Walt Disney World 2014-Day 3: Magic Kingdom

Saturday December 13th, 2014:  Second Day at Magic Kingdom

Crowd Level Predictions:  Predicted Level:  6/10; Actual Level 6/10

We all woke up bright and early on our own Saturday morning.  I was anxious to get up and get to the parks and I imagine Elsie was too. 

These were the things we had reservations for: 

8:00 AM-Crystal Palace-Breakfast with Pooh and Friends

11:00 AM - 12:00PM Meet Ariel at her Grotto Fastpass

12:00 PM-Fastpass reservation Be Our Guest Restaurant for Lunch

12:30-1:30 PM-Meet Cinderella and Rapunzel at Princess Fairy tale Hall

1:45-2:45 PM-Under the Sea Journey of the Little Mermaid

 5:35 PM-Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary Resort

Almost always when waking up I would check out the crowd level report from the previous day and check out the weather for the day.  I found this interesting:

The screenshot on the left is what it was back at home at 5:30AM vs Florida.  It was actually warmer at home than where we were-ha!  Although it did warm up for us throughout the day.  

So we got up, got ready and were to the bus stop by 7:00 AM so we were at the park ready to get in for our 8:00 AM reservation.  Just a week or two before we left Disney changed park opening time from 9:00 AM-8:00 AM which defeated the purpose of making early morning reservations-so we could get in the park before anyone else.  Well, we did end up getting inside the park before everyone else.  They let those with dining reservations in first.  

These were the views of main street when we got in-practically empty!  

I think it was too bright for Elsie :)

After snapping a few pictures we headed over to Crystal Palace and checked in.  Elsie was wearing her birthday button and the lady who was checking us in must have noticed because Elsie was treated with some special birthday surprised throughout the breakfast.   

Like Mickey Mouse shaped confetti on the table

                                         

A Birthday Cupcake

And a Birthday card signed by Pooh and Friends :)

The food was really good!  I could have just kept eating.  Twp of their specialties was a breakfast lasagna and puffed french toast.  Both were really good.  They also had Mickey shaped waffles that were small and crispy and delicious!  

This breakfast included meet and greet with Pooh and friends.  It was fun to see Elsie, she would jump up so fast to get them to sign her autograph book but then wasn't quite sure how to interact with them-especially because they didn't talk.  

I just loved how everything was decorate for Christmas!!

We left breakfast right around 9:30AM and headed over to our first attraction of the day-The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh-how fitting right?  

It was kind of nice because they had little interactive exhibits for kids to play with while waiting in line.  Elsie really enjoyed these.  

A couple of pictures from the attraction 

After Winnie the Pooh, we headed over to Tomorrowland so Elsie and John could do the Tomorrowland Speedway.  This was a ride that is not recommended for pregnant women so I just sat off to the side, took pictures, and watched.  Elsie loved it and loved getting her own little "speedway license" when she was done.  

After the speedway we made our way over to Buzz Lightyear to get in before the lines got too long. Elsie really liked this ride and we had intended to get back to it for a second time sometime over our trip but it just never seemed to work out.   

Haha-it looks like we are all pretty intent on scoring points.  

After Buzz Lightyear we stopped by the carousel again on our way to meet Ariel.  Elsie just can't get enough of this ride.  She loved to name her horses, would pet them, and had to ride on one that had a purple saddle (I'm not sure what her fascination with purple was on this trip).  After that we headed to Ariel's Grotto where Elsie got to meet Ariel in her mermaid fins.  

After exiting, Elsie found this little spot in the side of the walkway and claimed it her "sea shell" like Ariel's.  We had to practically drag her away.  

After meeting Ariel we decided to hit up Dumbo again because Elsie had been asking to go on it.  This time she went with John  

 But right around noon we made our way to Be Our Guest.  The wait time for walkups was 1-2 hours!  For a quick service lunch!  Thank goodness we had fastpasses.  Also something to mention is that this fastpass for lunch is not something advertised by Disney.  I had read about it on someones blog and 27 days from the day you want to eat you go to this special website and try to get a spot.  It is hard to get and not everyone can get one-even if they go on right at midnight.  And you have to be staying onsite.  Thankfully we got one.  25 days out from the start of our trip Disney sent me an email inviting me to participate in a test they are doing at Be Our Guest which was to do exactly what I had already done so even if I hadn't read it, Disney sent me an email to see if we wanted to get a fastpass for it.  This fastpass did not show up on our main "My Experience" website that lists out all our fastpasses and dining reservations.  I am so thankful we got this because I know I will not wait that long for anything-let alone a meal with a three year old and I really wanted to eat here. 

