WDW: Day Four

We woke up bright and early for 8 am extra magic hours at the Magic Kingdom.  I know Finley wanted to see Enchanted Tales with Belle and this was the only way to make it happen without waiting hours.  We made it in time to the gate for the opening ceremonies.  We got sidetracked by Professor Von Drake and Scrooge McDuck.  Disney has long lost characters out this week for Limited Time Magic, which is really cool.  The lines for Robin Hood and the Three Little Pigs were crazy, so we moved along to Belle.

We got back there and the wait was 15 minutes, it took about 20 minutes to get to the cottage, but once we were there, time didn't matter.  There were so many things to play with and Finley had so much fun.  It almost made up for the lack of Minnie and Mickey's houses.  Almost.  We then got to the room with the wardrobe and a cast member started giving parts to the kids and a few adults.  Finley was given the role of Mrs. Potts, as it turns out, Mrs Potts was the only girl part that got to "perform" on stage.  The rest of the characters just marched around, which Finley got to do as Mrs Potts.  I think her princess dress stood out!  Finley did great pouring tea and re-enacting the story with Belle.

We then headed over to Goofy's Barnstormer.  We rode it 4 times without having to get off the ride, it was very quiet in the circus.  Finley was disappointed that the Dumbo play area was closed, but was happy to learn that you could walk right on to Dumbo.  Then it was on to the teacups.  We rode it once and noticed Alice and the White Rabbit out.  The line was long, but Finley was good about waiting.  When we got to the front, the cast member told us the White Rabbit had to take a break, so we wouldn't be meeting him.  When it was Finley's turn to meet Alice, I noticed she was taking an exceptionally long time with her.  Way longer than any character I have ever seen.  Turns out, she was stalling to wait for the White Rabbit's return.  It was so nice of her.  Alice and the White Rabbit were so silly while Finley was trying to pose with them.  It was adorable.  Of course we had to ride the teacups again.

Then it was over to Small World (Finley has perfected "Front row, please!")  After Small World, we went over to ride Ariel with our fast passes.  Then we we were back up to Fantasyland to see Philharmagic and ride Small World again.  Then it was over to Frontierland to watch the Country Bears with a return trip to Fantasyland to ride Peter Pan and the carousel.  We had promised Finley Piglet this trip and she was itching to get him.  Winnie the Pooh was closed, but thankfully the gift shop was open.  We got a little Piglet to match little Tigger. 

We headed out of the park to see if there were any more rare characters out.  There weren't, but there was a street party going on, so Finley got to see a ton of characters.  The princess meet and greet had a 45 minute wait, so we skipped it.  Mickey only had a 10 minute wait, so we met him instead.  Then it was back on the monorail to the Polynesian for the first nap of the trip.

After nap, we headed to Epcot.  Finley met Goofy while I fast passed Test Track.  We all rode Spaceship Earth and played in Innoventions.  We did the circle tour of World Showcase with stops in France for a snack and Germany to see the trains.  We also rode the Maelstrom in Norway.  We went back over to ride Test Track and play some more in Innoventions.  After Test Track, we went to Mexico to ride the boat ride and have dinner inside the temple.  Finley ate a huge meal, almost as much as Clifton.  We rode Test Track with another set of fast passes.  Finley has the biggest grin on this ride and loves to scream.  She always says how fun it is to go fast.  We picked a great spot to watch Illuminations and then headed back to the hotel after the show.  Animal Kingdom tomorrow!

WDW: Day Three

Well, today got off to an interesting start.  We had reservations for breakfast with Pooh at the Crystal Palace 45 minutes before the Magic Kingdom opened.  I was so excited to get some great pictures with a near empty park.  I handed our camera to the photographer on Main Street and he had trouble operating it.  Yep, I left the battery in its charger in our room.  Luckily I had my small point and shoot with us, but I was still irritated to carry around a heavy camera all day and not able to take a single picture with it. Oh well, it could have been much worse.  Finley was jazzed for breakfast with Pooh.  She had her Pooh dress on, which still fits over two and a half years from its first wearing.  Finley had so much fun meeting all the characters and she loved bouncing with Tigger.  After breakfast we headed over to Fantasyland.  On the way we met Peter Pan, so we rode Peter Pan twice, the line goes so fast without any fast passers.  Then it was across the way to It's a Small World, which we also rode twice so we could request the front row for Finley.

We walked down to the new Fantasyland.  The Mine Coaster is still under construction, but the Beast's castle and the Little Mermaid ride are both open.  The castle is impossible to get reservations for and the lunch line up started at 9:30 am.  We decided it was best to pass that, but we had fast passes for Little Mermaid so that was a breeze.  It wasn't too exciting for Finley since they have the exact ride in California and you can walk right on whenever you want, no 75 minute waits there.  We headed over to Frontierland with a stop at the Haunted Mansion.  Finley had so much fun in the interactive queue.

