May/June 2019, Day 4: Magic Kingdom

 It was another early day for Patrick and LittleCJC, this time due to a breakfast reservation at Cinderella's Royal Table.  LittleCJC really wanted to eat here and her daddy is a sucker so after searching and searching he finally scored a reservation just for the two of them.  They left the room at 6:30.  Since the rest of us didn't need to be at the park before it opened, Patrick and LittleCJC rode the bus while Grandma, LittleCGC, and I drove over later.

Before the park even opened, they were in the park getting that must get photo.

8:00

Just after 8:00 they were greeted by Cinderella, character #1.

This little girl was extremely happy to have her date with Daddy.

Before they even got their breakfast, they met Snow White, character #2.

I guess she was even excited about her bacon.

The next princess she met was Aurora, character #3.

Then Ariel, character #4.

Lastly, the main event on this day, Jasmine, character #5.

9:00

After they finished their breakfast, they were lucky enough to get a head start on the long line at Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, attraction #1.

While they were having their fun, the rest of us had arrived at the park.

Just as we were waiting for Patrick and LittleCJC to get off the mine train, we got a little surprise visit from Peter Pan, playing on the back side of the castle after the welcome show.

We had an upcoming fastpass for Peter Pan's Flight, but it wasn't quite time yet, so we decided to head over to Tomorrowland and rode Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin, attraction #2.

Since Patrick was riding solo, I'm reminded that LittleCGC had fallen asleep in the stroller for a morning nap, so Grandma decided to sit this one out.  Once we finished this ride, we went back to Fantasyland for Peter Pan, attraction #3 to use our fastpass.

I don't remember if she woke up on her own or when we moved her, but nobody was sitting this one out.  Peter Pan's Flight always has a long line, and there is no rider's swap here since there is no height requirement.

10:00

 As we moved on, we stopped by the Tangled bathrooms and took a little extra time searching for the hiding Pascals.  I honestly don't know if we've never noticed this before or just never took the time, but there are several here and we searched for all of them.  Here's a few, can you find them?

After we found all the Pascals, we decided to wait in line at Haunted Mansion, attraction #4.

This line isn't too bad to stand in, because there is a lot to look at, reading different tombstones.  There are also some interactive portions that the kids love.  It can become quite hot in this line later in the day though, because it is all outside and only some of it has shade.

I do love the new on-ride photo here, and of course we didn't tell Grandma to expect it.

11:00

Unfortunately for us, our next fastpass was back in Tomorrowland, so we crossed the park again.  By time we got there, the fastpass line was really backed up.  I know I've discussed this before, but sometimes that does happen.  It kind of stinks to wait in such a long line to use a fastpass, but it's still better than being in the standby line and watching the long fastpass line walk past you as you don't move.  First, LittleCJC rode Space Mountain, attraction #5 with Mom and Dad.

Then, she got to ride the other side of Space Mountain, attraction #6 with Dad and Grandma using their rider swap pass.

12:00

Since we were here in Tomorrowland, we decided to stop at Cosmic Ray's for some lunch.

1:00

When we finished eating, we made our way over to Frontierland to use our last preplanned fastpass at Splash Mountain, attraction #7.

The girls rode first and decided to squeeze all together.  When LittleCJC and Grandma used their rider swap pass to go again with Patrick, they decided to spread out for Splash Mountain, attraction #8.

2:00

After scanning our bands, we were able to get another fastpass for Jungle Cruise, so when we finished at Splash Mountain, we made our way to Adventureland.  We had some bad luck this day with long fastpass lines, but that is a common occurrence here at Jungle Cruise, attraction #9.

Again, after scanning our bands we looked for another fastpass.  We were lucky to find one at Pirates of the Carribbean.  Even though we sometimes have to wait a little bit before we can use our fastpass, in our opinion, we'd rather explore the park  while waiting to enter a fast moving line, than stand in a long slow moving line, even though the same amount of time may have passed to get on that ride.

3:00

When it was our time, we entered the fastpass line at Pirates of the Carribbean, attraction #10.

With only one more ride here in Adventureland, we looked on the app again, and were rewarded with another immediate fastpass for Aladdin's Magic Carpets, attraction #11.