The lunch takes place in the Beast's castle.  You go to a kiosk, order your food, use your amazing magic band to pay, and then go sit down at a table in the "ballroom".  And after just a few short minutes they bring your food out.  I asked how they know where we are sitting and they said "the magic is in your bands".  Seriously...some people think that is weird but those bands really are magic-I plan to write about them in a little wrap up post.  I ordered a prime rib sandwhich, fries, and for dessert got the chocolate cupcake (all means on the dining plan comes with dessert).  John got a carved turkey sandwhich, fries, and a strawberry cream cheese cupcake.  Elsie shared with us.  The food was really good!!  

Beast's Castle

Christmas Tree in the Ballroom

Ballroom

The Rose in the West Wing of the castle. 

It was really a beautiful location!

After lunch we made our way to Princess Fairytale Hall.  Here you have two separate lines-one lines leads to Elsa and Anna-which we were going to do on Wednesday and the other line led to Repunzel and Cinderella.  We didn't care so much about meeting Cinderella because we would be having two dinners throughout the week where we would meet her but this is the only place is all of Disneyworld to meet Rapunzel.  We tried to prep Elsie a little bit with questions she could ask the characters and one was how long Rapunzel's hair was (72 ft in case you were wondering ;).  Well when she got to Cinderella she asked the same thing and we all kind of chuckled.   

After meeting the two princesses we made our way back to New Fantasy land and to Under the Sea attraction.  We had a fastpass for this so we were pretty much able to walk right up. 

After that ride we decided it was time to make our way back to the resort for our afternoon break.  We later decided that this was a bad decision.  We left right around 2:00 and by the time we got back to our resort/room, got Elsie down to sleep, we had to wake her after only an hour to get back to Magic Kingdom to catch the monorail to the Contemporary Resort for our dinner reservations.  We ended up just picking her up out of bed and tried to let her continue sleeping on the bus but she woke up and was not happy at all!!!  Thank goodness for the kind lady on the bus who kept asking her questions and got her to at least stop crying.  After arriving at the Magic Kingdom we decided to walk to the Contemporary Resort because we were worried about the time it would take to wait for the monorail and we didn't want to be late.  Once there we found a little store that had a comb so I could fix Elsie's hair because it was a disaster.  Then we made our way to Chef Mickey's which was by far one of our best character meals of the week.  

This Gingerbread creation was on display at the Contemporary Resort.  It was 17 ft tall and contains 311 lbs of honey, 514 lbs of flour, 212 eggs, 67 lbs of spices, 35 lbs of sugar syrup, 222 lbs of icing, 423 lbs of chocolate.  

Chef Mickeys

Elsie was really starting to get the hang of the whole character thing and loved jumping up to give them hugs and to get their autographs.  Twice through the dinner, special music would play, all the kids would get up and the charcters would dance and twirl around their napkins and encouraged all to join in.  Elsie thought this was the best!  It was a really fun atmosphere and the food was really good too!  

After dinner we hopped on the monorail and made our way back to Magic Kingdom.  We decided we were going to try to do one night that was a late night and get the Electrical parade and the fireworks show knocked out so we didn't have to stay so late the other day we were going to Magic Kingdom.  

After arriving back in the park we  made our way to Adventureland.  We decided to do the Jungle/Jingle Cruise.  The line was pretty quick compared to how long it was earlier in the day.  I think we had to wait for maybe 5-10 minutes tops.  This ride definitely did not go over well with Elsie.  She was really scared-especially of the hippos.  I would imagine had we done this in the daylight when it didn't seem too spooky she wouldn't have be so scared but over the next couple days she kept talking about how she didn't want to ride the scary hippo boat ride again. 

