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Old 6 Apr 15, 07:03 AM  
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moosha
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Florididdypop Volume 2 - Day 20 Part 1: A Birthday, Cinderella's Royal Table, Pirates League

Day 20 - Tuesday 6th May 2014 (Seren's 8th birthday)

This one is really long even by my standards and has so many photos I have split it into two separate posts.

Before I start today, I just wanted to mention how much / little Seren knew about the plans for her birthday today. She knew we were going to Magic Kingdom for the day, and knew which three restaurants we were eating at. She also knew about the Pirates League and Wishes Dessert Party. As the holiday and ADRs were booked before we did our Christmas Day reveal, I'd had to sneakily discuss with her which were her favourite Magic Kingdom restaurants without her knowing what was going on. Crystal Palace had come out on top, followed by Cinderella's Royal Table. As well as all those bookings, it was kind of agreed that Seren would lead the way on picking the rides today and the FastPass+s I made were for her favourite rides. She didn't know I had ordered chocolate slippers for them both at CRT and that I'd ordered a birthday cake for her, but we'll get to that in a bit.

It probably goes without saying that it was an early start today (as it is every day) but my notes say Mat and I were up at 5.30... How we were managing it this late into the holiday I really don't know. We got ready and then woke the girls at 6.30 am. Seren had presents to open before we could leave for our loooooong day at Magic Kingdom.

A very tired birthday girl:





She was thrilled with the pressies we had bought her the day before at Magic Kingdom. Especially the parks' Monopoly. I knew this face would be worth the stress of trying to convince Mat we should buy it:



Freya also got a little present, a Marie necklace which if I remember rightly snapped on the first day and had to be replaced. Yes I am one of those parents who buys the sibling a present on the other's birthday.



Seren put on the birthday badge they had given us on arrival at the Wilderness Lodge. We'd decided it was best for her to only wear it today so the novelty of getting birthday wishes wouldn't wear off by the actual day. I think this was a wise decision because in the event, a million people wished her a happy birthday over the course of the day. That could be an exaggeration, but it certainly made the day extra special.

At the boat dock:



We got a boat to the Contemporary about 7.15 am...



... taking photos of the sun coming up...











...and walked to the Magic Kingdom entrance, arriving about 7.35 am.



There were already about 40-50 people in line for early breakfast reservations.



This was new to us so we hadn't known what to expect. A CM announced to everyone in the line that we would be let about five to ten minutes later, so we had timed it pretty well. There were two tapstiles open once we got moving and we of course picked the slower moving line of the two. Once we'd scanned our bands, each party had to report to a man with a clipboard to confirm our reservation before they'd let us into the park early.

Doing the quiet Main Street thing was brilliant, but as you can see there were still quite a few people about, also with early reservations.













We got some great photos, particularly in the hub as people had 'dispersed' a bit by that point. Photopass ones:





We also got some lovely PhotoPass ones of the birthday girl with some 'balloons.'



It was a shame we couldn't spend any more time enjoying the empty Main Street / hub area but by now it was pretty much 8 am and we needed to be at Cinderella's Royal Table for breakfast.

As we checked in we could see a bride and groom in Fantasyland, full wedding kit on and having a photo session. Having got married at Disney World before Disney weddings became the massive enterprise they now are, we weren't sure what was going down and thought it might be a promotional shoot. From what I've seen since on the Dibb, I understand you can book a MK wedding shoot for prior to park opening sometime around the wedding day, sometimes at ridiculous o'clock (5 am.) Sounds amazing. I think these guys were just wrapping up when the early breakfast guests were arriving.

We went straight in to the castle, joining the short line (shorter than our lunch here in 2012 anyway) to meet Cinderella.



I snapped the obligatory photo of Jacques and Gus...



and the girls met Cinders. It was the same Cinderella they had met at the beginning of our trip at Princess Fairytale Hall, and we all agreed she must be the 'real' one. She was definitely one of the best likenesses we saw.





As in 2012, we had a fab table by the window again today which we were pleased about.









