The night before we left, we gave Lauren her (birthday) gift from Miss Marie (Uncle Matt's fiancee). She had written a letter as Snow White talking about how excited she was for LRV to come visit her at WDW. And she had wrapped up the DVD of Snow White. The kids were stoked. We had rented a bunch of Disney movies they hadn't seen before: Bambi, 101 Dalmatians, Disney princess sing-a-long, Star Wars Clone Wars vol. 1, etc. So they were enthralled in the movies & it made the trip faster for them.
But the drive to Orlando took 8.5 hours. We stopped for 45 minutes at McDonalds for lunch. Randomly, we had noticed the Maurer Yukon next to us on the interstate. So, we more or less caravanned w/Jay & the kids most of the way. Andrea rode with her mom. Jen & the boys left on Saturday to pick up her sister Erin in South Carolina. But the plan was for all of us to meet up at 5pm at Port Orleans Riverside (POR).
We called Al as we got closer, and he told us the back way from the turnpike. Even still it was after 5:30pm before we reached the property. Jen & the boys had been waiting for half an hour, but were super gracious. We knew we needed to check-in together to reassign who was in what room and all that. Check-in took less than 15 minutes & we were off to our rooms: Acadian House in Magnolia Bend (The Mansions of Riverside), 8070 & 8071. Our rooms were on the ground floor w/excellent parking access.
The Maurers arrived soon after. We had a short pow-wow and decided to leave for dinner at the Grand Floridian (GF) at 7pm. We had an hour to unpack and shower. The kids were bouncing off the walls; and who could blame them? We were finally at WDW!
Dinner on Sunday was set for 7:30pm at 1900 Park Fare. It was a character dinner featuring Cinderella, Prince Charming, Lady Tremaine, Anastasia and Drisella. Lauren came decked out in her Cinderella finery. She and Noah danced around the lobby as a pianist and later an orchestra played while we waited. They were too cute! It was maybe a 15 minute wait.
We were divided into two groups: the Volks & Maurers were at a table for 10. The Colwells were at a table for four. We were seated at a prime round table right by the buffet in the center of the room. Cinderella and Prince Charming had their dance right next to us. All the kids were overwhelmed by the characters. For LRV especially, this was THE Cinderella. It was all very real to them and very overwhelming. Anastasia came by our table first (I think). None of the kids were keen to meet her. All except Sam & Will were hiding in their parents’ arms. Poor Prince Charming also got rejected.
But they warmed up over dinner. (The only thing memorable about dinner was the strawberry soup.) And by the time the meal was over, Andrew interacted with the Stepmother. The girls met Drisella and Cinderella. We even managed a couple of pics.
After dinner, the Colwells headed back to POR; we and the Maurers decided to hop on the monorail and make the loop around Seven Seas Lagoon. Lauren talked non-stop about Cinderella and her castle. You would have thought they were best friends, although starstruck Lauren barely said a word to her. But anyway, meeting Cinderella was a big deal to LRV and she was super happy about it -- after the fact!
Unfortunately, Wishes (the Magic Kingdom fireworks show) was just ending and the crowds were letting out. So much for riding up front... Our monorail was jammed with tired families, so it wasn't the relaxing end to the evening we were hoping for. But the kids got to look out the window and see Cinderella's castle and blow thru the Contemporary. After another pit stop at the GF, we were headed home.
It was 10pm before we were in bed. So excited about our first day in the parks tomorrow!
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