3rd Times a Charm! Mar. 8-14..lots of pics

[vizsla]

Thanks for the report and Great pictures.

[jenseib]

As we were standing in line for Pluto a parade was going on. I wasn’t sure what this was, but we asked the CM standing there and he said they now have several parades a day. It was funny how he said it. He had the southern accent and he seemed like he was just tired of a lot of parades. LOL! This one was a block party type like they have at HS now. I think it’s called Move it Shake it. It stops around the hub and does its thing (dancing and invites everyone to join in), then proceeds down Main Street afterwards. This parade happens 3-4 times a day I guess. This was the last one for the day. I figured we’d surely catch it at some other point in our trip. Claire usually loves parades.

After Pluto we worked our way down Main Street. We weren’t sure what we wanted to do first. I knew it would still be pretty busy, (Spectro Magic was showing tonight) so lines would still be long for rides. We have found in past years, that on Spectro nights with EMH’s the parks clear out pretty fast after Wishes, and it’s the best time to get a lot of rides in then.

As we walked up I took one of those famous pictures everyone likes to get of the bunch of balloons. Mine isn’t so great, but not the worst either.



And then I had to get the castle. I had a heck of a time shooting the castle this year. I must stand tilted or something, because most of my shots are tilted. LOL! ( This one was decent though)




When we got to the hub, DH decided he wanted some popcorn. I swear this is one of his favorite things at Disney. I told him if he got the smaller one it would count as a snack credit. (we were on the dining plan) He comes back with the bucket. LOL! I guess he wanted more, which was good, because Claire pretty much stole it from him. She even put the hood up on her stroller so it would be harder for him to reach for any. LOL!

I shot some pictures while we waited for him.





Here she is eating some. (before she got super greedy)



While he was buying the popcorn, I was watching CM’s taking down confetti streamers out of the trees from the parade. It was fun to watch. This guy couldn’t get this piece out and ended up leaving it there.

[jenseib]

Now we had to decide what we wanted to do. Skip said about 30 times ( a little irritating) that we shouldn’t ride anything that had a long wait, since we could basically walk on everything after dinner. Like I didn’t know that!

So we randomly headed off towards the tea cups.



Claire wanted to ride them, but I told Skip he would have to ride it with her since they make me sick. He said he didn’t want to get sick either. LOL!

So we walked off towards Pooh.. The line didn’t look too bad, so we parked the stroller and got in line. Once in line we saw that the wait time was longer than we wanted to wait, and looking at the line we could tell it was long, so we jumped out.

We started wandering through Fantasyland and I mentioned “Oh there’s where Ariel is”. The immediate reply from a little voice was “I want to see Ariel!”.



The sign said 40 minutes. UGH! But we got in line and Skip went off on his own.
I took a few pictures while waiting.

A very patient girl waiting in line.



Some of the scenery on the path we are waiting in.





As we got with in site of the “chain” (the spot they let you in to actually see her), Claire said she had to go potty! I told her we were close, but she said she had to go BAD. I told her to think of other things. LOL! The family behind us said they would keep our spot, but they didn’t know if they would be already through and out of line by the time we got back, which is what I was thinking too.
Soon we were let into the chained off area, and Ariel was now in site. This took Claire’s mind off the potty situation totally.
She was mesmerized.

[Kathy Jetson]

Love your report can't wait to hear more!

[jenseib]

Thanks! We did some really fun stuff, so I am excited to share it all. We did alot of character dining, and I swear Claire was in heaven.

[jenseib]

I must add before I go on, that Ariel and Belle are Claire’s 2 favorite princesses. She just loves them both and she has asked me to change her name to Arielbelle. LOL!

So FINALLY we meet Ariel. DD was in heaven and Ariel talked a mile a minute to her. It was dark in the cave and my pictures didn’t turn out that grand, but the photopass ones look great, so once that comes I’ll post them.








After the wonderful meet with Ariel, Claire grabs my hand and says “let’s run, I have to go potty”. LOL! So we make the mad dash for the bathrooms. Claire is talking non-stop about all Ariel has told her (which I can’t remember anymore) and then I ask her, “what else did Ariel say”, and she gets a blank look and says “Gosh, I can’t remember anymore!” It was just so cute. She was so happy! We made it to the potty on time and all was good in Claire’s world.!

[jenseib]

After the bathroom break, Claire and I wandered a bit. We went to the smoking section near liberty square and beeped Skip on the Nextel. He was just about to get on Space Mountain. So we decided that Claire and I would get a spot for Spectro Magic in liberty Square since it wasn’t too crowded yet.

It was 7:30 and Spectro started at 8. We found a spot right in front of the Hall of Presidents (which is boarded up for refurbishment…...I assume adding Obama)

We parked the stroller in our spot and walked a few steps over to the Hula hoop guy to play.







After a bit Skip beeped us and said he was on his way. He stopped off to get a drink for Claire and I. I think he got to our spot about 10 minutes before Spectro was due to hit our area. (It was after 8 when he got there)

I took some pictures of them waiting. Claire is still chowing on that popcorn.

[Kathy Jetson]

I liked your pics inside the cave. The line has always been so long I never tried to go in. This year ds will be 6 so if we don't go in this time he might not want to when he is 7. Sounds like your having fun. Waiting for more.

[TheVBs]

Wow! I love your trip reports. It's like being there! Claire is a beauty. Great pics.

[Bethis26fan]

Sounds like a great time so far. Welcome to intercot.

[jenseib]

Sounds like a great time so far. Welcome to intercot.

Thank you!

