I DON'T Walk. A kids rule May 2015 TR *Completed 2/13*

[Dugette]

Sounds like a great room location - glad that worked out well with some extra CM magic at check-in too.

Definitely relate to the lack of napping and associated tantrums.

Haha, we did that long walk from the Villains lot to the TTC too. Ugh.

So glad it was still extra magical to enter the MK, despite the work being done.

I love your Magic Shot! I didn't realize they did those there - very cute. And your DH's face is hilarious in that.

 

[ashw100]

I'm joining in! Looks like a good time so far can't wait to hear more.

Thanks

I love your photopass pictures with the boys in strollers and lumiere. Nice start to your trip.

Thanks, I didn't even know she was taking a picture of the boys since, they didn't want to get out for the picture.

Oh boy, those travel days sounded brutal. This is why I have only the one child, haha, and even then on her last two trips I took along grandma + godmother so the balance was firmly on the adult side And yes, I agree about the heat! We're Canadians and I am not made for such temperatures! We went in September and I pretty much said never again, heh. October-February for us! Looking forward to your next posts

Oh yeah, the heat was brutal and I wasn't expecting to be quite the bad in May, I can't imagine what its like toward the end of summer.

Just found your report and I'm in. We're traveling with our son who will be almost 3 at the time of the trip and the plane is my biggest worry, so I'm glad(?) to see that even with your three and it not going perfectly, it still wasn't that bad.

As long as your son isn't screaming I think it is a success

Have been absent from the boards for a while and have been lurking for good TR's to keep me going until our trip in September next year. Loving everything so far, apart from a shaky start you are at Disney World and things can only get better from there Can't wait to read more

Thanks for coming by and commenting. I hope I can help pass the time until your trip.

Love that magic shot!!!

What a great first moment walking into MK! I agree that there is nothing better than turning that corner down Main Street and seeing the castle. Pure magic!

We didn't really take full advantage of our Memory Maker last trip and I'm going to try to be better about stopping at photographers this time too! I think I was so wrapped up in our touring schedule the first time that the pictures fell off my radar.

Love the magic shot! Excited to see what your first destination is!

It is still hard to stop. I hate having a prefect touring plan and then stopping for pictures and so many places had a line which I just can't handle so I still passed by a lot.

Wish I had come across this one.

Oh, it was so delicious, he actually got two this trip.

Just wait till you hear how many I shead!

I was bummed about this as well!

It was so disappointing especially becuase the May facebook group I was in had posted a few weeks earlier about Walt coming out of the box and then to show up and there he is boxed up, AGAIN .

Its not the heat, it s the humidity. And if you aren't used to extreme humidity it can get you quickly. Even those experienced with humidity can get caught off guard by the the extremes of FL.

Maybe that was it, all I know is that it was brutal and it made for an extremely cranky baby.

That stinks, but overall, it looks like your room worked out great. And at least you were able to get into it right away!

You know, it always feels like a let down to not get what you hoped for with your room, but honestly after the initial disappointment, I didn't think about it the rest of the time.

I can't blame him. That's a rough walk for short legs.

Yeah, poor guy I didn't think it would be that bad

I'm totally with Joe on this one. I never want to wait for the trams. I figure I'm going to be walking a ton anyway... and truthfully I'd rather be walking than standing. When I'm standing is when any pain or discomfort really starts to catch up. But really, I just hate trying to fold strollers and get onto the trams. So I'd much rather just walk than deal with that part of it.

I didn't mind it some much at this point but there might have been a little tiff about it on the way back at the end of the night.

I'm like you. I prefer the monorail. But I will say, that the ferry is probably better for getting these views of the park as you're approaching it.

It is a nice way to approach Magic Kingdom but, it feels painfully slow.

Excellent point. The pictures never tell the story. But oh my yes. It is hotter than hot there!!!

Just want to remind everyone, its a public service announcement

I concur! MK as the first park is a must!

Definitely

I love your Magic Shot! I didn't realize they did those there - very cute. And your DH's face is hilarious in that.

Yes, he's quite the ham. I wasn't sure if we would get Lumier or Chip but, I am happy with Lumier.

 

[ashw100]

Before I get on with my report, I have some sad news. The baby found my trip journal and tore up all the pages . I took pretty good notes because I knew that I wouldn't be able to remember all the little details and anecdotes. I can't really remember all that stuff now so, I am pretty much just working off of pictures.

Day 1 Part 3
I'm Lovin' This

When last I left off, I had a promise to keep and that was going to be our first stop.

