We All Done Now? ~A Trip with a Toddler~ An Afternoon at the MK! 1/24

[A.Mickey]

The Reason for this Trip: My Cousin getting Married in Tampa

Another Reason for this Trip: 67 DVC pts expiring at the end of November.

Another Reason for this Trip: We have an annual pass burning a whole in our pocket

And yet Another Reason for this trip: Because it will be our 1st family trip (just the 3 of us)

The Players:

Jason-35, Ride Enthusiast! Fave Character: Donald Duck, Fave Ride: Tower of Terror

Shanan- 30, Pin Trader Extraordinare! Fave Character: Piglet, Fave Ride: Spaceship Earth

Aaron- 3, Character Lover! Fave Character: Too Many to list, Fave Ride: it's a small world, so we think.

Index:
October 15th:
[post=38770710]Chapter#1: The Hardest Part: Getting There! [/POST]
[post=38919576]Chapter#2: The Nugget Theif![/POST]
[post=38931080]Chapter#3: Nap Time...well not quite. [/POST]
[post=39046141]Chapter#4: Yee Haw![/POST]
October 16th:
[post=39046555]Chapter#5: Step Up for Down Syndrome[/POST]
[post=39680354]Chapter#6: An Afternoon at the MK[/POST]
[post=39680893]Chapter#7: Grand Floridian/1900 Park Fare[/POST]

 

[A.Mickey]

It all starts October 15th at 4:30 in the morning.
The alarm goes off and surprisingly I slept very soundly, so sound I didn't hear the alarm, but at least Jason heard it. We frantically run around grabbing last minute things (since 8 hours ago we hadn't even started packing yet!)

Nana arrives shortly before 5 am to drive us to Midway. Midway is about 45-60 minutes away, but Southwest flies out of Midway so we vouch to drive about an hour even though O'hare is about 15 minutes away. We would rather not pay a bag fee and we really love Southwest now.

So weird traveling with a toddler I didn't want to get my camera out just yet. We get to the airport without a hitch. There really isn't too many cars on the road around 5 am, even in Chicago. Nana quickly says goodbye to us and we are off to weigh our bags. Nana bought us a hand held scale a few years ago so this comes in real handy. Our large bag just sailed in under 50 lbs. Woo hoo! We go wait through the longest line we have ever seen at security. Luckily we have a bag of dum dums because someone doesn't want to stand still in line and keeps trying to play with the dividing rope. We finally get to the front of the line and Froggy even has to go through the x-ray machine.

Oh I forgot, there is another player on this adventure.

Meet Froggy:

Aaron has had his Froggy Friend since December of 2007. He has been everywhere with him (this trip is no exception) and has had lots of lovin.

Once through security, I want Aaron to sit on the little giraffe or zebra chair but he just looks at them as if they are going to hurt him and I put him on the adult "normal" chairs. And we are off to find some breakfast at McD's! I got a free breakfast sandwich from playing Monopoly. We are headed down the terminal looking for the McD's, but it is gone from terminal B. I ask a kind lady if there is another McD's and she points me to terminal A. I go as fast as I can and hurry back. Once I get back our plane is boarding in 10 minutes. So Aaron eats his hotcakes on the plane.

When the plane starts to taxi towards the runway Aaron points out all the trucks (with the luggage) and points out other planes. Once we start picking up speed for take off Aaron starts to shake and get really nervous. Nothing is helping to calm his nerves. He is scared the whole time we are climbing. Once we level out he is back to normal and is able to relax. We pass the time by coloring and eating the snacks the flight attendants give us. Aaron doesn't take a nap, even though we want him too. We left him in his pajamas thinking that he would just go back to sleep once we woke him up in the early morning, but I guess he is as excited to go to WDW as Mommy and Daddy are.

We are touching down in Orlando in no time. And this is the first time that we touch down on the tarmac and I didn't automatically feel the humid Florida air. It was actually cool and nice for a change. Highs in the low 80's!

We go grab our bags and head to Dollar to pick out our rental car. Jason goes with a Cherry Tomato Red Chevy. He picks it out since it will be easier to find a red car then a muted car. Good Point! We put our bags in and we are off to WDW!

