I will never go to WDW pushing a stroller! - Nov/Dec 2011 PTR, Final? Itinerary 11/18

[DisDadDoc]

I think at this point we're almost definitely going to be going to MVMCP one night while we're there. I want to try to do CP also, because I know DW would absolutely love it. The question will be whether DS can handle it, but he typically does well sitting through things so we'll see. I think if we do it, we'll probably go with the dinner reservation... I know I don't want to try to get him to wait in line and then have to sit through the show.

That's all I've got for now, thanks for reading!

We did the Candlelight Processional and it seems better on paper than it was in person. Looking at the descriptions, we thought it would be great too, but with 3 squirming kids, it seemed to go on forever! (and eventually we had to leave early). I would not recommend it with a toddler (unless he's really well behaved)

December is such a wonderful time to go! Definitely try to go to some of the resorts (especially the Grand Floridian with that enormous gingerbread house!) and just walk around (maybe on your way to dinner!). It is well worth it!

 

[that's nice]

We thought about the CP but it wasn't going to fit in with our schedule. I'm sure Juliana would handle it fine but she is a little older than your son.

I don't know the demeanor of your kids but we brought Juliana to Jiko when she was 3 and she was fine.

I highly recommend eating and early dinner (CS) on your MVMCP night like 3 or 4 then just snack later if you/kids get hungry. You spend too much money for these tickets to be sitting in a restaurant for 2 hours.

 

[afwdwfan]

We did the Candlelight Processional and it seems better on paper than it was in person. Looking at the descriptions, we thought it would be great too, but with 3 squirming kids, it seemed to go on forever! (and eventually we had to leave early). I would not recommend it with a toddler (unless he's really well behaved)

December is such a wonderful time to go! Definitely try to go to some of the resorts (especially the Grand Floridian with that enormous gingerbread house!) and just walk around (maybe on your way to dinner!). It is well worth it!

We'll see how he's doing with sitting through things at that point... I've considered that, but he does very well sitting through church for an hour for us. We just have to keep some Cheerios on hand. It is a good point though, I definitely don't want to have to sit there if he is being fidgety. We still have several months to go between now and then, so I'm sure his behavior and patience could change, so we'll just have to evaluate it then. How long does CP last?

We're definitely going to tour the monorail resorts. Since we'll only have 6 days and want to have plenty of park time and downtime, we probably won't go to any other resorts, but we will definitely make a monorail loop to check those out.

We thought about the CP but it wasn't going to fit in with our schedule. I'm sure Juliana would handle it fine but she is a little older than your son.

I don't know the demeanor of your kids but we brought Juliana to Jiko when she was 3 and she was fine.

I highly recommend eating and early dinner (CS) on your MVMCP night like 3 or 4 then just snack later if you/kids get hungry. You spend too much money for these tickets to be sitting in a restaurant for 2 hours.

I'm kind of waiting until the schedule comes out to make up an exact plan, but I'm the thrill ride junkie and morning person in the family so MVMCP day might be a time when I can go out in the morning and ride Rock n Rollercoaster and Expedition Everest a few times while DW and DS sleep in and relax. I'm pretty sure I'll be awake by 6:30 or 7:00 even if I tried to sleep in anyway. Other than that it will probably just be a slow, relaxing day, head over to MK mid afternoon and of course, eat before the party gets started. Gotta make sure to have an appetite for cookies once the party starts!

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

oh and Mark if you feel like posting pics on my tr for me go right ahead.

Like this one?

Wow, beautiful pics!

Thanks!

Yeah, Mark really added a touch of class to the place.

I don't believe that sentence has ever been written before.

A Quick mini-update

Ok, I really wanted to talk a little bit about my past trips to Disney World, because I've never done a Trip Report before and this is my PTR so I can. I'm not going to do that until I can get to my parents' house and remember to grab some pictures so I can scan them. I want to bring the 80's back for a little while.

Woohoo! 80's pictures! Bring 'em on!

 

[PirateKate]

We frequently get Carter his own meal when we eat QS at Disney. Sometimes, even when the portions would be enough, we want to order food he wouldn't like. Jeremy's always willing to help out with any Carter leftovers.

 

[afwdwfan]

Like this one?

Mark, I realize you're an engineer, but are you really that curious about how everything works????

Woohoo! 80's pictures! Bring 'em on!

