1st Family Trip with a Pre-K'er, a 2 year old and a puking baby!

I'm glad you're back! I was enjoying reading about your families adventures! I sounds like you had a perfect morning in the MK! We don't usually travel in the late winter, but maybe we should reconsider, it looks like you had no trouble with crowds.

The family photo with Mickey and Minnie is wonderful! I'm so glad Minnie was there to meet your little girl!
 
I'm glad you're back! I was enjoying reading about your families adventures! I sounds like you had a perfect morning in the MK! We don't usually travel in the late winter, but maybe we should reconsider, it looks like you had no trouble with crowds.

The family photo with Mickey and Minnie is wonderful! I'm so glad Minnie was there to meet your little girl!

Thanks! It really was a perfect morning! Crowds were light during our trip anyway and then I think the rain that day kept even more people away. We really did love our late January/early February trip and would definitely travel at that time again. Now that our oldest has started school we're thinking about mid November for our next trip. He would have Veteran's Day off and 2half conference days so we could still do a long trip but he wouldn't miss as much as late winter and we would hopefully still enjoy lighter crowds. We felt the crowd levels for our Jan/Feb trip were ideal. I hope to get another update up soon! Thanks for reading!
 
Sounds like your day at MK went much better without all the extra family members and texting! I loved your idea of eating lunch at Tom Sawyer Island. I have never been over there! What is it like? Is there a place to get food if we don't pack it?
 
Sounds like your day at MK went much better without all the extra family members and texting! I loved your idea of eating lunch at Tom Sawyer Island. I have never been over there! What is it like? Is there a place to get food if we don't pack it?

Yes, MUCH better! :) The rest of our day, that I am working on updating, was very nice as well. I was so happy to get back to "just us". I'm afraid I'm not very patient with group travel!

As far as Tom Sawyer Island goes, a lot of people love it but I have been over there twice (once with just dh and I on our honeymoon and then this trip with the kids) and I felt like it was a waste of time. There's a lot of room to run around, a couple of fun bridges, some caves to explore and a playground we found at the very end with some picnic tables. I thought my kids would like it more than they did, but they really just wanted to ride rides and weren't really into it at all. Maybe when they're older? I think I will skip it for the trip we hope to take this November and then maybe try when we go again two years after that.

I can't remember if we were allowed to take our stroller over on the raft for our 18 month old, but there was a lot of time over there that dh spent holding him (caves and such) and that was hard. The raft ride was also hard with the kids. They really pack people on and the kids were scared, especially our oldest who has the sensory issues.

It WAS a nice place to eat our lunch. There were some vending machines at the dock area, but I think it was just drinks. There wasn't any food to purchase that I could see. My in-laws were going to get their food to go and bring it over after they forgot to pack a lunch, but for some reason that didn't work out for them. I think you could probably do that though. There was a place very near the Tom Sawyer dock (down the hill on the left as you walk away from the dock, I think) that they ate at. I don't know why they didn't end up bringing it over. The plan was to find the playground/picnic area and enjoy a relaxed lunch while the kids played, but that didn't work out! Good in theory, I guess!

Thanks for reading! :lovestruc
 


Day 7 (continued): More magic in the Magic Kingdom

After Madeleine finally met Minnie, we decided to head over to Tomorrowland. We passed by the Mad Tea Party on the way over and who did we see riding but the Queen of Hearts:

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and the Rabbit:

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We had to take a ride too, of course!

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We were then on to Tomorrowland. I took Madeleine and Matthew on the Transit Authority while Rick and Sam rode Space Mountain and then we switched. After that we did the Carousel of Progress. I can't say it was a huge hit with the kids, but Rick really wanted to do it (it had been closed on our 2 previous trips before we had the kids) and they didn't seem to mind it. They all loved it when the theater moved, and Sam loved the dog in every scene.

We went to a store in that area next so the kids could pick out a treat. When we came out we were unsuccessfully trying to figure out how to open Madeleine's tinkerbell topped candy when a mysterious voice started instructing us on how to do it:

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PUSH!! You can clearly see the CM with the remote control in the picture, but we did not notice him at all in the moment. PUSH talked to the kids for a long time about Madeleine's candy and our double stroller and they got quite a kick out of it. So fun! (Sam had picked out a Goofy sour cherry candy in the store, which he later said was the favorite part of his day. Kids!)

