Princess Breakfast

Boy, this TR is taking longer than expected. I may have to skip some naps if I want to finish it before our cruise in December. And then Daddy will expect me to write a TR for that, too, I bet. I'll discuss it with him tomorrow at 2 a.m.

For Day 4, we had planned to go back to Epcot, but we really had seen all we wanted to see at Epcot earlier in the week, and had a lot still to do at the MK, so we decided to go back to the Kingdom, but first we had breakfast planned with the princesses in Norway. (Yes, I know that was a run-on sentence, but I am just a baby and don't know anything about sentence structure yet. Maybe they should have a language ride at Epcot teaching people about English. It can star that dragon named Fragment.)

We got up early and drove to Epcot. Now, when Mommy booked the breakfast, they told us to be in the park 30 minutes ahead of time. Our breakfast was at 8:30, so if my math is right (let me check my toes), we had to be in the park by 8 a.m. But the parking gates didn't open until 8a.m. So we sat at the gates for 10 minutes. I know they probably just tell people 30 minutes early because they know most people will show up 15 minutes late anyway, but the people at the parking gate didn't seem to know much about the breakfast at all. This was the first week, so maybe it hadn't been well communicated to everyone.

We got to the park and went to a special turnstile on the far right-hand side over near Guest Relations. They had a bag check set up, then they checked our names off a list and we passed in. Here was another example of people being in a hurry on vacation for no reason. This one guy had no bags, so he cut between Daddy and me in the stroller and Mommy and the boys to get through the turnstile ahead of them. Then he had to wait inside for his family, who he was waving to in order to get them to hurry up and come through. We all had breakfast at 8:30, the place didn't open until 8:30, so what was the point of rushing? We leisurely strolled through Future World & World Showcase. The had cast members along the way guiding us in the right direction.

We were still early when we got to Norway, so they gave us a pager and we sat down. We were seated around 8:30 at the same table we had the other day, with the same waiter. Daddy was disappointed in the waitstaff for the breakfast. We were there for almost 5 minutes before anyone came around, and it took a long time to get drinks. I don't think they were quite ready to be open at 8:30. Also, the waiters probably aren't used to having to provide as much service, since they usually have a buffet here. There was this one guy who was not dressed like a waiter who kept coming around through and talking to me. He said he had a little baby at home, too, so he'd wander by, tickle me and talk to me. He even offered to get me some apple juice.

We saw Snow White, Aurora, Jasmine and Mary Poppins. Daddy didn't understand why Mary Poppins was at a princess breakfast, but Mommy figured that since Cindy doesn't clean the castle anymore, it's probably a good idea to stay friends with someone who knows a few good chimney sweeps. And since at least Ariel has a daughter, maybe a nanny is a good thing to have around, as long as she leaves the dancing penguins at home. Most of the princesses were really good. Jasmine seemed a little off -- she wasn't quite as friendly as the others, and when Daddy made a joke about getting the genie to come and make Alex eat his eggs, she didn't laugh. Mary Poppins, on the other hand, was very good, asking the boys if they slid up the banister at home. (They didn't know what a banister was, so Daddy had to explain it to them). She also dropped the names of the kids from the movie when talking to them -- it was obvious she knew her character, and she spoke with an accent, which was great. Mommy and Daddy had to wonder if Snow White's voice was her real voice or she had to talk squeaky when she was in character. I didn't understand -- she IS Snow White, isn't she?

The food was okay, everyone said. They had French toast sticks, and eggs, and bacon and sausage. Alex didn't want the eggs, but Mommy made him try some anyway. He didn't like them, so when the next batch of food came, Daddy filled up Alex's plate with eggs. Now Alex would be known as "Egg and Sprite Boy" for the rest of the trip. At every meal after that, Mommy or Daddy would ask him if he wanted any eggs. (What's funny is, Alex likes eggs at home!)

Magic Kingdom

After breakfast, we headed to the monorail to go to the MK. It wasn't crowded so we were able to roll the stroller right onto the monorail. Daddy and I headed to the back of the park to pick up FPs for Thunder Mountain while Mommy, Alex and Thomas went on Space Mountain. This would be Thomas' first ride on Space. We came back and waited at the exit to SM, and when we saw Mommy coming down the ramp, we knew something was wrong. Apparently, Thomas got really scared when he got into the ride car and told the ride operator he didn't want to ride, so they stopped the ride and had Mommy and Alex and Thomas get off the ride. Daddy told Mommy she should go see a CM to get a pass to go back in, but she decided to skip it and come back later with just Alex. So we walked back towards Thunder Mountain.

