Legoland

Today starts with AnnaMay standing by my bed at 4:45.  “Mom, Mom, I need a gau!” This is pronounced like the word gauze without the z sound. For some reason AnnaMay believes that gau is the singular version and gauze is the plural version of this word. This can only mean one thing. She has lost a tooth. I am trying to wake all the way up and get a grip on the world around me. I thankfully did pack gauze. I go and get her some. She is bouncing around very excitedly. Saying Tink is going to be her tooth fairy because we are at Disney. She then states that since it is still night maybe she will come before morning. Uhhhh…no…. I tell her that the tooth fairy rule is before midnight or you have to wait until the next night. (Yup, made that up on the fly.) I get her settled back into bed and head back to bed. I am thinking what in the world are we going to do I did not even know she had a loose tooth. First, Tink is her tooth fairy so we have to do something special. Second, AnnaMay is terrified of loosing teeth so we have a deal that if she can pull it herself the tooth fairy leaves her a treat with her dollar. Now, I don’t have a treat for her. Hmmm. Well, I manage to drift back off to sleep, telling myself that I have the whole day to figure this out.

We get up and get ready to go to LegoLand.  The drive is about 45 minutes from the house. We have to go on a short portion of a toll road.  We pull up to the toll booth and start to drop in our “exact change” as required. But the settings are totally off. Dimes are worth one cent, Nickels are worth 25 cents and pennies are worth a dime. While we are there we also notice they have these envelopes you can take if you do not have the money you can mail them a check. I have never seen such a thing and I wonder in a city with so many foreign visitors how confusing it would be to them.  Anyway, we make it to Lego Land with no issues about 15 minutes before the park opens. Just enough time to go and buy the tickets. I have a buy an adult get a kids ticket free coupon. Just as I am getting in line to buy the tickets I notice it expired 2 weeks ago. Argh! We have newer ones at home. They come every month in AnnaMay’s Lego magazine.  Oh well. nothing I can do now. I decided to see if they will let me use it anyway. They do, in fact they gave me one of the adult tickets for free instead of a kid’s one. SCORE!

We get in line about 2 minutes before the park opens. They do a cute little park opening thing and then we are in the park. We head to guest relations to get AnnaMay’s HERO pass. It is along the lines of a DAS. Although I like the way they handle it and how well marked the HERO entrances are even better than a DAS. We don’t have a plan here we just want to do whatever AnnaMay wants.  The crowds are low enough that there is no need to do anything is any particular order. As we head into the park AnnaMay first decides to head into the Brick Factory gift shop which sells individual bricks. She gets her bag of bricks and spots an iPad they have out with a game on it called Lego Fusion. She seems to really enjoy messing around with it. We head out of the gift shop and we see the 2 story carousel. I think that it is the coolest thing but AnnaMay says she is not interested. Just then a park employee (do they have a special name at Lego Land? I am not sure) struck up a conversation with AnnaMay.  He told her that there were Lego Characters in the building to our left. Well, you can guess where AnnaMay wants to head next.  So we head off to see what characters they have. AnnaMay thought this fountain was beautiful. I love the Lego touches they put around the park and how much open and “green” areas there are.

We head in and meet Stephanie from Lego Friends first.  She was a lot of fun.

Then they have a green screen. Which makes for some fun pictures.

After that we saw Emmet!!! AnnaMay loves him from the Lego movie.

As we leave you can choose to buy pictures if you want. We decided to buy the $35 pass which covers all photos including ride photos that are taken in the park for the day. While we are getting it paid for Max comes out to hang with Emmet. AnnaMay headed back around to say hello. First, she chats with Stephanie again. She asks the cats name. Stephanie says that the cat does not have a name and lets AnnaMay pick it’s name. It is now named Fluffy.

Now, to Max and Emmett!

In this picture AnnaMay tells them to make crazy faces….I guess she did not think about the fact that they can’t change what their expression is….Silly girl!

We leave the character area and head down to an area that talks about farming and the environment. It is really fun. They have solar panels you can move into the sunlight that then turn things on and Bikes that you can pedal to make ceiling fans run.

AnnaMay loved the orange trees with real and Lego oranges on them.

Inside the building they had farm scenes made out of Legos.

We left and AnnaMay wanted to go over to the Medieval part of the park. There was a ride there she rode last time that spins you around while going over little hills. Last time we were there she really enjoyed it. This time we actually walked through and were starting to get on when she decided that it was “too scary.” I did not push to get her to do it since she thought Dumbo went too fast the other day. We exited without riding and moved on to Lost Kingdom Adventure (think Buzz Lightyear ride meets Lego Indiana Jones).  AnnaMay loved this ride so much so that they offered to let her stay on it. We made it through 3 times before she was ready to get off.

Next up she wanted to ride the Safari ride.  It was really cute but seemed really short.  Maybe it was just me…I suppose after Disney’s safari ride anything would seem short. AnnaMay borrowed Jay’s camera and took pictures during the ride.

