Disney 2015 ~ Magic Kingdom ~ Day 2

(Wed, Sep 16, 2015)

After going hard the first 3 days in the parks we started today slower.  We slept in a bit, took our time getting ready and then stopped at the store at our resort.  Hannah had brought some pins for Pin Trading and was excited for her first trade with a Cast Member!

Another new thing Hannah and I wanted to try this trip was Tonga Toast at Capt. Cooks at the Polynesian Resort.  It is a large slice of sour dough bread, stuffed with bananas, dipped in French Toast batter, deep friend and then dusted with cinnamon and sugar!  As with the majority of our counter service meals, we shared this and still were not able to finish it. 

We both decided it was good but not something we would necessarily rush back to try again. 

Before leaving the Polynesian we did a little shopping in their stores as Hannah had some spending money that she had saved up for our trip.  The second purchase she chose was this adorable Baby Pluto.  She is a stuffy lovin’ gal and I never mind her purchasing them as I know they will be cherished and receive much love. 

We were on our way to the Magic Kingdom for the day so we hopped onto the monorail and rode the 2 stops to get us there.  (Even at 6yo Hannah uses a stroller at Disney when she wants a break.  Since she’s older I rented a City Mini GT from Orlando Stroller Rentals and it was worth every penny!  We go hard at Disney and having a good stroller is a must for us as most nights she was asleep before we get back to our room.)

We rode a Disney classic…

plus  Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.  Hannah was cute as she tried to look ‘cool’ at the beginning but the swoops, curves and hills soon had her giggles going!

Disney has begun to add a number of interactive queues that gives kids (and adults) things to do while they wait like this one at the Winnie the Pooh ride. 

As we waiting Hannah made friends with this sweet little girl from Scotland.

We ended our day with another new dining opportunity and I’ll say it was the one I was most looking forward to and it didn’t disappoint:  Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue!  When we arrived we were excited to be seated close to the stage.

The entertainment was great

and the food was delicious.

Strawberry Shortcake anyone?

Hannah belly laughed her way through the evening and about half way through the show she declared that this needs to become a new tradition!  I agree baby…I agree!

The next time you visit Walt Disney World, Hannah and I highly recommend you attend the Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue!!

Disney 2015 ~ Hollywood Studios

(Tues, Sep 15, 2015)

Hannah and I were up bright and early on Tuesday morning and made our way to Disney’s Hollywood Studios (DHS) to sign Hannah up for Jedi Training that she would participate in later in the day.  Once we had secured a spot for her we parked her stroller and headed back out of the park.  We boarded a boat and on this bright, sunny day made our way to the Beach Club Resort to go to the character breakfast at Cape May Cafe.   So bright and pretty!

The food was delicious at this breakfast buffet (can you say banana, strawberry and chocolate crepes?) and the characters were fun in their beach attire.

The Beach Club Resort is located near Epcot in a beautiful location.

We made our way back to DHS and stopped for pictures on Hollywood Boulevard with it’s new look of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre at the end of it. 

It was now for Hannah’s Jedi Training so we made our way to her Padawan Training.

She did well learning her moves as a Padawan

but then this happened and my girl was outta there faster than you can say ‘No way baby!!!’

I was so proud of my girl for trying this and totally supported her quickly exiting the stage, ‘Because I don’t know him too well!’ 

Hannah was excited to try ‘Star Tours’ again this year (we tried it a couple of years ago but she didn’t like it) but this year it was a hit!  Afterwards she built her own droid.

One of Hannah’s favourite activities on a Saturday morning is to watch Disney Parks videos on YouTube.  I like them because they’re fun and 100% safe so I can be comfortable with any that she chooses to watch.  One she enjoyed watching was about the ‘PB and J Milk Shakes’ available at the 50’s Primetime Cafe.  It was surprisingly yummy!

On our way to watch Fantasmic we stopped to ride Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster.  It’s a really fast roller coaster with loops and barrel rolls all in the dark but Hannah wanted to give it a try.

She was excited to just barely meet the 48” height requirement.

She did well and there weren’t any tears afterwards but she also declared she doesn’t want to ride it again until she’s a teenager!  This was her post RRC face!

Our final event of a great day was watching Fantasmic which we both really enjoy.  As the final scene emerged my heart swelled even more for my sweet, amazing, wonderful girl!!!  She was beyond excited to see all the characters as you’ll hear in her voice but it was her words that melted me!  Her heart was with her cousin and best friend Makenna who hadn’t been able to stay for the show.  She exclaims, ‘Oh I can’t tell Makenna this!  I can barely tell Makenna this!  Makenna will be so upset!’ 

