Babies to Baby Boomers- 9 WDW days filled w/ blunders, boo-boos & bliss. update 08-24

[that's nice]

Lauren.....

Just checking in. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving... hope everything is OK.

 

[onelilspark]

Hmmm, missed your last post somehow...a little late to the party, but I have to say, that's a great tip about getting hot water from any CS place (even if you had to wait for it to cool down then again! Yikes! ) I'm sure that'll help out a lot of parents!

 

[Dawg91]

Are we waiting for the rest of the trip report or did I miss it somewhere? I'd love to read more.

 

[alabamagirl]

Would love to read more!!!

 

[disneylovin24]

Great trip report so far

I am really loving all of the pics It's great to see all the little one's reactions!!!

 

[lbuzz52]

So it was finally time for the parade to start. It only took me about 10 seconds to realize that my baby girl is a parade addict! She loved every minute of it. I apparently didn’t make notes of who came to “see” us, but it looks like we were visited by at least a couple.

patiently waiting

here it comes!


here are some of the floats and characters... maybe it will make you feel like you are there?

Chip?

Aladdin

Jafar

Alice and the Mad hatter

Ariel and Eric

Gepetto came to visit us.

Pinnochio

Captain Hook

Wendy & Peter

Lady Tremaine

Mickey

Minnie


The good thing about our spot was that it seemed that every last bit of pixie dust left in the parade was tossed on us. The bad part was, as I mentioned before, it was a very hot spot. The poor baby got so warm.


We decided to use our left over fastpasses and babyswap from Splash- we definitely needed to cool off. Mom and Jenny went this time along with me and the kids. You may remember who wanted to stay dry- well, of course mom was the one that got wet this time.


We took advantage of the potty once again, and then headed next door to use our fastpasses for thunder. When I was young, that was the one ride at Disney that really made me feel brave- of course, that may have had something to do with the fact I was too chicken to ride space. It was bit bumpier and wilder than I remembered. Not crazy wild, just more “oomph” than I remembered it having. The kids got off and wanted to ride again immediately. So we switched out some adults, grabbed the leftover fp/bs passes, and did. This time, I got to ride next to Maya. And my big brave girl did it with her hands up!!


This time when we got off, Maya wanted to ride again but Cayden said no way. Worked for us, because we were out of passes.


We decided that we were in dire need of an ice cream treat to cool us off. We wandered over to Sunshine for shakes and to refill our water bottles. On the way we stopped at the potty for Maya and grabbed fastpasses for the Jungle Cruise.


By the time we reached Sunshine, Cayden had fallen asleep. Mom and dad sat with Maya and James while Chris and I took a break. We woke Cayden up and he had his potty and ice cream break. By that time, James had fallen asleep.

poor sleepy baby


Then pawpaw, Maya, and Cayden walked on Aladdin’s carpet about three times.


Now we were ready to use our Jungle Cruise fast passes. It was there that I had one of those “please hide me” mommy moments. I’m not sure if you all remember, but when I first started this report, I said that Maya was independent.


So we walked on Jungle using our fastpasses. We were loading our boat and Maya needed help getting on. She could have used the Cm’s hand for help. She could have used Nonni’s hand for help. There is even a bar to use to hold on to for support. But what does she pick????

 

[lbuzz52]

I'm sorry for the massive delay between updates. I can make a million excuses, but the long and short of it is life, holidays, and work all got really busy at the same time. Coupled with a computer that apparently only works when it wants to - I kept having to push this down the priority list. Hopefully there are still some interested readers out there??

 

[lynlink]

Glad your back to writing Lauren! Reading this makes me want to go back. It seems like my trip last October was FOREVER ago! Can't wait to hear more.

 

[lbuzz52]

so just what did Maya use to help herself on the boat????

She grabs the cm’s crotch. OH MY GOODNESS. [/SIZE]





And if that wasn’t bad enough… the skipper notices and says “I’m not going to lie, that’s freaky” .
OVER THE CB RADIO.