We rode Buzz Lightyear next:

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Even though it was still a bit before noon we decided to head back for naps. We had gotten a lot done that morning and since Matthew had thrown up again overnight (forgot to mention that earlier) we figured a nice long rest would do him good.

We let Matthew sleep all afternoon in hopes of getting rid of his sick tummy once and for all while Sam and Madeleine napped as well and then swam with us. We had ADR's at Boma for 5pm but ended up cancelling them and just had dinner at the rental house. Matthew was still napping at the time we would have needed to start getting ready and we just didn't want to wake him. I was sad to miss out on Boma, but hopefully next trip!

After our leisurely afternoon and early evening we headed back to the Magic Kingdom with the main purpose of seeing the Spectro Magic Parade. We had just enough time to squeeze in rides on It's A Small World, Peter Pan (had picked up FP's that morning), and Big Thunder Mountain RR (had picked up FP's for that earlier as well) before we needed to find spots at the end of the parade route by BTMRR around 7:15 (parade began at 7pm). There was hardly anyone waiting in the roped off areas and we found a nice spot easily.

Pluto led the parade and came right over to see us. He got High 5's from Sam and Madeleine, but Matthew, as usual, wanted nothing to do with him!

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The parade was enjoyed by all:

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We walked out to Main Street to enjoy Wishes Fireworks once again and our magical day in the Magic Kingdom was concluded.

Still to come: Our trip is almost over, but not before our first visit to the Animal Kingdom where Mommy and Matthew are sick. Sigh.
 
I just finished uploading my Animal Kingdom photos to photobucket, so will hopefully have the next update soon!
 
I'm sorry that you had to miss your Boma ADR, but I hope little Matthew was feeling better. How awful that his tummy was still acting up! :sad2:

I'm also happy to see that you ran into Push! I just love him and I hope we meet him on our next trip. I think DS is getting to just the right age to enjoy watching him.

How fun too that the Alice characters were riding the mad tea party, I've never seen that before! I must never be in Fantasyland at the right time. Come to think of it, I'm almost never in Fantasyland. I'm thinking that is all going to chance now that Everett is starting to understand more and more.

Nice pictures of Spectro! I'm always meaning to take pics, but then I get so caught up in just watching, that I forget there is a camera in my hand. Oh well, they'd probably turn out blurry anyway. Someday I'll figure out the settings for my camera.
 


I'm sorry that you had to miss your Boma ADR, but I hope little Matthew was feeling better. How awful that his tummy was still acting up! :sad2:

I'm also happy to see that you ran into Push! I just love him and I hope we meet him on our next trip. I think DS is getting to just the right age to enjoy watching him.

How fun too that the Alice characters were riding the mad tea party, I've never seen that before! I must never be in Fantasyland at the right time. Come to think of it, I'm almost never in Fantasyland. I'm thinking that is all going to chance now that Everett is starting to understand more and more.

Nice pictures of Spectro! I'm always meaning to take pics, but then I get so caught up in just watching, that I forget there is a camera in my hand. Oh well, they'd probably turn out blurry anyway. Someday I'll figure out the settings for my camera.


Matthew's tummy troubles were to continue, unfortunately. More to come on that!

It's funny about PUSH - I had written on our daily MK itineraries to keep an eye out for him anytime we were in Tomorrowland, but then forgot about it completely. Seeing him was purely by accident. Such a fun surprise!

I think you will find yourself in Fantasyland more and more as your little one gets older!

I'm glad you liked the Spectro pictures. I have a lot more, but I didn't want to bore anyone!!
 
just joining in and way behind- but i wanted to say i love the haircut! what a great memory. we get to do that next trip too!
sam had a great age/ height for this trip! dd was 40" fo rthe last trip, and was able to ride a ton. she has three she is looking forward to this next trip- space, everest, and tower of terror. i was most worried about space (i love tower) but it seems that it was the easiest.
looking forward to more!
 