After the cruise we hopped in line at Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride.  This ride is super similiar to Dumbo.  It goes around in circle and you can control how much it goes up and down.  Elsie just loved this type of ride (Triceratop Spin at Animal Kingdom was pretty much the same thing as well).  I think we ended up riding this 3 times over the course of our trip.  Once again, the lines for this went really fast-maybe 5 minutes.  

After that ride we grabbed some popcorn and made our way to find a spot to stand for the Main Street Electrical Parade.  This parade was really neat.  I loved all the lights and reminded me of the Hollidazzle parade-just 10 times more elaborate.  WE found a spot right near town center where the parade began.  We got REALLY lucky with this since we were scrambling to claim our spot at the last minute.  

After the parade we lingered on main street while we waited for the Wishes Fireworks to begin.  Sadly, during this time, Elsie fell asleep so she missed out.  We tried to wake her but she was out! The fireworks and the castle at night was just beautiful.  

Another successful, fun day in the parks!  

Walt Disney World 2014 - Day 2-Magic Kingdom

Friday December 12th, 2014-Magic Kingdom
Crowd Calendar-Predicted Crowd Level: 3/10; Actual Crowd Level:  2/10

Our second day in Florida we woke up at my Aunt Cathy's and Uncle Stubs.  Cathy made a delicious breakfast of pancakes, bacon, and sausage.  She has this pancake griddles that are shaped like farm animals and Elsie thought it was the neatest thing.  After breakfast we packed up our things and hit the road to Orlando by 10:00 AM.  We made a stop at a grocery store to pick up some items for snack and to have breakfast in the room on a few of the mornings.  Definitely worth it!

We arrived right around noon to our resort.  I have mentioned before that we stayed at Caribbean Beach Resort-which is a moderate level resort.  Before arriving I had done online check in which made our check in process run pretty smooth.  During the online check in you can make two requests in regards to room/location.  My requests were the Martinique village (Close to Old Port Royale which is the main recreation area of the resort that also has a food court).  My other request is that it was close to transportation (the bus shuttle) because I knew we would be taking the shuttle to the parks frequently.  I was happy to discover that both our requests were granted.  We were in Martinque-Building 23.  The shuttle pickup was right in front of our building which worked out perfect!  Upon Check in we also received our "First Visit" Buttons and Elsie's Birthday button which we were told she should wear during our entire stay (she only wore this until the day of her birthday).  She also received a princess wand.  It appeared boys received a pirate sword.  This was something all children received.  Check-in time wasn't until 3:00 PM but our room was ready so we were able to go and unload the car.

Our Room:

After unloading, we packed up the backpack and headed to Magic Kingdom.  This wasn't our original plan-we had planned to go to Hollywood Studios the first day but I changed things up a little bit and am so happy we did for many reasons.

WE headed to the shuttle stop and the shuttle came shortly after we arrived there.  We discovered we were the first stop around the resort which meant we had to stop at all the other "Villages" before we headed to Magic Kingdom.  This also meant that we were the first stop coming back at night which was amazing!

Entrance to the Magic Kingdom

In front of the big Christmas Tree

We really didn't have too many plans for the day except the three fastpasses that we had reserved in advance.
They were:
Meet Tinkerbell at Town Square Center 1:30-2:30 PM
Space Mountain:  2:55 PM-3:55 PM (For John Only)
Peter Pan's Flight:  4:10-5:10 PM
Dumbo:  5:10-6:10 PM (For Elsie and myself Only)

When we arrived we just took sometime to look around and take it all in.  We spent some time at Main Street USA, took pictures in front of the big tree, and then all of a sudden Pluto popped up and Elsie got so excited to see him walking through Town Center so we got in line for a photo opportunity.

I don't know what she really thought about this at first.  Especially, when they didn't talk.  

After meeting Pluto it was time to head over to meet Tinker Bell.  

