Cass, Rob and Kira back in Disney! Toddlers' tempers and tantrums PTR NOW LIVE !!!

[Timon]

Walt Disney World and Disney Magic Cruise

WHEN: October 15th, 2009 - November 1st, 2009


Cast of Characters

Cass…that would be moi. Disney fanatic since I was 3 when my parents first took me to WDW in 1975, ( Thanks mom & dad wherever you are! )
DIS junkie since 1997 (anyone remember this place when it was a one- page thread index?) and SAHM to Kira, my little princess who will be one month shy of her third birthday when we make this trip. I also take care of my beautiful 2-year-old niece Dani during the week and I work part-time running my own diaper cake business.

Rob, my amazing hubby who works way too hard and who desperately needs a break from all his jobs! He is an electronics engineer during the day but on weekends he turns into DJ Darkrobe, owner and president of Quests End Mobile Disc Jockey, a company he started when he was just 16 years old! Together with his best friend Sean, they spin tunes and entertain the masses 30-40 times per year. They are the best at what they do and although the hours are very long, I think they both enjoy being the best DJ’s in Calgary!

Kira, the archetypal 2 year old whom I am currently brainwashing into loving Disney as much as I do. She is a huge princess and by princess I don’t mean the cute, sweet, loving, generous kind of princess. No, no. I mean the I-tell-you-what-to-do-and-you-follow-all-my-rules-or-else-I-will-throw-a-huge-tantrum kind of princess.

Her favourite sayings are “NO!” and “I don’t think so!” and “Don’t touch me!” with a few “Don’t sing mommy!” and “Stop talking to me’s” thrown in for good measure. To say she has a bit of a ‘tude is an understatement. She has a lot of meltdowns and tantrums at home where everything is safe and familiar so I have a feeling there will be a good amount of them during this trip, hence the title of this report.

At the same time, she is so smart and loving and incredibly amazing and we love her to bits and we are extremely lucky and blessed to have her in our life.

I’m sure those of you who have two-year-olds (or are still sane enough to remember when your kids were 2) know exactly what I am talking about!

Here she is doing what she loves best...bouncing!

Supporting Cast

We are also traveling with some great friends, Sean & Bernie and their 2 kids Gary and Bailey so you will see them mentioned quite a bit in this trippie too.

Trip Highlights

We will be spending 8 days in WDW and then we will be boarding the Disney Magic for a one-week Eastern Caribbean Cruise, then back to Disney for Halloween Night and then home on November 1st.

Our first two nights will be spent at Animal Kingdom Villas courtesy of a very nice DISer (Hi Ellen!) who has rented us some points. Ever since I heard they were building a DVC resort at AKL, I knew I needed to stay there! Although we are not DVC members, we always rent points for each trip. We both fell in love with DVC resorts many years ago and have a hard time staying anywhere else. One day we will become DVC owners but until that happens, I am happy to rent points.

We are also spending 6 nights at a condo in Windsor Hills, which we rented from http://www.vacationcentralflorida.com/ Windsor Hills is a gated community very close to Disney and although I am sad we can’t afford to stay at AKV for the entire 8 nights, I am looking forward to the space and amenities we will have at the condo.

We will be spending the night before the cruise at The Radisson at the Port, in Port Canaveral. Even though the condo is paid up till the Saturday that we cruise, I prefer being at the port the morning of the cruise instead of making the trip early that morning. I don’t travel well in a car sometimes so I prefer to make that journey to the port at my leisure the night before. Besides, we are meeting up with a whole horde of BOBers that night at the Radisson!

Which brings me to the cruise….