So a little background on what our first stop had to be, last time because I was pregnant and James was still a baby, we would go do things while the rest of our party would ride the thrill rides. On one occasion, everyone went to ride the Barnstormer while I took James to meet Donald and Goofy. I didn’t think it would be big deal because I knew Connor would still get to meet them at Chef Mickey’s. Well when we got home and were looking at pictures Connor got upset that he didn’t get to meet Donald. Every time Connor looks at our album from that trip he makes a comment about how sad that he didn’t get to meet that Donald. This is how our conversations usually go
Connor "I'm really sad about not seeing Donald"
Me "But you did meet Donald, at Chef Mickey's"
Connor "Yeah but not this one"
Me
And one time a few months ago, before he knew about the trip, he made me promise to take him to meet that Donald before he would meet any other characters. So that is why our first stop had to be Pete’s Silly Sideshow.

​

I could not believe how excited Connor was about this. He isn’t the type to get really excited about things. He is a pretty even tempered child in all situations but, he was jumping up and down and had the biggest grin on his face.

​

Connor and James were bouncing off the walls they wanted to meet Goofy so bad. James had a problem last trip where he would be struggling to get away from us to meet a character but, as soon as it was his turn and you put him down to meet whoever he would freak out and want to be held. He loved interacting with the characters but usually from the safety of someone’s arms. I was curious to see how things would go this time. He didn’t want to wait his turn because he wanted to meet Goofy so badly and when it was finally out turn Connor ran up and gave Goofy the biggest hug.

​

James on the other hand freaked out. We told him to go give Goofy a hug and he started screaming. I am a firm believer in not forcing my children to do something that terrifies them. We let him hang back with Joe.

​

We did get this picture which shows how happy meeting Goofy made him, he just wanted to do it from afar. James did happily wave goodbye to Goofy and later all the other characters he met. His favorite was to wave bye to them. Next up was Donald, whose meet went pretty much identical to Goofy.

​

We wanted to see Minnie and Daisy but, I guess Daisy had an emergency and wasn’t meeting. Because I knew we would see Minnie in a couple of locations, we decide to skip it for our first ride of the trip. Being close to Dumbo, we went on that.

Nicholas' first ride ever​

After a spin on Dumbo, our first fastpass window had started. I wanted to wait until closer to the end of the window so we opted for another ride. The wait time were a little crazy at this point and we didn’t have a ton of time. So you know the best ride for this type of situation? I’ll give you a hint

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This actually didn’t work out as I had planned because the Peoplemover had a wait! I thought this ride only got a wait on the busiest of days and I think it was crow level 5 according to Touring Plans. Since we had already walked there and this is my favorite ride at Magic Kingdom, we waited. It was probably a five minute wait but so worth it. The boys were in love with this ride.

​

Once our people had been moved, we went to our first fastpass of the night. At some point Nicholas fell asleep, it was probably on the Peoplemover but, I don’t remember. So what was our first fastpass? To meet the big cheese himself. Once, again James wanted nothing to do with Mickey but Connor loved it. Last time talking Mickey freaked him out but he loved it this time. Unfortunately, we got the same interaction as last time which was to bounce like Tigger. Connor enjoyed it just the same.

​

As we were leaving James was waving bye to Mickey. He had refused to acknowledge Mickey the entire time we had been in the room and I think Mickey’s friend took advantage of the opportunity to interact with James. So Mickey waves goodbye and says, “Meeska Mouska Mickey Mouse”. For those of your without children and who don’t have Mickey Mouse Clubhouse in your lives , this is what Mickey says on the show. It was instantly recognizable and James got so excited. So then Mickey starts saying other recognizable phrases like hot dog and oh boy and James, is just loving it. It was so fun to see James actually connect to Mickey which, other Darth Vader, is his favorite character and the one who started his love with Disney. I didn’t get any pictures of this and got the tail end on video because I was surprised and just enjoying the moment. I may have she some more happy tears. I mean I love Mickey and I know my kids do too but, see them interact and their little faces light getting to talk to him, its just pure joy. After, our really magical Mickey meet I found these awesome ears.

​

Our second fastpass for the night was for the Main Street Electrical Parade. It was still about 10 minutes before the window began but they were already letting people in. We got a great seat directly in front of the train station.

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Connor and I left the area for a potty break and to get some snacks. The FP for this parade was definitely worth it. This was one of my favorite things at Disneyland growing up and my last experience at WDW with this parade almost turned me off the parade for good. The people fighting and pushing, all to see a parade was too much for me so, I was glad to have a nice uncrowded view.

