Disney Day 3! (Part 1)

So yes, Disney Day 3 needs to be a two parter.  We had a BIG day, went to the Bippidi Boppidi Boutique AND lunch with all the princesses!  Mommy's camera got a workout that day, so I thought I'd split it up to avoid picture overload. 

Plus, Bippidi Bobbidi deserves it's own post.  It was amazing.

Here are the girls in the morning, with it's-85-degrees-already-at-7am-lens-fog going on.  But I don't care, I needed a shot of these beauties with their matching Tink shirts and crown headbands. I just love dressing up these little princesses! :)

 We went to Magic Kingdom early, since that is where our Bippidi appointment was.  We had a little time to kill in the morning, so we went to the Peter Pan ride.  Confession:  I still have NO idea why this ride had such a long wait the entire trip!  From 9:00am to 11:00pm, you couldn't get on this ride without wait or a Fast Pass.  It just struck me as so odd.  The really crowded rides are always the newer ones (Ariel) or the big ones (Splash Mountain)...and this one?!  I thought maybe it could be because Peter Pan just came out of the Disney vault onto DVD, so this whole generation just starting loving it.  Either way, it's a cute ride, just not worth a huge wait to me.  But Reilly sure was excited!  She got Peter Pan as a prize just before we left, so was very into all things Peter and Wendy and Tink!

 While we were online, we caught sight of these guys around the corner posing for pictures.  I knew she would be way excited to meet them, and she was!  She just loved meeting all the characters, even more than the rides.  She had seen a teenage boy dressed as Peter Pan the day before running through the park, and she was convinced it was the real Peter, and is still asking me to this day why Peter was running that day.  Haha!

 Wendy was one of our favs.  She was so sweet and just REALLY seemed like little Wendy had come to life!  Her English accent adorable, and she was just so precious with Reilly.  They talked about bows, and how her mother makes hers for her.  Reilly just loves accents since our trip, hearing so many different people speak - she tells me that "Wendy doesn't say "Peter" she says "PetAH".  It's adorable.

 I mean, can't you just tell how much they love each other!  She is smitten with Wendy.  We heard a radio commercial for Wendy's the other day, and she totally freaked out and thought they were talking about her Wendy. :)  So happy we got to meet her.

 She loved Peter as well, and said he was "so soft!"

 Here's Wendy showing Reagan some love too!

Next, we headed over to the Castle Couture gift shop so Reilly could pick out a prize.  (More on that prize later). She got sprinkled with Pixie Dust (aka glitter aka her new favorite substance in life), by the sweet man working there.  Then we headed over to the Bippidi Boppidy Boutique which was actually inside Cinderella's Castle!

 We checked in, and got to go right back to the Royal Dressing Rooms to change into our fancy attire.  Rather than drop almost $300 on this ordeal, I opted to bring our own beautiful dresses for the girls, as well as our own shoes and wands.  This way, Reagan could be matching and feel just as special, they looked adorable, AND we saved some money!  (There is a package that includes a dress, shoes, wand, crown, etc...but I actually didn't like the way it looked when we got there!  The girl's were sweltering in these huge thick polyester gowns, and just looked too gaudy and overdone.  I was so happy that we brought our own cooler dresses, and Reilly was too!)

 I love how excited Reagan was too!  Could you just melt.

While we waited to get done, Reilly had to go to the bathroom.  I asked the woman at the front where the closest bathroom was, and she directed us around the Carousel.  As I headed out the door, the sweet sweet older "Fairy God Mother" as they call themselves, stopped us and said, "Wait! Follow me!  Tell Barbara I'll be right back!"  So Hubby took Reilly and followed her mysteriously, and I said, "Um..Barbara? She'll be right back."  A few minutes later, Reilly came skipping back into the waiting area.  The Fairy Godmother said, "Tell Mommy who you saw!".  To which Reilly replied, "WE SAW THE REAL CINDERELLA!!!"  That sweet woman took Reilly to the "real castle bathroom" (inside the Cinderella's Royal Table restaurant), and brought her past Cinderella, who waved and blew a kiss RIGHT to Reilly.  Reilly thought it was just about the most magical thing ever that she saw Cinderella in her actual castle, and that she really blew a kiss to her.  I was so grateful to that sweet woman, and wondered how many other little girls to does this for every day - absolutely making their day.  Such a sweet woman.

