Disney 2012–Day 10–Homeward Bound!

After a late night of shopping at Downtown Disney (Gotta love a little gal who can sleep.  Hannah was asleep in her stroller on our way home from Chef Mickey’s so after a quick stop at our resort to book next year’s trip we turned around and headed to Downtown Disney  - at 9:30pm!  I knew she’d stay asleep throughout all the bus transitions and while shopping so we headed there later in the evening and returned to our room around 11:30.  Mommy packed while Hannah slept, none the wiser for our 2 hour shopping expedition during her rest.  Heehee!  Note to self:  Leaving souvenir shopping and treats for Hannah to the last minute will = very little sleep the night before travelling home!)
After falling into bed at 2:00am, the wake-up call from Mickey came at 4am.  Oye!!  I got up and quickly got ready, finished last minute packing and called luggage services who were at our room within minutes.  I then transferred a sleeping Hannah into her stroller (she’d slept in her ‘travel home’ clothes) and we made our way to the front of the resort to meet Disney’s Magical Express for our return trip to the airport.  She woke up in time to say good-bye to our room and resort and then we snuggled together in the bus quietly chatting about our favourite parts of the trip on our way to the airport.
In typical Hannah fashion she was up and at ‘em and ready to face the day when we arrived at the airport around 5:45am.   We rode the monorail back and forth a couple of times between the main terminal and our terminal.  After all, it’s the only free ride in Orlando!   Hannah enjoyed being the monorail engineer!
This video makes me giggle as I sound half asleep and she’s up, happy and talking about the ‘wiggly woad.’  She makes me smile all-the-time!!!  Forever blessed!

While waiting for our flight Hannah wanted to show Nemo his movie.  Heh….3 is such a great age!!
When we landed in Buffalo we made a quick stop at Target before heading home.  All I can say is. ‘You can take the girl out of Disney but you can’t take the Disney out of the girl!’
We drove home, stopping at Grandma and Grandpa’s to spend some time with them and share stories of our trip before heading home.  One final Disney pic to wrap up all the fun:  My tuckered out princess.
Thanks so much for following along on our wonderful vacation everyone and for your kind comments!  It was lots of fun sharing this great visit to the Happiest Place on Earth with you!!

Disney 2012–Day 9, Part III–Chef Mickey’s

Our final special dinner of this trip was one of Hannah’s favourites: Chef Mickey’s with her special friends from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  Even 2+ years later this is still her go-to show and first love and I’m still as impressed as ever with the content of their shows and all that they teach her.
Chef Mickey’s was the very first Disney experience Hannah really ever had – at the young age of just 13 months in April of 2010.  So sweet!  Here she is with her friend D and mommy Auntie Doris.  Check out our little sweeties!
A big change from now, 2 1/2 years later
As we were waiting for our table they hosted a dance party and Hannah got right into it!

When we were seated at our table I decided to do something a little special for Hannah.  Truly she is amazing!!!  When she was little Nana taught her that when we’re shopping she can hold things, carry them around a store and then when it’s time to leave the store we happily put them back.  To this day that’s they way she is and very rarely asks for anything while we’re out.  One way to give her a little surprise was to order a fun little drink so I ordered her a Shirley Temple with a glowing ice cube.  It came with cherries in it which only made my cherry monster happier!  This was her reaction when it arrived.

Soon our character friends began to arrive.  This time her pal Goofy came by our table first.
Followed by Mickey
Donald
and Minnie.
Minnie was especially excited about Hannah’s special drink!

Pluto was signing his autographs at the front of the restaurant as we were leaving.
*sign* No table service credits left.  One more reminder that our awesome trip was drawing to a close.  (I must say, each time I received these bills and saw what would normally have been charged for these meals I was once again glad that Disney had offered us a free dining package!  Bonus!!)
We were both sad to leave but happy to know that it won’t be too long until we’re back. 
We have our annual 2 day trip planned in November with Grandma and Grandpa, Nana and Papa to look forward to.  And, since Disney was offering a bounce-back offer with Free Dining if I booked a return package before check out, I booked us in for next August.  Yay!!
My princess tucked in with her favourite friends. 
Farewell Disney, See ya real soon!

Disney 2012–Day 9, Part II–Epcot

When our boat docked at Epcot I quickly checked the Lines app offered by touringplans.com to see what the line/fastpass situation was for Soarin’.  Touringplans s is a website that I subscribe to (only about $11/year) which offers Crowd Calendars, Touring Plans and Lines apps.  Now that Magic Kingdom and Epcot have free wifi in the park I was happy to have their Lines app on my iPod.  A quick click and I could find out the current wait time for any ride or show in these 2 parks and also what the return times were for FastPasses.  A good investment for sure, especially since Disney is in the process of installing free wifi in all of their parks. 
Seeing that that FastPass return time was a very manageable window of under 2 hours Hannah and I headed there first.  After picking those up we went over to the Character Spot where she met 5 of her favourite friends.  The characters are an important part of Disney for Hannah right now so even though we were going to see these same friends at supper we visited them here too.
Mickey
Pluto
Minnie
Donald
and her favourite character this trip, Goofy!
From there we quickly headed to the front of the park to visit with Daisy
and Stitch.
By now our Fastpasses were ready so we enjoyed Soarin’ one final time this trip and then ate lunch at a restaurant there.  This time it was Chinese food which was a nice change.  Even with the quick service meals I only had 1 hamburger the entire week as there are so many great choices of different foods to eat.
After lunch we rode another little ride that Hannah enjoys called Journey into the Imagination with Figment.  It’s a cute ride and tickles the funny bone of a 3yo.  From there we headed back into the World Showcase and visited a couple of countries including China.  There is a beautiful 360o movie there called Reflections of China and I found myself with tears in my eyes more than once as I viewed Hannah’s amazing birth country once again.  I’m looking forward to taking her back for a homeland tour when she’s around 10 yo. 
Mulan was also in China so Hannah enjoyed visiting with her.
While visiting the countries Hannah also enjoys colouring Duffy the Bear.  It’s fun to see how her colouring has changed and improved over the year.
A quick visit with Duffy the bear himself and then we were off on the monorail to supper at Chef Mickey’s.
I’m going to save our final dinner for a post on it’s own.