​

Connor would get to excited when one the characters would wave back to him and at one point he turned to me and said, “I’m lovin’ this”. Nicholas slept through almost the entire thing which was pretty nice. Once the parade passed us we followed it up Main Street to the Wishes FP viewing area for our final FP. I was really excited to get to see Wishes from this new area and it sucked . We went in early again and the cm informed us that it would be standing room only at 9:35, the FP starting time.

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I was under the impression that when the area first opened people we allowed to sit but, during Spring break everyone was forced to stand. I assumed this was only for that time period because they were busy and gave away more FP but, I guess that was wrong. At this point, it was 9:30 and I needed to feed the baby and I was stressed about trying to do that in 5 minutes. I am still nursing which is difficult enough to do in public and then trying to rush it. I sat down, covered up and fed him. Luckily, they didn’t make everyone stand up until about 9:40 so I was able to get a halfway decent feed in. The area felt very crowded and there was absolutely no advantage to this FP. You would have to wait just as long, be just as crowded and could get a better view on Main Street and not waste the FP. Despite the lackluster accommodations, I had been looking forward to this moment for months and I was going to enjoy it. Wishes is my absolute, number one, favorite thing at Disney World . It perfectly encompasses how I feel about Disney and makes me feel like I am 5 again. I said I wouldn’t take any picture because I was holding Nicholas and I just wanted to enjoy the show but of course, I ended up with a ton. I will only share a few.

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After Wishes, we made our way out of the park. It was insanely crowded and the CMs were re-routing everyone backstage behind Main Street. We were on the Plaza side and I would have loved to be going backstage except for one thing. Nicholas was screaming his ever loving head off. He wanted me to hold him and he did not appreciate being relegated to the stroller and pushed into a sea of strangers. People could hear us coming and would turn around and then scatter away from us. It would have been funny had I not been stressed to the max, it was like the parting of the exiting masses. I think this horrific experience scarred Nicholas for the rest of the trip because, he refused to go in the stroller on most occasions after this. Once we finally got off out of the Magic Kingdom, I took him out and then had to push the double stroller one handed the rest of the way which, in case you are wondering is super difficult, especially when the weight is nothing on one side and then your 45 pound five year old is on the other.We split up at the trams because I was to tired to even attempt to walk back to car and Joe wanted to walk. Instead of fighting about it we just disagreed and did our own thing


Despite the difficult beginning and end, I think this day went well. Looking back I think it was my favorite day which, is weird since we were only at WDW for half of it. Seeing the boys excitement and ours at the beginning of the trip when everything is ahead of you and there is nothing bad to cloud your perception was magical.

next post​

 

[ursalita]

Before I get on with my report, I have some sad news. The baby found my trip journal and tore up all the pages .

That stinks. Hopefully more will come to you as you're writing out the TR.

Connor "I'm really sad about not seeing Donald"
Me "But you did meet Donald, at Chef Mickey's"
Connor "Yeah but not this one"

Aww!

He didn’t want to wait his turn because he wanted to meet Goofy so badly and when it was finally out turn Connor ran up and gave Goofy the biggest hug.

How sweet!

Nicholas' first ride ever

Looks like a good one.

I wanted to wait until closer to the end of the window so we opted for another ride.

I think for every FP we got there at the beginning or a few minutes before. Was there a reason you were aiming for the end of the window. I'm just curious.

This actually didn’t work out as I had planned because the Peoplemover had a wait! I thought this ride only got a wait on the busiest of days and I think it was crow level 5 according to Touring Plans.

That's weird. Our crowd levels were really low but one time we saw a wait at the Peoplemover. I think it might have been raining. Maybe it gets bottle necked at certain times.

It was instantly recognizable and James got so excited. So then Mickey starts saying other recognizable phrases like hot dog and oh boy and James, is just loving it.

I'm so happy you were lucky to meet him when he was talking. We weren't so lucky.

It looks like you guys had similar spots to us at MSEP. Were you facing the train station?

Connor would get to excited when one the characters would wave back to him and at one point he turned to me and said, “I’m lovin’ this”.

This makes it worth it, doesn't it?

I was really excited to get to see Wishes from this new area and it sucked . We went in early again and the cm informed us that it would be standing room only at 9:35, the FP starting time.

I'm sorry it wasn't good.

The area felt very crowded and there was absolutely no advantage to this FP.

Thank you for sharing your experience so I will know for next time.

 

[deannaf87]

Joining in! Love reading other parents experiences with little ones.

 

[Gracefulskinny]

The baby found my trip journal and tore up all the pages . I took pretty good notes because I knew that I wouldn't be able to remember all the little details and anecdotes. I can't really remember all that stuff now so, I am pretty much just working off of pictures.

He is a pretty even tempered child in all situations but, he was jumping up and down and had the biggest grin on his face.