Back when I was 19 weeks pregnant with Kira, I booked a Disney Cruise for October 2007. I joined the DIS Cruise Meet thread for our cruise known as the Konked Kruisers and we all chatted for well over a year. We got to know each other pretty well and we had a blast cruising with each other. As soon as we got back, a very large group of Konked Kruisers all decided to sail again together in October 2009. So we started another cruise meet thread but since there would be more than just KKers on this cruise we needed a new name. Now, the reason a lot of us cruised in October was because we were celebrating something, whether it was a birthday, anniversary or a bash of some sort. So, the name Bash on the Boat became our slogan for this cruise, which eventually was shortened to BOB, which then got nicknamed “I’m with BOB”. So since November 2007, we’ve been chatting on the BOB meet thread. We are a pretty chatty bunch and currently we are on thread # 25!!! Over the past 2 years, we added a great many new BOBers to our group and unfortunately, we’ve also lost some BOBers too.

I’m really looking forward to the cruise. It’s going to be awesome because everywhere we turn, we will see BOBers! That’s what it felt like with the KK cruise and we have even more BOBers than KKers!!

Since we disembark the ship on Halloween, there was no way we were going to fly home!! Halloween is the only holiday I like (I know, bah humbug!) and it is also Rob’s favourite so there was no question, we HAD to spend Halloween Night at the Magic Kingdom for Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party!!! We spent Halloween Night 2005 there and it was AMAZING!!!! The excitement and atmosphere that night was electric! We are also doing MNSSHP during our week at WDW (told ya it was our fave!) so the Halloween Night party will be our 6th time attending MNSSHP and we are looking forward to every second of it!!!

To top it all off, we rented points from Ellen (what a doll she was trying to get us booked here!) for that night to stay at Bay Lake Tower. This DVC resort just opened a couple of days ago and it looks amazing!!! For those of you who don’t know anything about DVC, the BLT (Did Disney NOT think of this when they named it???) is situated right next to the Contemporary Resort. It’s actually located where the old North Wing was and is a 3-minute walk to Magic Kingdom!!! How cool is that!! I tell ya, it sure will be handy with a very tired, and more than likely, cranky toddler, to just walk back to the resort after the party!


Well, I will end this chapter here before you all fall asleep on me. I have several more chapters to add to this pre-trippie….I warn you now, I am long-winded and I like photos and details so I will bore you all with all those things during the next 69 days.




Pre Trippie Index


Intro-You're reading it!

Travelling with a 2-year-old

Things I am most looking forward to

Our new camera

Video from our new camera

Pictures from our new camera

Pictures of Kira Part 1

Pictures of Kira Part 2

Pictures of Kira Part 3

A cute little story

So I don't lose the kid

More pics of my girls

Kira's Autograph arrived! Some Pics Here

Heritage Park

My buttons are in!!

Where the heck am I going to put all this crap?????

Le BOBigator

My Itinerary

Princess Kira

Kira's Countdown Calendar

A few pics of Kira and her calendar

The Haircut AKA My little soldier

Calendar, suitcase and a pirate oh my!!

The excitement of green luggage tags!

Single digits, Snow and the Super Flu

Rain, showers and some drizzle

Almost time to gooooooooo!!!

Last pre-trippie post!!!!






And here it is.....my trippie


http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=34218069#post34218069

 

[cntkg1]

Stealing your FO Cass!

MG present and accounted for. Let's get this party started baby.

 

[captchris]

Great pre trip report Cass! I will be looking forward to future installments.

 

[leslie826]

Your title caught my eye. My DD4 is Kira too! Looking forward to the rest of your report.

 

[JOANNEL]

I so wish it was sooner also!!! Can't wait. great start.

 

[millerpjm]

Cass, I remember when DS was 2 - I know what you mean!

Let's rock and roll! Can't wait for the next installment (and I really can't wait for the cruise)!!!

 

[Dyerneeds]

underdog (one of your many #1 fans) signed up and ready my dear.

 

[GOS]

Reporting for reading duty Cass.

 

[Michelle2]

I always get so excited when your trips come up, and even more excited reading your TRs. It will be here before you know it!

 

[Scouter]

Off to a good start

Love Kira's trampoline photo

 

[Timon]

Stealing your FO Cass!

MG present and accounted for. Let's get this party started baby.

You can have all my FO's Glad you could make it

Great pre trip report Cass! I will be looking forward to future installments.

