"Disney World!! Woo hoo!!" A mother/daughter trip to WDW - completed

[AllysonL]

​

Welcome to my 2nd trip report - our President’s Day weekend adventure!

Staying at Pop Century – February 12th-15th!

This was the most spontaneous trip I have ever put together IN MY LIFE! We had a blast, and I can’t wait to share it with all of you! Let’s start with our cast of characters:

Me & our 2.5 year old DD – Keira.

I am a self-proclaimed Disney fanatic – projecting my love of all things Disney on to Keira. I’ve been to WDW at least a dozen times since 1990. I think I’m somewhere around 15 visits? Sounds good, we’ll go with that!

This is Keira’s second trip to WDW. Her first was in December of 2014, she was 15 months old at the time.

She had fun then, as much fun as a little baby can have. This trip was a TOTALLY different experience.

Joining us on this venture – my sister Nicole

Nicole & I had a blast on our last WDW venture – you can find that TR here

There’s 8 years between my sister and I, but you’d never know it. Nicole is a lucky FL resident, with an annual pass. So she is a frequent WDW visitor. I’m jealous! One day I hope to have an AP, so we can make this trip much more frequently.


So there you have it… let’s get this TR started!!

 

[AllysonL]

Pre-trip – February 9th

It was a cold, snowy day in Duluth, GA. I was on my lunch break, surfing around FB when I saw this:

“Yea, I can definitely use some Disney therapy right about now.” I hit share. A few minutes later, I have a comment from my sister. “I’m off this weekend, maybe Steve (her boyfriend) and I will go.”

What. No way. “Not without me!” I say, only half kidding.

Quick search of the weather shows that President’s Day weekend in FL will be beautiful. Hmm… how do I pull this off? I tag DH in this post and say “Keira and I may take a trip this weekend.”

Now, let me pause for a moment. I have President’s Day off. DH just got promoted at work a few weeks prior and had a big project he was working on and couldn’t take any time off. Much to his dismay, he was not joining us on this trip.

He replies back to my comment “Go ahead!”

You don’t have to tell me twice!

Later that evening, I’m looking at available character breakfast reservations for Saturday morning. There’s an 8:05am ADR open at Crystal Palace. I book it.

Okay, so we’re really going to Disney World this weekend? How are we getting there? Where are we staying? What are we doing?!

It’s too expensive to fly last minute. It’s only a 7 hour drive, I can do it. I’ll take off Friday and we’ll drive during the day.

Where are we going to stay? Well… we can stay off property – ehh. I don’t want to pay $20/day to park at the parks (I also didn’t know my sister had an annual pass at this point). Coronado Springs is the only non-deluxe available for the weekend. Hmm… it’s not really in my last minute budget. I’ll think about it.

The next day, I tried playing with the dates to see if that made a difference in availability. Pop Century shows up, it’s available Friday-Sunday. We book it! I’ll figure out the extra day later.

Park tickets purchased, FP+ secured, we’re all set! We leave in 2 days!

After work Thursday, I’m a mad woman. I have to pack, get gas, go to the store – AHH!! Stressed!

I stop at the Disney Store on my way home. Keira was given a lanyard for opening the store last Sunday. She took it to school and it vanished. They were nice enough to replace it for me, so we can bring it with us on our trip! While there, I saw these really cute t-shirts. Yup, we’re all getting one. Matching t-shirts for all!

(Keira cheesing it up with her lanyard)

I pick K up from school, go home and get to packing. I took a break after dinner to run across the street to Target. Gotta stock up on snacks! Get home, get K to bed, and finish packing.

DH was in charge of making sure her tablet was loaded with all the movies and games to keep her from freaking out in the car. Thank God for that tablet!

I think I finished up with everything around 11, and was asleep by 12. Tomorrow is Disney day!!

 

[abarriger]

Excited to hear about your trip! We always take short trips to WDW so I love seeing what other people can pack in!

 

[AllysonL]

Excited to hear about your trip! We always take short trips to WDW so I love seeing what other people can pack in!

We try to pack in a lot! My last 3 trips have been short, 2-3 park days. So I try to just hit the things that are new to me, things that I just can't miss.. and just take the rest as it comes! But if I could, I'd be on the go from open to close!

