Disney on Ice–Worlds of Fantasy

Sunday afternoon Hannah and I joined her best friend Ben and his parents in Toronto to see ‘Disney on Ice – Worlds of Fantasy’. 

She’d seen the ads on Disney Junior for the past couple of months and called me to watch them each time they were on.  Little did she know that months earlier we’d already purchased tickets.

One of Hannah’s favourite treats when we go to special performances is cotton candy.  This time it came with this sweet little Tinkerbell flower hat and a Cars hat for the boys.

Knowing we were going to see this show after Christmas I picked up a couple of fun light-up, spinney toys for the kids when we were at Disney in November.  They were a huge hit!

The first part of the show was Cars and the kids loved it!

Cars was followed by The Little Mermaid and Tinkerbell which Hannah quite enjoyed.  I think Ben would have preferred Mater continue to skate around the ice rather than the fairies!

The final part of the show was Toy Story 3 and then Mickey and the gang joined them at the end.

My Disney loving gal really enjoyed the show and has talked often about when we go again next time.  I think I’ll consider for our Christmas holidays again next year.

Love these fun, memories I’m able to create with my precious daughter!

Dining at Cape May Followed by a Stroll Through Epcot

(Thursday, November 15th, 2012)

Last November we discovered the Cape May Cafe character breakfast at the Beach Club Resort.  We knew back then that we wanted to go back and also introduce Nana and Papa to this beautiful resort and restaurant.  As we enjoyed our breakfast we were visited by 3 of our Clubhouse friends including Hannah’s favourite, Goofy!

I’m not sure that Goofy didn’t have a crush on Nana though.  Check him out snuggling up to her!  Papa just laughed!

Also there in their cute beach attire were Minnie

and Donald.

After breakfast we enjoyed a stroll to Epcot as the Beach Club is one of the resorts that is located near the international gateway.

First up was Soarin’ which is one of our favourite rides.  Even though I’ve been on this ride numerous times it still takes my breath away and I love that each time this ride ends the audience still erupts in applause!

We spent the day enjoying many of the wonderful rides and shows that Epcot offers.  We thoroughly enjoyed our day there.  We stopped at their large store and Hannah enjoyed finding as many Cinderella accessories she could find to go with her dress and trying them all on at the same time.

In ‘Mexico’ the girls posed for our traditional sombrero picture.

Grandma bought a treat for each of the girls. 

I love these pics.  In the first one the girls had switched purchases to see what the other person had chosen. 

The second one they switched back and it’s cute to see how their faces lit up when they were enjoying their new toy.

We found Mulan in China

and Alice in the UK.

Enjoying a quiet moment to herself.

We shared 2 wonderful days together at Disney!  I love that Hannah gets to experience the Happiest Place on Earth with her grandparents and cousin.

An immeasurable gift.

Magic Kingdom….Great Fun and Memories Made

(Wednesday, Nov 14, 2012)

Wednesday morning we were up bright and early, ready for a day of fun at the Magic Kingdom. 

Dad decided to skip this year’s Disney trip and we missed him.  Hopefully next year he’ll join us.  He enjoyed 2 quieter days recouping from his cold and doing a little golfing with Uncle Paul.

When we arrived at the MK I recommended that we take the train to Fantasyland.

It may sound silly but this isn’t something that I’d choose to do again.  As much as Main Street is bustling and crowded first thing in the morning, I missed that.   I missed seeing the castle come into view and having our group picture taken with it in the background.  Yup, next time it’s crowded Main Street for us with a huge smile on my face!

We did have a great time in Fantasyland though and the first ride Hannah introduced Nana and Papa to was her favourite, the Goofy Rollercoaster.  She loves that ride and would ride it over and over again.  From there we went on a ride that all could enjoy – Dumbo!  A Disney classic and such fun.  It’s nice now that there are two Dumbo's so the lines are not as long  Bec is not a fan of heights so she and Mom ensured their Dumbo stayed down low.

The rest of us like to climb high and Hannah, well Hannah loves to make us bounce up and down while I tease her about her crazy driving!

One of Bec’s favourite rides is the Tomorrowland Speedway and we had lots of fun there too!  Once again Hannah enjoyed driving. 

We also went for a spin on the Buzz Lightyear ride.

such concentration! VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Any day at Disney is made better with a snack of our guilty pleasure:  caramel apples covered with peanuts.