And I will be popping over to yours often too

Your title caught my eye. My DD4 is Kira too! Looking forward to the rest of your report.

Wow, her parents have great taste in names

I so wish it was sooner also!!! Can't wait. great start.

Thanks Joanne, I don't know if I can possbily wait 68 more days!!!

Cass, I remember when DS was 2 - I know what you mean!

Let's rock and roll! Can't wait for the next installment (and I really can't wait for the cruise)!!!

Wooo, let's rock baby!!!!!!

underdog (one of your many #1 fans) signed up and ready my dear.

Wooo hoooo!! The underdog is here!!

Reporting for reading duty Cass.

Glad to have you onboard Heather

I always get so excited when your trips come up, and even more excited reading your TRs. It will be here before you know it!

Yay! You made it Michelle! I was hoping to see you around here

Off to a good start

Love Kira's trampoline photo

Hi Rose! Glad you stopped by

 

[Timon]

Traveling with a 2-year-old

Ok, so since I am relatively new at this parenting thing, I am little worried about traveling with a toddler. I’ve done tons of research and have gotten a lot of great information from other more experienced parents out there but I am still shaking in my boots a little.

I remember when I was childless and I saw little kids screaming and yelling and having meltdowns, I just thanked my lucky stars that it wasn’t me who had to deal with that!! It is one of the reasons I said that I would never bring a child under 5 to Disney World.

And yet here I am, taking a child under 5 to WDW!!!
What was I thinking??

Why didn’t I listen to myself???

Now I am worried that I will be that parent, the one that people thank their lucky stars that they aren’t!

Kira is pretty good but she sure knows how to have her meltdowns! Just this morning we were watching some youtube videos of WDW, trying to prepare her for some of the rides and she was all happy and laughing and dancing. Until it ended that is.

I was more than willing to hit the replay button but she didn’t even give me the chance! She just threw herself on the floor and started screaming “I wanna watch it ‘gain!! I wanna watch it ‘gain!!!!!!!!!!

Ahem.

See what I mean???

Now, how am I supposed to prepare for that? LOL!

Rob and I call our little princess the drama queen. I’m sure some of you have little DQ’s of your own. So you know what I’m talking about.


Here's my little princess in mid-tantrum when I asked her to sit down and eat supper at a restaurant while we were in Edmonton last weekend...

Oh and her latest thing? Just in the past 2 weeks or so, she started sticking her tongue out at us whenever she is displeased with us. If we ask her to eat...tongue! Ask her to stop yelling...tongue...ask her to put her shoes on...tongue. It doesn't really bother me but it bugs the heck out of Rob

.

Now, we took her 2 years ago to WDW and on a DCL cruise but she was only 10 months old, too young for drama, she just went with the flow and as long as she had food, she was good!

So while she’s already been on a plane and to WDW, it’s all brand new to her.

We have a 2.5-hour flight to Denver, a 90-minute stopover and then a 3.5-hour flight to Orlando.

I am prepared though. We have a gorgeous little Tinkerbell carry-on bag that she got from someone very special last year which we’ve tucked away until this trip, so that it would be new and exciting for her. Inside that bag are some brand new toys that she’s never even seen or played with before as well as stickers, sticker books and other little trinkets to keep her busy. I’ve also been reformatting her favourite Disney movies into mpg’s that are now stored on my netbook, which will be brought on the plane with us and just this past weekend in Edmonton, we bought her some kids headphones.

On the trip up to and from Edmonton, I gave her the netbook to watch her movies and she loved it!

Good sign!

I’m also going to make sure we have a ton of snack foods with us. Unfortunately we can’t bring fruit, meat or cheese with us across the border so I will have to get creative there but it shouldn’t be a problem.

We will be checking-in her car seat with the luggage and instead using the C.A.R.E.S. belt for her on the plane.

http://www.kidsflysafe.com/

This will help a lot I think because she doesn’t like to sit in her car seat.

