Tuesday morning we got up bright and early to head to Disney. The guidebooks and websites said that if you arrive between 8:15-8:30 then you would have 30-45 minutes to meet princesses on Main Street before they open the rides at 9am. This wasn't true. We were there much earlier than we needed to be as we arrived at 8:00am. They let us in only a few minutes before 9am. We went straight to the new Little Mermaid ride. The kids loved it. At the end of the day, Nadia said it was her favorite. We had NO wait, and later when we passed it I saw the line was 50 minutes long. Next we headed to story time with Belle. This was our longest wait of the day, but it was a bit shorter than it would have been because a bunch of people in front of us gave up and left the line because they temporarily closed it for a few minutes. The kids were assigned roles for acting out the story. Nadia was in seventh heaven because she was chosen to be the Beast (they liked her roar) which meant she got to dance with Belle! I should have taken a video of it!
Ian was chosen to be the dog who was turned into a footstool. He was a very quiet dog (didn't bark when they asked him to), but he was SO excited when Belle came in the room. You can see in the picture he's jumping up from his seat and waving hi to her. While we were waiting in line I got fastpasses for the Winnie the Pooh ride. We went on that and the Dumbo ride after we finished with Belle. Fastpasses are wonderful. Because of them our wait for almost every ride was about 5 minutes or less.
We planned to have lunch at the Beast's castle (Be our Guest Restaurant). The guidebooks advied getting there at 11am to avoid a long wait. The line was already 2 hours long, and every time we went by it was that long. It was disappointing, but we weren't waiting 2 hours to get in a restaurant. Instead we ate at the Pinocchio Village Haus (no wait). Then I took the three kids to Mickey's PhilharMagic. Even though Ian wouldn't wear the 3D glasses, at the end of the day this was one of his two most favorite "rides." Next Paul and I took the kids on the carousel. I was going to hold Oliver, but they said he had to be on a horse. The other kids never did this at that young of an age! Next all seven of us rode Peter Pan's Flight using fastpasses, and then we finished out time in Fantasyland with a ride on "It's a small world." The teacups were closed that day. We tried to visit Ariel in her Grotto, but the wait was 40 minutes long. The same was true for Merida (the newest Disney princess from the movie "Brave"). I got fastpassses for Buzz Lightyear's ride, and Ian fell asleep in his stroller. While he napped Paul took Nadia to the Town Square Theatre. The wait was about the same length, but she got to meet three princesses (Rapunzel, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty) for that wait instead of just one. That satiated her desire to meet princesses because later in the day there was a short wait to meet Tiana, and she declined.
After riding Buzz's ride (Ian's favorite of the day), we headed to see the 3pm parade. Nadia and Ian were about to burst out of their skin with excitement. They were screaming with delight and shouting the names of the characters in the parade - Peter Pan, Mary Poppins, Tiana, Belle, Snow White, etc. It felt very hot standing there for the parade. I can't imagine going to Disney World in the summer. After the parade was over we headed to Adventureland to ride Aladdin's Magic Carpets and the Pirates of Caribbean. I went and got Fastpasses for Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad before we watched the Country Bear Jamboree. I think that was Oliver's favorite. Paul was excited to ride the Thunder Railroad with Nadia and I because it was under construction when he was here last (January 1980). He waited 33 years to ride that ride! Nadia laughed her head off during the WHOLE ride. Priceless. Then the three of us rode the flume ride. Nadia was hoping to get soaked, which didn't happen.
We ended our day with the 7pm "street party" (small parade) and a little shopping on Main Street. Nadia and Ian each got one new toy. It was the only souvenier we bought them on the trip. We ate snacks we had brought with us as our dinner. On our way out of the park the kids took pictures with Mickey Mouse. We left around 8pm so we didn't stay for the 9pm fireworks. We had taken the monorail into the park that morning so we chose to take the ferry back to our car in the evening. We were parked close enough that we didn't use the tram to get to our car. The kids went to bed about 9pm that night, and it was one of two nights on the trip that Oliver slept past 6:00am. Most days he got up at 4am or 5am, but there were two mornings when he woke up between 6:00-6:30am (once at Aunt Diane's and once at the resort). The amount of walking had been difficult for Grandma at Sea World so she wisely rented an electric wheelchair at Disney. It was by far the most expensive day of our trip (at least 25% of our total expenditures for the 10 day trip were made on this one day), but it was a very special day.
