Walt Disney World - Day 7

September 22nd, 2010

Late start on our morning since we stayed out so late last night. I don't think that Emilia went to bed until well after 1 am. We arrived at Epcot around 11:00 or so. Herm went and grabbed us some fast passes for Test Track and then we made our way to the World Showcase with a stop at the Baby Center along the way. We first went to the Mexico Pavilion to ride Gran Fiesta as we have never done that before. We got Emilia her mask here to color for Kidcot. Next we went to Norway to ride Malestrom again another ride that we have never done. We are not big Epcot fans so we haven't fully explored this park besides the main attractions. After this we decided to get some lunch and we wanted to get our free photopass session at Innoventions since I have a Disney Visa Card so back over to Future World.

Here is Miss Emilia coloring her mask. I really wished that this wasn't sponsered by Sharpie because she doesn't color with markers very often let alone permanent markers. After lunch we headed over to Innoventions for the free picture and to play there for a little while. Then we went to the Universe of Energy and rode that ride as we have never done it since it is so long. Emilia fell asleep on that ride not sure how she did that with how loud it is in there but she did.

Since Emilia was sleeping in her stroller we decided it was a good time to use our fast passes for Test Track. After test track we made our way over the United Kingdom so Herm could get something to eat. After this we made our way to the Imagination Pavilion. Again another thing that we haven't done. Can you tell that don't we spend a lot of time in this park?? After Figment we got a snack and sat down to figure out what we wanted to do the rest of the evening. Did we want to park hop over to Magic to catch the Main Street Electrical Parade again or just go back to the hotel and pack? We decided to take a ride on the Monorail since we hadn't done that yet and then head back to the resort.

We got back to the resort and ordered Papa John's. We went swimming one last time and packed up all of our stuff since we had to leave in the morning. Magical Express would be there at 9:30 to pick us up and take us back to Orlando International Airport.

Our mousekeeper decorated our window for us when we got back that evening to say goodbye. We finally had a good mousekeeper on this trip that did different things for Emilia. One day she had Julie hanging from the curtains. Not that we got mousekeeping everyday since she liked to come during nap time. It was a great trip and couldn't ask for better weather. I was worried about going in September since it was still going to be hot, hurricane season and it normally rains a little bit everyday. We didn't have a drop of rain luckily.

When we will get back there is still up in the air as when we got home we found out that we were expecting another little Mouseketeer. This kid will either be terrified of everything as I rode all of the big rides since I didn't know I was pregnant or love thrill rides. Lets hope for the later. I am sure that the second one won't get three trips to Disney under three like Emilia did espcially since we have to start paying for Emilia to get in now. Plus it wasn't fun seeing the Magic Kingdom under all of that construction and that won't be done until 2013-2014. Maybe we'll have to head West and go to Disneyland with the munchkins in 2012 after Cars land opens and a lot of the construction at Disney's California Adventure is done.

In the words of Mickey Mouse - See ya Real Soon!

Walt Disney World - Day 6

September 21st, 2010

We started our day at Blizzard Beach Waterpark. It was a nice short bus ride from our resort at All Star Music. We arrived about 30 minutes before the park opened. They opened the gates about 15 minutes before opening and let us in to the lockers/changing area. Herm got Emilia's swim diaper on and then I changed into my suit. We then waited for official park opening which features a family of the day that goes down Summit Plummit first. They had to count down two times because the person didn't go on the first countdown. We made our way to the kiddie area and staked out our spot for the day. Emilia had a lot of fun going down all of the slides and playing in the kiddie area. We had a thief on our hands as she came back to our chairs with a boat. Never did figure out who that belonged too. We just let her play with it and figured some little kid would come up and take it from her which never happened. Herm and I took turns going to the different areas of the park. I did a loop on the lazy river and then we went down the family raft slide which Emilia had a blast on. I am not sure what Herm did but I didn't go down any of the other slides as I was being a chicken and didn't want to go by myself. Maybe next time we'll have someone else with us. We went to the wave pool as a family and then grabbed some lunch. Emilia played some more in the Kiddie area before we decided it was time to get back to the resort since it was 2 pm.