Aaron and I nickname the car the Cherry Tomato (our car at home is the Silver Bullet). We are on the road and Jason doesn't want to take a tollway to WDW since we have no change and no cash. So I quickly grab his iPhone and find our way to 192 or Irlo Branson. Ahhhh....our old stompin ground.

This is where we stayed back in January of 2007, 3 months before Aaron was born. (This trip was the trip I discovered Disney restaurants, since I couldn't ride many of the rides)

The Masters Inn was right next to this!

And here is one of the places we ate on our honeymoon in 2006.

(how romantic .)

Why does Disney have these billboards? Do they really need to advertise?

Almost there!

Aaron's reaction to seeing the main gate!

We are home!

Aaron draws first thing and we change Aaron into more appropriate clothes.

That's better!

 

[A.Mickey]

We decided that we would go grab lunch at the hospitality house.

Awww Florida is so pretty!

Ut oh! Aaron is already tired and the day hasn't even begun...although he did wake up at 4 this morning with no nap on the plane!

And what does Jason order?!?! You guessed it Disney Chicken Nuggets. His all time fave!

My sandwich was really ummy!

Dada is happy with his chicken nuggets...until he goes and gets my resort mug in the car.

And the Chicken theif steals one of his nuggets.

The proud chicken theif...

It was a nice relaxing lunch, now it is time for some action...and where do we head first why Epcot....I have yet to see EO and Jason is dying for me to see it!

I love the Mickey detail!

The joy of driving! (I forgot how nice it can be!)

TRON!!!

Right here I lost it! A bunch of emotions came back to me! My grandparents taking me here when I was 2 and riding the monorail and loving Epcot. My grandparents meeting us at Epcot when I was in Middle school. Seeing Jason's eager face the first time I took him to Epcot in 2006. It was all so marvelous and here we are just the 3 of us, about to embark on our first family vacation!

First stop! We have to buy Aaron his first annual pass!

So cute while Jason was buying Aaron's AP. Aaron was singing M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-C. It was awesome!

Make a crazy face!

First ride...well of course Spaceship Earth!

And here is Aaron's...I don't want to go on that ride face.

Before we entered the ride vehicle Aaron was very nervous and reached his hand out and grabbed whatever he could get a hold of. Unfortanetely for one of the ride Op's Aaron is at a very good height for not so appropriate hand placement. I wonder if the ride op's get a lot of that?
Aaron rode in the ride vehicle with Dada in the car in front of me. I could hear Aaron a little bit through most of the ride, but I couldn't tell if he was enjoying it or he was scared.

Still haven't figured out how to use my new camera in low lighting and moving!

Part of my head is missing!

I like Aaron's head is half missing! LOL

It turns out Aaron was pretty scared on Spaceship Earth...maybe we shouldn't have taken him on a roller-coaster at Great America over the summer.

Do, do do dooot doot doo doo doot dooo do.

Gotta go to EO!

(that CM had not so good pins)

Dada taking Aaron for his first Capt EO Experience!

Someone is excited (and I think that is an understatement)

While we were waiting for the pre-show to start Aaron was pretty scared and kept saying We all done now? I kept telling him no, we are going to watch a movie with dancing and singing. Once the pre-show started Aaron seemed to relax a bit. Once in the theater Aaron wore his 3-D glasses for a little bit, but as soon as the first 3-D effect came out on the screen he took his glasses off.
Angelica Houston's character was a wee bit scary for Aaron too. After we were let out of the movie Aaron was singing away and later that night he was actually dancing around singing...oooh oooh ohh capt. EO.

I actually really enjoyed the movie. I was surprised how much I liked it after hearing some negativity from friends.

Next we went on Living with the Land. Aaron was scared at the very beginning of the ride when you go through the dark rain forest and the storm. But once we got to the greenhouse he was loving every minute of it and reading all the signs!

 

[A.Mickey]

After Living with the Land we headed for Innoventions.

I completely forgot about the velcro frog! Aaron loves frogs! His lovie he has slept with since an infant is a frog. He wants to be a frog for Halloween (my mom actually made him a frog costume). So I was pretty excited when we came across this! Oh yeah!

Aaron was excited too, but he is super tired!

Aaron had fun answering questions for this...

But he is extremely tired...look at those eyes!

We decide to head back to the resort and let Aaron take a nap before dinner and Bob Jackson.

....But our room is so close to a playground...we have to go check it out!

Aaron and his froggy.

