Photos from the Princess Photo Shoot

Here are the 3 photos we picked out from Abby's Princess Photo shoot. She did really good for the photographer - I'm wondering why she is not so cooperative with the one at Sears! We were done in 5 minutes I think. We have yet to put the photos up.

This one is my favorite of them all.

You can kind of see that she has a crystal crown behind her big Belle Crown. She upgraded the Snow White head band for the Belle crown. She didn't see how you could be a princess without the crown. We had just gotten hair cuts on Thursday before we left so her bangs are all nice and straight - as opposed to when I trim them!


Posing like Snow White - and of course you could see her new shoes. She loved how the dress was so poofy.

Had to get a photo with the wand in there.

Abby is still reveling in the whole glory of the trip. Everything is "Remember yesterday when we saw __________ (enter princess name) and she was real!"

Epcot Day & the Night Parade & Fireworks

As you can tell we had to take a little blogging break. Thursday we went to Epcot again for the search for Snow White and then that evening went to Magic Kingdom for the light parade and fireworks - and then we ran out of gas! 4 days of straight park adventures was too much for the family so Friday we actually just stayed at the resort, slept in, went swimming, took naps, went swimming again, then family dinner. We were exhausted!!! But more on that later - back to Epcot.....

As I said previously it is the Garden Festival at Epcot and it is beautiful. The things they can do with plants is amazing. We were at Epcot around 10:30 - but not much happens until after 11 there so we just took our time and wandered. Since we had gone to Mexico and China the previous day we took a right and went to the UK and France to start with.


Here Abby is with the Beast and Belle in France. We ended up going to a lovely pastry shop for dessert breakfast - it was excellent. Tim and I shared a strawberry tort - highly recommended!


Abby in front of Aurora and Prince Phillip, but as usual she was ready for the real ones instead of fake ones....



So finally Princess Aurora made it out and yes - that is Megan finally in a photo with a character and is not crying!!! She even gave her a hug!


We had to stop and see Belle again - and yes there is Megan again and she hugged Belle as well.

They had a miniature Rapunzel tower with the music from the movie - as we watched that most evenings when we returned to the resort, the girls enjoyed looking at it. There is a train set also by it. We were in Germany at the time.

Waiting patiently for Snow White......

SNOW WHITE!!!! Abby was thrilled - Megan threw a fit.
Since we were in Germany we browsed a bit...


Abby and Megan found shields/swords to play with (they are foam) and Ann & Tim found the Oktoberfest beer :)


From Germany we went to the American Adventure. There Abby got to help say the pledge of allegiance with a group of kids.

From there we went to Morocco and found Jasmine and Aladin. Megan is hiding in the stroller if you were wondering.

One more stop in France to see the Beast - which Abby was afraid of - Megan is still hiding in the stroller.

Then one last stop in the UK to see Alice - who had alluded us at Magic Kingdom - she's apparently hard to get time with, but we got her.

After that we headed back to the resort for naps and late lunches because we were heading back to Magic Kingdom for the Electrical Light Parade and Castle Fireworks.


Curb side seats for the parade. As you can see we had to get some light up toys for the parade - Disney has to make a fortune on these based on how many kids had them. They dim the lights for the parade so it was fun for the kids to be able to use them.


Another shot - Abby has a Cinderella one (which is Megan's actually) and Megan is playing with Abby's Tinkerbelle one.

Let the parade begin!

Prince Charming trying on the glass slipper for the step-sisters. They were a hoot!

We stopped off at the ice cream parlor on Main street for some "dinner" then watched the fireworks by the castle - not my best photo - I had a better one but it's too much work to replace it after a week of blogging like this.

We were back at the resort around 11:30 I think - and that is where we ran out of gas. Friday was Park-Free, but full of swimming which is what the girls wanted to do - we didn't mind either as we were a little exhausted with it all as well. We learned quite a few lessons on this trip. Hopefully we can share with our friends. We had a lovely time and I am sure there are more photos still to post - we're still trying to recover from it all. As I asked Tim when we got back to the KC airport - "Were we really gone a week?" - Tim said - "Felt more like a weekend".

Princess Day!!!!

Well it is finally here - the day of being a princess for the girls. It started early with an appointment at the Bippity Boppity Boutique. Abby and Megan dove right in and started shopping for which dress they were going to pick out and accessories. So many choices! And the winners are......... Abby chose Snow White and Megan picked out Tiana. This is our special dressing room where it all was set out for us. Unfortunately it was as close as Megan got to her outfit, she freaked out, threw a fit, and didn't want to wear anything. So we gave it all back to the fairy godmothers and Tim and Megan went on rides while Abby continued the transformation to Snow White.

This was the closet that you got to pick from. Quite a lot of options. After you tried on your outfit you went back to the lobby to wait for your assigned fairy godmothers. Abby was very happy if you couldn't tell..

Already quite the poser - and we even haven't done hair/make up/nails.

This was our Fairy Godmother Marisol who is doing Abby's hair. She went with the fairy tale style and was busy getting pampered.

All done and ready to go - we had to do a little crown upgrade from the head band though. She has officially been sprinkled with fairy dust and made her wish to be a princess.

One of the many princesses we met today. Tiana and Naveen were very nice and Abby talked quite a bit with them.

For lunch we had our character meal at Cinderella's castle. This was quite an experience. First we met Cinderella - then Jasmine, Aurora, Belle, and Ariel! All in one spot, plus got an excellent meal and dessert! Abby and Megan were thrilled! Megan actually hugged Belle if you can believe that. I think she might be warming up to the whole character thing - or is just copying Abby.

