All About the Princesses, Dresses, and Food--May 19-25, 2014 NEW COMPLETE 1/6/15

[familyabgar]

May 20--Cinderella's Royal Table​

My alarm went off at the too early—yet would turn out not early enough—hour of 6:45. The goal was to meet in the lobby at 7:45am to walk over to MK for our first full park day and ADR at Cinderella’s Royal Table. This did not happen. We left the hotel closer to 8am for our 8:25 ADR. Needless to say, I was stressing and in a big hurry. On a bright side, Eliza made a precious little Cinderella and debuted the first dress I made for her!

The walk from BLT to MK took a little under 10 minutes, and we made it right through bag check and got into the line for pre-park opening ADRs. It was short and we were up at the turnstiles to use our Magic Bands for the first time for tickets. Mickey-to-Mickey and a finger scan and we were off! It felt so great to be back in Magic Kingdom again!

As we started down Main Street I was so excited to see how Eliza would react. She was in her stroller and ended up having quite a subdued reaction. I think she was in a bit of awe, but definitely didn’t have an over-the-top-excited reaction!

We didn’t stop for any photopass pictures (which was one of the main points of making a pre-opening ADR!), so we could check in almost on time. I think it was about 8:30, a little before, when we did get checked in. However, two of our party got held up at the ticket gate and we couldn’t officially check in until they made it to the castle.


In the meantime, we walked as far into Fantasyland as we could, where there was no one around, and Eliza had a little meltdown over Prince Charming’s Carousel. She wanted to ride it so badly!

​

We were able to snap a few pictures with the Castle afterall, and I really like the view. And there were very few people around, though I just noticed it looks like we got photobombed!

Soon enough, we were all together and being led into CRT. I did a dining review of our breakfast and won’t repeat the same information here, but you can read THE REVIEW HERE.

Here are some more pictures from our first greeting with Cinderella:

Short review shorter: we loved our experience. Solid service, yummy food, some pixie dust, and a little girl who loves princesses! Since the dining review did not include pictures of all the princesses, I will include those here! The visits were spread out, but not in an annoying way. Eliza didn’t really interact with them due to shyness, so we didn’t have that in depth of visits, but that’s ok. She was still in heaven.

And, our sleeping Prince Charming (I made his outfit from a men's shirt):

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Our first park morning was off to a great start!


Continued in next post.

 

[KatMark]

Oh I am just in love with your DD in her Cinderella dress She looks absolutey beautiful. I am so glad that the morning was a success, with the exception of the meltdown with the carrousel. We really need to try to go there for breakfast one day.

 

[familyabgar]

May 20--MK Morning​

After breakfast, we knew the Carousel was going to be the first stop. I had made a detailed Touring Plans schedule, and I’ll be honest—it was mostly thrown out the window! No biggie.

After 1 or 2 rides (I can’t remember!) we had to make some bathroom stops and decided to ride Peter Pan’s Flight while the line was still low—about 20-30 minutes. Eliza was a little freaked out by the dark, but enjoyed flying! After that ride we made our way over to Dumbo!

Even though we could have gone straight through the line (about 10 to 15 minutes), we stopped at the play area.

We spent a good 15 minutes in there and Eliza had a full-on tantrum when we left the play area! We felt like bad parents who looked like we were forcing our daughter to ride Dumbo! She really did want to ride, but she realllllly wanted to play! This first day we had a few tantrums because each new thing was the.best.thing.ever and she just didn’t understand that we had so many fun things to come!

Anyway, time to fly!

The next fun thing was meeting Minnie and Daisy! Waiting in line got Eliza really excited and she was so eager to be next after about a 20-30 minute line. We were ready to meet the gals! Eliza caught on fast with her autograph books. Here she is walking to Daisy.

Again, despite her excitement, she was too shy to speak up. We got plenty of pictures and video, and it was a fun meet and greet!

Somebody was happy to see Minnie, too!

So much fun! Next we had a FP+ to see Cinderella and Rapunzel!


Continued in next post.

 

[familyabgar]

May 20--MK Morning Part 2​

It was really important to me to see Cinderella in Fairytale Princess Hall with Eliza in her matching dress. I am so glad we made this a priority because it was so magical.

