Show Me Your Smolder! October 2012 B-Day TR NEW 4/1 Trip Wrap Up & NEW PTR LINK!

[Imagineer5]

I voted! So sweet

Are you ever able to get his nap in in the afternoon in the stroller? It's nice to have time back at the resort, but I like my afternoons to be filled with swimming or something like that if we are going to go back!

[khertz]

Originally Posted by Imagineer5

I voted! So sweet

Are you ever able to get his nap in in the afternoon in the stroller? It's nice to have time back at the resort, but I like my afternoons to be filled with swimming or something like that if we are going to go back!

I saw that this morning, thank you, Lauren!!

The two times we did his nap in the stroller on days we were switching resorts, he only napped for 45 minutes. On the first day of our trip, that wasn't so bad. But when we had to do it on the last day, my GOD was he one cranky little boy!! He normally takes a nice long 2-2 1/2 hour nap at home, and in Disney World, he would probably sleep all afternoon if we let him. I think that is partly the reason we never seem to make it to the pool because he naps for so long and then we are ready to wake him up and get right back to the park.

[skier_pete]

Originally Posted by khertz

I saw that this morning, thank you, Lauren!!

The two times we did his nap in the stroller on days we were switching resorts, he only napped for 45 minutes. On the first day of our trip, that wasn't so bad. But when we had to do it on the last day, my GOD was he one cranky little boy!! He normally takes a nice long 2-2 1/2 hour nap at home, and in Disney World, he would probably sleep all afternoon if we let him. I think that is partly the reason we never seem to make it to the pool because he naps for so long and then we are ready to wake him up and get right back to the park.

Our daughter was very similar, she continued to take 2+ hour naps until she was almost 4. At Disney she would easily nap the afternoon away if we let her, and would frequently let her sleep until we were ready to go back to the parks, and she was still frequently cranky.

She, on the other hand, would NEVER nap in her stroller (we wouldn't usually at home either), so the only way we could roll was to take mid-day breaks.

I believe there's almost no possible way to take a small child to Disney World and not have them be cranky by the end of the trip. We came as close as we ever had to that last trip, but DD was 8 by then.

PS - Merry Christmas! (a few days early)

[khertz]

Originally Posted by skier_pete

Our daughter was very similar, she continued to take 2+ hour naps until she was almost 4. At Disney she would easily nap the afternoon away if we let her, and would frequently let her sleep until we were ready to go back to the parks, and she was still frequently cranky.

She, on the other hand, would NEVER nap in her stroller (we wouldn't usually at home either), so the only way we could roll was to take mid-day breaks.

I believe there's almost no possible way to take a small child to Disney World and not have them be cranky by the end of the trip. We came as close as we ever had to that last trip, but DD was 8 by then.

PS - Merry Christmas! (a few days early)

I really hope Paxton keeps taking naps like this until he is 4! I got so worried when I would read threads on the DIS about their kids ditching the naps at 18 mo-2 years old. I don't know how long he keeps taking naps at daycare, but I guess if he is still used to doing it there, he can continue doing it at home also. Like I said, he could nap in the stroller for a short period of time (enough to make the day at least bearable), but it wasn't quality enough sleep for him or us, so the midday break is still a must.

And I totally agree with your last point as well. There is just so much going on in a week at Disney that the little ones just get funky by the end! I definitely noticed Paxton acting more "two" by the end of the week!

Oh, yes, and Merry Christmas to you & yours as well!

[khertz]

Day 4: Tuesday October 23rd

Today was our first early EARLY day! Our alarms were set for 6:45 am, and I told my parents "booty in seat" (we actually use another un-DIS friendly word in place of booty lol) time was 7:50 and they were right on time! We had a date with Toy Story Mania and couldn't be late! In no time at all, we were at DHS parking the car and found an empty turnstile so we could be first. As we waited for the gates to open, we had some breakfast and DH and I started planning out our morning. As we were talking, we were saying things like, "Phineas and Ferb starts at x time...then we can do Cars..." etc. I look over at my mom and she is looking at a map with a totally confused look on her face until I asked what was wrong and she replied, "Am I looking at the wrong map? Where are these attractions you're talking about?" Oh, man, did I get a good laugh out of that! I then had to explain that we were doing TSM and then hitting the character stations. She is definitely not used to traveling to WDW with a little one anymore!

