THE BEST WEEK LONG BIRTHDAY PARTY EVER!!! The best part was we were all together! Trip Report: Sept 7th - 17th, 2008 **Updated 10/3** About This Page:

[I_am_Annie]

Fri., Sept 12, 2008
Mickey’s Not So Scary Hallowe’en Party

Murphy’s Toddler Law

The toddler’s determination to avoid naptime is directly proportionate to the degree of need for naptime to happen.

Naptime will happen when the toddler decides its naptime. Which will be exactly 10 minutes before you are due to leave for somewhere or have dinner.

This was the only day we decided to take an afternoon resort nap break. We left the Animal Kingdom around 1:30 pm and returned to the French Quarter to “ensure” that Aaron had a good nap so that he would enjoy the Hallowe’en Party.

As you can probably guess, that’s not what happened.

Aaron fell asleep about 20 minutes before we were due to head over to the Magic Kingdom for our 4:30 ADR at Liberty Tree Tavern. The Brightside of this was that at about 20 minutes is when we’re used to moving him into his own bed in the evenings so we knew that he would survive the transfer into the stroller. Bad news was that we couldn’t take the stroller onto the bus with him in it. So we’d have to carry him onto the bus and hope he stayed asleep.
Thankfully (for this reason) the bus was late. And, also thankfully, Aaron managed to stay asleep the entire bus ride and only woke up when we tried to get him back into the stroller at the Magic Kingdom and make our sprint to the restaurant. This gave him a good hour or so of a nap and it worked out perfectly. But it could have been so bad! (Needless to say, we didn’t take another return-to-the-resort-for-nap break the rest of our vacation. Aaron sleeps so well in our stroller that that seemed to work better for us.)

We arrived at the Liberty Tree Tavern about 15 minutes late for our ADR. When I went to the podium, I apologized and was a little perplexed by the host’s attitude. He was totally unimpressed and devoid of any personality. He immediately put me on edge and I didn’t know what to do. It was about this time that I noticed he was in make up. And costumed to look like one of the ghosts from the Haunted Mansion. It was also about this time that he must have noticed the confusion I felt because he pointed out the make up on his face and said “Pay attention. Pay attention to my face. Now go sit over there and wait till I call you.” He played his part REALLY WELL!

I left Marc with the buzzer and off I went with Aaron to change him and put his costume on before we were seated. (Being that he was still groggy from his nap, I had to carry him up the stairs. WOW! That was a workout!)

No sooner had I come out of the washroom with our “Mickey Mouse” than Marc was at the bottom of the stairs telling me that our table was ready. Once we were seated, Marc asked me if this was a character meal because he saw Chip ringing a bell in the dining room while we were in the bathroom. (It seems I had forgotten to mention that) I nodded my head yes.

And as if on cue, Chip came dancing around the corner. Hilarity ensued for the remainder of the meal with Goofy, Minnie, Pluto and Dale all making repeated appearances at our table. Aaron was however decidedly the worst behaved that he was the ENTIRE time on the trip. I’m not sure if this was due to the child at the next table who was in the throws a 40 minute long screaming fit, or because his nap had energized him enough that he wasn’t interested in sitting for supper. Or, in retrospect, it might even been because he was expecting as much action as there was at Tusker House in the morning. I don’t know.

Eventually, he did calm down some. (With the help of Goofy who was spending a lot of time talking to the (invisible) baby in the highchair.) It was difficult to pay attention to the food. But, I will tell you that I do remember that it was all AWESOME and our server (who had been serving there for many, many years) was fabulous with Aaron and just plain good at her job!






Once we were done, it was time for the party to begin so we were off to do some trick or treating and do a couple rides.

Our first ride of the evening was Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. I waited outside with Aaron while Marc rode first. While he was inside, Aaron (who was people watching and looking for more Mickey confetti) ran over to me and said “I want to ride Pirates mommy.” He must have overheard someone else saying it. But it struck me as funny and I started to laugh. This drew the attention of the CMs at the entrance of Thunder Mountain and I explained what he had said and that he was only 2. Thankfully, they chuckled too because I was beginning to think they thought I was a crazy person!