After waiting about 5 minutes, we were the last family in the FP+ line led into the meeting room. After another 3-5 minutes it was our turn to see Cinderella and the CMs didn’t let any other families in the room, meaning it was just us and the family in front of us at this point. The CMs and Cinderella loved Eliza’s dress! It was so sweet. Eliza’s little tiara fell out and Cinderella put it back on for her, which was the cutest thing.

Eliza still didn’t talk much, but the look on her face was priceless.

After we got all of our pictures, Cinderella held Eliza’s hand and walked her over to Rapunzel who was waiting for her.

Rapunzel talked about Eliza’s dress and being a little Cinderella. Eliza absolutely loved it! Her interaction was so sweet with Rapunzel and she liked touching Rapunzel’s hair.

I, too, felt like a little girl while this was happening! I just couldn't get over the magic in the room and how Eliza was treated like a princess. I knew in this moment that we'd be back in 2015.

After this meet and greet we split up a little. We had another spin on the Carousel, bathroom breaks, and headed to Liberty Square to get in line for Tiana. She was not out yet, but was coming out in about 20 minutes. We decided to wait and were the 3rd family in line. While we waited in line, the rest of the group made their way to Liberty Tree Tavern where we had a 1:30 ADR.

The CM in charge of the Tiana line was very sweet and Eliza and another girl played in the gazebo area a little while waiting.

She discovered the art of twirling!

This princess pose:

When Tiana arrived, she was absolutely beautiful and such a sweet Southern princess! Eliza was smitten.

After another amazing M-n-G and princess checked off our list, we were off to lunch!

Continued in next post.

 

[familyabgar]

You had me with the IU shirts!

I have three grown daughters (two IU grads, one Purdue grad, house divided) and my husband is a MSU grad. We are definitely Big Ten fans!

You had some beautiful views from your room there. Your back way in was interesting, too.

The meal at Boma looked delicious! It's on my ever growing list of places I need to try.

Awesome! Thanks for stopping by!

You should definitely try Boma!

Oh I am just in love with your DD in her Cinderella dress She looks absolutey beautiful. I am so glad that the morning was a success, with the exception of the meltdown with the carrousel. We really need to try to go there for breakfast one day.

Thank you We had our minor ups and downs, but nothing major! I've heard bad reviews of breakfast, but I loved it.

 

[KatMark]

I can't pick a favorite. They are all great pictures! The one on the carrousel! The one with Cinderella getting her tiara fixed; the one with Rapunzel; the oen with Tiana. These are all priceless.

 

[familyabgar]

I can't pick a favorite. They are all great pictures! The one on the carrousel! The one with Cinderella getting her tiara fixed; the one with Rapunzel; the oen with Tiana. These are all priceless.

Aww, thanks! I'm the same way!

 

[tillman4]

Love your TR! We are heading back in Sept. & I am working on a few easy outfits for my DD (who will turn 2 three days after we return). Would you mind sharing the pattern info for the Cinderella dress you made? You did a great job! Excited to read more!

 

[annie170]

Wow! You're quite the seamstress! That dress is adorable and I love the gloves in the first picture.

It sounds like you had some great character meets with darling photos.

We've yet to try CRT because we always do Akershus, which is only one dining credit. That dish you ordered looked really good.

 

[rteetz]

Just found your trip report and love it can't wait to hear more!

 

[familyabgar]

Love your TR! We are heading back in Sept. & I am working on a few easy outfits for my DD (who will turn 2 three days after we return). Would you mind sharing the pattern info for the Cinderella dress you made? You did a great job! Excited to read more!

Thank you! It's addicting to make outfits for Disney, so watch out! :-D

The Cinderella dress is a modified Foofoo Threads Sugarplum. If you want simpler, any good peasant dress pattern can be turned into a princess dress!

Wow! You're quite the seamstress! That dress is adorable and I love the gloves in the first picture.

It sounds like you had some great character meets with darling photos.

We've yet to try CRT because we always do Akershus, which is only one dining credit. That dish you ordered looked really good.

Thank you! I wish we could have found gloves that fit better, because they didn't make it out of the hotel room, even though Eliza loved wearing them. She really wanted yellow ones, too, for Belle!