At 8:45 am, they opened up the turnstiles and we walked over to Pixar Place. Can I just pause here to say how much I LOVED the new opening procedure at DHS?! It was really awesome to just be able to walk over to TSM without being smushed in a huge crowd of people going to the same place. There were still a few morons running, but overall it was a MUCH more pleasant experience.

Our first photos of the morning! (Actually, we must have taken this TSM photo later, because the wait was definitely NOT 45 minutes!

We decided to hit the standby line first and grab FP's later, so we all entered the queue.

We walked right onto the ride with no wait, and decided for the first ride that DS would sit on DH's lap while we rode. DS was not a fan of the spinning, and was actually whining for most of the ride until DH figured out a better way to hold him that he didn't hate quite as much. This was the most disappointing time we have ever had on this attraction! Not only was DS whining, some of the games were not working, and we were just sitting in front of a "Windows is shutting down" screen while the one beside us was working fine. I thought we should tell the CM and see if they would let us ride again, but then we decided to just get off and get the FP's for later instead. One good thing did come of this experience, and that was that I finally beat DH!

DH didn't appreciate my gloating and continued to claim he was handicapped by DS fussing, but whatever! lol I still won!!

After getting our FP's with a return time of 10:40am-11:40am we thought we would get in line for the Buzz & Woody meet, but it doesn't open until 9:15. Since we wanted to get it done early, we knew we didn't have time to ride anything else, so we decided just to head to the hat and see which characters were out.

Up first, we met Hollywood Goofy with no wait.

Next to Goofy, Chip & Dale were meeting with only a couple of groups ahead of us, so we waited in a short line and I took this picture.

And this one of DS trying to get to the flowers.

Finally it was our turn and we went up for our pics with DS's favorite chipmunks!

Poppi's version


Photopass's version. Can you tell how much I LOVE taking DS to meet the characters?!


They were VERY excited about the fact that DS was turning 2! So no, they are not holding up peace signs lol

After meeting those guys, we walked back over to Pixar Place and saw the line to meet Buzz & Woody had grown considerably, but we still wanted to do it now before it got even longer later in the day. We ended up waiting about 15 minutes, our longest wait for characters the whole trip, but at least there is plenty to keep DS occupied in the queue!

First up, he found an oh so exciting STICK!

Finally we made it inside where they have all of the little photo ops available to keep you busy during the wait. We had a LOT of fun with those!

Continued in next post...

[khertz]

Day 4 Continued: Tuesday October 23rd

These of him under the bucket crack me up!




These crack me up too, but DS was NOT a fan of being strapped to a rocket cutout.

Finally, after all of that, it was time to meet Buzz & Woody! I wish DS would have been as into Toy Story then as he is now, because he just LOVES Buzz now, but I don't think he really knew who they were at the time of the meet. Just last weekend, he woke up on Saturday and the first thing he said was, "Movies! Buzz!"

High 5 from Buzz


And one from Woody!

Taking this picture was so funny because my mom kept trying to take one on her iPhone of us, and I could hear her and my dad talking frantically about the phone because for some reason they couldn't get the picture. Finally I heard my dad say, "How did you get this thing not only on video, but facing us?!" lol My mom is just NOT good with electronics!! She just randomly punches buttons or in this case, taps the screen, and hopes for the best.

By now, we were ready to ride something again, so we decided to save the other character meets we wanted to do for our next DHS morning instead and headed off to The Great Movie Ride. This was one we skipped last year because of its length so it was DS's first time riding.

How was he? He was nervous at the beginning because so much of it is dark, and he really hated the shootout scene with the gangsters and turned to face me for that part of the ride. I kept his face turned into my shoulder for the Alien scene, and it really wasn't until our tour guide defeated the gangster (By the way, does anyone listen to WDW Today? DH and I really wanted to yell out, "It's a trap!" at that part! ) and we moved into brighter happier scenes that he decided to turn around and watch the rest. I was so worried about him being scared during Alien that I totally forgot about the shootout! Something to keep in mind if you are taking a little one on this ride.

As far as the title of this update, if you have not seen this video you are missing out on some good laughs!!

UP NEXT: DS's First Show

And I'm reposting because it got stuck at the bottom of the last page, but if you have Facebook, Paxton could use your help to win a photo contest at Stitcheroos. If you are feeling so inclined, please just CLICK THIS LINK to go to the December Photo Contest album and leave a COMMENT for Paxton! His picture is the second photo in the album & he is the only one wearing Mickey. He has some stiff competition! You can comment once per day, and voting lasts for one week. Any help to try and get our little man a free birthday shirt for next years is greatly appreciated! And if you don't use Facebook, just ignore this post. :-)

And finally, MERRY CHRISTMAS from our family to yours!