This is Aaron's attempt of keeping his feet up on the slide, actually he likes to try to stop himself so he doesn't go to fast.

Aaron had lots of fun running around and playing in the sand...then we checked out some other areas.

Cool picnic area right by pool and playground.

Gotta love free laundry and lots of buttons to press!

Our red "Cherry Tomato" rental car and our room the windows on the bottom left. Very secluded and relaxing. I really loved this resort and I didn't want to leave...good thing we just got there!

Now it is finally Nap Time!

 

[IheartDDuck]

I'm subbing. Great start! I also love Old Key West. It's such a pretty resort. Can't wait to hear more.

 

[A.Mickey]

I'm subbing. Great start! I also love Old Key West. It's such a pretty resort. Can't wait to hear more.

Thanks for joining! Yeah our 1st DVC stay on our points and it was well worth it! So relaxing.

 

[A.Mickey]

So we got Aaron down for a nap finally! I think I may have took a nap too and Jason fell asleep as well.

When we all woke up it was time to head over to Port Orleans Riverside to eat dinner and watch Bob Jackson, but Jason was in a mood and he really didn't want to come.

I told him that is fine Aaron and I will just take the boat over to DTD and then the bus to Port Orleans. Jason did cave in and drive us over to POR but he was just going to wait in the car.

I wasn't going to fight with him so I took Aaron into POR to eat dinner. Wow was the food court River Mill....ever crowded! It took a 1/2 hour just for us to get our food. The salad line was extremely slow, but Aaron was very patient.

While checking out and paying, I asked if they take any discounts, and this is where I found out that if a resort has a table service restaurant then there is no discount with Tables in Wonderland at the counter service, but if they have only counter service restaurant then you can use your Tables in Wonderland card and save 20%! Makes sense!

My Ummy Salad, that only took a 1/2 hour to get!

After Aaron was done eating he was dancing around singing....oooh oh oh Captain EO! It was really cute!

Yee Haw Bob had already started, since it took us forever to get our food, so Aaron and I walked over to the Lounge and looked for Jaime and crew and found her! Yay!

During dinner Wallis was texting me too and figuring out where I would be.

Cheryl got asked to sit up with Bob.

And lead the Conga line.

Jaime asks where is Jason, and I told her he is being a punk and sitting in the car waiting for us. She says I am going to get him. I told her he is in a red cherry tomato Chevy. She comes back with him and he is happy she dragged him in. He really enjoyed Yehaw Bob.

Towards the end someone comes up and taps me on the shoulder and it is Wallis. We talk a little bit about her trip and we tell her that we will see her more tomorrow night!

Bob's 1st set is over and we get up to take a picture with him.

Back at OKW we stop at the store to get something for Jason to eat for dinner. He grabs a pizza pocket and Aaron wants something too. We tell him he can have anything in the store and he grabs an apple.

Back in the room we relax and watch Stacy.

We have to get up early tomorrow because we are going to the walk for Ferris Funky Bunch for Down Syndrome.

 

[A.Mickey]

Aaron is up! Bright eyed and bushy tailed for it being 6:30 in the morning! And we went to bed last night somewhere around midnight.

We head over to the Boardwalk to pick up Tonya and we head for Lake Eola for the walk.

We find it and try to find the place they told us to park, but we can't find it. Luckily they have workers telling us where to go and there is a parking lot close that we get directed to.

We find the tent for Ferris' Funky Bunch and check in.
We received our shirts and grabbed some doughnuts, apple juice (for Aaron) and mimosas.

We chat a little bit and walk around to explore.

Beautiful Lake Eola.

And Cute Ferris.

We get our group picture taken...

...and then it is time to start the walk around Lake Eola.

Tonya and Lori

Corey and Ferris

Half way around Lake Eola they were handing out waters.

When the walk was over there were food booths set up and alot of different activities going on. Aaron played with the musical instruments for a little bit.

And we each had 1 ticket which we could turn in 1/2 the ticket for a drink and 1/2 ticket for a food item. We ended up getting 4 pieces of pizza from Ci-Ci's and gave the rest of our tickets away, we could have gotten 4 more pieces.

We really wanted to get back to WDW so we ate our pizza in the car. It was only 10:30 am.

