Day 2 - 2019 mother-daughter runDisney adventure - Animal Kingdom

Saturday morning we headed off to Animal Kingdom.  We had a special birthday surprise for the littlest member of the family in the works, so our first stop was at the Adventurer’s Outpost to meet Mickey and Minnie

I’d only been to the Outpost one time, so I wasn’t entirely sure where in the park it is. I assumed that, since Mickey and Minnie were in safari outfits, they were in Africa. So that’s the way we headed. And found out I was wrong (they’re closer to Asia). With that slight detour, and some Tree of Life selfies, we found the Mouse’s.

We had time to kill before our safari Fast Pass, so we did what we do best.  We went shopping -  Disney gift shops are always fun. Especially when they have gigantic, colorful birds wandering around outside.


And slightly smaller, but equally colorful, birds flying over head.

 

After all that excitement, the safari was rather uneventful. Which doesn’t mean it wasn’t fun, but the animals were mostly chilling (or attempting to chill) in the shady spots.

 Our  safari complete, we hit the Festival of the Lion King show (if I had seen this show as a child, I’m pretty sure I would have wanted to be a tumble monkey when I grew up), and went in search of the tigers in Asia (like the safari animals, they were snoozin’ in the shade).

With that, our walk on the wild side was done.  Despite multiple cast members telling us where we could find Pocahontas (because I was wearing a Pocahontas-themed shirt), we never actually made it over to her neck of the wooods. I’m kind of regretting that now, but at the time felt it was better to call it a day.  I had a ridiculously early wake up call/alarm coming the next morning

Day 1 - 2019 mother-daughter runDisney adventure - Travel And Expo

I knew I had neglecting this blog, but hadn’t realized just how long it had been since I’ve written anything.  The jury is still out on whether this will be a quick drive-by post to share/organize some thoughts, or if I’ll start writing/sharing/posting on a more regular basis. But either way, I wanted to take the time to write up a recap of my latest Disney trip.

If you’ve read my previous posts, you may know the history behind my running the Disney Princess Half Marathon.  And if you haven’t read anything or you don’t remember, well, sit tight, because I’m gonna share the story again.

I ran my first half marathon in 2011. Not long after that first race, I started searching for more, and I found out about the Princess. At a girls’ weekend, I casually mentioned how it would be fun if we could go to Disney and they could all cheer me on as I ran/crossed the finish line. Their response was, “yeah, that sounds like fun, but forget cheering - we’re gonna run with you.” So we started training and planning for what we thought would be a once in a lifetime experience.  Well, to make a long story short, we had so much fun, we would repeat the experience 5 more times

So, for six years, my friends and I made the trek to Florida to run the Princess together. 

But when registration for the 2019 race rolled around, life, as it tends to do, had brought some changes in our lives, and it was time to rethink our participation. In the end, I decided I was going to run it at least one more time (it’s a favorite, and I just wasn’t ready to say good-bye to it quite yet), but my friends decided they were out. So for 2019, I was on my own.

I convinced my mom that Disney in February is cooler than May/June when we usually go and she should come with me. Since she’s turned into quite the Disney junkie since her first visit 2 1/2 years ago, I didn’t have to to do much convincing to get her to agree to go.

So, on Thursday, February 21, we were off, driving up to Pittsburgh so we could catch our direct flight to Orlando on Friday.

 (Sidebar for those wondering why we drive all the way to Pittsburgh when we could fly from  home: if you book your flights early enough (as in as soon as your travel dates become available), it can  actually be cheaper to fly out of PIT  (even factoring in hotel costs, gas, wear & tear on the vehicle, etc.) . Yes, really. Add in the convenience of a direct, non-stop flight (and the possibility of using Southwest points  to purchase at least one of our flights) and it’s kind of a no-brainer.  The key is booking early; if you wait, the price will go up and then it wouldn’t make sense. But I digress.)