 Here is Reilly picking out her makeup colors from her very own Fairy Godmother.  I just loved every minute of this experience, and would do it again in a second.  It was worth every penny.

 Just look at that face!  As she holds her little wand.  I mean seriously. She was so excited.

 Sweet girl in her "glass slippers". :)

 Super excited to get started!!

 As soon as she started doing her hair, she got her very serious face.  This is when she does Big Girl things, and knows it is a big deal.  She had the same expression for her very first manicure, and I am just in love with it.

 There's her smile!

 Cutie serious face again. :)

 Then she got another Fairy Godmother, Daisy, who came to do her nails and makeup a the same time!! It was so sweet and magical for her.

 Here they were telling her about the gel they were using in her hair, and how it came from the jellyfish under the sea.  Then they had her guess who brought them the gel every morning, and it was of course Ariel.  They told her how Ariel gets her hair done there every morning, and sits in that very chair.  I just LOVED all the magical stories that each person told Reilly the whole time - it made me want to cry.

 So captivated.

 Reagan, naturally, was laughing and smiling the whole time.  She was having a ball.  And the professional photographer there, who was supposed to be photographing the Princesses, just fell in love with Reagan and spent a good amount of his film on her. :)

 Really feeling special now. :)

 Look at her nails drying!  Everything about this was cracking me up. She is so tiny getting so pampered. :)

 Seriously.  Can I eat your arms rolls, please. I'm obsessed with you. The photographer, at this point, was playing peek-a-boo and using his weirdly amazing -are-you-actually-Mickey-Mouse Mickey voice to make her laugh.

 MY FAVORITE PART.  I loved when they put the eye makeup on her, and she closed her eyes, and still had her hands out drying.  I mean, it was too much to take!

 Blotting.  Obviously.

 As soon as Mommy came close, her excited "Can you believe this Mama!" face came out. :)

 Check out Reagan pointing at her sister like, "Guys, can you get a load of this?!"

 Her hilarious shield as they sprayed her and showered her with Pixie Dust.

 Once again, the eyes closed killed me.  With the hand still out.  I this point I was holding back laughter/tears.

 As they sprinkled her with Fairy Dust, they said, "May all of your dreams and fairy tale wishes come true, Bippidi....Boppidi...Boo!"  (Cue tears from Mama. I mean, really. How could you not.)  Look at that precious precious little face, that was once in my womb, sitting in that chair as all of her little tiny 3-year-old dreams become real.  I swear, I'm not hormonal.

 Our gorgeous girl!!  Check out Mama and Daddy in the mirror, such proud parents. :)

 Her sweet smile when they spun her around to see herself. :)

In her fancy little sash, trying to take in all the magic around her. (Sidenote: I wonder if I always tilt like that when I photograph?! People who see me take pictures all the time - is this my stance? Haha) 

This is when the giggles started. :)

I love that she is always willing and ready to have her little sister climb right up into the limelight with her.  She wasn't all "No, this is my chair. She's too little." She said, "Come here Rea Rea!"  Lately she's been telling me daily how happy it makes God when she shares.  Then she'll point to the ceiling and say, "SEE?? LOOK HOW HAPPY GOD IS!"

Angels getting Daddy tickles.

Her favorite part, which she kept talking about and showing to everyone (strangers alike) was the little "Minnie without the bow behind her bun" (in case you were confused, Minnie without the bow is sometimes referred to as "Mickey". But not to her.  She insisted this was Minnie, but she just wasn't wearing her bow.)  She loves that little clip!

Holding her new Ariel prize, which she wasn't allowed to open ALL day long (we are so mean) until we got back to the hotel.  Even thought she asked no less than 53 times, each time as if she had never heard the answer before.  OH hey, when we got on the monorail, can I play with my toy?  No honey, no until we get back to our room. Ha.  But she insisted on carrying it like a purse all day.  She still loves every little teeny tiny choking hazard of a piece of that toy, and has not stopped playing with it!  Point for Mommy and Daddy. :)

All day, strangers and Disney staff would ask her about her time at the boutique, she showed them her Minnie, and told them all about her time.  It was so sweet for her to be princess for a day.  (Sidenote, ALL Disney personell, every single day, called her "Princess" everywhere she went.  They do it for every little girl, and it's just precious.)

