casa one.five.one

i’ve been behind on this blog thing. real behind. like a month behind. today is may 12 {mother's day} and i still haven't reported camryn's birthday party that was a month ago.

so here i am to rectify the situation. don't judge.

camryn requested a birthday party at pump it up. it's one of those indoor jumpy house places. she wanted to invite her preschool and sunday school friends and lord knows that our house can handle 20 - four year olds. and it also meant that i didn't have to clean my house. done!

i wanted a little bit of a theme because, as usual, i had to make a few decorations. the place is decorated in primary colors, so i went with it and did a rainbow theme. i have some pretty groovy ideas pinned here.

as always, it starts with an invite. i found these on etsy and they were perfect.

next, i found a cake. it took me a while to find someone to make a similar cake but it worked. you'll see it below. here's the inspiration cake.

i decorated camryn's bedroom door with a sign and streamers. she was so excited when she woke up on her birthday.

we got a quick family photo before the party.

here are some action shots at the party.

camryn and two friends in the wind tunnel. look at the top - the wind is 78.7 mph. i think they liked it :)

camryn on the rock wall

and coming down the slide

time for singing and cake

here's the "before" shot of the cake

happy birthday to you!

make a wish!

and here's the "after" shot of the cake. trust me, i didn't cut this cake. one of the girls at pump it up cut and served the cake. she slaughtered it but dang! it was cute. and, most importantly, tasted wonderful!

in keeping with the rainbow theme, each guest when home with a pack of twistable crayons.

it was a great day celebrating this wild child with all of her friends. i think she had a great party!

as i mentioned before, we just returned from a trip to disney world. i had not been before so this was my first experience. we booked the trip last spring and finalized the details in the fall. after a year of planning and a week at the parks, i definitely learned a few tricks. though we will not be annual pass holders, this blog is a great place to document what we learned if/when we decide to go back.

again, i am no expert. these are things that worked well for our family. camryn is almost four so we were traveling with a little.

i've inserted a few photos along the way. these may or may not have anything to do with the subject. just keepin' it interesting :)

1. plan ahead.

i read tons of blogs and scoured the internet before we went. you can check out my pinterest board here. also, i recommend a daily schedule for your trip. it sounds harsh for a vacation, but do it. you don't have to strictly adhere to it, but it will help give you some direction during the day. you don't want to waste your time wandering around. disney's site has a daily calendar for each park. it will show the park hours plus daily events.
as you enter the park each day, you can pick up a paper schedule, too.

2. snacks & drinks
food is expensive in the park {shocking, i know.} to help with our budget, we had snacks shipped to the resort. we ordered from soap.com and had it shipped directly to our resort. you can do this 2 weeks prior to your arrival. just mark your name and arrival date on the package. the resort charges a $15 handling fee but it is well worth it. i spent $48 on water, capri suns and snacks. in the park, the water ALONE would have cost $96.
once we arrived at the hotel, david also took a quick cab ride to wal-mart and purchased a few perishables - milk, fruit, etc.
each day, we carried our snacks and water into the park. soft-sided coolers are allowed but we didn't even bother. you can get cups of ice {for free} at any restaurant or food counter. this saved us a ton of money. and time. we didn't have to wait in lines to order snacks.

3. food/meals at the park
i would totally recommend at least one character experience meal. we did three - two breakfasts and one dinner. the breakfasts were great - it forced us to get up and get moving. also, we ate a large breakfast and then ate a small lunch.
the characters come by each table and spend time with the child - chatting, signing autographs and taking photos.
we did the supercalifragilistic breakfast at the grand floridian. camryn adores mary poppins so it was perfect. she also got to see alice in wonderland, the mad hatter, pooh and tigger.

we had breakfast at chef mickey's at the contemporary. characters included mickey, minnie, donald, goofy and pluto.

if your child loves the disney princesses, i HIGHLY recommend dinner at cinderella's castle. it is a bit more expensive, but it includes a printed photo with cinderella, a full meal {appetizer, entree and dessert} for each person plus the character experiences. camryn dressed in her belle dress and met cinderella, snow white, jasmine, aurora and ariel.

also, enjoy the food at the parks/restaurants. it's your vacation, too. we had some killer margaritas at our resort{coronado springs}. and i heard a lot about the dole whip and the giant turkey legs at the magic kingdom so we had to give them a try.
i highly recommend both!

4. naps
i'm not just talking about the kids here! naps will make your week more successful. get up early and get going. the parks are less crowded in the mornings. people like to sleep in on vacation so the crowd is sparse before 10:30am. we went on spring break and it was crowded but not as much in the mornings.

we would get up early and go to the park until 1:30-2:00pm. we would go back to the hotel and nap until 5:00pm-ish and then return to the park. camryn is usually in bed by 8pm but these long afternoon naps allowed us to stay at the park until 9pm or later. we were able to enjoy the electrical parade at the magic kingdom more than once and even catch the 10pm fireworks one night!

5. character meet & greets
in each park, there are characters scattered throughout. when you get the schedule for the park you will visit, make note of these. not all characters are in all parks. belle {camryn's favorite} was hard to find. we finally found her in france in epcot.

camryn saw princess tiana and prince naveen together in magic kingdom. double bonus.

buy an autograph book and pens ahead of time. i ordered an autograph book from amazon prior to the trip but you could easily make one. they are very expensive in the park. i paid approx $5. also, the "plush" characters have big hands/gloves so buy a fat pen for them to use. their signatures will be much better.

have your pen ready and your autograph book open when you meet the character.

we also had a photo mat for the characters to sign. i brought it along with colored pens. camryn had characters sign it at the first of the trip. once it was full, she moved on to her autograph book. this is one of my favorite things from the trip! i can't wait to print a photo and hang it in her room.

if you need help finding the character or the time they will be available, just ask. we missed tiana by five minutes but asked the cast member when she would be back. she told us to come back in 15 minutes and get in line. she was right. we were the 2nd people in line and saw her & naveen when they walked in.

6. ask questions

like i just said, cast members are willing to help. they have the most knowledge of the park and can REALLY help you save time, energy and money. we asked where/when to find characters, the quickest way out of the park after the parade, etc. when in doubt, ask!

i have a few more tips and hope to have them published next weekend. someone in our house is turning four this week and we have a busy week planned. stay tuned!