First on our list of Ava's birthday activities was breakfast at the Crystal Palace with a few friends from the Hundred Acre Woods. They helped Ava celebrate with Mickey Mouse confetti and baked yummies! Unfortunately for them, Ava was not willing to share.
After filling our tummies, we headed to Main Street for Ava's first professional haircut. I had (of course) booked everything far in advance and had told them it was her birthday but even I was surprised when the colorful quartet strolled in to sing her Happy Birthday!
After a quick dip in the pool, we headed to Downtown Disney for her birthday dinner. It was pretty low-key- just the three of us. We had bigger plans for later in the week.
The next day we visited Hollywood Studios. Ava enjoyed playing on the "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" playground and meeting a few characters from her favorite morning shows like Jake and the Neverland Pirates. The highlight of her day however, was probably seeing "The Little Mermaid" live! From the moment it started she was mesmerized. And when the bubbles floated down from the ceiling she squealed in delight! When it finished, the first words out of her mouth were: Again!
That night, we had dinner at Ohana's at the Polynesian Resort. There was so much food brought to our table for just the two (and a half) of us to eat that we started to feel a bit guilty. We asked the server what happened to all of the food that didn't get eaten. Did they give it to a homeless shelter? Did they take it home themselves? They said they threw it all away! There were bowls of food we never even touched! It seemed so wasteful to us both that we decided- even though we love the pineapple dessert- we could never in good conscience eat there again.
After dinner, we headed back to the Magic Kingdom to watch the Electrical Light Parade. Ava loved it! We now have the music downloaded to her ipod.
On Friday we headed to Epcot to ride Finding Nemo! Ava loves the movie Finding Nemo. Her Auntie Jen gave her a four piece playset back at Christmas and Ava has taken them everywhere. So she was pretty excited to ride it. But first, I stood in line to meet "the characters" while Ava and her Daddy went to the imagination station to check things out. Eventually they caught up with me just in time to be next in line to meet "The Mouse". Ava ran to him as if they were old friends. She chatted him up and gave him kisses. Everyone around us "oohed" and "aahed". Next was Minnie, and Ava did the same. She was pretty much friendly to all of the characters except Donald Duck. She wasn't terribly interested in him. Oddly enough, she wasn't that interested in Daisy Duck either. What does she have against ducks?
She loved the Finding Nemo ride! There was no line which helped because as soon as we stepped off the ride she said "again!" We happily obliged.
We strolled through the World Showcase for a bit and shared a pastry from France. As we left the park, Ava had yet another birthday treat- a Mickey Mouse ice cream bar! I mean, really, you can't travel to Disney World and not have one, right?
Saturday was another big day. We were meeting friends at Animal Kingdom for a day of fun, followed by a magical birthday party at Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary Hotel. Ava loved the Kilimanjaro safari and informed everyone around us that the animals lived on a savannah- Thank you Baby Einstein. We met up with our friends and strolled about the park a bit more. We met Minnie Mouse at Camp Mickey and a few other friends. Then we headed to the dinosaur portion of the park. She wanted to ride the Primeval Whirl but was too small. At first we thought it might get ugly but she finally settled for the TricerTop Spin. Shortly after we headed back to the hotel to clean up for dinner.
Ava celebrated her second birthday with some of her closest friends and family plus Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy. We all had a blast! Disney really knows how to make a girl feel special. Ava had her own place setting. She was "oohed" and "aahed" over, Mickey and Minnie played and danced with her. They sang to her. But I think the highlight was the awesome cake they made. Ava was definitely one special, little birthday girl that evening. It was a great way to end the week of activities and celebrate our baby girl's second birthday. We are grateful for our friends who traveled near and far to spend the day with us. But we did eventually have to say goodnight. Tam did have the Princess Half Marathon to run in the morning after all.
Is it too early to start planning for next year?
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