We were so happy to be able to do this for our girl.  And I can't wait till Reagan is old enough, and to see what they do with her curls. ;) (Even though, she's be totally content watching again, I think!)  Reilly brings us so much joy every day, and is such a good girl most every day.  We were so happy to bring her the biggest smiles we knew how at he tender little age.  And some people will say (about the whole trip), that they won't remember it.  And she might not.  But that doesn't actually matter to me at all.  She will have these pictures.  She will have my words.  And Hubby and I will have the memory of watching her sweet face in such utter joy and wonder.  Which is a gift in itself.

 

 

Disney, Day 2!

This was our first full day at Disney, and man was it jam-packed!  We squeezed a lot of fun into our days on this trip, while making sure the chickies still had their beauty rest. ;)

We got up early for our 7:40 reservation at Chef Mickey's!  Reagan was ready to roll, in her Minnie gear.

 Reagan, Reilly and I may have had all matching Minnie shirts on.  We just had to.  I remembered Chef Mickey's from the first time I went to Disney, so we were all really excited.

 I was not sure how Reagan (or Reilly for that matter) would react to the characters.  In the past, Reilly has loved them from afar, but not wanted to get really close to them.  But this trip, she really turned a corner!  She LOVED everyone we met!  I think it was all the excitement, and also the amount of personality the characters showed.  They were very enthusiastic and sweet, it was like they were talking. 

 Here is Reagan baby blowing kisses to Goofy!  He was so sweet.

 Reilly Belle doing the same!

 Reilly kept addressing the fact that they weren't talking - she would say, "Mommy, they can talk, we just can't understand what they are saying.  But when the princesses talk, we can understand them, so that's why we can hear them."  She is so funny, she had to make sense out of the fact that they were walking around silently!

 Precious Reagan meeting Mickey!

 With Grandma and Grandpa!

 Sweet girl, she was so excited.

 Family with Mickey!  (At this point, none of us had eaten yet!  I didn't want to miss any characters, and they started coming full speed the second we walked in.  It was a delicious buffet, once we finally ran and got some!)

 I just love her face in this one.

Reagan loved Minnie too!  All the girls with the lady.

 Pluto, neither of them were too thrilled with.  Here is Reagan making sure he wasn't going to eat her up.  I think it was his giant open mouth. :)

After our first trip to the Magic Kingdom, Reilly was asking and asking when she was going to meet the princesses.  So we knew it had to be our first stop on Tuesday morning!  We went straight to Fast-Pass the Ariel ride (which had the longest wait in the park every day, being the newest ride - 80-90 minutes by peak time!), and went right on line to meet her at her grotto.  I brought Reilly's Ariel shirt that I made her for her birthday so she could be in her full gear to meet her favorite lady. :)

 Look at her sweet face!  They talked about her shirt and Flounder and how much Reilly loved her. :)

 Little angels..you can tell how hot it was, look at their glow!  We used our spray fan a lot that day, boy.

After we met Ariel, we went and rode Ariel's ride right away.  Since it was so early, there was barely any wait!  Reilly and Reagan both loved it.  We sat in a shell, and they took you through every scene, with every song and character included.  It was so colorful and sparkly, and the technology involved was just amazing.  Plus, we all got to go on the same shell!  I loved that since they were both "lap" sized, they let us all ride together.  We didn't have to split up for even one ride.  That made for lots of family memories.  Then, since we had the fast pass, we jumped right back on her ride for a second time!  I was so happy we had an Ariel-filled morning to kick off our trip - and so was the little princess. :)

 We caught these ladies singing and dancing outside Belle's castle, and Reilly thought they were royalty and needed to go meet them.  They were so sweet!

 We also hit up the Dumbo ride, which Reilly thought we could ride twice as well!  I wish the ride was a bit longer, she had fun going up and down.

