Last day at Magic Kingdom and Downtown Disney

This morning we got up extra early to go in for Magic Morning where the park opens an hour early (8am). As we were halfway to the boat I realized I forgot the Disney Tickets. We flagged down a Fort Wilderness Staff member on his golf cart to run Ian to get the passes in the trailer and back again. THANKYOU so much! We made the boat with literally less then a minute to spare and we spent one last loooong day at Magic Kingdom from 8am until 10:30 after the fireworks.



Here at Disney World each park has a Magic Morning only once or twice a week. At Disneyland they do it everyday so there was more choice of when you wanted to attend a Magic Morning and therefore not as many people for that extra hour. It was fairly busy but I promised Aayla the day before we'd go to Dumbo first thing as she loves Dumbo but it always has such a long line for such a short ride.

Crowded streets even for a Magic Morning

Riding Dumbo for the first ride of the day

When we left the park on Sierra's birthday I was pretty beat. Walking around in this humid heat was taking it's toll on my Multiple Sclerosis. Even with the fast passes and the rider switches I was feeling very fatigued. I love the heat but it is too hot here to be enjoyable this time of the year. I think the snowbirds have it right...we are here in the wrong season! Back to point... I swallowed my pride (I like to pretend there is nothing wrong with me but if I am going to enjoy the rest of this Disney trip I need some help), and went to guest services and asked what their assistance program is. As it turns out you show them proof of disablity and they give you...

Which is your passport to short wait times. It isn't a fast pass but as far as I am concerned it is way better. It allowed me to have the energy to make it from 8:00am until 10:30 pm and still have a smile on my face and not have my body feel like a tight thick tingly tree trunk. This card allows an alternative acccess route to the ride which is generally the fast pass line. If the ride doesn't take fast pass you just go to the wheel chair access line and they put you on within a few minutes. For me I can walk and walk and walk and be OK but standing in lines is what hurts me and this heat makes it all the worse. This card was my life saver here at Disney. We had a great last day at Magic Kingdom.

Winnie the Pooh ride

To the teacups



Meeting Alice and White Rabbit



Speedway...Aayla loves this ride.

Astro Orbitor

 Then it was time for Aayla to hit her little playground again while me and Ian take turns taking Sierra on Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Railroad over and over and over again.

 Aayla is beginning to figure out the art of negotiation. "1 more minute Aayla", and we get her finger counting to show us she wants MORE minutes! Still no real speech but boy she can get her point across.

 A ride on the train back to mainstreet to get fast passes to see the princesses. Disney is currently giving fanatasyland a make over and with it I heard are taking out Toontown to make a Circus area of some sort so no Toontown :(




Getting water for the steam engine to finish it's trek





Fanatasyland will also have a new Ariel ride :)

I almost lost Prince Eric...I mean Ian to Ariels mesmerizing stare.

 More teacups!!!!

 Buzzlightyear...where I kicked Ian's butt!Oh no the girls got caprtured with Zorg!

 Back to Astro Orbitor. Just before getting on we saw a walking talking garbage can that was lots of fun.

 Time to go back to meet the princesses.


Aurora signing again...I tried to convince the girls to
 just get a picture but nope they wanted all
3 signatures again.

With Belle in her "beautiful dress" says Sierra

And last but not least...Cinderella


When we left the princesses we came outside to a nice little rain shower but it came and went quickly and was followed by the parade.

 Ian beat me this time on Buzz lightyear

 And yes tea cups once again :)

 The Counrty Bear Jamboree

 Meeting Tiana

 Playing games while waiting for the night time Electric Parade.

 The girls really wanted a balloon but there was no way I was paying $10 for a balloon...or make that $20 for 2!

 The Electric parade was a lot of fun.

I LOVE Tinkerbell :)

Then it was time for the fireworks. Before the fireworks they tried out a new light show which was pretty amazing but I couldn't get any good pictures of it. Basically they lit up the castles with photos from this decade and past decades and made a very nice light show. That descirption really doesn't do it justice...it was quite amazing to watch. The fire works...well as usual they were spectacular!

 The moon while we were waiting for the boat back to Fort Wilderness

Today we had a few errands to do so we took the day off from the parks again, did our errands and went to Downtown Disney for a bit.

The world of Disney Store is a HUGE maze to walk through and we got out as quickly as we could. The lego store however we spent a fair amount of time in playing. The statues all built of lego are amazing!

The girls played at the big lego table for awhile.

What great FREE entertainment! Aayla built some fun towers and Sierra and daddy built a race car.

And Lego's ploy to let us play worked...Sierra bought a small Pirates of the Caribean set and Aayla chose a small bucket of assorted peices. Aayla was like a kid in a candy store choosing from all the wonderful colours.

Enjoying the new lego before the rain comes :)

We are supposed to leave Fort Wilderness on Sunday but we are still waiting for some mail to arrive and news about "Little Brooke" but if all goes as planned and as we hope with "Little Brooke" and her speedy recovery we will hit Hollywood Studios once more, go to Epcot and then have Saturday to relax before hitting the road.

Wishing you well "Little Brooke"

We received news this morning that "Little Brooke" Ian's neice was in a serious motorbike accident a couple days ago in Toronto while out practicing safe turns and hit a guard rail. She was airlifted to Sickids and is starting to stabilize thankfully. We are crossing our fingers that after all the damage she has heels she will be OK. She is very fortunate that the ambulance attended quickly and could keep her punctured lung breathing before being airlifted to Sickids and so far it's looking like they prevented braindamage. We will hopefully have more news by the time we leave here so we can decide to boot it to Ontario and then go to Nova Scotia or keep on the planned route. We are thinking of you "Little Brooke" and wishing you a speedy recovery.

