It's a Cat World After All! A Sept TR (Updated 8/4 Page 11)

[Northern Disney Girl]

Hey Meghan!

Just wanted you to know that I am still periodically checking in to see if you done an update! Hope all is well! xoxo

 

[Dancegrl624]

Hey girl! So glad I found your TR!

Sounds like it was a rough start to your trip at AK. Hope things turn around!

Hi there! Glad you popped over. Sorry I have been a terrible Diser lately!

 

[Dancegrl624]

Hey Meghan!

Just wanted you to know that I am still periodically checking in to see if you done an update! Hope all is well! xoxo

Hi Kim! Thanks for stopping by! I do still hope to finish this TR. I just have to find the time.

 

[Dancegrl624]

Hello everyone. I am SO sorry that I have neglected my TR. I have been very busy booking lots of WDW trips (and a Universal trip) for my fantastic clients. It's a good kind of busy, so I'm not complaining! I am sad to say that I have to put an end to my TR. I hope to start up a new blog soon with details about my past WDW trip, everyday life and Disney deals.

If you are interested in following my blog, please send me a PM. I want it to be a private blog, so you will need to provide me with your email address to sign up. I would love to be your "friend" on Facebook too, so let me know how to find you!

 

[Lovemy3babes]

Hello everyone. I am SO sorry that I have neglected my TR. I have been very busy booking lots of WDW trips (and a Universal trip) for my fantastic clients. It's a good kind of busy, so I'm not complaining! I am sad to say that I have to put an end to my TR. I hope to start up a new blog soon with details about my past WDW trip, everyday life and Disney deals.

If you are interested in following my blog, please send me a PM. I want it to be a private blog, so you will need to provide me with your email address to sign up. I would love to be your "friend" on Facebook too, so let me know how to find you!

PM sent!

 

[Dancegrl624]

Is anyone still here?? The whole blog thing just hasn't started and I'm thinking of starting the TR back up. I still have all of my notes, but things might be a bit fuzzy.

Hope there is still some interest!

 

[pinkpixie0920]

I'm still here!! Please do a TR!

 

[Mndisneygirl]

Yes! I'm here!

I'd love to hear more about Cole's first trip and for sure the explanation of the title!!! I move at a snail's pace with my TRs, so you shouldn't feel any obligation to rush through it!

 

[Dancegrl624]

Oh yay! Glad to hear some of you are still around. I hope to get a post up today.

 

[Dancegrl624]

So, forever ago I left off that we left Animal Kingdom around 1:30pm and headed back to POFQ. When we got back, we picked up our groceries at Luggage Services (LOVE Garden Grocer!) and headed back to the room. Our luggage was waiting for us, so I started unpacking and organizing the room (a must do on every trip). We knew that Cole needed a nap, so I put my organizing to the side to get him to sleep. Tony & Madison went to go check out the resort and to get our refillable mugs. Cole fell asleep after awhile and I got to finish organizing the room (yay!). Tony & Maddie came back from their tour around 3:45pm, put on their bathing suits and headed to the pool.

At this point, I was feeling a little sad. We took the longest bus ride EVER to AK and didn’t get to do anything! Like I mentioned when I started this TR, that was our only scheduled day for AK. I started thinking of a time we could sneak in a visit and I settled on Sunday. Let’s see if that happens!! I had to start focusing on the positives because the negatives were getting me down. We loved our room location (exactly what we requested), the resort was beautiful, I loved our rental stroller, the food court was great and the CM’s were fantasic.

After his much needed nap, Cole woke up in a great mood and we headed out around 4:45pm for dinner. And, it was raining again. GRRRR!!! This meant that the boat to DTD wasn’t running and we had to take the bus. We got to the POFQ bus stop around 5pm and finally got to DTD around 5:40pm….the DTD bus took forever! I swear, we saw at least 3 Epcot buses and 2 DHS buses while we waited. Anyways….we practically ran to Raglan Road because it was sprinkling and I didn’t want to be late for our ADR. We checked in and I let them know we had an Irish dancer in our party. We were seated right away and we were right next to the stage!!!