​

This actually didn’t work out as I had planned because the Peoplemover had a wait!

So Mickey waves goodbye and says, “Meeska Mouska Mickey Mouse”. For those of your without children and who don’t have Mickey Mouse Clubhouse in your lives , this is what Mickey says on the show. It was instantly recognizable and James got so excited. So then Mickey starts saying other recognizable phrases like hot dog and oh boy and James, is just loving it.

Yay for an on Point Mickey!

You wear it better than I do!

The people fighting and pushing, all to see a parade was too much for me so, I was glad to have a nice uncrowded view.

Wait till you hear about our view!

We went in early again and the cm informed us that it would be standing room only at 9:35, the FP starting time.

Same happened to us.

then had to push the double stroller one handed the rest of the way which, in case you are wondering is super difficult, especially when the weight is nothing on one side and then your 45 pound five year old is on the other.

 

[Dugette]

Really sorry to hear about the baby destroying the trip journal! What a bummer! I'm mostly working off pictures too, as I didn't really take notes (which is why I haven't started the TR yet, still making notes from my pictures and/or memories before they fade away).

I love this picture! Two boys sleeping/hiding and one just grinning knowingly at his hero.

So Mickey waves goodbye and says, “Meeska Mouska Mickey Mouse”. For those of your without children and who don’t have Mickey Mouse Clubhouse in your lives , this is what Mickey says on the show. It was instantly recognizable and James got so excited. So then Mickey starts saying other recognizable phrases like hot dog and oh boy and James, is just loving it.

That is awesome! Izzy would love that (never made it to talking Mickey this time, though). So cool that he was able to bring James out of his shell!

After, our really magical Mickey meet I found these awesome ears.

​

Haha, I wonder how many of us tried on those ears. I know I did. And Izzy did.

I was really excited to get to see Wishes from this new area and it sucked .

Wow, that is good to know. I had kind-of wanted to get that FP+ for my solo night, but glad I wasn't able to now.

Once we finally got off out of the Magic Kingdom, I took him out and then had to push the double stroller one handed the rest of the way which, in case you are wondering is super difficult, especially when the weight is nothing on one side and then your 45 pound five year old is on the other.

You are super mom! Seriously, I just had one kid that wanted to be carried around and a husband that pushed the stroller, but I was wiped out just by that!

 

[myrheille]

Ohh, too bad about the baby destroying your journal But you seem to have a good memory in any case! I'm sorry the Wishes FP wasn't worth it. The only time I got an "event" FP+ was for the Festival of Fantasy parade, and that was AMAZING. I was looking forward to doing the same for Wishes, it's too bad it's not as well tought-out. And I'm surprised the PeopleMover has lines now! But I love doing it so I'll probably suck it up for a couple of minutes

 

[rteetz]

Oh no a ripped up journal isn't good. I've heard from many people that the wishes FP is not worth it as well.

 

[afwdwfan]

And one time a few months ago, before he knew about the trip, he made me promise to take him to meet that Donald before he would meet any other characters. So that is why our first stop had to be Pete’s Silly Sideshow.

The things we have to do to keep the peace. But I'm glad to see that it was such a huge success.

So Mickey waves goodbye and says, “Meeska Mouska Mickey Mouse”. For those of your without children and who don’t have Mickey Mouse Clubhouse in your lives , this is what Mickey says on the show. It was instantly recognizable and James got so excited. So then Mickey starts saying other recognizable phrases like hot dog and oh boy and James, is just loving it. It was so fun to see James actually connect to Mickey which, other Darth Vader, is his favorite character and the one who started his love with Disney. I didn’t get any pictures of this and got the tail end on video because I was surprised and just enjoying the moment. I may have she some more happy tears. I mean I love Mickey and I know my kids do too but, see them interact and their little faces light getting to talk to him, its just pure joy. After, our really magical Mickey meet I found these awesome ears.

That's just awesome! I'm glad that you had a chance to have a little bit of a magical moment between him and Mickey. I know that had to have been really special for you.

I was really excited to get to see Wishes from this new area and it sucked .

I was afraid of that.

You would have to wait just as long, be just as crowded and could get a better view on Main Street and not waste the FP.

Thanks for the information. I know very little about the new area and how it all worked. I've kind of wondered how it was. I have a hard time with saving FP for that late in the day if I'm going to be in the park all day anyway. The new area looks awesome, but...

Despite the lackluster accommodations, I had been looking forward to this moment for months and I was going to enjoy it. Wishes is my absolute, number one, favorite thing at Disney World . It perfectly encompasses how I feel about Disney and makes me feel like I am 5 again.