Now I’m just worried about the actual flight itself. Will her ears hurt? Will she flip out? Will she enjoy it?

Hard to tell, but I do know that she HATES loud noises! I mean, anything that’s even remotely loud, she gets really scared!

Sometimes we will sing and dance together and although I don’t think I am singing too loud, she yells out “Too loud mommy!!!!”

DQ!

This is also the main reason I told Rob that she is not going to like Fantasmic! She didn’t like it when she was 10 months old and now that she’s 2 and has a loud noises obsession, I think she is going to have a huge meltdown.

But it’s Rob’s favourite show and he thinks she may enjoy it (she LOVES Pocahontas and Indians, even though I told him she won’t care about them when they are singing too loudly! LOL) so he still wants to take her. So I told him that they can go by themselves and I will go ride TOT and RNRC and shop so he can deal with the potential meltdown.

Good plan right?

I thought so too.



Another problem is that she’s on the verge of not napping in the afternoons anymore. Some days she actually sleeps, usually between an hour and an hour and a half. But most days, she just lays there and talk and sings and peels the wallpaper off her walls.

Some days she does just fine without a nap. Usually when we are really busy doing stuff she can go all day and not be too cranky. Other days, she is little miss cranky pants all day long and sooooo needs a nap!

She told me just this morning, when we were talking about our plans for the day… “No, I’m not sleeping today!”

Well, as I sit here and type this and look over at the baby monitor…yup, she was right, she’s not going to sleep today!

So I guess we will just play it by ear and see how she does. I have every intention of going back to the condo every afternoon for some nap time or down time and I have absolutely no problem with this plan. But if she’s not going to nap and relax and unwind and she does well during the day, then we will just try to stay at the parks and watch the parades that she would miss if we did go back for a nap.

I know for a fact she is going to LOVE the parades!

Fireworks, not so much, but parades, absolutely!!

In an ideal world (and I am totally dreaming in Technicolor here folks) she will not need a nap during the day and she will fall asleep in her stoller in the evening while we are at the park.


Hey, no laughing!!!

My girl… fall asleep in a stroller??? LOL, I know!

My girl is just not a sleeper. She never has been. She gets just enough sleep to get by and that’s it.

I wish she was more like her cousin Dani. Now she’s a sleeper!! She sleeps in until 9 or 10am and then goes for a 3 hour nap and then goes to bed at 8 pm! Must be nice!


Another issue is potty training.

I’ve heard some horror stories about parents pushing their kids to train when they are not ready so I am going to let Kira decide her own schedule. I’ve tried introducing the idea to her. She’s even tried on a few occasions and totally fluked out on a couple of those attempts but then she pees on her princess undies and she wants her diaper back. LOL!

Now we still have over 2 months to go before we leave so who knows where she will be by then?. With my luck, she will want to bring her potty everywhere we go but continue to “pee pee on Jasmine”!

Secretly, I am hoping that she will still be in diapers. Go ahead and yell at me, I just don’t want to deal with such a huge issue like potty training while we are at the parks and on a cruise!

While some parents encourage their kids to be potty trained for the cruise so they can enjoy the clubs, I know that Kira will be happy in Flounders at night and we can still take her during the day so she will get the best of both worlds.

Well, there you have it…all my fears of traveling with my princess. I am hoping for the best and no matter what happens, we are Disney people and will enjoy every single moment with her in our happy place!

Plus, there’s always bribery right LOL!

She loooooves ice cream....definitely her father's child

 

[Michelle2]

I totally agree with you on the potty training....don't push her, enjoy your vacation, it can wait when you get back and will be so much easier on all of you!

I laughed at the "pee pee on Jasmine"! LOL!
Love the updates, and seeing how you are all doing! I look forward to your trips about as much as my own, can't wait!

 

[Timon]

I totally agree with you on the potty training....don't push her, enjoy your vacation, it can wait when you get back and will be so much easier on all of you!

I laughed at the "pee pee on Jasmine"! LOL!
Love the updates, and seeing how you are all doing! I look forward to your trips about as much as my own, can't wait!