Gorgeous restaurant!


Someone is excited about the dancing!


Beautiful dancers


Cole was fascinated by the dancers


My little Irish dancer!


Tony ordered the Salmon of Knowledge, I had the fish & chips and Madison had mac & cheese. I don’t remember what we had for dessert, but it was yummy! Cole just ate off all of our plates…he eats everything but really loved the salmon. During our meal, the girls came out and danced and Madison got to as well!!! It was a fabulous meal and I can’t wait to eat here again. This was our only new restaurant on this trip and it did not disappoint. I highly recommend it to everyone.

After dinner, we went to World of Disney for some shopping!!!


We loved the new Lego displays






This is my favorite one

I know we bought a lot and I’ll have souvenir pics later. Cole was getting tired, so we went to the boat dock and headed back to POFQ. On our way back to the room, we had a DISmeet! (bearcatsfan) WE chatted for awhile and then headed back to the room (8:30pm). We all fell asleep by 9:30pm…what a day!


Beautiful view while waiting for the boat

Will we have better luck with the weather tomorrow?? Stay tuned!

 

[Dancegrl624]

Since I have been a horrible DISer and haven't updated in ages, here is another update!

September 19th

I woke up at 6:15am and got myself ready. Tony woke up around 7am and went to get us a light breakfast. We had a late breakfast ADR that day and didn't want to fill up too much. He ended up getting us a bagel and chocolate muffin to share. He also filled up our mugs. We all ate and finished getting ready...we were out the door at 8am and at the bus stop by 8:15am (we walked slow). It was time for our favorite park...EPCOT!!!



We got to Epcot around 8:35am and Tony walked around with Cole while we waited in line to get in (this became a daily trend).



Once through the turnstiles, we headed straight for The Land. We picked up a Rider Switch pass and got FPs for 9:45-10:45am. Madison and I went through the Standby line since Tony knows its my favorite ride. We walked through the whole line without stopping! We went all the way down to the last loading area and we thought wed get 3rd row. Well, we ended up having to wait for the next flight so that meant guaranteed 1st row! What a great way to start the day.



While Madison and I rode Soarin, Tony took Cole to Imagination. He loved Figment and playing around at Image Works. We met up after our ride and switched places. Tony and Madison used Rider Switch and I took Cole on Living with the Land. Love that ride! He enjoyed it, but was a little sleepy. It was nearly 10am when we met back up, so we started walking to the Beach Club. Time for breakfast!

We checked in around 10:15/10:20am and we were told they were running 10-15 minutes behind. Oh great. Cole was getting sleepy, so we took turns walking around with him in the lobby. We finally were seated around 10:40am and had time to eat before the characters came around. Cole loved them! We could see them coming and he would get so excited. He yelled cat at all of them (its still his only real word).


Cole is fascinated...sorry so blurry




Goofy had a lot of fun with Cole...he is saying "cat"









We saw all the characters by 11:15am and we were ready to go. It was a great meal as usual&we love our late breakfasts!

On our way back to the Epcot bus stop, we walked through the area behind the Character Spot. We saw Baloo!! Cole was asleep by now, so Madison grabbed an autograph and a picture.





We had to stop for some Photopass pics on the way out:




We made our way to the bus stop and were back at POFQ by 12:30pm. My father-in-law and his GF drove from Tampa to hang out for awhile. They were waiting for us in the lobby when we got off the bus. We went back to the room (Mousekeeper was great) and got ready to go swimming. I filled up our mugs and headed to the pool&I became obsessed with the white citrus tea!


Pics I took on the way to the food court...I love all of the beautiful details!


Our building

We all went swimming until it started raining. Cole and I went back to the room (1:45pm) while the others hung out a table under an umbrella.


Tony hiding behind Cole


Please ignore the cigarettes on the tabel...not ours! My father in law smokes.

Everyone else came up around 2:15pm and my father in law left shortly after that. Cole needed a nap and fell asleep around 2:30pm. At this time, the skies once again opened up and it started pouring. Not again!!! The building was shaking from the thunder and it was scary. It had been a gorgeous morning and it came out of nowhere.

