“Dreams Come True Momma!” A 2 year old’s first trip ~ May 2015~Complete {NEW TR LINK!}

[Gracefulskinny]

Aack can't believe I missed the last few rounds of updates and bonus points. Oh well!!!

There is always next game.

Your last few moments at MK are sooo happy and sad at the same time! It looked like a great day but the last day is always bittersweet. It's a good thing Little Miss doesn't seem to realize it as she looks like she's having the time of her life!

She was just having the time of her life and didn't get pouty until we were standing at the car and daddy was getting the stroller loaded in for the trip home. But it was very sweet. "NO Mommy! I don't Want the trip to be over! I don't Want to go home!" Me too kid me too.

What a great trip! And you will be there again before you know it!!

And if I can keep my big fat mouth shut it will be an awesome surprise! (Though I almost blew it last night! )

 

[afwdwfan]

I enjoyed your pictures of POR at the end. I didn't take nearly enough, but it really is a beautiful resort. I enjoyed our stay there and would love to go back!

As we were leaving out of the World of Disney, Little Miss discovered the statues of Aurora and Cinderella. She had asked two days before we left if we could see Aurora but we were never able to make it work. She was thrilled with this statue so therefore DH and I were more than happy to take her picture with it.

I'm glad she got one more chance to see some princesses.

As we were pulling out I made the mistake of trying to sing the good bye song from Mickey Mouse clubhouse and full out lost the battle not to cry as we were leaving.

The Hot Dog Dance makes me want to cry too.

It was about that point that we realized that we probably waited too long to leave. We didn’t end up pulling out of Disney till close to 5pm and after stops to fill up gas and switch drivers and a stop or two for shut eye we didn’t get home till around 2:30 in the morning.

Hey, it's alright. If you can take advantage of having a few extra hours to enjoy the Disney magic, you might as well do it. Whether you make it home at 10:30 or 2:30, you made it home and you're just going to go to bed anyway.


Great TR! Thanks for sharing your trip with us!

 

[Gracefulskinny]

I enjoyed your pictures of POR at the end. I didn't take nearly enough, but it really is a beautiful resort. I enjoyed our stay there and would love to go back!

I was in full trying to soak up every last ounce of magic that I could like it was the last breath of oxygen I would ever receive! LOL. I'm glad I have them now though.

I'm glad she got one more chance to see some princesses.

I'm just glad that she was happy to count that as an Aurora meet and greet!

The Hot Dog Dance makes me want to cry too.

Hey, it's alright. If you can take advantage of having a few extra hours to enjoy the Disney magic, you might as well do it. Whether you make it home at 10:30 or 2:30, you made it home and you're just going to go to bed anyway.

True. but there was one point where I thought we might have needed to stop at a hotel or something. We ended up pulling into a travel center and sleeping for a bit.

Great TR! Thanks for sharing your trip with us!

Thank you for reading! FInal thoughts and PTR to come!

 

[Gracefulskinny]

Final Thoughts



This trip was one dreams are made of. We had anticipated it for so long and then to have it be such a magical trip it was beyond amazing. One of the best trips I’ve ever been on anywhere. With that said here are our take-aways from the trip



Things we are glad we did:


~Travel with 2 outfit changes/ park day minimum for each person INCLUDING adults. It was just so refreshing to be able to put on a fresh set of clothes before striking back out for our evening park.


~ Building full rest days into our schedule – having that time just to lounge at the pool and rest up made all the difference in our schedule.


~ Going into it with the mindset of flexibility and refusing to allow little stresses to effect the whole. While there were certainly moments of stress we generally shook them off pretty quickly.


~Allowing Little Miss the chance to parade around in her princess dresses.


~Chose the Jogger over the Standard Stroller. Not only does the fact that it folds in half instead of collapsing down long-ways actually help a little getting it on to a crowded bus, there were also many times while using it in and around the parks that we noticed the difference in steering and DH or I would comment that we were glad we made the right choice.


~ Going to the spa to have my nails done. Okay so this one was all DH in planning, however it was probably the nicest Mani Pedi I have EVER experienced and I will certainly be planning to do one again. *If only I could make one happen for February….


~Getting the Park Hoppers. It made life worlds easier in the planning stage and it also took the edge off of the pressure to get what you wanted done because with a flexible last day you could always hop back in for a quick visit to get things done if necessary.