We got off the Safari and started to head around the park.  At Legoland they have little kiosks with carnival type games in them.  AnnaMay asked to play some. I told her no that they were silly and we moved on. We heard a whirring noise overhead and looked up. It was the Goodyear blimp.  How cool!

AnnaMay thought about going to do driving school, but when we got close she said she was not in the mood. She was starting to act a little off so I thought maybe we were about done for the day.  She saw another set of carnival games and begged me to let her play.  She pointed out it was her money that she had earned. I gave in and let her try.  She picked the one where you have to knock the clowns down to win.  She tried twice and could only get 2 of the 3 clowns down.  The girl manning the game even slipped her 2 extra balls the second time.  Finally the girl threw a ball and knocked the third one down so that she could get a prize.  She picked a little stuffed minion which she carted everywhere with her the rest of the day.

After this she said she was ready to go get some lunch and leave but I noticed that it was time for Brickbeard’s water show to start. I convinced her to give it a try, telling her that we would leave if she did not like it.  It was a really cute, corny water show.  She really got into it by the end.

I have no idea how he rides that in that costume!

After the show you can meet some of the characters.

Since we were right by the gardens we decided to go take a look now before we went to find lunch.  At the beginning of the gardens there is the southern belle made out of Legos.  It makes me laugh because as I was researching Legoland, I found some history about park. One of the things I read was once at Cypress Garden, it got terribly cold and the vines you see as you enter had died. People were coming and seeing that and leaving. So, the owner had some of the girls dress up like southern belles and stand in front of the vines so people would not notice them.  It worked and they ended up becoming an icon of the park.  If you would like to read more of the history you can find it here.  http://www.yesterland.com/cypressgardens.html

AnnaMay wanted to make it to the Florida pool that Mrs. Jillian from Jillycakes had told us was now open but it was after 1:00 and she was hungry so we made it this far and turned back to get some lunch.

Jay did manage to get a few pretty shots though.

As we head back through we glance at Mini Land. It is such a cool place but it gets so hot there in the afternoon. We were hungry so we moved through quickly.  AnnaMay wanted Rotisserie Chicken from the restaurant at the front of the park. As we walk I notice again how much “green” they left in the park.  I really do love that!

On our way past the carousel AnnaMay reminded me about the apple fries I wanted to try last year and the stand was not open so I couldn’t.  I went to buy them while Jay and AnnaMay went to get slushies.  Then we all met at the restaurant and got some lunch.  After lunch we did a little more shopping.  At every store we went in AnnaMay stopped at the iPad and played the Lego Fusion game.  Jay asked me if maybe it would be a good treat from Tinkerbell the Tooth Fairy.  It sounded like a good plan to me.  We managed to sneak and buy it and actually get it all the way to the car without her noticing.  With our shopping done we stopped and picked up our printed picture that we got as an early bird special and headed out of the park.  We were heading out at about 3:00. We snapped a few quick shots with the sign as we were leaving. You can see how tired AnnaMay is.

It was a wonderful day at Legoland.  AnnaMay fell asleep and slept the whole way home.  After we got back we went for our nightly visit to Chef Jose and then went for a swim.  Tomorrow is our last full day at Disney…Can we make it count?

Splitsville and Beingets

Today we plan to get to Splitsville as soon as it opens at 10:00 to bowl and eat an early lunch. Since yesterday was a nice slow day we got going in plenty of time. We get to the parking lot at Downtown Disney West side by 9:45. Perfect!  And then we get Splitsville. It does not open until 10:30….Nothing on the west side does. (Have I mentioned I did not plan as well for this trip?) After a few jokes made about my lack of OCD planning. We walked around, window shopped, took some pictures and just hung out.

At 10:30 we headed back to Splitsville. We ask for an alley upstairs which we are given and head up. We decide to wait and order our food when we are done playing.  I only play a half of a game (I was probably not supposed to play any so close to my surgery but I could not resist playing a little.)  AnnaMay did great, in fact she got a strike early on and it caused tears for a few minutes.  At school a strike is what you get for doing something wrong and she has been a bit traumatized by getting some this year. It took us a little time to convince her that in bowling a strike is a good thing.  We had a great time bowling and then enjoyed a great lunch.  When we were done we went to pick up a few things for a friend at D Street and headed to the car.

Next up was Port Orleans Riverside for some fishing. Unfortunately, we got there 5 minutes after the last fishing poles go out and they were not bending the rules.  AnnaMay was quite upset that we could not fish but I told her that we could come back on Friday morning. With this new plan and the promise of Gluten free, Dairy free beignets we made it through without too much trauma.  On our way out we stopped in the gift shop for a little more pin trading and then were on our way to Port Orleans French Quarter.