While Cole slept, we talked about what we wanted to do that evening. The plan was to leave POFQ around 3pm and go to DHS, but we knew Cole needed his sleep. By 2:50pm, the thunder had stopped and the rain was letting up. Yay! We checked the radar on our phones and there was still quite a bit of rain in the forecast. Hopefully it would move quickly! At least we were in our room this time and not in a park. That was not fun.

By 3pm, the rain had completely stopped. Tony & Madison decided to head to the gift shop, came back to the room to grab the arcade voucher, and went back out (3:30pm). Cole was just sleeping away, so I laid down for a bit too. I guess at this time I wrote down our purchases from the night before and took some pics:


DTD purchase include character set and ball for Cole, Duffy & Sailor suit for Madison, 6 pack antenna toppers for me, new lanyard for Maddie, pen for her teacher, window cling little boy (we have the baby on the car right now, but need the boy for when Cole gets bigger), 2012 scrapbook


Gift shop purchases include Zurg blasters, Minnie bake shop cookies (Tonys favorite), Duffy book for Cole, slap bracelet watch for Madison


Madison fell in love with Duffy on this trip!

Continued in next post...

 

[wiigirl]

Great pics! Great update!

 

[Dancegrl624]

Cole woke up around 3:45pm nice and refreshed. The weather looked nice too, so that made me smile. At this time, there was a knock on the door and a CM dropped off Celebration cards! Nice!


I love how you can see my family's reflection in the glass door



We headed out around 4:15pm…a little later than I wanted because we thought that we lost Cole’s shoes (there were “hiding” between my purse and backpack). We knew DHS was only open until 8pm, but we decided to go anyways…Madison’s choice. A bus came quickly and we made our way through POR quickly.

We arrived at DHS around 4:50pm.




Love this picture so much...even though there are words over me. I love that Cole is investigating his sticker.

We went right to Star Tours, got Rider Swap & FP’s (5:45pm-6:45pm).




Had to stop for these!


Weirdest angle ever??

Tony and Madison rode right away (no line), so Cole and I walked around the Streets of America. We then headed to the Muppets. He sat nicely through the show and played with the glasses. During the show, Tony texted me to see where we were. I told him to go ahead and use Rider Switch with Madison.


You can see that they had already started hanging the Osbourne Lights






Can this be my new office?





We met back up and grabbed dinner at Backlot Express. We were their last guests for the evening. We had no idea they closed early! We all shared chicken nuggets and fries. We were starving and ate quickly. After dinner, Madison and Tony rode Star Tours again with our FP’s. I didn’t want to ride right after dinner. We then headed to the Animation building so Madison and I could draw. Tony took Cole around the Animation Building and to see The Little Mermaid while we were in the class. We got to draw Donald!!!

We met back up around 7pm and decided to leave the park. We took some Photopass pics on the way out and hopped on a very full bus.






My cutie pie







We were back at POFQ quickly and we stopped in the gift shop to pick up some postcards. Once in the room, I gave Cole a bath while Tony & Maddie went swimming. I tried to get Cole to bed around 8ish, but he wasn’t ready (that late nap did him in). So, he had a snack and juice instead! We also discovered that one of the stations tells the Duffy story from 8-10pm every evening! Cole loved that. It was a nice bedtime story.

Cole finally fell asleep around 8:45pm and Madison & Tony came back from the pool shortly after that. Madison hopped in the shower and then it was bedtime for all of us. Early start tomorrow!!


Our Donald pictures and some goodies I bought from the Writer's Stop (chip clip magnets, little gadget for toast and regular magnets). My Donald is on the left and Madison's is on the right.

 

[Dancegrl624]

Great pics! Great update!

Thanks!

 

[Momof2Disneyboys]

Great updates Meghan!

I really hate when the trip gets off to a bad start. When that happens for us it is very hard to recover. It looks as if things were looking up for you guys though! Glad to hear you liked Raglan Road. We've never tried it, mainly because our food at Cooke's of Dublin was not good at all when we went there.

