The Mother of All Christmas Vacations (and possibly of my lj posts) Part three
Wednesday, the Day after Christmas, which would go on to be our busiest and best day at Walt Disney World this trip. At this point we realized with some sadness that the end of our trip was near, but did not want to say anything about it. We got up ass early, snagged some hot chocolate, and went straight for Animal Kingdom. It's amazing how much more motivated people are in the morning when they wake up in WDW. Just to give you an idea how early we got there, we parked in the first row in the grass in front of the regular parking. Hey that's where the parking attendant told us to park. Naturally Trevor took a picture of that. The sun was just rising and we were in the park. On our way to Kilimanjaro Safaris, we stopped to ride and get Fast Passes for Everest. After we got off the Safari we took a stroll through the Pangani Forest Expedition Trail and got a phone call that the next large chunk of our Grand Gathering has arrived. Emily's Mom and Dad with her sister, Catie, and Catie's boyfriend, John got to Orlando the night before, but didn't have tickets or a resort room until Wednesday. We knew they were coming but it was still thrilling to the little one to have yet more family at WDW with her. After grabbing some surprisingly good carrot and celery sticks from a snack stand we headed back to Everest on the heels of the Ewings. Trevor grabbed some Fast Passes again and we rode it. When we got off the ride Trevor's parents had left to rest and David had left with them since he had forgotten the right memory card for his camera. After that it was lunch time and I knew where the rest of us should eat. Flame Tree Barbecue was one of the places I had wanted to try the first time we had visited Animal Kingdom about eighteen months prior to this visit. And we were not disappointed. The food was excellent and the BBQ sauce was one of the best I had ever had a fusion of sweet, sour, and spicy. By then The Ewings' rooms were ready so Michael and Emily escorted them back to their hotel. Our Fast Passes weren't good for Everest yet so we went to ride DINOSAUR in Dinoland USA. It's not one of our favorite rides because it's freaking LOUD AS HELL! However it's nice and bumpy with great animatronics just like its sister ride in Anaheim, Indiana Jones Adventure. The line for Primeval Whirl was relatively short so we jumped in it. Somehow it spun us more that time than the time we rode it earlier. Or at least it seemed that way. Emily took a last ride on Hester and Chester's Dino Spin and we left Dinoland USA and headed back to Asia where we would ride Everest for the third time that day. Woohoo! By then it was time to head over to the Magic Kingdom with a quick stop at our room for a certain item, Emily's red Belle dress.
Emily had an appointment at the insanely cutesy named Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique which she had no idea she was going to until Christmas in the afternoon when we told her. It's Club Libby Lu on Disney steroids. The salon was also inside Cinderella's Castle adding even more to the utterly girlie SQUEE! factor. After we checked in, Emily and I were whisked away to change her clothes. Emily's name was called and her Fairy Godmother in Training seated her in a salon chair in front of a gianormous oval shaped mirror and promptly turned Emily away from it so the child could not see her progress. Then came the time to choose what look she wanted to go with. There was Pop Princess, Diva Princess, and Fairy Princess. If you guessed she selected the Cinderella inspired Fairy Princess, then you are a winner. Then Emily chose her tiara, naturally going with the one with pink stones. The Fairy Godmother in Training then piled all of Emily's hair on top of her head carefully concealing her hair wrap that she had gotten three days before and placing a small rhinestone Mickey insignia barrette in her hair beneath the bun on top of her head. Emily smiled the entire time she was in the chair. While her hair was being finished she chose her nail polish (sparkling pink) and her make up which was applied by a second Fairy Godmother in Training. At last her tiara was placed in her hair and Princess Emily was able to see how she looked. The makeover was not yet complete. Emily had to make a wish while the Fairy Godmother in Training waved a wand full of glitter over her head. After being dowsed with a very liberal amount of glitter the transformation was complete. Yes, I had fun watching that. And yes, I took a ton of pictures.
However the day was not over and we had dinner reservations at the Grand Floridian Cafe. (We also had other reservations of which the child was completely unaware.) We met up with Aunt Mikie which completed our Grand Gathering at lucky thirteen. Dinner was fantastic. The three margaritas I had made it even more so. And somehow Emily ended up with a Minnie Mouse costume for her American Girls from the gift shop. They didn't have the Belle costume in stock there so Minnie won out. By then Aunt Mikie wanted to turn in since she had had a not so nice day at the Orlando airport before arriving. So we jumped on the Monorail for a quick trip over to the Contemporary where our Magical Gathering experience was waiting.