We didn't do a very good job of prepping her of things to say to them-I guess it was a little new to us too :)  

After meeting Tinker Bell we stopped in the little shop (you always exit attractions through a gift shop) and let her pick out a pair of mouse ears and got them personalized.  Elsie got really upset when we had to give the mouse ears to the cast member so they could embroider it so I had John take her outside while I waited and right out the door they ran into Snow White

Snow White helped her dry her tears and we got somewhat of a smile out of her.  Then John reminded me that it was lunch time and we really needed to find some food for Elsie so we headed to Tomorrowland at grabbed some food at Cosmic Rays Starlight Cafe.  After lunch we walked over and hit up a few rides.  One of the first was the Mad Tea Party-this became one of Elsie's favorites!  

After the ride we made a dash to the Festival of Fantasy Parade which started around 3:00 PM.  We found a place around the Hub in front of Cinderella's castle.  Unlike others, we did not sit and find a place an hour before the parade started.  More like 10 minutes before.  

After the parade we headed back to Tomorrowland so John could use his fastpass on Space Mountain.  It wasn't long before Elsie fell asleep in her stroller.  So I just hung out and waited for John.   

John in Space Mountain

After John got off of Space Mountain we walked around the park a bit to get a feel of where things were and ventured all the way over to Frontierland.  We walked around a bit there and then headed back towards Fantasyland for our Peter Pan Flight's Fastpass reservation.  We ended up having to wake Elsie's up which she was NOT happy about.  We did that ride and then hit up Prince Charming's Regal Carousel because the line wasn't too long and Elsie had been waiting to ride a "merry-go-round" for weeks.  

Pictures of Fantasyland-Repuzel's Tower and the back of Cinderella Castle

After that Elsie and I went to ride Dumbo using our Fastpass reservations.  She LOVED that ride (we went on to ride it two more times over our trip).  I was a little nervous because she really wanted to ride in the purple one and I kept telling her that we might have to ride in one a different color but thankfully we got in one that was purple because I was afraid she was going to have a meltdown if we didn't.  

After Dumbo we headed over to the Minnie and Daisy meet and greet and Elsie was thrilled to meet Minnie Mouse.  The lines wasn't too long-maybe 15 minutes.  

After meeting those characters we ended up heading back towards the castle to prepare for the showing of "Frozen Holiday Wish."  This is a new evening program where the chracters from Frozen come out on the stage in front of the castle and Elsa transforms the castle into snow/ice.  It was pretty neat to see the lighting effects and the projections that they did on the castle.  

This was how the castle looked at the end and it stays that way until the next evening program.  

View of the Christmas Tree in Town Center of Main Street, USA

After the show we decided we should head out.  It was close to 7:00 PM and the Christmas Party was sold out.  Before leaving the park though, I stopped in at Guest Relations and purchased our tickets for the Tuesday night Christmas Party. (Good thing we did, it ended selling out as well).   When we got back to the resort we decided to get off at Old Port Royale, grab some dinner at the food court and walk to our building when we were finished.  We also wanted to get our "Rapid-Fill Mugs".  When you are on the dining plan you get a Disney mug which you can use to fill up anytime for free at the resorts.  You can fill it with soda, iced tea, lemonade, coffe, hot cocoa, and hot tea.  After eating we walked back to the room and got settled for the night.  It was close to 8:30 PM EST when we got back.  We got Elsie down to bed and I was close behind-falling asleep around 9:45 PM EST-which would have been before 9:00 if we were at home. Something that is unheard of!  But we had to get a good night sleep since we have an early start the next day!  

Goodbye 2014-You Treated Us Well

Wow!  2014 was a wonderful year for us! So many exciting things happened over the past year and all in all it was a wonderful year!  Here are a few of the highlights!

The new year started with the hustle and bustle of us selling our home and moving into a different home a few blocks down the road.  We have been in the new home for 10 months now and have definitely started to put our stamp on things.  We have taken down a good chunk of the wallpaper, remodeled the main floor bath, painted the kitchen cabinets, walls, and installed a new countertop and sink until we can save the funds for a full remodel, and are preparing to get started on nursery.

In June, John and I traveled to Poland with my family to help my brother and Magda celebrate their wedding.  It was a trip I will never forget!  We had a wonderful time sightseeing around Krakow Poland and had a blast experiencing a traditional Polish Wedding!  The best part of it all though is that my brother married a wonderful person and I now get to call her my sister :)

In July we also got wonderful news that our little family would be growing just like we had hoped.  I am now 27 weeks pregnant and we will welcome our little bundle of joy in April 2015.  Elsie is really excited for a baby sister and is really starting to talk about the baby all the time.  Only like 3 more months!!