[skier_pete]

Hey, caught your update in the middle of the two posts, but waited until the second one was up. What's the change at DHS rope drop? I guess I heard something about they just let people directly in at the turn styles. Is that it?

We've never done the Woody/Buzz meet there, not sure we ever will. DD just doesn't want to meet characters, and I'M not going to wait in long lines for them. The upside-down milk crate is so cute. I didn't catch that's what it was at first. My brain: "Why is Paxton looking through the window of the Wicked Queen's castle?"

Congrats on beating DH at TSM. I always beat DW, but she always has a higher percentage. I play the "shoot as much as you possibly can" version of the game...accuracy be damned!

DD is 9 and STILL hasn't ridden the GMR, though mostly because I don't really care about the ride I haven't forced the issue. I am going to reference you guys next trip. "Look, Paxton rode it and HE'S TWO!"

I got an update in today as well...in case you don't make it over there - I'll say MERRY CHRISTMAS - for our family to yours!

SP

[afwdwfan]

Originally Posted by khertz

Today was our first early EARLY day! Our alarms were set for 6:45 am, and I told my parents "booty in seat" (we actually use another un-DIS friendly word in place of booty lol) time was 7:50

I wonder what word that could possibly be?

Originally Posted by khertz

and they were right on time!

The threat of paying for parking is a powerful weapon.

Originally Posted by khertz

Can I just pause here to say how much I LOVED the new opening procedure at DHS?! It was really awesome to just be able to walk over to TSM without being smushed in a huge crowd of people going to the same place. There were still a few morons running, but overall it was a MUCH more pleasant experience.

It is so much better. I remember heading to TSM after RD wondering where everybody was!

Originally Posted by khertz

I thought we should tell the CM and see if they would let us ride again, but then we decided to just get off and get the FP's for later instead

I would have mentioned it... you might have even gotten one of those nice FastPasses that you can use any time during the day!

Originally Posted by khertz

One good thing did come of this experience, and that was that I finally beat DH!

I want his take on this one...

Originally Posted by khertz

How was he this time? He was nervous at the beginning because so much of it is dark, and he really hated the shootout scene with the gangsters and turned to face me for that part of the ride.

Could have been worse. At least he made it through it.

Originally Posted by khertz

(By the way, does anyone listen to WDW Today? DH and I really wanted to yell out, "It's a trap!" at that part! )

Love that podcast. They pretty much tell it like it is.

Originally Posted by khertz

I was so worried about him being scared during Alien that I totally forgot about the shootout! Something to keep in mind if you are taking a little one on this ride.

We haven't even tried that one yet. The last time I rode it was 2008 and it just seemed so dated that it we just haven't really felt the need to ride it again and take the kids.

But I do remember the first time I ever rode it I was terrified of the aliens...

Originally Posted by khertz

And finally, MERRY CHRISTMAS from our family to yours!

I'm not going to be quite as artistic about it as you were, but Merry Christmas!!!!!

[khertz]

Originally Posted by skier_pete

Hey, caught your update in the middle of the two posts, but waited until the second one was up. What's the change at DHS rope drop? I guess I heard something about they just let people directly in at the turn styles. Is that it?

We've never done the Woody/Buzz meet there, not sure we ever will. DD just doesn't want to meet characters, and I'M not going to wait in long lines for them. The upside-down milk crate is so cute. I didn't catch that's what it was at first. My brain: "Why is Paxton looking through the window of the Wicked Queen's castle?"

Congrats on beating DH at TSM. I always beat DW, but she always has a higher percentage. I play the "shoot as much as you possibly can" version of the game...accuracy be damned!

DD is 9 and STILL hasn't ridden the GMR, though mostly because I don't really care about the ride I haven't forced the issue. I am going to reference you guys next trip. "Look, Paxton rode it and HE'S TWO!"

I got an update in today as well...in case you don't make it over there - I'll say MERRY CHRISTMAS - for our family to yours!

SP

Oh I guess I should have explained that for those that haven't experienced it yet! Instead of opening the turnstiles at 8:45 and holding you at the rope in front of the hat and then everyone running over to TSM at exactly 9 am, now they don't hold you anywhere after they open the turnstiles at 8:45. So instead of the crush of people all heading to the same place, the turnstiles slows it down and you can just walk over there. Of course, it makes it even more important to be at the turnstiles very early, but we do that anyway!