We got to Port Orleans French Quarter and I went to order our beignets. They cook them fresh so they gave me a pager so I know when to come back and get them.  AnnaMay noticed the large masks hanging from the ceiling this time. They made her nervous as she found them scary. AnnaMay found a table over in the corner that was “far away from the faces.”  There was a small table there that had coloring sheets on them. She sat down and focused on coloring while we were waiting. The beignets came out and were delicious. When we were done eating AnnaMay took the picture that she colored up to the counter. They told her it was great and made it the picture of the day. She was thrilled! Then the Chef came out to check on us.  AnnaMay was sure to give him one of our thank you pictures.  He was really sweet. AnnaMay told us after he left that she loved his accent. (He was French.)

When we left Port Orleans, I was not sure how to get back to the houses, so I did something that my Disney Friends have told me not to do on Disney property. I turned on my GPS. We were just headed back to Indian Creek. How bad could it be, right? We blindly follow the directions of the person in my phone with great faith, believing she will get us back to the house. That is until we realize we are driving into the parking lot for Epcot… OOPS. Nanny comments from the back seat, “Hey, this is cool I get to see Spaceship Earth!” The cast member at the booth does not look a bit surprised and tells us how to get back out of the lot. Apparently, this mistake happens often. We get turned around and start back to the house again. Soon we see Tower of Terror from Hollywood Studios out the car window.  Not long after that we see Mt Everest from Animal Kingdom. Jay says this is the poor man’s way to park hop at Disney. I told him yup this is even cheaper than my friend, Pam, can do it and she has a Disney on the Cheap web page.
We got back to the house and went for a swim and then we headed off to have our dinner with Chef Jose. Yum!  We went for one more quick swim after dinner and then headed to bed. Tomorrow we head for Legoland. Hopefully it will go better than last year and AnnaMay will not get sick!

Boma and Jillycakes

We planned a nice relaxing day today. We slept in and then went to the last breakfast seating at Boma. This is our favorite restaurant without characters.  As we checked in I noticed AnnaMay had slipped over and was talking to a Cast Member. They talked for a while then she came back over to us. Before I could ask AnnaMay what they what they had been chatting about it was time for us to be seated.  It ended up that the Cast Member she was talking to was seated us. She told us that she had just recently come here from Africa and that she noticed AnnaMay had a MNSSHP wristband on. She said that they do not have Halloween in her country so she had gone to the  last night also to see what it was all about.  She told us she loved it.  When we were seated the waitress came out and talked to us and then went and got the Chef. Because there were 3 of us with varying allergies, the Chef went and got another Chef so we could walk through the line easier. They told us what food we could have and then brought us a huge plate of safe waffles and another huge plate of assorted pastries, donuts and cookies. We all gorged ourselves and there was still a ton of food on the table. Our waitress was so sweet. She came by and told us since we were special diets we could take food with us and she went and put in an order for more waffles and packaged them up for us to take back to the house on top of all the food we still had on the table. We ended up leaving with a whole bag of wonderful food.

When we got finished eating, we tried to go out to see the animals but the large overlook was closed while they trimmed some trees. We headed out to the smaller one by the pool but did not end up staying too long.

We headed back to the house to swim. The plan had been to go to Jillycakes in the afternoon to pick up our cupcakes. Jillycakes had been planning to open up a store front at the beginning of October. They had a few logistic problems and were not able to open yet. So, Jillian being the amazing person she is brought the cupcakes to us.  She made sure to have enough time to visit with AnnaMay for a few minutes. They talked about our plans for Legoland on Thursday (her husband is an IT guy there), told us about the new store front and we got a few pictures. After she left AnnaMay dug in. I think you can tell from her expression that she enjoyed them a lot!!

After some cupcakes and a little TV we headed for the POP to see Chef Jose and have him fix us some dinner. After another wonderful dinner with Chef Jose, AnnaMay decided a night swim would be fun.  While we were out today the property managers had been sweet enough to drop off a floating pool light since the regular ones were not working properly. It was really cool and would even flash colored lights. Nanny and I decided to make it extra fun and get some of the glow sticks we had out and put them around the pool.  Nanny and I were sitting on the sofa cracking glowsticks and Nanny screeches.  I looked over and when she had cracked one of the glow sticks it had leaked out and some was on her hand and arm. I ran to get her a wet towel and when I came back we noticed there were a few drops on the sofa. We start scrubbing at them….We finally get them almost all out and a go to turn them lamp behind the sofa out and the whole wall is splattered with glow stick!!! It looked kinda cool except for the fact that this was not our house and well, the wall was glowing! Thankfully with some running back and forth and a ton of paper towels we got it all cleaned up. But who has heard of such a thing, exploding glow sticks! After the clean up we went for a swim and then off to bed. Up tomorrow  Bowling and Beignets.

Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party Part 2

We had planned to go do some window shopping on Main Street while we waited for it to be time to check in at Tony’s Restaurant.  But AnnaMay asked if we could ask if we can check in now. I figured it did not hurt to ask. They said we could and asked if we would be willing to eat on the patio. I said we were and they told us that we would not have a long wait. Sure enough we were seated by 6:40. AnnaMay was a happy girl. Note she had her “phone” on the table recording the “creepy voice” announcing that the party was starting.