These classic rides may be silly once the girls grow up, so we make sure to enjoy them now.

After our carpet ride, we decided to split up.  For some reason, LittleCJC really wanted to go visit Stitch.  Patrick agreed to take her back across the park, while Grandma and I decided to stay in Adventureland and give LittleCGC a little mommy time.  So, we decided to experience The Tiki Room, attraction #12 to sit in a dark AC filled room to nurse LittleCGC.

4:00

LittleCJC loved visiting with Stitch, character #6, because he tried eating her donut ears.

When Grandma and I finished watching the Tiki Room show, we noticed that Aladdin and Jasmine were finishing their set, so we decided to sit in line to visit them when they returned.  It was shaded here, and as good of place as any to sit and wait for LittleCJC and Patrick to return.  They lucked out, and made it back just in time to join us with Aladdin and Jasmine, characters #7 and #8.

5:00

Our visit with these two was fun since LittleCJC was dressed liked Jasmine herself.  When we were done though, we headed back to Fantasyland to enjoy Philharmagic, attraction #13.  At some point after our magic carpet ride, we were able to pick up a fastpass for Fairytale Hall where we met Rapunzel, character #9

and Tiana, character #10.

6:00

Again, we were able to get immediate fastpasses, this time for It's a Small World, attraction #14.

I love how amazing this ride is to little ones.  We continued on to our next immediate fastpass at Winnie the Pooh, attraction #15.

Haha, her face just makes me laugh.  We then were able to pick up another immediate fastpass at Journey of the Little Mermaid, Under the Sea, attraction #16.

7:00

We were lucky to continue with the immediate fastpasses.  This time to see Ariel, character #11.  We always seem to get great pictures here.

LittleCGC seemed just in awe of her, and LittleCJC had to share that Ariel was on her glasses.  We were lucky enough to get one more fastpass this evening.  This time, it was for The Barnstormer, attraction #17.  LittleCJC  then suckered her Daddy into a new bubble wand.

As we were making our way towards the front of the park, we decided we had enough time still for Monsters Inc Laugh Floor, attraction #18.  LittleCGC decided she couldn't make it to the show though.

8:00

After our visit to the laugh floor, we decided to find a spot in front of the castle for the fireworks.  Once we had our spot staked out, Patrick went for some dinner from Sleepy Hollow.  

9:00

At 9:00 we watched the fireworks.  Once they were over, instead of fighting the crowds, we decided to walk around a bit before heading back to the castle for the projection show at 10:00 when the park officially closed.  We had a great day, and everyone had crashed that evening by the time I got out of the shower.

..

Musical/Movie Project Week 8

 I have to admit I skipped one movie this week.  I even went to the effort of getting it from the library, and yet it is still sitting on my table where I just can't get myself to put it in the DVD player.  Which movie is it?  My Friday first pick, Misery.  I know it must have been on many list for me to put it on mine, but horror is not an enjoyable genre for me.  We'll see if I get to it before it goes back to the library.  Here's the rest of my week.

Musical Monday - My Fair Lady (1964)

I have to admit that I had never seen this one before, and honestly I expected more from it.  I feel like they spent too much time with the diction.  I realize that's a majority of the story, and maybe that's my problem with this one.  If that's the main part of the story, that's not an interesting storyline.

Tune Tuesday - Spring Awakening (2006)

This musical was fun to revisit, because I actually was fortunate enough to see this on Broadway with the original cast.  This also makes me sad though, because it reminds me of how long it's been since I've been to New York.  The music is great either way, but I do feel as though shows with a heavier theme are easier to watch live versus your living room TV.  Maybe it's just me or the different stages of my life while watching it.  Regardless, I did still enjoy it.

Wayback Wednesday - North by Northwest (1959)

I wasn't blown away by this one, but I found it very enjoyable.  At the beginning, I was feeling a Bourne vibe, but if you're familiar with this one, you know that it truly is just a case of mistaken identity.  

Throwback Thursday - Newsies (1992)

I grew up with this musical.  I think it was one of those films that only got better every time I watched it.  Thinking back on it, this was probably one of the first "new" musicals I remember.  I grew up on the classic musicals, but as far as watching a musical when it was new, this is probably the first.  I know it's only a movie musical, at least at the time, but we've all got to start somewhere.