Seren also had a princess placemat waiting for her as a birthday treat which I hadn't known about, but she was very happy with it. We waited for the chef to come out and I'm pretty sure he confirmed everything was ok for Seren's allergy bar one or two of the pastries. He was a nice chef, one of a few who asked if there was anything else on the menu he could help us with which is great when you're vegetarian. I told him that the girls would like the French toast sticks which are supposed to be served with scrambled egg and bacon, but that they don't eat meat. He said it was no problem to do extra toast instead.

Before the entrees, our server brought out the plate of pastries and muffins for us to share. They went down really well and there was something for everyone. Freya had a Mickey shaped blueberry muffin, Mat had some sort of nutty pastry, I had two small peach pastries which were yummers and some cinnamon roll. I'm assuming Seren had the rest of the cinnamon roll and whatever else was going spare.



Mat had the healthy breakfast which he enjoyed.



The girls didn't really eat a lot of their egg and French toast but I think that was mainly from being full of pastries, cake and excitement.



I had the quiche and potatoes. The potatoes were delicious and the quiche was ok but a bit too 'goat's cheesy' for a non-cheese lover like myself.



Food wise I've found Cinderella's Royal Table has exceeded my (very modest) expectations both times we've visited and we will go back. As I've said before, we're not really breakfast people so I think the lunch in 2012 was probably a better meal food wise for us.

The girls met Snow White:





She was odd. Most definitely one of those princesses who seem to be having a conversation with themselves, just spouting lines in character and not waiting for a response.

Aurora: (meh)





Ariel:







Excellent interaction with her. We all love Ariel with her quirkiness and sense of humour.

...and Jasmine:





She was fine although Seren was a bit disappointed as the girls had met Belle in her blue dress here in 2012. It had been one of Seren's favourite character meets as Belle is Seren's favourite princess and they had a chat about books (Seren's a bookworm.)



continued below...

Edited at 11:06 PM.
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Old 6 Apr 15, 07:06 AM  
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... Continued

Once we were all done, our server Ron brought out the check and when he did, it occurred to me that the girls hadn't had their chocolate slippers. As the slippers were a surprise, I didn't want to make it obvious to the girls so couldn't exactly call over the server again to explain and raise it with him. I quietly mentioned it to Mat and we discreetly started scanning the room to see where our server was so one of us could try and go over to him to sort it out. Panic over as we spotted him heading towards our table with the two chocolate slippers. Phew.

He popped them down in front of the girls and said 'Tink just flew these in and asked me to give them to you as you're celebrating.' Then he began singing happy birthday (dear Princess) to Seren so we joined in, she was very happy.



I was really pleased with the chocolate slippers. I organised them by email when I arranged the cake and they were only $31.13 for the two together (added onto the check on the day), which I thought was great value (for Disney.) They made a lovely little surprise for the girls, especially as I had wanted to get something for Freya too because Seren was getting a lot of fuss and treats today. Unfortunately the girls didn't really like the ganache and the slipper was full of the stuff, but they ate most of the white chocolate which was tasty, and the fruit too.







The adult breakfast price was $47.99 and the child breakfast price was $29.99. I really can't get over those prices... I most definitely wouldn't go there for breakfast without the dining plan.

We left the castle at 8.55 and unfortunately got a bit caught up in the Anna and Elsa stampede, which was fun to watch but slowed us down a bit. Seren's choice for first ride was Pirates of the Caribbean so we headed there via the Tangled restrooms...



and the stocks. We'd never made it to the stocks when the park was this quiet before so it was a good opportunity to get some photos here.





While taking these photos, a family, I guess three generations (a lady in her 50s, a lady in her late 20s and a girl around the same age as my girls) arrived at the stocks. The one in her 20s was recounting a story to her mother that she obviously felt quite passionately about as her voice was very loud and her language was very strong. She had the proverbial mouth of a sailor. I was pretty shocked that she would speak like that when talking to her mother and in her daughter's presence. Maybe I'm a prude to be shocked at that. We don't really use bad language at all since having children so it really makes me uncomfortable, especially here in the 'happiest place on Earth.' I spoke very loudly to drown her out and whisked the girls away.

As we were walking past Haunted Mansion, a CM coming towards us in the other direction called to us that Haunted Mansion was a walk-on. We asked Seren what she wanted to do and she said HM first instead of Pirates. Personally, I would have stuck with the original plan as Pirates was likely to get busier quicker but she obviously doesn't spend half her life on easywdw like I do, so she wasn't to know.