Joining in late also, looking forward to reading more! We've been twice with two little ones - our boys were about Sam and Madeleine's ages on our first trip two years ago. You're right, "4" is the magic age. I felt like my oldest, Caden, was old enough to do a lot of riding, but young enough to still believe in the Disney magic. He was able to ride a bit more on our Thanksgiving trip 4 months ago, but was already starting to say, "Mom, that's someone dressed in a Mickey suit, isn't it?" :lmao:

They're 6 and 3 now, and we have another one on the way, so it's interesting for me to find out what it will be like to go with THREE kids. Your report has been so fun to read, and with itineraries similar to ours have been, you're bringing back a lot of fond memories!
 
just joining in and way behind- but i wanted to say i love the haircut! what a great memory. we get to do that next trip too!
sam had a great age/ height for this trip! dd was 40" fo rthe last trip, and was able to ride a ton. she has three she is looking forward to this next trip- space, everest, and tower of terror. i was most worried about space (i love tower) but it seems that it was the easiest.
looking forward to more!


:welcome:
I'm so glad we had Matthew's first haircut done there, even though he barely had enough hair to do it! It is a great memory, and was our way of making the trip special for him since he wouldn't remember any of it!


Joining in late also, looking forward to reading more! We've been twice with two little ones - our boys were about Sam and Madeleine's ages on our first trip two years ago. You're right, "4" is the magic age. I felt like my oldest, Caden, was old enough to do a lot of riding, but young enough to still believe in the Disney magic. He was able to ride a bit more on our Thanksgiving trip 4 months ago, but was already starting to say, "Mom, that's someone dressed in a Mickey suit, isn't it?" :lmao:

They're 6 and 3 now, and we have another one on the way, so it's interesting for me to find out what it will be like to go with THREE kids. Your report has been so fun to read, and with itineraries similar to ours have been, you're bringing back a lot of fond memories!

:yay: Glad you're joining me!
Congratulations on your upcoming addition!!
We hope to go again within the next year and it will be interestiing to see how different it is with the kids at 6, 4 and almost 3!
I hope to have another update done soon. Life has been so busy!
 
I have gotten so behind and I am so very sorry! Life has gotten in the way. I hope to be caught up in the next few days!!!
 
Christa!!!!!!! :)
I've missed you! I was worried. I hope all is well.

Aww, thanks! :hug: Things are fine here...we've just been busy with normal life stuff, and we've had some stressful events lately, but that's all pretty much resolved and getting back to normal. So now I'm looking forward to catching up on all that I've missed! :goodvibes
 
Caught up! What a productive morning...all those rides on the barnstormer for Sam, that is AMAZING! How he must have loved that!

That is so cute that Madeleine wanted to meet Minnie. I'm sure you breathed a BIG sigh of relief when you walked in and she was there! You must have been praying so hard for those few seconds! She looks VERY happy to be meeting Minnie in those pictures! We had a few moments like that where no one cared about Mickey. Sydney was SO into Minnie Mouse and the CM would have to be like, um...Mickey is over here...:rotfl:

I love that the characters are riding the teacups! It's the little things like that that really make your day, isn't it? We saw Alice walking with the Mad Hatter from Main Street back toward the tea cups one day, chatting the whole time, and we loved it so much!

I'm glad that Matthew got such a great nap. Can't take too many chances with puke. :scared1:

An encounter with PUSH! :cool1: I have never met Push, and I've only seen DeVine at the animal kingdom once. I just don't run into these "extra" characters. :confused3 But I LOVE hearing about encounters with them. It sounds like a lot of fun!

I love the night parades. And you got such great pictures of it! My pictures of the night parades are always terrible.

So glad to be caught up. It sounds like bad things are coming, with both you and Matthew being sick at AK...:sick:
 
Caught up! What a productive morning...all those rides on the barnstormer for Sam, that is AMAZING! How he must have loved that!

That is so cute that Madeleine wanted to meet Minnie. I'm sure you breathed a BIG sigh of relief when you walked in and she was there! You must have been praying so hard for those few seconds! She looks VERY happy to be meeting Minnie in those pictures! We had a few moments like that where no one cared about Mickey. Sydney was SO into Minnie Mouse and the CM would have to be like, um...Mickey is over here...:rotfl:

I love that the characters are riding the teacups! It's the little things like that that really make your day, isn't it? We saw Alice walking with the Mad Hatter from Main Street back toward the tea cups one day, chatting the whole time, and we loved it so much!