~Brought our potty seat/stool from home for Little Miss to stand on around the room where needed. We ended up coming home with not only no setbacks in the potty training, she hit a few milestones while we were there.


~Trained leading up to the trip. I could tell the difference immediately while down there. {I need to ramp up my training for March!}







Things we will be sure to do differently in the future:




~Not rely mainly on Disney Transportation. A large chunk of the stressful times revolved around the buses. We also ended up doing a ton of extra waiting in the mornings. * More to come on this one*


~Bring different sandals. While I am a flip flop fan and my Rainbows are my daily foot wear DH and I both found that our feet and ankles needed the extra support of the sneakers. However, I ended up with some killer blisters because of it.


~Bring an umbrella in the park bag for shade while waiting for parades and such.


~Use something else to seal the paint job on the Magicbands. The acrylic sealer I ended up using ended up feeling tacky most of the time and they both will need to be changed before we can use them again because they ended up picking up a lot of dirt.


~ Rope Drop Animal Kingdom to help cut down on the amount of time we are exposed to the intense heat of that park.



Places we for sure eat at again:


- 1900 Park Fare Cinderella Dinner. The food was great, and the Characters were amazing and the evening was magical.


- Tutto Gusto; This one was a surprise meal for us and the food was so good we both left there talking of being sure to come back. Some swear by Via Napoli we will swear by Tutto Gusto instead.


- The Plaza; While the food wasn’t out of this world, it was good and the service was some of the best I’ve ever had. ​

 

[Gracefulskinny]

AND THE WINNER IS........

Trip Report Game Points



@pkondz :30pts, full points

@annie170 :20pts, 4 pics

@afwdwfan :30pts, full points



Totals:


1st: annie170 –164

2nd: Afwdwfan – 147

3rd: Pkondz – 87

Mdsouth – 58

Chunkymonkey – 54

Dugette – 48

BlvInMagic – 38

Chrystmasangel :37pts

Cajunfan – 35

Princessesandpascal – 19

NJLauren - 19

Vleeth – 15

BibbitybobityLu – 11

Kadrachb – 8

LovesTheMouse – 6

ashw100 – 5

Jasperann - 2pts




Congradulations @annie170

THank you all for playing! ​

 

[afwdwfan]

This trip was one dreams are made of. We had anticipated it for so long and then to have it be such a magical trip it was beyond amazing. One of the best trips I’ve ever been on anywhere.

I'm glad it worked out this way for you. A lot of times we build things up only to be letdown. Little Miss sure seemed to take things in stride and handled everything well. I hope this will continue for you in February!

Travel with 2 outfit changes/ park day minimum for each person INCLUDING adults. It was just so refreshing to be able to put on a fresh set of clothes before striking back out for our evening park.

Great idea. I try to take a few extras, but I packing space pretty much makes the 2 per day a little beyond the scope of reality. Especially when you're going in the winter months and really have to be prepared with clothes for anything from 40 degree temps to 80.

Allowing Little Miss the chance to parade around in her princess dresses.

Those days won't last forever.

Chose the Jogger over the Standard Stroller. Not only does the fact that it folds in half instead of collapsing down long-ways actually help a little getting it on to a crowded bus, there were also many times while using it in and around the parks that we noticed the difference in steering and DH or I would comment that we were glad we made the right choice.

Good call! I know I like taking our bigger stroller for those reasons. Although this time, we took an umbrella stroller. Only because we had to get rid of our old single stroller and we really didn't want to take the city mini double just for DD to ride in.

Not rely mainly on Disney Transportation. A large chunk of the stressful times revolved around the buses. We also ended up doing a ton of extra waiting in the mornings. * More to come on this one*

@pkondz sucks. I don't know how he did it, but it isn't fair.

Rope Drop Animal Kingdom to help cut down on the amount of time we are exposed to the intense heat of that park.

Good call.

1900 Park Fare Cinderella Dinner. The food was great, and the Characters were amazing and the evening was magical.

I'm glad you enjoyed it so much. We had a nice meal, but I think we were a little bit underwhelmed by it.

3rd: Pkondz – 87

So what is this? Did he win Beverly for third place?