Magic Wand

I wish I had a magic wand
To make it go away;
I'd wave my scepter over you
Until you were okay.

I'd think good thoughts; I'd send you love;
I'd transmit healing vibes;
My wand and I would surely beat
Whatever the doc prescribes.

But there is no magic scepter, so
I cannot cast a spell;
Just know you're often in my thoughts,
And I hope you'll soon be well!

By Joanna Fuchs

A Magical Disney birthday at Magic Kingdom

Happy 5th Birthday sweet Sierra!

A new Ariel dress for her special day with hopes to see Ariel at some point today. We were quite disappointed when we arrived at Disney and tried to reserve a character princess meal for her birthday and were told they have been sold out for 6 months. We talked on the phone with reservation people, we went to customer service and pleaded with them to try to make something work, but no one could do anything. All the character meals (not only princesses) are ALL booked this week.

So we got ready and headed straight to the carousel for 4 or 5 rides...afteral "princesses have more then one horse to take care of", so we always have to ride many times.

Then on a whim as we left the horses for their day at the stables and we decided to drop into Cinderella's Table and see if there was a cancellation. Can you believe it??? There was one. She said we had to go immediately and we said wonderful!

First stop is meeting Cinderella at the front entranceway to the castle for pictures, and then up to the dinning area.

 Then you walk up the spiral staircase to the dinning room.



As you are seated and waiting for your meal you are visited by each princess. First for us was Aroura (Sleeping Beauty)

 Next came Snow White who is Aayla's favourite!

 And then Ariel arrived and Sierra was overjoyed to see Ariel on her birthday!

 Next the Royal servant came around to pass out wands so the girls could make a wish on the wishing stars.

 Then Belle arrived.

 And she helped the girls make their wishes

 Then we had another surprise...a cupcake and it even had purple icing!!! How lucky was that!

 Sierra received a special card signed by all the princesses.

 And even shared her cupcake with her sister ;)

A Royal Celebration for sure! The all you can eat Breakfast also included a photo package. (At Disneyland you pay less for the meal (we did Ariels Grotto at Christmas) and then have to buy the package separately)

 Next we were off to the teacups

 We saw Alice and White Rabbit but they were going on break and Sierra didn't want to wait.

 Next it was Monsters Inc which was different then Disneyland. Both were very good! This one was a comedy show and they did a great job of making fun of the audience ;) instead of an actual ride like Disneyland.

 Then it was time for Slash Mountain. With a 105 minute wait time we were thankful for Fast passes

 And we discovered the full benefit of Rider Switch Passes. Aayla's too little so they give the other parent who has to wait a rider switch card so they can jump right in the fast pass line afterwards. Sierra had a blast as she got to ride with each of us and got double the rides this way.

 Aayla had to wait :(

Here go Sierra and me past the big almost 2 hours wait! Fast passes don't eliminate the line, they just speed it up. What is taking everyone else 105 minutes, is taking us maybe 10 minutes.

While we were going on Spash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad coaster continuously with fast passes and Rider switch cards Aayla had a blast on this little playground. It doesn't look like much but she played here for a good couple of hours while we rode splash mountain and Thunder Railroad over and over and over again. So many times in fact the workers all called Sierra by name and at one point on Thunder Railroad the whole train sung her Happy Birthday...it was pretty special for her.

As we were leaving the park we caught the tail end of the Street Dance party.

And stopped by the castle for a last birthday photo.

maybe tomorrow we can get one with less people in the background

When we arrived back at the campground we stopped by to visit the horse and carriage rides. At $45.00 for 20-25 minutes we didn't go on one but Sierra enjoyed saying hello. They have trail rides here too but Sierra is too young for their regulations.

So we played at the playground for a few minutes then headed back to our site for cake and ice cream.

We picked up the cake a Walmart the other morning. Sierra was kind enough to let Aayla choose her birthday cake and Dora won over Cinderella. Not one of Meadow's magnificant cakes but it did the trick none the less.

Then we went to the pool for a quick swim and it was time for bed! Ahhh life is good! I am happy to say that Sierra thought this was the best birthday ever! Thank goodness as we feel really bad that she is missing a typical birthday at home with friends and family. Even though we are in the middle of a trip and spent a day at a theme park just like any other for our duration here, people wished her a happy birthday over and over again, making her day special...and well eating with princesses and riding roller coasters might have helped too...Aayla sorry you get the short end of the stick with your October birthday. We'll be home by then so you are stuck with a typical birthday :)

Happy 5th Birthday Sierra!!!

We are glad you enjoyed your special day!

We were hoping for a hockey win tonight but it's going to game 7.

GO CANUCKS GO!!!

A relaxing weekend

Saturday morning we headed out to buy a few groceries as the camp store here is quite expensive. (1 litre of milk $2.95) So we stocked up with enough to hopefully last us our week left here and the girls got new Little Mermaid bathing suits.

The remainder of the weekend we spent at the campground (Fort Wilderness at Walt Disney World) and stayed away from the park. Instead we spent a lot of time at the pool and playgrounds but since I was in relax mode I didn't cart the camera around with me very much.

Like the name of the swimming pool Meadow?

We also went to another campfire sign a long with Chip and Dale and watched Tangled on the big outdoor screen. We saw Tangled just before we left on our maiden voyage and I wasn't that impressed with it. This 2nd time around I loved it. Perhaps it was because we were laying outside with blankets and pillows while watching it on the big screen under the stars? What ever the reason it was a wonderful family evening. Almost perfect...one exception...I took my camera without a card in it so no pictures :(

We were going to see Beauty and the Beast on Sunday night too but since we were heading to Magic Kingdom early in the morning to celebrate Sierra's birthday, we settled in early and watched it in the trailer and then hit the hay :)