Mommy told Alex he could ride BTMR first with her, since he didn't get to ride SM, and this upset Thomas more, since he really likes BTMR. Mommy explained it was only fair to Alex. Daddy, Thomas and I went to get FPs for Splash and they waited for Mommy and Alex. When Mommy and Alex got off the ride, Thomas told Mommy and Alex he was sorry for making them miss SM. Mommy sat down and talked to him for a while about trying new things and then she took Alex and me to the Baby Care center while Daddy rode BTMR with Thomas. Daddy explained to Thomas that Space Mt. was just like Thunder Mt., except inside, and he ought to try it again.

They met us back at Baby Care, where I had a bottle. Daddy nearly missed the place, he said, because two days earlier, there wasn't a big wall around the Crystal Palace. They must build walls fast in the MK. I hadn't noticed. I finished my bottle and then we went back to Splash. Mommy stopped on the way for a Dole Whip and didn't share with me, although she did let the boys have some. Thomas really wanted a Coke float again, but he settled for the Dole Whip once he tasted it.

Daddy had never ridden Splash Mountain and didn't really want to, but he told Thomas he would ride it with him if Thomas agreed to try Space Mountain again. Thomas explained the whole ride to Daddy. Daddy pretended to be afraid of all the drops (or maybe he was afraid) and Thomas reassured him that they weren't bad. Thomas knew the whole ride after only riding it once -- amazing. They came off the ride and walked right past Alex, who was supposed to be watching for them, and found Mommy and me. Alex was surprised when Daddy came up from behind and tried to push him off the rail he was sitting on. Daddy and Thomas sat down with me while Mommy and Alex rode Splash. Using FP, it took less time for the two pairs of people to ride this ride then it did for Mommy and the boys to ride it yesterday.

We hit the Haunted Mansion on the way back through. I didn't care much for this ride. It didn't scare me, or anything, it was just, well, not much to look at. I'm more attracted to contrasting colors at this stage in my life, and this place was all dark and black. At the end, there was some green thing in the mirror in front of us. I stared at that for a while, but that was about it. I pretty much just sat in Mommy's arms for most of the ride.

We decided to head over to a water park now, so we stopped at our hotel and changed and headed to Blizzard Beach again. I was really tired and slept almost the entire time while Daddy sat down and read his book. The boys had a great time -- this is their favorite water park, because of the tide pool. They like the family raft ride at TL better, but other than that, they like BB. Mommy came by for awhile and let Daddy take the boys on the lazy river. They pile into a two-person raft with Daddy in the back with Thomas on top of him, and Alex sits in the front and drives. Alex likes to go through all the water sprays and the waterfall and get Daddy really wet. Daddy doesn't like this much, but he puts up with it. After that, the boys mostly played in the tide pool with Mommy. Thomas demanded that Mommy let him stand on his own, so he ended up getting a scrape on his knee from being knocked over by the water. He said it didn't hurt, though, and went right back in the water after Mommy cleaned it up. I hope there are no sharks in that water!

It was threatening rain, so we changed back into our street clothes and went to Downtown Disney. We stopped at Planet Hollywood to eat. There was a long line down the stairs and Mommy was impressed that Daddy was able to get us a table immediately and skip the entire line. Daddy later admitted that part of our tour package was a VIP seating card for PH that got us first available seating. Sneaky Daddy. We were able to park my stroller under the canopy to keep it dry. PH was really loud and I didn't like it much. The boys loved it because they got to watch movies during dinner. The food was okay, they said. Mommy and Daddy had eaten at PH before and said they prefer Hard Rock over PH. I have no idea what they are talking about. They said they'd tried most of the restaurants at DD and prefer the food in the hotels better than the DD places.

After this, we went shopping. Daddy found a shirt he liked at World of Disney, but couldn't find the color he wanted in his size (large). Alex kept finding the right size in other colors, and Daddy kept telling him he didn't want that color, or the other color, or the other color. So the rest of the night, every time Alex found something, Daddy would ask him if they had a large in that. That was funny. Alex puts up with ribbing really well. He has to, with Daddy around.

Thomas found a watch he liked, and Mommy and Daddy said they'd buy it for him for his birthday, which is coming up in a few weeks. He starts first grade this year, so a watch might be useful. Mommy found some Mickey earrings too. They were expensive, but Daddy let her buy them anyway (like he could have stopped her). Alex was looking for a shirt, but they didn't have his size in it (although Daddy found his size in several other shirts, including a princess one and told Alex about those), so we decided to wait until we went to MK and MGM again to see what we could find.

Daddy found a lot of stuff he wanted in the new toy store, but the boys weren't that impressed. We thought about the WL Lincoln Logs for awhile, but decided against buying any more toys right now. Mommy and Daddy did some exploring for their bathroom, and then we decided to go home. We were all pretty tired and an early night to bed would be a good idea for once on this trip. So we headed to the hotel for sweet dreams. I think we have breakfast in the morning with more furry creatures (characters, not hotel staff) and then we are going back to MGM to finish that park up. I'll try to write about that tomorrow.