I sat with Freya again who was still a bit scared especially after our 'extended' visit to the Mansion the previous time when we got stuck for 10 minutes or so in the graveyard section (see earlier in the report.) Freya was expecting the ride to get stuck again, which it did briefly in front of the bride with the axe, cue me: 'oooh, look at her pretty wedding dress', trying to keep it bright and cheery.

I think we did both Pirates and Aladdin's carpets before checking in five minutes early at The Pirates League for our 10 am reservation.





This was new to all of us and something we were really excited about. The CM checked the details of our reservation and confirmed which package both girls wanted. She showed us the outfits that were available to buy as extras, however the mermaid tutu was only in stock in a small, and the pirate princess dress was only in stock in a couple of sizes. The pirate princess dress was lovely, but the girls were already dressed in their outfits ready for their makeover anyway.

We had to wait 10 - 15 minutes before being called through which was a bit frustrating, especially as people arriving after us were being taken through before we were. I think this is because only certain CMs were able to do the girls' packages, and maybe because the ones scheduled to do Seren and Freya were running behind. Freya was called first by her pirate CM Victoria. Seren's pirate CM was Ashleigh and as Seren was doing the Empress (pirate princess) package, she had to be assigned a pirate name by the 'machine' (?).



The name she was given was Beth Swordcutter, which she loved.



Oh my goodness, the Pirates League was even better than I had expected, and so much better than our experience at Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique in 2012. The theming in there is great and the CMs are brilliant (loud and in character.) We all were so impressed. Both Victoria and Ashleigh were lovely and did a fab job on the girls. Ashleigh in particular was amazing with the birthday girl so we left her an applause-ogram later that day at Guest Services which Seren wrote, thanking her.

I have two bajillion photos of the girls' makeovers but I am showing restraint here and only posting a couple, mostly of the interior of the Pirates League.







While the girls were having their makeovers, we chilled out watching and taking photos, enjoying the air conditioning. A passing CM saw us looking up at the props and told us that most of them were from the Pirates of the Caribbean films.



She pointed out the cannon nearby that was from the first film (rubbish photo sorry.)



We loved the whole experience. It was much more 'immersive' / better theming than Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique and much more comfortable (more space) for parents to watch. The girls were absolutely in their element, chatting away to their respective lovely CMs.





A close up of Freya's mermaid eye make up:



Freya was ready after about 30 minutes and as she's a real live wire, we couldn't believe how still she had sat for Victoria.



She was so happy with the result and spent the rest of the time we were waiting for Seren twirling around and looking in the mirrors.



A few minutes later Seren was ready.



When the pirate makeovers are complete, the CM announces the new pirate and all the other CMs shout 'yo ho.' Ashleigh also announced that this pirate was celebrating a birthday and asked if anyone else was.



There was another boy with a birthday so the CMs all sang a birthday version of the pirate song while Seren stood in the middle of the room. I filmed it on my phone so will try to add it in here. Seren was really pleased.

We were then taken into the next room for the girls to have photos taken. Freya went first and the CM got some really good shots (added to our photopass, there were quite a few.)



Next it was Seren's turn and when she walked over to have her photo taken, the CM said 'I can tell you're a pirate, you've got no teeth!' Which tickled me.



Seren was given a bag of treasure as part of her package and then we were taken through to pay. Total was $79.77 altogether for the two of them. Seren was then also given a certificate from Captain Jack Sparrow. Then one of the two CMs said 'I'll be back in a minute with your photos.' The other CM turned to him and said 'I think they're just going to want the Memory Maker ones' which was nice of her as we didn't have to awkwardly reject the expensive physical ones after they were printed. Before we left we were reminded to come back for the Pirates League Parade at 4.10pm.

I can't recommend the Pirates League highly enough, it was one of the highlights of the trip. Both girls absolutely loved the whole thing. I knew Seren would but Freya is a very girly girl and I thought it wouldn't be 'princessy' enough for her, but the mermaid package was brilliant for this. Writing about it now I'm disappointed that we're not returning this year but as it doesn't fit into the whole 'budget trip' thing, it's not happening. I will definitely be booking it for the girls again next year though.



