Day 6 was to be our relaxation day to catch up on sleep, do a little souvenir shopping, and just have some downtime from the parks. Instead, it turned into "Lose every child in the family at least once" day. This day was parenting at its finest, folks. Clearly, we should have used day 5 to catch up on sleep rather than waiting until day 6. We managed to end the day with all three children in our possession though, so we called it a success.
In going through photos just now, I realized this was also, "lose a bunch of photos" day. Wow. We must have been seriously lacking in sleep. We started the day off where we ended it the night before - at 'Ohana. We went for the 'Ohana's Best Friends Breakfast with Lilo and Stitch. We saw Lilo, Stitch, Pluto, and I think maybe Mickey? If I hadn't lost the pictures from that morning, I might remember who we saw. How do people remember anything without photo evidence? Anyway, I really don't even like Lilo or Stitch, but from a food and organization standpoint, this was my favorite character meal. Once again, food was served family style - Hawaiian pork sausages, Polynesian breads, bacon, eggs, Mickey waffles, etc.. It is so nice to just relax at the table while food is served (and served and served and served again until you are popping the top button on your jeans) instead of trying to time your dash to the buffet line around a character visit. At 'Ohana, we could just sit, relax, and enjoy the food and characters. Too bad I have no pictures to share.
After our nice leisurely breakfast, we headed over to Downtown Disney for souvenir shopping.
Addie picked out the slightly disturbing Baby Tinkerbell doll which she proceeded to take with us absolutely everywhere the rest of the trip. It is nothing short of a miracle that Baby Tinkerbell made it all the way home with us.
Elise selected a stuffed panda because, uh, you know... there are so many pandas at Disney World. Doesn't a panda bear just scream "I'm a Disney World souvenir"? No? OK, well, that's what she got anyway. I've given up trying to figure it out. Nina must have spent at least a half hour agonizing over which princess Polly Pocket-like sets to buy. I loved her reasoning too. It was never, "I really like Belle" or "I love Pocahontas, but Cinderella is one of my favorites too." There was absolutely no discussion of the princesses themselves. The decision was based solely on the fashions and accessories. The thought process went something like this.... "I like Cinderella and Belle because they both come with long gloves. I don't like Belle's cape though. I'm definitely not getting Mulan because she doesn't have ANY high heels. Aurora has high heels, but she doesn't have any gloves. I wish Aurora's dress came with Cinderella's glass slippers" This little monologue went on and on. I honestly don't even remember what her final choice was, but you can be sure they will be the most fashionably dressed miniature princesses.
The World of Disney was our first lost child incident of the day. The place is ginormous, and it was insanely crowded. Addie was locked up in her stroller with freaky Baby Tinkerbell. Nina was glued to the Polly-Pocket princess section. Elise wandered off though. The place is like a giant department store with departments like "Collectibles", "Men's wear", "Watches", "Plush toys", and "Pirate the Princess". Imagine losing your child in a big department store and not having a clue what department she was in. Fun, huh? We searched and searched and searched. Just when I was about ready to call in some employees to help, J.C. spotted her in the Plush Toys section (which we had each checked several times already). Fortunately, she didn't even realize she was "lost." She was just "shopping." We got the heck out of there and headed to Earl of Sandwich for lunch. J.C. looked at the line and said, "I'm still not that hungry after our huge breakfast. The line is so long... why don't we just go back to the resort and eat there?" I gave him a look that said, "Are you crazy? This entire day is planned around having lunch at Earl of Sandwich. We WILL eat here, and you WILL enjoy it." He shut up and found a table with the kids. He's a good man. I think I'll keep him around. The line was long, but it moved fast, and we had our best counter service meal of the week.
After that, it was back to the hotel for naps and the second lost child incident of the day. We had all woken up from our naps and were just hanging out in the room until dinner time. JC had gone off to check on something at the front desk. The girls were all watching TV, and I got in the shower. When I got out of the shower, I did not count children, assuming they were all still watching TV, and I laid down to read a book. A little while later, I heard some rattling at the front door. I figured it was J.C. coming back from his errand having some trouble with his key. I kept thinking he would walk in any minute. He didn't arrive, so I looked up and noticed Addie was no longer watching TV. I asked the girls where she was, and the TV-zombies had no clue. I went to the door, and there she was out in the hallway! Yikes! Parenting at its finest... my not-quite-three-year old was wandering around the hotel hallway. I don't even know how long she had been out there. She must have left while I was in the shower. I brought her back in safe and sound, and from there on out, we locked the top chain lock every time we entered the room.
For dinner, we took the monorail over to the Grand Floridian which is absolutely gorgeous this time of year. The gingerbread house alone is worth a trip over there.
I love the list of ingredients... over 1000 lbs of honey, 700 lbs of chocolate, and 35 lbs of spices. Spices! Can you imagine ever measuring spices in pounds rather than teapoons?
Our dinner destination was 1900 Park Fare for Cinderella's Happily Ever After Dinner. While 'Ohana had the best dining experience of our character dining meals, 1900 Park Fare definitely had the most colorful characters. Lady Tremaine and the step sisters were a riot. They stayed completely in character and were so much fun. One of the step sisters looked at Addie and said, "I really like your dress. It looks so much better on you than it does on my sister!" Addie was not about to take pictures with any of them, but I loved their expressions.
Addie was there for the main event... Cinderella and Prince Charming. Pink Crocs can pass as glass slippers, right?
1900 Park Fare was interesting... and not in a particularly good way. The food was fine, nothing spectacular, but reasonably good. The whole meal was so rushed though. It felt like you were on a conveyor belt trying to eat as fast as you could before you were dropped off at the end. The characters came through, and then BAM! They wanted you out of there. I've never seen a busboy clear tables as fast as the guy they had working our room. The family at the table next to us got up to simply get dessert, and their table was cleared while they were gone. That part of the experience was a big turn-off to me. The characters were so outstanding though that it is hard to complain too much.
After dinner, Addie decided the music in the lobby was wonderful for dancing.
When we got back to our hotel, we had lost child event number three. Elise and I were browsing in one of the shops in the lobby. J.C. had Addie in the stroller. Nina had to go to the bathroom, so J.C. was walking back and forth with Addie waiting for Nina to come out. Somehow, Nina must have come out, not seen J.C. and walked the opposite direction. He never saw her come out, and she never saw him. She decided to go back to our room. Apparently, she was outside the door to our hotel room banging on it and yelling for us when a hotel employee found her. The hotel employee showed Nina her white name badge (which we had told the girls numerous times to look for if they ever needed help or got lost), so Nina knew she could go with her. They were coming back to the lobby to take Nina to the front desk when J.C. spotted them and claimed her.
With all three children safely tucked in their beds, J.C. and I high fived ourselves for not permanently losing any of them and called it a night.
Day 6 Favorites
J.C. - seeing Addie with Prince Charming
Ann - meeting the step-sisters
Elise - buying a book and a souvenir, and taking a nap
Nina - shopping
Addie - meeting Cinderella
Enjoyed reading your post.
I think Addie was just about to breakdance when the video stopped! ha
Lots of fun and memories for everyone.
Posted by: SMcCoy | Monday, December 27, 2010 at 12:08 PM