I love Wishes. And I'm glad that you were still able to enjoy it and soak up some of the magic.

I think this horrific experience scarred Nicholas for the rest of the trip because, he refused to go in the stroller on most occasions after this.

Yep. Been there, done that. There always comes a point during a trip at Disney World that one (or more) of the kids decides they no longer want to be in the stroller. Ever.

We split up at the trams because I was to tired to even attempt to walk back to car and Joe wanted to walk. Instead of fighting about it we just disagreed and did our own thing

Well, you know how I feel about this one. I totally understand not wanting to walk, because I can really be a haul to get out to the far reaches of the parking lot. But if I were in your situation, I'd hope you sent the 2 older boys in the double stroller with Joe to make it more manageable.

 

[KyGirl]

We were there the exact same week as you and we really struggled with the heat as well. It was probably the defining feature of our whole trip. And that's not a good thing. We've been in May twice before and never experienced anything like that. I was expecting warm, even hot, but not all day blistering sun beating down melt your face off hot. And I actually didn't think it was the humidity (which I guess means the whole thing gets even worse in the actual summer!!!). It gets plenty humid around here in the summer so we're pretty familiar with that. It was just really hot all week. At least the crowds were pretty low!

We will never go again when there is a chance that we'll encounter anything like that. I'm thinking January!

I bow down to people who travel in the summer when it's even hotter and muggier and the crowds are bad. They are braver souls than me.

 

[Cando86]

That talking Mickey story is so cute! Disney magic at its finest, for sure.

Sorry to hear about the Wishes FP That's always a bummer when your expectations don't match reality. It happens even in the most magical place on Earth BUT the nice thing is that the opposite is often true too in WDW - reality EXCEEDS your expectations!

 

[hokieinpa]

Very cute meets in Storybook Circus! We missed that last trip so I want to catch it this time!

That People Mover ride is just the solution for a time filler! There was a wait when were in October too - just one time but really so strange!

I love the meet with TS Mickey! That's so great that he found the key to getting James to warm up! Such a magical moment!

It sounds like you had a great view for MSEP. I've been debating that for either our May or December trip. I've heard the same thing about the Wishes FP+ - it seemed like such a great deal when you could sit down and watch but not so great now!

Oh that walk to the car sounds pretty miserable! Did you have just a double? I'm thinking we're going to have 2 singles next time (the boys will be 6, 4, and 2) but after some trips to museums and zoos I think we might still need a double and single!

 

[NJlauren]

So sorry the start and end of the day weren't as you expected but the middle of the day seemed pretty good!

I haven't done talking Mickey but it seems so cute and James seemed to really enjoy it! I think for a day of travel your kids were champs!

I love he people mover too! I think it's underrated. So happy overall your day was good! Looking forward to hearing more!

 

[ashw100]

I think for every FP we got there at the beginning or a few minutes before. Was there a reason you were aiming for the end of the window. I'm just curious.

Yes there was a method to my madness. Our FP was fo MIckey and since I didn't want to have to walk down Main Street after the M&G only to walk back for our MSEP FP we hit Mickey at the end of the FP window so our MSEP was up soon after we were done.

That's weird. Our crowd levels were really low but one time we saw a wait at the Peoplemover. I think it might have been raining. Maybe it gets bottle necked at certain times.

I think the secret is out about how awesome this ride is this was not the only time I saw a wait.

I'm so happy you were lucky to meet him when he was talking. We weren't so lucky.

Oh no that stinks

It looks like you guys had similar spots to us at MSEP. Were you facing the train station?

Yes we were, it was awesome.

This makes it worth it, doesn't it?

Definitely, sometimes I feel selfish planning the trip because I am the one who really wants to go but then you have a moment like that where I know they're loving it just as much as me.

Thank you for sharing your experience so I will know for next time.

Yeah, its my recommendation to skip by YMMV

Joining in! Love reading other parents experiences with little ones.

Thanks and

Yay for an on Point Mickey!

definitely made it a magical moment

You wear it better than I do!

Wait till you hear about our view!

I'm intrigued

Same happened to us.

Really sorry to hear about the baby destroying the trip journal! What a bummer! I'm mostly working off pictures too, as I didn't really take notes (which is why I haven't started the TR yet, still making notes from my pictures and/or memories before they fade away).

It's definitely a bummer. I remember everything but not the little details which can really ad something to a TR but I'll have to make due with my memory.

That is awesome! Izzy would love that (never made it to talking Mickey this time, though). So cool that he was able to bring James out of his shell!

