So Much to Celebrate. . a Disney Wedding, 30th Anniversary & Easter 2015 Updated 3/29

We played a round of the Disney ice game. Have you every played this? I learned about it from one of Anita's reports years ago. You have to find a good piece of ice that your straw can slip through. Whoever's ice is the last to melt through wins.

That sounds fun! I'm going to try this the next time I'm at Disney; my kids will really get a kick out of it.

Glad everyone enjoyed dinner at Tony's. How adorable that Gia had to recreate the spaghetti kiss scene!


I really miss Wishes.

Me too.
I'm happy to hear you were able to see it one last time!
 
That sounds fun! I'm going to try this the next time I'm at Disney; my kids will really get a kick out of it.

Glad everyone enjoyed dinner at Tony's. How adorable that Gia had to recreate the spaghetti kiss scene!

The ice game really helps pass the time when you're waiting for food. I think your kids would love it.

She's Italian and loves her pasta. It was the perfect set up for her.

Me too.
I'm happy to hear you were able to see it one last time!

I'm still thrilled we saw it one last time. I'm hoping the new show grows on us.
 
Just slowly making my way to all the threads I'm on and saying a friendly howdy! :)

Hope all is well in your world, Vanessa! :)
 
Just slowly making my way to all the threads I'm on and saying a friendly howdy! :)

Hope all is well in your world, Vanessa! :)

I Liesa! I've been a very bad Disser. I'm hoping now that the holiday are over to get back on her and get caught up.
 


I am hoping the same. Just WAY less DISTime lately. I find I have chunks of time here and there and do a bonzai catch up now and again. Hope things will settle down for you soon, Friend. :)
 
April 9th- Epcot Photos & Fun Around the World- Part 1

I'm so sorry I've absent from the Dis and from this report. I was sick Thanksgiving week and celebrating my big 50. From there the Christmas rush started and just got so behind. It's so hard to get caught up once you get behind, but I really miss this community when I fall off. As soon as Christmas was over we started our countdown for our trip next month to Disney! Right now we're down to 23 days. We have so much to do before we go. I'm tagging along with Michelle, Jimmy and the kids. We're all going to see Gia dance in Disney Springs. We're doing the traditional trip people from Louisiana do. We all invade Disney for Mardi Gras. I'm really looking forward to the cooler temperatures. We haven't been at Mardi Gras since 2012. For the past 4 years we have been very busy with Robot building and competing during this time of the year. Enough about life. Lets get on with the trip report.

Our Epcot day was a big day. This was the last day we would all be in the park together. Everyone but Dennis, Danielle and I were leaving the next day. We were all looking forward to enjoying the Flower and Garden Festival together, you know looking at the flowers, sampling some food and the drinks. Our day was starting with a big breakfast before the park opened at Akershus. We were all looking forward to seeing the empty park and eating with the Princesses. We really wanted to share this with our Princess Gia, but Wayne and Carolyn had decided to stay at the resort for the day and keep Gia with them. Although we were really going to miss Gia at this age she was really fine with swimming all day. Riverside is a great resort for just hanging around. We're going to get a "do-over" next month and we'll have JP to charm the Princesses.

Since we had transportation along with Tyler and Chelsea we chose to drive so we didn't have to worry about being late. We picked up Jimmy and Michelle and were soon parking here
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It was really odd to approach the entrance from the opposite direction.

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We may have even tried to cross into the area we weren't suppose to and get in a little bit of trouble with the "Disney Police". No taking short cuts. As we entered we saw a monorail pass above.
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We entered the park early and enjoyed taking lots of pictures of the empty park. We've done this a few time and I really love it.

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We took lots pictures of the Flower and Garden attractions so be prepared for lots of pictures for this day. Everything was just so pretty!
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Spaceship Earth without a line.
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Continued in next post.


 
We slowly made our way through Future World.
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I don't know why I didn't smile here. It really messes up what would have been a great picture with my girls.

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We moved closer to Norway and ran into this famous sister pair. My girls had to recreate one of their great moments.

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It kinda of helped that at this time Danielle was sporting some "red hair" and Michelle was a little blonde.

Here's a little scenery before we head to breakfast.

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I'll tackle breakfast in the next update!