It was a boat ride that took us out into the "Seven Seas Lagoon" to watch the fireworks. It wasn't just that of course. First there were snacks and exclusive even trading pins that were bestowed on the party. Then there was a Captain Hook/Mr. Smee meet and greet. Don't forget that the child was still all turned out from earlier. Both Captain Hook and Mr. Smee bowed to the princess and twirled her around. Then we had a pirate guide, Right Patch, who was pretty damn funny. The whole group was divided into two boats one captained by Captain Hook the other by Captain (apparently he was promoted) Smee. We were on Smee's boat. We needed a flag bearer to lead us to the boat and guess who was chosen? That was hilarious. She kept knocking boor Smee in the head at first by accident and later on Smee kept running into where she waved it on purpose. Right Patch then put us on the boat and we left Mr. Smee on the dock. Wait a minute? What sort of Captain is he? We sang "Pirates Life For Me" and "Under the Sea". By then we were out in the middle of the lagoon waiting for the performance. We watched the really dated Water Pageant which was like the electric parade except on the water. However it was still cute. Then the fireworks and holy crap, one couldn't have asked for a better seat. The music was wired into the speakers on the boat and it was for lack of a better word, magical. After the show we were treated to nautical Disney movie trivia. Being the utter movie geeks we are, we knew every answer. It got to the point where we just stopped answering questions. Then we were asked pirate one-liner jokes. Such as what's a pirate's favorite subject in school? Arrrrt or Arrrrithmatic. The best was when Right Patch asked, "What's a pirate's favorite spice?" Someone did get it right which was orrrregano, but not before someone shouted out, "Arrrsenic!" Right Patch almost lost it, "That's not a spice. I'm never eating at your house." Good times. Arriving back at the dock, Peter Pan was waiting. And any children were then spirited away by Peter back down the dock. After Peter signed Emily's autograph book and a quick picture we were sadly done for the day. But what a day it was.
Emily had an appointment at the insanely cutesy named Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique which she had no idea she was going to until Christmas in the afternoon when we told her. It's Club Libby Lu on Disney steroids. The salon was also inside Cinderella's Castle adding even more to the utterly girlie SQUEE! factor. After we checked in, Emily and I were whisked away to change her clothes. Emily's name was called and her Fairy Godmother in Training seated her in a salon chair in front of a gianormous oval shaped mirror and promptly turned Emily away from it so the child could not see her progress. Then came the time to choose what look she wanted to go with. There was Pop Princess, Diva Princess, and Fairy Princess. If you guessed she selected the Cinderella inspired Fairy Princess, then you are a winner. Then Emily chose her tiara, naturally going with the one with pink stones. The Fairy Godmother in Training then piled all of Emily's hair on top of her head carefully concealing her hair wrap that she had gotten three days before and placing a small rhinestone Mickey insignia barrette in her hair beneath the bun on top of her head. Emily smiled the entire time she was in the chair. While her hair was being finished she chose her nail polish (sparkling pink) and her make up which was applied by a second Fairy Godmother in Training. At last her tiara was placed in her hair and Princess Emily was able to see how she looked. The makeover was not yet complete. Emily had to make a wish while the Fairy Godmother in Training waved a wand full of glitter over her head. After being dowsed with a very liberal amount of glitter the transformation was complete. Yes, I had fun watching that. And yes, I took a ton of pictures.
However the day was not over and we had dinner reservations at the Grand Floridian Cafe. (We also had other reservations of which the child was completely unaware.) We met up with Aunt Mikie which completed our Grand Gathering at lucky thirteen. Dinner was fantastic. The three margaritas I had made it even more so. And somehow Emily ended up with a Minnie Mouse costume for her American Girls from the gift shop. They didn't have the Belle costume in stock there so Minnie won out. By then Aunt Mikie wanted to turn in since she had had a not so nice day at the Orlando airport before arriving. So we jumped on the Monorail for a quick trip over to the Contemporary where our Magical Gathering experience was waiting.
It was a boat ride that took us out into the "Seven Seas Lagoon" to watch the fireworks. It wasn't just that of course. First there were snacks and exclusive even trading pins that were bestowed on the party. Then there was a Captain Hook/Mr. Smee meet and greet. Don't forget that the child was still all turned out from earlier. Both Captain Hook and Mr. Smee bowed to the princess and twirled her around. Then we had a pirate guide, Right Patch, who was pretty damn funny. The whole group was divided into two boats one captained by Captain Hook the other by Captain (apparently he was promoted) Smee. We were on Smee's boat. We needed a flag bearer to lead us to the boat and guess who was chosen? That was hilarious. She kept knocking boor Smee in the head at first by accident and later on Smee kept running into where she waved it on purpose. Right Patch then put us on the boat and we left Mr. Smee on the dock. Wait a minute? What sort of Captain is he? We sang "Pirates Life For Me" and "Under the Sea". By then we were out in the middle of the lagoon waiting for the performance. We watched the really dated Water Pageant which was like the electric parade except on the water. However it was still cute. Then the fireworks and holy crap, one couldn't have asked for a better seat. The music was wired into the speakers on the boat and it was for lack of a better word, magical. After the show we were treated to nautical Disney movie trivia. Being the utter movie geeks we are, we knew every answer. It got to the point where we just stopped answering questions. Then we were asked pirate one-liner jokes. Such as what's a pirate's favorite subject in school? Arrrrt or Arrrrithmatic. The best was when Right Patch asked, "What's a pirate's favorite spice?" Someone did get it right which was orrrregano, but not before someone shouted out, "Arrrsenic!" Right Patch almost lost it, "That's not a spice. I'm never eating at your house." Good times. Arriving back at the dock, Peter Pan was waiting. And any children were then spirited away by Peter back down the dock. After Peter signed Emily's autograph book and a quick picture we were sadly done for the day. But what a day it was.