Mickey's Not So Scary

What a amazing experience this was! I'm not sure who had more fun...the kids or Pete and me? If you've never done the "Not So Scary" party you must consider it. A limited number of tickets are sold for this event which means little to no lines on all the rides. The party goes from 7-12, but we were able to get into the park at 4.

Before we went to the park we checked into our hotel. We stayed at the Marriott World Resort and scored the top floor of the North Tower. We had a view from our balcony of all the parks and should we have been there any evening during the fireworks shows we would have caught all of them!


Dressed and ready to go...I need to say that it bothers me terribly that I didn't put more thought into the fact that Izzy's dress (these costumes came right out of our dress up bin) is so short and get her something nicer to wear under it. There. I said it and we can move on.



As soon as we got in the park we were able to meet some princesses as well as Mickey and Minnie. New to our kids this visit was the use of autograph books. While Izzy would approach the characters with a smile from ear to ear, Drew was much more serious only breaking into a huge grin after he said, "may I have your autograph please?" Check out some of the smiles...




look at Drew...








After we met the princesses and Mickey and Minnie we stopped for a quick picture in front of the castle and then headed for some rides.


The kids voted to ride the cars first since Izzy did not get to do this on our last MK trip. Drew was my driver and although a very serious driver his steering skills aren't so good. Pete was fearful the camera was going to fly out of my hand as I tried to snap a picture of him and Izzy behind us all the while bouncing off the guardrails.




Next we hit the tea cups which Drew always says he wants to go on but then won't let us spin our cup. Next time he's not riding with Izzy and me!


From the tea cups we spotted Tigger and Pooh and were able to have Pete jump in line for us so we could meet him when we got off the ride. I swear Pete and I spent most of our time saying "I'll go here, you go there"..."I'll grab the fast passes for such and such while you wait in line with the kids at blank." The mad dash to make it the most magical, yet shortest line wait time ever :)


The Peter Pan ride is a favorite ride for all of us. The kids like it so much that while I snapped still shots, Pete took video behind me.


Pete posted this on Facebook: While we were waiting in line for autographs/pics with Genie and Jasmine at Magic Kingdom, the character wrangler told us that they would be taking a 15 minute break. Izzy and Drew asked me how to spell Jasmine......and then Genie....."spell it again daddy." As the wife and I were talking, I eventually looked down to figure out my two kids were forging character autographs. Awesome! On to the next line...


The line for Jack Sparrow was the longest line we waited in all day/night. In fact, just before the start of the Not So Scary party at 7 we headed over to check the line out and found it about 50 people deep so we decided we either needed to get in line now or wait til 11:30 pm (and risk not seeing him if the line was more than 30 min. long). Since this was on of Drew's "must do's" we got in line and waited about 45 min. to see him. He was awesome! He played Jack Sparrow to a t. As soon as he signed Drew's book, Drew couldn't stop looking at his signature.




Our entire family LOVED the Villains Mix and Mingle dance in front of Cinderella's Castle. Prior to our trip I was a worried it might be too dark for the kids but after watching it on youtube the kids were very excited to see if in person. If you haven't seen it, you really should youtube it! (we saw the 10:05 showing - just for a time reference)


You may notice Drew with headphones on in many pictures, they are noise reducing headphones and proved to be a wise investment!


We ended the evening after watching the Boo To You parade at 10:30. We headed out with two very tired children (Izzy was asleep before we left MK) and at least 10 lbs of candy!

Florida

We stopped for a quick visit with Omi and Papa on our way to Disney World - like 36 hours short! The kids were all about Omi and Papa and nothing about Mom and Dad. What's a couple to do when the kids prefer the grandparents? Go out to dinner of course! Pete and I never turn down a chance for free babysitting and an opportunity to go out for yummy food. Thanks Mom and Al :)

The kids were in good hands while we were gone. They both love to sit on the ottoman in front of Al's chair - he will usually then play a silly game where he manipulates their head in a "yes" or "no" motion while asking ridiculous questions. Ahhh, fun times.


Snugglin up with Omi


Drew likes to swim in the big tub (notice the cool green streak in his hair...Izzy has a pink one).




Both Omi and Papa were amazed at how "techie" both kids are.

This is Izzy showing them how to work the photo booth on my computer and take funny faced pictures: alien, twisted nose, chipmunk, etc.




Saying goodbye wasn't too bad because they were going to meet us the next evening for dinner with Cinderella and gang!