Our last first birthday - Part 10

[IloveJack]

Our last first birthday
We've taken each of our kids to the World for their first birthday. Penelope, aka "Eppy," is our last. We decided to make it super-special, so we're spending two weeks at Disney, with 10 days in the parks.

Cast:
Susan, (me), 36, 11th trip
David (DH), 31, 9th trip
Sammie (DD), 8, 7th trip
Lily (DD), 5, 5th trip
Joey (DS), 3, 4th tip
Eppy (DD), turning 1, 1st trip


Monday, December 19
We were up at 6am, and left camp at 7. We drove to the MK parking lot, but we had to catch the ferry because the monorail was down. It was our first time riding the big ferry to the MK, and the kids enjoyed it. Sammie liked going upstairs and looking out. We were at the bag check when we realized that Lily left her magic band at the tent. However, we had 8am reservations at BBB, so I wasn't going back. We gave her Joey's band, and put Eppy's on him. I figured we'd paid for the ticket, just didn't have it with us, and we went on.
I'd made reservations before park opening in hopes to get a picture of the kids and the castle without anyone behind them, but then Disney changed EMH to 7am, so they were already people in the park, but not many. So we sat them down in a line, facing the castle, and waited until those in front of us had moved, then I snapped a picture of them from behind. I love the way it turned out, just them looking at the castle, with no one else around. I plan to hang it on our wall at home.
Bibbidi Bobbidi wasn't open yet, so we took a spin on the carousel. Joey freaked again, but David stood with him, and he realized it wasn't scary. In fact, he asked to do it again. Then we got a picture at Cinderella's fountain... anything to pass time. Then I saw that the door had opened.
A little backstory: Sammie had been BEGGING to do BBB since she saw a commercial for it just before our trip. Unbeknownst to her, I'd been planning it for almost a year, and had kept the secret. She asked every time that she saw a girl dressed up in the parks, but I just kept saying, "this is the biggest trip we've ever taken; Momma and Daddy are running out of money." She understood, but was clearly disappointed. I, however, knew that pretty soon, she will begin to see through the magic, and I was determined to do this before she grew up anymore.
So when we walked in to BBB, and I said we had a reservation, she looked around, realized what was going on, and burst into tears. She couldn't contain her excitement, and it clearly showed. She had half of the fairy godmothers in the place wiping their eyes, too. One said, "I take it she didn't know about this." She is definitely worth keeping surprises, because she gives the BEST reactions.
I'd bought Anna and Elsa dresses back in January at the Twice Upon a Year sale ($10 and $12 for $100 dresses, can you believe it?!), and purchased the crown package for $60 each. The girls got dressed, and I put Eppy in a little Snow White costume, as well. Then they climbed up in the chairs. I can see why it takes an hour, as the fairy godmothers were having as much fun as the girls. They ooh-ed and ahh-ed, and talked to them, all while doing their hair, makeup, and nails. Joey was flirting with one that wasn't busy, so they asked if we wanted to add the knight package. I figured, why not, so he got his hair gelled and got a sword and shield. I think David was jealous of the shield because it had Maleficent on it.
Then, after they were finished, we went over to Castle Couture and had a full photo shoot, even with Eppy, too. Those pictures were well worth the $150 I'd spent on the experience. I'd pay that much for family pictures elsewhere, anyhow.
We went straight back to the castle for our breakfast reservations. I was planning to milk the BBB dresses for all they were worth! Ariel came by first, and made Lily's day. She's her favorite. The other princesses were nice, but nothing special. When Jasmine visited, David and I looked at each other and giggled. She looked "identical" to Pocahontas, who we'd met at the AK last week. Snow White missed our table, due to the seating order, so she was called back over at the end of our meal. When she saw the Eppy was dressed like her, she sat down in the floor so that Ep could sit in her lap, and took some pictures with the kids.