 

[AllysonL]

Disney Day – Friday, February 12th

The alarm goes off around 6am, and I was already awake. I can never sleep before Disney! We wake Keira up, have breakfast/coffee, put the last minute things in the car and we’re out the door by 7:30.

Keira starts watching Wreck-it Ralph, and away we go! The title for this TR comes about an hour into our drive. I told Keira where we were going that morning, but she’s still too little to really get it. As we’re driving down 85, we go through this little tunnel. From the backseat she goes: “DISNEY WORLD!!! WOO HOOO!!”

I start cracking up! We’ve got about 6.5 hours to go there baby girl.

We make our first stop around Macon – diaper change and coffee refill, back on the road!

Happy as a clam back there!

We have smooth sailing through GA, and before we know it we’re crossing into FL. Make a quick pit stop for lunch, gas, diaper change – and we’re off.

Around 1, I notice the backseat is very quiet. She’s sound asleep back there. She napped for about 2 hours, which was just enough time for us to get off 75 and onto the Florida Highway.

I snapped this photo at 3:22 pm:

Keira was really starting to get excited now. With each billboard we passed, a “Disney World!! Woo hoo!!” came from the back seat.

I could barely contain the excitement myself! We were pulling up to Pop Century at 3:30pm. 8 hours on the dot. Not too bad, considering we stopped twice and hit a little bit of traffic once we got onto I-4.

We parked over by check-in and made our way inside.

The check-in process was smooth, as I did online check-in earlier. I requested the same set up as last time, 50’s building ground floor. We got just that! We had a king bed with a roll-away, pool view, room 1167.

We got settled in the room and made our way over to the Everything Pop! Gift shop. Keira needed a t-shirt. I packed long sleeves, because the weather said it was going to be in the 60’s. Nope. It was easily 75 degrees out. I wish I had known, I would have packed her bathing suit. We could’ve gone swimming, it was THAT warm during the day.

We purchased a t-shirt for her to wear tonight, and an autograph book for tomorrow. Back to the room for showers, and we were off to Disney Springs!

 

[LindseyJo22]

Sounds like so much fun! We're in Macon, and it's so nice to be able to jump in the car and be able to be at Disney relatively quickly

Can't believe you were able to get a CP reservation and a good room at Pop on such short notice - wonderful luck!

 

[buteraa]

joining in!

 

[tortilla24]

Reading along!

 

[ariane37]

I envy you being 7 hours away! And I'm laughing at the "cold and snowy day" in Ga. being from NY . My sister moved to Alpharetta back in August. Last month the kids left school early one day and everyone was in a panic because there was a dusting of snow on the ground

I'm kidding (sort of)! I know you guys have no snow equipment lol. Looking forward to reading more!

 

[Vernie822]

Following! Sounds like so much fun. I would love to be 7 hours driving distance.. a girls trip sounds great.

I laughed at "Disney World, WOO HOO!" coming from the backseat every 30 minutes.. lmao.. that is so cute.

 

[AllysonL]

Sounds like so much fun! We're in Macon, and it's so nice to be able to jump in the car and be able to be at Disney relatively quickly

Can't believe you were able to get a CP reservation and a good room at Pop on such short notice - wonderful luck!

Thanks for joining!! It was total luck getting those reservations! The same thing happened over the summer with BOG - and happens again later in this TR!

joining in!

Thanks for joining!

Reading along!

Thanks!!

I envy you being 7 hours away! And I'm laughing at the "cold and snowy day" in Ga. being from NY . My sister moved to Alpharetta back in August. Last month the kids left school early one day and everyone was in a panic because there was a dusting of snow on the ground

I'm kidding (sort of)! I know you guys have no snow equipment lol. Looking forward to reading more!

We actually just moved to GA in June, we're originally from NJ... so I know all about the snow! I don't miss it! But yea, we got out early one day because we were supposed to get freezing rain lol

Following! Sounds like so much fun. I would love to be 7 hours driving distance.. a girls trip sounds great.

I laughed at "Disney World, WOO HOO!" coming from the backseat every 30 minutes.. lmao.. that is so cute.

