A Season of Favorites - A December 2013 Trip Report Updates 4/9 Page 2 and 3

[TinkyCheeks]

Hello, and welcome to my very first (and hopefully not last) trip report. I’ve spent years reading trip reports, living vicariously through other Diser’s trips and loving every second of it. I’ve learned so much and have had such a great time going on virtual vacation with so many of you that I had to jump in and try it myself.

We visited Disney from December 13 to the 21 and stayed at POR. This was our first time seeing the holiday decorations, and oh, my gosh. Worth. Every. Penny. So gorgeous.

So judging by my post count, I’d say it’s safe to assume none of you know who I am. So let me introduce my crew!



I’m Kelly. I’m a 33-year-old transcriptionist/WAHM. I’ve been a huge Disney fan my whole life, and the joy and fascination don’t appear to be waning anytime soon. I love to read, knit and watch movies. I’m a total party animal, let me tell you. I’m completely enthralled with all things Disney and Audrey Hepburn. My favorite Disney movie is whichever one I’m watching at the moment. I just adore Belle and Rapunzel, and cannot get enough of Mickey and Minnie.



Shawn is my DH. He’s truly my best friend, biggest supporter, and an amazing husband and father. He works with the gas company and works extremely hard and in some dangerous conditions. He loves every second of it. He’s also a hobby carpenter and dreams of fixing up old houses someday. We live in a fixer-upper, and he built all of our kitchen cabinets. They’re incredible.

He teases me about my Disney obsession, I mean love, but he’s really a huge fan, too. He’ll watch any Disney movie without complaint, likes to surprise me by buying me the latest movies out of the vault, and would pretty much rather vacation at Disney than anywhere else. His favorite movie is Up. He refuses to stay offsite and thinks the Dining Plan is the greatest thing ever.



Then there are our four children. Cody is the oldest, 11 years old. He’s in that mouthy stage where he thinks he’s smarter than us, but he’s not too cool to cuddle up on the couch with me and watch Cinderella. He’s in fifth grade, plays the alto sax and hopes to take up ice hockey in the very near future. This trip he gained an appreciation for pressed pennies, though I couldn’t tell you if he actually knows where any of them are now. His favorite Disney movies right now are any of the Pirates ones, though he’s developed quite a crush on Jasmine recently.



Pierson is our next son, 9 years old. He’s a total class clown, according to every single teacher he’s had. He’s a cuddly, sweet boy who just loves his family so much. He loves sports, reading, and just hanging out with us. He’s probably the most independent of all the kids, and despite being a little jokester, desperately needs quiet time. He’s really sensitive. His favorite movies are Toy Story and Cars. For some reason, he’s obsessed with the Grand Floridian and has been begging to stay there sometime.



Next is Kyle, who is 8. Kyle is my cuddler. He loves to hold hands, hug, and tells us he loves us about 50 times a day. He has no interest in growing up, and wants to be an ice cream man and a veterinarian when he finally has to. He’s very smart and probably the most serious of all the kids. Like the rest of us, he’s a huge Disney fan. He loves every movie he’s seen, but his current favorite is Lady and the Tramp. That’s subject to change weekly, though. This was a big trip for Kyle, as he’s finally hit 48”. Barely.



Our youngest is the princess of the group, Gianna, or Gigi. She was 18 months at the time of the trip and had a GREAT time. She’s obsessed with It’s a Small World thanks to watching the videos on YouTube over and over and over again. She also loves Minnie, Mickey, and goes wild when she sees the castle on TV. I was a little nervous taking her as she’s in that stage where she’s learning how to throw tantrums and can’t understand reason, but it went really well. I had to walk her out of a couple table services, but really it wasn’t a big deal.


My parents also joined us for the trip. My mom claims to be a big Disney fan, but I think it’s more that she enjoys seeing her grandchildren at Disney. They aren’t bad to travel with. They just kind of follow us around and do whatever we want, and by the end of the week when we’ve completely exhausted them, we split up more often and each do our own thing. My mom doesn’t typically do thrill rides, but she rode everything this time. She loved Space Mountain and Expedition Everest. My dad hasn’t been able to do thrill rides in a while due to his back, but he was able to ride them this time. He absolutely loved Rock n Roller Coaster, Tower of Terror, and Expedition Everest. Apparently I’m a terrible daughter and never took a picture of him during the trip. Our PP+ CD should be here any day, so I’ll add him in then.