We had a couple minor snags at the airport on Friday - an extra scan to get through security (PSA- if your cardigan/sweater has metallic threads, take it off before going through the screener machine; otherwise, you may light it up like a Christmas tree) and a flight delay while SW dealt with a computer network issue. Luckily, we had no set plans for the day and the delay was only an hour, so we didn’t miss anything.

One benefit of the delay was our room was ready when we got off the Magical Express. So we dropped off our carry-ons, and headed off to the race expo.  The expo was set up a little different this year, with the bus drop off/pick up area on the opposite side of the complex and three seperate buildings to go into to collect all your race gear. Yes, three.

I’m assuming separating the bib pick up, shirt pick up, and runDisneygear into three places was an effort to alleviate crowds. And it kind of did, but it did make for a lot of extra walking (not necessarily an issue for the runners, but not so great for non-running family or friends). The bib pickup area was pretty much empty when we got there and it hardly took any time at all. Bib in hand, we headed over to the main expo area to get my race shirt and check out the vendor booths. As usual, it was crowded and loud,with pretty much the same vendors as in years past. 

Next stop was the runDisney merchandise building. I was hoping to get my hands on one of the long sleeve hoodies and half marathon  hats, but both were sold out by the time I got there (well, they did still have size 3X and 4X shirts; while I have no problem buying a size or 2 up, because I often prefer shirts to be a little on the big size, but the remaining sizes were even too big for me.)

Our business at the expo completed, we headed back to our resort, grabbed some dinner, and settled in to rest up four our trip to the Animal Kingdom on Saturday.

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Day 2 Recap coming soon

Day 4 - Mother Daughter Disney Adventure

Day 4 - Epcot - In Which We Travel the World
Thursday, June 2, 2016

After our extra tiring day the day before, we decided to take it easy on our last park day. We didn't want to skip it all together, but neither did we want to try to pack too much into it. So we threw most of the plans out the window (bye-bye fast passes) and just played it by ear. Originally, our plan was to get pictures with whoever was at the Character Spot, ride Spaceship Earth and maybe Soarin', and then head over to the World Showcase, starting with lunch at the Rose and Crown Pub in the United Kingdom, and then wandering the countries. 

Instead, we took our time, sleeping in a bit, and upon arrival at the park (this time I got selected for the random metal detector screening), getting a few pics with the big "golf ball" that is Spaceship Earth. We actually did arrive in time to make our Character Spot fast pass, but we decided we'd rather explore the countries before it got too hot, so we headed straight to the World Showcase, deciding to start on the Mexico side to make our way around to lunch.

Norway
We were walking through Mexico when I remembered that all the stuff in World Showcase didn't open until 11, so we had some time to kill. We found a table under a roof next to the bakery in Norway, and sat down for a while. A lovely duck literally walked right up to us, and looked at us like "ok are you going to feed me?" We had no food, so she waddled away to beg from somebody else. We heard the bell ring and the announcement that the bakery was open, so we decided we should probably give up our table to people who actually had food. We got up, took a few pictures of the Stave Church and then moved on.


China
We wandered back into the China Pavilion and into one of the shops. Mom decided she wanted a bamboo fan to go with the one my Dad got her when he was in China in the 70's and the one his Dad had brought back from the war (WWII). So we browsed through, looking at all the neat stuff. And then finally at the back of the shop, we found the fans. She found the one she wanted, and after making her purchase, we went and sat down on a bench to figure out what to do next. 

We were at the exit to the theater, and thought about seeing the Reflections of China movie, but we weren't sure. But as we walked to the entrance of the Pavilion and the entrance to the theater, we decided to go ahead and watch the film.  I am so glad we did. It was amazing - China is a beautiful country, with some spectacular scenery. 

Germany
With visions of China in our heads, we headed off to the next country. Seeing as how much of our ancestry is German, we went in the shops in Germany to look around. Mom found some magnets that she wanted and some mustard for Dad.  I teased her, asking if she planned to buy something in every country we shopped in. The answer was yes, she was. (and I think she did.)