 

[BlvInMagic]

Thanks for sharing the wonderful memories and experiences from your WDW vacation! Awesome trip report! Hope you write another one soon

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I am so glad you had such a wonderful trip and seems like your planning helped out a lot! (Sorry about your feet though!)

Thank you so much for writing this TR and bringing us along on your journey (well, not literally) .... hope you do it again!

 

[annie170]

I thoroughly enjoyed this report. Thank you for sharing your trip with us and I hope you write another for your upcoming visit.

I rarely win anything, so I'm rather surprised. I had a lot of fun playing along as that was a nice idea.

 

[pkondz]

Okay so you don't need them then right?

Well, lets not do anything crazy, now.

Love how you got the balloon shadow.

Our first stop was to Earl of Sandwich for some lunch.

I must get to this place!

Stop. Look to your left. Done. Atta boy.

He looks quite thrilled.

We made it over to Gerhideli and split a few sundaes.

Another place I absolutely need to get to.


Someday.

I was so excited for the Chocolate covered strawberry on top but it was very sour and just not good or edible. (It was also frozen solid)

How to ruin a strawberry.
1. Wait until it turns sour.
2. Freeze it.*

*#2 is acceptable if you skip step #1 and then puree it into a frozen margarita.

We took our last potty stops in the Lobby

No!!!!!
That's not what the lobby is for!!!!!

Someone doesn't look happy to be leaving.

Definitely not happy.

As we were pulling out I made the mistake of trying to sing the good bye song from Mickey Mouse clubhouse and full out lost the battle not to cry as we were leaving.

Awwww.....

after stops to fill up gas and switch drivers and a stop or two for shut eye we didn’t get home till around 2:30 in the morning.

What time did Little Miss pass out?

Final thoughts and Points to come later. Headache hurts too bad at the moment to do math.

Sorry to hear that.
Hope it's better today.

This trip was one dreams are made of. We had anticipated it for so long and then to have it be such a magical trip it was beyond amazing.

Things we are glad we did:

I like the entire list, but...

Going into it with the mindset of flexibility and refusing to allow little stresses to effect the whole.

I always tell people to do this.
Disney is almost as much a state of mind as of place.

Going to the spa to have my nails done. Okay so this one was all DH in planning, however it was probably the nicest Mani Pedi I have EVER experienced and I will certainly be planning to do one again.

I remember those pictures of you smiling.
You looked so happy and content

Not rely mainly on Disney Transportation.

Oh? Why not?

Use something else to seal the paint job on the Magicbands. The acrylic sealer I ended up using ended up feeling tacky most of the time and they both will need to be changed before we can use them again because they ended up picking up a lot of dirt.

I was wondering about those.
I've been seeing more and more stickers etc on MBs and wondered how they stayed on.

Tutto Gusto; This one was a surprise meal for us and the food was so good we both left there talking of being sure to come back. Some swear by Via Napoli we will swear by Tutto Gusto instead.

I remember you saying that.
I hope I can remember for next time.

3rd: Pkondz – 87

Woot! Got third! Thought all was lost there.

@pkondz sucks. I don't know how he did it, but it isn't fair.

 

[KathyM2]

Thanks for sharing!!! I loved reading your TR and final thoughts are good to remember!!! I don't think I could get through a park day in flip flops lol

 

[Gracefulskinny]

I'm glad it worked out this way for you. A lot of times we build things up only to be letdown. Little Miss sure seemed to take things in stride and handled everything well. I hope this will continue for you in February!

I was so afraid that might happen. I prepared for it even. I think that is what made everything that much more magical.

Great idea. I try to take a few extras, but I packing space pretty much makes the 2 per day a little beyond the scope of reality. Especially when you're going in the winter months and really have to be prepared with clothes for anything from 40 degree temps to 80.

Yeah I can see how the winter months would throw you off.

Those days won't last forever.

Don't remind me!

Good call! I know I like taking our bigger stroller for those reasons. Although this time, we took an umbrella stroller. Only because we had to get rid of our old single stroller and we really didn't want to take the city mini double just for DD to ride in.

yeah that's the only reason we would bring an umbrella stroller.

@pkondz sucks. I don't know how he did it, but it isn't fair.

I keep hearing that the buses at POP are actually pretty good. Was this not the case for you?