Next was our 11am - 12pm Fastpass+ at Winnie The Pooh as it's one of the birthday girl's favourite rides. I think we may have also gone on It's A Small World at this point too. We walked back through Liberty Square:





Continued in next post here

Edited at 07:20 AM.
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Old 6 Apr 15, 12:10 PM  
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They look fantastic after their makeovers

My DD has had the mermaid one twice and enjoyed it. Always got a lot of comments from people after as it is not as common as BBB.
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Old 6 Apr 15, 07:16 PM  
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I love the girls' costumes today!

I've never seen crowds like that outside for breakfast!

Aurora's dress at breakfast isn't particularly flattering, she looks like she's wearing the wrong size. I love 'that' Ariel she is adorable.

I love the mermaid make up so much, it so so pretty, even prettier than BBB! What a bargain the makeover is too.

P.S. I am so excited that you're already talking about NEXT year!
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Old 6 Apr 15, 08:47 PM  
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What a brilliant birthday

Joan
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Old 9 Apr 15, 12:36 PM  
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What a great first part of your day. The Pirates League looks like a lot of fun. It looked really busy too.

Your breakfast looked good but it really is so expensive isn't it. I think the chocolate slippers are good Disney value too.

Lots of lovely photos today.

Looking forward to reading more. xx
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Old 11 Apr 15, 08:35 AM  
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Pirates League looks amazing, if I had a daughter Id deffo be taking her there instead of BBB! The girls look so adorable after their makeovers x
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Old 22 May 15, 06:16 PM  
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Seren looks really pleased with her presents and in meeting the princesses at CRT. I don't remember seeing very much about the Pirates League before, sounds like the girls really enjoyed this.

Off to read part 2 ...
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Old 30 May 15, 10:38 AM  
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Originally Posted by dixonsontour View Post
They look fantastic after their makeovers

My DD has had the mermaid one twice and enjoyed it. Always got a lot of comments from people after as it is not as common as BBB.
Thank you. The mermaid makeover is fab, isn't it? And quite rare, like you say .

Originally Posted by collybird View Post
I love the girls' costumes today!

I've never seen crowds like that outside for breakfast!

Aurora's dress at breakfast isn't particularly flattering, she looks like she's wearing the wrong size. I love 'that' Ariel she is adorable.

I love the mermaid make up so much, it so so pretty, even prettier than BBB! What a bargain the makeover is too.

P.S. I am so excited that you're already talking about NEXT year!
Thanks very much Colette. I assumed that was a standard breakfast queue .

Poor Aurora in that dress, and I really hope we get that Ariel again. When we have one more than once, the girls think they are the 'real' ones .

I'm a big fan of Pirates League and it's really good value.

I was already talking about next year before we'd even been on this year's trip . Mat's not a big fan of me doing that so I will save it for the Dibb in future .

Originally Posted by mick View Post
What a brilliant birthday

Joan
Thanks Joan .

Originally Posted by Lisa29 View Post
What a great first part of your day. The Pirates League looks like a lot of fun. It looked really busy too.

Your breakfast looked good but it really is so expensive isn't it. I think the chocolate slippers are good Disney value too.

Lots of lovely photos today.

Looking forward to reading more. xx
Thank you Lisa. It was your birthday report that gave me the idea for the slippers and pointed out what a bargain they are, so thanks very much .

The Pirates League is brilliant. I would recommend it if your girls ever show an interest and it's more fun for the observers (us mugs with the credit cards) than BBB xx.

Originally Posted by LadyDebs86 View Post
Pirates League looks amazing, if I had a daughter Id deffo be taking her there instead of BBB! The girls look so adorable after their makeovers x
Thanks Debs . Pirates League is great .

Originally Posted by TheBeast View Post
Seren looks really pleased with her presents and in meeting the princesses at CRT. I don't remember seeing very much about the Pirates League before, sounds like the girls really enjoyed this.

Off to read part 2 ...
Thanks for the lovely comments Terry . It's great to look back at these photos and see Seren having such a special birthday. Although she did say that this year's birthday a couple of weeks ago (school, Tesco pizza, homemade birthday cake and a DVD) was 'just as good.' Kids, eh?
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