told her she was very pretty and to have a lovely birthday!
And that was the end of our holiday, we headed out of the park, back to our hotel, grabbed our bags, DD insisted on putting her Aurora dress on again, and now that she didn’t need to be wrapped up we let her, and got our private shuttle (not so private, as the guy picked someone else up on the way?!? But they were at the same terminal so no biggy, except for the price of a private shuttle!) to the airport. My daughter had everyone in stitches as we went through security at our gate, hubby had to go off to the loo and get some sugar so we went through to get a seat, except DD had other ideas and as I was trying to get the bags off the belt she sat down like the Princesses do, with her dress flowing out, and when I said “Come on, get up we need to go round here!” She looked at me and said “But mammy, I am a princess!” I think she had been told so much by the characters that she was a princess, she now believes it!
We had a truly magical time. The CM’s and characters were ALL amazing and made the weekend fantastic, when it could quite easily have been a nightmare because of the cold. All of the things I was worried about were fine, the toilets, DD’s problem (which only happened when we were at the hotel!) the smoking, the crowds were all nowhere near as bad as I had feared, and the magic that they weaved for us just made it the most magical birthday trip ever! We have the most amazing memories from our little Rosebug’s 3rd birthday trip!
sounds like she had a magical start to her holiday
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