The summer we were very busy between our trip to Poland, visiting family and friends, and trying to get out with the camper to do some camping.  We made it to Margquette, IA over Memorial Day, Rathbun Lake, and Lake Red Rock over Labor Day.

Fall John was busier than ever but he did a wonderful job of setting aside Sundays as family days and we tried to make the most of them all.  I did a lot of planning for our Disney trip over the fall as well.
November into December proved to be very busy.  Elsie turned three in December and had her first birthday party with friends on a weeknight and then a birthday party with family over the weekend.  She chose to have a "Frozen" themed party-shocker.

Shortly after her birthday party we packed our bags and off to Disney we went.  We had such an amazing time and definitely worth all the time and effort we spent planning and preparing for it.  WE got home just in time to start Christmas celebrations in MN and in Iowa and now here we are, wrapping up the year.

 

We have SO many fun things to look forward to in 2015.  Of course the most exciting is the arrival of our little baby in April.  We will also be welcoming a new niece or nephew in June as Tony and Magda are expecting.  I also have three friends who are expecting this year:  Marc and Amber-2/2, Josh and Liz-5/9, and Jason and AShley 5/12.

We have two weddings on the book for this summer-Katie and Brad and Chris and Laura-both in June.

We have a trip to Puerto Rico planned for John and I for work coming up shortly.

There are talks that Tony and Magda might be planning a visit to the states this year.

I have two concerts planned for the upcoming year-Kenny Chesney and Jason Aldean in July and Taylor Swift in September.

We have more plans in the works to make updates/changes to our house.

There is so much for us to be thankful for this year and in the upcoming year.  We are truly blessed with a happy, healthy family, a roof over our head, and food in our belly.  We pray that you all have a Happy New Year and too have much to look forward to in the year ahead.

Cheers to 2015!!

Feeling Pregnant-25 Weeks

Well I can't believe it!  I am 25 weeks (almost 26 week) along already and in the last couple of weeks of my second trimester.  This pregnancy is flying by and so far has been pretty uneventful.  I have't really done any updates on the blog so I thought I would do a quick rundown of how things have been going.

Overall, I have felt wonderful.  I never really had that "exhausted feeling", nausea has been practically non-existant, and I have felt good enough to get a run in here and there.  Really my one and only complaint has been heartburn.  It has been around since the very beginning and tums would do the trick. About 1-2 months ago that stopped working so I started taking Zantac once a day, then that stopped helping so we upped it to twice a day, well about a week ago that stopped helping too.  I have a call into the doctor and we will see what she says.  When I was pregnant with Elsie I had to go a prescription and that made the world of difference.  I would like to avoid starting that so soon but it is getting a bit unbearable.

Oh-also if you haven't heard we are having another little girl!!  We are so excited and I can't wait to start going through some of Elsie's things from when she was little and get it all ready for this new babe!  After the holidays we are going to get started on the baby's room.

My doctor's appointments have been going pretty good.  We had two ultrasounds-one at 18.5 weeks and one at 22.5 weeks.  The ultrasound at 22.5 weeks was to try to get a better view of the vessels leading to the heart.  In our first one, our little babe just wasn't cooperating very well and wouldn't get into a good position so we had to try again.  The second time it still wasn't cooperating but finally, she got a good shot of it and said everything looks normal.

My blood pressure has been good so far and baby's heartbeat has been anywhere from 138 into the low 150's.  As of my last appointment 3 weeks ago I was up 7 lbs total for the pregnancy.

Like I mentioned before, for the most part I didn't even feel pregnant and if I didn't have a growing belly I wouldn't even think so but starting last week things definitely have changed.  I feel like my belly is getting so big, I am getting more tired and out of breath at times, and I can tell that bending over just isn't as easy as it used to be.  I am feeling pregnant-which I guess should be expected this far along right?  Oh another symptom that I have been experiencing is congestion in my nose in the morning.  It clears up within minutes of waking up but I definitely wake up stuffy.

