We called and asked for the breakfast cart to come by so that we could get an early start. It was just before 8 and they said it goes out at 8 so they would send it over shortly. There wasn't a huge selection but enough to get us all by. Tim and the girls were ready but I had been on the phone and helping with the girls so I wasn't ready. There were Disney characters down at the main buildings so Tim and the girls walked over to visit with them while I got myself ready.
Todays characters included Minnie and Mickey, of course, but the line to see them inside the theatre was so long they skipped them. We were going to the Magic Kingdom today and would likely see them there anyway. The other characters strolling around the patio were Mary Poppins, Pluto and Goofy. Phoebe enjoyed all of them about the same, while Tessa was obsessed with Mary Poppins. She was chatting her ear off and wouldn't let her go. Thankfully there wasn't a line to see her.
I was ready to go and sent Tim a text that I was in the parking lot waiting for them. When we were just about out the gate we realized we forgot something. At orientation we had been given tickets, a Guest Assistance Card, and a Photopass card with a letter explaining how to redeem a coupon code that would give us the pass for free. I hadn't grabbed the photopass. No big deal, we just turned circled the village and got the pass. As we drive through the village we sounded like the dogs from the movie UP as we would yell out "Squirrel!!!" every time we saw one, pointing it out for Tessa who would get excited and laugh. I asked the front desk one more time if there happened to be any mail yet, but no such luck. We're ready to go, again.
About a mile away we realized we didn't have the handicapped placard. I don't know why we didn't have it in the truck, but we went back to get it. Okay, NOW we're ready to go. It's about 11 am at this point and I was getting stressed that we were wasting precious Disney time. Then I saw the famous sign and I started to get excited.
Then this one, and I was even more excited.
Having arrived so late in the morning, there weren't a lot of prime parking spots left, but the handicapped section did still have some room so we didn't have to park too far away. We decide to take the ferry this time versus the monorail.
As we walked toward the dock there was a frog jumping around, being attacked by a bird. I guess the bird was trying to pick it up but instead it was just kind of pecking at it. Tessa saw this and was very concerned that the frog was going to get hurt and told Daddy that we need to save it. And by we she meant HE. So Tim rescued the frog and tossed him into the bushes. At this point a small crowd had gathered to watch the spectacle and a couple of people cheered after the frog was saved. One dad saw what Tim was wearing that day:
and said "I expected nothing less from Mr Incredible!" and everyone laughed as they realized the coincidence.
As we take off across the lake I see the Polynesian, where I hope to camp out and watch the fireworks from later this week.
Then we see the Grand Floridian where I am already dreaming of staying someday when we return.
Tessa was very excited when the castle got closer and she realized that is where we were going.
As soon as we were off the ferry we parked to the side for a minute to lather up with sunscreen. Tessa stopped to smell the roses.
As we proceeded toward the bag check we saw a momma duck and her babies waddling along. Tessa made a bee line for these little guys and tried to get one to let her pet it. Other families stopped to watch her. The ducks let her get close (probably hoping for food) but no petting today.
We got Tessa's stroller and began our stroll down Main St. It felt fairly crowded but not to the point of tripping on people or invading personal space. We saw a Photopass photographer and asked for the obligatory Main St photo.
We were on Main St just in time for a little performance as the trolley brought cast members down the street and they sang "clang, clang, clang goes the trolley" (I have no idea if that's the title or not, but everyone knows the song right?).
We had to split up to try and get the kids toward the front to see it. I leaned back to see how Phoebe liked it and she was laughing and dancing.
The dancers split up and mingled with the crowd for a minute, shaking hands and such. This guy came up close to Tessa and pointed to her cute Minnie dress and gave her a big smile. She was entranced by the whole performance.
After the trolley performers went on their way we continued down Main St and stopped again when we saw a Photopass photog right in front of the castle. Why not right?
We tried to decide what to first. We didn't have a lot of time until our ADR at the castle but enough that we would have been too early. We walked over to New Orleans and saw Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen. They were outside but in a secluded little courtyard and there was definitely a routed line to see them. We approached the CM at the entrance hoping we would get our first little sprinkle of pixie dust from the "magic" buttons and GAC. The cast member saw us coming and immediately............told us to come back later. The characters needed a break (or had a meeting with Mama Odie, as he put it) and would return at blank o'clock....hmmm. Okay. Never mind. Not what I expected but no big deal.
As we are meandering towards the castle, still unsure of what to do with the little time we had, a shopkeeper handed this bell to Tessa and let her ring it. I don't know what he was selling, but we didn't care. Tessa enjoys making noise.
All of a sudden we hear a band start playing and walk over for a closer look and listen.
Phoebe got excited and started to dance.
Daddy decided to do some fancy spins and dips. Phoebe was loving it!
