F&W Festival/Frozen Ever After
AKA...
Where Things Fall Apart
I already knew what my first snack would be at the Food & Wine Festival - the Loaded Greek "Nachos"! I had read about the dish ahead of time. It came with pita chips, meatless sausage crumbles, and vegan tzatziki. They were amazing!
My parents started with this chicken dish. I'm not positive, but I think it might have been from the Thailand booth?
We finished our snacks around 12:20 or so, and we had a 12:35 FP to Frozen Ever After. I had brought Anna and Elsa dresses to change the girls into, but the Elsa dress for my toddler was a little on the heavy side, and it was SO hot. I decided not to torture her, and to leave them in their cooler Mickey Fruit dresses. I was a little sad to be wasting outfits I had bought and packed, but it was probably a smart decision to keep everyone as comfortable as possible.
I'm pretty sure we did a quick bathroom break before the ride, and then went to park our stroller. I'm going to blame what happened next on heat, dehydration, and exhaustion... this was one of my most embarrassing moments in recent history, and I'm going to share it with you.
The first few days at the parks, I was constantly doing a count on the number of people in our party. I had this fear of losing the kids, or really anyone in our party (especially after we lost my MIL briefly on the first day), so I was constantly counting to make sure I saw 6 people. Well after we parked the stroller and everyone was walking ahead of me, I did my normal count... Pat, Toddler, Mom, Dad, MIL... that's only 5. I didn't see the baby. And I completely freaked out.
I'm talking all out panic. I cried something out to my dad as I turned to run back to the stroller, and people around us took notice. Yep, I don't recall what was happening around me exactly, but was somewhat aware afterwards that we had a small audience. As I was turning back to the stroller, it took my dad a moment to realize I was talking about The Baby - the one I was carrying in my arms. I panicked even more when I saw the stroller was empty, before my dad quickly pointed out I was carrying her on my hip. I felt so embarrassed. At that moment, I heard someone say, "She lost her baby," and someone else goes, "You mean the one in her arms?!"
Embarrassment aside, I was incredibly relieved to realize I was carrying her. Okay, time to go on the ride we had all been waiting so long for!
We were so thankful to get inside the air conditioning again, I wouldn't have minded a longer wait. But, we were quickly on our boat. I was so excited for this ride, and it started off great. There was Olaf, a favorite of my girls. Hi, Olaf!
Well, I forgot that this ride had two small drops. Maybe I should have known because the old Norway ride had at least one small drop? I didn't remember two and I didn't remember it being a big drop. I wished I had done a better job of warning my toddler what to expect. It was her turn to freak out. Do you see how big her eyes are in this picture?! Looking at this picture makes me feel terrible all over again.
We were sitting on the side for the first drop, and we got a big splash of water right in our faces. My butt got really wet from the seat too. I'm not sure if it was the drop itself or the water in her face, or both, but that did the toddler in. She was sobbing by the time the ride got back to the start. I felt so bad because I thought all little kids would love this ride! Okay, I'll warn you now that we were terrible parents, and got her on the ride a second time later in the day. More to come on that.
She wouldn't stop crying when we got off the ride, so her Grandma told her she could pick out a toy in the gift shop as we walked out.
She picked an Olaf. It was great damage control! Now it was time to go do something the toddler would find a lot more fun...