It's one of my favorite M&G I am awestruck with the talking Mickey. I am kind of awkward with the characters because I just keep things about it being some kid under there but with talking Mickey it just feels like talking to Mickey. A lot of people think this is more awkward because of the delay and pre-recorded stuff but I love it.

Haha, I wonder how many of us tried on those ears. I know I did. And Izzy did.

They are irresistible

Wow, that is good to know. I had kind-of wanted to get that FP+ for my solo night, but glad I wasn't able to now.

Yeah, it was a big let down to us

You are super mom! Seriously, I just had one kid that wanted to be carried around and a husband that pushed the stroller, but I was wiped out just by that!

Ohh, too bad about the baby destroying your journal But you seem to have a good memory in any case! I'm sorry the Wishes FP wasn't worth it. The only time I got an "event" FP+ was for the Festival of Fantasy parade, and that was AMAZING. I was looking forward to doing the same for Wishes, it's too bad it's not as well tought-out. And I'm surprised the PeopleMover has lines now! But I love doing it so I'll probably suck it up for a couple of minutes

Waiting to TTA was about 5 minutes. The line looks intimidating because there isn't really a queue so it just snakes around but it moves quick.

Oh no a ripped up journal isn't good. I've heard from many people that the wishes FP is not worth it as well.

Yeah, I heard about it but I figured it would be fine since we were getting there late but it was a bad veiw and I would have rather wasted the FP than go there again.

The things we have to do to keep the peace. But I'm glad to see that it was such a huge success.

That's just awesome! I'm glad that you had a chance to have a little bit of a magical moment between him and Mickey. I know that had to have been really special for you.

For sure one of my favorite moments

I was afraid of that.

Thanks for the information. I know very little about the new area and how it all worked. I've kind of wondered how it was. I have a hard time with saving FP for that late in the day if I'm going to be in the park all day anyway. The new area looks awesome, but...

The area is awesome and would be if they didn't cram everyone in. Fine if you don't want people to sit down but smashing everyone is horrible and then add in the off center viewing and I will take a hard pass on that next time.

I love Wishes. And I'm glad that you were still able to enjoy it and soak up some of the magic.

Nothing can ruin Wishes

Yep. Been there, done that. There always comes a point during a trip at Disney World that one (or more) of the kids decides they no longer want to be in the stroller. Ever.

Its the worse and no I can't even get him into the darn this at home

Well, you know how I feel about this one. I totally understand not wanting to walk, because I can really be a haul to get out to the far reaches of the parking lot. But if I were in your situation, I'd hope you sent the 2 older boys in the double stroller with Joe to make it more manageable.

I am not sure who went with who but I ended up taking twice as long as Joe and we didn't take a tram the rest of the trip

We were there the exact same week as you and we really struggled with the heat as well. It was probably the defining feature of our whole trip. And that's not a good thing. We've been in May twice before and never experienced anything like that. I was expecting warm, even hot, but not all day blistering sun beating down melt your face off hot. And I actually didn't think it was the humidity (which I guess means the whole thing gets even worse in the actual summer!!!). It gets plenty humid around here in the summer so we're pretty familiar with that. It was just really hot all week. At least the crowds were pretty low!

We will never go again when there is a chance that we'll encounter anything like that. I'm thinking January!

Okay, I am glad you are confirming this because DANG I wanted to die it was so hot plus with me carrying the baby most of the time and the added body heat of him . Plus, it felt like the A/C was turned super high so it would feel nice going inside but that feeling would go away pretty quick and I would be hot again. The only time I felt cold was in own hotel room because I set that sucker low. I went Jan/Feb last time and it was still hot but more like low 80s not 90s

I bow down to people who travel in the summer when it's even hotter and muggier and the crowds are bad. They are braver souls than me.

Yeah, I'm not sure I could handle it.

That talking Mickey story is so cute! Disney magic at its finest, for sure.

Sorry to hear about the Wishes FP That's always a bummer when your expectations don't match reality. It happens even in the most magical place on Earth BUT the nice thing is that the opposite is often true too in WDW - reality EXCEEDS your expectations!

You are so right, my expectations are very rarely not met or exceeded there plus in the end I was watching Wishes and nothing will ruin that.

That People Mover ride is just the solution for a time filler! There was a wait when were in October too - just one time but really so strange!

I saw it a few times

I love the meet with TS Mickey! That's so great that he found the key to getting James to warm up! Such a magical moment!

I am just so grateful he took the time to say something to him instead of just waving bye and letting us go.

It sounds like you had a great view for MSEP. I've been debating that for either our May or December trip. I've heard the same thing about the Wishes FP+ - it seemed like such a great deal when you could sit down and watch but not so great now!

