Day 3 started bright and early.  We had to be at Magic Kingdom by 8am (preferably a littler earlier) because on the evening of day 2 Hailey received this surprise invitation:

(It says: “Your royal presence is requested on August 27th at 8:00am at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique.  You will come in as a girl and leave as a princess!”

Hailey has never done Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique and her reaction was priceless- she was soooo happy!

She also received this invitation for breakfast:

She was so excited it took her a little while to settle down to go to sleep.

So, we got up nice and early and I peeked outside, hoping not to see any rain since we were supposed to be getting rain that day due to Hurricane Issac.  It wasn’t raining when I got up…  we got all ready to go and when we walked out our door it was raining, and it was raining hard.  This was the only day of the trip I cared if it rained.  I had visions of Hailey in her princess dress with her princess hair-do, walking around the park all day, getting compliments from the Cast Members.  It wasn’t a passing shower either, it was one that I knew was going to stick around.  I was disappointed, but I realize there are much worse things in life, so I got over it pretty quickly.  We were in Disney World, after all   And a rainy day at Disney is better than a sunny day at home.  So we put on our ponchos and set out to have a wonderful day.

We arrived a little bit before 8am to a nice, empty park.  You can’t tell in the picture, but it was still raining.  There weren’t any photopass photographers out taking pictures, so we didn’t get our family picture in the empty park.

I still had to get a couple of castle pictures.  One can never have too many pictures of the castle.

We arrived at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique and checked in for Hailey’s appointment.

She was so excited to be getting her hair done.

Rich seemed just as excited as Hailey hahahaha… Hunter was looking at a map, planning out our day.  And I think Ariel was watching Rich to see what he thought about sitting there watching Hailey get her hair done.  (As a side note, Ariel was all wet from being in the rain and one of the Fairy Godmothers In-Training said, “Oh, look she must have just come from the ocean, she’s all wet.”  I just love how they are always ready with things like that to say.)

Hailey enjoying her pampering session by her Fairy Godmothers In-Training   I actually wasn’t sure how much she was going to like it because she hates getting her hair brushed.  There are tears every day when I brush her hair, so I hoped she was enjoying herself.  Later in the day Hailey said to me, “Mom, I didn’t like getting my hair done.”  I said, “You didn’t?  Why not?”  She said, “Because I loved it!”

Just a bit of fairy dust.

My beautiful princess!  (I missed the part where Hailey picked her hairstyle.  I would have tried to encourage one of the other hair-dos.  She picked this one because she wanted her hair to look like Rapunzel’s, since she was wearing the Rapunzel wedding dress.  She was very happy with how it turned out.)

So pretty!

We still had time before our breakfast reservation, so we decided to see if we could get any rides in Fantasyland done.  The park wasn’t open yet, so we waited under the edge of the castle for the park to open.  When it did we went right to Peter Pan.  We got to be the first ones to ride it!  Yay!!  I didn’t take any pictures though.  Maybe I was so excited about being the first ones that I forgot.  Or maybe we were all soaking wet from the rain.  I don’t know which one it was.  After that we went to Pooh, but the ride was closed because there was some flooding.  It was raining very hard, so we decided to just go check in for our breakfast reservation.

While we were waiting in line for Hailey’s picture with Cinderella, Hailey noticed Gus and Jaq up near the ceiling.  I have never noticed them before, so I had to take a picture.

Cinderella and Hailey

I might be biased, but I’m pretty sure she is the most beautiful little girl ever

Hunter got a sword and Hailey got a wand at breakfast.  Hunter was asleep, so Hailey decided to play with his sword. She is so full of personality!

Making a wish… she didn’t tell me what she wished for.  Last year she told me she wished for a puppy, which she didn’t get, so I guess she thought she’d better keep her wish a secret this time.

I had the Cream-Cheese Stuffed French Toast.  It was sooooo delicious!!  Rich had the Traditional Breakfast, which looked good, but not as good as mine

Hailey loved her french toast sticks.

Then it was time to meet some princesses!

I love how Hailey is looking at Snow White in this picture.  She looks up to all the princesses like that.  Hailey asked Snow White if she is afraid to eat apples.  Snow White said, “Oh, no… now why would I be afraid to eat apples?  But I only eat the green ones.  The red ones make me sleepy.”

Hailey and Aurora.  Hailey asked her if she preferred her pink or blue dress.  She said, “I just love both colors so much that I can’t decide.  Whatever makes my fairy godmothers happy, makes me happy.”