Italy

We sat down on a bench in Italy when we heard horns and drums, and saw some guys with flags marching in. And once again, we had randomly stumbled upon something cool, the flag waving act called "Sbandieratori Di Sansepolcro" (which, according to wdwinfo.com,"brings [a] 500-year tradition to Epcot. They use hand-painted flags, period costumes and live music to entertain the crowd with their choreographed flag-throwing.")  

Japan
After a quick potty stop at the American Pavilion, we went to Japan. We thought about doing the "Pick-A-Pearl" but it was crowded and we didn't have a lot of time before our lunch reservation. So we just wandered around in the shop. We found some cool stuff for my brother (he's a big fan of Japanese anime).

Soon we realized that we needed to head toward lunch, so we breezed through Morocco and France (where my favorite princess was greeting a line of guests; but alas, I didn't get to meet provincial Belle (in her blue dress) this time around), and headed to the United Kingdom.

United Kingdom
We checked in for our 1:25 reservation at the Rose & Crown Pub. I had been telling Mom for months how good the fish & chips were, and for the first time on our trip, I was actually hungry. But the piece of fish I got was huge, and no matter how good it was (and it was) or hungry I might have been, there was no way I was going to finish it. So I ate what I could (so did Mom, she got the same thing), and we ordered dessert. I fell in love with the Mickey sprinkles on my trifle and Mom just liked the look of her Banofee Tart, so we did the foodie thing, and took pictures.

 After lunch, we considered waiting for a pic with Alice, Mom's favorite character when she was small (she had an Alice in Wonderland watch, which was mentioned several times over the course of the week), but decided not to. We looked around in the shops, where, again, Mom bought some stuff. I fell in love with a tartan scarf, but didn't love the price tag, so it remained for someone else.We got some pics of the lagoon with the "ball" in the background and headed for the next country.

Canada
Our trip to Disney coincided with my Dad's annual fishing trip to the Canadian Wilderness, so we went to Canada too, at least for a few minutes, just to say we were there at the same time Dad was.

The Land and The Sea
And then we were done with the World Showcase and we headed back toward Future World. We rode Living with the Land and thought about riding the Nemo ride at the Seas, but ended up skipping it (poor Nemo got no love from us this trip).

Our Disney Adventure Is Nearing the End
We went back to our resort, had dinner at the food court (I had pizza; Mom had a salad), and then starting packing up our suitcases. We had to go home the next day.

Our amazing adventure was over - We stayed in an amazing resort (thank you Disney magic and pixie dust); we visited all 4 parks; we had fun, made memories, and dreamed about future trips with the rest of the family. All in all, I'd say the trip was a success.  

I'm so glad i was able to share the Disney experience with Mom. It was something I'll never forget. I hope that she enjoyed it as much as I did.

Day 3 - Mother Daughter Disney Adventure

Day 3 - Animal Kingdom - In which we take a walk on the wild side
Wednesday, June 1, 2016

Our third Disney day started early - I had made a reservation for breakfast at the Tusker House in Animal Kingdom. It's a character restaurant, meaning you get a visit by characters while you're eating. I wasn't sure exactly who would be there, but I figured it was a good chance to meet at least a few of the classics, Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and/or Goofy. We headed off at about 8 to catch the bus for our 8:40 reservation. 

We arrived at the park at about 8:15 and were greeted by a line waiting to get in. However, they were waiting for the park opening; since we had a reservation, we got to skip the wait and head on in. We went through bag check and were headed for the band readers, when Mom was pulled aside to go through the metal detector. Waiting in line for one of the parks (I think it was Magic Kingdom, but don't really remember), we talked about the metal detectors and wondered if the random selection really was random; I was pretty sure it was, but then joked* that maybe they'd pick one of us because we looked innocent and harmless. And maybe that's true, because they did pick one of us.
(* Security is no joke, and we were both happy to do whatever they asked in the name of safety for us and for our fellow park goers. You never who might be out to do harm, you never know where. As I write this, the country and Orlando are reeling from a mass shooting at a nightclub in downtown Orlando. I've heard that Disney is now making everyone (or at least a lot more people than before), go through the extra step of the metal detectors.) 