All of that playing in the waterpark wore our little girl out. She took a nice long nap. After she got up we made our way to the Magic Kingdom to attend Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party again. This time we were mostly going for the rides since our Magic Kingdom day ended up being very busy. We ate dinner in Frontierland and caught a little bit of the parade. Emilia loved dancing to the music. The only thing that we missed at the Halloween Party was the Villians Show and we ended up missing it again tonight and the parade. Emilia talked her Daddy into buying her a Minnie Light up/Spin toy finally when I was on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. I guess she even took Julie out of the stroller and bought her over to the cart to show it to her that Daddy couldn't resist anymore.Here is Emilia in the Halloween outfit that I ordered for her on etsy. She spilled chocolate milk all over it by the middle of the night that we had to buy her a new shirt and the skirt came off. Oh well...at least it held up the first night at the Halloween Party. We stayed until closing and took our time going out to the busses as we knew that they would be full. We ended up getting on the All Star Sports bus and then walking to Music as the music line was very long. Tomorrow is our last day full day at Disney and we'll be heading to Epcot whenever we get up.

Walt Disney World Day 5

00September 20th, 2010

Today we used our "Free" Disney day since I volunteered earlier in the year and made blankets for Project Linus as part of Disney Give a Day Get a Day Promotion. We decided to spend the entire day at Disney's Hollywood Studios. We are so use to having park hopper passes so staying in one park for an entire day was a new experience for us. Not sure if we would do it again except during the busy season where we can collect fast passes all day and there is evening entertainment. But since we travel during the slow season makes having park hoppers necessary in order to go to a non busy park during the day and hop to the park with evening entertainment and more busy park. First up on our day is the Toy Story Midway Mania Dash. To ride this ride you need to be a rope drop to reduce your wait time otherwise you will wait over an hour to 90 minutes and that is during slow times. Herm went ahead to grab fast passes while I pushed Emilia in the stroller to the stroller parking and the standby entrance to be able to ride twice. We went to visit Lightning McQueen and Mater after riding and then went to visit Buzz and Woody. Emilia was so excited to meet Buzz and Woody as you can tell in her face as she came around the corner and it was her turn.

Voyage of the Little Mermaid was up next on our list as we have never seen it. Herm and I took a spin on Rock n Rollar Coaster using Parent Swap passes after watching Mermaid and then we used our Toy Story Fast Passes. Emilia was starting to get cranky so we grabbed a slushie and made our way out to the bus stop. Emilia is sharing the slushie with Julie!
After lunch and a nap we made our way back to Hollywood Studios. I went ahead of Herm and Emilia to grab a fast pass for Rock n Rollar coaster and to ride Tower of Terror since I didn't take a nap with them. After I got of off of Tower of Terror Emilia and Herm were in the park and waiting to meet Mike and Sully from Monsters Inc. We decided to do the Backlot Tour as Herm has never experienced it and I haven't been on it since 1997.
It was an evening extra magic hour so that gave us 3 more hours in the park after park closing. We went to the Playhouse Disney Stage and did a dance party with Mickey, Minnie, Goofy and Pluto. Emilia had fun dancing with the characaters. She was a little shy about getting to the front so the characters noticed her but eventually got to dance with Minnie for a few seconds. After this Emilia and I settled down and ate dinner while Herm used fast passes to ride rock n rollar coaster and Tower of Terror. We decided to call it a night after this and head back to the hotel as the park was a lot busier now than it was during the day.
We took Emilia swimming and then spent some quiet time watching tv and eating popcorn in the room.

Walt Disney World - Day 4

September 19th, 2010

Since we got in late the night before due to Mickey's Halloween Party we had a late start to our day. Today Emilia received her very first haircut at the Harmony Barber shop on Main Street USA. While there wasn't a lot to cut off Emilia did well since they gave her lots of different light up toys to play with and that she got to sit on Daddy's lap. This started the asking for a light up toy the rest of our trip. They gave Emilia a nice certificate for her first hair cut and a set of Mickey Ears with First Haircut embroided on the back of the hat. All for $18 which to me is a steal in Disney!

After her haircut we made our way back to Toontown and took a few rides on Goofy's Barnstormer. Emilia was tall enough to ride and now is hooked on rollar coasters. She had the cutest little scream and kept asking to go again. I think we rode 3 or 4 times in a row before we moved on to Fantasyland.

It was packed in Fantasyland today so after taking a spin on the carousel and watching Mickey's PhilharMagic we decided to go to a different park. We caught the Castle Stage show on our way out and went back to the resort for lunch and figure out what would be a good park to go to according to Tour Guide Mike. Definately worth the money subscribing to that site as he tells you what parks are the best to go to each day.