Marc came off the ride and ecstatically proclaimed that there was no line up and that he was able to pick his seat. He also said that the CMs said that that was most likely how it was going to be around the park all night!
And it was! It was almost like having the entire Magic Kingdom to ourselves. We were able to walk on any ride we wanted without a wait (we did Fantasyland in its almost entirety in an hour and a half. We didn’t do Snow White).





(Waiting for Philharmagic. Marc wanted to show how many people there were around.)

And we were able to find a spot on the curb in front of the castle for the parade with only 10 minutes to spare. It was like a dream. After the parade, we headed over to Space Mountain, and there was a bit of a wait there. By this point, Aaron had fallen asleep and I didn’t feel like riding Space Mountain because I wanted to be sure to get into the Haunted Mansion during the party (It seemed fitting). (The Haunted Mansion had been closed earlier in the evening when we’d tried to ride it on our way to Fantasyland.)

Perhaps the funniest thing that happened to me that night (or even on the trip) happened while I was in the Haunted Mansion. Knowing we only had about 20 minutes till the ride shut down, Marc (being the dashing gentleman that he is...) let me go first.

Once again, I was able to walk right on to the ride without any wait. I wished we had gotten there earlier though because they had actors perched up on the hill surrounding the house chattering with the guests. It was really cool and I would have liked to watch a bit longer than I did. But, its a good thing I didn’t because had I, I don’t think I would have gotten on the ride.

And then, I wouldn’t have gotten to spend 10 minutes in the dining room observing everything while they CMs tried to find the “playful ghosts that had disrupted our ride.” At first I thought that perhaps the stop in the dining room was part of the refurb. But, once the recording about the ride being stopped played again, I knew that we were stopped. So I took the opportunity to examine and appreciate things. But, as time went on, I began to think about how long I had been on the ride an how the party was getting ready to end. I wondered if Marc would have to leave without me. And I felt bad that he wouldn’t be able to get on the ride that night as well.

They did eventually get the ride going again and soon enough I was back outside where Marc was talking to one of the managing CMs about merchandise for the party. Turned out that her father had worked in the Haunted Mansion and we discussed all of the things that I had noticed in the dining room, as well as a few other things that her father had told her about the HM too! She then told us to head over to Main Street so we could pick up some of the exclusive park merchandise. (She also offered to hold anything specific we’d seen too. But, we hadn’t been in any stores.) On our way from the mansion, we stopped to have our picture taken with the Doom Buggy. Then we were off to the Main Street Emporium where we picked out a pin and a photo frame.

Then it was back to the resort for some much needed shut eye because tomorrow was my birthday and we had BIG THINGS PLANNED!

[Colexis Mom]

What a great update!! So glad you guys had a great time at the party!! How cool MK was pretty much empty!! More please

[chezp]

Love the Murphy's toddler law. Sounds like you had a great time at the party.

[vfair]

Loving your report!

[DyanKJ130]

Great update! Looks like you had an awesome time at MNSSHP. I especially the photo on Dumbo! Can't wait to hear more

[iamgrumpy]

Mnsshp looks like a blast! Just got caught up!

More please

[I_am_Annie]

Originally Posted by Colexis Mom

What a great update!! So glad you guys had a great time at the party!! How cool MK was pretty much empty!! More please

It was very cool. The next day while I was waiting to Rider Swap with Marc at Splash Mountain I overheard a group talking about how they had considered going, but thought it was a waste of money. All I could think was how wrong they were because it was truly one of the best parts of our trip.

Originally Posted by chezp

Love the Murphy's toddler law. Sounds like you had a great time at the party.

We did. We`ll do any special event offered the next time we go. Guaranteed.

Originally Posted by vfair

Loving your report!

Thank you!

Originally Posted by DyanKJ130

Great update! Looks like you had an awesome time at MNSSHP. I especially the photo on Dumbo! Can't wait to hear more

Dumbo, the Magic Carpets and Pirates are the only rides Aaron talks about still.