It was really nice out on the patio.  It was warm but other than that time waiting to get into the park, it never seemed uncomfortably hot the whole evening. We got a wonderful waiter at Tony’s.  He was really sweet and talked to us a bunch about the party and such. The chef came right out and had the form I filled out for special diets. I told him that in all my years filling the form out no chef had ever done that. Chef Edward said he didn’t know about other chefs, but he likes to know what he was getting into. AnnaMay got spaghetti with just sauce, I got mine with the GF meatballs. He made Jay some dairy free shrimp scampi. We got some rolls and AnnaMay loved them (they were the same rolls as last night… sigh) she ate 3 of them, and then asked to take the last one with her. It was a nice quick meal and a quiet break. It was also perfect to watch all of the people coming into the parks in their costumes.  We were done by 7:20. It ended up being the perfect break time.  I am so glad that we stuck with this ADR instead of switching to Crystal Palace.

 

When we finished with dinner, we headed into see Mickey after that, and ended up having to wait for him to change into his Halloween outfit. We had not told AnnaMay that Mickey could talk now.

Do you think she was excited?

She had a good conversation with him.

In the end, he had them be lions together.

We headed back up Main Street and went to Tomorrow land to see Monster’s Inc. AnnaMay loves that show and as we waited to go in we texted some jokes. They did not end up being used this time but Jay and AnnaMay ended up “on screen” as AnnaMay puts it. Jay was “the guy hiding his third eye under his hat.” AnnaMay thought that was really funny. They added some new stuff since the last time we saw the show.

We stopped off to see Lotso next.  AnnaMay loves Lotso. This shocks most people, but she refuses to believe he is bad and will not watch the movie because of it.  When we were next in line Lotso had to take his break so we had to hang out for a bit. It was calm and quiet over where his meet was so it was not too bad.

At this point AnnaMay started thinking about the fireworks and seemed kinda done with the party. I told her we could leave anytime she wanted. She said not quite yet. We stopped and got some candy and then she wanted to head to Dumbo. We walked directly onto Dumbo, and as we took off, she started to freak out a little. She cried and said we were going too fast. I told her to just lean on me and close her eyes. I reminded her it was a quick ride and it would be over soon. I reminded her that they must all go up and lock in. She made it through without more tears. I thought sure we would want to leave after that. But she saw Donald and Goofy as we were getting off and said she wanted to see them.  We got in line. Then when we were 2 away, they had to go on break. This has happened to us at almost every character. It is life, but AnnaMay did get a little aggravated.  We were hanging out waiting for them to come back and AnnaMay got a little anxious. She started asking if it is wrong to be in line without someone there. I was sure they were coming back any minute. But, I asked her if she wanted to get out of line and she said to give them 5 more minutes. Just as she was starting to get stressed about it again, they came out. Goofy stopped by AnnaMay in line and gave her some high fives and blew her kisses. She was so excited at this point. Then, when we got up there for our turn, Donald stole Stitch. I was worried for a minute but AnnaMay went with it and she and Donald and Goofy had a great time playing with it.  When they finally posed for pictures, Donald took her cape and flipped it over her head and then stuck Stitch on top.

When we left Donald and Goofy, AnnaMay said she was ready to leave she just wanted to stop in and see if they found her card on the Ariel ride. Unfortunately, they didn’t. I thought we just had enough time to at least get up in the shops on Main St before the fireworks start going off. But AnnaMay changed her mind and said she wanted to see Daisy and Minnie. We headed back into Storybook Circus and I was watching the clock because it was getting close to the fireworks. I thought we could just make it through Daisy and then go in the Big Top during them. And then our luck struck again.  We were next and Daisy had to go on break. We had 3 minutes. I told AnnaMay and she said she would  be okay. And then the BOOMs start. She was not okay. I told her to run into the tent and we were right behind her.  Even in the tent it is quite loud.  She was very stressed at this point and I told her as soon as it stopped, we would leave. She was very stressed but said okay. In the back of the store, she found one of those machines that engraves necklaces. She had been thinking of getting one all week. She decided now was the time.  She focused on typing what she wanted and then zoned while watching it engrave.She seemed to be able to completely tune out the fireworks while watching it.  By the time it was ready the fireworks are over and she was a little more relaxed. We found a Peter Pan glass she just had to have so we bought that and she said she is ready to go.