After the band stopped playing we saw that our ADR time was getting closer so we went ahead and arrived a little early. Our Advance Dining Reservation was for 12:55 and it was only about 12:30 but we didn't think we had time to do much else so we walked up to the castle enjoying the ambiance along the way.
I liked this fountain.
The tile mosaics in the passageway.
Tessa spying on someone. We asked what she saw and she said someone was brushing hair. This must have been the back of Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique.
We approached this desk and informed the woman that we are here for a lunch reservation. She checked our name and said it's too early, come back in 15 minutes. I asked her if there was a restroom nearby that we could use and she vaguely waved her arm in the direction of the carousel across the courtyard. I looked in the direction she was waving and saw lots of people, and no buildings close by. I really didn't want to walk across the park just to change the kids clothes. I decided to just do a sneaky ninja quick change in the passageway around the corner. It was kind of a dead end and there were very few people milling around. Even though we didn't have the "official" princess dresses I brought an alternative for each girl, something a little more princessy. Tessa had been given so many Big Give dresses and one of them was a sleeping Beauty sundress. I showed it to her and asked if she wanted to be Aurora or stay Minnie inside the castle and she said Minnie. Fine, no change for her. I got Phoebe into a new outfit (tiara t-shirt I bought at Disney.com before the Big Give started) and we were all set. We went back up to the desk and a mom and her kids were asking the man where the bathroom is and he opens up the castle doors for them. HUH??? Okay, a little annoying but we got by.
I told the lady our name again and proceed to explain that this is Phoebe's WISH trip and she is also visually impaired and would it be possible to sit by the windows so she can better see where we are? She tells me that there are a couple of stairs, would we be able to get her down to the lower level? I told her a couple of stairs is no problem and she says okay. They opened the doors for us and said to sit on the bench inside for a few minutes. Sure enough, there is a restroom sign right at the end of the bench. Not only a restroom, but a companion restroom, in an empty area. Okay, I guess I'm still annoyed. Move on Melissa!
(I think Phoebe thought this guy was real?)
We were the only ones in the room for a while but a few more families trickled in. After about ten minutes Cinderella made a grand entrance to her reception area where we were patiently waiting. She was a nice Cinderella and Phoebe enjoyed the interaction. Tessa was a little bit shy, staying on my other side, but not afraid. Phoebe started getting excited and was trying to stand up so it was comical trying to get the royal photograph with her.
At this point I don't remember exactly what happened. It was chaotic trying to get Phoebe and Tessa both to enjoy the moment with Cindy as well as get a decent photo of everyone. Tim says that someone told him to go upstairs now. I went up the royal staircase with Tessa.
Tim took Phoebe on the royal elevator.
Once we were upstairs nobody knew who we were, we didn't have a ticket or something that we were supposed to have, they asked us to wait on the side for a minute, which was tough because Tessa was interested in this new place and wanted to climb on the railing and walk up and down the stairs. They seemed not only confused by us but also a little annoyed. We were the anomaly that disrupted the pattern of how things were supposed to go. Tim swears he was told to come up. I'm just feeling weird. I tried to enjoy the opportunity to take a few pics of the whole room while we stood there.
Somebody comes up to us and says follow me. She leads us around the room to a table on the far side, up on a higher level than the main floor. This is NOT a window seat. I am feeling so sheepish from having invaded the castle that I decided not to say anything. We get settled, which is always a noisy production because Tessa wants to sit where we need to put Phoebe, we need to move a chair to make room for Phoebe's wheelchair, we have to move decorations, silverware, glasses, etc out of Phoebe's way or she will pull them all over onto the floor. The waiter stops by to get drink orders and we are still getting settled. Okay. Now we're settled and it's just eating away at me. This is not what I had asked for, there were several empty tables next to the windows, and why should I feel bad for doing what we were told? The lady at the desk had said we could have a window seat. Did she mess up the ticket that we mysteriously never got? The same lady that didn't want us to use their restroom ten minutes before we paid them hundreds of dollars for lunch??? I debated and mumbled to Tim, who offered to say something, NO, I said. Then I debated some more. Finally, I realized that this would have annoyed me forever, that I didn't try to fix it, so I got up and went to two manager looking people (they weren't in costume). I explained with my biggest smile the situation and how the lady downstairs had said okay. They point out the stairs and I said they weren't a problem. They paused but they did say okay, and to give them a minute. I sat back down and felt both relieved and embarrassed as we started to pack up our stuff, gather our drinks, etc. They lead us to a new table on the lower level. We had to lift Phoebe's chair down the stairs, and then I saw Tessa's bare feet. I tried to be quiet as I reprimanded her and told her to go get them. The manager lady walked her back. I knew every eye in the place was on us, but I didn't care. There was nothing I could do now. It is at this moment that I saw my new friend Ann and her family as we pass them to get to our new table. "Good for you" she said. She later told me she had seen us come in and told to stand on the side for an uncomfortable amount of time and she could see the exasperated look on my face. I vented on her for about 30 seconds. "Something is going to go according to plan!" I said. Her family looked very relaxed at that moment and seemed to be enjoying themselves. (Unlike ours) I couldn't resist snapping a few of Elke smiling as she played a magic wand game with Daddy!