So that’s the crew. Now that we’re all friends around here, won’t you join us on our vacation?

 

[Kimmy629]

I will! But where is the rest, lol!

 

[Howgreat]

I'm in! Sounds like our DH's would get along great! My DH bought me almost all Disney items for Christmas.

 

[Disneylover99]

Following along.
We were at POR Dec. 13-16.

 

[BOG Obsessed]

Following along as well, stayed at POP Dec. 22-28th, family's first trip to Disney. Would love to stay at POR.

 

[scottny]

Joining in. We left on the 13th after 2 weeks there. Can't wait to hear about your trip.

 

[tazdev3225]

Joining in too. Your kids are very cute. I was there just a little earlier than you were at the beginning of December.

 

[TinkyCheeks]

I will! But where is the rest, lol!

Wait, that wasn't enough? An update is on its way! Thanks for joining in!

I'm in! Sounds like our DH's would get along great! My DH bought me almost all Disney items for Christmas.

Ooh, your DH sound pretty great!

Following along.
We were at POR Dec. 13-16.

Thanks for joining in! I wonder if we crossed paths. How did you like POR?

Following along as well, stayed at POP Dec. 22-28th, family's first trip to Disney. Would love to stay at POR.

Love your username. Pop looks like a fun place! I like POR, but I'm pretty sure we've outgrown it.

Joining in. We left on the 13th after 2 weeks there. Can't wait to hear about your trip.

Welcome! Two weeks sounds like a dream!

Joining in too. Your kids are very cute. I was there just a little earlier than you were at the beginning of December.

Welcome! I hope you had a great trip! Thanks for the compliment on the kids. They're insane, but I'm pretty crazy about them.

 

[TinkyCheeks]

We booked this trip in August of 2012 at the Poly. As that point, we were planning on celebrating Giannas first birthday with The Mouse. But once the school calendars came out, we realized that our planned week was during some important state testing. We considered moving the trip by a week, but the more we thought about it, the more we realized we really would love to see the parks and resorts all dressed up for the holidays.

Were huge Christmas people. We cant wait for Halloween to be done so that we can start listening to holiday music. Our tree goes up earlier and earlier each year and, except for this year, comes down later and later. We all just adore it. So to have the chance to spend my favorite holiday (well, close enough) with my favorite people at my favorite place on Earth? Yes, please! So we switched dates to the first week of December.

Id always wanted to stay at the Poly, and Shawn didnt care where we stayed so long as it was on the monorail. One day when he was bored, he looked up prices and realized for about the same price (?), we could have a theme park view room at the Contemporary. He asked me if I was okay with that. Of course! I loved the idea of being able to walk to MK, being on the monorail, and to be able to see the castle dressed up in her Christmas best from my balcony would be a dream come true. He made the call, and we were set.

Except&

We have a thing with YouTube. We love to look up videos taken at Disney, and so we began looking up videos of the Contemporary at the holidays. It was, well, a little sad. In my mind, I could visualize all the beautiful pictures Id seen of WL, AKL, BWI and GF. CR had a wreath. Its a cool wreath, dont get me wrong. Everyone should have a huge Mickey-shaped wreath on the side of their home/building. But it just wasnt what we were hoping for. If we were going for the holidays, we wanted to be fully immersed, drowning in sickeningly-sweet décor that would ruin us for all other Christmas decorations for life.

Shawn called Disney back. He found the price was less to stay at the GF, so hed still get to be on the monorail. It fit the bill for everything wed been hoping for. So he booked that, and we left it for a couple of months.