Good call.

AK is just too dang hot.

I'm glad you enjoyed it so much. We had a nice meal, but I think we were a little bit underwhelmed by it.

That's unfortunate.

So what is this? Did he win Beverly for third place?

A drink of choice is what I was thinking....

Thanks for sharing the wonderful memories and experiences from your WDW vacation! Awesome trip report! Hope you write another one soon

I loved being able to extend the magic out longer. I for sure plan on writing a TR for our trip in March! a Mini PTR to follow shortly.

I am so glad you had such a wonderful trip and seems like your planning helped out a lot! (Sorry about your feet though!)

The planing made a big difference I think.

Thank you so much for writing this TR and bringing us along on your journey (well, not literally) .... hope you do it again!

It was fun to make the magic last longer! I will for sure be doing a TR for March.

I thoroughly enjoyed this report. Thank you for sharing your trip with us and I hope you write another for your upcoming visit.

I'm glad you enjoyed it! I totally plan on writing up a TR for March!

I rarely win anything, so I'm rather surprised. I had a lot of fun playing along as that was a nice idea.

So glad you had fun with it!

Well, lets not do anything crazy, now.

Love how you got the balloon shadow.

When I saw it I knew I had to get a shot of it. Took quite a few tries to get it too.

I must get to this place!

Its pretty tasty!

Stop. Look to your left. Done. Atta boy.

He looks quite thrilled.

He does doesn't he?

Another place I absolutely need to get to.


Someday.

Meh Goofy's is still better for a sweet treat I think.

How to ruin a strawberry.
1. Wait until it turns sour.
2. Freeze it.*

*#2 is acceptable if you skip step #1 and then puree it into a frozen margarita.

No!!!!!
That's not what the lobby is for!!!!!

Someone doesn't look happy to be leaving.

Oh she wasn't.

Definitely not happy.

She went into full pout mode the moment she saw the car.

What time did Little Miss pass out?

Well she ended up taking a nap almost immediately and was asleep for a good hour and a half or so. She ended up doesing in and out until we got home.

Sorry to hear that.
Hope it's better today.

THank you. It is.

I like the entire list, but...

I always tell people to do this.
Disney is almost as much a state of mind as of place.

This one is a crucial one isn't it. I've read so many tr where trips are ruined from not putting themselves in that zen state.

I remember those pictures of you smiling.
You looked so happy and content

It was heaven!

Oh? Why not?

What is this VIP bus service you speak of?

I was wondering about those.
I've been seeing more and more stickers etc on MBs and wondered how they stayed on.

Actually the decal I put on Little Miss's MB has stayed on well.

I remember you saying that.
I hope I can remember for next time.

Its a nice spot!

Woot! Got third! Thought all was lost there.

Thanks for sharing!!! I loved reading your TR and final thoughts are good to remember!!! I don't think I could get through a park day in flip flops lol

I'm so glad you enjoyed it!

 

[Gracefulskinny]

Mini PTR: Quick Surprise March Trip​

​

​

The When, Why, What, and Where: ​

​

​

​

With it being such a short trip I don’t want to start a new ptr for it. Here is the Where, when, and why for our March trip.​

​

​

​

When: Just a way to short trip down for 4days/3nights on 3/17 – 3/20.​

​

​

​

Why: We have a close family friend’s wedding to go to in Orlando and I just couldn’t be THAT close to Disney and not get at least a taste of it.​

​

​

What Little Miss knows: Right now we’ve told her nothing about staying or going to Disney. She knows we are going to Orlando for a wedding. She knows that Nana and Grandad (My Parents who are not Disney people and have opted out of joining us in our Disney time. ) are also going to this wedding. We’ve gone ahead and mentioned that the wedding is VERY CLOSE to Disney World (Not a Disney wedding. The Bride’s family just lives in Orlando so the wedding is actually like 30-40 minutes away in Downtown Orlando) and Mommy and Daddy would love to spend time at Disney but it may not be possible. ( I tried not to lie and be too misleading but at this point we may be stretching the truth pretty far into lie territory with the 3 yr old... Anything to keep the secret right?) We’ve also been quick to defuse the “are/can/when are we going to Disney World?” bomb with statements like, “Well, Mommy and Daddy would LOVE to go back to Disney sweetie but it is a very expensive place and we can’t always go when we want to.” And “Want to take a pretend trip to Disney today?” (We take pretend trips by pulling up videos of riding Disney buses, Ride POVs, Videos from the Monorails, resort videos, etc.) So far, we are pretty sure she suspects nothing and we plan to lead her on to think that we are staying at the conventionish hotel where Nana is going to stay. (Though my mom is actually worried that Little Miss will be disappointed when she finds out that she isn’t staying in the same hotel as Nana. )​