Yep, I didn’t even notice the cheesy jokes. I was too busy trying to blend into the seat. If i could i would have just snuck out of there but this obviously was not the place to do that unfortunately.

I did notice that this was another ride James really enjoyed though.

Next, we walked right on to pirates. Maya was certain she was going to be scared, but she wasn’t’. James was quite amused by the ride- until he fell asleep. There were so many parts I remembered from 20 years ago. But this time I really appreciated the detail put into it. Like the leg hairs on the pirates.

We came out and the strollers had been moved. That was a fun few minutes


By this point it was getting late in the day. We rounded the corner to Pecos Bills for dinner. Some of us got burgers, some of us got taco salads. I think we all got the cookies for dessert. Those that had the taco salads said they were okay, but bland. I had the burger and also didn’t really enjoy it. It was overcooked. Poor Maya, her’s was so burnt she wouldn’t touch it. I would have said something, but she ate all her sides and I thought we were pressed for time.

My sister was developing an I’m dog tired- leave me alone- don’t even look at me attitude. Let me tell you, she can be much worse than the kids. There was a little confusion over where we were sitting and it really rubbed her the wrong way. So needless to say, this was a quick, quiet meal and I didn’t bother with pictures.


It was 745 when we walked out from Pecos Bills. We had planned to watch Spectro across from the Country Bear Jamboree. We were surprised to find front row seating still available. The kids and dad leaned against a railing to give their feet a rest while we were waiting. Thanks to those of you who suggested glowsticks- becuase there was no way this cart was going unnoticed.

But i just pulled out the fancy glowsticks we found at the dollar store- wands and swords. and all was right in the world again!

For some reason, I thought that it ran from Frontierland to Main Street. Not so- but that explained why there were front row spots left at 745!

Everyone LOVED the parade. i knew without a doubt i had to see it again before i left. The baby spent the whole time clapping his hands and leaning in to see it all. The big kids' glowsticks were a huge hit. (Maya wanted to sleep with hers). We had multiple dwarfs come to see us, and one even shook the baby’s hand. Of course, I have issues with camera speed and missed all the best shots of this.

I know longer remember if i am putting these shots in the proper order so please forgive me!

watching in amazement

Dopey

Maya meeting the dwarfs- which one is this?

James meeting Sneezy.

Alice

Dale

James staring in wonder

trying to get someone, i forget who.

 

[lbuzz52]

Glad your back to writing Lauren! Reading this makes me want to go back. It seems like my trip last October was FOREVER ago! Can't wait to hear more.

LYNLINK!!!! you are so right, it does make you want to go back!
Chris actually said he wants to go back multiple times- with the kids and without- so i considered that like an extra Christmas present

I'm all caught up!

I'm so sorry you missed your 'Ohana ADR. Maybe you will get lucky later in the week?

Thank goodness you didn't have your MNSSHP tickets for your arrival day. I'm not sure you would of had a relaxing time at the party with all that traveling.

Your DTD meals looks really good. We have never eaten at WPE and are thinking of possible having a lunch there in March!

I cannot believe how short the lines were at MK. Were you there on a MNSSHP day? You guys hit so many rides in such a short amount of time. WTG!!!!!!

BTW.. the pics of the kids are way too cute!

I can't wait to hear more!!!

you are so right about the MNSSHP- we almost got the tix that day
do try WPE.
i haven't read yours in forever- i have to spend a while catching up on it. we may have a snow day tomorrow (well, ice anyway) and if so i'll have to try to catch up

Lauren.....

Just checking in. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving... hope everything is OK.

you too!

Hmmm, missed your last post somehow...a little late to the party, but I have to say, that's a great tip about getting hot water from any CS place (even if you had to wait for it to cool down then again! Yikes! ) I'm sure that'll help out a lot of parents!

thanks!

