Dreaming of Summer Luau

For a quite a while, our favorite pizzaria has featured the characters from Frozen at their character dinners. Tonight we were happy to see someone different. It was a Dreaming of Summer Luau featuring Ariel and Moana. It’s been a tough few weeks and we were looking forward to going with our friends. Marina decided to wear my pink Ariel dress. She really liked it, we just had to pin it in a few places. She looked pretty in it.

We arrived a bit late and were seated on the patio in what seems to be our usual spot. Ariel and Moana came by our table shortly after we sat down. tonight’s special was a Luau Pizza. Marina loves pineapple on her pizza so we ordered that along with the wedge salads we all love.

We were right by all the activities. Marina got up for them at first but then returned to the table. She did get a seashell and heart of Tifiti from them though. After we ate we headed home. It was the fun night we all needed. 

Halloween at the Zoo

It’s a Halloween tradition for Marina and I got go to Boo at the Zoo. Marina decided to wear her new Mulan costume today. We wanted to get an early start, but it didn’t work out as well as we hoped. We ended up having to walk quite a way.

When we finally got into the zoo, we found out where the characters would be so we didn’t miss them. Then we were on our way. We looked at some of the animals along the way around. Marina was much better at spotting the small trick or treat stations than I was.  She collected quite a bit of candy.

Near the entrance we saw Kylo Ren and a Bounty Hunter. By the carousel we found Snow White, who was played by a friend of ours.Then we went to the primate exhibit where we found Captain Jack Sparrow. He recognized us immediately. Near Tropical Discover was Maleficent who recognized us as well. She hugged us both and we talked with her for a few minutes.

By this time, we were hungry, so we stopped for lunch. Marina had a quesadilla. It was nice to sit and rest for a while. At noon, the characters changed. So we headed back to some of the spots. At the carousel we ran into Moana. She was played by an actress we haven’t seen in a while. Then we went to the tropical exhibit where the Evil Queen was lurking. We had a nice exchange with her as well.

Once our visits were done. We headed to the car, which was quite a walk. We were both very tired but we’d had a fun time.

Unicorn Festival

Today was the annual Unicorn Festival. This year, we invited Ainsley to join us. After considering many options, Ainsley wore her Belle costume. Marina was excited to wear her new Anastasia costume.  I offered the girls capes to wear over their dresses instead of jackets since it was chilly today.

We arrived at the Unicorn Festival early. We found a really good parking spot and checked in quickly. We had to wait for about 15 minutes until the festival opened. While we waited a little girl asked if she could have her picture taken with Ainsley and Marina.

When the festival opened we went first to the Princess Palace. A friend of ours was dressed as Mary Poppins. We visited with her for a few moments. We also knew the actress playing Moana, so we took photos with her as well.

Next we went to the Mermaid Lagoon. Last year it had a long line all day. We arrived before it opened and had a short wait for our turn. We took photos with two mermaids before meeting Ariel. We got some nice photos there as well.

When we exited the Mermaid Lagoon, we were at the Mad Hatter Tea Party. We planned to wait for the show but it was taking a bit longer than usual, so we browsed some of the booths. We went back for the show and after we got photos with Alice and the Mad Hatter, we stopped for lunch. I also bought fancy cupcakes for dessert.

After lunch, we decide to wander around the festival. The girls loved shopping the various vendors. Marina insisted that we stop by the Harry Potter Sorting Hat. She was pleased that both she and Ainsley were sorted into Hufflepuff. We ran into Peter Pan and Tinkerbell along the way.

We headed back to the Princess Palace where we took photos with Tiana and Jasmine. Cinderella arrived as we were there but her line was pretty long, so we decided to come back to see her.

We did a little more shopping. At one booth both Marina and Ainsley found necklaces they loved, so I bought them. By this time, Cinderella’s line had shortened, so we took photos with her.