I love hearing Hannah’s excitement as she found Mulan and other favourite characters.

Another wonderful day with my girl and as was common, she crashed as soon as she hit the stroller.  Sweet Disney dreams baby girl!

Disney 2015 ~ Epcot ~ Day 1

(Mon, Sep 14, 2015)

Monday morning we made our way to Epcot to enjoy another wonderful day together!

We made our way to the Norway Pavilion for breakfast with the princesses.  Akershus is one of our favourite character meals and one we try to fit in most trips.  The girls enjoyed their time with the princesses while our little prince was a little more shy amongst royalty.

Even Trish and I got in some princess fun.  Would the real princess please stand up!

The Princess Parade is always a highlight.  Love how the girls were holding hands by the time they came back to our room.  Awe!!

After breakfast we went next door to the China Pavilion where Hannah was able to meet Mulan.

It always melts my heart to see how Mulan takes extra time to interact with Hannah when she has her Mulan costume on.  She is Hannah’s favrourite princess and she enjoys watching both of her movies.

At this point we headed back to Future World to ride Soarin’, The Seas with Nemo and Friends ride and more.  I was excited to ride Soarin’ as the movie will be replaces to ‘Soarin’ Around the World’ by the time we’re here next year.  It will be neat to see The Great Wall included but I sure hope they keep the music the same.  It is absolutely amazing!!

Next up was a visit with some of our favourite characters.

We enjoyed supper at the Coral Reef restaurant which is another favourite.  From there the girls were begging to go swimming so we left the park after a ride on Spaceship Earth and made our way back to our resort.  Bathing suits….quick!!

After a swim it was a change into pj’s and then we enjoyed the Goofy Movie by the pool.  Watching one of these movies is something we’ve wanted to do so it was fun to check it off our list.  There are a number of new things we hope to do this trip!  At Disney, there is always something new to do and experience! 

Sweet dreams.  Tomorrow Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

Disney 2015 ~ Magic Kingdom–Day 1, Part 2: The Rest of the Fun!

Once we’d completed our photo shoot we made our way behind Cinderella’s castle to go to ‘Be Our Guest’ for breakfast.  This is a new dining option that Disney offers and we all enjoyed our breakfast…especially since it was ‘Free!!!’  I booked this trip 1 year ago when Hannah and I were here in 2014 and the offer I booked included Free Dining.  With our resort room I secured free meals for us and I upgraded by paying about $20/day for the 2 of us to enjoy special table service restaurants.  It’s a great deal and upgrading works perfectly for us!

Hannah and I shared and open faced toasted baguette with brie, arugula, bacon and 2 poached eggs one it.  It also came with a little bit of fresh fruit, a tray of mixed pastries and beverages for both of us.  We enjoyed our meal and I’m sure we’ll return for breakfast again next year.  This was what was left after I’d taken Hannah’s portion off…and remembered to take a picture.

We were already in Fantasyland so after breakfast hopped in the line to ride Seven Dwarfs Mine Train.  One of our favourites! 

After Seven Dwarfs it was off to the teacups.  Hannah, Uncle Dave and Kallen like to spin like crazy so we sent them off together while the other 3 of us sat in a little less spinney teacup!  I love the relationship Hannah has with her Uncle Dave!

The spinners

The wimps – trying to look brave!

At this point we saw a big storm rolling in so we headed over to an area where we could ride a few things without having to go outside too much between rides.  We tried out the new interactive queue at Peter Pan.  Very creative!

Kallen wasn’t too impressed with the wait so he decided to slip between the slats in the fence and hang out in Michael Darling’s room.

It was still raining pretty hard so we visited ‘Mickey’s Philharmagic’ and ‘it’s a small world’.  By this point the rain had stopped for the day (yay!!) and we had FastPasses for the princess so we set off to visit them.

Rapunzel

Cinderella

Snow White

After lunch at Casey’s Corner we decided to watch the Festival of Fantasy Parade since we were sitting right next to the parade route.

Our next FastPass time had arrived so we visited Ariel in her Grotto and rode her ride.

One of the rides Hannah had chosen to skip last year was the Tomorrowland Speedway but this year was a different story.  She did so well! 

Our final ride of the night was Dumbo!  Ending with a classic was perfect!