​

​

Where: This was a very hard one and some may recall a few months back the waffling that we did going back and forth between going cheap and staying at the hotel where everyone else is staying {The Doubletree and The Courtyard in Downtown Orlando}, staying off property but close to Disney so we could be in a family friendly hotel{We had a reservation at The B Resort for a while}, or staying on property.​

​

​

After some serious number crunching it turns out that food wise we actually save about $100-$200 by getting the quick service dining plan. The savings on the food budget plus the savings from winter discounts coming out made it slightly cheaper to stay on property than the off property but family friendly and close to Disney hotel options we were going to go with. Then there is the added bonus for me that you can’t get the dining plan without buying at least one park day. ​

​

​

So with that decided, we had to narrow it down to WHICH on property resort. We did consider POFQ for a brief bit but decided that with a goal of making this trip as cheap as possible we would be better suited in a value. We also thought that with this trip being so short, it would end up being a great opportunity to try out a value and see how we really feel about the smaller space and smaller beds. From there it was a crunch of numbers trying to decide how cheap we wanted to go. Before the deal was released I had my eye on Art of Animation. If we were going to go value and skimp on tickets to the parks then we could at least have fun with the room we stayed in. Then the deals came out and as guessed, the little mermaid rooms weren’t included.​

​

​

That left us with either the All Stars or Pop. While All Star Music was cheaper, we weren’t thrilled with the age of the resort (we’ve heard its getting worn out and seeing as it looks exactly like I remember it looking when I stayed there in ’03 with the marching band that tells you something…), nor were we thrilled with the fact the buses share (This would bring back the issues we had at POR). We also weren’t as thrilled with the food court options.​

​

​

Having read so many positive things about Pop here on the disboards, and the fact that it is a simi-sister resort to Art of Animation so we could still spend some time browsing around and enjoying that food court should we want to, we decided that Pop was the better option.​

​

​

We are now booked in a Preferred Pool Room at Pop. This will be our first Value as a family. (I did stay at All Star Music in high school but that was 13ish years ago) It will also be our first pool view and our first preferred. It will also be our first time using the dining plan. I really hope that we don’t regret being that close to the main pool. (I’ve heard it gets loud) Since making the decision to stay there I’ve started to get rather excited about it. I’m looking forward to trying out a preferred room.​

​

​

 

[cajunfan]

Good choice! I love POP! It is probably my favorite Value Resort (I may change once I stat at AoA). That being said, the preferred locations can be fairly quiet even with a pool view. We were in the Tramp Building on the second floor and had no problem with noise. I think as long as you are not on the ground floor you will be fine. I think ground floor poolside you definitely get more noise. We actually enjoyed ASMusic. ...yes, the inside of the rooms are a little tired, but the lobby was fine, the food court is new, and we had absolutely no issues with the buses. We rarely shared a bus with the other two AS hotels, and when we did it was usually on the way back, and never full. But I know a lot of people have complained about them.

 

[ashw100]

Thanks for sharing your trip I loved following allowing and I am so happy you had an amazing trip. Plans for your upcoming trip sound fun. I'd love to hear your opinion on POP and preferred room once you get there.

 

[pkondz]

Its pretty tasty!

I keep hearing that!

Meh Goofy's is still better for a sweet treat I think.

Haven't been there either!

What is wrong with me?!?!?

Oh she wasn't.

No one is.

She went into full pout mode the moment she saw the car.

Awwww...

This one is a crucial one isn't it. I've read so many tr where trips are ruined from not putting themselves in that zen state.

Too many stories out there with a familiar refrain:
"I went to Disney and I didn't get showered with Pixie dust the second I passed under the welcome arch so my whole month long trip is ruined! I may just cancel the rest of the trip!"

What is this VIP bus service you speak of?

