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Our last first birthday - Part 13
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
Thursday, December 22
We were up at 6:30, trying to make park opening. The girls squealed when they remember it was Eppy's birthday. She is one spoiled baby. Her siblings adore her (as do her parents). Everyone was dressed in coordinating colors, as I intended to really fill up the PP account today, and today was our "dress for Christmas" day, so there was lot of red trimmed in white "fur."
We drove again, and then took the ferry because the monorail line was super long. We saw our friend, Chewy's cousin, and he gave Eppy a new birthday button especially for today.
As soon as we got to the park, we headed to our reservations at the Crystal Palace. It was cold this morning and one of the CMs saw us with a baby and invited us to wait inside. We were seated before we could even sit down, though. Most of the characters were close by, so we waited until we'd seen Tigger and Pooh to go fill our plates. I can't tell you how excited Joey and David were to see cereal on the buffet! They each had two bowls. Piglet showed up and led Lily away to dance with her for the Friendship parade, which tickled her pink (pardon the pun). Eppy really liked Piglet, and has seemed attracted to Pooh and friends ever since, a first for any of my kids.
We went straight to Jingle Cruise, since we'd had to give up the FP the other night in the rain, and it was a walk-on. It was just a cheesy as I'd always been told, but our captain got quite a few laughs, and some groans. I enjoyed seeing the Christmas decorations. (I told David that even though there were signs of Christmas all around, I kept forgetting it was this close... it seemed like time was suspended while we were at Disney).
Then Joey wanted to ride Aladdin's carpets, which we found funny, cause Dumbo and the dinos scared him. But he was happy on these.
On to Haunted Mansion. (I knew that the crowds were going to get worse as our trip went on, so my only plans for the day were to not leave without riding HM and Pirates, our two old-school favorites). They had added a feature since just last week (or at least we didn't experience it), and our hitchhiking ghosts had obviously read our magic bands. I rode with Sammie and Eppy, and our ghost smashed a birthday cake in Sammie's face (today is Ep's birthday). David rode with the other two, and their ghost held up a sign that said "hitchhiking to Tennessee!" We were quite surprised and talked about it for a while afterward.
It was a 20 minute wait to see Elena, but I'd promised the girls we would earlier in the trip, and this was the shortest we'd seen the line. It was quite awesome to see her easily switch from English to Spanish between guests. That's a pretty necessary thing for a princess in Florida! And the little girl in front of us loved that Elena could talk to her directly.
That was the end of breezing through the rides. We exited to shoulder to shoulder people.
We had reservations for a first hair cut at the Harmony barber shop, so we headed back up Main Street. The same CM that cut Eppy's hair had done Sammie's first hair cut, too. Actually, Joey and Lily had the same first barber, as well. It's funny how things like that work out. Eppy was very patient, and we just had her hair evened up all over. While we were there, David got his beard trimmed, and the lady CM gave him a Mickey sticker "for being a good boy!"
I didn't want the certificate or Eppy's ears to get bent, so we rented a locker and left them and our hoodies in it, as it had warmed up considerably. Then we got a family picture by the Christmas tree, which rounded out the tree pics. Then it was time for lunch. We couldn't decide, so the boys got Casey's to go, and the girls went to Pecos Bills, where we shared nachos (more like a taco salad) and churros.
We had FP for Big Thunder, another must for the girls before we go home. We tried to get some PP pics of Eppy for her birthday, but the PP CM was rather captivated by taking a newborn's pics, so we did our own. It was cute, but he stayed with her for a good 30 minutes.
We walked back into Liberty Square, and found a good spot by the stocks for the 3:00 parade. Everything I had read said that the 3:00 parade turns into the Christmas parade the week before Christmas, but that wasn't true, so we watched the Festival of Fantasy. Oh well, Eppy enjoyed it, clapping right along.
We used another FP for Haunted Mansion again, but this time, my ghost didn't do anything special. David's still said "hitchhiking to TN." We stopped by Rapunzel's restrooms and Sammie noticed a Pascal on the ground by the bridge. We started looking around and found 5-6 before we got bored. I wonder how many people know there are hidden Pascals in the water area?
We still had 26 snack credits to burn, so we went to the Main Street Confection shoppe and I got some Santa rice krispy treats to use as party favors for Eppy's birthday, along with some Mickey suckers, and some fudge for David and me to share. I also got BB-8 and Olaf rice krispy treats to use as stocking stuffers for the kids. In all, I used 17 of the credits.
We stashed the food in the locker and tried to re-enter the park, but the crowds were horrible. It was 4pm by now, and the party guests were arriving. We weren't staying for the party, so we decided to finish up our favorites quickly.
We couldn't leave without riding Pirates, so it was there first, where the line was just as long as last week (since when is there a line for Pirates that is well out into the "lobby"). Then, we had one more FP that had been given to us, so we used it for a couple more rides on 7 Dwarves. It was almost impossible to get the strollers back down Main Street. We tried going through the stores, but they were just as bad. It was 6pm, and people were already lining the streets for the castle lighting. We finally broke free and retrieved our stuff from the locker.
We caught a ride on the ferry, took our time taking some pictures of the topiaries, and were back at camp at 8:30. I left the kids with David to begin packing the car, and went to get food from Trails End. I waited 30 minutes for an internal bus, but none ever came. Finally a CM on a golf cart came by and said she'd take me wherever I wanted to go. It was nice to have a real conversation with a CM, and she told me all about shipping out for the army the next week. She said she was really going to miss Trails End's fried chicken, when I said that's what I was going to get.
When I got back, nothing had been done, as Joey and Eppy were asleep in the beds. We ate and then David and I kicked it into high-gear and got everything loaded into the car that we wouldn't need the next day. Over and over, David said it wouldn't all fit, and he was ready to just leave the Christmas decorations and strollers for whomever wanted them, but we got it all in there somehow. We knew the kids wouldn't be awake to watch the DVD players, so we weren't worried about keeping stuff out of their line-of-sight. We finally got to bed at 11:15.
Susan °o°
You cheated.
Pirate.
8/98 CBR; 10/00 ASM; 11/01 POR; 7/07 POR; 10/09 ASM; 10/10 Pop; 6/12 ASM; 12/13 ASM; 6/14 FWC; 7/15 FWC; 12/16 2 weeks at FWC!
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Although I know all Disney trips end, I am quite sorry to see the end of your trip approaching as I have been enjoying your reports.
Linda aka: Faline
INTERCOT Staff: Vacation Planning,Trip Reports and Disney Camping
[email protected]
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Thank you! It was such a nice trip, even with the sickness. It was the first time we've felt truly relaxed and had time to do whatever we wanted.
Susan °o°
You cheated.
Pirate.
8/98 CBR; 10/00 ASM; 11/01 POR; 7/07 POR; 10/09 ASM; 10/10 Pop; 6/12 ASM; 12/13 ASM; 6/14 FWC; 7/15 FWC; 12/16 2 weeks at FWC!
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I know, I've really enjoyed these as well. Headed to read the last days before I have to head out to a very un-Disney meeting!
Janet, aka JanetMegan
Scrapbooking-There is a fine line between a mental illness and a hobby.
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Its always hard on the last day
Dec.11-18, 2021 Port Orleans Riverside
Jan. 25-Feb. 1, 2017, Port Orleans Riverside
Oct. 29-Nov.4, 2014-Yacht Club
Dec. 17-23 2011-Wilderness Lodge
Dec. 20-30, 2008-Pop Century
Dec. 25,2005-Jan.1, 2006-Coronado Springs
Jan. 1-7, 2003-All Star Movies
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