HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATTIE MAY
FIVE YEARS OLD
Mattie May went to bed a four year old and woke up a five year old. Believe me, there was no way she was letting us forget that today was her birthday. We all sang happy birthday to wake her up. We had a few gifts for her to open, including her birthday ears. I've decided that everyone should wear Mickey ears on their birthday! They're just too much fun!
We had a great breakfast at Chef Mickey's where we were joined by the big guy himself. Mickey, Minnie, Donald Duck, Pluto and Goofy were all there. They each came to our table to wish her a happy birthday.
They were all great and the food was fantastic. Donald duck was even able to get a smile and a laugh out of Frank! We all know how difficult that is!
There was so much going on, she was having trouble eating. And before she finished her breakfast, our waitress brought out her birthday cup cake. The candles and the wrapper were the only things not edible. Even that little Mickey face was made out of chocolate.
Look at the five year old smile! Who couldn't love this kid?!
About all she could finish was her milk and then she was ready to ride the monorail to EPCOT. By the way, did you know EPCOT is an acronym? Do you know what the actual name is? Well if you promise to read to the end of this post, I'll tell you! As anxious as she was to find Mulan, she asked to go in "the ball" first.
OK More useless trivia - do you know the ball is called Space Ship Earth? That is also the name of the ride inside!
While we waited for our FB time for Test Track, we watched Captain EO. Let me say, that movie is 25 years old but the special effects are still really cool. They must have really been ahead of their time when they filmed that! Mattie May was so excited that she was getting to watch Michael Jackson, but when the villain cat lady thing appeared on the screen, I started looking for a way for us to get out of there! She screamed this terrified scream, a truly blood curdling scream. Katie got her to take of her glasses and sit in her lap until she calmed down. She put her glasses back on and just closed her eyes when "the scary cat lady" came on the screen. She was very happy when she turned into a nice person at the end of the show. As we were walking out, she just kept jabbering about how good that was and if we had time could we see it again. I guess she has a love/hate feeling for Captain EO.
To waste more time we rode Imagination w/Figment. That is a really cute and educational ride. We had a pretzels and popcorn for snacks because we couldn't find an ice cream stand. We looked all the way to Test Track and never did pass one.
Test Track is amazing!! We were a bit concerned about the simulations of wrecks (we're all still a bit jumpy from last year!). OH MY GOODNESS! That was the most awesome ride! Trina, I'm really sorry you didn't get to ride it, but now you have a reason to go back! It is so cool!!!
Heading into the World Showcase, we found Mattie May an ice cream stand! She hadn't had any all day and we were afraid she would go into withdrawals! That kid loves ice cream! She would eat it every day at every meal if we would let her!
We visited Mexico for a while, walked through Norway and found the castle where we were to have her birthday dinner and then made a bee line to China. This was going to be the most important stop on our entire trip.
Why?
Mulan is in China!
We had to wait about fifteen minutes for her to come out but it was worth the wait. Mattie May patiently waited her turn with all the other princess in line. I don't think I have ever seen that child's eyes light up like they did when she saw her. When it was her turn, Mulan motioned for Mattie May to come on up, but before she took a step, she respectfully bowed to Mulan. It was so cute and Mulan was very impressed with her. Mattie May explained to Mulan that she liked her so much because she knew karate too. Mulan asked her what belt she was and asked her to show her some moves. She did part of her kata for her and gave her a bit of surprise when she did her little yell! Mulan said "Every good warrior packs a surprise!"
Mulan was impressed with Mattie May's kata.
They talked for a bit longer and Mulan signed her book, then they posed together for some pictures. I think Mattie May could have stayed right there for the rest of the day and been happier than any other child in the park!
Mulan asked for a Warrior pose!
Mulan gave her a great big hug, wished her happy birthday and told her to keep practicing her karate. Maybe next time they see each other, they can demonstrate some of their weapons skills! LOL
Always time for a silly picture!
After we watched an amazing movie on China in a round theater, we headed to Germany. Katie, Mattie May and I waited in line to see Snow White and Grumpy disappeared! He reappeared just as it was Mattie May's turn to speak to Snow White. He was a very happy camper with a bratwurst, sauerkraut and beer in his hands! Snow White got pretty amused when Mattie May told her she lived with one of her dwarfs. She asked which one and Mattie May told her Grumpy and showed her where he was sitting. Snow White waved and blew a kiss to him! It was just priceless!
