[Goofy3230]

Great, great trip report! Your family is beautiful! You seem like you write it from the heart and that keeps me coming back for more! Great job!

[timkelmom]

What beautiful photos and what a great start to your trip. I can't believe how many magical moments you have had already. I hope the magic continues.

[yankeevttch]

Beth you have a lovely family. I can't wait to read more of your TR.

[disneylovers5]

Iam loving your TRIP REPORT. You have a beautiful family. Can't wait to hear more.

[packerbeth]

It was very being on Main Street virtually alone, but I didn’t know how cool until we were there a few hours later when it was packed! It was our first visit to MK this trip, and I don’t know that we fully appreciated the emptiness until it wasn’t empty anymore!

Now, about that breakfast: I had read a lot of reviews about CRT before the trip, and found that a lot of them said that it’s overrated. It’s something you should do once, they all said, but it’s too expensive to do it more often than that. I’d also expected the drive-by character interaction that I’d read about. I’m happy to say that since I went in with fairly low expectations, I was really pleasantly surprised and I don’t think we’d hesitate to return.

We stopped for a PP picture near the Partners statue, but then we had to go ahead and get to the castle because my oldest DD needed to use Cindy’s restroom. As early as it was, I expected to find only a few families there for breakfast with Cindy, so I was very surprised to see about 20 people waiting when we entered the castle! The line to meet Cinderella was pretty long, but it probably only took about 15 minutes.

They took our autograph books and had her sign them while we were waiting in line, which robbed us of any interaction between the kids and Cindy while she signed the books. I enjoy that part, because usually the face characters, and even sometimes the non-speaking characters, really like seeing their page in the book. Oh well. They were trying to get us all through the line and up to breakfast; I can appreciate that. We took the elevator to the dining area and we were ready to mingle with royalty!

When we exited the elevator, our server led us straight ahead to the opposite side of the room. It was a little tight back there, with a table directly to the left and against the wall on the right.


The girls are ready for their special breakfast!

We tucked Christian’s chair into the corner of the room, where he could get a good view of the princesses as they approached the table. Hey, he’s almost a teenager! He appreciates a pretty girl as much as the next boy!


The food came quickly, and not only was there plenty of it, but it was also very tasty! They brought out a basket of pastries, then a platter of food for the kids. Kate got a “complimentary” plate of food, and then a selection of more grownup fare for Rick and me. I’m not a big fan of scrambled eggs, so Kate happily ate those for me, but I really enjoyed the rest of my breakfast, especially the blueberry-cream cheese French toast! Yum! As far as the cost is concerned, as I have mentioned, we had to pay for the dining plan for Christian, even though he doesn’t eat. The CRT breakfast is one way that we used this to our advantage. We had 18 adult table service credits to use, so the fact that this breakfast cost us each 2 credits wasn’t that big of a deal.

Of course, we weren't really there for the food! The princesses started at the opposite end of the restaurant, so by the time they came around, we had almost finished our breakfast.


Aurora came by first.


We had never met Belle in her blue dress!

Belle asked if we wanted to take a picture with Christian; of course, we did! Aurora had not offered.


Look how she's holding his hand. Awwww...

Jasmine came by next. She took some time with the girls, while she signed Kate's and Christian's books.


I like this picture, because it really shows that it's not a drive-by interaction


Hmmm...why does Daddy look so happy, and what is Christian looking at?!?!?!?

[mickeysgirlz]

Wow! Wow! Wow! Great trip report . . . and the Poly aaaaaaaaaaah I would to stay there someday!!

The CM that gave the pin to you for your brother . . . that brought tears to my eyes . . . what a nice story!!

Can't wait to read the rest!! Thanks so much for sharing!

[dancing4disney]

I love the pictures...it looks like you had a great time. I'm glad you were able to use the unused dinner points to your advantage.

[packerbeth]

One thing I forgot to mention is the wands and swords that they give out while you’re waiting to meet Cinderella. Usually, the boys choose the swords and the girls get the wands. Well, Grace decided that she wanted a sword, as well, so I told her she would have to ask if she could have one. We ended up with two wands and two swords, although we had to leave one sword behind when it didn’t get packed up with our checked baggage and I knew we couldn’t take it on the plane! Hopefully the mousekeepers at the Poly found someone to give it to!

Before we get to our meeting with Snow White, I have to tell you a little story. Last family trip, I had the girls booked at the Princess breakfast at Epcot on our last morning at Disney World. Of course, I had done extensive online research, and discovered that we could expect Belle, Aurora, Jasmine, Snow White and maybe Ariel at Akershus.