Disney 2012–Day 9, Part I–Disney’s Hollywood Studios

Sadly our trip was drawing to a close all.  How can 10 days fly by so quickly?  I wasn’t sure what park(s) we’d go to on our final day so decided to ask Hannah what she wanted to do. 
Not surprising at all, when she woke up at 7:45 she immediately said she wanted to go on the ‘Pop Pop Ride’ (aka Toy Story Mania).  I took a look at the park hours for the day and quickly realized that we needed to put on the jets since Disney’s Hollywood Studios had Extra Magic Hours (EMH) that morning.  Morning EMH’s means that the park opens to resort guests 1 hour before the public.   Since we wanted to ride the headliner ride in that park it was essential that we get there sooner than later.  Hannah was only too happy to do that and we were out of the room within 30 mins of waking up!  That’s fast for us.  Heh….by day 9 I was no longer wearing make-up (since I’d sweat it off in the first hour anyway) and our clothes had been chosen the night before so we were quickly on our way. 
We arrived at Toy Story Mania at 8:45 and by then the FastPasses were already for return times in the early afternoon so that wasn’t going to work for us.  The standby time was displayed as 70 minutes which would normally scare me away but since it was the one ride Hannah asked to ride I decided we’d give it a try.  Boy was I glad we did!  The 70 minute wait ended up being only 20 and we were able to ride TSM twice in one hour!  Fun!!    My little helper getting our 3-D glasses.
It was neat to see Hannah’s score consistently improve over the 4 times we rode this ride.  Mommy’s score?  Not so much!

Toy Story Mania Fun! VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

It was only 10am and we were on the move to the next park – Epcot.   Before leaving DHS we stopped by Starring Rolls Cafe and picked up a delicious cheese and fruit platter that we shared for breakfast.

Cheese, Fruit and Chocolate! VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Rather than take a bus to Epcot we took a boat which was a wonderful, relaxing way to get there and we were also able to enjoy breakfast on the way.  A nice change and fun place to eat.
Next up – Our day at Epcot and supper at Chef Mickey’s.

Disney 2012–Day 8–Magic Kingdom

Nicole and I had arranged back in the spring that our families would dine with Cinderella and Prince Charming for supper Friday evening.  That morning we called one another and decided to share the day together at the Magic Kingdom.  We met for breakfast in our resort and then made our way to the MK for a day of fun together! 
It was another hot day but Hannah wanted to wear her Cinderella costume (thanks to a kind friend for loaning it to us!) so she did.  I eventually convinced her to change into shorts and a t-shirt until it was time for us to go for supper.  She sure does look adorable though!
We rode Splash Mountain together and this time Hannah enjoyed it much more.  My little miss has a sensitive nose and unfortunately at her height she has the lap bar right in front o her face.  Being that Splash Mountain is a water ride the covering on the bar gets wet constantly and thus smells mouldy.  Poor kid!  The first time we rode it she plugged her nose the entire ride.  This time Mommy took a plastic bag and wrapped it around the bar and she enjoyed it much more.  It’s the little things that count.  Our group of 6 going down the big hill.  Can you hear us screaming?
Just before 5 we boarded the monorail and made our way to the Grand Floridian where we would dine with Cinderella and others at 1900 Park Fare.  All the kiddos dressed for the occasion!
Our one and only group shot of the entire trip.  Oops!  At least it’s a good one!
Hannah loves that there is a kiddie bar at every buffet full of yummy food she can reach herself.
Shortly after we returned to our table Cinderella, her family and Prince Charming arrived.  First to arrive was Drizella
Little I was there for the dinner too but he preferred to play hard to get!
Followed by Lady Tremaine
Cinderella was as beautiful as always and fussed over our princesses and little pirate.

Hannah and Prince Charming
The final friend to visit our table was Drizella and she was absolutely wonderful!  She was funny, chatty and had all of us laughing.  This is what happened when she asked M her favourite princess.

I think Hannah was imitating Drizella’s smile here.
Later the kiddos had an opportunity to dance with Drizella.  Look at how much fun they had!

Just a cute pic of my little princess.
After supper we hopped back on the monorail and traveled back to the Magic Kingdom for an evening of fun,
We went for a spin on Aladdin’s carpets, on a few more rides and then watched Wishes Nighttime Spectacular in front o the castle.

We boarded our bus and headed back to Pop Century.  Our kiddos at the end of a great day!  We had a wonderful time with you Nicole, Kevvie, M & I!  Thanks for sharing some of your vacation with us.  See you Saturday at gymnastics!