Hollywood Studios, Arrival, Magic Kingdom, Sep 2017

When we first decided to go to Disney over Labor Day weekend for the Halloween party, it was only going to be for Friday through Sunday.  However, we get so excited when our trips get close, that Patrick always starts looking at his work schedule to see if he can get off a little earlier and on the road to vacation sooner.  On this particular trip, we ended up leaving home Tuesday around noon.  By the time we stopped Tuesday evening, we only had 4 more hours to go.  If you've read any of my previous trip reports, you know we always try to open the park.  Patrick decided that this trip shouldn't be any different, so we got up at 4:30 on Wednesday morning and headed straight to Hollywood Studios.

9:00

We arrived in the parking lot just before 9:00 and by 9:05 we were on Sunset Blvd.

 Even though we made great time, we knew we wouldn't be at the park before the opening rush, so we had decided to make way first to the Hollywood Tower of Terror.  Littlecjc backed up against the height chart and we all cheered as her head brushed the 40" marker.  She was so excited to finally be tall enough, and Twilight Zone Tower of Terror became attraction #1.  She took it all in and as the elevator dropped, her little legs shook violently while she gripped our hands for dear life.  When the ride came to an end and started to back away from the drop track, she asked if that was the end.  When we said that it was, she exaggerated each word of "That. was. CRAZY."

We took our time in the gift shop when we got off the ride and bought Littlecjc a new pin to commemorate her first time on this big kid ride.  As we walked past the ride entrance to get our stroller back, Littlecjc begged us to ride it again.  We were a little surprised, but eagerly obliged making attraction #2 Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.  This second ride must have been a little more intense, because she decided afterward that she didn't want to ride it again.

10:00

Since lines weren't too bad this day, we crossed the park and decided to wait out the standby line for Star Tours, attraction #3.

I think Littlecjc enjoyed this ride, but wasn't overly impressed.  After our galactic tour, we walked past the red carpet meet and greet and noticed that the line wasn't very long.  So, we met Minnie, character #1, and Sorcerer Mickey, character #2.

By the time we finished visiting with Minnie and Mickey, Littlecjc was begging to ride Toy Story Mania.  We had fastpasses for this later in the day, but Littlecjc decided she was willing to wait in line to ride Toy Story Mania, attraction #4.  While on the ride, as we were moving towards the third or fourth screen, our vehicle came to an abrupt stop and all the lights came on.  We were instantly informed to remain in our seats and that a castmember would be along shortly to get us out.   When they did arrive, it was a little funny as we got out of our vehicle and then stood in the formed line to move 10ft to the next vehicle until we had made the full circuit and reached the emergency exit.  Although Littlecjc was upset, I found it very interesting.  We were able to spot so many more details since this ride is usually dark.  One of the castmembers even pointed out a hidden Mickey that will always stand out to me now, but which I never would have noticed while moving past it in the dark.

Anytime you are escorted off a ride, you are given a fastpass so that you are able to come back.  So, as we left the ride, two castmembers were there to scan a new fastpass onto our magic bands.  

11:00

We decided to try to cheer up Littlecjc with some pizza from PizzaRizzo's.  While here, we realized that our extra fastpasses never showed up in our app.  We were a little upset obviously, but we did already have fastpasses for the ride a little later and we figured that was why it never showed up.  (Remember this logic, as we will come back to it later.)

12:00

After lunch, we made our way to the Disney Jr. land area.  First, Littlecjc wanted to meet Jake, character #3.

Lines were thankfully very short at this time, and within 6 minutes, we were meeting character #4, Sofia the First.

Again, we quickly moved on to Littlecjc's next pick, Doc McStuffins, caracter #5.

At this point, we moved inside the Star Wars Launch Bay and stood in a short line to meet Chewbacca, character #6.

This meet and greet is always fun, because we never know what to expect from Littlecjc.  The first time she met Chewy, she loved him and called him a big dog.  Since then, though, she's always been a little more cautious.  On this particular day, Chewy really wanted a hug from her, but she was putting up a fight against this.

We ended up with some cute pictures regardless, so I was okay with this.