Originally Posted by iamgrumpy

Mnsshp looks like a blast! Just got caught up!

More please

It really was. I am DYING to try the Christmas party next!

[bsblady01]

more please

[Lemap760]

Great updates. The party sounds like fun.

[I_am_Annie]

Sat. Sept. 13, 2008
A magical birthday in the Magic Kingdom

I woke up on the morning of my 30th birthday and looked in the mirror. I looked old. I looked a heck of a lot older than 30. And I looked like I was carrying the entire contents of our suitcases in the bags under each of my eyes. I knew that my appearance was more likely due to the fact that I hadn’t made it to sleep until around 2am. And that it was only about 6:30am while I was assessing the damage in the mirror. But, I also knew that in about 2 hours time I would be standing beside Cinderella and having my picture taken. So, needless to say, I went to work fixing myself.

Marc and Aaron got up shortly there after and soon enough we were on our way to breakfast at the Castle. We stopped before going in for some photopass shots and to take advantage of Main St. USA being almost empty.

We were a little too early to check in so we hung around by the desk and watched all the little girls in the Bibbity Bobbity Boutique. They were all so cute! We also struck up a conversation with one of the hosts at the desk. It was about then that my parents called to wish me happy birthday. While I was talking to them, Marc went over and checked us in with the other hostess we hadn’t been speaking to. Unbeknownst to us, the host we had been talking to had already checked us in with a table complete with a fantasyland window view and had arranged to have the table decorated for my birthday as well!



The whole experience of eating in the castle was awesome. I remember being outside the castle as a child and being so disappointed that there was no way to go inside to see any more of it. (I didn’t know about King Stefan’s Banquet Hall at the time.) So, having my birthday breakfast in the castle 20 years later, was pretty special.

The cast members were all super friendly and so good with Aaron. He was given a sword which he adored playing with so much that he barely ate his meal . (They brought him his own kid’s plate compliments of the Castle.)



Maybe it was the elation of being there, in that moment. But, the food was fabulous. Marc and I couldn’t get enough of the pastries and the fruit. Our tummies were on their way to being full before our breakfast even arrived. But, we ate a good portion of that too.

The experience was awesome. Cinderella is the absolute perfect princess. We were also visited by Snow White, Aurora, Jasmine and Belle while we ate. They were nice as well. But, Cinderella is still my favourite princess.

After making our wishes, and saying our goodbyes we were off to see Tinkerbell (although I had a good inkling she’d already be woken up, I still wanted to see her.) Once we were done visiting her, we ran in to the Fairy Godmother outside the castle, and had a nice visit with her. She was so warm and grandmotherly. I could have stopped to talk with her for a lot longer. But there were other kids (and kids at heart) waiting.

So it was off to the carousel to see if I could fulfil my promise of Aaron getting to ride Prince Charming’s horse. ( Yeah. Ok. You’ve caught me. I was the one who wanted to ride Cinderella’s horse... Aaron loved the carousel. But I don’t think it would have mattered what horse he was on.) I got to ride Cinderella’s horse. Actually, I got to ride it twice in a row because there wasn’t a line up. I tried to give it away to a little girl dressed as Belle the second time. But, her mother told her that she wasn’t allowed to ride the carousel again. So I jumped back on. (Can I just say here that I LOVE the fact that WDW has seatbelts on the horses for the smaller kids? I have never seen that before. It’s great!)



After that, it was off to the tea cups for a dizzying journey that I had originally declined riding. But, decided to be brave and risk it. Aaron and Marc laughed hysterically and wanted to go again so I bowed out in order to take some pictures.

Once we were done there, we headed over to Toon Town where Aaron (who upon being told we were going to go to Mickey’s house) started doing the “hot dog dance” from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. We let him go for a few minutes and then picked him up to get a few photopass pics done. Big, Big, BIG mistake. We had a toddler terror meltdown that was almost impossible to stop. I’m still not really sure what the cause was unless it was just overexcitement from being in toon town. But, eventually (with the help of some cold water and a soother) we did get him calmed down enough to keep moving.