Tuesday morning we got up bright and early to head to Disney. The guidebooks and websites said that if you arrive between 8:15-8:30 then you would have 30-45 minutes to meet princesses on Main Street before they open the rides at 9am. This wasn't true. We were there much earlier than we needed to be as we arrived at 8:00am. They let us in only a few minutes before 9am. We went straight to the new Little Mermaid ride. The kids loved it. At the end of the day, Nadia said it was her favorite. We had NO wait, and later when we passed it I saw the line was 50 minutes long. Next we headed to story time with Belle. This was our longest wait of the day, but it was a bit shorter than it would have been because a bunch of people in front of us gave up and left the line because they temporarily closed it for a few minutes. The kids were assigned roles for acting out the story. Nadia was in seventh heaven because she was chosen to be the Beast (they liked her roar) which meant she got to dance with Belle! I should have taken a video of it!
Ian was chosen to be the dog who was turned into a footstool. He was a very quiet dog (didn't bark when they asked him to), but he was SO excited when Belle came in the room. You can see in the picture he's jumping up from his seat and waving hi to her. While we were waiting in line I got fastpasses for the Winnie the Pooh ride. We went on that and the Dumbo ride after we finished with Belle. Fastpasses are wonderful. Because of them our wait for almost every ride was about 5 minutes or less. 
We planned to have lunch at the Beast's castle (Be our Guest Restaurant). The guidebooks advied getting there at 11am to avoid a long wait. The line was already 2 hours long, and every time we went by it was that long. It was disappointing, but we weren't waiting 2 hours to get in a restaurant. Instead we ate at the Pinocchio Village Haus (no wait). Then I took the three kids to Mickey's PhilharMagic. Even though Ian wouldn't wear the 3D glasses, at the end of the day this was one of his two most favorite "rides." Next Paul and I took the kids on the carousel. I was going to hold Oliver, but they said he had to be on a horse. The other kids never did this at that young of an age! Next all seven of us rode Peter Pan's Flight using fastpasses, and then we finished out time in Fantasyland with a ride on "It's a small world." The teacups were closed that day. We tried to visit Ariel in her Grotto, but the wait was 40 minutes long. The same was true for Merida (the newest Disney princess from the movie "Brave"). I got fastpassses for Buzz Lightyear's ride, and Ian fell asleep in his stroller. While he napped Paul took Nadia to the Town Square Theatre. The wait was about the same length, but she got to meet three princesses (Rapunzel, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty) for that wait instead of just one. That satiated her desire to meet princesses because later in the day there was a short wait to meet Tiana, and she declined.
After riding Buzz's ride (Ian's favorite of the day), we headed to see the 3pm parade. Nadia and Ian were about to burst out of their skin with excitement. They were screaming with delight and shouting the names of the characters in the parade - Peter Pan, Mary Poppins, Tiana, Belle, Snow White, etc. It felt very hot standing there for the parade. I can't imagine going to Disney World in the summer. After the parade was over we headed to Adventureland to ride Aladdin's Magic Carpets and the Pirates of Caribbean. I went and got Fastpasses for Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad before we watched the Country Bear Jamboree. I think that was Oliver's favorite. Paul was excited to ride the Thunder Railroad with Nadia and I because it was under construction when he was here last (January 1980). He waited 33 years to ride that ride! Nadia laughed her head off during the WHOLE ride. Priceless. Then the three of us rode the flume ride. Nadia was hoping to get soaked, which didn't happen. 
We ended our day with the 7pm "street party" (small parade) and a little shopping on Main Street. Nadia and Ian each got one new toy. It was the only souvenier we bought them on the trip. We ate snacks we had brought with us as our dinner. On our way out of the park the kids took pictures with Mickey Mouse. We left around 8pm so we didn't stay for the 9pm fireworks. We had taken the monorail into the park that morning so we chose to take the ferry back to our car in the evening. We were parked close enough that we didn't use the tram to get to our car. The kids went to bed about 9pm that night, and it was one of two nights on the trip that Oliver slept past 6:00am. Most days he got up at 4am or 5am, but there were two mornings when he woke up between 6:00-6:30am (once at Aunt Diane's and once at the resort). The amount of walking had been difficult for Grandma at Sea World so she wisely rented an electric wheelchair at Disney. It was by far the most expensive day of our trip (at least 25% of our total expenditures for the 10 day trip were made on this one day), but it was a very special day.
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