During those few months, life happened. First, I lost a pretty major contract that accounted for over 50% of my income. Then our SUV started having major issues, so we traded it in on a minivan. This was great as we needed the extra room, but the SUV had been paid off and trading it in meant taking on another monthly payment. Thirdly, remember that I told you we live in a fixer upper? Well, were hoping to be done with it and ready to sell late this year, early 2015. Weve completely outgrown it. Weve got to get a bigger place, and by changing resorts from GF to POR, it was that much more money we could put into the house. So once again, we switched. We were sad about it, but we were trying to be responsible adults (blaaahhhh). Whatever.

Then they announced free dining. Not for our week, but the following. So we switched dates, partially for the free dining and partially because our original week was Pop Warner week. Another change.

Now, we were booked from Saturday, December 14 to Saturday, December 21st. In late October when we were going to book our flights, we found that it would be about $100 cheaper to fly on Friday instead. Disney math shows us that flying in on Friday and getting a room for the night would be cheaper. I LOVE Disney math. POR had availability, but the free dining promotion had ended so we just had a room-only reservation for that night.

We decided it would be fun to surprise the kids with leaving a day early, so we let them believe that we were still leaving on Saturday. I know its not that huge of a surprise, but we decided to have fun with it anyway.

And because this was just boring background, heres a picture.

 

[Disneylover99]

Thanks for joining in! I wonder if we crossed paths. How did you like POR?

POR was okay. We booked it for the free dining as well. We were originally booked at The Dolphin. I did not love stopping at all the bus depots though before heading to the park. We probably won't stay there again.

 

[JoeyEmmaMomma]

Following

 

[scottny]

I hate when life throws obstacles at me. Glad it all worked out.

I will say POP Werner was not bad at all.

 

[TinkyCheeks]

For the week leading up to departure day, neither Shawn nor I was able to get a good night’s sleep. So it came as no surprise to either one of us when we were wide awake at 4:15 a.m. even though the plan was to wake up at 6:15 a.m. After an hour of talking and tossing and turning, I surrendered and hopped out of bed to get ready for the day. Shawn fell back asleep, and before too long, it was time to wake him up.

Because of our having two reservations, a room-only and then a package, we received two sets of Magic Bands. The kids of course didn’t know this, and thought that Disney had wanted our first and second choices for MB colors. We used their first choice for the package, saving the second choice colors for the one day room-only reservation.

Shawn got the MB box down from its hiding place and went to the kitchen. In the meantime, I woke the boys up by telling them Shawn was going to run to Burger King for breakfast and they needed to go tell him what they wanted. We never do fast food for breakfast, so the boys hopped out of bed and rushed into the kitchen. Who knew some greasy grossness could make them so excited?

They started telling us what they wanted, but I interrupted them. “Hey, before we do this, do you guys want to wear your Magic Bands today?”
Pierson and Kyle thought this was a great idea, but Cody wasn’t so excited about it. He was more worried about losing his. We told him not to worry, that it wouldn’t come off until he took it off. He agreed. We took the lid off the box, and all three of the boys said, “Hey!”

Shawn and I played dumb. “What? Is something wrong?”

“Those aren’t the colors they were when they came in the mail. Oh, cool! They change colors!”

I laughed. “Nope, they don’t change colors. Those Magic Bands are packed away in Dad’s carryon. These are a new set. See, those Magic Bands aren’t good until tomorrow. These set are good for today.”

Kyle and Pierson, goofballs that they are, just nodded and smiled. They didn’t get it. But Cody, oh, his reaction was priceless. His jaw dropped, his eyes grew wide, and he yelled, “What?! Are you kidding?” Kyle and Pierson just kind of stared. We laughed and said no, we weren’t kidding. No school today. Instead, we were leaving for Disney today, and our flight would be leaving around 11:30.

They were screaming, jumping up and down and hugging us. It was a great reaction, especially for just a surprise of leaving one day early. I’m so glad we did it, though, because it meant that they’d gotten a good night’s sleep the night before since their excitement didn’t interfere. Also, it was going to be the kids’ first time flying, and Pierson was terrified. Sneaking it up on him like that gave him less time to worry about it.