The When, Why, What, and Where:

You don't really need the Why part.

Why: We have a close family friend’s wedding to go to in Orlando and I just couldn’t be THAT close to Disney and not get at least a taste of it.

Like I said. Superfluous.

Why.
"My friend is going to Atlanta. That's just one State over!"
"My dog is a German Shepard. I hear they're quite popular in Florida. We should check."
"My car is supposed to get xxx miles per gallon. Disney is xxxx miles away. Let's test it!"
"They say you can connect to anyone by six degrees of separation.... I'm pretty sure my relatives are at Disney right now!"

etc.

(Though my mom is actually worried that Little Miss will be disappointed when she finds out that she isn’t staying in the same hotel as Nana. )

She really doesn't get Disney, does she.

Then there is the added bonus for me that you can’t get the dining plan without buying at least one park day.

Oh, the horror!

Having read so many positive things about Pop here on the disboards, and the fact that it is a simi-sister resort to Art of Animation so we could still spend some time browsing around and enjoying that food court should we want to, we decided that Pop was the better option.

(I’ve heard it gets loud)

Music starts at 9:00am. People can be noisy til the wee hours.
I think I remember hearing some partiers go til after 1am.
But it wasn't all the time.
But if you have a white noise machine, that would solve it.
It's not that loud. Kay never heard them.

 

[afwdwfan]

I keep hearing that the buses at POP are actually pretty good. Was this not the case for you?

The bus service there, and at AoA tends to be a step above many of the others, IMO. Especially the moderates, from my experience. Let me put it this way, I only got on 2 buses at Pop while I was there this time, but while they say you can expect a bus at least every 20 minutes... well, one of them was really testing this theory.

In past stays there, and at AoA the few times we rode a bus we didn't have to wait too long. You're going to get one closer to that 20 minute wait every now and then though. Unless you're @pkondz .

So far, we are pretty sure she suspects nothing and we plan to lead her on to think that we are staying at the conventionish hotel where Nana is going to stay. (Though my mom is actually worried that Little Miss will be disappointed when she finds out that she isn’t staying in the same hotel as Nana. )

I like this. And she might be disappointed. For about 30 seconds until she is overcome by the fact that she's at Disney World!

I think this is a good plan! If you can get a few days of Disney and actually make it make sense from the dollars and cents side of things then you've pretty much gotta do it! I like Pop, I have since our first stay there in 2008, and I liked it this last time too. I had a couple of disappointments this time, but certainly no deal breakers.

I will say though, that aside from being in a suite at AoA last year, I haven't stayed in a value in a long time. And when I checked into Pop, my first though was "wow, this room is smaller than I remember." Just keep that in mind, but I absolutely don't think the 3 of you will have a problem with it.

 

[BlvInMagic]

You must be getting so excited for your upcoming trip! We stayed at Pop in 2013 (it was DS's first trip) and we had a 2nd floor room in the 70s section. The room was great -- it was close enough to the pool and main bldg -- we had no issues with noise, no loud neighbors, mousekeeping was very good as was bell services. We found the bus system to be ideal -- most times a bus was waiting when we were exiting the main bldg., or one was just about to pull up. DS loved the pool too and enjoyed the activities that the cast members did with the kids in that area. The one area we were less than trilled over was the food court. It was chaotic and the service was S L O W. Plus, they had a "song of the day" and when that played, some cast members would stop what they were doing and come into the center of the food court and start a group dance with the guests, which always seemed when we were there trying to get food -- which made the process pain-staking at times. Don't get me wrong, it was fun to watch and join in the first 2 times...but a few more times and not so much It became a running joke, "let's see if we can get our food before the dance party ensues!" Not sure if they still do this or not, but just a fair warning

 

[pkondz]

In past stays there, and at AoA the few times we rode a bus we didn't have to wait too long. You're going to get one closer to that 20 minute wait every now and then though. Unless you're @pkondz .

I'm sorry. I don't understand. What is this 20 minute wait you are referring to?
Oh! You mean if you took 20 busses.

Got it.

 

[jandlinz]

Just finished reading your trip report. It was nice that you had some final thoughts and tips for yourself for next time. That's amazing that you get to go back again so soon. I'm sure your DD will be thrilled! Can't wait to hear more about your plans.