It was such a great time! And the drive was so easy, it's a straight shot down. I would do it again, but I do prefer to fly and get there real quick. Thanks for joining in

 

[AllysonL]

Day 1 – part 2

Since my last TR from the summer, my sister has moved from Kissimmee to Tampa – about an hour away. She got off work, stopped home and decided to just meet us at Disney Springs. Okay no problem…

K and I get ready, and head out to the bus. The bus queue is PACKED with a South American tour group. We’re all the way at the back of the line. Thankfully, 2 buses pulled up at the same time – K and I board the 2nd bus, which is also full. It’s standing room only by the time we get on.

Now, it’s just me and K – my backpack and her GIGANTIC stroller (I seriously hated this thing by the end of the trip). K is just excited to be on the bus, but I’m nervous about her standing. Well, before I know it, the woman sitting on the seat in front of me scoops K up into her lap and held her the whole trip. They were a sweet elderly couple from NC – visiting their kids and grandkids who were down for a marching band/cheer/dance thing. I just couldn’t believe that this lady was so nice to help me, it was really sweet.

The ride to Disney Springs was long, and full of traffic. Thank god for this woman, there’s no way K could’ve stood on the bus this whole time. We got to Disney Springs around 6:45.

We looked around in the Christmas store and a few other shops while we waited for my sister, she texts me that she’s stuck in traffic. We decide dinner will be at Earl of Sandwich, since everything else was mobbed.

Checking my texts, we got our food around 7:25 and Nicole was there shortly after. I have no pictures, and I don’t even remember what I ordered! It was good though. I know K got the grilled cheese and Nicole got the Holiday Sandwich. They both enjoyed theirs as well.


We walked around, K & I rode the carousel, we went into the co-op area where I found this really gorgeous mug

That’s not the best picture, but trust me… it’s so pretty!

We noticed there was a DJ and some flashing lights going on by World of Disney. K LOVES to dance, so we decided to check it out. Here’s some of my clips:

She was having so much fun, she didn’t want to leave! I was really starting to get tired though, and we need to get up early. We took a quick look through World of Disney and decided to call it a night. We headed back to the bus with Nicole. Thankfully, she waited with me until a bus showed up so I could get all our stuff together and get K on to the bus. It was around 9:30, and I know we were back in the room around 10. We called DH to say goodnight, and it was lights out. Big day tomorrow!

 

[AllysonL]

I’m going to take a moment to share my thoughts on Pop at this point on our trip.

It’s our first night, I’m exhausted… after barely sleeping the night before, driving all day, and our eventful evening. I cannot sleep. It’s so noisy outside. There’s people screaming, running up and down the walkway right outside the window. We were in bed at 11, it was well after 1am by the time I finally fell asleep and things quieted down outside.

There were a ton of travel groups staying here, between the band/dance comps, and the South American groups… lots of rowdy kids. Which, I should have expected, it being a holiday weekend – lesson learned.

One of my major complaints about the last time we stayed at Pop was that the walls are so thin, and you could hear the plumbing over head. While we were in the same section – we were in a different building from the last time. It didn’t make a difference. Every time the toilet flushed above us, or they ran the water, we heard it. Thankfully the people in the adjoining room were quiet – I felt bad for them because K is a loud mouth… so I’m sure they were complaining about us!

I did not sleep very well the first night. I was awake just after 5am.

But, that quickly turns to this:

It’s Magic Kingdom day!!


... to be continued

 

[Lisa Lisa]

Enjoying your report so far! I love that we were both there doing last minute trips at the same time. Jealous that you are relatively easy driving distance away!

 

[Tink2Day]

Keira is absolutely adorable (WooHoo)You girls had an action packed trip for sure!

I'm like the others envying your 7 hour drive....it's a 6+ hour flight for us and a 27 hour drive....

 

[AllysonL]

Magic Kingdom – Part 1

After not having the best night of sleep, I’m up bright and early to get ready for our park day.

Word to the wise for those who are traveling with little ones – leave yourself PLENTY of time to get ready in the morning. Keira is at the age where she wants to do everything herself, which is both exciting and super frustrating, because everything takes 15 minutes longer than it needs to!

We have an 8:05 ADR at Crystal Place. I said I wanted to be at the bus stop by 7am. I’m not sure exactly what time we made it out there, but the picture on my phone confirms we were on the bus at 7:22, and in the Magic Kingdom by 7:45. Since we had an early ADR, we get to enter the MK before the rope drop crowd, which means a nearly empty Main Street, USA. My favorite! Of course, the first few steps into Magic Kingdom and I’m trying to hold back the tears of joy…

This is where it gets fun, and I will bombard you with photos!