A Breakfast Full of Character

After getting through with no incident, we headed back to Africa for our breakfast. We were going to stop at the Tree of Life for a pic, but there weren't any photographers out yet, so we went on by and entered Africa. We signed in for breakfast and were soon taken into the restaurant and told that Mickey, Daisy, Goofy and Donald would be joining us.

We got our food from the buffet and got back to our table to see Daisy, Mickey and Goofy making their way around. Turns out Donald had been by when we were at the buffet. We ate, got pictures, and played around with each in turn, and were soon ready to continue our day. 

Our waitress asked us if we had missed Donald, and we said yes. She said she'd get him to come to us so we wouldn't miss out. We waited near the door, and sure enough, Donald came out to see us.

Venturing into the Wilds of Africa (and a bit of Asia, too)

Now it was time to go on the Kilimanjaro Safari. I warned Mom that it was going to be a bumpy ride but she didn't care - she wanted to see the animals. Luckily we got in the front row of the truck and it wasn't as bumpy as my previous experiences. We were also on the end of the row, so we had a good view. We saw all the animals we wanted, except for the elephants; apparently they were sleeping in. 

After the safari (which we both thoroughly enjoyed), we headed for the Festival of the Lion King - always a fun, awesome show. The Tumble Monkeys never fail to disappoint. Neither do the singers or dancers. I told myself that this time (I've seen the show twice before), I was actually going to watch it instead of taking pictures and watching through the camera lens/phone screen. So no pics, but a little bit of a lesson - look up from the screen; make memories with your eyes and brain instead of just the camera - you think you're documenting the experience, but there's so much more that you miss out on by not looking up or looking with your eyes and really experiencing the occasion. 

We left the theater and headed for the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail to see the gorillas and hippos and whatever else we could see. It was another hot day, but there was shade on the path, so it wasn't too bad and we enjoyed the stroll and seeing the animals. 

We had a fast pass for the Finding Nemo musical in Asia but were having too much fun exploring and didn't want to have to rush, so we skipped it and instead headed to the Maharaja Jungle Trek to see those animals too. 

Fly By

By now it was hot and we were ready to go rest for the afternoon. But when we saw a stand with frozen lemonade, we had to stop and get some. We sat down to enjoy it when all of a sudden, a burst of color went flying by. Once again, purely by chance, we had perfect timing to see something cool. This time it was Winged Encounter, a flock of macaws that randomly fly through the park.

After that, we did a little bit of shopping in a cool little shop and then we went back to the resort for a relaxing afternoon. We considered going to the pool, but decided against it. We took a little nap instead, resting up for our planned trip to Disney Springs that evening.

Awe Struck by Curtains

After our rest, we were talking about something, not entirely sure what. The sheer curtains on the balcony door were closed and I was looking at them but not really seeing them. But then I did. I was in the middle of a sentence when I had a total "Squirrel!!!" moment.

 I let out an "Oh! My! Gosh! There's Lion King characters in the curtains!!" What at first looked like flowers and random designs in the lace were in fact Nala, Simba, Rafiki, and company. Disney had Disney-field the room after all. So fun (and where can I find those curtains? They'd look awesome in my living room.)

Disney Springs

After a bit, I had the bright idea that we needed to beat the crowds and head over to Disney Springs sooner than we'd originally planned. We wanted to do a bit of shopping and get some dinner, so off we went. The bus let us out in the new section, so I was a little confused about how to get where we wanted to go (The World of Disney and Earl of Sandwich). After going into the Vera Bradley store and dreaming over a few of the newer patterns, we began the search for the stores we wanted.