I would do it again if we could sit and we weren't jammed in like cattle

Oh that walk to the car sounds pretty miserable! Did you have just a double? I'm thinking we're going to have 2 singles next time (the boys will be 6, 4, and 2) but after some trips to museums and zoos I think we might still need a double and single!

we had a double and one single. I am not sure what we will do next time but Connor hats walking so probably the same thing

So sorry the start and end of the day weren't as you expected but the middle of the day seemed pretty good!

The middle was amazing and made up for all the bad stuff.

I haven't done talking Mickey but it seems so cute and James seemed to really enjoy it! I think for a day of travel your kids were champs!

They are little troopers

I love he people mover too! I think it's underrated. So happy overall your day was good! Looking forward to hearing more!

Yay another TTA fan!

 

[banderboo]

I'm taking my grandson in December for his 5th birthday. I haven't done Disney with kids in 20+ years so I'm loving your review. Any tips you can provide for traveling with a 5 yr old, rides (do's and don'ts), shows, etc...

 

[ashw100]

I'm taking my grandson in December for his 5th birthday. I haven't done Disney with kids in 20+ years so I'm loving your review. Any tips you can provide for traveling with a 5 yr old, rides (do's and don'ts), shows, etc...

Thanks for joining along. That's exciting. My five year old is so layed-back and good natured but I made sure to set his expectations. I told him we would get to everything but there was an order to it and we couldn't just ride things whenever. He knew that and understood when I said we can't ride btmrr now because the waits too long but we will at a certain time. You're going to have so much fun, seeing everything through their eyes is amazing and it'll be Christmas time, thats my dream.

 

[ashw100]

RL Update: I am sorry it has been so long since I updated. Things have been a little crazy around here . Nicholas turned 1 last week and had his christening. I have also started working freelance from home and between that and the boys I have had little time for the DIS. On the plus side, my whole goal with working is to be able to save up enough to go back to Disney sometime in the next year, so we'll see how that works out. Now on to the update...

May 10, 2015 Mother's Day Part 1
Where's Pooh?
Today was the day I was most excited for, Mother’s Day. A typical Mother’s Day would consist of me sleeping in late, having breakfast and coffee brought to me in bed, lazing around all day, and then going out for dinner. This Mother’s Day was nothing like that but, it was so much better. I did not get a good night’s sleep the night before. I think I was so overstimulated from the whole day, it took me a long time to fall asleep. One would think that it would be difficult to wake up after that but, I jumped out of bed at 5. Okay, I didn’t jump but I did wake up to feed Nicholas and I didn’t fall back asleep in the process. I got myself up and ready before I started on the boys. I had a whole plan of doing my hair and make up to go with my Disneybound outfit but, after the miserable heat the day before and today’s high of 90-something, I put away any hopes of looking decent in my pictures. I wanted us all to have cute outfits this day. I came across Princess Protection Agency shirts on Etsy and then found graphics for this on the DISign board. I made the shirts for all the boys and then decided to Disneybound as the "princess" they were protecting. My favorite princess is Ariel so I went with that.

We had a pre-RD breakfast ADR so, we were out the door by 6:45. We stopped at Old Port Royale to fill our mugs with coffee and then headed to MK. I love arriving to MK this early because we got to park right up in the front near the handicap parking. We don’t have to worry about taking a tram and can just walk right to the TTC. On our first walk of the morning this was the sight that greeted us

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Yeah, not pretty. I was actually pretty shocked to see this but, on the plus side this was the only time the entire week I saw something that was not picture perfect. Since it was Mother’s Day, I decided we would be riding the monorail.

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They started letting everyone in at about 7:40. As they were letting guests in, they were handing out pink, red, and white carnations to the moms. This was like the swords at CBR, I had heard of it but, wasn’t expecting it to happen so I was very happy with my flower. Once we entered the park we had to get our empty Main Street picture which honestly, is the main reason I booked this.

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We checked in at Crystal Palace and then had time for a few more pictures.

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Our ADR was for 8:05 and we were called right away.

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Our server was a little awkward and he seemed very uncomfortable talking to us. They did decorate the table for Connor's birthday and we got a card with all the characters signatures.

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I didn’t take any pictures because I think buffet plates look unappetizing but oh man was this good. I had the Pooh’s puffed toast which was good and then the breakfast lasagna, it was like heaven. I actually got seconds of that because it was so good. I was pretty nervous about doing buffets with the boys but, we developed a pretty good system. The little boys don’t eat very much so I would go and get one plate for them while Joe waited. Then Joe and Connor would go up and get their food together and finally I would go up and get my food. I would make sure to grab an extra bread on the first trip so I had something to nibble while I waited to get my plate. It felt like it took a while for the characters to come around and we were one of the last tables in the rotation. I think we were all done eating before our first character came which was Tigger.