In Frontierland we rode big Thunder Mountain Railroad four times.  Finley had so much fun.  Pooh and Tigger were over there and Finley wanted to meet them again.  In between rides we rode Pirates of the Caribbean and grabbed lunch.  The it was back over to Adventureland for the Magic Carpets, Jungle Cruise and Tiki Birds.  Finley was having a ball.  I hope you can see the pure joy in her face.  We headed to Tomorrowland to ride Finley's new favorite ride: The People Mover.  Then it was time for Astrorbitor, Buzz Lightyear (twice) and Carousel of Progress.  Finley loved the Carousel of Progress so much, she rode it twice.

We made our way over to the Circus for Dumbo and Goofy's Barnstormer, with three rides on the Teacups on the way.  The new play area in Dumbo is so amazing.  You get a pager while you are playing and when it buzzes, it is your turn to ride.  There was no line, so no buzzing pagers for us, but Finley still wanted to play.  We grabbed a quick dinner and Finley went from the happiest kid ever (she was crazy fun!) to a very tired little girl.  We were able to watch the Castle display and see the Wishes Fireworks, but I am not sure that Finley had so much fun.  She was ready to return to the Polynesian.  And so were we.  We have an early morning back in the Magic Kingdom tomorrow.

WDW: Day Two

We woke up bright and early to take the first monorail of the day over to Epcot. There was only one other family on the entire train, which was really cool. We arrived at Epcot and got in line for the extra magic hours. We headed straight to the new Test Track. We rode it and then rode it again with a fast pass. Finley's annual pass had gotten stuck in the machine, so it didn't read the card, so we couldn't get a fast pass with her pass. The cast member gave us a fast pass and told us to visit guest relations to get her card checked in. We did that in between our first ride and the fast pass ride, but guest relations couldn't activate our passport. So we just dropped it and hoped the Soarin' castmember would be as nice and just give us an extra fast pass (he was!) Test Track is MUCH better in the regular line. You get to custom design your car, which was really neat. In the fast pass line you just pick a car from a group of choices, which isn't nearly as exciting. Finley loved Test Track! After that, we headed over to meet Mickey, Pluto and Minnie. Minnie was so happy that Finley had Figaro with her. Then it was off to fast pass Soarin' (noon return...they love Soarin' here) and ride Journey to the Imagination and Nemo. The boat ride in the Land had a 25 minute wait, I always remember just walking on it, so we skipped it for today. After lunch at the Land, our fast passes were ready and we lucked out being pulled from line because they needed a party of three. We then made the walk over to Hollywood Studios. Per my poor navigation, it took a little longer than expected. We got a fast pass for Finley and Clifton's favorite, Star Tours, and watched the Indiana Jones Stunt Show while we were waiting. Finley was so excited because we got the snow scene in Star Tours. We got front row seats for the Pixar Pals parade and Finley got to give George a high five! She was thrilled. We rode Star Tours again and then watched the Muppets 3D show. Finley wanted to ride something, so we rode the Great Movie Ride. She liked it so much that we rode it twice. Then we had dinner at Pizza Planet and watched Fantasmic. Finley was really good all day long, so she got to select a toy or treat before we went home. She chose a Mickey dressed as a sorcerer from Fantasmic, the perfect souvenir!

WDW: Day One

We all woke up bright and early to catch a flight to Orlando. Finley had all her Disney friends packed and ready to go, but Donald was chosen as the character to accompany her for the day. Our flight got in a touch early and we were on our way to Walt Disney World. The room at the Polynesian (notice Finley's pink lei!) was ready early and they happily switched us to a room with a view of the monorail. I am guessing they don't get a lot of requests for that. It was getting well past lunch and we were a hungry group, so we set off for the Magic Kingdom for the afternoon. We couldn't start the trip with lunch, so Finley chose to ride Grandad's favorite: The People Mover. The crowds were a bit heavy, even the People Mover had a bit of a line. We grabbed a quick lunch, saw the parade with perfect timing. The parade is the same parade as the one that was being performed Finley's first visit back in 2010. We arrived just as the parade was starting and Finley was speechless. It holds a special place in my heart because it is her first Disney experience. We then rode the teacups (they were supposed to be closed, luckily for us the website was wrong!) and Buzz Lightyear (I won!) After Buzz, we saw Monsters Inc Laugh Floor and we headed over to ride Winnie the Pooh. In Disneyland you can walk right on, but WDW is a totally different story. We had Fastpasses, so we didn't wait too long, but we certainly couldn't stay in the honey pot for 5 rides in a row like you can in Disneyland. We had lucked out with a bonus Dumbo Fastpass, so we checked out the new Storybook Circus. It looks very much like Toon Town Fair, just no Minnie or Mickey houses. There are now double Dumbos, so we got to ride on the Fastpass one. There is a really neat play area in the regular line, so we will check that out before we go. After Dumbo, we got to meet all the characters in Pete's Silly Slideshow. Sadly, there was no Pete, but Finley had fun with Donald, Daisy, Minnie and Goofy. We rode the Barnstormer, which was Finley's favorite ride of the day. Then it was time for another spin on the teacups and a ride on the People Mover to kill some time before the Main Street Electrical Parade. After the parade, we headed back to our hotel for some dinner and a lot of sleep. Epcot comes early tomorrow!

Playing Star Wars