We decided to head to Epcot to ride a couple of quick rides before we head over to Hollywood Studios for the evening to see Fantasmic! We rode The Seas with Nemo and Friends, caught a showing of Turtle Talk with Crush where we educated him on what a weekend was, and Herm and I each caught a ride on Soarin. Emilia had fun in the Seas Pavilion showing Julie all of the fish. Soon it was time to head over to the International Gateway to walk to Hollywood Studios. Now we have never walked there before and it was dark so we got a little lost. We should have taken the boat but didn't feel like waiting for it. Somehow we missed a turn and ended up at the Mini Golf Fantasia Gardens. We backtracked and soon found the correct path to Hollywood Studios.

This is the first time that we have seen Fantasmic as it is only shown twice a week since we always travel in the slow season. The show is extremely popular so you are always fighting the crowds no matter when you go. It was worth the wait and battling the crowds to see at least once. Emilia loved the show so we may do it again sometime!

Day 3 of the Siegel Family Vacation

Siegel Family Vacation to Disney World

Day 3 - September 18th, 2010

Sorry for the delay in the telling of the rest of our vacation but my computer crashed at the end of September and I didn't get a new one until my birthday in November. I now have gone through all of my pictures from the trip and deleted the duplicates, edited the ones that I kept and recieved the CD of pictures from Disney Photopass. We began the day at Disney's Typhoon Lagoon Waterpark and arrived about 30 minutes before the park opened for the day. They allowed us in shortly after we arrived to the area where the changing rooms and lockers are located. We bought a new water camera since the one I purchased ahead of time got destroyed and rented a locker so I could stow my camera in later in the day. (I didn't feel like walking back over to the lockers after I had gotten some good shots of Emilia so the locker kept Herm's shorts/wallet safe instead.)

Here is Emilia riding down a tube slide in the kiddie area. She had a lot of fun over here playing in the sand and going down the slides. Herm and I took turns going off to ride some of the bigger slides by ourselves. We were able to take Emilia in the family raft ride which was a lot of fun seeing her go down a her first big slide. I need to finish taking pictures on the water camera so I can see how this picture turned out. Emilia and I walked over to get her some lunch - mainly she wanted the bucket that the lunch came in so she could play in the sand better. We left Typhoon Lagoon around 1:00 to head back to our hotel. Emilia needed to take a nap as we have a late night ahead of us when we attend Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. We arrived at the Magic Kingdom shortly after 4:00 to attend the special party. We made our way to Tomorrowland where we grabbed a Fast Pass for Buzz Lightyear Space Rangers and then went to Cosmic Rays to eat dinner before the party began at 7:00. After dinner we used our Fast Passes for Buzz and then made our way to Fantasyland. By now it was 6:00 and Herm decided to get into line for the 7 Dwarves which made us 3rd in line. I took Emilia to ride the Haunter Mansion which she didn't like at all. The dwarves came out promptly at 7:00 pm and we were done meeting them by 7:05. They really hurry you through this line as they are a popular meet and greet. Looking back I should knelt down by Grumpy and Dopey but at the time I thought Emilia and Herm were going to that spot. The nice thing about the Halloween Party is all of the special characters that are out for the evening and the low crowds as it is a special event ticket that you purchase separtely.

Mickey and Minnie was probably our longest character wait of the evening but it was worth it. Emilia liked them the best and we got some great pictures. I wish that they would have been in the costumes they were in last year but Pirate Mickey and Princess Minnie is okay too. They were switching costumes throughout the night but we decided not to get back in line because there was no gurantee that they would be switched by the time we got back to the front.

We loved meeting Pooh and his friends even though it was a long line too because all of the characters signed autographs. We finished up meeting them just in time to catch the Hallowishes Fireworks on Main Street. We met plenty of other characters that evening and watched the Halloween parade which was awesome. Emilia loved watching the parade and was waving her hands to the music.

I leave you with a picture of us in front of Cinderella's Coach. We left the Magic Kingdom shortly after Midnight and made it back to our room around 1pm. We didn't catch everything that was going on at the party and didn't ride any rides besides Buzz before the party started, but the characters, fireworks and parade were the main things we were looking to accomplish. It was a fun time and something I highly recommend doing if you are ever at Disney World in September/October. We might go to another Halloween party later in the week depending on how much we get done on our Magic Kingdom day.