We stopped at Wal-Mart to get some 12 packs of Coke and Diet coke and some other essentials. We also got a few t-shirts, this Wal-mart was the mecca of Disney stuff! We dropped off Tonya at Boardwalk and said our goodbyes in case we wouldn't see her again and sure enough we didn't. But we will see her on the cruise in less than a month!

We are back!

Time to clean up my pizza boy before we go off to the MK!

 

[IheartDDuck]

Great update. Looks like you guys had a great time at the River Roost. I love that place at POR. I also did not know that about Tables in Wonderland and counter service locations. I will have to keep that in mind in the future.

 

[TyRy]

I just found the TR - I love seeing the pictures of OKW. Mark wants to stay there someday and it always looks so relaxing.

I always laugh when you mention Jason and the nuggets. I swear that was all I use to eat at Disney, then when they changed them, I didn't like them as much.

One of these years we'll actually make it over to see Yee Haw Bob - something we've never done.

Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip.

 

[A.Mickey]

Great update. Looks like you guys had a great time at the River Roost. I love that place at POR. I also did not know that about Tables in Wonderland and counter service locations. I will have to keep that in mind in the future.

It was my first time going to POR! Next time when I go there I would love to walk around and explore. Yeah, I thought that was interesting about the discount. If you didn't know you also get a 20% discount at Pizzafari and Flame Tree with the TIW card. Jason, Aaron and I ate for $18 at Pizzafari!!

I just found the TR - I love seeing the pictures of OKW. Mark wants to stay there someday and it always looks so relaxing.

I always laugh when you mention Jason and the nuggets. I swear that was all I use to eat at Disney, then when they changed them, I didn't like them as much.

One of these years we'll actually make it over to see Yee Haw Bob - something we've never done.

Looking forward to hearing about the rest of your trip.

OKW was very relaxing..and it is pretty cheap to stay there point wise!

LOL! Jason prefers the old nuggets too, when they were actually more like strips, but he still loves them.

Yeah it was our first time and I highly recommend him! It is hard to catch him, because he plays on weird nights.

Sorry to say that you will have to wait a while to hear about the rest of our trip, because we leave on Friday for a 16 day trip to Walt Disney World! LOL!

So there will be another report in the making soon as well. It still feels like we just got back and we are turning around and heading back.

 

[A.Mickey]

For those of you that are following along. I will be gone until the new year most likely. We leave for Disney on the 3rd and get back on the 19th and then I have to wrap all the Christmas presents that week. So expect me back in the new year. And I will have more stories to tell from our December trip!

 

[TyRy]

For those of you that are following along. I will be gone until the new year most likely. We leave for Disney on the 3rd and get back on the 19th and then I have to wrap all the Christmas presents that week. So expect me back in the new year. And I will have more stories to tell from our December trip!

Have a fantastitic stay and cruise - so wish I was joining you guys. Next cruise!

 

[jojo05]

I absolutly love your photographs!!! Your son is so cute. I enjoy how you discribe the emotions at the time. Wonderul!!!!

 

[brookelizabeth]

I'm here now Shanan! Loving the new report - I cannot believe how big Aaron is!!!!!!!!! Seriously, he was just a little dude - where has the time gone?!?! I love, love, love all the pictures of him - the one with the Mickey ears where he just got dressed the ones where he is singing the EO song are the cutest ever!

Vacationing with a toddler is an experience, isn't it? We've done it so many times know we have a good routine, but they always throw curve balls!

I hope your current trip and the cruise are wonderful-I'm sure they are! See ya next year!

 

[IheartDDuck]

For those of you that are following along. I will be gone until the new year most likely. We leave for Disney on the 3rd and get back on the 19th and then I have to wrap all the Christmas presents that week. So expect me back in the new year. And I will have more stories to tell from our December trip!

Have a great trip!

 

[A.Mickey]

Have a fantastitic stay and cruise - so wish I was joining you guys. Next cruise!

It was a great time of course, but it was COLD!! Hoping the next one we will be on the Dream!

I absolutly love your photographs!!! Your son is so cute. I enjoy how you discribe the emotions at the time. Wonderul!!!!

Thanks!

I'm here now Shanan! Loving the new report - I cannot believe how big Aaron is!!!!!!!!! Seriously, he was just a little dude - where has the time gone?!?! I love, love, love all the pictures of him - the one with the Mickey ears where he just got dressed the ones where he is singing the EO song are the cutest ever!