 


I totally understand how overwhelming it can be to try to get caught back up on the action when you've been away from the Dis! But great to get another update on your TR! And you're right, Epcot is just really stunning during Flower and Garden. I've never been to Epcot during Food and Wine, and I'm sure I would like it, but I think the best time of year for Epcot has to be Flower and Garden Festival time!
 
You've got tons of really nice photos there! Someday I'd love to make it back to F&G!

And you're right, it's discombulating to arrive from the other side- haven't driven there in YEARS, but yeah, weird!
 
Yay on an upcoming trip! You get to experience JP's first Disney visit, how exciting!! I'm sure he'll have everyone smitten in the parks.

F&G Festival is my favorite time of year at Epcot, all the flowers are so pretty. I don't blame you one bit for taking lots of pictures! I think the one of you and your daughters is great, smiling or not!
 
I totally understand how overwhelming it can be to try to get caught back up on the action when you've been away from the Dis! But great to get another update on your TR! And you're right, Epcot is just really stunning during Flower and Garden. I've never been to Epcot during Food and Wine, and I'm sure I would like it, but I think the best time of year for Epcot has to be Flower and Garden Festival time!

I'm going to try my best to get caught up.

Our last 2 trips were during Flower & Garden. Epcot is going to look naked next month. I haven't made it to Food & Wine yet either, but it's on the bucket list.

You've got tons of really nice photos there! Someday I'd love to make it back to F&G!

And you're right, it's discombulating to arrive from the other side- haven't driven there in YEARS, but yeah, weird!

I hope you back to F&G soon. Sooo pretty and now lots of food and drinks to taste.

Yay on an upcoming trip! You get to experience JP's first Disney visit, how exciting!! I'm sure he'll have everyone smitten in the parks.

I'm real excited to see his first trip. He's such a charmer so we're thinking he'll be charming everyone there too.

F&G Festival is my favorite time of year at Epcot, all the flowers are so pretty. I don't blame you one bit for taking lots of pictures! I think the one of you and your daughters is great, smiling or not!

I'm going to miss seeing all the beauty of Epcot on this trip. I am looking forward to seeing Festival of the Arts.
 
We have all been slightly behind I think with the holidays! Welcome back! So exciting that you are going back soon!

I finally feel like life is getting back to normal after the holidays. It helped to have a weather day off this week.

We're all soooo excited about the trip next month. Michelle, Jimmy and the kids came over tonight. Michelle worked on some more shirts and I keep the kids occupied. I helped Gia clean some pennies for pressing.
 
I'm back, too. Sorry we fell off the face of the planet. I guess I never gave myself enough credit for holding down our fort. My husband works really hard, and a lot. I work full time, too. But doing that and handling all of the things, kids, life… it's all a bit time consuming. On top of planning for the biggest, baddest Disney Trip EVER!

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By the way, magic bands are great for teething infants, if you're wondering. But his is going in a "magic band buddy" anyway.


So just a little touch on that…


We had hoped to go in between both kids' birthdays, over our Spring Break, but Jimmy has a first cousin getting married the following weekend. No way were we going to be able to do both so close together. Well, DD (Gia) had just been invited the month or so before to dance in Disney Springs with her dance studio. We had no intentions of going because we planned on going the following month for Spring Break. So we were like, "okay. Let's do this. Let's just go at Mardi Gras when she's dancing and make a vacation out of it." …only to find out we can't do the wedding that changed all of our plans in the first place-- because that's the weekend Gia has her First Communion. Oh well, it's all working out and I'm so excited that I could explode.



I didn't want to be THAT GIRL that makes all of her t-shirts… but turns out I am. With this new mom-bod, I'm particular in the shirts I wear, but still wanted cute Disney stuff. Thus, we've become a shirt factory. Here's a little sneak peak, but you'll have to wait for our trip report to see the full monty. And that one, I plan to do timely. Already got my notebook to remember things!

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We all have shirts for her performance. She even has one. Mom's side has pink flowers, Dad's side has blue. Gia gets both flowers.


