Disneyworld-Day 6

The picture on top is our resort from the water taxi. The next picture is Anna following her makeover.

The top picture shows what Layne did the entire trip when a princess would try to talk to him. He would immediately look away and mess with something. Here he is playing with the zipper on my bag. The picture on the bottom is of the infamous train attraction where we lost Layne. Read the rest of the post for more information on that fun adventure!!!

This was one heck of a day!! I had made Anna an appointment at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique in Downtown Disney for 11:30am. So, we got up and went shopping in DD for a little while. They had the biggest Disney store there. It was so big you could possibly get lost in it. After a few hours of shopping, it was time for her makeover.

The lady that helped me plan our trip suggested this experience for Anna. Those that know me, know I do not like to spent money. So, I went ahead and made the appointment, but knew I could cancel within 24 hours. I am so glad I kept the appointment!! The BBB was full of “fairy godmothers” (hairstylists) who transformed all little girls into princesses. She got full make-up and her hair styled. Then her fairy godmother sprinkled pixie dust (glitter) all over her hair and her body. It was the neatest experience. We had purchased a Jasmine costume a couple of days earlier, so that is what she wanted to wear for her makeover.

After our Downtown Disney experience, we took a water taxi back to our resort (hotel was on a river and it was a free shuttle back and forth to DD…very neat). After a quick lunch, we headed to Epcot (again!!) We knew that we wanted to tour the World Showcase portion of Epcot since we had not done that yet.

As we are walking through all of the different countries, we see several princesses. Sleeping Beauty was in France, Mulan was in China, but Jasmine was not in Morocco, only the Genie. Anna did not want to meet the Genie, she wanted to meet Jasmine. She was really disappointed that she didn’t see Jasmine because she was dressed just like her!!

Okay, here is where the magic for today ends. As we are going through the countries, we come upon a huge miniature train. Layne absolutely loved it. We stood at this attraction FOREVER!! Ken and I are both there watching Layne and then Layne is gone. Yes, GONE!!! We look around and just see hundreds of people, but not Layne. We immediately split up and Ken goes one way and I take Anna and go the other. You may be thinking “were you going crazy?” Actually, I was very calm. I don’t know if it was my adrenaline or God’s peace, but I stayed calm. Scared, but calm (I am a pretty calm person in most stressful situations, but I have never lost a child in WDW before either!!)

So, I began to think about the lost child centers that I had seen in each park. I go into the first gift store I see and tell the cast member that I have lost my son. I ask her what is normally done in those situations. She begins to ask me “have you looked for him?” I am thinking “YEAH!!! Do I look that stupid, of course I have looked for him!!” Then she calls the lost child center to see if he had been reported and he hadn’t. I didn’t think he had because it had just happened. Then I ask if I need to leave my cell phone number in case someone does report him and they can call me. She says, “No, just keep going into stores for someone to call the lost child center for you”. At this point, I start to get a little sick to my stomach. I feel like no one is trying to help me, so I just storm out. I start to think about Layne and how shy he is and he may not tell anyone that he can’t find his parents.

I walk a little bit further and see a playground. I think that if Layne was walking this way and saw this, he might just go and play here. So, I go to the entrance and see Layne sitting on a picnic table with an old man (Disney employee). This man had just radioed the lost child center to report him. I was ecstatic. Layne was not crying right now, but his eyes were red like he had been. There was a mom sitting there and she told me that he did very well with the Disney employee. He told him his name, age, and his parents name (way to go Layne!!!).

We immediately called daddy and said a thank you to the angel that was protecting my precious son that day. Thank you Lord!! I couldn’t help but think about parents that lose their children and never see them again. Later we learn that hundreds of children are lost in WDW everyday. Then I realize that is why the lady in the gift shop was so nonchalant. She knew this happens all of the time, and that he would be found. Maybe she should have let me in on the little bit of information!

I asked Layne later what happened. He said that he couldn’t find us and took off. I don’t know how he didn’t see us, because we were all right there. He said that he did tell someone he couldn’t find his mommy and daddy and I think those people led him to the Disney employee. I don’t think we’ll ever really know what happened, we are just glad everything turned out okay. Oh, and by the way, this all happened in about 3-4 minutes (Ken timed it). Felt like 40 minutes!!!

Well, now it is time for dinner. We had reservations at the Askerhaus Restaurant-Princess Storybook Dining in Norway. I was praying that Jasmine would be one of the princesses that would show up. You don’t ever know for sure what princesses will be there, they just tell you that you will meet 4-6 different princesses. So, we meet Belle first. Then we see Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Ariel. Then, out comes Jasmine!! You should have seen the look on Anna’s face. She was super excited.

After dinner we stayed in Epcot for their fireworks show called Illuminations. Again, a wonderful show. We were sad, because we have to go home tomorrow. :(