Ariel was quite pleased to the see the doll of herself.

Hunter slept through all of breakfast and didn’t meet any princesses.  It made for a nice peaceful breakfast, but I had hoped to get to see his reaction to them.

Hailey and Belle… she asked Belle what her favorite book is.  Belle told her it’s hard to pick since she loves books so much, but that she would choose Sleeping Beauty as her favorite book.

After breakfast it was still pouring out so we decided that Hailey should change out of her Rapunzel dress so it wouldn’t get ruined.  Once she was changed we went off to get some rides done.

Hailey with her opera glasses on at Mickey’s Philharmagic

Hailey trying to pull the sword from the stone.

Next up we went on Pooh, with no wait time at all.

Rich and Hailey went on the tea-cups… I can’t do that ride!  Once again- no wait.

Look at how empty the park was!!  It was wonderful.  Although I was disappointed that it was raining, we were able to just walk on to the rides, so it was worth it.

Next we went on Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin… again- we walked right on.

Rich and Hunter working to defeat Zurg.

After the Buzz ride we got in line to meet Buzz.  While we were in line the rain stopped!  Woo Hoo!!

Buzz and Hailey

Hunter laughing at Buzz

Next up we went to the Laugh Floor… I’m always so nervous they’re going to pick on me in the show.  Rich got on camera as the guy who was going to buy churros for everyone hahaha.  After the Laugh Floor, Rich and Hailey went on Stitch.  Then we were walking by Dumbo and saw it only had a 10 minute wait.  Since it’s the new Dumbo ride we had to check it out.

This was inside the queue.  But if you wanted to play on the playground you had to get out of line to go play, then get back in line when done playing.  While that does make sense to me (can’t have people saving spots in line), I don’t see how they can call it an interactive queue since you have to get out of line to do it.  Anyways- we skipped the playground, but I had to take a picture of it.

New Dumbo ride

Me and Hunter riding Dumbo

Hailey was thrilled the the Barnstormer has re-opened.  There was only a 10 minute wait, so Hailey and Rich went on.  She loved it!  I’m pretty sure that’s the shortest ride in all of Disney World.  Maybe they should go around the track twice to make it a little longer.

This is part of the new water play area in the Storybook Circus.  There wasn’t any water on this day, probably because it had been raining.

We made a little stop at Storybook Treats so Rich and Hailey could have a sundae.  I saved my snack credit for a Dole Whip… yummy!!

Hailey and I went on the Haunted Mansion (Hunter was napping, so Rich stayed with him.)  There was no one in line at all for the Haunted Mansion.  Kinda spooky

On our way to get my Dole Whip… see how empty the park is.  It was wonderful!!

Next off we went over to do Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain.  The plan was to get fastpasses… but they only had 10 minute waits, so we were able to just ride.  We did grab fastpasses for Splash just in case the line got long while we were riding Thunder Mountain.

Hailey and Rich went on Thunder Mountain Railroad first.  She had never ridden before as she did not want to try it last year.  She loved it!!

Then Hailey and I went on it since there was still a 10 minute wait.

I think she liked it

Next Rich and Hailey rode Splash Mountain and it still only had a 10 minute wait.  When they got off, Hailey and I rode- still a short wait but we decided to just use our fastpasses anyways.  When we got almost to the end of the ride, it stopped.  We waited and waited.  Finally the Cast Members were walking around and I was kind of hoping we’d have to walk off the ride- I’ve never gotten to do that before.  They made the announcement we had to walk off and I was a little excited.  Hailey was sad though… even though we were almost at the end of the ride she wasn’t happy that we weren’t getting to finish the ride.

Standing next to our log, waiting to walk off, sad that we didn’t finish the ride.

Empty logs

Walking out of the ride.

After this they told everyone no more pictures because we were going back stage. (They actually said they would delete pictures if any were taken… not sure how true that is, but I put my camera away.)

When we left they gave us these fastpasses to use at a later time.  We decided to save them for our last day since that day (Sunday before Labor day) tends to be the busiest day of our trip.

We rode Pirates of the Caribbean next and Hailey had a sword fight with the Cast Member on our way to get in our boat.

Waiting in line to meet the fairies, Hunter got to try out his sword.

