Hanging by the pool/beach

I am not kidding when I tell you that I think the peanuts enjoyed the pool/beach at the Polynesian more than anything else at Disney.  They wanted some time every single day just to hang out there.  At first, Dave and I thought..."we came all the way to Disney and you want to hang out at the pool?" But honestly it was a nice break from the hustle and bustle of the parks.

Harry going down the slide-- totally out of focus with the point and shoot.

I love to see my boys playing together on the beach.  Now that Will is in middle school they are not as close as they used to be.  So, whenever I see them reconnect, it warms my heart.

Kate could literally sit for hours building these little mounds and decorating them with sticks and stones and shells.   We had to drag our children away to go eat dinner this night:)


Tips I learned:

The pools look exactly the same at The Polynesian as I remembered from when I was a kid and my family stayed here.  So there are more updated pools at other resorts...BUT the Polynesian has an excellent view of the castle, the Magic Kingdom fireworks and the illuminated boat show (which I remember from 1976 too!) We hung out there a few tired nights watching the shows.

Everybody loves a Parade;)

I am sure y'all are getting sick of these Disney posts but this is the family scrapbook so I want to get it all here:)  I love the Disney parades.  I just do.  My family...well they were not as keen on them.  But after our lunch in the castle, we found a GREAT spot and parked ourselves down for the afternoon parade.   We all agreed that this was a fabulous parade.

Before the parade, park employees gave the kids hula hoops to play with

Kate and Harry love to hula hoop so this was a good distraction to pass the time and save our prime parade spots:)





I also took photos to pass the time.  Doesn't Dave look cute with the bibbidi bobbidi sash around his neck?



Finally, it was time for the parade...






Chip and Dale are our favorites.










Sweet brother:)





Kate was very excited to see Tianna.  She is not around as much as the other princesses.

Tips I learned:

~there are tons of parades at Disney. All of the parks have them.  My kids are not too interested in taking the time to see them. So, we don't force the issue.

~BUT this particular day, everyone was really worn out and moving slow.  SO, we got drinks and found a fabulous spot (in the shade) to just sit and hang out and wait for it to begin.  And guess what? We all really enjoyed it.

The Royal Table

Immediately after Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, Kate and I headed to lunch at the Royal table in Cinderella's Castle. It was delightful. Kate was in her glory. I am not sure we will ever do it again but it was totally worth it for a once in a little girl lifetime experience.

When you first enter (the very dark) castle, you line up to meet Cinderella...

Kate bought Cinderella some blossoms that she picked out side..Oops:(

Kate was smitten with Cinderella and she was so sweet to Kate too.  I love how Kate touches all of the princesses.

The castle is beautiful inside...

We were led to the best seat in the castle.  Seriously, we were in the window looking out on the carousel and we could see everything.  We felt very lucky.



This was the view from out table outside:)



Aurora, Belle, Snow White and Ariel all came around to say hello.





Fo dessert the kids got a make your own sundae platter.  Kate really enjoyed that:)

At the end of lunch, all of the children got wishing stars and wands (or swords?).  Kate took this very seriously and wished very hard:)





They all danced around with their wands too...



It was a very special Mommy and daughter lunch:)

Tips I learned:

~this is an expensive meal and the quality of the food is mediocre.  You are paying for the experience and that IS  definitely worth it.  Everyone treated us like royalty.

~having said that, the boys would not have enjoyed it so I am glad they went off and did their own thing.

~ It is A LOT of food.  A few courses are served to both adults and children.  They did make me a gluten free meal (I requested it at the time of reservations).

Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo

In cleaning out my laptop files, I realized that I only posted about one day of our Disney trip last fall.   Also, a faithful anonymous reader asks me every couple of weeks or so if I am ever going to post more Disney photos. I know I got very busy when we got back.  Now, I am putting together a little family video of the trip.  So, I am going to do a few posts here and in a few weeks I will post date them so they go back in October 2010 (which is when we went). Better late than never, right?

I knew that we had to go to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique this time at Disney.  Kate was all about the princesses and she was so excited to go to the "salon" (as she called it).  We brought our own Cinderella dress with us but they have them there to purchase too.

The Boutique is in Cinderella's Castle and it is quite beautiful but it is very dark and very crowded so photos were a challenge.

The fairy godmother called Princess Kate (after a very long wait) and began working on her hair...

Then another fairy godmother came to do her nails and a little make-up.





Some magic dust...and voila...












Kate LOVED it and she felt like a princess.  We went right over to Cinderella's Royal Table for lunch after this.  I will post about that next.

Meanwhile, it was Dave's birthday that day:)





Dave loved Dumbo as a kid and Dumbo is still one of his favorite rides.  We bought him a Dumbo ornament while we were there on his birthday!

The boys had lunch at the Liberty Tavern and rode some rides while Kate and I did the girly stuff:)

Disney Tips I learned...

~Book the Bibbidi Bobbido Boutique as soon as you can.  It books up very quickly. 

~Be prepared to wait.  We had reservations but still had a LONG wait.

~Bring your own princess clothes if you can.  They are much more expensive there and don't always have all the sizes.

~Try to time your appointment for just before your meal at the Royal table if you plan to eat there.

~Don't make the boys endure this:)  Dave and the boys came along to see Kate get called and then they stopped back to see the finished product but they were much happier to go off and ride rides during the whole affair.