This brought us to about noon - and with 2 very hot, very sleepy babes.  They still hadn't caught up from our travel day the day before.  We knew up front that we would have to go with the flow on this trip, and not push the girls too far.  So we took their cue and headed back to the hotel for naptime and some air conditioning, while Grandma and Grandpa stayed on in the park for a while.

Before we left the park, we of course had to get some ice cream from the shop on Main Street.  It was so sweltering, that the ice cream started melting before we even left the shop.  Like, dripping all over our hands and turning to soup in 60 seconds!  I couldn't believe it.  It didn't affect anyone's fun though, Reilly still loved her Mickey cone.  We also got a really cute family picture in front of the castle, where Reagan gave her cheese face!  You could tell how drenched and hot we all are, which is part of the memory. :)

 We had a first floor room, which made napping much easier.  The girl went in for naps, and we sat outside on our patio.  This was right outside our sliding doors on the lawn.  It was nice because while they were napping, we could take turns going to the bathroom at the main lobby, getting snacks (read: Dole Whip), or checking out the Gift Shops.  We weren't trapped by naptime, so that was nice!  Plus, we had a nice spot in the sunshine surrounded by palm trees - not a bad view!

 Here are the girls after they woke up, bathed and ready for dinner.  :)

 It was a little stormy looking when we were leaving (it rained in the afternoon for about an hour every day, and then stopped and was beautiful every night), so we gave Reilly her new poncho!  She loved it.  It's from Target, not from the parks- money saver!

 

We had a "photo shoot" and a dance party while we waited for our table at the Prime Time Cafe. Who needs an iphone - never underestimate the distracting capabilities of a camera. :)

 Reagan wanted to join in on the fun!

 This was an awesome meal (as always!).  I had chicken pot pie, and s'mores for dessert, with the most amazing all natural lemonade.  So delish.  here is Reilly and Daddy, with her souvenir Ariel cup from her "Ariel Punch"!  It doesn't take much to thrill her!

 That night, the grandparents stayed in since they didn't get a rest that afternoon.  So we put Reagan to bed since she is the sleep lover, and took Reilly out for the Magic Hours at the Magic Kingdom!  It was just Mommy, Daddy and Reilly time.  This was one of my favorite memories of the trip - because Reilly knew how special it was.  We surprised her with a Strawberry milk, and set off on the monorail!

 We went to the Magic Kingdom just in time for the fireworks show.  Reilly was SO excited, and kept saying, "I'm getting to stay up extra late, because I'm being SUCH a good girl!"  It was so cute.

 We were all wired on Disney energy that night!  Nothing was stopping us three!

 She was in awe of the fireworks, and naturally I cried.  It was amazing.  The songs in the background were so beautiful, they had princesses and other Disney characters saying famous lines from the movies.  Reilly would hear a princess voice, and immediately know who it was.  The theme was "Wishes" so it was all about your wishes coming true.  It was so moving.  And she loved seeing Tink fly!

 Then we saw this guy at the Silhouette stand, and decided we needed to have her silhouette done!  It's so classic and old-fashioned looking, and what a perfect souvenir from our trip to remember exactly how little they were when we went. (We got Reagan's done the next day too - I'm in love with them!)

 We passed by the Fairies meet and greet, which had a 60 minute wait earlier.  Well, at 10:45 at night, go figure, it was empty!  We got some awesome one-on-one chat time with Tink and her friend in their adorable fairy-land.  Tinkerbell was so sweet, and became one of Reilly's favs on this trip.

 So sweet.

Well, it was after midnight by the time we rode Alladin's magic carpet, Pirate's of the Carribean (no waits), caught the lights parade, and finally made it back to our room!  Reilly was skipping and singing and still didn't want to go to bed!  It was so funny.  But this is when The Tired began to set in for me.  My goodness, I'd wake up in the middle of the night, and be aching as I walked to the bathroom.  My feet ached, my calves ached.  The long long hours, combine with the pregnancy, put such a strain on my poor feet!  I was happy to be off them at the end of every day, and wished I had a stroller by the end!  But stopping was not an option - we had more to see!  Day 3 was when we had lunch with ALL the princesses...