Chewy even got his hug from her. 

 Before leaving the launch bay, we took advantage of our Disney Visa credit card special meet and greet.  Every time we have done this, we have always met Kylo Ren, character #7, and always without a line.

 1:00

We knew we'd be back for BB8 later, but by now, we needed to make our way back to Toy Story Mania to use our fastpasses, which made Toy Story Mania attraction #5.

At this point, we were excited to see that Star Lord and Baby Groot were still meeting at One Man's Dream.  For some reason, I thought that this meet and greet was such a limited affair that it had already left.  I was never so happy to be mistaken.  We eagerly met Star Lord and Baby Groot, characters #8 & 9.

Baby Groot was so adorable stating his one line over and over and dancing around.

2:00

Littlecjc reminded us that we still hadn't met BB8, so we headed back to the Launch Bay to meet BB8, character #10.

We were feeling pretty accomplished for everything that we got done in this park and thought we'd head to the hotel to check-in.  Before actually leaving, though, we made our way back to Toy Story Mania.  Remember those fastpasses that never showed up in our app?  Well, their was either a big delay or else the system was smart enough to not give us the free fastpass until we had used the one we already had.  Either way, the fastpass was now there, so we took advantage of it before leaving the park which made Toy Story Mania attraction #6.

3:00-5:00

With a quick stop in at the Trolley Car Cafe, also known as Starbucks, we made our way to the All-Star Movie Resort.  We had completed our online check-in, so we were able to head straight to our room.

Littlecjc was excited to use her band to open the door.  For this trip, we were in the Mighty Ducks area, which happens to be the furthest buildings from the lobby and food court.  However, these buildings are very close to the bus stops at All-Star Music, so it kind of evens out.

We had hoped that Littlecjc would take a nap, but of course she had no interest in that idea.  We knew we wanted to go to Magic Kingdom that evening to see the new Happily Ever After fireworks since they were only shown on certain days during our trip due to the Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween parties.  Before heading out, we decided to grab some food from the hotel food court.  Patrick was very excited to try the Reuben Burger.  

It was pretty good, and big enough for Patrick and I to split.  I don't remember what kid's meal Littlecjc picked, but between the the two meals, we were all stuffed by the time we walked over the the bus stop at the music resort to head to Magic Kingdom.

6:00

As soon as we entered the park, we could tell that it was going to be a very busy evening.  Littlecjc was very eager to ride something, but almost all fastpasses were already gone.  We decided to head to one of those classic rides that almost never has a line, that my kid loves.  We rode Mad Tea Party, attraction #7.

7:00

With this ride done, and long lines all around the park, we headed to another classic attraction that usually doesn't have too long of lines.  Tomorrowland Transit Authority PeopleMover, attraction #8

We really enjoy this very simple ride.  When we got off the PeopleMover, we decided to ride Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin.  I think that we had fastpasses for this ride, but it still took us a while to actually get on the ride vehicles since the fastpass line tends to get backed-up here a lot.  Either way, Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin became attraction #9.

8:00

We decided we really needed to find a spot to watch the fireworks at this time.  

For some reason, the park seemed extremely crowded to me this evening.  We enjoyed the new show and Littlecjc made it to the very end before falling asleep.

Although the park had extra magic hours until 11 this evening, with a sleeping child and the large crowds, we decided to call it a day and head back to the hotel.  Not to mention, that we had gotten up at 4:00 in the morning.  It was such a great day, considering we were originally planning on spending the day in the car.  We may have only ridden 9 rides, but we met 10 characters and had a lot of fun.

Homeschool Preschool

It seems like preschool has become much more popular and expected than it used to be when we were kids.  Neither Patrick or I attended any kind of preschool, but it seems like everyone does now.  I did some research this year when it was time to sign her up if we were going to send her somewhere, but after a lot of deliberation, we decided to not start her in a formal preschool class this year.  As of now, we think we will try to enroll her next year for a pre-k class, but we will see.  I know part of the dilemma this year was that if we didn't enroll her, there may not be a spot for her next year.  I guess we will just have to wait and see.

