I'm writing the morning after near death in bed waiting for my coffee to kick in. We had a 12 hour day of fun yesterday. We got a later start and left around 10-ish. We had a Fast Pass to Be Our Guest which is one of the most popular restaurants in the Magic Kingdom (and the only one that serves alcohol). We ordered online in our room before we left. Then, once we checked in we got to pick one of three dining rooms to sit in. One of the rooms was very dark and the paintings and drapes and tapestries had been clawed by the beast. The rose was in the back of the room. That room was full so we picked another room. They were really like castle dining rooms or ball rooms. Then, our food was delivered without us telling anyone anything. Our bracelets had a GPS on it and that's how they found us. They had rolling carts with glass lids that they used to deliver the food to the tables (like in the movie).
The girls each bought "head pieces" today. Charley got some cute Minne Mouse ears that matched her outfit and Ryan got this huge cone Princess hat with a Rapunzel braid coming out of it. They wore them all day.
After lunch we split up for the first time. Pat took Charley to get an autograph from Pluto since he is her new favorite. We have had bad luck and every time we are in line to meet a character they close it for a break right in front of us. But that means we are first in line when they come back. Pat got her there and they closed it and Charley sat on the sidewalk for an hour waiting for him to come back. Pat asked if they wanted to go meet someone else while they waited and she didn't. I have a picture of her sitting on the sidewalk. She said Pluto was so funny and rubbed her Pluto dog all over his face. Then, she met Marie (the cat from Aristocrats that Ryan bought). She danced with Marie and Marie kissed her on her cheek. Ryan we've noticed is afraid of the animal characters (Winnie the Poo, Tigger, Marie, and Pluto....later in the day she was scared of Buzz Lightyear). So, Char has been getting autographs for both of them for the characters.
While they waited in line, Ryan and I rode rides. We rode It's a Small World again. She talked the whole time about all of the things and where they were from. Then, we went to Dumbo and there was a cool play area she played in first while I got to sit down. Then we rode the Dumbo ride. Then there was a "junior" roller coaster called the Barnstormer. It was very short but fast, curvy, with drops and big side turns. She liked it and wished it was longer. Then we met up with P & C and rode Big Thunder Rail Road. It was pretty scary. It was also a little roller coaster that went through a storm and light mist. Huge drops. Charley was whimpering with Pat and looked like she was going to cry but didn't. We had a Fast Pass for Splash Mountain but no one would ride it with me. Then, we all went back to Dumbo while the girls played and we all rode afterward.
Next we went to Tomorrowland (also in MG) and rode a space shuttle type thing that went faster than we expected. We also rode a Buzz Lightyear ride which was similar to the Toy Story ride but not nearly as good.
Then, we took the Monorail to the Polynesian and ate at O'hana. It's one of the deluxe resorts and the food was really good but I made a mistake and had a Pina Coloda before dinner and overate. I didn't know how I would make our "big night."
So, I rallied and we headed back to the Magic Kingdom for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party and Parade. All of the workers had changed into Christmas outfits and Christmas music was blaring. It was so pretty to see the Main Street buildings all decorated. The parade started at 8:30 and we got there between 6 and 7 and I got a spot for us at the parade and sat and waited. Pat took the girls to meet characters but it was too busy so they got a front row seat for a show in front of the castle. All was well until it was time to leave and they were trapped in all of these people that were not moving very fast. He was afraid he wouldn't make it back to the parade. I was sitting there wondering if they would make it back (the thing was pricey so I wanted to be with them to experience it). He said he held the girls' hands so tight because it was so packed. They made it back just in time.
The parade was AWESOME. There were SO MANY characters--Mickey, Minnie, Clara Belle, Mary Poppins, Peter Pan, Wendy, Pluto, Tigger, Winnie the Poo, Snow White, Cinderella, Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, Tiana, and about everyone else you can think of including Santa Claus. I videoed the faces of both girls most of the parade and it is priceless. Charley's eyes were huge and she watched and waved at everyone going by. Ryan was a little more serious. Charley would get excited when she'd see a new person and scream "there's Snow White" in an excited voice. It was so precious. Oh, and it was "snowing" too. However they burst my bubble when I said "look it's snowing" and Charley said: "it's bubbles" and Ryan said "it's foam." Oh well. Should have come when they were 3 for that effect:-)
After the parade was over we walked up closer to the castle to see a "show." There was about a 15 minute show where they first projected various scenes from the movies with the castle as the backdrop but it was cool because the things/people were projected onto certain parts of the castle in a way that made it look like bridges, trees, etc. Then, the last part was SOOOO AMAZING. They changed the castle into a gingerbread house, candycane house, striped house, etc. I have no idea how they did that. It was some type of projection but looking it looked just like the shape of the castle but with different exteriors. Then the coolest part at the end was we saw a shadow of Santa's sleigh and reindeer flying in front of the castle. We didn't see them but just the shadow. The funny thing is RIGHT before that Charley said she saw Rudolph's nose.
So, then we went to meet Tinkerbell at about 9:30. We skipped the fireworks at the end to meet her. Both girls said that they have seen fireworks but don't get to see characters often. We beat a line of people who didn't come until after the fireworks. They have some sort of device that shrunk the whole fami to fairy size so that we would be Tinkerbell's size and then returned us to normal size when we left. Charley said they didn't do it because Pat and I were not shrunk but we expained that we were all shrunk at the same time so she couldn't tell.
After all of this fun we headed back to the hotel. As we were walking back through Main Street with the lights, Christmas music, and people lined up for the 10:30 parade I told Pat heaven must be like this. Seriously, so dramatic I know. But, everyone is happy and joyous at Disney...especially the Christmas Party. I couldn't figure out why the Christmas Party was so expensive but Disney has the ability to invoke emotions and I don't think you can be there without feeling it. It was late and we still had a long way to go but it was just magical being right there in that moment. It does seem true that Disney is the happiest place on earth. Before I would have thought that only applied to kids but adults aren't immune to the magic:-)
So, we hopped our bus and both girls feel asleep on Pat and crashed at the hotel.
It's now 9:30 a.m. the next day and we are about to get ready for Day 4 at Epcot.
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