The last day of any vacation is always bitter sweet to me. I mean we had had a week FULL of magic and memories, but it is just always a little sad to leave and go back to reality.
We slept in a bit on Friday. Five full days of Disney is SO SO SO fun, but SO SO SO exhausting at the same time, especially pregnant. We will most likely change our game plan the next time we go now that we have "seen" all the parks. We wanted to get it all in, but next time we will be MUCH more relaxed. We will probably even take a much needed full rest day in between park days where we just lay out at the pool and relax. And next time I will not be pregnant. Haha!
Lyla did amazing, I must say!! There were no melt-downs like you see some kids having and for a girl that takes a nap everyday, skipping her nap all week did not phase her too much.
We ate breakfast at the condo and packed a lunch for the day. Once we got to Magic Kingdom, we headed straight for Enchanted Tales with Belle. This was a favorite the last time we came and we did not have a chance to do it earlier in the week.
We did not grab any Fastpasses, so we had to stand in line quite awhile for this one. It was close enough to lunch time that we were able to feed Lyla while in line (and eat ourselves) and keep her entertained.
This is one of our favorites! It is so fun to be a part of the show and see Belle in an intimate setting.
Anyone who wants a part can have one, which I think is so great.
Lyla was a teacup this time around.
Happy girl, excited to see Belle up close and personal!
She was excited to show Belle her Belle jewelry.
I love how Belle takes time to meet each person that takes part in the play.
It was SUPER cold and SUPER rainy this day :( We had dinner reservations at Epcot, so we had limited time at Magic Kingdom before we had to head over there. We jumped on The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh as we headed to Tomorrowland. We definitely wanted to get a chance to ride Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Adventure. We had so much fun on this one last time and wanted to ride it again. We had to wait in a pretty long line once again to ride it. That was all that we had time for at Magic Kingdom, I am telling you, the lines were no joke this time.
I wanted to get over to Epcot well before our reservations to see if we could luck out and see both Mulan and Anna and Elsa. Lyla was dying to see all three and I was hoping we might catch a lucky break and get in to see them before dinner.
We took the monorail over to Epcot. It was nice having the park hopper passes, but I am not sure we would spend the money on them next time.
We walked over to Norway to see what the wait looked like for Anna and Elsa....and guess what?? Still three hours. I asked the cast member if she thought the line might die down and if she thought we might get to see them after we ate dinner. We were eating dinner at Akershus Royal Banquet Hall for their Princess Dinner, which is right next to where Anna and Elsa had their meet and greet. She said that we might get in, but that they closed the line around 7pm so that everyone already in line would be guaranteed to meet them. She said we might be cutting it close.
So we headed over to meet Mulan. They had closed her line and were not allowing anyone to get in line when we walked over. Seriously!?! I asked if I could start the line to see her after her break because at that point we were cutting it close for our reservations! He said that I could not start a line, but I could hang out off to the side and he would remember me and let me know when the line was about to begin. So Lyla and I went off to the side to sit and wait. Some other people would not follow his direction and literally stood in line anyways (trying to start the new line!!). It was SO incredibly frustrating to me that people could not follow the rules, especially since we had been there first and needed to meet her right when she came back out in order to get to our dinner. Adam when to ride a ride while we waited. He had met a lot of characters with us and I was glad he could go and do something fun for himself. I believe he went and rode Mission:Space.
As soon as he was ready to open up the line, the cast member gave me the nod and thankfully let me get in front of the people who had refused to move when he had asked them several times to just step to the side.
Ready to meet Mulan!!
She was gorgeous!
I am so glad we got to meet her and I felt like she was totally worth going back for to meet.
Lyla loved meeting her. We have seen both of her movies and she loves watching them.
I mean seriously! Precious.
It was time to check in for our dinner, so Lyla and I walked back over to Akershus. We checked in and Adam had not made it back yet, so the cast member just told us to let her know when he got there as we could not go in until our whole party was there.
Lyla wanted to wear her new Aurora dress for dinner, so I got her dressed while we waited for Adam. It was so cold that I had to make her leave her long sleeved shirt underneath it.
Once Adam got there, we let the host know and we walked right in. The first thing we did was meet Belle and Lyla got her picture taken with her.
We were taken to our table and given instructions. Of course all the Princesses would come and see us at our table. So while we waited for them, we got order our dinner off the menu, but they also had their first course buffet style. So we went and got our food.
We skipped meeting Ariel this time around at Magic Kingdom since I thought we would be meeting her at our Princess dinner. I was bummed to find out that she was not at our dinner (I later found out that she was at the dinner after ours) but instead they had Mulan. Seriously!! After all that of getting there to meet her and we did not have to do that at all!!! She was at our dinner!!! Oh well. Lyla got to see her twice and she was still excited the second time around.
Aurora came around first, which Lyla loved since she was wearing her dress!
She loved that they were matching!
Cinderella was next!
Then they had all the princesses come out together and all the kids could go with the princesses as they paraded around the dining room. Lyla loved this and she got to go with Snow White and hold her hand as they went around. It was so much fun to watch all the kids and see all their big smiles!
Parade of princesses!
Once the parade was over, Snow White brought Lyla back to our table and spent some time with her.