Many people told me, "oh she's so smart, she'll be fine" or "you have her involved in so many community activities, she doesn't need it."  I'm not sure I feel confident with either of those statements on their own, but I did use to work in a preschool.  So, I'm going all in with the idea of homeschool for preschool.  My plan is to have class twice a week, always in the morning, with a themed field trip if possible on a third day.  Our fall schedule is pretty crazy already, but the great thing about homeschool is that we can work around our schedule.  So far, I have our fall semester of 15 weeks generally planned out, with a more detailed idea of the first few weeks.  I'm a little anxious to see how our days actually turn out, but right now I'm mostly excited.  Of course, I'm going to share this whole adventure with you.

I have to be honest, I do have some fears about how this is going to work too, though.  First and foremost, will she even sit still and listen to me?  I have to admit that she isn't always the best behaved little girl, especially for me.  My hope is that if I make a big deal about starting school and if I actually have a little bit of a classroom set up, then she will be curious enough to pay attention.  I guess I will just have to wait and see.  I'm also a little concerned that I will make things harder than they need to be or that I will end up confusing her more than helping her.  I keep telling myself that anything we might accomplish will be better than nothing at all.

Do you or have you homeschooled your kids?  Let me know if you have any tips or suggestions, and come back next Wednesday to get a look at what I'm planning.

Wordless Wednesday: July Calendar Shot

This week, Deb prompted us to share our July calendar shot.  After doing some research, I decided I didn't have a great calendar shot, but I did come across this throwback video of Littlecjc (when she was extra little) from 4th of July, 2014 when we enjoyed the holiday off property at the neighboring town of Celebration.  I don't know if this is a yearly tradition or if it only happened that year, but this was taken during the costume contest.

If you're ever on property over the holiday and want to spend the 4th still watching fireworks, but you're unsure about the crowds, you should give Celebration a try.

Join the Disneyhop fun and link up your Disneyside photos.

Show and Tell: The Struggle is Real

This week, Andrea has prompted us with "the struggle is real."  Unfortunately, my biggest struggle right now deals with potty training.  So, if you're not a parent and/or get grossed out by talk of poop, you may want to skip this post.

My littlecjc actually started potty training in January 2016.  I thought we did great.  We stayed home for three days where she wore her big girl underwear and no pants.  By the end of the third day, she had it figured out.  We still put a diaper on at night and during naps, and I was fine with that, as I had learned there was a difference between being potty trained and making it through the night dry.  So why is it that potty training is my struggle now, 17 months after being potty trained?  Well, she won't poop on the toilet.

I understood at first and felt that I was very patient, but now I'm starting to loose it.  I guess pooping has always been a bit of a struggle for her, as she has always made the biggest poops I've ever seen.  Seriously, we keep a plunger right next to the toilet just because of her.  At first, I figured it was part of the potty training, that she didn't want to go on the toilet so she held it in too long.  As it more often than not, went on for too long, I would be okay with her running off and hiding, just because I wanted her to get it out, whether on the toilet or not no longer was a concern.  (It's also not so hard to clean up poopy pants if it's just a big solid ball you can dump in the toilet.)  My first action to remedy this was to have her help me dump her poop in the toilet and wash out her panties.  She never really cared one way or another about either of these tasks.  One parent shared with me that she had read where kids don't want to flush their poop because it's a part of them, but Littlecjc didn't seem to care as she waved and said "bye bye poop."

It seemed like we'd go through stages where we would try forcing the issue for a while and then we'd back off again.  We tried getting a poopy stool for her to put her feet on, which she didn't like.  We tried bribing her with candy and new toys that she picked out, but she eventually gave up on getting them, after throwing several fits.  At one point, we bought a set of paw patrol characters, and when we'd rush her to the bathroom or if the poop just fell from her checks into the toilet we'd let her pick one out.  There are still two sitting above the toilet that she never earned.  She just wouldn't poop in the toilet.  One time we tried taking toys away.  I really hated this one, but Daddy started this, so I tried.  This didn't work either.  After taking away several items individually, I asked her what I had to take away next and she simply replied, "Daddy said all my toys."  I was at a loss.  She completely understands what she's doing now, which makes it so frustrating.  It's almost as if she's proud that she poops in her pants.

