So, I clearly got my days muddled up as today wasn’t Animal Kingdom at all, but we did need an early start as we had booked a lady who used to work at Character Couture to come and do in-room makeovers for the girls at 7.30am! We debated whether to do this or not as with Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique, it was the experience of being in the castle that the girls loved rather than the actual styling (we usually ended up in one restroom or another redoing the hair, so it didn’t pull so much within an hour or so!) but after discussing it with the girls they decided that they’d like to give it a go. Winnie decided she’d prefer the makeover to not be on her actual birthday as that day would be busy enough, so we opted for Birthday Eve-Eve! As she didn’t want a new outfit for the big day itself (she was set on wearing 50th Donald for that) I decided to make them special dresses for makeover day instead, and they chose Olaf and Frozen 2 Elsa.
We woke up and Steve went off to get breakfast for the girls while I got them ready. The lady arrived promptly at 7.30 and got going. Now, if I so much as come within 2 metres of them with a hairbrush, I get moaned at but having hair extensions literally sewn into their tightly pulled back hair was absolutely fine at Disney!
It took around 2 hours for her to do hair and make-up on both girls (they literally had more make up on their faces than I own!) and they looked about 25 when she’d finished but they absolutely loved how they looked. I personally loved the hair but think they could have had less make up on (I’m not sure why small people need foundation). I also wish I’d had some advice on how to remove the hair in the evening, but for now the girls were over the moon and ready to start their day.
Polly had come up with a plan to go and do the Frozen themed bits at Hollywood Studios followed by lunch at Sci Fi before heading over to Epcot and doing the Frozen ride there. We love the walk between the two, so it seemed a great plan.
We were too late to rope drop (the second day running doing parks without rope drop…who even am I?!) so decided there was no rush to get there, and as Steve likes a beer or two around the world in Epcot, we chose to use the bus. The bus stop was very busy, and we weren’t sure we’d get on (especially as some people don’t seem to care that they are last to arrive and push to the front anyway) but the driver did a great job of getting everyone shuffled up to fit us on.
When we arrived, we headed straight for the Olaf meet because I knew that the chances of that white dress staying white for much longer were slim! It was a really fun meet and the girls enjoyed it. We then planned to go to the Frozen Singalong, but the girls said they didn’t want to do it (I think they were worried they’d draw too much attention to themselves in the outfits, which they can struggle with), so we decided to watch the Mickey short film instead whilst Steve went for his mandatory Tap House beer flight.
After the film/ photos we still had a bit of time before lunch so did the One Man’s dream show which is a favourite of ours and gave Daddy a bit more peace.
It was now time for our reservation, so we headed over and were called in pretty quickly. Last time we visited we were in a car ourselves, but this time we had another couple behind. We actually nicknamed the man Covid-Kev as he never stopped coughing the whole time, which made Steve and I giggle like school kids every time! Dinner was perfectly fine, and Winnie got a cupcake for her non-birthday (the first of many cupcakes!)
After we’d finished lunch, we decided to head over to Epcot. Mickey & Minnie’s Railway had been down a while but just came back up as we were passing, so we hopped in there (if a ride does go down and get cleared out it’s always good to stalk it and jump in as soon as it comes back up as the queue is much smaller. You have to be quick though as once all the lightning lane people spot it’s back open the standby queue moves very slowly). On the way out of the park we caught Mickey and Minnie on the balcony. They were really cute and kept blowing kisses to each other (they clearly weren’t trying to navigate the Genie+ system or they would definitely have been a lot more frazzled!!)
The plan was to walk to Epcot but as a boat was just pulling in, we got on that instead. The captain got everyone to wish Winnie a happy birthday which she loved. We then set off on the painfully slow journey. I know it’s meant to be relaxing, but I pretty much don’t relax, ever. I thought we might get off at the Yacht Club and walk to Epcot from there, but no. The girls wanted to go the whole way, so over to Boardwalk we went, unloaded there, reloaded, and set off to Epcot taking about 4 times as it would have done to walk!!
We entered the park (Steve had the bag nailed by this point, holding all glasses cases in front of him to avoid the bag search) and planned to head to Norway. However, Frozen was down so we decided to head to Future World to do some painting by numbers and see which rides had short queues there (during festivals, World Showcase can seem crazy busy, yet the front of the park can be really quiet so it’s always worth checking the app for ride times). Winnie wanted to stop at every single booth on the way around to look at the artwork as she loves art, so it took a while, but we finally reached the paint by numbers section.
This area is so cool. There is a huge mural on the wall, and you collect paint pots with a number on them. You are then directed to an area where you paint a number of squares in your colour, with others all doing the same until the mural is finished. We loved it and were so glad to have got the chance to do it.
The girls then spotted some pavement chalking, so went over to try that (yes, in the white dress!! before we headed to Soarin’. We then did Spaceship Earth (because after burning the wax melts with this smell almost constantly in our house since Christmas, we couldn’t not!) before heading back to finish the other half of World Showcase.
The girls met Mexican Donald but didn’t want to meet Anna and Elsa (they find face characters much more difficult). They also loved posing in classic painting sets.
We tried the caramel shortbread from Germany, but it was too sweet for us, then decided to sit down and watch the Disney on Broadway concert before heading back to the hotel via the monorail.
The Polynesian is great for getting to/ from Epcot as you can easily walk from the transportation centre rather than changing onto a different monorail (even with tired children!)
We did have every intention of watching the fireworks from the beach, but after realising the hair removal was akin to a surgical operation and required much more effort and time (and stress) than anticipated, we only had time to go to the steps at the side of the building. I assured Steve we would be able to see from there, he didn’t agree. As we don’t argue much Winnie got a bit upset but Polly told her not to worry. We weren’t falling out. When we have a disagreement, it just means that daddy has one opinion and mummy has another, but daddy is too stubborn to admit that mummy is always right!
That girl will go far!!
Animal Kingdom Day tomorrow (for definite this time!!)
(Oh, and you could see the fireworks from the steps in case you were wondering. As Polly says, mummy is always right!)
Doodle & Peg Do Disney 