Are we waiting for the rest of the trip report or did I miss it somewhere? I'd love to read more.

didn't miss it... i was just a major slacker over the holidays. its our busiest time at work too.

Would love to read more!!!

welcome!

Great trip report so far

I am really loving all of the pics It's great to see all the little one's reactions!!!

welcome to you too!

 

[lbuzz52]

Mickey

Minnie

Pluto

]
The Queen of Hearts came to see us

another sneezy pic

snow white

ursula


When Spectro ended, we decided it was time to leave. Everyone was worn out. Plus, the kids aren’t crazy for the noise that comes with fireworks. We were home from the park by 915.


We were planning on getting the kids ready for bed, but when we returned to the room one of toilets was leaking out of the bottom and wouldn’t flush. It had been fine when we left for the day. We also noticed that the sheets had not been replaced from the sofabed. We called the desk to report both of these items.

It was 40 minutes before they brought the sheets. That person knew nothing of the toilet issue. So we called down again. This time, we added that we needed towels to replace those that were soaking up the toilet water. It was another 30 minutes before s gentleman from MK brought towels. He also knew nothing of the toilet. He called someone to check on it for us. We needed to take baths, and were ready to go to bed. But we had to wait another 20 minutes before we saw anyone. He tried to fix the toilet but then decided he had to come back in the morning with a machine.

It was after 1130 by this point. And every last one of us was awake. Even the baby. This really shocked me as he had only really taken two cat naps during pirates and the ice cream and that was it.

And not one of the three people that left the room took the trash and dirty laundry out that mk had left outside the door.

We all got in bed. I laid there about 15 minutes before I realized I didn’t remember packing my swimsuit. I remembered it on the list. I remembered scratching it off the list. But I didn’t remember actually packing it. I searched through everything before I accepted that I didn’t bring it. And I spent like 8 hours packing us all.

I got back in bed and laid there for about another 10 minutes before I remembered to go change the batteries out in the charger for my camera. Only I couldn’t find the charger. Where did it go?




Some final thoughts for the first park day….


I was really impressed that you could find toilet covers everywhere. That made my life so much easier with the volume of potty breaks we had. I don’t think I saw a baby changing cover once though. I just wiped it with a sani wipe and lined it with paper towels.


A couple things we wished we had brought/bought for the room:
Butter- mom was wishing she had some for toast
Plastic cups- something light for the kids to use.

Maya’s favorites:
1) the tea cups
2) Cinderella’s family
Cayden’s favorite:
1) BTMR
James’ favorites:
1) IASW
2) Spectro

 

[praisehisname]

So glad you're back and posting again! I loved all the parade pics! That's awful about the toilet and how long you had to wait for someone to come look at it!

Denise

 

[lbuzz52]

So glad you're back and posting again! I loved all the parade pics! That's awful about the toilet and how long you had to wait for someone to come look at it!

Denise

Thanks!!

The toilet did stink, especially since at this point it wasn't fixed yet. It was irritating at the time because ssr wasn't cheap. But by now it's something I had just about forgotten about until I was reviewing my notes today.

 

[Charlefours]

Hello! I found your TR yesterday and read through it this morning. Subbing in now!!

Your family is beautiful!! I love the sheer amazement on the kiddos faces during the rides and parades!! Looking forward to reading along.

 

[lbuzz52]

Hello! I found your TR yesterday and read through it this morning. Subbing in now!!

Your family is beautiful!! I love the sheer amazement on the kiddos faces during the rides and parades!! Looking forward to reading along.

Welcome!
Thanks for all the nice compliments. The childrens excitement was definitely by far my favorite part of the trip.

 

[lbuzz52]

Thurs oct 29

We had a busy day planned for today- character breakfasts in the morning, and Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party in the evening!

My original goal was to be at EMH rope drop at 8:00. I was 100% vetoed. So we decided to go for an 830 departure from the hotel.

Chris, Maya, James, and myself had a 1030 ADR at CRT.
Cayden, Mom, Dad, and Jenny had a 1000 ADR at Ohana's.