Sounds like you had a nice visit with your FIL. So nice that they could come see you guys.

Soarin is my absolute favorite ride too. It used to be RNRC, and I still love it, but Soarin tops everything anymore. How great that you go top row!

That is so awesome that Cole loved the characters at Cape May! I can't believe he wasn't scared at all. You got some really great pics there!

Looks like a fun time at DHS!

 

[Lovemy3babes]

Great updates! I'm so glad you are back.

Your little Irish dancer is beautiful!

We loved Cape May! I remember your recommendation of a late breakfast and we completely agree. So good and easy!

POFQ is so pretty! Loved your pictures of the buildings.

 

[Mndisneygirl]

YAY!
Lots of great pictures! I love the b-day picture with you all pointing at Madison and Cole's first visit picture!!!

Glad you were able to work around the rain too. Did you find it harder to manage to get on the rides etc. having a baby along? I know you know how to plan and do the ride swap thing. I was just wondering how much different it felt to you since your previous trips with just Madison (not being a baby).

 

[Dancegrl624]

Great updates Meghan!

Thanks!

I really hate when the trip gets off to a bad start. When that happens for us it is very hard to recover. It looks as if things were looking up for you guys though! Glad to hear you liked Raglan Road. We've never tried it, mainly because our food at Cooke's of Dublin was not good at all when we went there.

It is hard to get back on track when the trip starts out badly. Raglan Road was the highlight of that first day for sure. It's so pretty inside and the food was amazing. My DH still talks about his salmon!

Sounds like you had a nice visit with your FIL. So nice that they could come see you guys.

We don't get to see him very often, so it was nice that he made the drive to see us.

Soarin is my absolute favorite ride too. It used to be RNRC, and I still love it, but Soarin tops everything anymore. How great that you go top row!

Soarin' is the best! I can't believe some people don't like it.

That is so awesome that Cole loved the characters at Cape May! I can't believe he wasn't scared at all. You got some really great pics there!

I was worried that he might be scared of the characters, but he wasn't at all. He loved each and every one of them. It was hard to get him to eat!

Looks like a fun time at DHS!

It was a nice evening. As you can see, we didn't do a whole lot. It didn't matter though because it was nice just taking our time around the park.

Great updates! I'm so glad you are back.

Thanks! It's good to be back!

Your little Irish dancer is beautiful!

Aw, thanks.

We loved Cape May! I remember your recommendation of a late breakfast and we completely agree. So good and easy!

It is so yummy and a bit less chaotic than Chef Mickey's. We love the characters in their beach attire too.

POFQ is so pretty! Loved your pictures of the buildings.

It is gorgeous and I'm dying to stay there again (possibly for the 10K in January with my parents).

 

[Dancegrl624]

YAY!
Lots of great pictures! I love the b-day picture with you all pointing at Madison and Cole's first visit picture!!!

Glad you were able to work around the rain too. Did you find it harder to manage to get on the rides etc. having a baby along? I know you know how to plan and do the ride swap thing. I was just wondering how much different it felt to you since your previous trips with just Madison (not being a baby).

Thanks Sheree! I am so happy to be working on this TR. It almost feels like something was missing from out last trip...it's kind of like closure! I love those PP pics too...so cute.

This trip was definitely MUCH different than our last few trips. We had to go a bit slower, find stroller parking, make time for naps....very strange for us! We haven't had a stroller since 2006 when Madison was 3 1/2 years old. Thankfully, out stroller we rented was fabulous...very easy to collapse and open, great sun shade for Cole, it reclined all the way. LOVED IT! I want one for home,but they are SO expensive.

It was kind of sad not being able to ride certain attractions together (Soarin', BTMRR, Star Tours, etc). We have always done everything together and having to split up was weird. Whichever parent was with Cole had to try to find something to keep him occupied.

It was still a great trip and I will never forget it.

 

[cfw213]

Glad to see you're going to do a TR after all! I'm here