By this time, it was only around 6:25. We had the kids get dressed and brush their teeth and Shawn got ready as I got Gigi up and ready. We finished packing the last minute stuff and were ready to head out of the house at 6:55. Oops. We’d figured it would take the kids an hour or longer to get moving, but we hadn’t figured in their excitement. Oh, well. We were ready to get this vacation started, so we headed out anyway. As we walked to the van, Pierson grabbed my hand and told me it was the best day of his life. I couldn’t stop smiling.

We ate breakfast at IHOP (Burger King was just a way to get them out of bed), and there was no one else there so we were finished by 8:15. Hmmm. We were 15 minutes from the airport and the flight wasn’t set to leave until 8:32. We decided just to head on over. We parked in long-term parking, and the shuttle followed us to our parking spot. Five minutes later, we were at the Airtran desk!

When Shawn had checked us in the day before, our seat were scattered all throughout the jet. He asked at the desk if there was any way for us to sit together, not necessarily all together but so that the kids didn’t have to sit alone. The very kind employee assured us she had a whole row we could sit in, changed our seats, and sent us on our way. Sweet! Or not.



We went through security and were the first passengers at the gate. Within the next two hours, more and more people arrived. Suddenly I was grinning like a mad fool. It was as though the Disney bubble had already surrounded us. All around us, sitting in Canton, Ohio in the freezing cold, people were wearing Mickey ears and sweatshirts. Quite a few people had Disney luggage. A few families showed up in matching homemade Disney shirts. We even had a sweet little girl dressed as Tiana. I seriously couldn’t stop smiling.

When it was finally time to board the jet, we checked the stroller and went looking for our seats. Back, back, back. Oh. The very last row. Oh, no. Shawn and I exchanged a look. There were no windows at all. We both felt terrible. Here it was the kids’ first flight, and they couldn’t see anything. We worried for nothing, though, as once the boys turned on their DS’s, they barely looked up again until we landed in Florida. Still, I was glad it was only a 2 hr 15 min flight.

Have you ever flown with an infant or toddler? Looking at the faces of the other passengers as they saw us heading to our seats was hilarious. We could just see everyone thinking, “Don’t sit here. Don’t sit here. Please don’t sit here.” I totally understood, though. Gianna did wonderfully, though, and barely made a peep. In fact, when we landed, the family in front of us told us they hadn't heard a sound from our children the whole flight. Yay!







Pierson’s fears quickly dissipated once we got in the air. However, about an hour into the flight, he started complaining of ear pain. A couple weeks before we left he’d come down with a sinus infection, and his doctor gave him extra treatment so that the flight would not re-aggravate him. It didn’t work. By the time we landed, he couldn’t hear anything. He wasn’t hurting anymore, but he couldn’t hear. At all.

 

[TinkyCheeks]

POR was okay. We booked it for the free dining as well. We were originally booked at The Dolphin. I did not love stopping at all the bus depots though before heading to the park. We probably won't stay there again.

Yeah, I'm not a fan of all the stops, either, especially late at night.

Following

Thank you and welcome!

I hate when life throws obstacles at me. Glad it all worked out.

I will say POP Werner was not bad at all.

Silly grown up stuff getting in the way of Disney! Though I've got to admit, I'd much rather downgrade my hotel then cancel.

Glad to hear PW wasn't bad!

 

[TinkyCheeks]

My heart was just breaking for Pierson. A little back story: He suffers from severe anxiety. This was actually discovered while we were at Disney a few years back. He’d been the most excited about that trip and ended up having a miserable time due to some serious breakdowns every day. He’s now on treatment, which is helping so much. He couldn’t wait to come back to Disney this time and really enjoy it. So to see him suffering already and we weren’t even off the jet? Heartbreaking.

We held on tightly to his hand, found the not-quite-the-monorail, and made our way through MCO. Cody and Kyle were in heaven. “Can we go there? What about that store? Please?” It’s such a huge difference from CAK. CAK is tiny. It serves its purpose and we like it, but there’s maybe two stores and three restaurants, including fast food. We told them we’d try to hit the stores when we flew back home and hurried to Magical Express. (Yeah, that didn't happen.)