The milk crate photos are my favorite! But they do kind of look like a window. He is so small we had it zoomed in on him so you can't see the whole crate! He really got a kick out of that one for some reason. He looked very happy to be imprisoned in there!

I hope your plans works and you can get DD on the ride! I have a feeling in a couple of years I'll be telling him the same thing. "You can ride it now, you did it when you were two!"

I have your update open in another tab, today was just nuts! Spent a few hours doing some last minute Christmas shopping this morning after I dropped Paxton off and only had a couple hours at home before I had to go pick him up again so we could go see Disney Live at 4 this afternoon! Heading there next.

Originally Posted by afwdwfan

I wonder what word that could possibly be?

The threat of paying for parking is a powerful weapon.

It is so much better. I remember heading to TSM after RD wondering where everybody was!

I would have mentioned it... you might have even gotten one of those nice FastPasses that you can use any time during the day!

I want his take on this one...

Could have been worse. At least he made it through it.

Love that podcast. They pretty much tell it like it is.

We haven't even tried that one yet. The last time I rode it was 2008 and it just seemed so dated that it we just haven't really felt the need to ride it again and take the kids.

But I do remember the first time I ever rode it I was terrified of the aliens...


I'm not going to be quite as artistic about it as you were, but Merry Christmas!!!!!

Haha I thought about using one of these @ and a couple of $$ but I didn't want to get in trouble for going around the censor. Hopefully what I just did doesn't count!

I can imagine the new opening procedure is not as nice if you show up AFTER opening. I thought we should have mentioned it too, and you are right, we might have gotten an all day FP. However, I have to say we did get in a lot of TSM time this trip, so it wasn't too bad that we had one messed up. I'm sure he will comment with his version of events, but it doesn't change the fact that I WON!

I enjoy listening to the DIS Unplugged, but WDW Today is definitely my favorite. Matt & Len crack me up!

Oooh, yes, it's definitely dated!! But really, what else is there to ride in DHS with little kids, right? I remember the Alien scene being WAY scarier when I was little too!! They definitely tamed that one down.

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Great update! We haven't done Buzz and Woody's meet and greet yet. I didnt realize they had all those additional photo op props in the queue! Pretty cool.
Do you remember what time you all ended up getting in line for it? Been trying to put together our touring plan and am trying to get a better sense of the wait times for that meet and greet. We're going to do it as soon as it opens up, but also trying to see if we can fit two back to back rides on TSMM on standby right before it -will try to get in line at the park entrance turnstiles eaaaarly.

[MEK]

Originally Posted by khertz

These crack me up too, but DS was NOT a fan of being strapped to a rocket cutout.

This is the one where you win the parent of the year award, right? Poor Paxton. You just never know what is going to scare a little kid.

Looks like you and your DH are very well matched for TSM? Way to win!

Now I know your DH must have taken all those wonderful pictures in GMR because they turned out awesome.

More great pictures of Paxton! So cute!

I will try to sign in and vote for him. I only use FB on my phone, so I kind-off forget my login on the computer. I know that's bad, but my son was probably the last person to log in, so lets see what happens.

FWI - I started my TR for F&W, so stop on by when you get a chance (see siggie)

And Merry Christmas to you, too. Just spent the morning practicing music for Christmas Eve Mass. All ready to roll!

[ash-n-brensmom]

Hey! I've been MIA from the Dis for a while....post vacay blues! But I am back and just got all caught up on your posts!
Glad you got to the bottom of Paxton's allergy, and wow on those ear infections...YUCKY!!! Thankfully he should be good to go now.

And one more thing...
Is this a movie or a ride?


DH wants to say that every time we ride now!

Merry Christmas to you and yours!!

[khertz]

Originally Posted by DaveinFallsChurch

Great update! We haven't done Buzz and Woody's meet and greet yet. I didnt realize they had all those additional photo op props in the queue! Pretty cool.
Do you remember what time you all ended up getting in line for it? Been trying to put together our touring plan and am trying to get a better sense of the wait times for that meet and greet. We're going to do it as soon as it opens up, but also trying to see if we can fit two back to back rides on TSMM on standby right before it -will try to get in line at the park entrance turnstiles eaaaarly.

