After the girls were all dolled up, we headed to Exposition Hall for their photo session. Some folks (including those answering the BBB reservation line) think that you have to purchase the most expensive package to get this photo session. This is incorrect. We prepurchased the PP CD, so we just had the photographer add our photos to the PP card, but I think that every little girl who goes to BBB can have these photos taken.
While the girls had their session, Rick had a little business to take care of. You may remember that I had lost my camera case, including the empty memory stick that was just waiting to be filled with pictures! Well, both cameras were running dangerously low on memory, and I knew we would be taking a lot of pictures tonight!
Of course, since we didn't have a car, we would have to find a solution on property. Rick thought we could buy a new memory stick, but I thought we should have the photos transferred to a CD. Rick thought that it would be more expensive to have the pictures put on a CD because of the labor involved.
It turns out that you can get a CD made for only $12, while the memory sticks were much more expensive! The CM at Exposition Hall spent a lot of time with Rick while I supervised the girls. It took a while, and we ended up needing three CDs, but he only charged us for two because the third CD only had three pictures on it! What I didn't know was that movies do not transfer, so make sure you don't delete any movies you may have taken. I lost my Everest video that way. (Oh well, only 70 days until I can take another one! ) All told, we paid $25 for 143 pictures. Not great, but it was either that or not take any more pictures for the rest of the trip, and if you've read this far, then you know that this would have been impossible for me!
Back to our photo session: I wasn't as happy with this session as I had been when we did BBB at DTD last year. First of all, I didn't realize it at the time, but he didn't take any photos of the girls together! Those were some of my favorites from last session, but it didn't occur to me to ask. In fact, I didn't even notice that there weren't any until I was watching the Disney special about the royal treatment just the other night! What he did do was ask if he could take some pictures of Christian. They didn't turn out great because Rick wasn't there, but it was very nice of him to offer.
After our time at Exposition Hall, it was time to get our P & P Party wristbands, so we headed toward the front of the park. I also wanted to get some photos taken with the party decorations.
When you walk through the tunnel, they have a red carpet runner down, and a fog machine going! It makes for a cool entrance! Here's a closeup of the banner.
I had been a long time since our Chef Mickey's brunch, so we headed to Cosmic Ray's for dinner. I had never been there, and I figured that Columbia Harbor House was closed, so we gave it a go. It was pretty busy in there - in fact, all of Tomorrowland was packed - but we got our food and found a couple of tables without too much trouble. Rick and I both got a double bacon cheeseburger, one DD got a burger and the other got chicken nuggets. We didn't get anything for Kate, and it was a good thing, too, because there was way too much food!
While the food was pretty forgettable, Cosmic Ray's was the site of Eclipse's Mini Mixes dance party, and there were some very special guests there: Lilo and 626!
Once we'd had a proper meeting with the nasty alien, Rick ran to the restroom and all of a sudden, I felt it was time to get out of there. It was getting really crowded and LOUD, and I'd had about enough, so I packed up the kids and started out the door, with both the stroller and wheelchair in tow! Once I got to the door, I stopped. I couldn't do this very easily without Rick, but while I was trying to figure it out, another nice dad stepped in and helped by getting the door open for me. Rick was not far behind us as we headed out to the fresh air and relative quiet of Tomorrowland!
There was a treat stop right outside of Ray's, so we each got a necklace, although no treat bag to put it in!
Up next: the princess we'd been waiting over a year to meet!