We were moved over to the window table and the staff was really very accommodating about it. They even brought over more wishing stars and magic wands and when I told them we already had a set from the other table they said to keep them all. This is the view from our table.
I don't know if anyone can go out on the balcony but it was pretty to see every detail was castle like outside the window.
It didn't take long before the princesses started arriving. First Snow White.
I prompted Tessa on things she should talk about with each princess but she wasn't shy at all and definitely carried on conversations with all of them.
Sleeping Beauty got right down to Phoebe's level and let her touch her. She had to guard her wig and costume though. (Those blue contacts totally freaked me out!!!)
I told Princess Aurora that Phoebe loves to sleep, but she can wake up on her own. I also shared with her that she was Tessa's first favorite princess story.
I think Ariel's coloring really caught Phoebe's eyes. She was also a very chatty princess, not too worried about formal etiquette.
Tessa talked with her about playing at the beach and I told her that Phoebe loves to swim because she doesn't have to work as hard to control those legs. Ariel came right back with banter about how difficult it is to have a human body and legs were hard for her to learn too. She was fun to chat with. (I think Tessa is saying "Belle" in this shot as she sees the next princess enter)
Phoebe didn't want to let her go.
So they play patty cake for a minute.
Belle was next and Tessa started chatting her ear off. I told Belle that Tessa was a really great story teller. She replied that she would love to read some of her stories when she learns how to write them down.
Tessa really liked this one.
Another game of patty cake for Phoebe.
Our food was being served as the princesses circulated the room. Yes, I took pics again. First they brought out an appetizer, I believe it was standard, not something we specifically ordered. It had grapes, cheese, artichoke hearts, bruschetta, salami, and field greens. It was an assortment I probably wouldn't have ordered but it was all good.
Phoebe's lunch - Grilled chicken, pasta marinara, veggies, fruit and apple juice.
Tessa's lunch - Chicken nuggets, mashed potatoes, veggies, fruit, apple juice.
Tim's lunch - Major Domo's Favorite Pie - Shredded beef simmered in rich cabernet sauce served with mashed potatoes and suateed vegetables, crowning a light pastry.
My lunch - Pork Tenderloin - with vegetable couscous and cabernet sauce.
We liked everything we ordered. The kids meals were more than they could finish so we asked for a to-go cup and saved the fruit pieces for later.
They led the kids in a little wishing ceremony, completely lost on Phoebe...
but Tessa seemed enthralled.
(you can see the upper level tables behind Tessa in this pic. Not bad seats but I'm so happy I got the nerve to ask them to move us!)
Ariel stopped by one more time to chat with Tessa.
We traded photographer duties with the family next to us. Not the best pic but at least I can prove I was there.
Then it was time for dessert.
Mine - Castle-made rice pudding - topped with pistachio whipped cream and garnished with slivered almonds, pecans and mixed berries.
Tim's - Chocolate cream cheese buckle - a single layer of chocolate cake stuffed with cream cheese topped with creme chantilly and finished with creme anglaise sauce.
The girls' - raspberry sorbet with berries and chocolate crown.
My fave of the three was the sorbet. Tessa only ate her crown and Phoebe's not big on cold stuff so she shared daddy's. The face she made when trying the sorbet.
Our waitress brought us our photos, to-go cup, souvenir menu, and a coupon for a free ice cream. We gathered our things and headed back out into the kingdom with a pit stop in the family restroom downstairs before we left. (It was a nice big bathroom and all four of us fit at the same time, even with the wheelchair!) We had realized during lunch that we forgot Phoebe's sippy cup in the truck. Like all kids with sensory issues, Phoebe is picky about certain things, what type of lid on her sippy cup is one of them. I hoped that we would be able to find one in the park that was close enough that she would use it. We started asking around and everyone directed us to Main St Emporium. It looks like we are headed back towards the entrance in search of a sippy cup. I had an idea when I looked at the map and saw where the first aid station and Wish Lounge were. We would head over there and hang out while one of us went on the hunt for a cup.
1 comment:
I'm so disapointed your dresses didn't get to you in time! Pooie! But, the girls looked adorable in their outfits! I'm so glad you decided to ask for a window seat! It looks like things got better after that! Great update!!
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