Day 8 - Surprise!

We had another big surprise up our sleeve for the girls.  I had told them that we planned to visit a different park each day (granted that plan changed a little, but that was the original thought), so Thursday morning, Lily asked what the name of the park was.  I told her after breakfast at Ohana, we were going to Port Canaveral.  She said okay.  As we pulled into the port, she pointed out the window and said "Mommy, there's one of those big cruise boats that you and Daddy like to go on.  It even has Mickey Mouse on it!"  We couldn't stand it any longer, so we asked "Would you guys like to go on that big cruise boat with us?"  We were met with very enthusiastic shrieks!  As we were in the check-in lobby, I asked the girls to show me their excited faces for the good news, and here's what they showed me:

 After we checked in, we met Minnie in front of the ship's model.

 

 We boarded (super easy boarding process) and went to our room, Cabin 10610.  We were all surprised because Ryan had it decorated for us beforehand!  They strung a bon voyage banner and sparkler in the middle of the room.  It made us feel very welcome.  This room was perfect for our family!  Right when you walk in, there was a large closet on the right and two bathrooms on the right.  Leave it to Disney to be so smart; one bathroom had a toilet and sink while the other had a roomy shower and sink, so multiple people could use it without being in each other's space.  Just past that was a comfortable queen size bed and then a curtain dividing it from the rest of the room.  Lily and I actually shared this bed.

 On the other side of the divider curtain was a sofa that folded down into a bed where Mia slept.  There was also a storage ottoman, long counter filled with cabinets, shelves, drawers and a mini-fridge, a large mirror and a tv.  During the day, this gave us plenty of room to move around.  While we were at dinner each evening, housekeeping would come in and pull a bunk down from the ceiling which is where Liz slept; they also pulled a Murphy bed from the wall where Ryan slept.

While I think the girls thought the top bunk was the best part of the room (they had a blast playing pirate ship on it), Ryan, Liz and I all loved our balcony.  We thoroughly enjoyed sitting outside and seeing the ocean go by.  Just beautiful.

 We all enjoyed seeing what fun towel creations housekeeping would come up with each evening too.  We all thought this lobster with Mia's sunglasses was pretty cute!

 We took some time to explore the ship.  The girls loved the huge porthole windows with cushions.  They would have stayed here awhile if we had let them. 

 I thought this was beautiful as it hung in the atrium.

 This was a neat Cinderella mosaic.

 We all enjoyed the Sail Away party just after the muster drill.  It was fun to see lots of characters come out and dance around; we were all excited to leave.  It was really cool to hear the ship's whistle sound "when you wish upon a star" as we sailed away.

 The girls enjoyed their bird's eye view of the show.  They sat like this for a few minutes on the other side of the deck too once they realized we were moving!

After the party, we headed to our first dinner at The Royal Palace.  There are three dining rooms onboard, and you visit a different one each night per your assignment; your waiter and assistant waiter move with you which is neat.  The girls loved that our waiter showed them a magic trick and made the napkins rise up in the air.  This particular restaurant was what you imagine a palace to look like; they serve mostly french food, and I think we all enjoyed it.

 

After dinner, we had a chance to meet Sailor Pluto.

After this we headed to the theatre to see "The Golden Mickeys" which was a fun production.  Lots of characters, especially princesses, made an appearance, so the girls were happy about that.  It was after 9PM when this finished though, so the girls were exhausted.  We headed on back to our room to settle down and rest up for a fun day tomorrow.



Day 8 - Breakfast at Ohana

On Thursday morning, we enjoyed a yummy breakfast at the Polynesian hotel's restaurant, Ohana.  This is a neat hotel that was fun to look around.

 At breakfast, we were visited by Stitch.

 Lilo stopped by too.

 The characters led a parade, but neither girl wanted to get out and walk in it; they preferred to stay at our table, eat and people watch.

 

When the parade ended, Mickey stopped by for a visit.

 Last up was Pluto.  He kindly held his ear up when I told him it was covering Mia's face!

 The staff knew we were visiting between the girls' birthdays (though this trip was for Liz's birthday, not either of theirs).  They surprised the girls with birthday cards signed by the visiting characters.

This was a nice way to end our time at Disney World.  More fun was coming, and the girls had no idea...

Day 7 - Magic Kingdom (again)

We decided to spend our last day in the parks at Magic Kingdom.  When we walked in, we were a little surprised that overnight, everything had been decorated for Christmas; the Disney elves had been hard at work the night before!  Marie was just inside Main Street to greet us.

 We headed towards Adventureland and had the opportunity to meet Tinkerbell.

 We also met Tinkerbell's sister, Periwinkle.  They are the stars of a new movie that the girls had just seen; they love the movie, so they were excited to meet these fairies.

 We made it to our first ride of the day, Aladdin's Magic Carpet.  Both girls really enjoyed this ride as they flew us up and down and tilted the carpet forwards and backwards.

 After the magic carpets, we rode Pirates of the Caribbean which neither girl really cared for.  Though they like pirates, they like more of the cartoon, nice, Jake kind than the scary, dirty, Jack Sparrow kind.  After that, Liz and Mia headed to Country Bear Jamboree which Mia absolutely loved.  While they were there, Ryan, Lily and I went to ride Big Thunder Railroad which Lily always calls "the fast train."  She loved it when we visited a couple of years ago, and she had been very excited to ride it again.  She still loved it.