After that we went on a mission to find Snow White - who on all days, was sick today and doing no more meet and greets. We thought we would find her over at Epcot, but it was really true - she was sick. So while we were at Epcot we met Mulan - almost as good, but not the same. We'll be returning tomorrow to take a trip around the world, and enjoy some beverages :)

Abby loved being a princess, every minute of it. Until we got home and all she wanted to do was take everything off. I'm sure I'll be trying to get it back on tomorrow though so we can see Snow White. She had many compliments from other park guests and the Princesses.

So an end to another busy day - we were at the parks for about 10 hours if you can believe that, and now it's time for bed. We're going to try to sleep in tomorrow, that is, past 630 - if we're lucky.

Animal Kingdom

Today we went to the other Kingdom in Disney World - Animal Kingdom. This is by far one of the best places to meet classic characters and have short lines. The girls saw many characters and got a lot of autographs. This park is only open from 9-6 and we spent most of the day there actually. The entryway - and the excitement builds! Our first stop was going to be the Kilomanjaro Safaris but then we ran into a couple of friends.......

Lilo and Stitch were there to greet us. Megan wasn't that happy to be around Stitch.

On to the Safari - we had a bumpy safari ride but saw quite a few animals and some were very close to the truck since they are used to them. Anything from hippos, to rhinos, to osteriches.

Abby's favorite autograph of the day by far - Pocahontas. We thought we might have run into Mulan but did not hang out or look very hard in Asia for us.

We did go to the Finding Nemo Musical - Abby, Megan and Theo loved it, and I think the adults did too. Here they are in the fish tank before Darla gets Nemo.

And last but not least - Mickey Mouse. We also met with Goofy, Donald, Minnie, Winnie the Pooh, Erore, Tigger, and Miss Bunny (Thumper's girlfriend). So quite a few characters and autorgraphs. Megan actually went up to Mickey and gave him her book and hugged him - first character ever! She was pretty friendly with Minnie as well, and Miss Bunny.

So a very busy day with outside animals and characters. Tomorrow is another day at Magic Kingdom - and yes, the much anticipated and talked about day that Abby and Megan get to be princesses!!! You can expect a lot of photos for sure. Now it's off to bed to rest for the big day, it will be hard.....because we are so excited!

Magic Kingdom - 1st day

Monday - on a mission to find some princesses!!!! Here we are on the tram - to get to the monorail that takes you to Disney World - it's a process I tell you! All excited and ready to go.

We made a potty stop and encountered our first parade - Celebrate It was the theme. The girls were happy to see some "real" characters finally.

We finally found that darn castle....I think Abby ran to it pulling her Aunt Betsy with her - she was waiting for no one!

At the castle - guess what - another show! And this time princesses! The girls were thrilled. So we haven't really even made it down Main Street yet and we have seen a parade and music show.

Our first character was Alice and the White Rabbit. Alice bailed on us right before we got up front. After a minor meltdown we decided to stay in line to get the White Rabbit's autograph. If you have seen our Christmas cards - that's about how well Megan is doing with the characters. Abby is loving them though.

We were going to get in line for the Dumbo ride and who should come along....Mary Poppins! So we did a little dance with her and a small quartet.

Then she let the kids follow her to the photo shoot area. It was a LARGE miracle - we were second in line and no waiting! Mary Poppins commented on how well Abby danced with her. Abby's response "I know." She was very happy about seeing her.

Our first ride of the day was the carousel and we sent Grandpa to go stand in line for Dumbo while we rode the Snow White ride after the carousel. It was a good way to knock out 3 rides pretty quickly. As you can see everyone is having fun.

Abby has been getting random autographs from "important" people. This little girl sat next to us while we waited for the 3 pm parade and since she was Rapunzel - Abby needed her autograph. It was pretty cute - then the girl asked for Abby's autograph!

Another parade - and we finally saw Ariel, Belle, and Tiana. I am sure they will be on our list for the next couple of days.

During the parade, Tim waiting 1.5 hours in line so we could see Rapunzel - the highlight of the day. Here we are dancing with Rapunzel and Flynn - Megan is attached to me as usual when there is a character around. This was really a great character greet. They got to color first before the characters came out, then did a group dance, then got to meet the characters - and not a short one. We had a good couple of minutes of photos and talking with them.

Our group photo with Rapunzel and Flynn - Abby was thrilled - Megan was beyond nap time, exhausted and ready to crash.

That was where we ended our day at Magic Kingdom. Both kids fell asleep on the way home. We're hopefully just going to have a relaxing evening with some swimming. It was extremely hot so lots of water is on our menu.

Tomorrow - probably more Magic Kingdom :)

Orlando Arrival - Saturday/Sunday

We have safely arrived in Orlando. Saturday was mostly flying as we took an afternoon flight to not be that rushed and to hopefully take advantage of nap time. The girsl instead both watched their DVD players the whole time and were quiet and good. Megan fell asleep after we landed. We got our rental car and got to our resort easily. With the time change and later arrival it was a little rough of a night, but we are adjusting. Here are a couple pictures of our resort. Tim's parents have a time share with Sheraton Vistana and we each have 2 bedroom units that have been recently remodeled and are very nice. Our kitchen.

Our dining/living room area.

We went to Downtown Disney on Sunday evening after some swimming for dinner. Abby saw her first princesses there - they were unfortunately statues. Notice she has her autograph book with her - just in case.

Aurora too fo course, she was really wanting to see some real princesses she was already tired of the fake ones. Megan wasn't sure about the whole large statue thing.

Megan and Theo doing a little dancing while we waited for fireworks.

It was a late evening with some cranky/crashing kids. Monday morning is Magic Kingdom - Happiest Place on Earth right?? We'll let you know....