Walt Disney World - Day 2

September 17th, 2010

We were up for the day shortly after 7:00 am so we could be at the bus stop around 8:00 am to make rope drop for Animal Kingdom. We arrived at Animal Kingdom at 8:25 and proceeded to the turnstiles. While waiting for the park to open Emilia managed to rub sun tan lotion in her eyes so she was crying and kept rubbing eyes. Finally at 8:45 they let us through the turnstiles to the rope right before the Oasis. Here we watched the opening ceremony which had Mickey, Minnie and Pluto on a safari truck. Here they told us everything that we would need for our adventure for the day. After they zoomed off we were allowed further into the park. Herm and Emilia went to get fast passes to Kilimanjaro Safari while I followed the crowds to Expedition Everest. I was close to the front of the line and decided to check on the Single Rider line which turned out to be closed so I lost about 25 places in the regular line. They didn’t let us into Everest until 9:05 for whatever reason and everyone in front of me seemed to want to look at all of the exhibits as we were making our way to the trains. I was finally off Everest at 9:15 am. Herm now hopped in line while I took Emilia to Dinoland so she could ride Triceratop Spin. She was upset that she didn’t get to watch the “slide” anymore which was Everest. She seemed happy once we got in line for her ride but then proceeded to cry once the ride started. After we got off the ride she wanted to watch the cars on Primeval Whirl until Herm made it to Dinoland. He decided to take her back to the Triceratop Spin while I rode Primeval Whirl. Now it is 9:45 and Emilia wanted to take another ride on the dinosaurs so I went to ride Dinosaur.

Emilia and her daddy also met Pluto and Goofy while I was gone. We made our way out of Dinoland and stopped to see Tigger while we made our way to Kali River Rapids.

No wait on this ride luckily so Herm and I were able to both ride and were done by 10:45. Now we made our way to Africa to go on a Safari using our fast passes. Its 11:15 now and time to start heading back to the room so Emilia could take a nap. First we stop to see Lilo and Stitch and then we had our picture taken in front of the tree of life. We made it to the bus stop by noon and were back to the resort by 12:30. We ate lunch in our room and then it was time for a snooze.

We wake Emilia at 2:45 so we could head back to Animal Kingdom to see the parade at 3:45. Emilia enjoyed the parade a lot. I really dislike it when people come up at the last minute and weasel their way to the front of the crowd especially when I have been sitting in my spot for a half hour. One guy tried pushing his stroller to the front instead of just taking his kid out of the stroller and holding him. Oh they didn’t speak English so you couldn’t communicate with them. I really do not get people at times. After the parade we made our way to watch Finding Nemo the Musical. Emilia loved this show. Which is to be expected since Finding Nemo was her favorite movie for the longest time. Animal Kingdom is now closed and we are heading to the Magic Kingdom next to see the Main Street Electrical Parade. First we were going to catch the bus to the ticket and transportation center but the line was very long. So we head over to the Contemporary/Poly bus stop. The bus arrived within 5 minutes of us walking up and it wasn’t crowded at all.

We got off at the Contemporary and then walked to the Magic Kingdom. This park was more crowded than Animal as it was a parade night but we made the most of it. We took our picture in front of the castle as the crane putting up the Christmas Lights was down for the evening. Then we got a fastpass for Peter Pan’s Flight and then walked over and got a fastpass for Splash Mountain. Since the wait said it was only 10 minutes I got in the stand by line and we got a rider switch pass for Herm for later. Herm then took Emilia to stake out a parade spot. My wait for Splash Mountain was 17 minutes so I didn’t get the ride until 7:30 where I needed to make my way to Main Street to find Herm and Emilia. Emilia made some friends with the ladies by us and mooched some popcorn from them. They were very generous in giving her popcorn as they kept filling up her stroller tray. Herm went to change Emilia’s diaper and bought back some food from Casey’s. Emilia ate her hotdog and French fries just as the parade was about to get to us. She was fascinated by the parade. I love the music to this parade and thought it was much better than SpectroMagic that has been at WDW for year. After the parade Herm took Emilia to ride Peter Pan while I used my fast pass for Splash Mountain. I got off Splash Mountain at 8:58 pm just in time for Herm to hop in the fast pass line before it closed at 9:00. I guess the workers were a little surprised to see him up at the boarding station but he was in before close so they sent him in his very own boat and the boats in front and behind him were empty also. While Herm was riding Splash Mountain I went to try to catch Wishes. I really wanted to watch these from Main Street but I couldn’t make it there as people kept stopping so I ended up watching them from Liberty Square. It wasn’t too bad of a view but I wanted to get castle shots as I have not had them before. Oh well maybe next time!

We made our way out of the park and to the bus stop. The All Star Music line was huge so we got into the All Star Sports line. We were on the next bus that pulled up and on our way back to the resort on a very packed bus. Herm and Emilia went swimming while I got some food from the food court. Then it was off to bed!