Hailey and Rosetta

Hailey and Tinkerbell… Hailey told Tink that she saw Peter Pan with Wendy.  Tinkerbell puffed up her cheeks like she does when she is mad and said, “Now why would you tell me that?  I thought we were friends… but he still likes me better than Wendy, right?”  Of course Hailey agreed that Peter likes Tink better hahaha

Next we rode the Haunted Mansion, which still had no wait.

We ate at Columbia Harbour House for dinner.  I had the Anchor’s Aweigh Sandwich, and it was yummy!

After dinner Hailey wanted to go on Thunder Mountain Railroad again, so Rich took her on it.  Splash Mountain was still closed from earlier, of we would have went on that again too.  It wasn’t all that late yet, but we had gotten a lot done due to the non-existent lines, so we decided to head back to our resort to relax.

On our way out we saw the princesses had no wait so Hailey wanted to see if Rapunzel was there, and she was.

First up a little dance with Cinderella

Posing with Belle

Rapunzel and Hailey discussed how Rapunzel keeps her hair from getting too snarly.  Rapunzel told her that she brushes it a lot, all through out the day and that Pascal helps her too.

We got back to our resort and relaxed.  We were in bed by 9pm, which has to be a record for us while in Disney World!

Hailey’s favorites of the day: Rides- Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain, Character- Rosetta.

 

      

 

      

How is it possible that Hailey started first grade today?  I just can’t wrap my brain around the fact that she is growing up so fast.

Hailey eating her breakfast before school today- she had peanut butter toast, sausage, and some milk to drink.

All ready for school and showing off her new outfit.

The Ariel lunch box

Rapunzel book bag

All ready to go to first grade.

Sitting in her chair in her new classroom.

Rich and I took Hailey to school for her first day (Hunter came along too, of course).  She was worried and not sure she really wanted to go to first grade.  She thought she was better prepared to go back to kindergarten again.  She didn’t think it would be possible for her new teacher to be as nice as her teacher from last year.  I reassured her that she was indeed ready for first grade and that she would find kindergarten boring this year since she already knows all of that information.  And I told her we should give her new teacher a chance to see what she thought of her.

This morning Hailey told me she was feeling excited and shy about going to first grade.  When I picked her up from school she told me she had a great day and that she really likes her teacher.  It turns out that her new teacher is indeed very nice.  Hailey said her favorite thing she did today was coloring.  She also enjoyed the stories that they read.  She is glad that some of her friends from last year are in her class this year.  I know she’s going to have a great year and I can’t wait to see what she accomplishes this year!

 

      

Since day 1 started at 4:00am and ended at midnight we decided we would just sleep in a bit on day 2, rather than setting the alarm to get to the parks first thing.  We had decided ahead of time that this trip would be more relaxing that our usual non-stop trips that we have done in the past.  So, we slept in and then I got our room all nice and organized.

Hailey decorated the door to our room.  It came out really cute!

Then it was time for a healthy breakfast at the food court.

Hailey had a chocolate chip muffin.

Rich and I both had a cinnamon roll.  Yummy!

Our park plan for the day was to go to Epcot.  We arrived around 10:30am and it looked nice and empty.

Hailey posing on the way into the park.

Hunter was asleep upon our arrival. (On a side note, see the rips in the fabric on the back of Hunter’s stroller? That was another thing Southwest did to his stroller, in addition to breaking the piece necessary to lock his stroller closed.)

We headed to Soarin’ since the wait for that tends to get very long as the day goes on.  Since Hunter was asleep (and they wouldn’t let me bring the stroller inside) Rich took Hailey and they went inside to grab fastpasses to use later.

Then Hailey and I went on Nemo.

While we were riding on Nemo Hunter woke up from his nap, so we decided to go on it again so he could enjoy the ride too.

Me and Hunter in our clam.  While Rich was taking this picture the Cast Member standing there was saying, “Sir please get into your clam.”  It just struck me as funny.

Oh no!  Bruce has Hailey!  She is too funny and always has to pose in Bruce’s mouth every year.

And of course, if the sign says not to put your hand into the shark’s mouth- what should you do??

Next we did The Great Piggy Bank Adventure, which is what Hailey had actually been begging to do since we arrived.  She loves playing that game!  We picked to save money for a dream vacation.

And we were successful in saving enough.  Yay!!

Rich and I were feeling a bit thirsty and who can pass up free samples of as much soda as you want?  Not us!  So, we headed to Club Cool.  I really only like the Costa Rica flavor, although I always try the others, none are as good in my opinion.  How does Hailey feel about Club Cool?