On our way out I ask one more time if she was sure she does not want to try Magic Carpets. After Dumbo she said no to Magic Carpets. It is normally a favorite so I wanted to be sure she did not miss a chance. She said no but then added let’s get a dole whip on the way out.(the pineapple and orange are safe for her to eat) I was not thinking about the time, so I headed down past Peter Pan into Liberty Square. Um, it was almost parade time. I was trying to figure out how to get across the parade route when AnnaMay piped up and said “let’s watch the parade”.  Sure, remember last year when we had a nice spot saved and she had a panic attack and we had to leave just as it was starting? I didn’t say this though I just start looking for a place to watch it from but it was packed. We decided to cross over so we could leave if we needed to and look over there. Just as I thought we were out of luck they closed the path to cross and allowed people to stand there. Perfect. She loved the parade. She sang and danced and waved and had a great time. We were able to slip through the bathrooms in Adventure Land and did not even have to fight the crowd afterwards.  We stopped and got Dole Whips. AnnaMay took a bite or two and declared she needed real food not junk. Um it is 11:00 kid and you have food allergies, where am I going to find real food? Then, I remembered that roll from Tony’s. I pulled it out and sure enough she snarfed it right down. She asked to stop and see Turk. He was right on the way so we stop and see him and then go through another candy line.

Then she said she was ready to go to Main Street. I had told a friend I would pick up some party pins so we walked through the shops as we leave and pick up the pins and a few items. Then we headed out of the park. It was after 11:30 and I think AnnaMay did AMAZING! I think that is the longest she has ever stayed in the park. I really thought we were about done by 8:15 but she pulled out some awesomeness and kept going. As we are walking back to the Contemporary we see a dad walking with a little boy on his shoulders. The boy’s head was on his dad’s and he is sound asleep. And the dad was carrying their candy bags too. Oh my! Well, we got back and picked up the van and headed back to the house. We were home by 12:20. It turned out to be a great night! Up tomorrow Boma and Jillycakes….Yummy!!

Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party Part 1

It is party day!!! Because AnnaMay gets overwhelmed easily, this is the only day we are doing a Disney park this trip. We love Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party.  Last year when we went, AnnaMay had a very hard time and was very stressed, so this year I was on the lookout for any issues and willing to call it quits as soon as we needed to. We hung out at the house in the morning and swam.  We all ate lunch and than took an early nap around noon. We got up and started getting dressed. This year AnnaMay has decided to be Lilo and I have a shirt like one of Nani’s and Jay is going to wear a Hawaiian shirt. (Nanny is not going.  She says it is too hard to get her scooter around in the dark with the crowds so she is going to stay at the house and enjoy a good book.) AnnaMay came out with her dress on. The dress we have tried on 3 times to make sure she is really comfortable in since she has a hard time with clothes.  She has “the look” ,I have learned it well.  It is a pained look with added motions of pulling on said dress.  This was not good. She says, “Mom this is bothering me.  I am not sure I can wear it very long.” My first reaction is WHAT I ordered that and you tried it on you are going to wear it.  Thankfully, that did not come out of my mouth. I said calmly, “if it is going to bother you then why don’t you just go change.” She said “okay mommy, I’m sorry”. All of my anger then drains away and I think it must stink she is having to give up going a Halloween party in a costume because she just can’t do it.  Then I have a wonderful thought! I  remembered I packed her Wonder Woman T-shirt that has a cape attached to it.  And for some strange reason when I packed, I had thrown in my Wonder Woman shirt and Jay’s Iron Man one too!! Perfect! Instant costume change…And now I have a happy comfortable girl. We finished getting ready and headed off to the Contemporary where we valet park the car.  AnnaMay is afraid to ride the monorail and the boats.  We parked here and then we use the walkway to get to Magic Kingdom. Some of you know I had surgery recently and was not as well prepared for this trip as I normally am.  Well, we were halfway to the Contemporary, and I realized that I left the plan for the night at the house. I started to panic a little and then thought, “oh well we can do what I remember and just wing it.” Then, my plan-loving girl pipes up, “I think I took a picture of the plan, Mommy”. Sure enough she finds it!!! It is an older version, but it was way better than nothing. Gotta love a kid that loves plans!

 

We got to Magic Kingdom via the Walkway and got in line at guest services.  This year we got AnnaMay a small wheelchair to use at the park. In the past, they have allowed us to use a stroller as a wheelchair. We found it really helps her to have space that belongs to her that she knows others can’t invade. We were at guest services to get a DAS. It allows us to get a return time at rides and come back instead of waiting in a line where the crowds and noise can overwhelm AnnaMay. We are so thankful that Disney does this for us. It makes our time at Disney much less stressful. I had also heard that they were selling a one day photopass memory maker for $39.  I asked if this was available and it was. Yay.  It was nice to have them get some pictures of us with the characters. It even came with one magic band. This excited AnnaMay and we let her choose the color. She chose pink. She was so excited to wear it and since I had our 3 Fastpasses set up, she was able to use it for them. They came out and took AnnaMay’s picture for her DAS and we finished up. It was about 3:30 at this point and they were supposed to be able to let us get into the park at 4:00. We went over to get in line for one of the turnstiles. Quite a crowd built behind us, but because I had picked the furthest turnstile, it did not seem too crowded. There was a guy in front of us in line that was so funny. He was probably about 22 and was there by himself. He was so excited to be at the party. It was his first one and he chatted with us about everything he was going to see and do. The only bad thing about standing in line was it felt so hot and the sun was just beating down. I was afraid that it was going to be somewhat uncomfortable during the party. AnnaMay does not deal with heat well at all. They opened the lines and let us in to get wrist bands at about 3:50.  We had a 3:30-4:30 FP to Tinkerbell. We decided we should have time to do it before we went to see the castle show.  AnnaMay was very excited this year about shrinking to Tinkerbells size this year. She got really into it.