I want to say we got in line between 9:20 and 9:25 with it opening at 9:15. We came out of our TSM ride before 9 am and there were already people lined up waiting! If you get there super early like we did and are first at the turnstiles, it's possible you could go with what you planned. We had another morning where we rode TSM standby twice before 9 am when the park officially opened! You will probably encounter people like we did who go there first to wait, so you will likely have a few families ahead of you for the M&G by the time you are done riding TSM. Hope that helps!

Originally Posted by MEK

This is the one where you win the parent of the year award, right? Poor Paxton. You just never know what is going to scare a little kid.

Looks like you and your DH are very well matched for TSM? Way to win!

Now I know your DH must have taken all those wonderful pictures in GMR because they turned out awesome.

More great pictures of Paxton! So cute!

I will try to sign in and vote for him. I only use FB on my phone, so I kind-off forget my login on the computer. I know that's bad, but my son was probably the last person to log in, so lets see what happens.

FWI - I started my TR for F&W, so stop on by when you get a chance (see siggie)

And Merry Christmas to you, too. Just spent the morning practicing music for Christmas Eve Mass. All ready to roll!

Oh, goodness it was SO funny, but I even commented to DH, "The people behind us probably think we are AWFUL parents!"

He did take all of the GMR pictures! I loved how they turned out. I don't think he has ever tried taking photos in there before.

I did stop over to your TR, just haven't had a chance to read all of the updates & comment yet! But I did subscribe to it. Thanks for letting me know! Good luck with your Christmas Eve Mass & Merry Christmas!

Originally Posted by ash-n-brensmom

Hey! I've been MIA from the Dis for a while....post vacay blues! But I am back and just got all caught up on your posts!
Glad you got to the bottom of Paxton's allergy, and wow on those ear infections...YUCKY!!! Thankfully he should be good to go now.

And one more thing...
Is this a movie or a ride?


DH wants to say that every time we ride now!

Merry Christmas to you and yours!!

So thankful we have figured out the allergies and gotten him some ear tubes. It has made a world of difference already!

I SO wanted to say that to the CM when we walked up, but I was too embarrassed. I bet they get that a lot from people who have seen that video!

Merry Christmas to you as well!

[Nermel9]

Great updates, I love DHS in the morning! I love the new TSM procedure too, it's so nice to just walk over there and grab some FP's instead of dealing with a mob of people!

Glad you got to finally beat your DH on TSM! I used to beat mine all the time, until he started getting super competitive on that ride, now he beats me!

I love all of your character pics, and I want that shirt you are wearing! I saw that shirt on my May trip and I almost bought it, then I wasn't sure I would wear a yellow shirt...I hope they still have it in Feb. when I go back!

The queue for Buzz and Woody looks adorable, looks like DS had a fun time playing in there! I always want to meet Buzz and Woody together, but the line is always so long! It looks like it is worth it though...Woody is so tall!

[khertz]

Originally Posted by Nermel9

Great updates, I love DHS in the morning! I love the new TSM procedure too, it's so nice to just walk over there and grab some FP's instead of dealing with a mob of people!

Glad you got to finally beat your DH on TSM! I used to beat mine all the time, until he started getting super competitive on that ride, now he beats me!

I love all of your character pics, and I want that shirt you are wearing! I saw that shirt on my May trip and I almost bought it, then I wasn't sure I would wear a yellow shirt...I hope they still have it in Feb. when I go back!

The queue for Buzz and Woody looks adorable, looks like DS had a fun time playing in there! I always want to meet Buzz and Woody together, but the line is always so long! It looks like it is worth it though...Woody is so tall!

When I heard about the change in the opening procedure, I was a little worried about it, but as long as you are there really early like we ALWAYS are, it's fantastic!!

DH is super competitive about EVERYTHING, so this was a major accomplishment on my part. He has beat me before with DS on his lap, so I don't really count that as a valid excuse for losing this time.

I bought that shirt at DCA on our trip earlier this year, and thought I was getting something exclusive!! So I was a little disappointed to see it in WDW this trip, but it's still one of my favorite shirts. I got quite a few compliments on it! I wish they had other shirts for the other games too, that would be awesome. Hopefully it will still be there on your next trip.

That is precisely why we did it early, because the line ALWAYS seems long!! But DS did have a ton of fun in that queue, so it wasn't as bad of a wait as it could have been if there wasn't anything to entertain him. Meeting them together was great, I just wish DS had been more excited about Buzz & Woody then like he is now!

I guess I didn't notice because everyone looks tall to me, but you're right, Woody is exceptionally tall!!