Disney–One more Time…

We had one day left on our Disney tickets and with the expiration date coming soon, we decided to take an overnight girls trip to see Mickey.

Mom, AB, Maybree and I headed for Orlando last Sunday morning. We had reservations for a room at Disney’s Caribbean Beach resort. We’ve not ever stayed at this resort, and I’d read that it had a great pool and was the only one to have a splash area for toddlers, so we decided to book our room there.

The girls were given pirate balloons when we checked in – the resort was totally speaking their love language. AB loves a pirate these days and both the girls love balloons! It was a sweet gift, too, that the three balloons tied up behind the cast member helping us were purple, pink and orange. (Purple is AB’s favorite color, and pink is Maybree’s (according to AB) and orange was Cooper’s favorite). :) 

Our room was in the Aruba part of the resort and the buildings were purple and pink. How perfect for a girls trip!

The grounds on the resort were gorgeous – lots of tropical lush flowers, a man made pond and beach area and birds everywhere.

We even saw this duck and Mamie fed him a snack…

The kid pool was located in Caribbean Cay which was a short walk from our room.

When we got to our room that morning, we changed and headed for the pool.

Grammy & AB

It was a pirate theme and the girls loved it. The splash part was fun for Maybree and AB, both.

There were two small slides that AB enjoyed and Mames even started liking it toward the end. She isn’t a big fan on the water yet. Bless her heart, it’s going to be a LOOOONG summer for her if she doesn’t warm up to swimming soon. :)

AB wanted to go down the slide in the big pool, so she did that a few times. I was nervous at first, because normally this would have totally been DW’s department. But, I got in and waited for her at the bottom of the slide. I was so proud of her – she’d go down the slide and as soon as she hit the water, she would swim the edge. 

We went back and forth a couple times between the splash zone and the big pool. On our last trip to the splash area, AB made a friend. His name was Jackson and he came over and asked if she wanted to play catch with him. (He had a little game with a ball and some nets). It was so cute, especially when Mamie went over to see what was going on…

After a couple hours of playing in the water, we took the girls to get some lunch.

We had planned to hit Magic Kingdom for the afternoon and stay until closing. We got back to our room, changed and the minute we got ready to walk out, the bottom fell out and it started pouring. We debated what to do and decided to still take the bus to the park instead of driving ourselves. But to keep us from getting soaked on the walk to the buses, we drove to the stop. We waited and waited and waited and finally a Magic Kingdom bus came by. We were pushing it to make it for the afternoon parade and on our last bus stop, when there were two scooters that had to be anchored down, we knew we wouldn’t make it on time. The bus dropped us off at the Magic Kingdom at 3:05 and the parade was scheduled to start at 3:00, so we knew we had missed it.

When we walked in to the park, we noticed that people were still standing on the street corners, so I asked one of the cast members if we’d missed the parade. Turns out, they started the parade that day on the opposite side of the park (because of the rain) and we had in fact, made it in plenty of time to get a great spot and see it!!!  We had NO ONE standing beside us, it was the craziest thing. Usually there are people shoulder to shoulder and we had about eight feet beside us of open space. We had a few minutes before the parade started, and Mamie had already spotted the “bwoons” so Mom went to get her one. Only a grandmother would think it’s not only a good idea to buy the monster size balloon in the first place, but also to get it the minute you get into the park. :) 

The parade was as great as always and it was fun to see it from a different spot this time.

Mames loved it so much this time. She would just laugh and wave and get so excited. I thought she was going to jump out of my mom’s arms when she saw Mickey & Minnie!

A few friends stopped for high-fives, hugs and even some nose rubs…

AB blew all the princesses kisses and even one to the Beast. He saw her and acted like he caught it and then drew her a heart with his hands. So sweet!!

After the parade, we made our way into Fantasyland. We knew we wouldn’t ride everything, but there were a few things that AB wanted to do, all of which were in Fantasyland. (The great thing about having gone twice already this year, is that we’ve already done it all, and this time, we could just do a few things at a relaxed pace). Our first stop was to get some FastPasses for the Under the Sea ride – then we hit Mickey’s Phillar Magic  3-D Show because AB has a big love for some 3-D glasses. Mamie enjoyed it, too.

We rode the Carousel next. This was Maybree’s first time riding it and she was a doll. She sat up there and held on like she was five years old. She was so serious about it and you could tell she was so proud of herself. So sweet.