This struggle has been even more present on my radar since about April.  As I said earlier, for the first year we didn't push that hard, or at least would try for a while and then give it a rest, and it really wasn't that bad.  I think we maybe pushed a little too hard in April though before our last Disney trip.  We tried telling her we had to go back to diapers/pull-ups since she wasn't acting like a big girl.  This was a big mistake, because then she just got lazy and started peeing in these.  We of course stopped this right away going back to true underwear, but we've also had more accidents then we ever used to as well.  She's usually fast to show us her puddle, but I just don't understand.  Most of the time, I think she has these accidents when she's trying hard to hold her poop in, but loses control of her bladder.  Lately, she's had smaller, more consistent poopies, but she still won't go on the toilet.  This past weekend was awful and confirmed that this was what I needed to write about for this topic.

We're now at the point, that she poops little poops all day long never really allowing it to fully come out.  I literally changed so many poopy panties this weekend, that I ran out of clean underwear even though I had just done laundry.  I've obviously tried making a big deal about this, and I've tried completely ignoring it and nothing seems to be working.  I guess I'm just going to have this struggle until she finally decides she want to poop in the toilet.  I'm just praying that it is anytime soon!  If you have any suggestions for us to try, please share.

Hello Monday

Weekend Recap

This past weekend was great!  Friday night, Littlecjc had her very first dance recital!  She was in a mom and me class, which unfortunately meant I was in the show too.  It's like I've already forgotten that part, though, because she was too adorable and had so much fun.

This one is actually from the rehearsal, but here she is on stage!

Here's a little clip from the rehearsal.  I don't own the rights to the music, but my little jumping bean is so cute, I wanted to share.

We are so blessed that our little girl knows so much love.  She had 10 family members in the audience just to watch her, including Patrick's parents who came in town for the show.  They actually spent the night at our house, but we really didn't get home until about 11:00 Friday night and we left a little after 7 in the morning.  We had a breakfast date with Littlecjc's aunt and uncle.  We decided to take Patrick's parents to the Farm 57 restaurant you heard me rave about last week.

After breakfast, we stopped briefly at Aunt Kara's before the in-laws needed to head back home.  I'm so thankful that they were able to come watch Littlecjc and visit with us, even if it was a short visit.

Besides church on Sunday (and a few short shopping stops) we were pretty lazy the rest of the weekend.  It seemed well needed by all after our busy week.

Hello Monday

Here's your peek at this week.

Now that dance is over, all of our normal weekly commitments are on break for the summer.  That means, I'm making my own commitments...

Hello Hike it Baby

I'm sure I've mentioned my hiking group before, but I'm throwing myself  back in full swing with this group for the summer.  I'm planning on at least two or three hikes a week.  Trail Tuesdays will be spent in the woods, while during Wet & Wild Wednesdays we'll visit all the local fountains and splash pads.  The more hit and miss walk will be Friday mornings.  On the weeks we have a Friday walk, we'll be visiting different coffee houses and playgrounds.  I'm very excited to get back out more frequently again.  Both Littlecjc and I need these plans, or else we end up doing nothing at home.  

Hello 5K

This weekend, I'm planning on running my first ever 5K.  My mom and I signed up to run this race together with the goal of simply running the entire distance.  While training, I had the thought that I could also complete the race in 30 minutes.  However, after rolling my ankle last week, it's now been over a week since I've ran at all.  I was going to try to get out this morning, but my running partner (Littlecjc) has declared we are not running this morning.  I know I shouldn't let her dictate my plans, but it's just not worth it.  Maybe this evening instead.  Anyway, I'm now back to my original goal and I'm just hoping I can finish!

I think that's all for this week.

Happy Monday Everyone!

Day 5 & Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party, 2016

We were so excited for our very first Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party (MNSSHP)  This is a special ticketed event where Magic Kingdom is closed to everyone without a ticket.  The party starts at 7pm and ends at midnight and let me tell you that is not nearly enough time.  We had so much fun at this event.