Tinkerbell was great. She did tell AnnaMay that she heard Super Heroes should not wear capes. (She must have seen the Incredibles.)

On our way up Main Street we stopped and got some pictures of us with the castle, and a magic shot.

 

After that it was just about time for what AnnaMay calls “The Peter Pan Show” because….hello Peter Pan is in it.  I mean he is more is more important than those other characters like Mickey, isn’t he.

While Jay and AnnaMay watched the show, I ran up to get us a return time for Enchanted Tales with Belle. We then headed up to use our Fastpass to meet Rapunzel and Cinderella. AnnaMay asked Rapunzel where Pascal was and she said he was playing hide and seek with Jacque and Gus. She then checked AnnaMay’s hair to be sure he was not in there.

When she saw Cinderella, she asked her what it was like to ride in a pumpkin. They talked about it for a few minutes and at the end she told AnnaMay that some people even say she smells like pumpkin from riding in them.  She offered her arm to smell and asked AnnaMay if she thought they were right.

 

We then went over to ride Peter Pan but were given a return time about 45 minutes out. No problem. It was time we could head to Belle. We got there and only had to wait about 5 minutes to enter.  AnnaMay was fascinated with the mirror that became a doorway. And also the Wardrobe and Lumiere.  She liked the show okay but did not really get into it too much.

When we left Belle, we headed to ride the Little Mermaid ride. The wait was less than 10 minutes so they let us right on it. She enjoyed the ride but lost her little card she had on her lanyard. A Cast Member noticed she was upset and promised they would look for it and told us to come back in a few hours to check and see if they found it. She got herself back together and we headed out. It was not quite time to go over to Peter Pan yet. AnnaMay decided she wanted to meet Ariel.  We only had to wait 5 minutes before we could go in.  Not too bad.  We met Ariel.  I am not sure what they talked about, but AnnaMay loved it.

We headed back to ride Peter Pan. When we finished up with Peter Pan we realized we could use our last Fast Pass for Buzz and headed over to get in line. It took about 5 minutes to get through that line.  AnnaMay loves this ride.  She really killed me with the score.

 

While we had been waiting for Buzz , AnnaMay decided she wanted to meet Mickey. Well it was about 6:15. The information I had looked at before the trip listed him as only being there until 6:30, then back at 7:00 for the party.  But I told her we could try and see but we had to head back that way to Tony’s for dinner at 7:05 anyway. So, when we hopped off at Buzz, Jay told us to just hurry down and he would catch up. We had 5 minutes and I figured there is no way we wouldl make it, especially with everyone pouring into the party. We got down to Mickey at about 6:35 and he was still seeing people, but the wait was 40 minutes. We used the DAS to get a return time we can use after we ate dinner.  We talked about going over and doing some window shopping while we were waiting for it to be time to check in. More in the next post….

Dinner with the Steps

Some magical mail showed up while we were at Downtown Disney. This time AnnaMay got a little pouch with some pins to trade in it. (I had picked up the pouch after Easter last year on clearance and thought it was cute. I stuck a castle charm on it and did not think any more about it.)  When AnnaMay got the mail she was so excited because the pouch matched her dress. Sure enough it was perfect. It is in some of the pictures later. After a little swimming we are off to the Grand Floridian.  AnnaMay is very excited about her makeover at the Ivy Trellis. (I hope y’all are ready for pictures because I can’t help it I have a ton for this post.)  We checked in at the Ivy Trellis.  It is so peaceful in there.  She was actually the only person in there. Her hair dresser was wonderful! She chatted with AnnaMay the whole time. They even worked on AnnaMay’s Bigfoot theory. The hairdresser told her that it was a great theory and that the reason they had Star Wars weekend was so Bigfoot could even come to Disney as Chewbacca. AnnaMay decided as the lady was doing her hair that she wanted a tiara. I was going to run over and get her one when the hairdresser suggested a beautiful pearl and rhinestone hairbow that was the same price. AnnaMay loved it instantly and it was decided that was what she would wear. I loved the way her hair turned out and I thought she did a very tasteful job on her makeup. When we were done we went out and took a few photos.

We still had a little time before we needed to check in to 1900 Park Fare.  AnnaMay asked to go to the gift shop. In the gift shop she found a white shawl to go with her dress and decided it was worth spending her money on. While in the gift shop she started twirling and I managed to get a few fun shots that ended up being my favorite of the night.

When we walked out of the gift shop AnnaMay asked me to take a picture of her in her new shawl and noticed there was a bride behind us.  She had me take pictures of her “with the bride” If you look really close you can see her.

