We drove to Nashville last weekend to hand over Rane to Gary and Gayla. There was no way we would be taking him along for the trip! I have had many comments as to why we wouldn't even consider taking him and after taking my 5-year-old daughter and now after this trip Spencer and I have decided that even she wasn't really ready and will not be going back for a while! Anyway, we came home Sunday and I made chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing for Ella-Ann's birthday celebration at school on Monday. Spencer and I picked her up after lunch at school that day and headed straight to Orlando. However, before we even drove through downtown Atlanta I was holding a bag for Ella-Ann to throw up into! This is not the first time we have started a trip with Ella-Ann vomiting before leaving the city! She has a sensitive stomach when it comes to riding in a car and since she just ate a big cupcake before riding in one her belly couldn't handle it. After that she was great and we had a very nice, easy trip down.
We woke up bright and early Tuesday morning, Ella-Ann's birthday, and she was ready to rock. We gave her a present that morning, which was a monogrammed Minnie Mouse shirt for her to wear that day in the Magic Kingdom. Once we arrived at the gate she was already overwhelmed with all the sights. She wore a pin all day that said "Happy Birthday Ella-Ann" so every cast member we passed, and Disney character too, would wish her a Happy Birthday. It was great! I kept asking Ella-Ann if she was having a good time and enjoying herself because she was soooo solemn. I had to keep reminding myself that she is so much like Spencer, in that she is an observer and likes to take things in. She does get excited, but things that I normally get pumped about, like being in Disney, doesn't really come out in Ella-Ann. I kept expecting her to bust out a "Look Mommy!" or a "This is SO MUCH FUN!" but we never got it. It was kinda hard but I know she was completely exhausted by 1 p.m. because we had gone to bed late and gotten up super early and our little princess needs her beauty sleep...always. The park wasn't majorly crowed so we rode all the rides that we knew she would enjoy: Dumbo, Peter Pan, Snow White, Haunted Mansion, Winnie the Pooh, Speedway cars, etc. Her favorite, by far, and what we rode over and over again was Peter Pan. She loved it. Spencer put her on Big Thunder Mountain with him and she was extremely afraid and hated it; however, she didn't cry so I was proud! We fell into the Disney trap and bought Ella-Ann several things for her birthday but it was worth it....of course!
We stayed on property at the Dolphin, which is between Hollywood Studios and Epcot so that evening we ate at a Mediterranean restaurant that we like and the staff sang "Happy Birthday" to Ella-Ann. It was an early night to say the least!
Wednesday my parents arrived and they were thrilled to be in Disney for the first time with Ella-Ann. She was still pretty tired all day on Wednesday (another early morning), but having Mimi and Grandpa there helped and she rallied. We had fabulous meals that day and spent most of our time at the Magic Kingdom again.
Thursday was much better because Ella-Ann took a nap and Spencer and her spent the afternoon at the pool (Mom and I went to the outlet mall and Dad napped). That morning we went to Hollywood Studios and caught the Beauty and the Beast show and rode a few rides. Ella-Ann wasn't impressed with that park, which we knew she wouldn't, plus she was tired so we headed back to the hotel after lunch. That morning we drove over to the Contemporary hotel for a character breakfast at Chef Mickeys. She LOVED that! We got several autographs in her autograph book and she was so happy to finally meet Minnie Mouse (her current favorite). She wasn't afraid of the characters and kept wanting them to come back to our table. The only characters she did not like and would shy away from were Cinderella's mean stepsisters. Unfortunately we ran into them a few times and Ella-Ann seemed to be their target. She was wearing her Ariel tutu that we got her on her birthday during one of the parades and as they walked passed her one of them stopped and as she fluffed her tutu said, "You look like a cupcake!" Ella-Ann has very thin skin and doesn't understand acting/joking/teasing so I knew she'd be upset but she handled it well. Anyway, back to breakfast. It was a great breakfast and I never in my life thought I'd see rice krispie treats, brownies, and veggie lasagna on a breakfast buffet, let alone indulge in it (which I happily did)....only in Disney! Ella-Ann and I both got a cupcake with candles brought to our table since it is our "birthday week" so we ate cupcakes for breakfast too! Good thing I had the pregnancy eating excuse! That evening we had another character dinner at Garden Grove, which was at the Swan, the sister hotel to the Dolphin. Ella-Ann was excited to see Pluto and Goofy again and we had a fantastic Mediterranean dinner.