I woke up three or four times early morning, determined I was oversleeping. I finally got up at 7. I slept for a longer stretch then I had in many days. I was the only one up though. I did as much as I could to get ready without waking everyone else up. I just can't ever sleep late on vacation. I'm too excited.

I woke up Chris and the kids at 8:00. Maya was so excited to see that Cinderella had left her a note and a new princess outfit.

Lilo and Stitch had left Cayden a note as well, and a kiddie camera.

I go the kids ready quickly. Chris fed James while I attempted an updo. Then we told the others we'd see them soon and were on our way to the bus stop. We actually ended up just missing the MK bus so we all ended up bussing it together to the MK and then they caught the monorail to the Poly.

I didn't hear much about the food- so I'll be brave enough to guess it was okay. I would have heard if it was really bad or really good. They seemed to love the character interaction there though. I was told that they spent lots of time with each child.


They saw Lilo

And Stitch- one of Cayden's favorites

and there was someone else but I didn't get notes on who. And then there was something about Pluto stealing Cayden's shoe??

These kids couldn't let Cayden have all the fun!


In the meantime, we went into the Magic Kingdom. Our goal was to be at Toontown for opening, see the fairies, and hightail it to the castle for breakfast. We were trying to avoid a long wait for Tink. Plus, we didn't have Cayden with us, who really didn't care about the fairies.

This would have been a great day to be at the Magic Kingdom. It was EMH, and a MNSSHP day. The crowds were almost non-exhistant. Here's a pic from around 930 a.m.

On our way back to toontown, we passed a Photopass next to the castle. It was the same Photopass guy that Maya refused to pose for yesterday. She decided today that she would- "now that she was in the right dress" was her excuse.

He did the balloon pose with her.

We walked up to the gates at TT at 950, and they were opening it. We followed everyone else to the line for the fairies.

Just a note- I have no idea how this is on other days- but on this day- Thursday with EMH & MNSSHP- this was a really good time to see all the characters in the building. For about 15 minutes or so, the princess line was non existant. And for the next 15 minutes it was still really short. I saw a few groups run through the princess line with basically no wait and end up not far behind up in the fairy line. And the groups in the front of the fairy line ran through the princess line afterwards too.

We were let into pixie hollow at 1017.

We had the nicest CM leading our group back. Maya liked her so much she asked her to sign her autograph book.


As soon as they let us around the corner, Terrance came to meet baby James. It was the first speaking character he had seen, and he's kind of got the "i dont know you why are you talking to me" attitude anyway, but he did fine.

Maya was led to Rosetta. She was pretty friendly. I really liked her.

By this point, Tink was saying hello to Baby James.

Rosetta went over to visit him as well.

Tink then led Maya to her station by the hand. But the ppass CM was watching Rosetta and the baby. (I think it irritated Tink a bit- she let out this noise- I'm not sure what to call it but it was like she was saying hello, I'm here, let's keep this show moving- but it was totally in character)

Then Tink led Maya to Terrance. He was really good- I love it when the characters get down on the kids level. Too bad at this point the second movie was just coming out and I had no idea who this was. By now I think Maya could tell him all of his lines, she's watched the movie so much.

Next up:
Breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table!!!!

 

[lbuzz52]

So it was now 1033. We literally ran to the castle, but of course hadn't thought to take the time to figure out where the entrance was when we were there the day before. So we entered the doors at almost 10 minutes late. I didn't figure that this was a big deal- I had just been told by Ohana's that it was okay to be a couple minutes late. Well, here, it was a bit of a bigger deal. Especially since our reservation happened to be the last breakfast seating time. Thankfully, the hostess was able to still let us in. Cinderella had already left, but they told us she would be back in a few minutes and we could take it then.

When we made the reservation, you had to prepay in full. You were supposed to tell them at check in if you wanted to use your dining plan credits instead, and then they would refund you. So I do so, and they tell me I will see a credit within such and such time. Mine was up about 3 days later.

