WDW day FOUR!

Day 4 was a day to sleep in!

Well, if you count sleeping  until 8am sleeping in.

 

Our itinerary consisted of :

HOUSE OF BLUES GOSPEL BRUNCH

BIBBIDY BOBBIDY BOUTIQUE / HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS

DINNER AT OHANA

 

We started out all excited and raring to go at the bus depot, headed toward Downtown Disney and the House of Blues.

 

 

We waited...

 

 

...and waited...

 

 

...and finally after a half hour  the bus came!  The 20 minute bus ride turned out to be a 40 minute ride, that made Marc motion sick, and made us all VERY late for the brunch that Nana and Papa had been early for, sitting in the hot Florida sun.  First time I've ever seen them early for something and this happens!  That'll show them to be on time.

 

The brunch wasn't as delicious or as well-organized as I'd become accustomed to at the resort, but the entertainment more than made up for it!

 

I was worried that everyone would hate it, but one look at my foot-stomping, napkin swinging kids, and I was worried that they'd all want to convert away from Catholicism when we got home!

 

 

The boys headed off to afternoon adventures at Hollywood Studios

(and more of the transportation problems that seemed to plague the day)

while Nana, Molly and I headed over to the Bibbidy Bobbidy Boutique where a certain

princess-in-training had an appointment for a makeover!

 

 

The salon was housed in the biggest Disney Store I'd ever seen, and it was absolute mayhem on a Sunday morning with wall to wall people.

 

Good thing we made our appointment months in advance!

We upgraded to their 'Castle' package, because HELLO! how could you not???

 

First Molly got to select her princess costume,

a gift from Nana and Papa!

She chose Jasmine's ensemble.

 

 

Next, was the hairstyle.

 

And manicure, painted expertly by her Fairy Godmother-in-training.

 

Then we moved on to makeup,

all of which she got to take home with her!

 

 

She did not utter a single WORD during all of this.

The room had at least 15 chairs filled with little princesses getting makeovers and

not a peep came out of any of them.

 

They were simply enthralled.

 

There were three different hairstyles to choose from.

The Pop Princess had fluffy marabou feathers on top

The Disney Diva was a long floofy hairpiece

and the Fairy Tale Princess was a tight bun.

 

Molly was feeling a little "Diva"ish!

 

 

Can you believe they even had special face cover thingies for when they sprayed the hairspray on?

Talk about royal treatment!

 

 

The crown came next.

 

 

And lastly, fairy dust!

 

 

Oh, but don't forget the sash!

 

 

 

But wait!  She hadn't seen herself  yet!

They don't let the princesses look in the mirror until their makeover is finished.

They call their official  photographer over,

have the princess close her eyes,

and spin the chair around.

 

and Bibbidy...Bobbidy...BOO!

 

 

(Nana's face is the best here!)

 

The Castle package comes with a photo shoot.

I assumed it meant that the Disney photographers in the salon would snap a few pictures...which they did.  But there was MORE!

 

Next door, there was actually a photography studio.

That's where we headed next.

 

She felt like a SUPERMODEL.

And frankly, posed like a professional,

and made her Nana and I melt just from the happiness on her face!

 

 

 

 

Pretty much the BEST. DAY. EVER!

 

Nana and Papa ferried us back to the Polynesian, while poor Marc and the boys had to sprint across multiple parks and a lake to finally get back to the hotel with about 30 seconds to spare before dinner

(we learned our lesson - if there's a bus involved, take a CAB!)

 

Luckily, O'Hana, the restaurant we had reservations at, was only two buildings over at our resort.

It had been a long day and I fully enjoyed my virgin pina colada-in-a-pineapple.

Marc more than earned his (non-virgin) Mai Tai.

 

 

 

The view from the restaurant was wonderful!

You could see all the way to Cinderella's Castle, right from our table.

 

The restaurant was as Polynesian as it gets,

with traditional Polynesian games and music for entertainment.

 

 

The food (served family style) is mostly meat, and it's all cooked

over this roaring fire.

 

 

 

We liked the dessert most.

Giant bowls of ice cream with sprinkles

and pineapple bread pudding.

 

That was pretty much all we needed.

 

That, and a BIG nap.

WDW Part THREE!

Day Three = EPCOT!!

 

We had 8am reservations to meet The Princesses in Norway.

These were not easy to come by, so by hook or by crook, we had to get up at the crack of dawn and get ourselves to Epcot on time.

 

 

 

Epcot was so beautiful in the quiet of the morning light!

 

 

The park hadn't even opened yet, so it was like we had the whole place to ourselves!

 

 

 

This baby crane is for my cousin Melissa  :)  There were cranes EVERYWHERE, but this little one was too cute to pass up!

 

 

Finally we arrived!

 

 

 

The main buffet was cold, and filled with Norwegian specialties.

In other words, it's a good thing there was other food, or Marc and the kids would have starved!

(for the record, I was stoked about the smoked salmon and capers - yum!)
But the scrambled eggs, bacon and cheesy potatoes that came to our table family-style were much appreciated by the less adventurous palates at the table.

 

 

The royal guests of honor were kind enough to visit with us and pose for pictures.

Molly was in heaven!

Jack mostly rolled his eyes.

Ben hid under the table.

 

AURORA

(Sleeping Beauty)

 

 

SNOW WHITE

 

 

ARIEL

 

 

 

The child hiding under the table was coaxed out by the friendly redhead.  He took a shine to her and followed her around like a puppy after that. 

So Ben, if you grow up to marry a redhead...it all started here!

 

 

CINDERELLA

 

 

There were two grand processions around the restaurant where all the princes and princesses in training were invited to join the real princesses.

 

The second time around, Snow White chose Molly to carry her basket of flowers.

She was just a little excited!

 

 

And then it was time to go. 
Epcot's Norway was so beautiful, we loved our morning there.

 

 

 

 

And we even got our Viking spirit on in the gift shop!

(this picture below might be my favorite of the entire day - Jack clearly has an inner Viking just itching to get out!)

 

 

And Ben is a total goofball!

 

 

 

In fact, he spent most of our days at the parks trying to climb things, or hide under things.

 

 

 

Next on the agenda was Mission Space and later on, we'd head to lunch at the famous Food and Wine Festival.

 

 

 

 

Except for one small problem.

Our little goofball was a HAIR too short to ride it.

We're talking 1/8" or less.

And they were not being generous that day.

So he couldn't ride.

 

And that was when it all blew up.

 

 

For an hour I tried to console him,

but nothing would work.

 

We had no choice but to pull the plug on our Epcot adventure

and hope to come back another day

(which of course never happened, boo hoo!)

 

We did manage to say hello to Chip and Dale on the way out

 

 

 

And snuck through the Nemo ride that miraculously had no line

 

 

 

 

 

I think the kids loved the real fish at the end of the ride the best!

 

 

 

 

 

But the Nemo-themed playground was a close second!

 

 

 

 

And that was all she wrote about Epcot.

 

But the day was only half over, so we headed back to the Polynesian to relax.

 

 

Ben got to indulge in his favorite form of therapy - the Zen of sand!

 

 

 

Nana and Papa joined us too!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And then the kids got to play at the Polynesian's kids club - the Neverland Club,

while Marc and I snuck off to the California Grille at the Contemporary Resort.

 

 

 

 

Dinner was delicious,

the hawks put on an aerial show that rivaled the Blue Angels, and the sunset was

maginificent over the Magic Kindom.

 

 

 Maybe not the day we had planned,

but an excellent day nonetheless!