Before we hit Mickey’s house though, we decided to try out the Barnstormer at Goofy’s Wiseacre farm. Aaron met the height restrictions and no one questioned his age so we were off to get on the ride after about a 5 minute ride. Aaron sat with Marc because it was going to be his first roller coaster and I knew he’d feel safer with his Daddy. (Besides, I wanted to get some pictures.)

After the Barnstormer (which Aaron survived, and I think even enjoyed), Aaron and I hit Donald’s Boat while Marc went in search of a Frozen Lemonade (soooo yummy!) We spent a very long time playing in (and ew... even drinking) the water there until it was time (we thought – remember Toddler law?)

You can’t take your stroller into Mickey or Minnie’s house, so that was out because we had just gotten Aaron strapped in. It was also about to rain so we walked around a bit (trying to get Aaron to go down) and then took the train on a full loop around the park. We got off again in Toon Town and then made our way to Tommorrowland to see about Buzz Lightyear and the Laugh Floor. The Laugh Floor is so good! It was very funny and all of us had quite a few laugh out loud moments. Buzz Lightyear was fun too. Although, to be honest, I really do prefer Toy Story Mania... But that’s for the Hollywood Studios report. After that, we went and actually MET Buzz, did the Carousel of Progress, and the Tomorrowland Transit Authority.

This should have been my day to do Space Mountain. But, I really wasn’t into it while we were in Tomorrowland. It was so muggy and hot that day that all I really wanted was a drink. So we got a seat in front of the Lunching Pad and I grabbed a some milk for the little monster, a water for Marc and a frozen coke for myself! The CM at the counter was SO friendly and nice. He made a very big deal out of it being my birthday and gave me my frozen coke in a souvenir cup for free! I took it back to Marc and we set off trying to get Aaron to nap. And, while we were at it, we went looking for Push (the talking garbage can) I had heard so much about.

Still no nap. And the milk seemed to give Aaron his second wind so we decided to make our way over to the barbershop on Main St. to see about getting Aaron his first (badly needed, put off for too long) haircut.

The Family Fun Day parade was passing through about then. So it was a little difficult to navigate the stroller (and a rambunctious toddler) to the barbershop. But, we made it and I popped in to see about the haircuts.

The wait didn’t look to be too bad. So I decided to wait. I didn’t realize that each member of the 2 families in the shop were all waiting to get their hair cut by Michal when I sat down though. No kidding! Turned out there were to be 6 hair cuts before Aaron’s and although there were 2 barbers (Michal and Joyce) there to cut hair, everyone wanted Michal to cut their hair. I took the opportunity at that point to jump the line and get my haircut by Joyce because it really needed it. And I was there anyway. So I thought I might as well get a trim.

I will tell you that I was a little ticked off at all the adults who were insisting that THEY get their hair cut by Michal. After watching how he handled Aaron, I can understand people wanting him to cut their kids’ hair. But, I still don’t completely get why it was so important for him to trim up the adults’ hair as well when there was another able hairdresser there. It seemed (and still does) a little silly to me.

But, that was another story for another day because it was my 30th birthday, I was in the Magic Kingdom, and my little boy was getting his first haircut.
And it was going to one of 2 ways. It was either going to be a screaming/crying/getting sick mess. Or it was going to be fun.

Michal was fabulous with Aaron. He made the whole experience fun. We all had the best time and the pictures prove it. Seeing Aaron without the afro took a little getting used to. But Michal did as I asked and only tidied his mess of hair up. We didn’t lose the curls. We just contained them. J I can’t tell you how much fun Aaron’s first haircut was. For a situation that I was terrified of for so long, it went better than I could have ever hoped. Best of all, there was a photopass photographer there and he got it all on film!




Once we were done with the haircuts, we were off to do a little shopping as this was supposed to be our last day in the Magic Kingdom and we wanted to grab some souvenirs. Then we were off for my birthday dinner at Tony’s Town Square.