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Speaking of shirts. I'm not sure how old I was or what trip I started to carefully choose my outfits for disney. I'm also the girl that would wear up first on christmas and have a shower, shave my legs, and have a full face of makeup before the sun cracked over the houses across the street (we weren't allowed to wake up mom and dad until we saw the sun). But yes, at some point I got methodical about outfits and any opportunity pictures will be taken. Blame social media. Over time, everyone hopped on my bandwagon. Now we outfit plan for MONTHS. When we shop, it's all "oh, this is VERY Animal Kingdom" and "with a pair of red leggings, it'll almost be like Minnie Mouse." My point is that this trip there's been a lot of planning involved and most of it is outfit oriented. My husband lets me dress him, and I have my own personal, adorable baby doll, too.

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look at her outfit... remind you of any princesses? Subtly, of course.


Our trip is split a few different ways and little G will actually be on vacation over a week! We are going down that Friday, her mom will meet us there about Monday, we spend Tuesday and Wednesday together for performance and what not, and we fly home Thursday while G stays with her mom until Saturday. This is a big deal for us! I don't think Gia ever thought her whole family would all be together like that, especially in Disney World. But we still get our own piece of the world for a few days, too. Everyone wins.



But since it is such a big deal, and it's JP's first trip, and our first time back since we got married, I tried really hard to make it REALLY magical for everyone! Just a few fun things we have planned:

  1. Room only stay in Princess Room at POR
  2. Carriage ride at POR
  3. Dessert Party in MK for Happily Ever After
  4. Breakfast at the Poly, where we got married
  5. Dinner at Coral Reef (JP LOVVVVVES aquariums)
  6. JPs first haircut
  7. My in laws are coming to surprise Gia and be there for her performance and just the day after


So- yeah- we've been busy. Well, mostly me. And mostly me Disney planning. And "momming", I guess.



Now, as for our spot in the trip, I can sum it up to what I remember that day. We drank… a lot! We used most of our snack credits on the food carts, and it was amazing. France had an arnold palmer popsicle, made entirely of different alcohols. Definitely a trip highlight. We recreated a lot of the topiaries. This is actually where my Jimmy coined the name "Grumpy" for my dad. *so fitting*

But before we made it to the world, I do remember sitting on a bench outside of The Land and crying, arms folded, pouting, and saying, "This is not magical!" All because I was butt hurt that we didn't have Gia, and my husband refused to ride any rides. This time around, my expectations are much lower and I choose to divulge in caffeine and alcohol before I get disappointed. But that's all I've got right now. I'll let mom tell the story and I'll pop in to share what I can.



Oh, and here's a picture of my son being absolutely adorable. Because he just is. Such a charm and a flirt and a MESS!

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I love the shirts! I am not crafty enough to make my own, I order off of amazon and have to control myself sometimes!

Thank you! I'm really proud of them so far. Ordering off of Amazon is entirely too easy and addicting. Amazong has supplied about 75% of the stuff going on this trip with us. We fly out 2 weeks from tomorrow and I CANT EVEN!

We go tomorrow to see if my son's two-month-long ear infection is any better. I'm terrified that it's not and we will be on a plane in 2 weeks. Almost as terrified as I am that we will all get sick from flying. I've got clorox wipes in EVERY BAG! Gia's other little brother going on this trip is about 8 weeks older than our little JP and he ended up scheduling to get tubes just days before we fly so he won't be miserable on the plane. Now that's in my head and I'm TERRIFIEDDDDDDDDDDD. But by this time tomorrow we will know roughly what to expect.
 
We go tomorrow to see if my son's two-month-long ear infection is any better. I'm terrified that it's not and we will be on a plane in 2 weeks. Almost as terrified as I am that we will all get sick from flying. I've got clorox wipes in EVERY BAG! Gia's other little brother going on this trip is about 8 weeks older than our little JP and he ended up scheduling to get tubes just days before we fly so he won't be miserable on the plane. Now that's in my head and I'm TERRIFIEDDDDDDDDDDD. But by this time tomorrow we will know roughly what to expect.
I will keep my fingers crossed for you! It is tough, you can never plan for illnesses. I usually start giving my girl AirBorne dummies a couple weeks before our trips. I fear that, that will soon become there sign that the trip is coming up! Ha.
 