Up next was Under the Sea- which has quickly become one of our favorites.

We got fastpasses for the BarnStormer next and got in the standby line to ride Dumbo. There was a 20 minute wait, and it had started to sprinkle, so we thought under Dumbo’s big top would be the perfect place to wait out the rain. The new wait area is so fun for the kids. They give you a pager when you go in and then page you when it’s your turn to ride. While you wait, the kids get to play on lots of fun play equipment and it’s all in the air condition (amen).

When it was our turn to “fly,” Mames rode with Grammy…

My co-pilot for Dumbo isn’t big on “co” – she likes to run the controls. :)

and she likes to go UPPPPP… which made for a good view to see Mames & Grammy…

After Dumbo, the rain was getting ready to start up again, so we decided to eat dinner. We’ve been wanting to eat at Pinocchio's Village Haus because it’s the restaurant that overlooks the “It’s a Small World” ride. It was pretty full when we got in line to order and all of the window seats were taken (dern), but by the time we ordered and got our food, the absolute best spot (the one in the window right above the “It’s a Small World” river opened up and we got to sit there!

The girls LOVED it. They waved at every boat that went by and had the best time watching all the people.

Enchanted Tales with Belle was next. There was a 40 minute wait, but AB really wanted to do it, so we didn’t mind. While we were waiting, she told us she hoped she got to play, “Chip” during the story. When it was finally our turn, we made it in. The castmember started passing out parts and AB got chosen to play…CHIP!!! So fun. (I always say this, but I really do feel like Disney just always works out for us! Part of the magic, I guess!) :) We were so excited that she got to be who she had hoped for!

She did a great job with her part and Mamie sat and watched the show like such a big girl!

When the “cast” was introduced and went up to receive their gift from Belle, AB told her that she had a yellow dress just like hers. It was so sweet.

After the story time and introductions of the actors, one of the cast members came over and got Maybree and took her up to see Belle. She was so cute.

The rain had stopped (we seriously dodged it all afternoon – and not once did we or our strollers get wet!) and we decided to get on the train and ride a little. Mamie hadn’t had a nap all day and it was after 6:00. We knew we still had a long night ahead of us if we were going to stay for the light parade and fireworks, so we rode the train all the way around the park. Mamie was out before the conductor could blow the whistle.

After the train ride, Grammy sat with sleeping Mamie and AB and I rode the Buzz Light-year ride. We haven’t ever done this one, and AB wanted to do it.

After Buzz, we made our way to the castle to get a spot for the light parade. It was already started to get crowded, but we managed to get a good spot. We got some snacks and settled in to wait…

We’ve never stayed late enough for the girls to see the light parade (or on the day’s we’ve stayed late, they haven’t had it), so AB was really excited.

She loved it! She was so fun to watch it with because she would get so excited and tell me which float was coming up next…

After the parade, we got some seats on some benches and waited for the fireworks. I took AB a little close to the castle to see Tinkerbelle when she flew down and she LOVED it. It was such a sweet moment.

After the fireworks, we waited for the crowd to die down and then made our way out of the park, too.

It was such a fun day, but we were all glad to get back to our room and get our jammies on!

Everyone slept great and woke up Monday morning ready for more fun!

We decided to hit the pool again for a couple hours before we had to check out.

We made a stop at the playground first, though…

We were at the pool before the slides even opened! AB was swimming and Mamie was loving the zero entry pool.

When the life guards came out at 10:00 to turn on the slides, they announced that the pool had been over taken by pirates the night before! AB spotted the pirate on top of the fort and the lifeguard had all the kids yell, “Arrrrrggghhh!” to scare him down. He came down the slide with his sword and swam across the pool. AB loved it. Disney has so many fun touches and details that make everything else incomparable.

AB went down the big slide that the pirate had been on, but it didn’t end very well… she got turned around coming down and bumped her head.

We stuck to the smaller side in the big pool for the rest of our time…which she loved! :)

We checked out of the hotel and headed for Downtown Disney. AB had some money burning a hole in her pocket! She picked out a couple things, including this Disney Park Food play set… I thought it was so cute, too!

The girls got charms for their Disney bracelets, too. AB got a Tinkerbell charm since she got to see Tink fly out of the castle before the fireworks for the first time. Maybree got a Belle charm, since she had her picture taken with her for the first time this trip.

After some lunch, we headed back home. We really had the best time and it was like everything just kept working out for us. I love trips like that!!

~amw~