I wasn't sure, but thought we needed to go to the right; the app indicated that too, but when we checked the directory, it looked like we had to go left. So we did, but soon realized that it wasn't the right way.  Map readers we are not. We asked somebody and finally got headed in the right direction. It was another hot day, and there wasn't a lot of shade to be found, and we weren't thrilled about the extra walking. But eventually we made it to familiar ground and I knew where to go. We made it World of Disney and, thankful for the air conditioning, wandered around a bit, browsing.Then we got serious and starting looking for what we came for. We found it, checked out, and decided we wanted to get our dinner to go so we could get back to the room to rest. We went to the Earl of Sandwich and got salads and then headed for the Marketplace bus stop. We were tired, hot, and just wanted to sit down. 

Are we ever going to make it back?
But, it was not to be. The bus stop was closed and we had to go back through the complex to the stop where we got off. So not fun. We trudged our way back, stopping to sit several times, and finally made it back. And then we find that where we actually got our bus was at the far end of the line. Groan... It was almost a "let's get in the closest line and go wherever it goes just to get off our feet and out of the heat" situation. But we persevered and made it to the correct line, and after a bit of a wait (I'm sure it seemed longer than it really was), we were on our way back to our room.

We put our salads in the fridge so they could cool back down and decided we neither one wanted to walk any more that day. So we didn't. We put on our pajamas and settled in for the night. We eventually ate the salads (and they were very good - very fresh and tasty, even after the long walk/bus ride), and went to bed to try to recover for our Epcot adventure the next day.

Next up - Day 4 at Epcot

Day 2 - Mother-Daughter Disney Adventure

Day 2 - the Magic Kingdom. In Which We Did a Little Bit of Everything.
Tuesday, May 31, 2016

This was it. The day Mom got to see Disney. Yeah, she technically saw it the day before when we drove under the big sign, when we got to the resort, and when we got to Hollywood Studios. But this was the day when she first got to see the Castle - the image, the symbol, the icon, that in my mind, makes Disney Disney. There's just something about seeing it in person... I can't put it into words, but other Disney fans know what I mean.

I didn't want this trip to be about rushing around, so we took our time getting ready in the morning, and headed out to catch the bus around 9:30. As usual for the Magic Kingdom, there were a lot of people heading there so the bus stop was crowded. We took a seat on a bench to wait for the next bus. We weren't in a hurry and didn't want to be all crowded or have to stand. Not long after the first full bus left, another came along and we began our adventure.

Upon arrival at the park, we joined the swarm of people heading toward bag check and the entrance. I think Mom panicked a bit when she saw all the people. I promised her it would thin out a bit once we actually got in the park. (Not sure she believed me.) We got through the line, only having a bit of trouble when Mom's magic band didn't turn the lights green (she didn't quite get her band in the right place), but a little twist of her wrist to get the Mickey heads to touch, and we were on our way.

As we came out from under the train station, I noticed a short line off on one of the side streets to the right. Knowing that was where I had met Mary Poppins on a previous trip, I figured there was a character there, and I was right. Daisy Duck was hanging out, so we headed over for our first Magic Kingdom character interaction. We got hugs, instructions to take off our sunglasses, and posed for some pictures, and then headed off to Main Street.

The First Glimpse
As we turned the corner of the little side street, I had recollections of the Princess Half Marathons and the other times I've come around that corner and looked down Main Street. Gives me shivers every time. At each step, I asked Mom, are you ready? are you ready? And then we were there. On Main Street. I wish I had thought to take a pic of Mom's face, but you'll just have to imagine the "Wow! That's so cool!" look she had.

Although, looking back, I'm not sure if the look of wonder was for the castle or for the big, beautiful draft horse pulling the trolley for the Trolley Show that was just ending. Which was a distinct possibility, considering Mom's love for horses. We attempted to get a Photo Pass pic with the horse/trolley and the castle, but we were too late. The horse had other plans, so we had to settle for just the castle.

Off to the Jungle
After taking a few pics of the castle and the bronze character statues (why have I never noticed them before?? Proof that no matter how many times you go to Disney, you always find something new to see), we headed off to Adventureland for our Jungle Cruise.

