Disney Trip 2015: Part 5 Downton Disney

The super busy week was starting to catch up with Tommy and Charlotte.

Especially Charlotte.  Look at that hair and the look on her face.  Oh my.

But she quickly came around when she found out there would be swimming involved! Swimming and chatting with friends on her phone.

We spent the majority of the day swimming and snacking by the pool.  We also played a game where we threw a ball into the pool's volcano over and over.  We had tons of fun!

That night we headed over to Downton Disney.  Actually it WAS called Downtown Disney but there have been renovations and they added fancy stores so now it's called Disney Springs.  We decided to go to T-Rex Restaurant again.  It has good food and we knew we could get a reservation.  Also it was loud so we wouldn't have to worry about the kids throwing loud fits.  So that's a plus too! Tommy was super excited about the meteor showers.  Charlotte... not so much. 

Charlotte enjoyed the Discovery Dig where you can unearth dinosaur fossils.  She had tons of little rocks in her shoes for days.

I tried to snap a picture of the kids in front of the Paleo Truck.  No chance Tommy was going to let that happen. :)

Charlotte rode a baby Triceratops! Whee!!

Tommy insisted we get a picture of our table which was INSIDE a BIG triceratops!! Sweet!!!

After dinner, we walked over the the Lego store.  Charlotte was roaring in front of the Lego Maleficent dragon in this picture.  ROARRRR!!

Then she wanted to pose with Aurora in front of the Disney store.

Then she started to get really good at it and posed with Cinderella! Fabulous!

We had so many bags by the end of the evening.  One bag had cupcakes from Erin McKenna's Bakery NYC.  Allergy-free deliciousness! Wow, were those cupcakes awesome! Yum!  We had an awesome night just walking around Downton Disney.  Hehe. 


While we were waiting for Andrew to get another Christmas present, the kids started dancing the song that was blaring.  You can see Charlotte's brand new nightgown. I looked at the princess dresses they had for sale and they were like $70-80.  Holy Moses.  But Charlotte was super excited to get a pretty nightgown instead.  Plus it was an Aurora nightgown.  Win!
But anyway, look at this dancing duo.  The talent is strong with these two!!  I think I have watched this video a thousand times.  I laugh every single time.  So funny.

Downton Disney never disappoints!

Disney Vacation 2014: Part 3 and Tommy's Birthday

We stayed WAYYYYY too late at the Magic Kingdom on Tuesday (midnight, to be exact) so we decided to take it easy on Wednesday instead of getting up early and going back to the Magic Kingdom again.  It was Tommy T's birthday so we decided other plans would be better.

Tommy wanted to swim on his birthday so that's exactly what we did.  It was the best weather that week.  Perfect for swimming. The sun was out! It made all the difference.  The only people in the pool were us Hoosiers and some people from Philadelphia. 

 Later we went to the park to play.  We go swimming in our swimsuits and then wear sweatshirts to the park.  Ha!

 We went to Downtown Disney for shopping and dinner.  We went to T-Rex for dinner, right up Tommy's alley.  They had a great dino dig in the front of the restaurant.

 They had a pterodactyl flying in from the ceiling and a mastodon on our other side.  Just like Rain Forest Cafe, they had a meteor shower every 20 minutes.  Tommy loved it!

We got Charlotte to wear her dino hat for 2.3 seconds!

 After dinner, the wait staff came and sang to Tommy for his birthday.

 They brought him an allergy-friendly dessert.  Raspberry and peach sorbet! You can see it to his right.

He was not comfortable with the peach sorbet because he thought it looked too much like real ice cream.  So we took it off his plate and he was happy to eat the raspberry by itself.  Too funny.  Charlotte wanted the peach sorbet in front of her!

 Tommy LOVED his dessert.  What a treat!

Our waitress took our family picture.  Not the greatest picture but it's not a Disney Photopass Professional so what did we expect? :) 

We had a great time at Downtown Disney for Tommy Hawk's birthday. He had 2 parties before this but now he's officially 4 years old!! What a great way to celebrate! 

Special Bonus: No puking at a theme restaurant unlike our Rain Forest Cafe Experience.  Vacation Redemption! 

Keiper Family Christmas Vacation: Part II

So on Christmas Day with Tommy's fever mostly broken, we decided to get out of the house.  We went to "Downton Disney".  No, it's not actually called that but we couldn't help it.  It's actually Downtown Disney.  It's where Pleasure Island is and lots of shops, bars and restaurants. Biggest bonus? It's free to get in.  So off we went.

 It was crowded when we got there so the manly men dropped us off and we walked around until they found parking spaces.

 We hadn't walked even halfway through before we had already bought Tommy a toy.  We couldn't help it.  It was dark and they had spinning light up Lightning McQueen cars.  So cool.  He of course loved it.

 There is a LEGO Imagination Center (or as we called it LEGOLAND!) store there and they had a lego Woody and Buzz on a rocket.  Nice!

Tommy was content eating snacks and riding around.

 But you should have seen him once he found this Pluto pillow pet.  He really loved on this thing.  We didn't end up buying it.  I know, I know.  But we got made fun of for not even making it 30 yards before buying him something so we opted for a Pluto Christmas Ornament that he picked out instead.

We made reservations at the Rain Forest Cafe for dinner and it was an hour and a half wait.  So we walked around and played.  There was a fountain that kids could run and play in.  Tommy didn't want to get too close.

I took several pictures and none of them had any water spouting up in them.  But that is what he is looking at in this picture.

We also rode the Merry Go Round and train while we waited.

Once our reservation for 13 was called (hmm, I wonder why we had an hour and a half wait?), we parked our stroller in the stroller parking area by the elephants and headed into the restaurant.

 We had to sit at two different tables so the Keipers sat at one table and the rest of us sat at another.  I caught this cute family pic before we got our food.

I ordered a kid's meal for Tommy thinking it would be ok. I talked to the waiter a little about it but apparently I wasn't specific enough about it.  He told me the hot dog was cooked by itself (whatever that means) so I figured he knew what he was talking about.  He brought the hot dog and chips to our table and Tommy ate it all gone.

Then....

Then he started vomiting.  We always know when it's an allergic reaction vomit.  This was definitely that.  It did not stop.  He vomited all down my leg, all over the floor, and he kept vomiting.  My dad handed me his salad bowl so he didn't have to keep vomiting on the floor.  Poor kid.  Andrew was fast-acting and grabbed the Benadryl out of the bag.  He gave him some Benadryl and as soon as we knew he could keep it down.  I think that is what really helped Tommy.  Steph jumped up and found a waiter and told them what was happening so we could get some napkins/towels/a mop.  My mom and I took Tommy to the bathroom and cleaned him up (and me too).

We still aren't sure what it was that he ate.  There could have been peanut oil used in the chips.  Or maybe there was cross-contamination with the hot dog.  We have no idea.  He broke out in hives all over his belly and chest by the next day.  Thanks goodness for the Benadryl.  It keeps us from having to use the epi pen.

After everything was cleaned up, Andrew and I scarfed down our meals so we could get the heck out of dodge.

I think this picture is so sweet.  My dad held Tommy while we ate.  Poor kid.  This week was just not going his way.  First he was sick.  Then he had a terrible ear popping flight.  Now an allergic reaction? 

This is supposed to be the most magical place on earth! 

Will his week get better?? Stayed tuned to find out as the saga continues! :-)