Michelle, I just noticed your ticker...3 weeks till Disney!!

Oooh please tell me you're writing a trippie

 

[cntkg1]

OMG Cass! That picture of Kira and the ice cream. PRICELESS!!!

 

[captchris]

My kids have always been great flyers. Our flights have only been 3 hours or less, but they usually fall asleep for the bulk of the flight. I am not so sure they will this time around though. We have an afternoon flight to Florida and we are flying JetBlue with in seat entertainment. Jay will watch CartoonNetwork the whole way down, and Sam will watch Disney.

 

[minnieandmickey]

One Lost Bober checking in and going to be sitting on pins and needles waiting for your next update so that I can live vicariously through you on this trip.

 

[GOS]

Oh my....this is why I'm not a parent.

 

[Timon]

OMG Cass! That picture of Kira and the ice cream. PRICELESS!!!

She looks drugged doesn't she?

My kids have always been great flyers. Our flights have only been 3 hours or less, but they usually fall asleep for the bulk of the flight. I am not so sure they will this time around though. We have an afternoon flight to Florida and we are flying JetBlue with in seat entertainment. Jay will watch CartoonNetwork the whole way down, and Sam will watch Disney.

Sounds peaceful

I highly doubt Kira will sleep at all Even though we will have to wake her up at 4:30am to catch our early flight!

One Lost Bober checking in and going to be sitting on pins and needles waiting for your next update so that I can live vicariously through you on this trip.

Glad to see you Becky

Oh my....this is why I'm not a parent.

Yes, it can be tough at times but having her was the most wonderful, amazing, fantastic thing that has ever happened to me!!! Not only am I incredibly lucky to have her in my life, she has shown me what true unconditonal love is. I really wish my mom was still around so that I could tell her that I finally understand how she felt about me.

There is NOTHING in this world than can make you feel better than your child coming up to you completely out of the blue, holding your cheeks so softly with their tiny little precious hands and saying "I wuv you mommy" !!!

When I came back from my weekend in Wisconsin, I had missed her so much, first thing I did was go to give her a big kiss and when I opened the door she looked up at me, half asleep, eyes barely open and had the biggest sleepy grin on her face and said with quiet excitement "You're here!!!!!"



So all the tantrums, all the meltdowns, all the back talk.....TOTALLY worth it!!!

 

[Timon]

Things I am most looking forward to...


I have always been really excited about going back to WDW. But this trip is a little different. The difference this time is that I get to experience it through the eyes of my child. Although we took her last time at the age of 10 months, she was too young to really know what was going on.

Not this time.

Now she knows all the characters, she’s seen most of the movies and she has expressed interest in going after we told her what it was all about. About 8 months ago, Rob and I were discussing this trip at the dinner table and Kira repeated a few things we were saying. So we explained to her that we were going to Disney World in October. I knew she didn’t understand the concept but ever since then, she tells everyone she knows that she’s “going to Dizzy world in Octobah!”

As the months went by, I explained more to her, we watched our 2007 WDW/DCL videos I made, we looked at photos and videos on the internet, taught her the months of the year and the concept of going on a trip and now she totally understands what is going to happen in 2 months and is very excited about it!

A couple of months ago we watched the Disney planning DVD that I ordered and when she saw a little girl hug Cinderella, her eyes got really wide and she got very excited. I asked her if she was going to hug Cinderella too and I could just see the wheels turning….figuring out that she could, indeed, hug Cinderella too, and then she ever so softly replied “Yeah, I am.”



It was a good moment.

Since that special moment, I decided we needed to talk more about Disney stuff. One of my fondest memories when I was young was laying in bed with my dad as my mom was getting ready for work (she worked the night shift most of her life) and we would talk Disney. Then my mom would yell out “Are you two talking Disney???” We would giggle and tell her no and then start talking about something else and then 2 minutes later we would continue to talk Disney. Of course I was so young that I thought we were really fooling her. Little did I know she always knew exactly what we were talking about LOL!