First things first, just like every other day in the park, you have to prepare.  I knew that I wanted costumes for the party, but I wasn't sure what to put us all in since I also wanted us to be comfortable in the park.  Patrick didn't have any interest in dressing up when I was planning our outfits, so I decided that Littlecjc would be Ariel and I would be Ursula.  Word of warning, Patrick changed his mind the day we were leaving and really wished he had decided to join us.  Costumes are fun and I highly encourage anyone attending the party to wear them.  In fact, if we return to MNSSHP again, I plan on doing even more in the costume department.  Like I said, this year I didn't know what to expect and I was more concerned about everyone being comfortable.  This is how we ended up looking for the party.

Since the party runs from 7-12, we didn't want to go to the park all day long beforehand since we were hoping Littlecjc wouldn't sleep through the party.  So we took our time getting up, and then headed over to Disney Springs for shopping and fun. 

 It amazes me that even though we are at Disney, Littlecjc still gets excited over the little rides here.

They also had fun decorations here!

During this visit, they were testing having a visiting princess at the World of Disney store.  I thought this was great, but I believe they have already stopped doing this.  On our visit, we met Aurora

Disney Springs is a must for us every trip.  Even if you aren't a huge shopper, (I'm not either, but when it comes to Disney, what can I say?) the World of Disney store is worth seeing.  There are many photo opts here, and even though many of them haven't changed in many years, we still take photos at all of them during each trip.  It's become fun to see how everyone changes from year to year.

After a few hours here, we returned to the hotel for a rest and to get ready for our evening at Magic Kingdom.  Unfortunately, Littlecjc did not take a nap during this time.  However, we left pretty early for the party and headed to Epcot first.  We regretted not getting a Food and Wine Festival pin while at Epcot, and they were only available there.  So, with some research, we discovered that they were available at a tiny store just outside of the turnstiles at Epcot.  Therefore, we all bussed over to Epcot, and Patrick went through security, but was able to shop for the pins without scanning a ticket to enter the park.  We then took the monorail to the ticket and transportation center where we opted to take the ferry to Magic Kingdom.  And this, of course, is when Littlecjc decided to take a nap.  Even though the party did not start until 7, we were able to enter the park at 4 so I was still happy she decided to nap now instead of during the party.  Knowing that we could enter the park early, we were able to plan some fastpasses.  Fastpasses aren't available during the party, but by getting our first fastpass at 3:20, we were able to still get 3 in before the party actually started.  Since our first pass would expire at 4:20, I picked a visit with Tinkerbell first making sure we would have plenty of time to get through security and into the park.

4:00

Once we entered the park, we were given wristbands to show that we were there for the party, after which we quickly headed to use our first fastpass and visit Tinkerbell, character #1.

After visiting with Tink, those entering the park with bracelets on were guided off to the right before walking down Main St, where a normally closed off path was open that led from down by Tony's Town Square Restaurant up to an entrance between the Plaza Restaurant and the Tomorrowland Terrace.  Along this path, we were given our Halloween bags to haul all our candy along with our first sample of the goodies to come during the party.  Photographers were also lined up through here taking photos with some of the statues along the walkway and providing some magic.

I think that since Littlecjc was napping that we took our time entering, possibly even backtracking into a store or two to look at the party specific merchandise.  As much fun as we had this evening, I guess since it was new to us, I was really focused on taking it all in.  I didn't seem to take hardly any pictures this evening for some reason, so hopefully I don't forget too many activities from this evening.

5:00

By 5:00, we decided to wake up Littlecjc so we could all ride Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, attraction #1 before our fastpasses expired.

After our big roller coaster ride, we headed to the Storybook Circus area, by route past the the little mermaid ride where we took the picture above with King Triton.  By 5:25, we were ready to use our final fastpass for the day and ride Barnstormer, attraction #2.

We couldn't leave this area without a flight with Dumbo, attraction 3.

6:00

Even though we had already visited with Ariel during this trip and she isn't a special character only available for the party, we decided that it was worth the wait to see her again since we were dressed in that theme. So, Ariel became character #2.

