Taking advantage of morning Extra Magic Hours, we quickly rode Dumbo, "it's a small world",
After a pretty good lap in Fantasyland, we decided to check out the Tomorrowland Indy Speedway. Now. I had previously vowed never to ride these blasted cars until begged to do so, but I just sort of knew Emmersyn and Hartley would love them. Since the posted wait time was a rare 5 minutes, we decided to go for it. You can mail our Great Parent awards to our home address if you'd like. You may want to include a bonus or something though, because the wait was more like 25 minutes and I can tell you they are NOT worth that wait - especially when they throw off your Toontown plan.
See, since the ride took so much longer than advertised, we had to book it back to the Toontown entrance in order to make the also-falsely-advertised opening time there if we wanted to avoid long lines for Princesses and Fairies. We don't do long lines well. And by we, I mean me. The grown-up. Mostly, because if you wait in line too long, you see Those Families who park one parent in line while everyone else goes and does whatever they want and cuts back in line just as mom or dad is at the long-awaited character. And then Those Families wonder why their kids are selfish little punks who can't behave in the real world. (Oops. Did I just jump on a soap box? Trust me, that's the censored version. I'll try to keep the rest under wraps around here, and Zach and I will just continue to rant about it together in the privacy of our own home, where we teach our children that sometimes they have to follow rules to get what they want :)).
We made it back at a reasonable time, and weren't too far back in line. The wait to see Tink and friends was about 20 minutes (admittedly just about our max!), but was well worth it. Hartley had waited weeks and was finally able to tell Tinker Bell that she, too, loved Pumpkin Muffins! The wait for the princesses after was still only about 15 minutes, and the interaction there was absolutely priceless. You'll have to take my word for it, because all I can remember is Emmersyn asking all of the princesses if they would like to have wings like a fairy. It made for interesting conversation with two-year-olds ... :)
Once we said our goodbyes in "the Princess Room", we headed over to Minnie's house. I wanted to cry a little as I watched my girls absolutely delight in each of the rooms, knowing that it was probably our last time seeing one of my favorite areas before it disappears.
When we left Toontown to head out for the afternoon, we caught the White Rabbit and said hello before grabbing a snack (our beloved Sweet Cream Cheese pretzel, found only (as far as we know) in Tomorrowland at the Magic Kingdom
We shared the pretzel and some corn dog nuggets from Casey's on our way out, rode the monorail back to our car, and were back to the hotel right around noon. Our goal was to see if the girls would nap there (though still not in the room) instead of in the park, and it almost worked...
Back at Caribbean Beach, Zach and I walked around checking the place out a bit more (thinking about doing Hidden Mickey's or a Treasure Hunt but ultimately being too lazy), while the girls quickly fell asleep in their stroller. Once they were soundly sleeping, we realized we had the perfect opportunity to relax, too. We parked them here:
And sat here.
It was so. glorious. The most beautiful weather, a bright, sunny day but a place in the shade, the perfect amount of breeze, and my favorite conversation partner. All while watching our precious daughters sleep peacefully nearby.
And then some landscaping snafu happened a few feet away, and lots of trucks made lots of noise. Hartley first (and quickly followed by Emmersyn) woke up, terror-stricken, likely in the middle of some great sleep. We tried to calm them back down, but even a change of scenery (to a swimming pool/splash area, no less) failed to work all that well. Eventually Emmersyn settled down, perked up, and enjoyed a little time in the water play area and the "big pool" with Zach.
Hartley never could recover. She'd stop crying but only for moments at a time, and had meltdown after meltdown started by - including but not limited to - people looking at her, fountains making a "big splash", Emmersyn laughing and having fun, her chair not being exactly the way she wanted but couldn't articulate, etc. She and I skipped the pool that afternoon and walked around the shops and the picnic area until she could settle down.
Since our afternoon needed a drastic change, we headed over to the Studios around 2:30. Somehow, the crowds were all of a sudden out of control. It felt nearly like summer or marathon weekend, only they didn't quite close the park. I seriously hadn't seen that many people there in several trips, and we didn't really know what to do with it! Zach and the girls waited for Pixar's Block Party Bash (a few rows back, certainly not a great spot), and I went to the Animation Academy to have a little time away and recover from Hartley ;) I was also able to take a look at the Times Guide and rethink our afternoon given the new circumstances (crowds and insanely crabby girls), and we realized we wouldn't be able to do much - but we would just have to stick it out, because it was the only night we could see the Osborne Spectacle of Lights... which we weren't about to miss!
After the "parade", the girls chose Playhouse Disney Live! as their one show to squeeze in. It was adorable of course (never changes ;) ), and they really enjoyed themselves. The rest of the afternoon was a bit of a blur (but I have several pictures of Emmersyn checking out all kinds of corners at the Studios, including makeshift ones (also known as trash cans)). It was a strange afternoon.
By dinner they were delirious, which is ever-so-slightly easier to handle. We ate at 50's Prime Time Cafe and they were actually quite well-behaved. Dinner was enjoyable (it's always among our "second-tier favorites", because we're nerdy enough to have those), and by the time we walked down the Streets of America amidst the Christmas music and snow and dancing lights, I had sort of had my reset switch thrown. We were tired and stressed, but it was beginning to feel a lot like Christmas - and the breathtaking display pleased even my exhausted children.
No comments:
Post a Comment