I warned Mom ahead of time that we'd be subject to a bunch of corny, bad jokes, but again, I'm not sure she entirely believed me. But, since it's all part of the Jungle Cruise experience, our skipper did not disappoint. His headhunter jokes at the end by Trader Sam (or whatever his name is) were particularly groan worthy (and we got extra, because we had to wait a bit to get to the dock).

A Little Bit of Pineapple Heaven
After our cruise, we went straight for Aloha Isle for the yummiest snack in the World - a Dole Whip. I feel kind of bad; I didn't even offer Mom a choice - I just ordered 2 floats. (I will admit, I'm still a bit disappointed that you can't get the vanilla with the pineapple juice anymore.) We headed through the tunnel/shortcut, bathroom corridor into Frontierland to find some shade to enjoy our pineapple-y goodness. Unfortunately, I was still feeling a bit on the yucky side, so I didn't finish mine, but Mom enjoyed every last drop of hers.

I noticed Woody and Jessie were holding a meet and greet near the Shooting Gallery (instead of back by Splash Mountain), but there was a long line in the sun, and it was too hot to stand in it. So we wandered back around to the hub so Mom could have her first experience of walking through the castle.

Second Star to the Right
We had a fast pass for Peter Pan's Flight, so that's where we headed next. After a short wait in line, we boarded our Jolly Roger and were off to Neverland. We can fly! We can fly! We can fly! Mom was fairly quiet on the ride; I think it's because she was trying to take it all in. Peter Pan was a movie from her childhood, so she was reminiscing a bit, I imagine. Something she did quite a bit of on this visit.

We had some time to kill before our Small World fast pass, but weren't really in the mood to wait in lines. (It was miserable hot.) Even the Philharmagic line was too long; I know it moves fast because it's a big theater, but Mom wasn't too keen on the 3-D factor, so we skipped it.

All Aboard
So we decided to ride the train. It was fairly shady, we could sit down, there was a bit of a breeze, we could visit a good bit of the park without having to walk, we didn't have to get off until we were ready to, and there was hardly any line. It was a win all around. As we traveled through Frontierland (twice), we noticed the ridiculously long line for Splash Mountain; people must have really wanted to get wet to wait for that long (although, I can't say I blame them - it was really hot.)

Making Progress - Sort of
We got off the train after 2 laps around the park and headed back through Fantasy Land toward Small World (seriously considering walking through the kids' splash area by Dumbo, but decided squishy wet shoes weren't worth it, no matter how hot it might be).

We got to the ride to find it was down for an undetermined amount of time. So we went to sit down in the shade at the Tangled/Rapunzel's Tower area to figure out a new plan and have a drink. We had caved and bought one of the misting spray fans from the vendor in the middle of the street; best purchase of the day to help us cool down a smidge. I had a frogg togg cooling towel too, which also helped some, but with the temperature in the 90's, there wasn't much relief.

We stopped for some pics by Eric's castle. And then headed to Tomorrowland for my next beat the heat idea, the People Mover. But it had a long line, so that didn't pan out either. Then I remembered the Carousel of Progress - indoors, dark, cool, long enough to let us rest a bit, and best of all, no line.

There's A Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow
And we had another ride/attraction that Mom really enjoyed. The scene were the house just got electricity and had cords running every which way reminded her (and me) of her grandmother's house in Pennsylvania - when it was wired for electricity, the wires were outside the walls, running along the baseboards and ceilings. They were that way throughout her childhood and mine as well. (We both wonder if they still are or if the house has been rewired.) There was more reminiscing as the carousel turned and brought more memories to mind for her. Good stuff.

And with the tune to "there's a great big beautiful tomorrow" echoing through our heads, we took the less crowded, "back way" back into Fantasy Land. We were trying to figure out what to use our Small World fast pass on when we realized it was back up and running. So that's what we did.

It's a World of Laughter
In line in front of us was an adorable family - the little boy had an awesome Buzz Lightyear backpack and the little girl was singing. She sang the whole ride.  And me being me, I did too. Come on now, you know you do too.  "It's a world of laughter, a world of tears / It's a world of hopes and a world of fears / There's much that we share that it's time were aware / It's a small world after all. / It's a small world after all / It's a small world after all / It's a small world after all /

It's a small, small world."