 After visiting with Ariel, we stopped in at Gaston's Tavern for a little snack to go.  We didn't want to take up any of our party time to actually eat dinner, but we didn't want to not eat anything all night either.  This seemed like a good alternative.  With snack in hand, we headed toward Frontierland and Splash Mountain.  After getting a rider's swap pass (which wasn't really necessary during the party,) Littlecjc and I went to hold down a spot at the beginning of the parade route where we could watch the boats fall into the briar patch.

7:00

Patrick rode Splash Mountain first, making Splash Mountain, attraction #4, and after our swap I made Splash Mountain, attraction #5.

By this time, the party had officially started and it was interesting watching the wall of castmembers control the crowd, directing those without party wristbands out of the park.  We had heard great reviews of the parade, so this was a priority for us and we decided to hold down our spot until start time, so that we wouldn't miss anything.  We did, however, take turns taking Littlecjc through some of the trick or treat candy lines inside Frontierland.

8:00

The parade, event #6! Oh my goodness, the reviews did not do it justice.  This is by far my new favorite parade from Disney.  My pictures do not do justice for how amazing this parade was, but here they are anyway.  Let's start with the headless horseman who opens the parade.

PS. The Moana bag sitting next to us was the candy bag that we were given at the beginning of our evening, and it was full of candy by the end of the night.

These graveyard men were definitely my favorite part.  Sparks were literally fly from their shovels as they drug them across the ground.

And the ghost dancers were beautiful, in that perfectly Halloween way.  I guess I really loved the entire Haunted Mansion unit.

And of course, no Halloween is complete without the villains.

Another advantage of watching the parade from the starting point, is that as soon as the parade ended, we were able to rush off into Adventureland and beat some of the parade crowd.  Since our group had never been to these parties before, we didn't have a great plan for the evening and we ended up just kind of going with the flow of the evening, not wanting to miss any of the big things.  So at this time, we came across the line for Jack Sparrow and decided to wait.  We had bad timing though, since he went on break just as we reached the front of the line.  After already waiting that long and being that close, we stayed put and stayed for the next set.

9:00

So as 8:00 rolled around, we were meeting our first "special to the party" character.  Jack Sparrow became character #3, which was actually really fun since Littlecjc was dressed as a mermaid.  She may not have known exactly who he was, but she knew he was a pirate and she liked him.

After meeting Captain Jack Sparrow, we made our way to the Castle.  We walked by the Pumpkin King so that I could see him, but we didn't wait in line to meet him and Sally.  We did make it in time to catch the Hocus Pocus Villain Spectacular, event #7.  We were not at all close to the stage for this, but let's be honest, with the kids this show was not a priority.  I enjoyed it, but I was just as happy watching it from the distance and holding down our favorite spot to watch the fireworks.  After the show, the guys went on a mission to refill our popcorn buckets.  We then had our popcorn snack while waiting for the next castle show.

10:00

At 10:00, Celebrate the Magic, event #8 started.  This was the same show that normally plays except that there was an excerpt villain sequence added into it.  At 10:15, Hallowishes, event #9 began.  Although special fireworks are fun, I honestly think I like Wishes better.  I really enjoyed some of the songs included, but overall, nothing seemed too memorable or amazingly perfect between the fireworks and soundtrack.  Not that I wasn't so happy to be there and see it, just trying to provide an honest review.  After the fireworks, we wanted to get our picture taken in front of the castle, since we didn't get one when we first entered the park.

11:00

After this pit stop, we made our way to Storybook Circus to meet our predetermined number one meet and greet, the Seven Dwarfs, characters #4-10.

After meeting with our priority characters, and hitting up some trick or treat stations in Storybook circus, we made our way over to the Haunted Mansion.  We opted not to actually ride the attraction, but we did stop at the exit to take a photo.  Unfortunately, this was a waste of our time, because we never saw that picture.  Of course, we didn't know that at the time, and thankfully we hit up many trick or treat stations en route and continuing back to Fantasyland.  We ended our evening by standing in line for about 10-15 minutes to ride Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, attraction #10.

Overall, we had so much fun at our first Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party and I can't wait to attend another one.