Still gotta remember to steal them from my mom... I keep forgetting to grab them when I'm there. Not to mention I don't even know where she keeps that stuff anymore. She gave my wife some of the pictures she had from when I was growing up but no Disney ones. I actually wish my mom would have just kept them all because I found DS playing with (translation: destroying) one of my baby pictures last week.

Jeremy's always willing to help out with any Carter leftovers.

Yeah, that sounds about like me.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Mark, I realize you're an engineer, but are you really that curious about how everything works????

Hey, I was reasonably certain the cannon was inert.

Still gotta remember to steal them from my mom... I keep forgetting to grab them when I'm there. Not to mention I don't even know where she keeps that stuff anymore. She gave my wife some of the pictures she had from when I was growing up but no Disney ones. I actually wish my mom would have just kept them all because I found DS playing with (translation: destroying) one of my baby pictures last week.

I hear pictures make great chew-toys.

 

[afwdwfan]

Hey, I was reasonably certain the cannon was inert.

Oh, well that's a relief. I guess that means you didn't get to make anything blow up though so that's kind of disappointing.

I hear pictures make great chew-toys.

Landon would confirm that statement!

 

[afwdwfan]

I still have a couple of months until I can start making ADR's on June 1, so I really don't have much new to report on the day to day planning side of things yet. We've been talking and thinking about places we want to eat, but being on the Quick Service Dining Plan, we don't want to go overboard on ADR's. We just want to do a few meals so that we can sit down and relax and just enjoy them, but the problem is that my short list of restaurants I want to try isn't all that short. I'm going to have to sort it out and narrow some things down so that I can report back later. I think right now the only sure thing I'm looking at is Whispering Canyon Cafe since it is conveniently located at Wilderness Lodge.

One of the options on the table is the Spirit of Aloha show. I just can't seem to get excited about it. Can anybody talk me into this one?? I've never been there before, but DW has and she wants to go again. She thinks DS will enjoy the show and the fire dancers. I'm kind of lukewarm on the dinnershow concept and would tend to lean towards the Hoop-De-Doo Review for DS if we were going to do one. I've never been to either one of them so I have no first hand experience. So if anyone has any good/bad experiences I'd love to hear about it. If you just want to convince me that I need to go see Spirit of Aloha, I'm sure DW would be grateful.

On a sidenote, I just realized last week that I have something to celebrate this time when I go to Disney World. In the past, I've never gotten into the whole concept of celebrating something on vacation or getting a pin for anything, and I likely won't for this trip either. It just struck me though that 11 days before we check in at Wilderness Lodge will be my 30th birthday. I'm sure I'll still feel like a 4 year old once I walk under the train station and enter the Magic Kingdom no matter how old I am.

 

[FreezinRafiki]

I can't add anything useful on the Hoop Dee Do v. Spirit of Aloha since I haven't been to either of them. But I did want say good luck feeling like a 4 year old after your 30th birthday. Right around there things start to hurt, creek, crack and groan a lot more than they did at 29.

 

[PirateKate]

It's your son's first visit, too, isn't it? That's two celebrations. You guys will be turning down pins left and right.

I've never been to either of the two dinner shows you mentioned. People certainly seem to like both of them a lot. I think the QSDP is a good call, with an almost two year old.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

You've probably seen enough reviews of Whispering Canyon in our various TR's to know whether you'd like that or not. As far as dinner shows go, I don't have much experience. My family took me to the Hoop De Doo Revue when I was a kid, and I remember having a blast. From what I can tell, it hasn't changed much, which appears to be a good thing. But I have no clue on the Spirit of Aloha, other than to say I really like hanging around at the Poly resort.

 

[afwdwfan]

I can't add anything useful on the Hoop Dee Do v. Spirit of Aloha since I haven't been to either of them. But I did want say good luck feeling like a 4 year old after your 30th birthday. Right around there things start to hurt, creek, crack and groan a lot more than they did at 29.

Well I can tell from your Trip Report that you still have the ability to bring out your inner 4 year old.

That actually started happening to me at 26. I tore my achilles playing basketball and I almost got to the point that I wanted to smack around the next person that told me I'm not 18 anymore. Now when I go play basketball I actually have to stretch out and warm up and there's still about a 50/50 chance I'm going to hurt an ankle, a knee, my back or all of the above. I've probably seen my doctor more times in the past 6 months than I did between the ages of 20 and 25. I kind of get ashamed of having my answer be "I was playing basketball" every time he asks me what happened.

It's your son's first visit, too, isn't it? That's two celebrations. You guys will be turning down pins left and right.