Like with Elsie, I felt this baby move later in the pregnancy.  It was probably close to 20 weeks before I thought-that is definitely the baby and it was close to 24 weeks where I felt movement pretty consistently.  The other day I actually thought

Me at 25 Weeks.  I feel like my belly just got HUGE!  

Elsie is really excited about getting a baby sister and she talks about the baby all the time.  At Disney she found this cute little baby Minnie Mouse plush that was swaddled in blanket and just insisted we get it for our baby.  I hope this love continues ;).

Walt Disney World 2014-Day 1

Finally, after months and months of planning and anticipation the day to depart to Walt Disney World had finally arrived.  Elsie was so excited and I was just as equally excited (maybe a little more ;). I don't even know where to begin with going back thinking about our trip.  I had started a planning post weeks before we left so I will probably post that for most things I did prior to the trip.

No more links in our countdown chain-Time to Go!!

Airport Arrival

Waiting to board

Checking out the plane

Our flight didn't depart Des Moines until 10:48 AM which was perfect.  It allowed us to have a "normal" morning before making our way to the airport.  I am not sure if Elsie knew what to expect but she handled everything like a pro.  Dale and Bev dropped us off and we had just over an hour to wait before our plane departed.  John took Elsie through security and I chose to get patted down so I didn't have to go through the body scanner and expose my little baby inside me to the radiation, although they say the levels of radiation are safe, why take the risk when there is a completely safe alternative.  Des Moines is such a small airport there was no wait at all.

A few things for my memory:

1.  We packed to checked bags, one rolling carryon, and we each had a personal bag to stow under the seats.  I also made us all carry our jackets on the flight so it didn't take up room/weight in the luggage.

2.  Allegiant charges for everything and their checked bags limit is 40 lbs.  Our suitcases weighed 35 lbs each.  When packing I tried out rolling our clothes and we had SO much room.  I could have fit everything into one suitcase if there was not weight limit.  In our carry-on rolling suitcase I had a set of clothes for each of us (Elsie had two changes, plus one in her backpack-you can never be prepared with a toddler) and all of our extra shoes.  Also for Elsie's clothes I put each days outfit in a ziploc bag and labeled it and I do not regret this extra bit of effort one bit.  It made getting ready in the mornings a breeze!  I could just grab the bag for her and she would get herself ready.

3.  We brought along our carseat for Elsie to ride in on the plane.  It worked out perfect!  John attached it to our carry-on to transport it through the airport.  He boarded the plane before Elsie and I did and we waited until near the end.  He said the flight attendant was crabby about it however it is the law that they have to let us use it if it is aircraft approved.  Also, it is not recommended that you check your carseat even if it is gate checked due to the risk of damage from them not carefully handling it.  Elsie rode so good in it, it was just like riding in the car to MN except the flight was shorter than our drive.

4.  Our pediatrician recommended that we have Elsie drink something from a straw during takeoff and landing to help with her ears.  He said it is the swallowing motion that helps clear the ears.

5.  We packed lots of activities to keep her busy on the flight and while waiting but she mainly just watched movies on the flight.


We flew into Sandford International Airport just outside of Orlando.  Our flight was on time and Elsie did pretty good-she had one little melt down while we were waiting to get off.  She wanted to get off right away vs waiting our turn to get off.  We collected our luggage and made the long trek to the car rental area.  We had reserved a small car (Corolla size) but ended up getting a van which was kind of nice.  Then we took off to The Villages where I have to Aunts and Uncles that live.  It was about an hour and half drive.  We arrived around 5:00 PM and enjoyed a wonderful dinner with Cathy, Stub, Vicki and Jim and realxed during the evening.  My Aunt Cathy had prepared a yummy dinner and some yummy dessert.  Everything was delicious.  We chatted the evening away and finally hit they hay sometime between 10 and 11PM.  The next morning we ate breakfast.  Elsie was loved having animals pancakes and by the end of the morning was calling Aunt Cathy "Grandma Cathy" and saying " I just love Grandma Cathy!" :)  A huge thank you to them for letting us stay with them and for their hospitality.