I didn't feel well. We were all tired. It was SOOOOOOO crowded and SOOOOOO hot.
Most of our party had Fast Pass times for Space Mountain while Alice, Mawmaw, and I had times to meet Ariel in her grotto.
**Pause for side story. When Alice gets nervous, she goes into Puppy Mode. (Tami and Travis thinks it looks more like a T-rex but it's a Puppy.) This means she pulls her hands up near her face like paws, hunches over a bit, and shakes her butt like she's wagging her tail. She does this ALL THE TIME. She does this almost every morning at school. When she sees family for the first time in 12 hours. When we run into people we know out in public. If ANYONE speaks to her out in public. If we encounter another child out in public. Default is always Puppy Mode.**
We get up to Ariel and her handler asks if we have an autograph book. Nope! I am not here to take up any more time than my child needs and she has ZERO desire to have anyone sign anything. And she doesn't really want to be spoken to. God bless the Princesses and their dedication to staying in character. My mother-in-law kind of eases her toward the tailed Princess but she is in full Puppy Mode and Princess Ariel is just a talking to her. Bless. Her. Heart.
We get her to sit next her. This is how that looks....
Ariel is trying her best to engage our overwhelmed child and asks, "Oh! Are you being a fish?"
And Alice barked at her.
Yep.
And again, bless Ariel, she went on talking about how she loves Prince Eric's dog without ever missing a beat. These Princesses should be making WAY MORE than whatever Santa gets paid.
We made it through. And I have to be honest, I was discouraged and frustrated. Why can't she just smile like a 'normal' kid?! But she is normal, she's just Alice Normal. This is just the way she is, how she copes. It doesn't hurt anyone. And for now, it's fine. This was MY damage. Not hers. This was my expectations being greater than her feelings, and I'm sorry for that. She's 5 and apparently I can still have Bad Momma Moments. I can laugh at the picture.....now.
We had reservations in the castle for her birthday lunch where we got to meet ALL the Princesses. The adults enjoyed meeting them quite a bit!! Alice avoided eye contact like they were carrying Ebola. We skipped our afternoon Fast Pass with Belle and went back to the resort for a much needed break in the pool. It was JUST what we needed. No hustle or bustle or crowd. Just the family floating in the pool. It wasn't at all what I had on the schedule, and yet it was probably the most important part of the day.
We had plans to go back for the firework show. We got back early enough to ride the Buzz Lightyear ride and then we headed to Main Street for the Happily Ever After show.
IT WAS SO MAGICAL!!
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| This is a stock photo from Disney. |
The temperature was nice and the crowds nonexistent. It turned out to be my most favorite part of the day.
We rode several rides and caught the last showing of the Tiki Room. We got back to the room late and went straight to bed. A rough start but a perfect end to the start of year 5 with our growing girl.
Rides Alice LOVED: The Tea Cups, the Dumbo ride, Aladdin's Magic Carpets, It's a Small World, Under the Sea, Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin, Mickey's PhilharMagic. And she FINALLY rode the carousel!! When she first went as a baby, we stood in line for over an hour. As soon as we put her on the horse - she screamed like a banshee and we immediately left the ride.
Not this time!!!
Our meal: We ate at Cinderella's Royal Table for lunch. They wouldn't accommodate a table for a party our size so we had to sit at separate tables next to each other. The food was decent and the Princesses were nice, however, I'm not sure this is one we will do again. It requires 2 table services if you are on the dining plan and is SUPER pricey if you are not. We did a different Princess dinner in Epcot and that is the one I would probably recommend.
Tomorrow is Animal Kingdom day!!
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