When we last left off, the family had just defeated the evil Emperor Zurg, and then chilled with him behind bars. Our short time in Tomorrowland was now at an end, however. Originally the plan was to use rider swap for Space Mountain, but since it was down, we decided to get a jump on our long list of must-dos waiting for us in Fantasyland!
Our first destination was Peter Pan, because it was still early on in the Extra Magic Hour, so I knew there was a decent chance of a short wait. I personally have no desire to wait 45 minutes for a 2 minute flight. We arrived to see a 15 minute wait time. I said, okay we're riding, and my FIL questioned me, saying that the line looked longer than 15 minutes and maybe we should come back later.
I said trust me, its okay! Sure enough, we only waited about 10 minutes, and you better believe we never saw it at a wait shorter than 40 minutes for the rest of our trip. Point for Caitlin
Anyway, we were shortly aboard our pirate ships. Once again, Gigs rode with Ben and I, and the girls each took a grandparent. Gigs was mesmerized by the entire ride! He was an instant natural at the whole ride thing. He is an extremely wiggly child by nature, but never once tried to stand up or climb around any ride vehicles. He just sat and watched intently on whatever ride we took him. It was so much fun to watch his reactions!
All too soon, our trip to Neverland was over. The girls proclaimed it SO much fun and asked to try another one. Of course! That's why we're here! Next on the agenda was The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. Again, we waited about 10 minutes. It was moving too quickly to explore the interactive queue much (not complaining!), but the kids absolutely loved the honey walls! What a cute idea! We had a fun trip in our hunny pots (someone needs to tell spell check that hunny is correct in Pooh-speak!) with our same ride buddies. I thought this one was really cute!
My plan for the morning indicated that we were to now use our ETWB fastpasses, but it was still nowhere near time, so I decided that we should head to Storybook Circus to do Dumbo and Barnstormer. On the way there, however, I ended up changing plans AGAIN. I saw that the Ariel meet and greet was at 15 minutes. I had originally planned to do this after our Under the Sea FP+, but that wasnt until noon, and I had been worried about a long wait at that time. So, I made another executive decision, and called for everyone to park their strollers. This would be a very important character meet, as Ariel is Bethanys very FAVORITE princess!
This wait ended up actually being about 20 minutes, but it was not bad because we took it as an opportunity to give the kids some yogurt covered raisins for a pre-lunch pick me up. Soon enough, we were led into the grotto, and lucky you, I actually have pictures of this part!
But first, a little back story. I had been a bit heartbroken earlier in the week as we were preparing for the trip when Bethany came up to me and said:
Mom, Im excited to meet Mickey Mouse, and all of the princesses and everyone, but they arent really real, are they? They are just costumes, right?
I seriously felt my heart stop at this point. Dang it, she is five! I thought we were safely in the range to have a trip without questioning the magic! Now I know there are differing opinions on how to handle this situation, but I just wasnt ready to give up so early. My response was this: Not in Disney World, honey, you will see. In my mind, I wasnt lying, because at WDW, the characters are as real as they will ever be. She seemed satisfied enough with that answer, and enjoyed the character interaction the night before at Chef Mickeys, but didnt seem all that convinced.
Okay, back to the grotto. We were let into the room while the family before us is visiting Ariel. There she is, sitting in a seashell, with her gorgeous red hair and that beautiful, sparkly fin. And she is bubbly and happy, and talking a mile a minute about her adventures with Flounder. Well, Bethany is holding my hand watching this, and suddenly just looks up at me with wide eyes
Mom. Shes REAL!!!!
People, THIS IS IT.
THIS IS WHY WE DO DISNEY.
This is why I spent months and months and months planning and obsessing and perfecting the plan. The look on my childs face, a child who is all-too-quickly turning into a not-so-little girl, was one of pure wonder. It was magic. I would be lying if I said I wasnt choking back tears for the rest of the meet.
So eventually it was our turn. I didnt take notes, so I dont remember exactly what was said, but that doesnt matter. What I do remember is that Ariel was fantastic! She was so sweet and welcoming and fun. She talked to the girls about this being their first trip, and told them some funny stories. She kept up a nonstop stream of conversation, and it was all perfect. The girls were just so happy, and my mommy heart was happy too.
The ONLY bad thing about this meet was that Ariel talked so much that Bethany forgot to tell her that she is her favorite princess! She had been planning to tell her, and was slightly disappointed when she remembered later on. But no worries, there would be an opportunity for that later (although that is a story for another time.)
Also, I was a little annoyed at my MIL. She kept talking about the characters in un-magical ways, forgetting about the little ears around. This time, she came out talking about how wonderful Ariel was, but commented that she would not be able to have a job that required her to talk non stop for hours on end. Okay, not the worst comment, but definite foreshadowing of things to come
After a great encounter with the finned princess, we made our way over to Storybook Circus. Becca was excited to ride the Barnstormer, because it was the only coaster that she would be tall enough to ride on this trip. It was a 5 minute wait! I rode with Bethany in the front row, and Becca rode with her daddy behind us.
The girls both loved it, but asked why it was so short.
Next was Dumbo, which was also 5 minutes! I was quite pleased with myself at this point for making such good detour decisions
Since there was no wait, we bypassed the play area. The kids were excited to fly with Dumbo!
(If those are showing up sideways, I'm sorry. I can't figure out why.)
As usual, Ben and I rode with Gigs. Once he realized what the lever did, he spent the ride controlling the elephant, so it was a pretty jarring ride!
After our fun at the circus, it was getting to be time for our FP, so we started heading to a special cottage.
But wait
whats that I see? A 5 minute wait on Under the Sea?
I called for everyone to park the strollers once again (my poor family, lol. They got used to me changing my mind after a while and just went with it!) We had a FP scheduled for after lunch, but I just KNEW that this would be a favorite with the girls (Ariel obsessed, remember?), so it would definitely require multiple rides!
We zipped our way through the awesome queue and into our clamshells. This ride was super cute, and I loved looking over at the shell next to me and seeing Bethany sitting with her grandpa, singing along to the music and excitedly pointing out everything to him.
Finally, it was time to get back on schedule. The next stop requires its own post though, because I took too many pictures!
I make it a point not to outright lie to them, so I've hedged the best I can lol! We will be taking our first family trip in October, and also staying at POR! Glad you liked the resort, I'm looking forward to it! Can't wait to read more 