While they were all dressed up, the plan was to see all the face characters. We got in line for Merida, but Joey kept poking his sword into the ground, and David got more and more concerned that he would tear it up, since it's foam. So after seeing Merida (I'm disappointed that the bears are gone, and so is the archery training), David took the bag with the girls' clothing and the sword and shield and went back to the car (I guess it's a good thing we did drive). We saw Rapunzel and Tiana while we waited on David. It was incredibly hot, so I got us drinks, and we went to Ariel's Grotto, since we've never seen her with fins. By now, the kids were done with the sun.
We headed back to the front of the park to meet up with David. The street party parade was coming through, so we walked through the Emporium. I felt my knees go week, so I sat down in the floor and pulled the strollers up to me. I checked my blood sugar (I'm a T1 diabetic) and it was 43. A CM asked me if I was ok, and I said no, then she asked if I needed water, and I told her water wouldn't help. David called, wanting to buy something and I told him to come now, and where to meet me. He showed up at the same time as a manager, who gave us a Hershey's bar and told David not to worry about paying for it. I wish I had gotten his name, but by the time my sugar was back up, he was nowhere to be found.
We used our last pre-planned FP to see Tink, and then I used the app to just keep making FP for the rest of the day. We had one more day at the MK, so I made sure we could pretty much walk on to all the smaller rides. First up was the Tea Party, where David tried to make me sick. I used to be able to take it, but after 4 pregnancies, I can't handle spinning for very long. Then we saw Alice.
While she talked with the kids, we asked another CM their opinion on Pinocchio's Village Haus, as we'd never eaten there. They seemed to like it, so we went there for lunch. It wasn't anything special, but we could get gelato for dessert and that was nice with the heat. Again, we had a lot of trouble finding a table, due to lots of people saving them, but we finally got the round window booth right up front.
The kids were sleepy, so we went to Peoplemover next, since Sammie was still asking. This is one of those rides that I can't explain why we like it, but we have to ride it every trip. By the time we got off, Joey and Eppy were asleep. I made FP for Jungle Cruise later that night, cause we'd never ridden it, and I wanted to see the Christmas overlay, and we left for a nap at 4:45.
As we were boarding the ferry, the captain said, over the loudspeaker, "Hi, Queen Elsa, please don't freeze the lake," which got a good smile out of Sammie. We got on the ferry and right back off. They made no official announcement, but David heard the captain say that they were taking on water. We waited for the next ferry, which was fairly crowded, since they were down one, now.
It was 6:30 before the older two girls fell asleep, and by then the younger two were awake again. We hung out, letting them sleep until 8pm, and then got up to go back to the MK. It was EMH that night. However, we had just made it to the settlement, when the wind picked up and we decided to check the radar. Rain started falling and we entered the gift shop just as the bottom fell out. We hung out there for about 30 minutes. I found an ornament, Mickey dressed as Davy Crockett, that said Fort Wilderness, and bought it, then bought the kids some Cheetos to snack on, since it was well past dinner time.
The rain didn't seem to be going anywhere, so we waited until it slowed, and went to Trails End to get a pizza and PB&Js for the kids. We gave up on going to the park, and headed back to the tent. We made it inside just before the rain picked back up. We were in bed at 10, which was actually a good thing.

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

sounds like a great day love the BBB experience

[JanetMegan]

Hope you have a tent with a good tarp!!

[IloveJack]

Hope you have a tent with a good tarp!!

We actually don't use a tarp. We soak our tent in a good sealer when we first purchase one, and we've never had a problem with leaks. We stayed nice and dry and enjoyed listening to the rain drops. Thankfully, it didn't actually storm, so they kids weren't scared either.

[faline]

I'll bet all the kids were thrilled with their Babbitty Bobbitty Boutique experience!! Sorry rain wiped out your evening plans.

[deedee73]

Definitely seems like your BBB & photo shoot was money well spent. Love when things work out. Glad Joey got in on it too.sorry about your sugar drop. You seem to handle it in stride though.

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