So when we sat down they brought out a bowl of breakfast breads, in addition to fresh fruit and orange juice. We ordered our food and then saw we were just in time for the wishing ceremony.

I tried to google the menu online, but it looks like they may have changed the menu. I was quite hungry by this point, so I didn't remember to catch a pic of the food until we were well into it. Chris and Maya's plates were not very appealing by this point- so I won't share those pictures. Maya got regular kids French toast, with bacon and scrambled eggs. Chris got "fancy" French toast, with bacon. It was topped with fruit and I think it was stuffed. He said it was definetely dessert for breakfast. My plate was pretty clean though, so here's a pic of when I was done with it.

It was a spinach omelet (sort of a muffin shape) with potatoes and sausage. I really liked this omelet. Yum!! If I viewed the most current menu on google a few minutes ago- it may not still be available.



While we were eating, the princesses came to see us.

First it was Snow White.

Then Sleeping Beauty.

After she visited with Maya she planted a big one on James.

(you can see a bit of Maya's food on the left, and Chris's is in front of him.)

Then Belle- she was very short.

And finally Jasmine. She was definitely the best character interaction here.

She took a picture with James too.

In the meantime, the Cm from check in came back and told us that Cinderella wouldn’t be back for pictures until 1145. She gave us a pass to come back then and go straight to the front of the line. She also gave us a fastpass for any ride in the meantime. It was 1115 when we left.


I felt that they were very accomidating with us when we were late. And the castle was so very pretty. I’m so glad that we got to see it. But I do have to say that I agree with many other comments I’ve read on here that the whole thing was very rushed. I think I’d like to try Akerus next time. We did stop to take a window picture though.

Here are the very few random castle pictures i got.

inside the dining room

So we had a half an hour until we could take our picture with Cinderella, and a fast pass burning a hole in our pocket. We asked Maya what she wanted to do. She picked Peter Pan. It was actually a good pick, because the standby was at 35 minutes. So we hopped on rather quickly and were up in the air. Silly girl, she sang the whole time- “Yo Ho, Yo Ho, A Pirate’s Life for Me” . Not exactly the most correct song, but still very fitting.
We then ran through the carousel because it was walk on.

Then we went back to CRT. The CM at check- in remembered us and had us ushered over to the front of the line. We had to wait for a person or two and then it was our time. Maya said her hellos and took a couple of pictures.

She then started walking off before she remembered that she needed to give her a hug. In that split second another child had already been usher up to Cindy. Oh, Maya’s face was pitiful. But she got over it so very quickly when the word SWIM was mentioned. So we headed to the bus to go back to our hotel. We needed a bit of a break before Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party!!!



Next up: MNSSHP- how would it go?

 

[Stacey16]

Just read through everything! Great job - can't wait to hear more!

 

[Charlefours]

I love how when you go on vacation, you are so concern with sleeping past a time that you end up waking up more often! I know that happens to me too. Did you have a DISigner make the invites? I want to do that for Lilian too. : Great photos of Maya at the Castle. Did you end up ordering the photopass cd? I hope we get a chance to get to meet the Fairies We are shooting for it on my DD's birthday. Your daughter look like she was in heaven with the princesses! So precious 1900 Park Fare might be a good option as well to think about.

Looking forward to hearing about MNSSHP! We are thinking of going to it as well in September.

 

[that's nice]

I still cannot believe how short the lines were!!!!! That is so awesome!!!!

Your pics of Spectro came out awesome!!!!! I always have a hard time taking those. I delete 3 for ever one I save! LOL

The last time we ate at Pecos Bill's we didn't care for it either. My DW has officially crossed that off our eating list.

Great pics with Tink & the gang. Being there at 9:45 is key because that line gets long very quickly.

What a great breakfast you had!! Glad they let you come back for a pic... plus they gave you a FP too.... NICE!!!

I can't wait to hear all about MNSSHP!!!!!