[jenseib]

I have to say one of my most favorite things at Disney is Spectro Magic. I get chills watching it. It just gives me a special feeling. I want to tear up with joy. And I LOVE the song. The spot we had this year was great, because there wasn’t enough room for people to stand behind us and crowd in. The families on each side of us had plenty of room and didn’t crowd in. The one family next to us had several people ask if they could squeeze in with them and they told them no. LOL! The lady said she just hates that. When you let someone into a small spot they tend to take it over, and she is right.
I had a lady last year ask if her DD could squeeze in next to Claire and I said yes. (we were standing behind her for the afternoon parade) This lady then squeezes in herself and FIVE other kids! Claire still had a good view, but she was squished.

So on to Spectro Magic!

I took some video. I am terrible at it, but it still gives you the feeling of it. Of course it’s so much better in person and the sound is so much better in person.

Mickey

[youtube link]

Chip and Dale

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[youtube link]

Little Mermaid

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Cinderella/Alice

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Several characters waved right at Claire. She was so excited. Minnie blew her a kiss, as well as Snow White. I think on other did too, but I can’t for the life of me remember who, but she would get so excited each time. Bashful walked up to her and shook her hand.

[jenseib]

[jenseib]

After Spectro we made another potty stop.

Then we went against the traffic flow . After Spectro, everyone usually heads towards the castle to see Wishes. We decided we didn’t care if we saw it. We also had two other days to catch it if we chose. We like wishes a lot, but the crowds around the castle are just awful and it drives me batty at times.

We decided we would look for a “big girl” ride for Claire. This was the first year she was tall enough for some of the bigger rides. And boy was she excited about that. She kept talking about what a big girl she is constantly.

We went to Splash Mountain to check out the wait time….20 minutes…we had time before our ADR!

I was hoping we wouldn’t get very wet, so we didn’t go to dinner dripping. LOL!
I only got a light splash when we floated by the spot where the boat comes down. The girl in front of me got it more.

DH had never ridden this ride either, and was amazed with the theming and story it had inside.



As we rounded outside on the boat, Wishes was going off. How beautiful to see the fireworks from up high on the “mountainside.” It was such a magical moment and Claire oohed and ahhed!

Every room and turn we went into DH would say “here it comes”, but I was pretty sure we had a ways to go yet. LOL! Then the big drop came! I ducked WAY down so I wouldn’t get wet. None of us did though. Claire loved it! She was a big girl now.
We got off and went to look at the picture they take of you coming down. You can’t see me or Claire. LOL! I was ducked down too far and Claire is too short. LOL!

When we got off we noticed it was getting close to our ADR time, so we walked back towards the castle.

[Mickeydream]

Welcome to Intercot. Your trip report is great. Claire is certainly having a wonderful time and looks so cute in her Minnie costume. The castle pix looks like a postcard...makes me want to be there all the more! Just counting down the days until our trip in November. We'll be doing our double digit dance very soon.

[faline]

Very nice Magic Kingdom day! Sounds like Claire enjoyed her first ride on Splash Mountain!

[BMan62]

Welcome to Intercot!

Your trip report is great! Those shots of Pop Century are making me homesick!! We still have 36 days 'til we get back "home."

I agree with you 100% on Spectro! I HAVE to see it every trip at least once. This year I'm taping it. Last year, I took a load of still pics of it, but it loses just a little by not having the soundtrack!

[jenseib]

Thanks for all the welcomes.

[jenseib]

I was super excited about eating in the castle at CRT. As you all know this is a really hard place to get into, and it books up fast, MONTHS ahead of time. We didn’t book our trip till Jan 26th. I had called that day and there was no opening. This day was also not scheduled to be an Extra Magical Hour day. Originally it was HS. But with the princess half marathon going on, they switched it up and had the party for the competitors and their families at HS and made MK have the EMH’s…which I was very happy about.

On a whim, on Feb 21 I called to see since the hours were extended if they would have any openings….and they DID! 9:35 PM was the only time, but since I knew we would be at the park late, it was a perfect time for us. Since I had already made all our ADR’s for the dining plan, we paid out of pocket for this one.

Something about eating in the castle was just so exciting for me. I have heard mixed reviews about it, but I wanted to at least have the experience once in my life, and for Claire to as well.

So….we walked over to the Castle after Splash Mountain.





We went to the check in desk and had no problems getting checked in, but the people in front of us seemed to be having problems…not sure what that was about?

We then walked INTO the castle. How exciting!
I made Claire stand next to this knight. LOL!



We then got in line to “meet” Cinderella in her Royal Castle. While waiting I started randomly shooting pictures of the area.

[jenseib]

We finally make it up to Cinderella. The line wasn’t too long though.
Cinderella took Claire’s hand and walked her to the chair.





I had my camera set on manual and for some reason shot some REALLY awful pictures before I realized my settings were bad. I don’t like to use flash that much, but since it was dark in there I ended up doing some with it. Thank goodness the photographer got some great shots…..which are on my photopass CD, and I will post once it comes.

I also realized after seeing the pictures later on, that I never took her jean jacket off. LOL!

Cinderella signed Claire’s book and they talked. We were last in line, so she kind of took a little time with her.





After that we sat down and waited to be called upstairs.
Cinderella must’ve been waiting for another family because she didn’t leave and she got up and kind of roamed.



Another family came in and she went to talk to the little girl and get pictures taken.

After that she roamed again…and then a wonderful thing happened. She came and sat next to Claire and talked to her for AT LEAST 5 minutes. Claire was in heaven and just talking away with her. It was like they were best friends. It was very special.











Then another family came in and Cinderella had to go greet them. Look at the little smirk on Claire’s face. LOL!