We head back downstairs and get Jay and Nanny and checked in at 1900 Park Fare. After we checked in we waited a few minutes and are seated. The chef came out to talk to us about our allergies. He was not comfortable with me eating off the buffet so he cooked me a steak, baked potato and broccoli. It was really good. The only thing AnnaMay was interested in off the buffet was tatertots so he fixed her some allergy chicken fingers which she loved this time! Yay. He also brought out Gluten free Dairy free rolls which AnnaMay said were no good. We have our food and now the fun starts. I really think the characters are the best part of this meal. Actually, I think that they are the most fun grouping of characters offered right now.  First we saw Cinderella and Prince Charming and you would think they would be the big draw but they are kind of ho-hum in my opinion because they are so proper. In fact it looks like we we did not even end up with pictures of them.

The Stepmother came out next. She told AnnaMay that she approved of her dress and hair in that only the stepmother can do snooty tone.

 

Anastasia came next. She asked AnnaMay how she got to get the jewels on her teeth (her braces) When AnnaMay tried to tell her she said I know what you did! You stomped your foot and cried until they gave them to you.  AnnaMay told her no but she did not believe her. She also asked her if she had any sisters. When AnnaMay said no, she offered her Drizella!

This time the best came last Drizella was just so funny. First she complimented AnnaMay’s dress. Then she asked her where she got it. AnnaMay told her Kohl’s. So she starts yelling across the room, Mother MMMMOOOTTHHHHEERRR!!! I want to go to Kohl’s can we go to Kohl’s!!!  Look at what they made! AnnaMay is just giggling and giggling.

Then she grabs her and hugs her. She starts yelling again Mother MMMMOOOTTTHHHEEERRR! Look I am hugging someone and they are not tied to me!!! Aren’t you impressed??? I love AnnaMay’s expressions in these photos. You can tell she is really enjoying being hugged. Which just makes my day. Touch can be so hard for a child with sensory issues.

After this we figure we are done with characters so  AnnaMay asks to go change into comfortable clothes. (it is very hard for her to tolerate dresses and more formal clothing do to her sensory issues.)  We are in the little side room at the restaurant so it is very easy to just slip out the side door and go to the restroom to change. When we come back in Drizella is still in the side room and spots us. She asks AnnaMay where her dress is.  AnnaMay says, “I changed” and holds up the dress. Well Drizella promptly asks, “can I try it on?” AnnaMay thinks very seriously about this and then says, “you have 5 seconds.” She hands it to Drizella and says, “1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi, etc” (I am, of course, thinking what is Drizella going to do?) But without missing a beat Drizella sticks her arms in it kind of like it is an apron and runs out of the room yelling,  “MMMOOOTTTTHHHHEEERR MMMMMOOOTTTTTHHHEEEERRR!!!!!! SHE LET ME TRY IT ON, MMMMOOOOTTTTTHHHHEEERRRR!!!” AnnaMay was just cracking up! We went back to our table and Drizella came over after prancing around the restaurant for a few minutes. She let us take a picture of her “wearing” the dress and then she was off to another table.  We finished up and paid the bill and left.

Jay was kind enough to go get the car and pick us up. While we were waiting for him AnnaMay noticed the carriage and old Cadillac.  She had to have her picture made with them. She said she was going to ride in one when she got married then quickly added, “except I will never get married, G-R-O-S-S gross.”

We headed back to the house for a night swim and realized that the pool lights were not working properly. I texted the property manager about it. He was there in 10 minutes and he showed us what to do at the fuse panel if they stopped working. Jay and AnnaMay went for a quick swim and then we turned in for the night.  Tomorrow is Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party!!!

Downtown Disney

We were up and ready to head to Downtown Disney. We made a quick run past the POP and left the note for Chef Jose. Okay, I have a funny non-Disney story to tell you that happened during our drive to Downtown Disney. I leaned forward to pick up something off the floor. I hear Nanny who was sitting behind me say “What are you doing?” I figure she is talking to AnnaMay so I finished picking things up. She was actually asking me that question. Apparently, my seatbelt was hooked around the controls and when I leaned forward it lowered the seat back! About that time my brain finally realized Nanny was speaking to me because my seat back was in her lap!  Jay said he happened to look over and saw look on my face as I sat up and realized there was no seat back behind me. He said I looked so shocked. AnnaMay was of course giggling the entire time which got us all giggling. Nanny said she was afraid I was going to crush her. Of course whenever I wanted to harass Nanny after that I just started to tip my seat back! Ha!

Okay, back to our story. We made it to Downtown Disney without any appendages being amputated and parked the car at about 9:45. By the time we got the scooter out, the stores were open. First we headed to the Lego Store, as it gets noisy and crowded in there. We took pictures with the Lego figures.  AnnaMay also chose to build her own 3 pack of Lego Mini figures.

We finished up there and headed to the big Disney store. We looked around in there but decided to wait to really get anything. AnnaMay did have fun trying on the Maleficent hat though. Notice her innocent face and her evil face.