And now that it's in your head (you're welcome), we journey onward to the poor provincial town where a Beauty fell in love with a Beast.

Try the Grey Stuff, It's Delicious
(according to the dishes, anyway. We didn't try any)

We had a 4:15 dinner reservation at Be Our Guest, so that was our next stop. We had a little bit of time before we could check in so we sat on the wall near the entrance and watched the people for a bit. We also watched the Seven Dwarf's Mine Train stop several times when it reached a certain spot. Somebody told us it was supposed to stop there, but I don't remember it stopping any of the times I've ridden it.

We got checked in and headed down to courtyard to wait for the Master's invitation to enter the castle. They announced our name right after another family, and then promptly entered the castle without us. There was a bit of confusion, but we eventually got to go in.

I had been waiting all day to get some French Onion Soup. I knew, from experience in February, that (a) it's really good and (b) it was something I could eat even on my queasy stomach.  (A little note for Dining Plan people - Be Our Guest is not one of the places that allows you to substitute an appetizer for your dessert.) I had my soup and ordered the chicken, which was also very good, but I took most of it to go since I didn't want to risk getting sick.

At about 5:00 we heard some majestic music playing, and the Beast came walking through the dining room, heading toward his library, where he would greet his guests. We were done eating by that time, so we boxed up our leftovers, took our dessert to go, and headed out. We took a little tour of the castle first, because being the rule-breakers we are, we just had to see the forbidden West Wing and the rose.

On our way out, we stopped off for a little visit with the Master.

Move It! Shake It!
By this point, we were tired, hot and ready to go back to the resort. But we had a few stops to make first. We wanted to check out the shopping in the Emporium and the jewelry store (remember that watch Mom fell in love with at Hollywood Studios?) But as we came back through the castle and the hub, we heard music and saw some floats heading in. We were just in time to see the Move It! Shake It! Parade.  

We took some pics, danced a bit, and then headed for Uptown Jewelry so Mom could buy that watch. We were in and out of there pretty fast - she knew what she wanted and went for it.

We left the store to head across the street to the Emporium, but we had to wait for the parade again before we could get there. We browsed around a bit, but didn't find exactly what we were looking for (a grown-up Ariel t-shirt and a Jessie baby outfit), so we ended up not buying anything.

The Wheels on the Bus
Our day in the Magic Kingdom over, was over so we found our bus. We were joined at the back of the bus by a fun little family - one couple from England, one who lived in Italy. I'm guessing the women were sisters. However they were related, they had two adorable, delightful little girls. Polly and Emily, who are 6 and almost 4, kept us entertained the whole ride back to the lodge. They sang, they showed us their autograph books, they showed us their souvenirs, and they sang some more (including a very original version of "The Wheels on the Bus," with little Polly making up verses as she went along). I love hearing the sophisticated sounding British accent in little girl voices - so cute and unexpected. It was just a bus ride, but I think it was one of the highlights of the week.

Sorry for the Inconvenience?
We got back to the room and found a note under the door, apologizing for the inconvenience of having our plans changed. Considering we were enjoying an awesome trip and staying in a resort that, under normal circumstances, we would only be able to dream about, I don't think they had anything to apologize for. But it's Disney, and that's what they do.

And that was our day. Hot, but fun. Simply magical. 

(and, if you're keeping track, I did eventually eat my dinner)

Next up - Day 3 and Animal Kingdom...

Day 1, Part 2 - Mother Daughter Disney Adventure

Day 1 Continues - Hollywood Studios, In Which We Go To The Movies

After our nap and solving the luggage mystery, we headed off to Hollywood Studios. It was late afternoon, and there weren't many people on the bus. We were sitting across from a family of 5. The littlest look tired and Mom commented that he was fading fast. She was right; it wasn't long before he was asleep. As the ride continued, the middle one started nodding off as well. I whispered, "and another one bites the dust." There was a bump in the road and his head, which had been fairly upright, landed on his mom's shoulder. She asked " is he out too?" To which we replied, "yep, for a few minutes now." She just laughed, shook her head. This was (my) Mom's first lesson in how tiring Disney can be.

