This whole family (including the dogs) is made of Legos! Can you find the three people who are only fans of Legos?
We took the river boat cruise from Downtown Disney back to our resort. It was a fun and relaxing trip and we ate a light lunch on the way. Kevin and I would love to go back to Downtown Disney without kids some time--the restaurants look tempting, the shopping divine, and we'd both enjoy Cirque du Soleil and a night on Paradise Island at the clubs. Maybe next time?
We all laid down for a while and us girls actually took a nap before the excitement of the afternoon and evening. Then it was off to the Magic Kingdom for the girls to get their Princess Makeovers at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique for Mia's birthday. They both seemed to enjoy the pampering, and the Fairy Godmothers-in-Training were so sweet! Even Olivia loosened up after a little bit and just enjoyed having her hair, make-up and nails done. And when they found out that they got to take home the makeup and nailpolish, they were even more excited!
We then got to go across the corridor to Cinderella's Royal Table for dinner with the Shraga family. The food was excellent. The atmosphere was exactly what you would imagine to find inside Cinderella's castle. And the dinner show with the mice and the fairy godmother was really cute. We (the grownups) had a bit of a chuckle at the expense of our waiter. He was very polite in his manner and speech (always calling us m'lord and m'lady), but he seemed to be doing it with gritted teeth. Once we'd all made note of his attitude, we sent him on a few unnecessary 'errands' to get us fresh drinks, bread, etc. Silly, but funny!
Then it was time to say goodbye to the Shragas (their 3rd child was melting down), and time to sign in for the Pirate and Princess Party that night and get our special wristbands. The girls checked out the pirate map to find all the designated treasure spots (marked with large X's, naturally) while Kevin and Ryan rode Space Mountain.
The park started emptying out before 7 p.m. because there was no parade or fireworks for the general public that night (just the special shows for the P&P Party). We headed up to FantasyLand and Toontown and started hopping on rides! Katy got to ride her very first roller coaster--Goofy's Barnstormer--five consecutive times! FIVE! The ride would end, there would be maybe 2 or 3 people waiting to get on, and the attendants would ask us if we wanted to stay on and go again! She LOVED it, and couldn't wait to ride more roller coasters. We could have ridden it a few more times, but after 5 times we were ready to find something a little tamer for Livvy to enjoy.
Olivia really loved the Teacup ride. I remember that these were the types of rides I enjoyed most when I was younger (once I was finally brave enough to actually get on a ride!). We then went over to the Dumbo ride, but she refused to get on. Kevin took Katy and Ryan, and Olivia and I played on the stationary Dumbo outside the ride.
We all enjoyed the Race Cars. Ryan and I drove one, and Kevin took the girls in another. I must say that I'm glad it's 7 more years before I have to ride with Ryan in a real car! His driving skills currently leave a bit to be desired...
After a few more rides (I mean attractions), we walked over to secure a spot for the parade. Olivia's favorite part of the parks was watching the parades. She was a little uncomfortable actually meeting any characters, but loved to watch them roll by and wave at her!
Cinderella's Castle is gorgeous at night. It's stunning during the day too, but at night with the lights and the reflections on the water, it's just awesome. There's a reason that it is one of the most photographed spots in the country! I was so proud of this picture--night time photos are awfully tricky.
The parade was really neat--they had floats for each of the "major" princesses (Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Belle, Ariel and Jasmine) accompanied by their princes. And each float was preceded by people dancing in attire that was appropriate to that particular fairy tale story. And then the pirates showed up! First it was Captain Hook's pirate ship, which was relatively tame, followed by the Tick-tocking Crocodile. But then the Pirates of the Caribbean showed up, and they were a bit rowdier and more "realistic." Olivia did NOT like the ghost pirate ship. It was rather creepy.
But then the floats came carrying the Mickey Mouse crew dressed up in royal attire. And when Pluto--our much beloved Pluto--appeared, Olivia's smile was just huge! She LOVES Pluto. Katy really likes Pluto, but Olivia is gaga over him. He was the first character that she was willing to get close to for a picture, and by the end of the week, she was hugging him!
We rode a few more rides, and then got in position for the fireworks show. Again, Disney really knows how to do fireworks! There were voices narrating the entire show piped over the entire park. And music. The fireworks were timed perfectly for the music and the ones they used were just spectacular. I know I'm gushing, but they were really, really good! And exciting! This show was themed for the P&P party so they first were talking about happy princess-related stuff, and then Captain Hook and some of the other pirates came on to take over the castle, so the music and fireworks became more exciting and violent. Finally, good won out over evil (this IS Disney, ya know!), and the finale was one of the best I've ever seen.
If you're going to Disney and they're doing a P&P night, I would highly recommend attending--it was so worth it! We left around 10:45 and were in bed just before midnight. Our little pumpkins were pooped, and so were we.
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