Lyla loved all the time she spent with us.
And she even got a KISS from Snow White, which she thought was just the BEST!
Snow White's kiss!
Finally we met Mulan...again. I think Lyla even said something to her like, "We just saw you!". Haha! This Mulan was so sweet to remember seeing her, because after all, they had just met!
Mommy and Lyla. And of course, after being out in the cold rain, we looked AWFUL!! But it was SO worth it!
I honestly was not impressed at all with the food. It was all Norwegain-inspired, I think I had the meatballs, maybe? It just was not good. If I am spending money on food, I want it to be G.O.O.D. I did not like it at all. So we will not be coming back here. It just was not my kind of food and because it was a menu with only a select few options, there was not much to choose from. I was so thankful for the first course at the buffet because at least I got some salad and fruit which I enjoyed. Oh well. This dinner was more about the experience. I loved that we got to meet five princesses all in the same setting and that Lyla enjoyed herself! She loved watching each princess as they went around the room!
After dinner, we walked over to the Anna and Elsa line (which by the way, Lyla had NOT stopped talking about!), to see how long the wait was. The cast member at the end of the line said it would be about 2.5 hours and that if we were going to get in line, we should do it then because she was only going to let three more families in. Well, we jumped in line. How do you say no to a three year old who is obsessed with Anna and Elsa, who has been asking all.week.long to meet them and it was our last night after all!!
I could tell Adam in NO WAY wanted to wait. So I told him to go do his own thing, that I would wait with her. He was able to enjoy another ride, Soarin' and enjoy a fun drink as well ;)
Thankfully the weather cleared up, no more rain, and it actually even warmed up several degrees. There would have been no way we could have sat in line that long had it been as cold and rainy as it was just hours before. It was totally a God thing.
Waiting in line!
I could tell Lyla REALLY, I mean REALLY wanted to meet those two because she was a perfect angel the entire time we waited. And let me tell you, it took us every bit of 2.5 hours in line to meet them. And the cast member was right, as soon as she let us in the line, she let two more families in and then that was it!! She literally was turning away people the rest of the night and no one else was allowed in line. I was so thankful for the perfect timing of our dinner and the fact that we were some of the very last to get in line. We made friends with the couple in front of us and they had a daughter who was a little older than Lyla. The two girls hit it off and played together the whole time. She was a great distraction for Lyla. The "line" was actually not "long". It was the fact that Anna and Elsa had a 20 minute break for every like 30 minutes they actually met and greeted. So waiting while they breaked is really what held things up!
At one point, Lyla had to go to the bathroom so bad! But Adam was not back yet and I had no clue what to do. The family in front of us who we had made friends with, thankfully said that they would hold our place in line while I ran her to the restroom. Akershus was kind enough to let us back in the restaurant to let Lyla go potty. That is when we saw Ariel and found out that she made her appearance at the later dinner. We made it to the bathroom and back in line. Don't worry, it was not hard to find our spot as we had not moved at all!! Haha.
Adam met back up with us about 20-30 minutes before we were at the front of the line, which worked out perfectly. It was CRAZY outside where Anna and Elsa were. I mean these people were seriously crazy. It was like the paparazzi outside. People, who were NOT in line where crowded around the outside trying to even just catch a glance of them and get pictures of them from the outside. They are NUTS for Anna and Elsa.
Getting up to the front of the line, I had butterflies in my stomach. I know Lyla had waited for this moment all week. The fact that she had been so patient in line, I could tell that she really wanted to meet them!! When we finally made it up to them, she was is AWE!!
It was the perfect moment.
Totally worth the 2 hours and 45 minutes in line!
It was all she talked about and every time we asked her what her favorite part of the week was, well, it was always the same answer....this moment.
Honestly, she was more in to Anna than Elsa, which I found interesting.
Elsa actually had to ask Lyla for a hug, because Lyla was that in to Anna!! Haha.
I am SERIOUSLY so glad we waited and that it worked out for us to see them. It really was the icing on the cake, the cherry on top and the PERFECT way to end our magical week.
The fact that this was the perfect moment for Lyla filled my heart and I felt like I could explode. It made it the perfect moment for me and was the most perfect way to end the week by far.
After meeting the girls, we let Lyla get the Frozen book from the gift shop before we left. She has not put that thing down and we ALL have it memorized word for word!
We headed to grab a spot for the fireworks, we thought we could top off the night with one last fireworks show. But Lyla was complete. I went to grab a sweet treat and by the time I had gotten back, she was sleep in the stroller. The fireworks hadn't even started yet and she was out. I guess meeting Anna and Elsa did it for her and she did not need anything else to make her trip more perfect. Since Adam and I were so tired, we decided to head on back to the car to beat the crowds out of the park. We were ready to get back to the condo and fall in to bed as well!
Truly meeting Anna and Elsa was the perfect way to end the night and our trip. We had such a wonderful time and brought back so many wonderful memories. It is a trip we will remember forever and it was nice to get to have a "last big trip as a family of three". I feel so blessed that we were able to go, spend a whole week together and that our parents and Adam's grandmother were able to join. Now it was time to head home and get ready for baby (who still needed a name!)!!!
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