Friday First - Misery (1990)

We'll see.

Seasonal Saturday - Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011)

This movie is great, but I will admit that the first viewing of this one will always be the best.  It's still fun watching everything fall apart and come together, but that first time when you don't know how it's all going to come together is the best.  It's an all-star cast with a great ending.

Disney Dinner - Snow White (1937)

This was fun watching LittleCJC watch this now that she's older.  I loved watching her laugh at so many of the scenes with the dwarfs.  I think it was a lazy week for me, but you'll have to check out my Disney Dinner post for those details.

Disney Dinner: Tangled

 

We had a fun Disney Dinner night watching Tangled.  LittleCJC is fairly familiar with this one, but there were still some parts she said she didn't remember.  For dinner, we had buttered angel hair pasta, a ham and cheese braided bread, and Maximus' apples.

For a drink, I gave the girls some orange juice and called it golden flower juice.  Before we had even finished, eating, LittleCJC was already asking if there was desert.  To be fair, I'm starting to think we're all getting a little spoiled by these desserts.  In all honesty, I got a little lazy this week and just decided to make up something from what I had in the cabinets already.  I came up with a tower parfait.

I started with some yellow frosting that I piped up the side of the glass.  Then, layered some brownie, ice cream, brownie, cool whip, and topped it all with some purple frosting for the roof of the tower.  My glasses were too big and the dessert was a lot.  On the bright side, we didn't end up with a lot of leftovers that I always end up eating.

Overall, it was a very tasty dinner.

Hello Monday

 Update

I know I missed last week's Monday post, so sorry if this one is longer than normal.  We did get the snow everyone predicted, and the girls loved playing in it.  As I predicted, LittleCJC was out of school all week.  In fact, between the ice storm the week before and the snow, she was out of school for a total of 8 days.  Let's just say we were all ready to get back to normal schedules last week, even if it seemed like we were playing catch-up all week.

We went straight from snow and ice to spring.  It warmed up last week, and we were able to get out of the house again.  We started our weekend off with some donuts.  The dinning area was open and no one was there, so we ended up eating inside which is something we haven't done in a really long time.

We then spent the afternoon at the zoo with Grandma and SL3.  The kids had a blast.

Hello Monday

This week should be back to normal.  I don't have anything extra on my calendar, but we do have some exciting events coming up so my goal is to just stay on top of everything and prepare for our upcoming events....including a vacation!

Hello Movies

Here's this week's lineup.

Musical Monday - West Side Story

Tune Tuesday - In the Heights

Wayback Wednesday - Lawrence of Arabia

Throwback Thursday - Honey I Shrunk the Kids

Friday First - Mame

Seasonal Saturday - Say Anything

Disney Dinner - Alice in Wonderland

Hello Books

This month was a great reading month for me both in quantity and quality, especially since my last post.  I finished The Arctic Fury by Greer Macallister.  A five star read with themes of survival, friendship, loyalty, gender thoughts and secrets.  I then read another five star emotional book about survival not on ice, but instead from inside the dust bowl and poverty, The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah.  I discovered this author back in college and she still remains one of my favorites.  The next book I read was Home Before Dark by Riley Sager.  I am still thinking about this book.  I usually say I don't like thrillers, but I loved this book.  So many plot twist, I was lost until the very end and then I wanted to immediately reread this book.  I obviously didn't, but I may in the future.  I do definitely see me reading more from Riley Sager in the future.  I then started and completed the paradise triliogy by Elin Hilderbrand: Winter in Paradise, What Happens in Paradise, and Troubles in Paradise.  I think of the three the first was the best, but they were all enjoyable.  I also finally finished Storm of Locusts by Rebecca Roanhorse.  Not the best book in comparison of the others read the last two weeks, but another solid 4 star read.  The last book I read this week was The Bourbon Thief by Tiffany Reisz.  This was not what I was expecting, but I did enjoy it.  Part romance, part mystery, and a lot of messed up family drama and history.

This week, I plan on reading Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, I'd Rather Be Reading by Anne Bogel, and at least starting Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo.  We'll see how the week goes.

Happy Monday everyone!