From Germany we walked to Italy where Frank insisted that we try some gelato. It was only about 45 minutes before we our dinner reservations, but we had some anyway. I had never had any and it is probably a good thing that there is no where near home that sells the real stuff or I would be huge!!!! That is some yummy stuff!
Italian Gelato on the way to dinner?
Of course! It's Mattie May's birthday!
It started getting cool and we forgot Mattie May's jacket, so as we walked through Italy, America and Japan, Katie and I would walk through the stores looking for a child's jacket. We could only find clothes in adult sizes. It was so strange. Finally in the Japan pavilion I found some cute hooded jackets that Katie liked, so I got one that would fit her and we rolled the sleeves up and Mattie May wore it the rest of the night when we were outside.
It was taking so long that Frank and Mattie May came in to find us. While they walked around, they found the oyster bar. Not an oyster bar for eating but one for buying pearls! Frank had snuck around and bought two oysters for me for our anniversary. He knows how much I love pearls and I can't wear my pearl stud earrings any more.
This store was so much fun. I don't remember the conversation, but the little girl helping us got Mattie May to count for her in Japanese. She, the girl helping us, got so excited! She had all the other girls in there listening to her. I think she would have taken Mattie May home with her if we would have let her!
She was also the person that opened the oysters to find the pearls. After she opens the oyster, she leads everyone in a count down in Japanese as she takes out the pearl. When she did our pearls, she had Mattie May lead the store in the count down! I think everyone in there was amazed that this little girl with blue eyes and blonde hair was counting in Japanese!
Both of my oysters had pearls and they are very close in size but one has a yellow tint to it. They wanted me to change one pearl so they would match, but these are the ones I picked and the ones I wanted. Besides, they are on opposite sides of my head and so far, no one has noticed the color difference!
When the girl finished getting Frank's order on how he wanted the earrings, she came from behind the counter and had an origami crane she had made for Mattie May. She sang happy birthday to her using the crane like a puppet. She not only gave her the crane, she gave her a huge hug to go with it!
Because we had spent so much time in Japan, we had to practically run through Morocco, France, the United Kingdom and Canada to get back to Norway for dinner! Our reservation was for 7:55 and we walked up at 7:53! Yes, we were rushing! And all for nothing. They were running behind and they pushed our reservations up until 8:15! I'm glad we were doing so much walking since we seemed to be eating later and later each night!
To pass the time while we waited, we road Maelstrom, the Viking boats telling the story of Norway and the Vikings. It was another fun and educational ride, but I was just glad to be sitting down not rushing.
Our dinner was very good. We all tried something new, including Frank! I almost fell out of my chair! He never tries new stuff!! Mattie May was pleasantly surprised when she figured out she was having dinner with the Disney princesses. As much as she wore a tiara when she was little, she is not much into the princesses now. But she still had fun. During the Parade of Princesses she not only got to walk in Arial's group, but she got to hold her hand during the entire parade.
Her Mattieism for today wasn't something she said, it was something she did. As all the princesses, big and small, curtsied at the end of the parade, Mattie May bowed at the waist like she does for karate! All the people around her noticed. We actually didn't notice until we were watching the video and saw some customer's point and laugh.
She was promised she could have anything she wanted to eat as long as it wasn't ice cream or cake, it had to actually have some nutritional value! I guess when it's your birthday, any meal can be special! HAHAHA!
A hot dog for her special Birthday dinner!
Frank and Mattie May walked outside to find out what all the noise was we could here. It was the laser/fireworks show. They couldn't see all of it from where we were, but they could see enough to know it was an amazing show! And when they came back in, we surprised Mattie May with another birthday cake! It was a great chocolate cake and it was delish! We carried most of it back to our room because we also had dessert with our meals. Our waiter brought us one of each thing they had and we shared them all. And I wonder why I didn't loose any weight while we were gone!
On the way back to the monorail, we were finally able to take our time and not rush. My feet and legs were very grateful for that! I never complained, but I wondered with each step when my legs were just going to stop and say no more!! Next time I go, I'm not going to forget my pedometer so I'll know how far I walk each day!
We thought Mattie May was going to fall asleep on the monorail ride back to the hotel, but she didn't. And we walked back to our room just in time to see the lighted boat parade, so we went down to the beach and watched the rest of that. Lots of great Disney movie songs. Katie and I sang as many of them as we could at the top of our lungs. I am sure we woke some people up, but I didn't think about that until later. We were having to much fun!
Tomorrow is Disney Hollywood Studios!
God Bless!!
EPCOT is an acronym for Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow. That's your useless trivia for today!