We checked out more booths and the petting zoo, which both girls loved. They also went through the castle maze. By this point it was starting to sprinkle. Because of that, the line to sit on a “unicorn” was as short as we had seen it, so we waited for Marina and Ainsley to have their photos taken on the larger “unicorn.”

By this time, it was starting to rain. At the Princess Palace, Anna and Elsa were there. Since there wasn’t much else to do, we waited in the line. It was pretty cold by then so we teased Elsa that she must have brought in the bad weather.

We were all ready to go home but since Rapunzel was due in 15 minutes, we decided to take a photo with her and then go home. Unfortunately the waited ended up being nearly and hour. Marina got a bit grumpy. Eventually she went over to the Storytime Cottage and talked with the drag queen there. Apparently she was asking for makeup tips.

Eventually, Rapunzel arrived and we quickly took a photo with her. After the long, cold wait, we were all pretty miserable. We headed to the gate, stopping along the way to pet more “unicorns.” So we left the festival and stopped for dinner.

Another Princess Partea

For the past two years Marina and I have attended The Princess Partea. While Marina said she wanted to go, at times she felt reservations about being too old. However, today she was excited to go. She wasn’t sure what to wear, so I suggested a Cinderella costume. She finished it off with sparkly shoes and a blue crystal tiara.

The hotel the Partea was at this year is fairly close to our house. So we were able to arrive early. We ended up in a long line when we arrived but it moved very quickly. Once inside, we looked for the princess meet and greet lines with the shortest wait. We quickly saw Merida, Mary Poppins, Tinkerbell and Sleeping Beauty. Then we saw Jasmine’s line was fairly short, so we met with her. Marina was particularly excited to see her with a new Aladdin movie coming out soon.

At that point, we were shocked that the line for Anna and Elsa was pretty short, so we went o see them. Last year their line was long the entire time, so we happy about that. Next we went over for pictures with Moana, who had an amazing palm tree made of balloons near her.

One of the longest lines was for Belle. But we were willing to wait. She was, as always, just lovely to us. After a few pictures, we went into the Under the Sea Tea Party where we sat down for a bit and had a snack. Then we got into the fairly short line to see Ariel.

The longest line during the whole party was for Cinderella. But since Marina was wearing a Cinderella costume we had to see her. While we were waiting in line, Marina saw there was no line for Moana, so she talked with her and Merida to pass the time.

After a lovely visit with Cinderella, we saw that the lines for most of the princesses were practically nonexistent. So we stopped by to see many of them again before we were ready to leave.

Princess Pizza Party

Marina still likes to dress up and attend princess events, however now she prefers to do it when a younger child is with us. So I when I saw the Moana and Ariel party at a pizzeria I invited a friend and her niece to join us. Marina wore her Ariel costume and added jewelry and a tiara with pearls.

When we arrived it was a bit chaotic. We were happy to sit down. Our server took great care of us. Marina and I ordered a large pizza so we would have leftovers later in the week. While we were waiting, a huge plate of breadsticks were brought to our table, Marina loved those.

Right before our pizza arrived Moana and Ariel came by our table. Both girls got a necklace from Ariel and a heart of Tifiti from Moana.

After we ate, Moana and Ariel each sang a song. After that we waited to pay our bill. But before we left we signed up for the party next month. We’d had a fun evening.

Still Daring to Dream

I’ve been taking Marina to Disney on Ice shows for a long time. When tickets went on sale for Dare to Dream she said she didn’t want to go this year. But when one of our friends wanted to bring her niece to the show, Marina was much more interested in going. Instead of dressing as a princess, marina wore her elf dress.

We had a busy day today and didn’t leave as early as we’d hoped. We also ran into rush hour traffic on the highway. But we arrived about fifteen minutes early. We were on the club level they had fancy sodas. So Marina was happy to have a cream soda.

Our friends arrived after the show started. They had been in the wrong seats! Despite her earlier misgivings, she enjoyed the show. The first part had the stories of Belle, Cinderella and Rapunzel. Marina particularly enjoyed the aerial stunts in the Tangled portion.