I hate that it's 2 credits and otherwise so expensive, but it's really neat to be in the Castle. Eliza talked about it for months beforehand and likes to tell people about it now.

Just found your trip report and love it can't wait to hear more!

Thanks for reading!

 

[chocolateMinnie]

Just found your tr - lovely photos and the Cinderella dress is gorgeous. Can't wait to see the rest what a talented Mummy!

 

[anniebabymu]

What a lovely morning full of princesses! The Cinderella dress turned out so cute! You did a great job!

I don't know what it is with that carousel, but my youngest was OBSESSED with it! I lost count of how many times she rode it on our trip! Ha ha!

 

[familyabgar]

Just found your tr - lovely photos and the Cinderella dress is gorgeous. Can't wait to see the rest what a talented Mummy!

Thank you so much!

What a lovely morning full of princesses! The Cinderella dress turned out so cute! You did a great job!

I don't know what it is with that carousel, but my youngest was OBSESSED with it! I lost count of how many times she rode it on our trip! Ha ha!

Thanks! Haha! Yes, DD has always been obsessed with them!

 

[familyabgar]

Magic Kingdom afternoon and Tomorrowland Terrace Dessert Party​

After our meet, we headed to Liberty Tree Tavern where we were a little late, but had already been checked in. It was another 15 or so minutes before we were seated, but we ended up with one large table for the group of 10 (1 infant, 1 toddler, 8 adults). We also had a great server, and were allowed to have the strollers with us for sleepy kids.

The food was so yummy! Gary and I split the Pilgrim’s Feast, and it came on two separate plates—so nice! We also ordered Eliza the kids’ turkey plate to have extra servings—the mashed potatoes were a hit for her. My mom ordered and LOVED the pot roast. She is still dreaming about it! I can’t remember what everyone else ordered, but not one was disappointed. Of course, we had to order dessert—the Ooey Gooey Toffee Cake. It was fantastic. Worth going back for!

(I'll take one now, please!)

After lunch, we had about 15 minutes until the Festival of Fantasy parade, but it was packed in the area. Some of the group went to ride Thunder Mountain, and we kept the baby, too. Rather than fight for a spot in the 3rd row in front of the restaurant, we crossed the street and stood back farther near the water. We walked Eliza closer when the parade passed by. Thankfully the parade floats are amazing and larger than life, so she had no problem seeing!

After the parade we made the long walk to Town Square Theater to visit with Talking Mickey! We had a FP+ and it took about 10 or so minutes to get through the line.

This meet was so cool. When we got into the room with Mickey Eliza started getting so excited. I've heard of little ones being freaked out by talking Mickey, but she wasn't at all. Soon enough it was our turn! Mickey was excited to see Eliza, too!

Mickey and Eliza stomped together (I can't remember the actual bit he said) and she got into it. Then we got some family pictures.

After our meet, we spent some time trying on ears and hats. We didn't purchase one in the end, but it was fun!

Then we hustled back to the Castle to watch Dream Along with Mickey. We stopped briefly to get a couple's picture with the Castle.

Eliza fell in love with the show and whenever she heard the music she'd freak if we didn't go straight to the Castle to watch!

My timeline is a little shaky at this point, but we ended up also getting caught by the Move It, Shake It parade there at the Castle. It was fun and I got a kick out of it!

After the parade, we headed back to BLT. We got a quick bath in and headed to the Contempo Café to use a QS credit for dinner. We were blown away by the amount of food we got with our meals, as well as the size of the cupcakes! I can't remember exactly what we all ordered, but I think I had a burger that was decent. Gary may have gotten a mahi sandwich? We did pay OOP for a kids' meal, too. So.much.food. We didn't even touch the cupcakes, but ran them back to the room for later. We got red velvet (Mickey) and chocolate caramel (Elsa). They were good!

At this point, my parents headed to Magic Kingdom and I had to run with Eliza back to our room due to some potty issues. Like, I literally ran with the stroller through the walkway and hallways back to our room!! By the time we were ready to go back into MK for our evening Space Mountain FP+ we were running out of time. So, we again, mostly ran with the stroller from BLT to MK and then through MK (phew) to Space Mountain. We made our FP+ time with 2 minutes to spare, I think, and were very very winded. We picked up a Rider Swap since some of our group was staying back with Eliza and the baby.