She doesn’t like soda… so she isn’t a fan of waiting for me and Rich to finish trying all the sodas.

It was time for some lunch and I decided we were going to eat somewhere other than Sunshine Seasons- not that it’s bad there, but we always eat there.

We stopped for a family picture on our way to lunch.

Me and Hailey posing with Phineas and Ferb.

For lunch we went to La Cantina de San Angel (the quick serve in Mexico).

Rich and I both had the Empanadas de Queso.  It was sooooo good!  I could have done without the tortilla chips, but I loved the empanadas.  This was my favorite quick serve meal of our trip.  For dessert we had churros with caramel sauce- delicious!!

Hailey had the kids Cheese Empanadas- she loved her food too.  She ate all her empanadas, but didn’t like the tortilla chips either.

After lunch I took Hunter to visit the baby center while Rich and Hailey went off to see her first character of the trip.

Duffy and Hailey

Then we all rode the boat ride in the Mexico pavilion.

Do you see the hidden Mickey?

Next it was time to go to Universe of Energy.  Hailey loves this, for some reason.  I think it’s time to replace it or update it or something.  But she enjoys it, so we went.

It was time to go visit the character spot for our free pictures, so that is where we went next.

A kiss for Pluto.

Mickey, Hailey, Pluto

Then Hunter got to meet his first character…

He loved Mickey!!  He went right for Mickey’s nose.  I don’t know what it is about the nose, but Hailey always went for their noses when she was a baby too.  Hunter kept laughing at Mickey and Pluto.  It was so cute!

Family picture with Mickey and Pluto.

Hunter was still laughing on our way out.

It was time to use our fastpasses for Soarin’ so we headed there next.  It had been kind of raining, so I decided to try again to bring our stroller up closer to the Land building and was pleasantly surprised when they let me bring it right inside.

Rich and Hailey rode Soarin’ first and I got Hunter to take a little nap and put him down in his stroller to sleep.  Since we had a park ticket for Hunter, Rich had been able to get 4 fastpasses, so once Rich and Hailey were done riding, I went on with Hailey.

After Soarin’ we stopped back in the Innoventions building so Hailey could put herself into a video game.  Here she is creating the game.

And now playing the game with herself in the game.

When we were done in the innoventions building, Rich and Hailey went to pick up our free picture from earlier while I fed Hunter.  It was getting close to our dinner reservation time at ‘Ohana, so we had to get going soon.  We decided to stop and do one more ride on our way out.

Me and Hailey on Spaceship Earth.

We took the monorail to the TTC, then switched monorails over to the Polynesian.  It all went very quickly and we didn’t have to wait at all.  We actually got there quite early, so we were able to sit and relax for a little while before checking in for dinner.  Hailey watched tv and played with some other kids who were waiting, then we looked in the gift shop.  I walked around and took a few pictures.

The Polynesian is soooo pretty!!

Hailey thought this statue was so funny and said, “I can see his buns!”

Dinner was very delicious. I love, love, love the noodles there.  Hailey had grilled cheese since she wasn’t a big fan of any of the food.  And of course the meat is so good.  Hunter was very tired and whiny and Hailey kept asking when they were going to do the parade (she remembered doing it 2 years before.)  The food was good but it wasn’t very relaxing… Hailey had to go to the bathroom (even though she went right before dinner), then Hunter had to be changed, then Hailey had to go to the bathroom again (I think she was just bored since it was taking forever for the parade to start.)  So I kind of felt like I was running around instead of sitting and enjoying my favorite restaurant.  Dessert came and of course, it is the best bread pudding every made!

Finally the parade!  (I guess the guy who does it was downstairs doing something else, I don’t know exactly what he was doing, but they were late starting it.)  Hailey was sooooo happy it was finally time  to parade and limbo.

After dinner we talked about stopping at Magic Kingdom for a while, but we had an early day coming up on day 3, so we went back to our resort.

We found these towel animals when we got to our room (these were the only ones we got during our trip).

We went and filled up our mugs and visited the gift shop- Hailey got a new Ariel doll, and I can’t believe I didn’t take a picture of her.  Hunter got a little playset of characters.  We went back to our room and got ready for bed.  Hailey had a special delivery of invitations arrive while she was in the shower- she got an invitation to go to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique and to Cinderella’s Royal Table.  She went right to bed, excited about the next morning!

We were all in bed by 10:30pm- early for us when in Disney.

Hailey’s favorites of the day- Spaceship Earth