So, talking Disney to Kira is my way of keeping my parents memory alive. We always talk about what she’s going to see and who she’s going to meet. It’s rather cute actually. Whenever we mention pirates she always throws in an ARRRGGG! Whenever we talk about meeting princess Aurora she never fails to mention that she will be wearing her pink dress.

Rob burned a few cd’s with WDW music that we listen to all the time while we are driving. She knows most of the lyrics and loves to sing along! Rob was laughing yesterday when they got home from running errands saying that she was singing It’s a Small World over and over. I had to explain to him that we were watching videos of the ride that morning.


Here's a little video of her talking about "Dizzyworld"

May take a few minutes to load.

http://cassworld.ca/videos/dizzyworld.wmv

Normally she goes on for 10 minutes but she got distracted with climbing and then running but you get the idea

If you are having problems seeing the video, try using a browser that is not Internet Explorer.




I can’t wait till she meets that first character and gets that first autograph. I know I’m a big sap but I am really looking forward to seeing the magic through her eyes. Disney has always had a special place in my heart but I think during this trip, that magic will deepen and grow stronger for me knowing that it is now shared with my daughter.

I’ve planned a few character meals so I am really excited about those! I’m looking forward to all the rides that we will get to do together and mostly I am looking forward to just spending time with her doing something that I really, really love, being in Disney.

The cruise has me a little worried though because it is a more confined space than the parks but I think she will be thrilled to play in the kids club. We also plan to spend some time at the beach in each port and I already have beach toys for her packed in my suitcase.

Yes, I’ve already started packing!!

I already have all my Dis Tag gifts packed and ready to go as well as some stuff for the cruise that I know I won’t be using in the next 67 days.

Rob just laughs at me.

He will pack the night before we leave.

But he understands my need to pack 2 months before.

That’s why I love him. He understands my lunacy. And he still loves me.



Hmmm....

What else am I looking forward to????





FOOOOOOD!

Disney food to be exact.

Breakfast at RFC and lunch at Le Cellier.

Yum!

Chef Mickey’s parmesan mashed potatoes and Casey’s hot dogs.

Although I haven’t had Casey’s dogs since they changed to a whole wheat bun so I have a feeling I am going to be really mad at Disney!

I mean come on, if I am going to eat a hot dog, chances are I’m not looking to count calories!!

I can understand it if they wanted to give us the choice, but don’t make me scarf down a whole wheat bun on my deliciously unhealthy hot dog people!!!

Ahem.

Where was I?

Oh yeah….chicken tenders, dole whips, Mickey Ice cream sandwiches, oh my!

So do ya wanna know which ADR’s I booked???

Fine.

But I’m gonna tell you anyway


Here we go.....



Boma Breakfast – Very excited about this one because we have never been there before.

T-Rex – Also very excited as it’s our first time and Kira loves her some dinosaurs. Hmmm better bring some ear plugs for her lol!

50’s Prime Time – Always a good time.

Sci-Fi – It’s been a few years since we’ve done this one, Kira should like it.

Le Cellier – Gotta have some Cheddar Cheese soup!!!

Crystal Palace – This was Kira’s very first character meal and character interaction, so we gotta do it again. Plus the food is usually really good!

Chef Mickey’s – A must for every trip!

Princess Storybook Breakfast at Norway – This will be a first for us and should be Kira’s favourite!

Kona Café breakfast – Been wanting to try this one for years now but never got around to it.

Chef Mickey’s breakfast – First time we will be doing breakfast here, our last little hurrah before we leave for the airport to go home.



We’re also planning on a couple meals at RFC, Pizzafari, Yorkshire Fish, Casey’s, Wolfgang Puck Express and some time at Cosmic Ray’s watching Sunny Eclipse. We all love Sunny and Kira knows all the words to Planetary Boogie.


I am trembling with excitement!!!

Can you feel it???

Ok, this chapter is getting a little looooong so I am cutting myself off here.

Thanks for sticking with me