Disney World: Day 7, part 5- The rest of Monday

While in the Christmas shop, Maddy wrote a letter to Santa and put it in the box. 

And then here is where we waited for everyone else for dinner. 

Soon after, my parents came in and sat with me. 

Then a few minutes after that Doug and Abi wandered in. 

We checked in as soon as they got there. 

We were taken to our table. 

I love their menus. 

And their glasses...

Our waitress was great. 

She brought around corn bread, rolls, and salad to start. 

Then sweet potatoes, beans, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, and a few different kinds of meat. 

And for dessert we had cranberry cake with ice cream. 

It was all great.

Just like our last trip we really enjoyed our dining experience here. 

Also on our last trip I took a picture of Abi and my mom in front of their Christmas tree. 

Here it is. 

 My mom and Abi, aged 5.

So I had to get another one!

My mom and Abi, aged 8 (almost 9)

At this point there was going to be a party at the park so it was time for us to leave. 

We made our way toward the front of the park. 

The castle looked so beautiful. 

Main street was pretty packed. 

We got on a very packed bus with all the windows fogged up. 

It felt like a sauna it was so humid in that bus. 

We rode back to Pop. 

I got the girls bathed and ready to get in bed and watch cartoons. 

And then I got freshened up to go out with my mom.

We had decided that since it was her last night we would go, just the two of us, to Downtown Disney. 

On our last trip we did this to see Harry Potter but this time we would just go shopping. 

We did a lot of shopping- especially my mom because she was getting a bunch of Christmas gifts. 

After we had our fill of the shops we stopped into Ghiradelli and shared a hot fudge sundae. 

Then we headed back to our rooms. 

So sad that it was my parents last day. 

But glad I got to have some time with my mom having a girls night!

Disney Day One, Part Two: Downtown Disney and Dinner with Dino's

After settling into our rooms we met back up with my mom to go to Downtown Disney. We had a dinner reservation in a few hours. Unfortunately my dad couldn't come with us. 

He had a delivery to wait for because they could only give him an approximate time and he had to sign for it. 

We all felt bad leaving him behind but he told us to go ahead and he would just grab something at the hotel.

So we headed for the bus stop. 

Soon we were walking through Downtown Disney. 

It was quite crowded and a little bit confusing with all of the construction going on, but there was a fun energy there especially by the lake where there was music and dancing going on at a stage.

By the Lego store we saw these cute guys...

Soon we made it to our destination for the evening. 

T-Rex!

I really wanted to try this place and I knew that it would be fun. However, we didn't have an extra credit to use it on the dining plan so we decided to go anyway and pay out of pocket. 

I wasn't able to get a reservation through the Disney reservation site but I read on the disboards that you could often get one if you called the restaurant directly- so I tried it. 

And it worked!

We were a little early for our dinner reservation but that was our plan. 

Because we wanted to go to Build A Dino too!

It is exactly like Build A Bear but with a prehistoric theme. 

The girls were SO excited!

Abi quickly picked out a Saber Toothed Tiger.

And Maddy picked out a little green Triceratops. 

She also wanted the outfit she is holding but I told her she would need to buy that with her gift card. We gave each girl a gift card to use on the trip so that when they wanted something and knew that it would use up their own money they would really think about what they were buying and maybe only pick things that were worth it. That actually worked really well. 

She decided this was worth it.

Then we got to go fluff them up. Our CM was a really nice girl. I thought she looked like Sarah Silverman. 

She was from Idaho and has a sister that lives in Utah less than an hour away from us so we had fun chatting with her.

So cute!

Giving baths...

Then it was time to name their new friends. 

Abi named her saber toothed tiger Saber-Cute.

Maddy named her triceratops Cutie-Sweetheart.

It was such a cute place!

By this time it was really close to our reservation time so we went to check in. 

We were in and to our table in less than 10 minutes. 

It has amazing theming.

We were right under this nest. It kind of creeped Maddy out and yet she still says this was her favorite restaurant.

A little video of the place and how loud it can be .. and how the dino's move. 

You can also hear Maddy freaking out. 

But like I said, she actually loved the place. 

The girls picked out what they wanted and then got busy coloring their menus.

My mom had the T-Rex quesadillas and loved it. It was an appetizer.

Abi got the mini corn dogs with mashed potatoes and a drink. She liked it.

I knew what Doug and I would get before we got there. I had read about the Colossal Nachos. They are an appetizer and that made it a very budget friendly meal to pay out of pocket. And they were huge. 

We shared it and still couldn't eat it all. 

And it was GOOD. Really good.

Maddy had the dino nuggets and applesauce with milk. She liked it as well.

The girls favorite part was when they asked if they could have dessert and we said yes. They both got a Saber Sundae (basically ice cream with a cookie). We don't usually get dessert when we eat out and since this was day one at Disney they didn't know yet that you eat a LOT of dessert here.

After dinner we went back through DD stopping at a few shops but not buying anything

We had to stop by this mural for a picture. Little did they know they would be meeting them in just a few days!

We went back to the hotel, picked up our refillable mugs (they came with our dining plan for free this time!) got some milk and juice from the cafeteria, and picked up Maddy's medication from the front desk.

My biggest piece of advice comes from this night. Make sure you use your magic bands immediately at the resort to buy something to make sure they work with the pin. Mine didn't at first so I was able to quickly get that fixed and not have to worry about it at the parks! 

We then went back to our rooms. Doug had the girls in bed and watching cartoons while I got things ready for the next day. 

We all got to sleep way too late but we had such a great night. 

I highly recommend T-Rex and Build a Dino.