More Disney classic rides.  Prince Charming’s Carousel

and ‘it’s a small world.’  Hannah is in awe throughout this ride and I love to watch her little eyes as she takes it all in.  If you listen very, very carefully you can also hear her singing along  with the song.  Sorry – you’ll probably find yourself singing it all day too!

We enjoyed a ride on the Liberty Boat

and then settled in to watch the Main Street Electrical Parade.  By this point Hannah was done and curled up in her stroller after the parade and went to sleep.  We left Hannah napping with the grandparents while Bec and I went in to meet the princesses.  

Bec had waited patiently all day to meet Rapunzel and she had such fun with her.  It was sweet to see Bec trying to be all grown up and yet at the same time – it’s Rapunzel!! 

We made our way to our resort which was the new Art of Animation resort and stayed in a beautiful room in the Little Mermaid wing.  If you have an opportunity to stay here I’d say to go for it for sure!

Tomorrow – Epcot!

Finally! Surprised with a Visit to ‘Mickey’s House’!!

Hannah and I are both huge Disney fans so as soon as I begin to plan a Disney trip we begin to talk about it.  We enjoy the planning part and Disney talk is just something that happens in our home almost on a daily basis.

Recently I was able to secure preview passes for the new Fantasyland Expansion that will open next month in the Magic Kingdom.   They were only good on Sunday from 5:00 – 8:30 so I wasn’t sure if we’d be able to go.  It wasn’t until we returned from lunch and an afternoon of wandering through the town square that I realized we could go!  I was super excited but decided not to tell Hannah where we were going. 

She hadn’t napped so the moment our van left the house she fell asleep.  She stayed asleep for the entire hour+ drive and woke up when we were only minutes from the MK parking area.  I watched her little eyes in the rear-view mirror and her head was slowly turning from side to side checking out what was around her.  I said, ‘Hi sweetie!  Did you have a good nap?’   She slowly said, ‘Yes’ while still taking in all that was happening around her. 

Soon a quiet yet excited statement came from the back seat.  ‘Mommy, I just saw a Mickey bus!’

‘You did?’ I asked with a surprised voice.  ‘Hannah, where would you like to go with Mommy?’

She quickly said, ‘Mickey’s House!’

‘Sure!  We’re almost there!’ which was met with cheers of ‘Yay!  Yay!  Yay!!!’

I can’t tell you how fun it was to surprise Hannah with a Disney visit!  She knew we’d be going later in the week with the grandparents but this was a surprise trip for just the two of us!  When we were there in the summer I purchased Annual Passes which is why we were able to get tickets for the sneak preview.

We started our adventure with a visit with Mickey which is always the perfect way to begin any Disney trip!

When we were at this counter the cast member looked at Hannah and excitedly exclaimed, ‘Princess!  I’m so glad you’re here!  Cinderella gave me her autograph album and asked me to have all the princesses I could find sign it so could you please sign it?’ 

Hannah got a huge grin on her face and carefully signed Cinderella’s album!  One really sweet thing is when the CM asked Hannah her name, age and where she was from so that she could write below her autograph.  Hannah told her her name, held out 3 fingers and then proudly said, ‘China and now I live in Canada!’ That made me smile! 

From here we made our way towards the back of the park, excited to see the new Fantasyland expansion!  We started with a visit to Ariel ‘wearing her tail’.  Check out how excited Hannah was!  She kept asking me to pick her up so that she could swim to the coral growing on the ceiling.

We rode the new Little Mermaid ride twice and it was wonderful!  After that we went to Enchanted Tales with Belle.  While Hannah was too timid to take part in the play she did scoot to the front to have her picture taken with Belle.

We rode a few rides that evening but mainly made time to visit some of the characters.  Since we were here last time portions of Fantasyland have opened permanently and now Minnie, Daisy, Donald and Goofy have new meet ‘n ' greet areas.

Minnie

Daisy

Donald

and Hannah’s favourite, Goofy!

I gave Hannah the new Tinkerbell movie for our Family Day so we found Tinkerbell and Periwinkle in Pixie Hollow. 

By this point it was 10pm but with her late nap Hannah was still going strong so we went to the dance party for a bit.  What fun we both had dancing!

This evening was a wonderful surprise that we shared together and had so much fun!  We left happy to know that we’d be going back in just 3 more sleeps! 

Christmas is such a beautiful time to be at Disney!