And guess who fell asleep? (Remember the toddler law? Uh huh.)

So there we were, checking in for our meal at Tony’s with our sleeping toddler... We asked if we could have a table that could accommodate the stroller (like they had done for us at the San Angel Inn) and we were told that we had been assigned a corner table near the window and it shouldn’t be a problem.
Sadly, it was. I’m still not sure of the reason why it was. The hostess wasn’t sure either. She offered to change our table for us. But, I really wanted to corner table in the window. So Marc picked Aaron up and laid him across his lap while we ate my birthday supper.

I had the ceasar salad as an appetizer and the steak as a main course. Both were fabulous!

Then it was time for my birthday cake (this was the birthday surprise business that Marc had been taking care of on Wednesday.) and for some reason, I started to not feel very well. I excused myself from the table to get some fresh air and promised Marc I would be back soon. (I didn’t want to miss my cake any more than Marc wanted to be sitting alone at a table while being presented with a cake and being sung to.)

I made it back to the table in more than enough time before my cake came. The waitress wished me a happy birthday and had the entire restaurant twirl their napkins around in the air. The cake was SOOOO yummy that I packed the other half of it into the bottom of the stroller and stored it in the fridge when we got back to the resort. Sadly, it didn’t have the prettiest demise. (more about that later on in the trip report)




When we were done at Tony’s (with Aaron newly awakened), we were off to see about using our fast passes for Splash Mountain. I still wasn’t feeling my best though and we ended up hanging around Casey’s Corner (Aaron had a hot dog and fries for dinner) for about an hour while I recovered. Marc asked me if I wanted to go back to the resort. But, I wasn’t going to let a little heat exhaustion ruin my birthday! So off we went.

I waited while Marc went on Splash Mountain and then decided not to ride it myself (again) right then because of the way I was feeling. We redid the Haunted Mansion as a family this time. (Aaron wasn’t too crazy about the lights going off inside. But he really liked the rest of it) Then we were off to do Pirates again because Aaron had been asking about it again. He was a little scared on Pirates. But, did really well and LOVED looking at the characters.

By then it was time for Spectromagic. I had rearranged my birthday ADR from Prime Time Diner to Tony’s just to be able to see the parade because my Brother in law had told me how much he liked it. We were only about 40 minutes from parade time. But we did manage to get a good seat right beside the emergency walkway in front of Tomorrowland which was only occasionally obscured by the security guard changing seating position. :P

After Spectro, it was time for the fireworks which we knew hadn’t gone over so well the night before. But, we decided to give it another go because Aaron had just woken up a little while before.

They still didn’t go over so well I’m afraid, so we decided to make our way to the exit and return to the hotel for a swim and a well deserved sleep.

There was a surprise waiting for me when I got back to the room. Sitting on the table inside the door was a birthday card from Mickey Mouse! It was the perfect ending to the (save for the mid evening illness) perfect day!


WHOO HOO!

[Colexis Mom]

What a great birthday!! Glad you had a great time at MK!! Both your meals sound delish!! And Aaron's first haircut was so cute!! More please

[DyanKJ130]

Great update!! Sounds like you had the perfect birthday, with the exception of not feeling well!! I couldn't think of a better place or way to celebrate. Can't wait to hear more

[bsblady01]

more please

[mcc0313]

Great updates...your morning at AK sounded like so much fun. Glad you were able to get a table and enjoy breakfast at TH. Love toodler law but glad that Aaron was able to get enough of a nap to enjoy...

Your birthday sounded perfect from your breakfast at the Castle to your dinner at Tony's...sorry that the heat got you feeling a bit off but glad that you were able top enjoy Spectro. Loved the pictures from Aaron's first haircut...glad he enjoyed the experience.

A card and balloon from Mickey was the perfect way to end a wonderful day...

[chezp]

What a wonderful birthday you had - and, trust me, despite what you may think, you looked great on your birthday and way younger than 30!