We had to wait about 15 minutes for a bus, and then another 15 minutes on the bus before heading to the resorts. This was our first time using DME, and so far we were impressed. We had been first in line, so the CM told us to be sure to snatch the front row. We enjoyed the video. Gigi was getting her first taste of Disney.

Finally, the "We're really on vacation" arch!



We went to OKW first, dropped quite a few people off, and then we were the next stop!

By this time, Pierson’s hearing had finally returned. Woo hoo!




There was no line at online check in. Shawn checked us in while the boys watched cartoons. Gigi and I checked out the Christmas decorations.





It wasn’t long until we were headed to our rooms. Woo hoo!

Being a larger family, we were in Alligator Bayou, building 28. I’d requested first floor because of the stroller, but since Shawn had checked us in, he didn’t ask if the request had been granted. When we got to the building, we realized it hadn’t been. We were bummed but figured oh well and then went up to our room.





We dropped off our stuff, I changed my camera lens, changed Gigi’s diaper, and headed out for the boat to Downtown Disney. It was almost 3 pm, and we were getting hungry!

Right before we got the boat, Shawn stopped and suggested we check at the desk to see if there was any way they’d let us switch rooms to a first floor. Since there are no elevators at POR AB, he knew by the end of the week we (let's be honest- he) would be very, very tired of carrying the stroller up and down the stairs.

The man at the desk was able to find us a room in building 27, and we’d be able to keep the room the next day for our next reservation, as well. He gave us a special key to get into the room just one more time, so we headed back to the room to get our stuff. As we were dropping our stuff off at the new room, our luggage arrived. Yay!

Now we were really headed to Downtown Disney. I really love that boat ride there. I think it’s my favorite part of staying at POR.

This was Gianna's first time on a boat, and she was more than a little confused.











It was now a little after 4:00, and we hadn’t eaten since 7:30. We were ready for some food. Earl of Sandwich, here we come!

Shawn ordered the Holiday Turkey. He really liked it. I had a bite and it was so good! Gigi and I had the Chipotle Chicken Avocado. Yum, yum, yum. The kids each had a pizza sandwich. They’re still raving over those. I love EOS!

After eating, we stopped in Ghiradelli for a free piece of chocolate and then headed in some stores. We stopped in World of Disney. I could spend hours in that store. We bought my cousin’s baby a Baby’s First Christmas Mickey. We also went in TrenD, Team Mickey, and my personal favorite, Days of Christmas. That store always ends up getting the majority of our souvenir money. We also walked over to the Lego store, where the kids built their own little cars and raced them. They had a blast.











At this point, I started getting choked up. I mean, here I was finally at Disney. After all the planning, dreaming and hoping, we were finally here. I looked around at the people and the decorations, heard the holiday music and the happy people talking, and watched the huge smiles on the faces of my family. I started to get a little misty eyed. It was one of those moments where I appreciated how good my life really is.

We dragged the boys away from the legos. Shawn and I had been hoping to go over to the monorail resorts and check out their decorations and maybe catch Wishes from one of the beaches. It was getting pretty chilly, though, so we first wanted to stop back at our room and get some sweatshirts. We took the boat back.



Never eaten at Fulton's, but it looks pretty!



This place looks fun.


Once in our room, the kids were beat. When Kyle started putting on his pajamas instead of his hoodie, we realized we weren’t going anywhere. I was a little bummed. I mean, here it was our first night in Disney and they were getting ready for bed at 7:45. But on the other hand, how bummed could I be? It was our FIRST night in Disney. There would be many more to come. Besides, an early night couldn’t hurt, and I knew Pierson needed the rest too.

I started unpacking and then realized something. When we’d gathered our belongings from the first room, I had left my other camera lens. Shawn called down to the front desk, and someone met him at the first room so that he could look for it. But Mousekeeping had already been in and the lens was gone. He came back to the room, disappointed. I felt terrible about my mistake.

As we were lying in bed watching TV, there was a knock at the door. The lens had been turned in! It had been a long day, and we were all probably asleep by 10:00.

Up Next: Our first park day!

 

[TruLovesKiss]

I'm definitely in! What a great start! Your family is adorable and of course I love that you have 4 kids!