Up Next: Day 3 Typhoon Lagoon and Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party

The Siegel Family Vacation to Disney World Day 1

Siegel Family Vacation to Walt Disney World

September 16th to September 23rd 2010

Cast of Characters: Herm, Ashley and Emilia

September 16th, 2010

Mema picked us up shortly after 6:30 and we arrived at GRR around 7:15 am to check in for our flight. I accidentally packed the disposable water camera in our checked bag and the not so nice TSA agent wouldn’t take the bag off the belt even though it wasn’t in the x-ray machine yet and just said well its ruined. Not the best start to the trip as that was a wasted $10 plus we would have to buy a new one on property at Disney since we aren’t renting a car. Emilia didn’t do the best on the flight as she didn’t want to stay in her seatbelt so that was a battle. Once we were up in the air and she was able to watch a movie so it made things a little easier.

We arrived at Orlando International Airport around 11:15 am. We took the tram to the main section of the airport made our way down to level 1 for Disney’s Magical Express. Our line moved slowly due to the cast member checking us in but soon we were waiting for the bus. We just missed the bus as the CM stopped the line in front of our family. It was a busy day for ME as we waited 30 minutes for the next bus and at least 20 of the minutes there were no busses out front to go to any of the resorts which seemed very odd to me. The first time we took Magical Express in January there were plenty of busses coming and going. Soon we were boarding the bus to make our way to Disney’s All Star Music Resort. After a quick stop at Coronado Springs to drop one person off and then the bus was on its way the All Star Resort.

I did online check-in so that sped things up for us greatly since all of our paperwork was pre-printed for us. We received a ground floor room as I requested in the Broadway 8 building. I also requested to be near transportation thinking maybe it would put us closer to the busses. Nope it put it near the parking lot though! My misunderstanding and will know for future reference. We grab some lunch in the food court and then it was back to the room to let Emilia take her nap as we have Chef Mickey reservations at 6:20 pm.

We left our room around 5 pm to head to the Contemporary Resort. We boarded the Magic Kingdom bus since there is no resort to resort bus transportation. Once we arrived at the MK we went to will call to pick up our Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party (MNSSHP) tickets for Saturday. Then we made the short walk to the Contemporary. After browsing the shops for a few minutes we checked into Chef Mickey’s at 6 pm and were seated at 6:20. First they took our picture with Chef Mickey instead of the statue that we had last time before sitting us down.

Goofy and Pluto were in our section and would be arriving at our table shortly. Herm went to the buffet quickly to get Emilia something to eat while we waited for these two characters. We were able to enjoy our dinner a little bit before Minnie and Donald made it into our section. Emilia wasn’t too interested in Donald as she was quickly saying “Bye Donald.” By the time Minnie made it to our table Emilia was done eating and wanted to be on our side of the table. Luckily Minnie squeezed into the booth with her. Minnie was her favorite character! Now that we had seen all of the characters it was time for dessert.

They bought Herm a free birthday cupcake as I put on our reservation that we were celebrating his birthday.

After dinner we looked at the other gift shop in the Contemporary where Emilia was eyeing up the Cinderella’s Castle play set again. She did this last November at the Grand Floridian too.

We were now going to catch the bus to Downtown Disney from the Contemporary. Now I don’t understand why people complain about the All Stars having to share busses at certain times of the day because I think the bus sharing to DTD from the Contemporary and then to the Poly is way worse! The resorts are not as close as the All Stars are and with the money you are paying to stay there you would think that they would have their own busses.

First up at Downtown Disney is the Lego Store for Emilia to play on the playground there and for me to look for a birthday present for Xavier. No luck on that front as most of that stuff I can buy at home. Then we went to the World of Disney store in search of the Minnie Witch Halloween Costume. We found the costume but unfortunately they don’t make it in a toddler size. The smallest size that it comes in is a small which is a 5-6. So we are back to the drawing board on what to dress Emilia up for Halloween. Next up is the Once upon a Toy store to get more Mr. Potato Head pieces. Herm let me buy the big huge potato head as it was a better deal then buying 2 boxes of parts. I spent at least a half hour stuffing this potato with as many pieces as I could fit. I had fun doing it! Back to resort as we are doing rope drop at Animal Kingdom in the morning!

More of our trip to follow later!

Check out my other website that has scrapbook layouts on it that I have created. Nothing of this trip yet but you can see layouts of Emilia and other Family things.

www.ashleysscrapbookcreations.shutterfly.com