Friday was my birthday and my body was done with Disney and I was incredibly exhausted from all the going and doing but what did me in was the lack of sleep because of Ella-Ann being in our room at night. She had the sniffles and they would last for like an hour at a time in the middle of the night, plus she'd want water, have to potty, have a bad dream, etc. I was up all night with that kid every night. If someone were to ask me if I could have anything for my birthday I would have said a good night's sleep! I was beyond overjoyed when my dear husband came booming into our hotel room (it connected to my parent's room at least) and said he upgraded us to a suite for our last two nights so Ella-Ann could have her own bedroom and I could finally get some sleep on our vacay! I couldn't believe it! This was the best birthday present ever! While Spencer quickly loaded up all of our luggage Mom, Dad, Ella-Ann and I headed over to Epcot's Norway for breakfast with the princesses. Ella-Ann couldn't wait to meet them, which made all of us really excited. We had another amazing breakfast, complete with birthday cupcakes, and Ella-Ann got to meet all her favorite gals, get their autographs and have her picture made with them. They had a princess parade so all the little boys and girls paraded around the restaurant behind various princesses while music played. So cute! We rode a few rides at Epcot and, after admitting I was in horrible pain from walking, we decided to go back to the hotel after lunch. We hung out at the pool all afternoon and walked to Epcot for my birthday dinner at France, which is my favorite country. I enjoyed watching several young, attractive French men sing me "Happy Birthday!" We all enjoyed a very good chocolate mousse cake! After we put Ella-Ann to bed that night Mom and Dad came over to our room and we played a dice game, Left Right Center, which was so much fun! Mom and Dad took our money but we got them back on Saturday evening!
Saturday was our last day in Disney so we lived it up. I was feeling better and was able to trek around the parks fairly well. That morning we went to Animal Kingdom and after riding a few rides, going on a safari and seeing some animals we went to the Magic Kingdom one last time so Ella-Ann could really enjoy herself. We rode Peter Pan for the umpteenth time and that evening we had dinner in Cinderella's castle at The Royal Table. My parents had bought Ella-Ann a Minnie Mouse costume that day so she wore that to dinner. There were so many little girls dressed as princesses and it was adorable! It was really neat to actually be in the castle and overlooking parts of the Magic Kingdom. They called our name to head up to the restaurant and asked for "Lady Ella-Ann," which made Ella-Ann's day! It was all very nice and was a fun experience for all of us. After we were seated our waiter handed the princesses at the table magic wands and the princes swords. Ella-Ann loved that and she loved the confetti at the table that was shaped like Cinderella's carriage. All the princesses came around to the tables so Ella-Ann got her picture taken with them again. We had really good food and ANOTHER chocolate mousse cake for the birthday girls! We blew out our candles together and enjoyed more dessert! When we left the Magic Kingdom it was dark so Ella-Ann finally got to see the castle and Main Street USA lit up. She was in awe and so were the rest of us, even though we've seen it so many times....it never fails to disappoint. It is spectacular. On the car ride back to our hotel Ella-Ann kept saying in her sad voice that she didn't want to go home, didn't want to leave Disney and didn't want to wake up tomorrow and go back to Atlanta. I knew she thoroughly enjoyed herself and the experience of Disney. It was neat to be there with her and I know it brought back a lot of fond memories for my parents who took me at her age and every year thereafter for that matter! It was an awesome vacation but we missed Baby Rane like crazy and Spencer and I were glad to get home!
I took a crazy amount of pictures so click HERE to view them all.
Our first picture on Main Street USA.
Admiring herself after we bought the Cinderella crown and she was sprinkled with the pixie dust!
Getting ready to watch Mickey's Philhermagic, which she left in tears! She hated the 3D flying objects!
Sitting in one of Minnie's chairs in Minnie's house.
The mean stepsister telling her she looks like a cupcake. Poor Ella-Ann, she has her had still up from waving!
One of her two favorite characters, Minnie Mouse. The other is Cinderella.
One of the characters from "Toy Story" gave her a hug but she didn't really care for that!
Breakfast at Chef Mickey's.
Riding Pirates of the Carribean.
Ella-Ann wanted the carraige confetti in the picture.
Blowing out our candles at the Royal Table.
The end! 
2 comments:
Love all your pics Katie and so glad you had a wonderful time at Disney! Hope you get some rest now!!
Great pictures! I hope you all get caught up on some rest this week. It works out well that you are not traveling for Thanksgiving...hopefully you'll have a nice, relaxing weekend. :) I'm so glad you all had fun! What great memories!
love,
Mandy
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