After meeting back up, we started wandering over towards the new Fantasyland that isn't opened yet.  However, Ryan happened to talk to the right employee at the right time, and they let us in to preview everything!  It was awesome!

 

We took our time meandering around, and we happened back to the Ariel's Under the Sea ride.  As we walked up, they unchained it and let us and few others in to try it.  Pretty cool ride as you hear and see the story of Ariel while riding along in a clam shell.

 As we left the ride, a gentleman approached me and asked if we had met Ariel.  I responded that it was just a ride and you couldn't meet her here.  He said "you meet her down there" and pointed just past the ride.  There was one employee standing by herself that we assumed was there to direct people back the other direction (they are still doing construction just past her).  We walked over, and sure enough, she told us to follow the lines to Ariel's Grotto.  We did and walked right up to Ariel!  Lily had just dressed up like Ariel for Halloween last week, so I think she was super excited about this meet and greet.  They talked for several minutes as there was no one else in line behind us.  I like this one on one with characters!

After meeting Ariel, we decided to take a break for a little snack at Gaston's Tavern.

 Who should we meet but Gaston himself?

 Mia and I showing off our Gaston muscles in his big chair.

 The girls had frozen apple juice in this souvenir cup; it was really delicious.  We all enjoyed it, actually.  We also snacked on pretzel chips and hummus which gave us the little break and energy boost we needed.

 As we walked back, we stopped into an awesome new attraction called "Belle's Enchanted Tales."  You walk through Belle's home into Maurice's workshop.  It opens up into a special room where Madame Wardrobe (with the assistance of an employee) hands out roles for all the kids, a few adults and anyone who wants to participate in the show.  We had three people from our party called up to act: Lily as the talking portrait, Mia as a pepper shaker and Liz as Madame Wardrobe due to her awesome opera soprano singing skills!

 When everyone is ready, you are taken into Beast's library where Belle comes out and acts out her story with all the "actors."  She even dances with the little boy who plays Beast!  At the end, each individual gets called up for a picture and to receive a special bookmark from Belle.

 I think it's safe to say that all three of our actors loved it!  We finally decided to leave this area because Ryan was able to snag dinner reservations for us in the new Belle's castle in this area.  Seriously, how lucky were we today?!

 

The four girls couldn't resist another spin on the carousel.

 After the carousel, we headed back to Pinocchio's Village Haus for lunch because we had enjoyed it so much the other day.  It was yummy again.  After lunch, we decided we didn't have time to go back for a nap, so we rented a stroller (really wish we had done this other days) and just took it easy strolling around to let the girls rest a little bit.  We headed over and took a ride on the easy going People Mover.

 After exiting that, we had the chance to meet Buzz Lightyear before riding his Space Rangers ride.

 Afterwards, we headed over to the race cars ride.  Lily drove me around.

 Mia drove Ryan.  I think we both felt a little queasy after all the back and forth and bumping that went on!

 We chilled out to the "Celebrate a Dream Come True" parade.  The girls liked that all the main characters made an appearance during this parade.

 We waited just a couple of minutes and rode It's A Small World again.  Both girls really love this ride.  Lily kept talking about the "botanical gardens" part a the end where it says "good-bye" in many languages; we had to snap this picture.

 We had just a little more time available, so we went to meet Goofy and Donald.  Lily didn't want anything to do with this, so she stayed in the stroller with Liz while Mia went in with Ryan and me.  Little bit with a big Goofy.

 A little side hug for Donald.

 Finally it was time to head back into the new Fantasyland area for dinner in Belle's Castle.  What a neat experience.  We were a little disappointed that we didn't get to sit in the humongous, beautiful ballroom; instead we ate in Beast's West Wing where the enchanted rose is kept.  While it looked like it was snowing outside of the ballroom, we had dinner in a thunderstorm which scared the kids for a bit.  The food was pretty good, and I would be happy to eat there again though I would love to be in the ballroom next time.  Hey, we consider ourselves fortunate that we even got to try it out though.

We were all worn out after the day, so we headed on back after this  to get a good night's sleep.  The parks have been a blast!



Day 6 (afternoon) - Pool

We decided to take a low key afternoon to recharge a little bit.  So, after a morning at Hollywood Studios, we headed back to the hotel for a little snack and a nap.  After we woke, we spent some time at the hotel's "Big Blue Pool" which was themed after Finding Nemo.  Here's a picture of the walk-in side of the pool looking at the main building.  Notice no one is in the pool right now, as they had to make everyone leave for "unscheduled maintenance" for a few minutes; thankfully, that was not due to my kids!  It was great to play in here for a bit though and watch the girls practice their swimming again.

 When they closed the pool, we walked a few feet over to the splash pad.

 Mia showing off her surf moves.

 Lily making a funny face for us.

 Mia thought it was HILARIOUS to have the water spray onto her bum!

 The girls had a lot of fun here.

This was definitely a great way to spend the afternoon.  After this we took showers, got into our pajamas and then headed into the food court for a quick dinner before bed.  Another fun day!