Vacationing with a toddler is an experience, isn't it? We've done it so many times know we have a good routine, but they always throw curve balls!

I hope your current trip and the cruise are wonderful-I'm sure they are! See ya next year!

Hi Brook! I know it is crazy how fast they grow right?!? Just this week I am already enrolling Aaron in preschool!

Yeah, you guys are really good with touring with a toddler. Jason and I still need more practice, but we are getting better.

It was wonderful! Sorry it took me so long to get back, but life gets in the way!

Have a great trip!

Thanks!! It was!

 

[A.Mickey]

I gave Aaron a nap and a bath and it was time to finally go to the MK!

We decided on taking the bus since it drops you off right at the front door!
Instead of doing the whole Parking, tram, monorail/ferry to MK.

We had a very short walk to our bus stop. We were at the South Point Rd stop and we stayed in building 54.

My Boys:

Aaron and Froggy:

He was obsessed with maps! Every time we entered the park first thing he needed was a map!

Aaron's 1st glimpse of the castle.

Let's start off with the peoplemover! Surely that can't be scary!

Is this a death grip?

Aaron did not like the way it whipped around the corners....We all done now?!

I like the grip on Daddy's shirt, but all the while trying to take everything in.

He did not care for the inside of Space Mountain either, but now he can't stop talking about Starport.

Up next CoP. He loves this ride. I think this may have become one of his new favorites. He sings Great, Big, Beautiful Tomorrow...every day!

Taking it all in!

Look at all those strollers! Eek!

Froggy has something to say...

Ribbet, Ribbet!

I told Aaron to make a sad face. His favorite ride was down for refurbishment, but shhhh don't tell him this but we are coming back before our flight on the last day to ride it over and over again!

We decide to ride the Liberty Belle! Woo! I never had done this before, at least I don't remember doing it.

The weird thing is, I don't remember ever riding on the Liberty Belle, but these next shots seemed vaguely familiar.

We had to make our way out of the park and head over to the Grand Floridian by way of the monorail to make our 5 o'clock ADR at 1900 Park Fare.

My cool dudes:

OF COURSE!

 

[A.Mickey]

On our way to Grand Floridian!

We made it!

We were a little early for our ADR so we wandered around for a little bit.

Hmmmm...how do I get back to the MK?

Soon our buzzer was going off!

We didn't plan on doing many ADR's this trip, as Aaron hardly eats and gets bored at restaurants easily. Plus, financially we were trying to save as much money as possible. We were using our TiW card though.

Jason was looking forward to the strawberry soup and I was looking forward to dining here as I had no idea what to really expect. Upon our seating I was already pretty disappointed as we were sat in a small room (kinda like a hallway) off of the main dining room.

Aaron was also starting to get fussy.

Jason's strawberry soup.

I just remember Aaron not eating much of anything and Jason telling him to turn around alot during this meal.

I was not feeling it at all.

She wanted to kiss Aaron. I wasn't there for the interaction, as I was up getting a plate of food.

This was funny. Lady Tremaine made Drizella and Anastasia stand with their noses to the wall.

Drizella asked Aaron what his name is...and Aaron just sat there and she went through a list of names and she said ok I will call you prince Zachary.

My Princes with Prince Charming.

This was a shocker to me. I had no idea that Cindy is at 1900 Park Fare.

Aaron and Cindy had quite the interaction.

She asked all about Froggy...and asked Froggy if his name is Naveen?

She was really sweet with Aaron.

A 2nd Bowl! It must have been good!

YUM!

Aaron liked tracing the lines of the chair.

Pretty!

I really didn't know what to expect with 1900 Park Fare. I was disappointed at first, but all and all we had a pretty good time. It was worth the money to see Cindy, and the food was pretty good for a buffet. I remember being surprised with the selection of foods on the buffet. Like there were foods from different countries. I was sad that Alice wasn't part of the character interaction at night, since this is Jason's favorite character (crush character...we all know his fave character is Donald Duck).

We went outside to let Aaron play on the beach.

 

[IheartDDuck]

The strawberry soup at 1900 Park Fare is one of my favorite things! I even make it at home when I have the chance.

I do find it funny that the characters at the restaurant are different though depending on whether you go for breakfast or if you go for dinner.