POR looks so beautiful decorated for Christmas! I'm glad that you guys were able to get your room switched. I can't imagine having to lug a stroller up stairs all week long.

Sounds like you guys had a great time at Downtown Disney. Can't wait to read about your first park day!

 

[TinkyCheeks]

I'm definitely in! What a great start! Your family is adorable and of course I love that you have 4 kids!

POR looks so beautiful decorated for Christmas! I'm glad that you guys were able to get your room switched. I can't imagine having to lug a stroller up stairs all week long.

Sounds like you guys had a great time at Downtown Disney. Can't wait to read about your first park day!

I'm so glad you're here! I was reading your TR until late in the night and will be all caught up soon. It's such a good one! Traveling with four kids is definitely a different experience, isn't it? It's a great experience, though.

POR really was pretty. I'm not a very good photographer (I really need to learn about the DSLR), but it was very pretty.

Thanks for joining in!

 

[scottny]

I would definitely down the time from canceling all together too.
Glad you are on your way.
Hope his ear gets better quickly.
The arch. Nothing better than seeing that.
Woo-hoo for his ear being better.
Glad you got the room you wanted. I can see why he would want 1st floor. I fear snakes coming in so I always go higher up. LOL.
The boat is the best part of POR. Love it.
Great pics of the legos.
That is great they had your lens.
Great updates and pics.

 

[TinkyCheeks]

Waking up on the first full day of vacation…there’s just nothing like it. The whole was ahead of us. I just love that feeling. When the alarm woke us up at 6:15, no one had any problem hopping out of bed, showering and getting ready. This, however, was our second sign that even if we returned to WDW before Gigi’s third birthday (likely), we would not be returning to POR. We officially need two bathrooms, or more accurately, two showers.

It’s a beautiful, relaxing resort. But our first clue that we had truly outgrown it was that are three, yes, just three drawers in a room for five. Hmm. I had brought along hanging shelves, but Shawn and I still had to keep all of our clothes in the suitcases, which meant a lot of ironing would be done each morning.

The good news is that it now has us seriously considering DVC. Yep, two bedroom villas are in our future. Travesty, I tell you.

While I finished getting ready, Shawn, Gianna, Pierson and Cody went down to check us in for the package portion of our trip and to get our refillable mugs. Once I was ready and had the diaper bag and stroller packed up, Kyle and I walked to the quiet pool to check it out. We were thrilled with being out and about before 8:00 a.m. in December in shorts.

We got back to the room just before the others and found that neither of my Magic Bands were working. Kyle’s new one was, so at least we were able to get back into the room. The others returned, and while we’d wanted to get to EPCOT for rope drop, we knew we’d better go back to the front desk and find out what was going on.

The nice CM couldn’t figure it out. At first he said it looked as though it hadn’t been activated, but when he tried that, it still wouldn't work. He ended up having to go in the back for about 15 minutes. When he came out, he explained that for whatever reason, even though the band said my name and was the color I chose, it was actually attached to Shawn, and Shawn’s band was really supposed to be mine. We asked if that mattered, and he said no. They were able to get it activated, but we were warned that we may have to explain it every once in a while. I didn’t see the big deal. I just wanted to make sure I could get into the park.

Happy to have that settled, we went out to the bus stop. An EPCOT bus showed up within about three or four minutes. I texted my parents, who were about an hour away from the resort, and told where we were headed for the day. Then I just sat back and enjoyed the ride.



Before long, we could see Spaceship Earth welcoming us. The kids were practically jumping up and down in their seats. Okay, I may have been, too. It had been two long years since our last trip, and that first glimpse of a park is such a thrill!

Our first stop was to pick up our PP+ lanyard. There wasn’t much of a line, and we were out of there in just a few minutes. Then we needed to decide what our first ride would be. Normally, I would have suggested Soarin. I’m in the I-Love-Soarin’-Can’t-Get-Enough camp. And what’s the point of being at the park right after rope drop if you’re not going to hit something good?