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This is when we realized James was going to hate all of the character meals we had planned. He started screaming bloody murder as soon as Tigger came into the room. We just made sure from this point on to seat him as far from the characters as we could and then tell the characters that he did not want to meet any friends today. Connor and Nicholas had a lot of fun with everyone though.

Next up was Piglet.

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After Piglet, we had a little wait for the Eeyore. At this point Nicholas was screeching because he was done with this. He develop this screech during this meal and then used it for every meal we had after. I don’t know where it came from and it made it incredibly difficult to eat a meal because he would just screech until you picked him up. With screechy boy in hand we met Eeyore next.

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At this point it was about 8:50 and Pooh hadn’t even made it to our half of the dining room. Pooh is my favorite character and I was crushed to do it but we had to say forget it. I figured we would meet him at some other point in our trip and I made sure it was okay with Connor first. Before we left, I asked our server from some hot water for a bottle. You would have thought I was asking for something crazy with the way he looked at me like I had three heads . I had brought along a travel coffee tumbler so we would always have hot water on hand. Nicholas only gets bottles when we are out and about and he needs it to be warm. Since we left breakfast early, we were first in line to go through Adventureland that morning.

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We left our single stroller at CP so we only had to worry about the double. I figured Connor could handle the walk that morning.

Our first ride was BTMRR. I was nervous about riderswap because I knew in many cases it was up to the particular cm if they would give one, especially first thing in the morning when there is no wait, and they had recently made changes to it. I am happy to report that I had no problems the entire stay and only some rides use the new method. You walk up and ask for a riderswap and the cm give a lanyard to the riding party. Once they get to the part in the queue with the second FP check you hand in the lanyard and they will give you the pass. While Joe and Connor rode, I took the little ones over to the Laughing Place play area near Splash. Nicholas got his bottle and James played around.

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Once Connor and Joe were done with BTMRR they came over to Splash and we got our second RS of the day. At this point, I realized someone (I don't remember which one) had a poopy diaper. The boys were getting over a stomach bug and let's just say diaper changes were very messy still. I went to the bathroom near Splash and decided to use the companion room so I could bring the double stroller in. I assumed these companion rooms were geared towards families but this one did not have a changing table. I was pretty frustrated and dripping sweat it was so hot so I just changed them right there in the stroller. I was a HUGE pain but whatever it is what it is. Once we were done, we sat on one of the benches to wait. We had bought these cooling towels and I had packed them in baggies pre-wet while the boys relaxed.

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All I had to do was wring them out and they would be cool so, I worked on that while we waited. This was Joe and Connor's first time on Splash and they loved it.

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The next ride we wanted to hit was Pirates, I was a little worried because I have heard people are getting pretty wet on this ride. Thankfully, we were not so unlucky and to add to our luck Nicholas fell asleep on the ride.

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After Pirates, Connor was begging to go on Magic Carpets of Aladdin. He and James have recently become obsessed with this movie so, this became a must do.

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It was at this point with the sun beating down on us that I realized we had forgotten sunscreen . Not only had I forgotten to put it on anyone but, I had left our two bottles in the room. I was so annoyed with myself and I had to be one of the people buying the ridiculously overpriced sunscreen at WDW. For anyone wondering the sunscreen cost 14.86 at Agrabah Bazaar . Once we were all sunscreened up, we headed our of that side of the park to use our first FP of the day.

next post​

 

[Dugette]

On the plus side, my whole goal with working is to be able to save up enough to go back to Disney sometime in the next year, so we'll see how that works out.

Good luck!

I love the "princess protection agency"! Cute idea!

On our first walk of the morning this was the sight that greeted us

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Wow! Yeah, not a common sight at WDW, especially not first thing in the morning.

I would make sure to grab an extra bread on the first trip so I had something to nibble while I waited to get my plate.

Smart, very smart!

This is when we realized James was going to hate all of the character meals we had planned.

Oh no! That's a bummer!

I am happy to report that I had no problems the entire stay and only some rides use the new method.

Same here, no issues at all.

I assumed these companion rooms were geared towards families but this one did not have a changing table.

That is really surprising there was no changing table in there!

It was at this point with the sun beating down on us that I realized we had forgotten sunscreen .

Ugh, I've been there. Such a ripoff to have to buy some. I always keep a tiny (travel size) spray bottle in the stroller console now.

Can't wait to hear more about your day!

 

[purplelover88]

Joining in; can't wait to read about the rest of your adventures!