Next, AnnaMay wanted to go to Once Upon a Toy and look for Tsum Tsums. I had promised to buy her 2 small ones for being so brave when I had my surgery. Sadly, they only had the huge Mickey and Minnie ones, but she found Anna and Elsa Barbie dolls and decided that was a good substitute. Then she found a stuffed Chewbacca that she wanted to buy with her money. As you know she loves Bigfoot and her theory is that Bigfoot and Chewie are one and the same that way Bigfoot can come out and no one thinks anything of it.

I have a list of things a friend asked me to pick up for her and we got those and went in a few other stores. We ended up at Goofy’s Candy Shop where we got a few treats and AnnaMay got a Frozen slush.

When we came out of all the shops, AnnaMay picked up all the bags we had and said look mom I look like a shopping girl.  I have no idea where she comes up with these things.

On our way out, I run to Cookes of Dublin and get some Gluten free fish and chips for us to share back at the house. That stuff is so good! We head back to the house for lunch a short swimming break before it is time to head to the Grand Floridian.

Ready, Set, Go!!

Today I picked up AnnaMay from school. She was bouncing off the walls. Since Jay has a new job, we are waiting to leave until he gets off work for the evening. Nanny came over, my dad helped get the car loaded.  AnnaMay found a new friend to take with her.

Finally, Jay arrived at home and the adventure began.  We headed to Hardeeville, SC where we stopped at a Sleep Inn to spend the night. It is a creepy exit after dark. We do not plan to stop there again. We picked up some food from Wendy’s, checked in and went to bed. We all slept  just fine and got packed up to leave at about 8:00. Which is perfect for our 1:00 check in to the house. And then about 15 minutes down the road AnnaMay yelled…Where is my phone?!?!?! Oh shoot. (No, she does not have a working iPhone it is my old one she uses like an iPod) I call and the wonderfully helpful hotel tells me I can come check. Gee thanks…Of course this is one of the areas where it is almost 7 miles to the next exit. We turned around and headed back. AnnaMay was panicking the whole way and apologizing for good measure too. We got back to the hotel and the front desk handed me the room key. I ran up and looked, sure enough even though we did a sweep of the room, the covers had gotten pulled up over it. I came out and gave AnnaMay her phone. For just a few moments I am her hero. We were back on the road again and making good time. We stopped next at the Florida Welcome Center. Apparently we had never stopped there with AnnaMay before. She thought it was awesome. She said this is as cool as a mall. We got free orange and grapefruit juice, took some pictures and got come snacks. (for some unknown reason AnnaMay loves vending machines and thinks it is great to get stuff from them)

We got back on the road and AnnaMay says she will wait until we get close to the house and then grab some food. Works for me! We continued to make great time and got to the general area of the house. AnnaMay spotted a Taco Bell.  Her favorite–BLECK– so we got some food to go and head to the house. We were there by 1:30.  Not bad at all! We got to the house. Can I just say how much I love this house? It is just so perfect for us. Jay unloaded everything while AnnaMay gobbled down her food and begged to swim.  Nanny offered to stay and watch her swim while Jay and I ran to Publix for some groceries. Have I mentioned how awesome Nanny is?  As we were getting ready to leave AnnaMay asks, “where is the swimming stuff?” Oops. Oh well at least I remembered her bathing suits unlike our last beach trip.  Thankfully this is Florida so even the Publix had some good pool stuff.

First mail of the trip! She gets so excited to find it.

We got back from Publix and unpacked a bit and it is time to head to the POP to see if Chef Jose is working. (we have learned to go about 4:30 – it is early but the place is mostly empty and AnnaMay can handle it then)

I love this sign…

We got to the POP and we go ask for Chef Jose. He is there! AnnaMay is so excited. We ordered our food and got a pager. While we were waiting for the food we walked around the gift shop a bit. Our pager goes off and he brought out our food.  Yum! We settled in to eat it and after a bit Chef Jose brought out a treat for AnnaMay and sat down to visit with us for a bit. He told us he is working every day but Monday. Cool, We told him we are planning to come most nights but Monday when we are at MNSSHP.  AnnaMay told him she wanted beans tomorrow.  He said he will order them for her. He also brought her out a treat.

When we finished up eating, we headed back through the gift shop and AnnaMay spotted the Pin Board out. We headed over and traded some pins.

AnnaMay chilling in the 50’s

After that we headed back to the house where AnnaMay swam again and we finished unpacking and settled in. As we were unpacking, AnnaMay came in and asked about tomorrows plans. I started to tell her and realize…We have an ADR tomorrow evening for dinner at 1900 Park Fare. And we told Chef Jose we would see him and he ordered special food! Jay tried so hard to contact him by phone to let him know we will not be there but  couldn’t manage. So, finally AnnaMay said write him a note. That is what we did. We wrote him a note and planned to drop it off the next morning. Now, time for bed so we can have a fun day tomorrow….