Ahh, but there was something we were looking forward to much, much more. This was Gigi’s very first trip! Therefore, we needed to have Gigi’s very first ride. Hmm, where to? We decided on Nemo.

That ride is so stinking cute. Okay, we’re Northeast Ohio folk. We were raised on Cedar Point. So how is it that a silly little ride in a clam can give us such a happy feeling?

Nemo was a walk-on. Shocking, I know. The boys got in one clam while Shawn, Gigi and I got in the next. We were both giddy, excited to see how she would react.

She loved it! There was a part where she got scared and whimpered, but for the most part, she was bouncing and pointing, jabbering away. Success!






We checked out the manatee and then headed over to Turtle Talk. After watching the jellyfish for about ten minutes, we were let in. There weren’t many people there, and Cody was pointed out as a kid in the green striped shell. He thought that was so cool.

We got a pretty good surprise in there, as far as Pierson went. Crush was trying to teach the kids about turtles, and every question he asked, Pierson knew the answer. Shawn and I kept looking at each other, like what? How does he know that? We asked him when we were leaving, and he told us he just thinks sea turtles are cool so he tries to learn about them. I honestly never knew.

Next, we headed over to Figment, figuring it was something else Gianna could ride. This is one of those rides for me that has special meaning. My parents took me to Epcot back when I was 4, and apparently I went nuts over Figment. I remember that silly hat they bought me. Now as an adult, my dad just assumes that I must still love Figment, and he makes a big deal about it. I play along because it’s something that makes him happy, but really now I like the ride because it makes me think of my dad.

The play area leaving Figment is so neat. The boys got such a kick out of playing in there for about 15 minutes, and then we were going to leave. Except, hey, look, a gift shop! And hey, look, Gigi needs her very first pair of ears.



Princess ears, of course.

Don’t judge. After many years of all Lightning, all the time, we were due for some frilly pink stuff. Ha ha!

Cody also found a hat he really wanted. As we went to check out, the cashier informed us that we didn’t have charging privileges. That was kind of annoying, as Shawn swore he’d handled all that earlier that morning when he checked us in. She told us to go to guest services to get it handled. In the meantime, we paid for the hats with the cash we had and headed toward Guest Services.

On our way, we noticed that the wait at Character Spot was only 10 minutes. Even though we’d be dining with Mickey and friends that evening, we couldn’t resist. They’ve redone it in there since our last trip in September 2011. It was nice not feeling like everyone was starting at us while we met the characters.

Gigi is a Mickey and Minnie freak. She sees them and goes nuts. When we went around the bend and Mickey came into view, she started yelling for him and jumping up and down. We had to hold her to stop her from running over to him. So far, so good.



Then it was our turn. Hmm, maybe not so good.



As we approached Mickey, Gianna started screaming. She was crying huge tears, and nothing any of us did or said made it better.







Goofy? Same thing.





Minnie was able to get her to calm down by rubbing her back. It was so sweet. Gianna still wasn’t happy, but she was too confused as to why this huge stuffed animal come to life was touching her to cry.







I got a kiss from Minnie.



Cody was so disappointed and sad. Sweet boy. Before the trip, he’d said he was most excited to see Gigi meet the characters, and he was sad for her that she’d been so scared.

Up Next: Guest Services, and Grandma and Papa arrive.

 

[TinkyCheeks]

I had no intention of going so long between updates. Thanks to today being the boys' 7th weather day this month my time has been a little limited. On a completely unrelated (totally related) note, I need wine.

For the record, I fully own the fact that I am not a good photographer. I really wanted a DSLR, but when I got one, I found that learning how to use it is really boring. So please forgive my blurry photos!

I would definitely down the time from canceling all together too.
Glad you are on your way.
Hope his ear gets better quickly.
The arch. Nothing better than seeing that.
Woo-hoo for his ear being better.
Glad you got the room you wanted. I can see why he would want 1st floor. I fear snakes coming in so I always go higher up. LOL.
The boat is the best part of POR. Love it.
Great pics of the legos.
That is great they had your lens.
Great updates and pics.

Thanks for reading! I never thought about snakes! Luckily we never saw any.