We had a fun ride on SM! It was better than I remembered!

Eliza fell asleep in the stroller while we were on the ride, and with our Rider Swap we were able to ride again! Just as much fun the 2nd time, but no ride picture to prove it.

After some rides on SM, it was time to head to the Tomorrowland Terrace Café for the Dessert Fireworks Party. We made this ADR on our 180 day mark, but still had a table far back from the railing--which doesn't really matter b/c everyone goes up to the railing anyway, but still a disappointment.

At this point, Eliza was awake but super tired. We were run down, too, from the drive and a full day in the park. We had some more potty issues and ended up leaving right before the fireworks started. Eliza didn't even really enjoy Celebrate the Magic, which she'd seen on YouTube approximately 100 times before our trip! (*spoiler alert* we'd see it later in the trip and it was a better experience!). So, I don't have any pictures to share of this night, but the Dessert Party was nice! There were plenty of desserts and variety. I think the $35 price tag is reasonable for a Disney event.

And that's a wrap on our first full day at Disney! I will leave you with the 1 picture I have from this night, and thankfully, it's a beautiful one. Our view from Tomorrowland Terrace:

Day 3 begins in next post.

 

[olafgypsy]

So happy to have found your trip report! I'm planning a trip for a very similar group: parents, their five adult children (including me) and significant others, plus a four year old, 20-month-old (mine) and as-yet unborn will-be-four-month-old. Altogether, we're a party of 13. I'm really relieved to see that so far, you don't seem to be having trouble getting your whole party seated together at restaurants. Of course I've booked ADRs, but I always fret a bit about crowded restaurants and big groups.

I love the dresses you made! I don't have a crafty bone in my body so I'm really ing your talent!

Your daughter seems to be doing great with the character meets, too, despite being a little shy. So sweet to see. Thanks for sharing!

 

[familyabgar]

So happy to have found your trip report! I'm planning a trip for a very similar group: parents, their five adult children (including me) and significant others, plus a four year old, 20-month-old (mine) and as-yet unborn will-be-four-month-old. Altogether, we're a party of 13. I'm really relieved to see that so far, you don't seem to be having trouble getting your whole party seated together at restaurants. Of course I've booked ADRs, but I always fret a bit about crowded restaurants and big groups.

I love the dresses you made! I don't have a crafty bone in my body so I'm really ing your talent!

Your daughter seems to be doing great with the character meets, too, despite being a little shy. So sweet to see. Thanks for sharing!

I'm glad you found it, too! We really had good experiences dining with such a large group. At the places we were at separate tables, we were still right next to each other (with the exception of BOG, but that's a story for another day). Enjoy the planning!

Thank you! I had so much fun doing it. I used to fail at crafts, so don't sell yourself short if you have an interest!

She really got into all the meets after the first initial shock wore off. I can't wait to go back!

 

[KatMark]

I'm glad you enjoyed lunch at Liberty Tree...it's become a favorite of ours.

It always blows my mind how big the meals are at the counter service places; we've come to the point we usually share. Those cupcakes look yummy.

I'm exhausted reading about your mad dash to the room and then to the MK to ride SM.

I tried to get the Dessert Party for our trip in September (we've never been), but I was not successful. I've heard mixed reviews so I'm not all that upset about it. Some day we will try it.

What a stunning picture of the castle.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Been reading from the beginning but thought I would join in on the fun

your DD is so cute - though looks so upset about not getting to ride the carousel!

The Cinderella dress you made is really great! The pictures and description of the interaction with Cinderella seems just lovely

Glad to see you enjoyed your breakfast at CRT - we have a pre-park ADR booked there our next trip, which will be our first time eating there, and I am a little nervous based on mixed reviews, so was happy to read your

Also happy to see that you enjoyed the Wishes Dessert Party and that you thought it was worth the money since we also have that booked for the first time our next trip

Totally agree with what you say when you see your child's face just light up when interacting with the characters it makes it all worth while

 

[Dreams0308]

Joining in!! Your DD is so adorable! I love her Cinderella outfit