A couple of nights before our breakfast, the girls and I attended the Pirate & Princess party. We went to the County Bounty to see which princess we might be able to meet, since we only had time for one. The girls were angling for a visit with Snow White, but I told them that we would see her at Akershus. Instead, we chose Cinderella, knowing that she wouldn’t be at the princess breakfast. Well, I know you can guess what happened next. When we arrived in Norway on Wednesday morning, we saw Belle, we saw Aurora, we saw Jasmine, we even saw Ariel and Mulan, but Snow White was nowhere to be found! She had dissed us! My girls blamed me, of course, since I was the one who had said we could wait to see her in Epcot. Oh well, lesson learned. When they say characters are subject to change, they really mean it! I was actually really surprised by all the fuss, since neither girl is a big fan of Snow. For some reason, they have inherited my childhood dislike of her singing voice…

Back to CRT: I had already asked our wonderful server, Lynn, to bring us the check so we could try to get out to Fantasyland for rope drop. However, because of our location in the restaurant, we were the last group to meet with the princesses. The first two had come rather quickly, but we had to wait quite a while for Jasmine and Snow White to come by. Of course, we weren’t going anywhere without getting Snow White’s autograph! When she finally arrived, she was lovely; she even spoke in the same high-pitched voice as her animated counterpart (but there was no singing!)


Getting that all-important autograph!




It's not a great photo of Snow White, but I love the expression on Christian's face!

We didn't waste much time after we said good-bye to Snow White; Fantasyland was calling our names! Since I had already paid the bill, we bid Cinderella's castle farewell and headed back down the elevator. It was about 9:20, so Fantasyland had been open for about 20 minutes before we got there. No matter; I had a plan and we were ready for action!

Up next: our Fantasyland morning and meeting up with my brother again.

[JustaT]

Yipppeeeeee....more TR!!!!!

I have to say.....CRT was one of our favorite experiences on our last trip. My 4 year old still talks about it. I can't imagine NOT doing this now....it was definitely woth the $$$ in my opinion AND the character interaction is priceless.

Your pictures are great. Have I told you what a beautiful family you have...just beautiful

More, more, more!!!!!

[packerbeth]

Originally Posted by JustaT

Yipppeeeeee....more TR!!!!!

I have to say.....CRT was one of our favorite experiences on our last trip. My 4 year old still talks about it. I can't imagine NOT doing this now....it was definitely woth the $$$ in my opinion AND the character interaction is priceless.

Your pictures are great. Have I told you what a beautiful family you have...just beautiful

More, more, more!!!!!

Thanks for your kind words. I have had a busy week, but don't have anywhere to go until tonight, so I should be able to churn out a couple more updates today.

[JustaT]

Originally Posted by packerbeth

Thanks for your kind words. I have had a busy week, but don't have anywhere to go until tonight, so I should be able to churn out a couple more updates today.

Whooooo Hooooooooo! I'll be patiently awaiting

[mickeysgirlz]

Wow . . . that is a GOOD snow white . . . but whats with the cheeks? Isn't she supposed to be "with skin as white as snow?"

We enjoyed CRT too!! 'in your TR!!

[packerbeth]

My plan was to get as much of Fantasyland done between 9 and 10 o’clock, then head to Frontierland and Adventureland before our lunch break back at the Polynesian. Dumbo was first on our list, but the line was already showing a 30 minute wait, since our breakfast had taken a little longer than I’d planned. At that point, we should have turned around and headed for the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, but I got a little mixed up, so we went to Peter Pan instead. I was so discombobulated, we walked right up to the “handicapped” entrance, forgetting that I wasn’t planning on taking Christian on this ride. (There’s no way to slow down the moving sidewalk like there is on other attractions, so getting him on this one would be too difficult; plus, there are no accessible pirate ships.) I sent Rick and the girls on the attraction, which left me some time to walk Christian around Fantasyland.

First, I turned around and took a photo of one of my favorites:


Then, we walked down toward the stroller parking area to the left of Small World.


We chatted with a CM there which we would see at iasw later on.

Next, we headed back to PP, and since I could still see my family waiting in the queue, I knew we had a little more time, so we kept walking.






Christian is a magnet for sweet, caring CMs, so when we were down near Winnie the Pooh, a man named Eduardo came right up to Christian and started talking with him. He was funny; he had a really thick New Yawk accent, and told us all about how he used to work with special needs kids for the Special Olympics, and he could be around these special kids "24-7." He got right down on Christian's level, and talked to him about all the stickers on his wheelchair tray.

I told him that Christian gets the stickers when he takes the attendance down to the office at school. Christian is very proud of this assignment, and always smiles when I mention it to people.


It was another really memorable interaction, and I remembered to give him a CM thank you card this time.


We said good-bye to Eduardo, thanking him for his kindness, and headed off to our appointment with a hunny pot. The stand-by time was already 20 minutes long, but we learned something important about riding this attraction with a wheelchair bound companion: you go to a special entrance, wait for the accessible hunny pot to arrive, and get right on! I took Christian, and the girls went with their dad, since there is only one seat in the accessible hunny pot.


At the end of our first adventure, they asked us if we wanted to ride it again, so off we went a second time! Since there was no one either ahead of us or behind us, I took some photos with my flash on.












Here is how Christian felt about his adventures.

[JustaT]

Wow......people like Eduardo are really what makes Disney so magical What a wonderful encounter. I am just all warm and fuzzy right now

[BGHG2802]

That is so amazing! Disney World is meant for great moments like this.