I've never been to either of the two dinner shows you mentioned. People certainly seem to like both of them a lot. I think the QSDP is a good call, with an almost two year old.

Yes, we'll definitely grab a pin or 2 for him to have when he is of an age that they won't look appetizing.
We like the QSDP for a lot of reasons. For one thing there are a lot of very good counter service places that have filling meals and your TR is opening my eyes to a few more we'll have to check out. We enjoy the table service meals but prefer to stay off the regular dining plan because we want to be able to maybe just get an appetizer or something if that's all we want. Landon does well sitting through meals, but I'm still a little apprehensive about doing something where we might be sitting for a long time.

You've probably seen enough reviews of Whispering Canyon in our various TR's to know whether you'd like that or not. As far as dinner shows go, I don't have much experience. My family took me to the Hoop De Doo Revue when I was a kid, and I remember having a blast. From what I can tell, it hasn't changed much, which appears to be a good thing. But I have no clue on the Spirit of Aloha, other than to say I really like hanging around at the Poly resort.

Oh yeah, I've seen enough about WCC to know that I'm all over that one. It is one I've really wanted to try so it is kind of a no brainer since we'll be at WL anyway. I don't know if it was the bottomless milkshake or the skillet that hooked me, but I do plan to get my money's worth there!

 

[afwdwfan]

DW and I had a talk last night about restaurants we want to try and things we do/don't want to do this trip. As I said last week, we're definitely going to hit WCC at some point and last night I think we settled on Chef Mickey's for another meal but not sure if we want to do breakfast or dinner. I then told her to think of some places that she wants to try and I wrote down my list of a few places I've never tried, but I'd like to consider... Le Cellier, Via Napoli and Tutto Italia. I realized then that all we had was MK resorts and EPCOT. That was fine for AK, because all I want there is QS anyway. Specifically Flame Tree and Pizzafari and/or Restauranosaurus. So I started suggesting HS TS places to DW which led to this exchange:
Mama Melrose - "Well, it was good but we did that last time. What else is there?" "Sci-Fi, but we did it last time too." "Which one is that?" "The one where you sit in the cars." "Oh yeah, that was good." "There's Hollywood and Vine, but I really didn't care for it." "What?" "The cold buffet." "Oh #$!! no! That place was nasty last time." "What about 50's Prime Time Cafe, we didn't try it last time." "Is that the place where the waitresses are mom and make you stand in the corner if you don't finish your meal?" "Yes." "I've been there before, I didn't finish my food and had to stand in the corner." "So do you want to try it this time?" "No, I never want to go back." Wait a minute... I kind of like that place.

We talked a little more about shows and attractions we want to hit. The unanimous must do's involved Wishes, MSEP and Illuminations. I brought up Fantasmic. DW loves it, I like it but it isn't really something I need to see every time. I pointed out that we'll have a 22 month old with us and Fantasmic involves standing in a massive sea of humanity for about an hour, then sitting on an aluminum bleacher for an hour with nothing going on. If we HAVE to see it, we'll probably go with a dinner package at Mama Melrose to at least cut back on the standing around time. Otherwise, I want to try some new places this year so we might take a boat ride to one of the Boardwalk area resorts to look around and eat on our HS day.

 

[PirateKate]

Our conversations about DHS restaurants sound very similar to yours. We go through them all and end up with nothing. We love taking the boat from DHS. We used to like to eat at Cape May Cafe on DHS days, before we had the boys and switched to mostly counter service.

 

[stopher1]

I can't add anything useful on the Hoop Dee Do v. Spirit of Aloha since I haven't been to either of them. But I did want say good luck feeling like a 4 year old after your 30th birthday. Right around there things start to hurt, creek, crack and groan a lot more than they did at 29.

Barry! Oh man. You've just GOT to go to the Luau... Evan will have so many nice things to look at like he did with Jasmine! Oh - plus the fire dancers are really cool too.

 

[stopher1]

Oh yeah, I've seen enough about WCC to know that I'm all over that one. It is one I've really wanted to try so it is kind of a no brainer since we'll be at WL anyway. I don't know if it was the bottomless milkshake or the skillet that hooked me, but I do plan to get my money's worth there!

They're BOTH awesome!

 

[theduck619]

Welcome to my first effort at writing a PTR. We will be taking our first family vacation with just me, DW and DS this fall the week after Thanksgiving. We plan to drive on Friday and Saturday to St. Pete Beach where we will spend 2 nights, then drive on to Wilderness Lodge where we'll stay 5 nights before heading back home.