I'm glad that Matthew got such a great nap. Can't take too many chances with puke. :scared1:

An encounter with PUSH! :cool1: I have never met Push, and I've only seen DeVine at the animal kingdom once. I just don't run into these "extra" characters. :confused3 But I LOVE hearing about encounters with them. It sounds like a lot of fun!

I love the night parades. And you got such great pictures of it! My pictures of the night parades are always terrible.

So glad to be caught up. It sounds like bad things are coming, with both you and Matthew being sick at AK...:sick:

Yes, the Barnstormer marathon was pretty amazing! He will be sad to see the Barnstormer gone on our next trip.

Thank goodness Minnie was there!!! I felt so bad for Mickey though!

I hope you will run into PUSH on one of your upcoming trips. That was really fun.

I don't know how I got such good night pictures of the parade. My fireworks pictures were horrible! We've since gotten an new camera. :)

Hoping to update soon - kids have been sick. I'm sending you a PM!
 
Hello All! Sorry I've been such a slacker. Life has been so busy and I'm also in the midst of planning our 2nd family trip to WDW!!! We are heading back in the fall and are so excited!
 
Yay!! when are you going in the fall? I love Oct, it is my favorite time to visit WDW.

Don't worry about the TR- I'm just finishing mine now from last Oct, and that is only because we're leaving on our next trip in a week and I'm feeling the pressure to get it done. We'll still be here when you get chance! :goodvibes
 
Yay!! when are you going in the fall? I love Oct, it is my favorite time to visit WDW.

Don't worry about the TR- I'm just finishing mine now from last Oct, and that is only because we're leaving on our next trip in a week and I'm feeling the pressure to get it done. We'll still be here when you get chance! :goodvibes

We are looking at the end of October into the beginning of November and the beginning of November through the weekend before Thanksgiving. We're planning 12 days this time, with the 10 day Magic Your Way plus Water Park Option tickets. We didn't do water parks last time, so they will be a new experience! We loved our January trip, but we want the chance of a little bit warmer weather this time. I have been going back and forth, back and forth with crowd levels, weather and flight prices!!!!! I'm driving myself crazy!! Just can't decide the "best" time to go between October 21st and November 20th. In the meantime, I've started making just a few ADR's for the end of October (Crystal Palace to see Pooh - Matthew's current obsession, and Akerhus to see the princesses for Madeleine!) in case those end up being our dates and will just cancel them if not. Sorry, not meaning to turn this into a PTR!!! I'm going to study your TR now to get some October insight! :)

Anyway, your trip is so close!!! You must be so excited!!! I hope you have a fabulous, magical time!!!!!
 
If you want to do the waterparks, I'd go earlier instead of later. You could get lucky and have warm weather in Nov, but in my experience it really does start to cool off. In my 10 years of living in FL, I remember Thanksgivings where we were in coats, but also ones where we had to turn on the AC, so its really up to chance.

Also the Food and WIne festival will be over by the end of Nov, so if you want to catch that, it would be better to do earlier. I think it ended around the 2nd week in Nov this year, so I can imagine it will end around the same time next year.

Also if you go at the end of Oct, you could do a MNSSHP! We didn't do it this trip because with Everett being so little we didn't think we'd make it til midnight, but I've done it two other times, and it is always worth the money. We've had so much fun as big kids, I can only imagine how much more fun it would be with children. If you went the week of Halloween, you could do the last party, which usually falls on the 1st of Nov. I've heard that party is less crowded, and it you could extend the halloween festivities! You could take the kids trick or treating at DTD on actual Halloween and then go to MNSSHP the next day!

I'm sorry to go on and on, but I just love the fall at Disney! We usually try and go every year in Oct, but this year we're doing May. I know I'm going to miss Oct year, but since we are going to start trying for another baby, I'd rather go to Disney before I got pregnant, because it is not as much fun when you can't ride the rides or indulge in a yummy margarita!
 

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