Marina was hungry at intermission so we picked up some churros and popcorn. When we were back at our seats, she played with our friend's niece for a while.

The second act featured the stories of Frozen and Moana. Both had some great special effects and we all enjoyed singing along. After the show we left fairly quickly. It was a school night after all. Fortunately it didn’t take us as long to get home as it did to get there.

Aloha

Marina and I love the theater that presents dramatizations of international folk tales. And since we got Justine interested earlier this year, she’s been our regular guest to their shows. Their latest is Aloha – Polynesian folk tales. Marina was particularly excited because these stories centered around Maui, the demigod featured in the Disney movie Moana.

We arrived a bit later than we planned. The producer of the theater, was there to welcome us. Marina loves to sit in the front, so she sat in front of Justine and I. She was a bit impatient for the show to start. Fortunately, we didn’t have to wait too long.

The show was a fun mix of Maui stories mixed in the Polynesian dances. We all enjoyed it. Once it was over, we waited for our chance to have a photo taken with the cast. That has become a tradition.

Unicorns, Fairies and Princesses

Last year we attended the first annual Unicorn Festival. It was very overcrowded and poorly organized, but we decided to give it another try, especially since some of our friends would be there!

Marina wasn’t sure what to wear this year. Last night she put together a dance costume someone gave us with one of her skirts, fairy wings and a flower wreath to be a fairy. It was a cute outfit!

We left the house fairly early because we knew a lot of people would be there for the beginning of the festival. We didn’t leave as early as we hoped but we did arrive at the park before the festival opened. We got into line to enter and talked with the people around us. While we were waiting, we saw Snow White arrive. It was one of our friends!

It only took us 15 minutes to get inside after the festival opened. So we went immediately to the Princess Palace to see Phoebe. There was no line to see her, so we took pictures and talked with her for a while. We also saw Moana.

We moved on to some of the vendor booths. Marina loves to shop and she happily looked around at everything on display. While we were looking around, we ran into Prince Charming. We’ve been running into him since Marina was six and he was amazed at how much she has grown. We also came upon a group of fairies and Captain Jack Sparrow.

The line for the mermaids looked short, so we got into it. It moved really slowly and we were roasting in line. Bur fortunately we finally got through to see the mermaids. At the end was Ariel. Marina spent quite a while visiting with her.

While we were waiting for the mermaids, we saw Anna and Elsa arrive at the Princess Palace, so we went over there. This time there was a line but it moved quickly and we got to meet with them before their sing along. By this time, Jasmine had arrived at the Agrabah Bazaar. Marina joined the kids for story time and then waited in a quick line for a photo with her.

Next, we checked out a petting farm with "unicorns,” goats and a bunny. Marina loved that! We also met a large white “unicorn” who was a bit restless. Then we stopped in a shady spot to eat lunch. We made our way over to the Princess Palace again to meet Merida. She had a bow that Marina tried out and they posed with them.

We wanted to walk around the rest of the festival and ran into Tinkerbell who remembered us from the Princess Partea last month. We looked around a some of the other activities and then went to make sure we got to meet Belle, who was another of our friends. We had a bit of a wait, but we were thrilled to see her.

We decided to look at the Creation Station to see what crafts they had set up. Marina decided to make a wand. We had to scavenge around for the pieces but she ended up with one she was happy with. Marina wanted “something sweet,” so we looked around the various food trucks and she decide she wanted a snow cone. We sat for a while as she ate it. The line to sit on a “unicorn” was as short as we had seen it, so we got in it. It took a while but it was worth it. Marina got to sit on a white unicorn and pet a baby one. The foal tried to eat part of her costume!

By the “unicorns” was a Harry Potter sorting hat. We both tried it out and were surprised we were put into the Slytherin House. Rapunzel was the last visiting princess and we could see it was another friend of ours. Even though the line was long, we wanted to say hello to her. We were both tired so we decided this would be our last stop. We got some really cute photos and then we decided to go back to the car. It was a fun day but we were both exhausted.