Speaking of shirts. I'm not sure how old I was or what trip I started to carefully choose my outfits for disney. I'm also the girl that would wear up first on christmas and have a shower, shave my legs, and have a full face of makeup before the sun cracked over the houses across the street (we weren't allowed to wake up mom and dad until we saw the sun). But yes, at some point I got methodical about outfits and any opportunity pictures will be taken. Blame social media. Over time, everyone hopped on my bandwagon. Now we outfit plan for MONTHS. When we shop, it's all "oh, this is VERY Animal Kingdom" and "with a pair of red leggings, it'll almost be like Minnie Mouse." My point is that this trip there's been a lot of planning involved and most of it is outfit oriented. My husband lets me dress him, and I have my own personal, adorable baby doll, too.

We're already planning our MNSSHP costumes for 2019. Yes, so what it's almost 2 years away. If you've got to sew them, might take a bit.

  1. Room only stay in Princess Room at POR
  2. Carriage ride at POR
  3. Dessert Party in MK for Happily Ever After
  4. Breakfast at the Poly, where we got married
  5. Dinner at Coral Reef (JP LOVVVVVES aquariums)
  6. JPs first haircut
  7. My in laws are coming to surprise Gia and be there for her performance and just the day after

These look like really nice things to do! Not done a few, but have always wanted to- like the carriage ride.

Now, as for our spot in the trip, I can sum it up to what I remember that day. We drank… a lot! We used most of our snack credits on the food carts, and it was amazing. France had an arnold palmer popsicle, made entirely of different alcohols. Definitely a trip highlight.

Wuuuuut?! Ummm, I want this. Going on list right now.
 
I can't believe we have just 3 more sleeps before we will be in Disney again. We've been real busy taking care of all the last minuted things that must be done before a trip. I've had it easy since I only have to worry about just me for the first time ever. Michelle has been trying to get things ready for 4 people and 1 is a baby. We're planning our pre-trip mani/pedis for Thursday night. Fingers crossed they stay open long enough to get us all done. Also send good thoughts that our Happily Ever After Dessert party for Sunday night doesn't get rained out. I'm really looking forward to this. Right now it's showing a 60% chance of showers. When we first started looking at the weather it was perfect, high in the low 70s and lows in the 50s. Now we're looking at highs in the low 80s and a rain chance on just about every day. I haven't started packing clothes yet, I'm hoping it changes back to the 70s.

April 9th Epcot- Dining with Princesses

It was time for our much anticipated breakfast in Norway. We have eaten here for several trips. We've done breakfast, lunch and dinner. Our favorite is breakfast. I know some people see this as a waste of valuable park time but we really enjoy it. We actually like the food choices and the time spent with the Princesses. We really wanted to share this with everyone on the trip but it just didn't work out.

We checked in and waited our turn to be called in to meet Belle. Belle is probably the overall favorite Princess in our household. We love seeing her in the gold ballgown. When it was our turn to greet her we took full advantage of the opportunity.

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I think we have been seated in every room at least once. For this meal we were seated next to the windows as far from the food as possible. It wasn't bad and I actually liked where we were since we weren't crowed in the middle of the room. Our first Princess was Cinderella.

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She was just lovely. Next up was Sleeping Beauty. I didn't get a good picture here. Everyone is looking somewhere else.

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When Ariel came around the girls all grabbed their dinglehoppers.

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I had a private meeting with Snow White.

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Then the girls had their turn.

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After we stuffed ourselves we stopped for a traditional picture in the throne chair, not sure it that's what it really is but that's what we always call it.

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I thought this was real cute.

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I love that these two don't take themselves too seriously.

We all waddled out of Norway and hightailed it as fast as our full tummies would let us to catch a ride on stand by. The park had just opened and we were hoping to get in a line that wasn't too bad.

I don't know if I'll get a chance to get back on here before we leave but I will try to check in while in the World.


 
I can't believe we have just 3 more sleeps before we will be in Disney again.

Yay! I hope you have a wonderful trip! Sorry that we'll be just missing each other. It's so close now that you'll blink and you'll be there!

Also send good thoughts that our Happily Ever After Dessert party for Sunday night doesn't get rained out. I'm really looking forward to this. Right now it's showing a 60% chance of showers.

I'll be hoping for good weather for you! Florida is so unpredictable that it could very well go the complete opposite way between now and then. Fingers crossed!

Belle is probably the overall favorite Princess in our household.

For us, too! I have a lot of princess favourites, but Belle always takes the cake.

I love that these two don't take themselves too seriously.

Me, too! I think that's important in life!
 

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