I’m surprised you can’t hear my voice cracking in this video. I was trying so hard to not sob right there. She was SO excited!

I apologize for the crooked photos, I think I was too excited to hold the camera straight..

We tried to pose for a Photopass picture here, but couldn’t. The photographer said: “We don’t have time, they’re coming!”

Look at all those people!


Once we got into the hub area, we were able to pose for some pictures. We still had a few minutes before checking in for breakfast.

We head on over to Crystal Palace and get check in for our ADR. They took my phone number, and said they’d text me when our table was ready. There was quite a few people waiting outside, but we only waited about 5-10 minutes before we got the text. While we were waiting, I was killing time taking some pictures and Keira was checking out the Disney ducks

Okay, time to go in! Let’s eat!!

 

[AllysonL]

Crystal Palace – Breakfast with Character

The last time I ate at Crystal Palace, I was probably 13-14 years old. So roughly 20 years ago. I don’t remember anything about it, other than it was breakfast with Winnie the Pooh and friends. I was very excited to try all the foods I’ve read about on the Dis! Especially the Pooh’s stuffed French toast.

We were seated not far from the buffet, and Eeyore and Pooh weren’t too far away. Keira got her book all ready and we waited for the characters to come around before we went for food.

Finally, time to dig in! I got a little bit of everything:

I can never pass up Mickey waffles! The French toast was really good, but my favorite was the potato casserole. Overall, very pleased with the food.

Tigger and Piglet were next!

All done with our food, and the characters – it was time to get to our first fast pass of the day. But where’s our waitress?

We waited…

And waited…

And waited…

It was probably a good 10 minutes before she came to drop of the check, and then she was gone again. Word to the wise, pay your check as soon as you can. Because at this point, Keira was getting antsy and kept wanting to go back to get the characters.

Okay, check is paid. Let’s go!

 

[AllysonL]

Love this view!!

We were able to walk through the castle – which I wasn’t able to do on my last two trips. And I finally found this fountain! I had no idea where it was. I always saw pictures of it, and honestly it’s very easy to walk past!

Our first FP+ was a meet & greet with Rapunzel and Cinderella! I was so excited for Keira to meet the Princesses. She was totally star struck and wouldn’t talk to either of them!

From there, we went to our next FP+ - Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. I love this ride, it’s so cute!

As we were walking by, the line for Mine Train was pretty much down to Storybook Circus. It was ridiculously packed!

After Winnie the Pooh, we headed over to meet Merida! I love that they have this area set up for kids to color and to practice their archery skills. It helped pass the time for sure!

Merida was so pretty, and her accent was spot on! Again, Keira was speechless lol

From here we walked over to Journey of the Little Mermaid. I like this ride also, I especially love when you’re going backwards “under the sea” and your clam shell stops moving, and your suspended on a 45-degree angle!

The ride stopped at least 3 times while we were on it. I’ve heard this happens often – but it wasn’t a big deal for us. I was just soaking up the scenery.

Our 3rd FP+ was for Enchanted Tales with Belle. I’ve never seen this before, so I was really excited for this! Keira got picked to play the part of Chip, so I was even more excited!

It. Was. A. DISASTER!

To be continued!

 

[heaven2dc]

How adorable is your daughter! So cute - loved her reaction to seeing the Castle for the first time

I need to find that cup that you bought! Love it!

 

[AllysonL]

Enjoying your report so far! I love that we were both there doing last minute trips at the same time. Jealous that you are relatively easy driving distance away!

Thanks!

Keira is absolutely adorable (WooHoo)You girls had an action packed trip for sure!

I'm like the others envying your 7 hour drive....it's a 6+ hour flight for us and a 27 hour drive....

Thank you
That's a long flight, but I'd take 6+ hours on a plane over 27 hours in the car for sure!

How adorable is your daughter! So cute - loved her reaction to seeing the Castle for the first time

I need to find that cup that you bought! Love it!

She is pretty cute sometimes lol
I wish I remember the name of the store in the co-op. It had all the kitchen stuff. We had actually walked out of the store to leave, and I saw it in the window and went back for it. Nicole got one too. It's huge, and I love it!