Here is our agenda for the trip:

• Nov 25-26: Drive to St. Pete Beach
• Nov 26-28: Spend some time relaxing by the water
• Nov 28: Check in at WL (I'm thinking lunch at WCC and possibly hit MK and/or tour monorail resorts)
• Nov 29-Dec 2 Spend 4 full days at the parks (Detailed plans to follow)
• Dec 3 Check out and spend a few hours at the parks
• Dec 3-4 Return home

Now a little bit about us:

Me: My name is Andy. I'm the Dad and a proud member of the DIS Dads Club. This will be my 7th trip to WDW.

• My favorite park is MK
• My favorite ride is Rockin Rollercoaster
• My favorite character is Goofy
• My favorite Disney movie is Peter Pan

DW: This will be her 4th trip to WDW. She likes it, but is nowhere near as addicted as I am.

• Her favorite park is MK
• Her favorite ride is Rockin Rollercoaster
• Her favorite character is Eeyore
• Her favorite Disney movie is all of the Pixar movies

DS: Well, he will be 22 months when we go... therefore it looks like I will be pushing a stroller (watch your ankles). This will be his first trip and I'm not sure who his favorite character is, but he loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

We know it will be hard to do everything having a 22 month old with us, but we are planning accordingly. There is a slight chance that we could be going back in 2012 with my parents so we won't feel the need to do it all. We're going to take a laid back approach to things and take it easy. I tend to be the commando type personality that wants to be in the parks from Rope Drop to closing time. DW always wants to sleep in and relax. I've already been given permission to go to morning EMH solo and hit the big kid rides as long as I promise to come back and get them to go to whatever park we're visiting that day.

Since we're going to try to stay flexible and not overplan, we're going to use the Quick Service Dining Plan this time. We're going to do a few table service meals as well, but I haven't decided which ones we'll do. We love Italian food and in 2008 the Italian pavillion in WS was under renovation and I don't think the restaurant was open. We're going to have to visit at least one of those. We're also going to plan a character meal but haven't decided which one yet, although I'm leaning toward Chef Mickey's. As you can see we still have a lot of details to iron out, but a lot of time to do it.

This is a bit of an introduction for now. I'll post some more background information about how this trip came to be later.

Thanks for reading!

I hope we get the cahnce to meet up in one of the parks. Maybe Italy at Epcot since we share a love of Italian food. Gelato anyone

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

"What about 50's Prime Time Cafe, we didn't try it last time." "Is that the place where the waitresses are mom and make you stand in the corner if you don't finish your meal?" "Yes." "I've been there before, I didn't finish my food and had to stand in the corner." "So do you want to try it this time?" "No, I never want to go back." Wait a minute... I kind of like that place.

Aw, come on...50's Prime Time is awesome! Love that place! And if she doesn't want to do that, are you sure you want to go to WCC?

 

[afwdwfan]

Our conversations about DHS restaurants sound very similar to yours. We go through them all and end up with nothing. We love taking the boat from DHS. We used to like to eat at Cape May Cafe on DHS days, before we had the boys and switched to mostly counter service.

Yeah, they need something new there. Part of our problem is that we ate at HS 3 different times last trip... I can't even remember why we were there that much. We still can't completely convince ourselves to do counter service only, but it does help that there are a lot of counter service options that we love. There are just a lot of table service places that we haven't tried and want to.

Barry! Oh man. You've just GOT to go to the Luau... Evan will have so many nice things to look at like he did with Jasmine! Oh - plus the fire dancers are really cool too.

Barry you definitely have to take Evan there!!!

I hope we get the cahnce to meet up in one of the parks. Maybe Italy at Epcot since we share a love of Italian food. Gelato anyone

Thanks for stopping by. Feel free to share plans since we'll be there at the same time!

Aw, come on...50's Prime Time is awesome! Love that place! And if she doesn't want to do that, are you sure you want to go to WCC?

Yes, it is awesome, and yes, I love it. About WCC... she has a coworker who has suggested we try it since we're staying at WL so she wants to go there. I may not be sharing every detail I know about the place, but that's beside the point.

Honestly, I don't get it. I'm far more introverted than she is and I don't like being the focus of attention with something like that, but I'm in Disney so I just go with it. She's the social person of the family and she sings... a lot... in front of crowds. My theory is that she was just embarassed because she was high school age and with friends when her visit to 50's took place so she was probably still in the too cool phase.