Once again we were at DL before the park opened. I planned on doing Adventureland and Frontierland today, so we hurried over to Indy, which was closed for repairs. Darn. So we hit up the Jungle Cruise. Cheesy jokes were still funny and my daughter absolutely loved it. After the cruise, we just decided to continue along. Tarzan's Treehouse was closed (the entire trip ) so we went over to Pirates. It was just as I remembered it and my son really liked it. There was still no line so we went on it again. My son wanted a third trip, but we decided to go on other rides first before it got too busy.

At the start of the trip, we told the kids that they had to try the rides at least once. If they liked it, we would "mark it on the map" to do it again. If they didn't like it, we wouldn't mark it on the map. At this point, the kids asked for every ride to be marked on the map. The first exception was the next one, Haunted Mansion. My son liked it, but my daughter hated it. It was okay, but I wasn't too disapointed that we didn't hit it up again.

We got our first major surprise on the trip after the Mansion. I heard some screams and we quickly walked over the Splash Mountain. It was OPEN! The signs all around the park said it would be closed and the offical opening was to be the Saturday after we left, but apparently they opened it early. There was no line. And when I say that, I mean no line. We walked on and there only had to wait for two boats to fill before we got on. LOVE THIS RIDE. Probably my second favorite after Indy in DL. Since I wasn't sure if we would be able to experience such light lines, we hit it up again. I was soaked after, but totally loved it. We bought the picture of our second trip down the big flume. My wife, son and I have expressions of joy on our faces. My daughter (who asked to sit in the front) had a look of pure horror. Priceless.

We hit up Winnie the Pooh after that and the kids liked it as well. To finish the first part of our day, we went over to Frontierland and did Big Thunder. I was surprised, but both my kids liked it. It was my daughters (again, she was only 4) favorite ride there and my son's second, after Pirates.

We took our early afternoon break back at the hotel to prepare for a special surprise for my daughter.

Upon returning, we went over to DCA. We had reservations for Ariel's Grotto, which my daughter didn't know about at all. We mostly killed some time by walking around the park and checking out the things we would do when we spent our entire day here (Wed). Then the we walked up to the Tower of Terror and it was only a 10 min wait, so we hit it up. I loved this ride, but noone else did. Upon exitting it, my son said "Daddy, don't mark it on the map". lol  This was the first one that he said it to.

It was about time for our dinner, so we walked over to Ariel's. My daughter still didn't know what it was, but when she looked over the railing, she saw Ariel's and shrieked LOUDLY. It was something that I pretty much heard from all the young daughters that saw the princesses there for the first time. Dinner went smooth and I have some great videos of Lainey's expressions and comments. We saw Ariel of course, plus Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Belle. My daughter wore her Belle dress and Belle commented on how much she looked like a princess. My daughter was on cloud nine.

By the time dinner was over, it was about 9pm, so we decided to head home. Everyone was tired, so we didn't stay for the fireworks.

For the next day, click this link:

http://www.disneymouselinks.com/Forums/Topic72196-4-1.aspx

So what didn't your daughter like about Haunted Mansion?  Just a curiousity question.

Tower of Terror - okay, they didn't want to go on again - any reason?  Alex has not yet been on this, so I would love to have more info on what they didn't like!

The Princess Meal - I bet that was totally priceless.  How special for Lainey!

Big Thunder - a hit?  Wow - we ruined Alex on Roller Coasters by putting him on the Matterhorn when he was too young.  Our fault, and we will pay for it now for years.  He hated Big Thunder.

Sounds like another wonderful day!

Leanne

May All Your Days Be Filled With Magic!  And your nights full of Disney Dreams!

As much as Lainey loves princesses, she hates monsters, ghosts, etc. Didn't really bother Nolan, but she just doesn't take to them at all.

That's part of the reason she hated the Tower of Terror. The movie at the start, plus she didn't like being scared with falling. My son was okay with the ride, but he hated the movie part because the people disappeared and even after us telling him it was just pretend, he still wouldn't go back on it after the second time. My wife would have, but stayed with Lainey instead.

Lainey's fear of the undead/monsters sure doesn't apply to Big Thunder. They just loved it all, especially riding with Daddy, lol.

May All Your Days Be Filled With Magic!  And your nights full of Disney Dreams!

P.S. I have to get permission to post pictures. Once that's done, I'll put some up.

And thanks for the info on TOT!

Leanne

May All Your Days Be Filled With Magic!  And your nights full of Disney Dreams!

My daughter was 4 when we went on our trip. Her favorite ride was Splash Mountain followed by Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. She absolutely LOVED that ride and we rode it several times. I was pleased because it is one of my favs as well. My husband and I rode it 4 times in a row on our honeymoon with no wait in the middle of August!!!!

Corinne also did Tower of Terror. I haven't done it yet becuase I waited with my 2 yr old. It was on our last night and we were running out of time. Corinne was extrememly pale when she got off and didn't say much--but, after we got home she said she would take me on it next time and hold my hand so I won't be scared!LOL

The Princess meal--isn't that priceless? It's so nice getting all of the autographs from the princesses in one sitting rather than hunting them down in the parks!

Katie

Others have said it, but you almost have to do Ariel's Grotto if you have a little girl who's into princesses. It was the highlight of my daughter's trip.

Yesterday she got some Ariel toys for her birthday and she wondered if the "real Ariel" she met helped make them. Totally priceless.

May All Your Days Be Filled With Magic!  And your nights full of Disney Dreams!