What A Bunch of Characters

Soon we were at the park. We went through bag check and headed toward the entry, when I realized there were characters hanging out over by the sign -  Mulan, Gepetto, Robin Hood, the Evil Queen from Snow White, and Aladdin. So I grabbed Mom and dragged her over to the line for pics.  Mulan was on my list of characters to meet, and since the line was short, we were meeting her.

We were greeted with a " Hello Princess," and had a fun little conversation. She warned us to keep eye out for any Huns and to let her know if we saw any. We got a few pics and moved on. I should have asked her how Mushu and Crickee were, but didn't think of it until after.

Next up was Gepetto; I've heard he is kind of rare to meet, so I jumped at the chance. He bowed, kissed our hands, and posed for pics.

It was hot, there wasn't much shade, and the lines were long, so we skipped the other three characters and headed off to go into the park. But first, we stopped for a few pics by the sign (if you know my Mom, and have ever looked at our family vacation pics, you know she has a thing for pictures by signs).

Mom's First Ride

As we entered the park, we stopped for more pics with the Chinese Theater in the background (I miss the Sorceror's Hat) and discussed our plan of action. We were too late for the Storm Trooper march, so that was out. I checked wait times, and decided we needed to do the Great Movie Ride. I knew Mom would enjoy it, and the wait was only 25 minutes. I did check for a fast pass+, but the next available time was 25 minutes away. We'd be waiting either way, so into the stand-by line we went.

As expected, she loved the ride and seeing all the scenes from all the movies. First Disney ride was a success. We came out of the ride right at the end of the Star Wars show, so we got to see some Storm Troopers, Chewbacca, and Kylo Ren walking by. It was too quick for pictures, but was still cool to see.

A Blast From The Past, and Some Food, Too

It was hot and muggy, and I still wasn't feeling well, so we searched for some air conditioning. We went in the store at the end of Star Tours (Tatooine Traders) but it was small and crowded, so we didn't stay long. We had a 7:05 dinner reservation at the Sci Fi Dine In Theater, so we didn't want to wander too far way. We were started to feel the early wake up, and were trying to conserve our energy. It was early, but since we were close to the restaurant, we decided to see if we could get in to eat.

They told us they were pretty booked up, but would check us in anyway. They said we might not get a table until our reservation time, but that was fine with us, since the waiting area was inside in the air conditioning. I don't think we waited 5 minutes before they called us back.

We sat in the back row of one of the car tables and settled in to watch the silly sci-fi film shorts and previews (some of which Mom thinks she saw at the drive-in theater in Punxsy with her cousins when they were kids). We tested out the theory of ordering something that wasn't really on the menu and asked for regular BLTs instead of the fancy ones on the menu ( we got them). I ate a few fries and the bacon off my sandwich, but was afraid to eat more because I didn't want to get sick.

And We Call It A Night

While we were eating we made the decision to skip the Star Wars fireworks and just head back to our room to go to bed. I really wanted to see them, but also really didn't want to fight the crowds and busy busses that we were sure to encounter after. It was disappointing, but with the way I was feeling, and as tired as Mom was, it was the right decision.

We left the restaurant (at our original reservation time) and headed toward the park exit. We did some window shopping on the way out, and Mom fell in love with a Mickey Mouse watch. But she didn't buy it then.  At that point we just wanted the bus and bed.

When we got back to the room, we were greeted by the happy sight of our suitcases, so we were in our pajamas and settled in for the night in no time. We had to rest up for our trip to the Magic Kingdom the next day. 

(And for the record, I did eventually get hungry and eat the leftover chicken nuggets and fries.)

Next up - Day 2 and the Magic Kingdom...