Once, Twice, Three Times to Disney!?! - Updated (finally!) 7/22

[DisneyParkLover]

I read your past two reports, so of course I'm in for this one! And congrats on the new addition!!

Yay! Glad you came back! And thank you for the congrats.

Can't wait to hear about all your trips!

Thanks for joining in! I am excited to tell the stories of these trips, although it may take a while! My goal is to do all three before baby arrives in August! I thought about just doing the fall trip, but each one was so different. One we used pretty much all our own car, one we used all Disney transportation, and one mix. One value, one deluxe, one offsite. Two we flew in and one we drove. And of course all the little stories that go along with each one make it special.

What a bummer...especially for their daughter! Glad you still went and got three trips out of the APs, though.

We are still hoping they will join us this fall. Although this time, rather than plan it around them, we are planning it the way we want it and if they decide to come along great!

I wish all planes had that feature. We've happened upon a couple and Izzy LOVES that, which means I LOVE the lack of need to entertain her. Of course, we call that show "Minnie" around here.

Difference in boys and girls I guess! Mickey is his favorite, but he also loves Goofy, Donald, and Pluto. Barely knows Minnie and Daisy exist!

Glad the two of you were feeling somewhat better, at least.

Yeah. Not the best trip illness-wise.

Too cute in his bug glasses!

Thank you!

Congratulations on your new mouseketeer!

Thank you! We are over the moon!

 

[DisneyParkLover]

Aw! That's such an awesome way to announce! Congratulations! My step son has been asking DH and I for a "sister or brother" soon. We keep telling him we need a bigger house! He's almost six!

Thank you!

We actually were waiting on a new house before expanding our family as well. Our other house was awesome, but we knew with one more person we would be bursting at the seams!

It is actually an interesting house story, so I will write it out for anyone interested.

 

[DisneyParkLover]

Our House Story

We wanted to expand our family, but were really hoping to gain a little more space first. So we put our house on the market right around our early May Disney trip, and started looking at other homes. Ours was reasonably priced, and our realtor thought it would fly off the market. But it sat...and sat...and sat. We had open houses at least once a month, put it in the paper, everything! But the traffic to see it was just really low. We were getting really discouraged. We really wanted to be in a new house before expanding our family, but didn't want to wait forever to have another baby. And with the weather cooling off, less and less people look at homes. Plus, we had seen lots of awesome houses, but weren't sure if one was the right one for us.

So I prayed on it. Do we pull it off the market? Do we rent it and buy something we've liked? If so, which one? Do we wait longer?

So the next weekend our realtor had scheduled an open house. That morning (before the open house), she took us to see a few houses. One we just loved! It was perfect! Great lot, beautiful view (backs up to a golf course), large home to grow into, and way less expensive than we would have expected! But we couldn't move on it because we weren't getting any action on our home.

So we drove around while our realtor hosted our open house. When we returned, Luke was asleep so he and James stayed in the car. When I went in the realtor had a long face and I knew it hadn't gone well. She said "Katie, only three groups came by." I was pretty disappointed. She went on to explain that one was a previous owner just wanting to see changes, so not a potential buyer. She went on to say that the second group wasn't a likely buyer either. But then she got to the third group...

She said a lady had come by and really liked the house. She liked it so much, she returned a second time with her parents! So our realtor was trying to "feel her out" by asking if she was serious about buying. She said that she was, she wanted to downsize, but would have to sell hers first (we know how that is!). So the realtor asked about her house and what it was like. It was the golf course house we had fallen in love with that morning!!!!

So we decided to swap homes! She bought ours, we bought hers, and we closed not long after. Now we are all happily moved in with a little one on the way!

 

[PoohGal05]

I'm in! Just started reading your trip report! Congratulations on your newest coming Disney fan! And congratulations on your new house!

 

[I_Luv_Stitch]

Thank you! We just posted this photo on Facebook to announce the pregnancy. With our Disney addiction, it seemed like the perfect announcement!

It really is a perfect way to announce it!
Also fantastic news on your house (after all that waiting!!) But how funny that both you and the other lady were looking at each others houses!

Can't wait to hear all about your trips, they all sound so different!!

 

[DisneyParkLover]

I'm in! Just started reading your trip report! Congratulations on your newest coming Disney fan! And congratulations on your new house!

Thank you and thank you!

It really is a perfect way to announce it!
Also fantastic news on your house (after all that waiting!!) But how funny that both you and the other lady were looking at each others houses!

Can't wait to hear all about your trips, they all sound so different!!

I feel like it really just all came together. We are so excited to be in our new place and also expecting. Definitely starting a new chapter in our lives. We will be having a combo housewarming/gender reveal on March 12th, so I will be sure to let you guys know whether this Mouseketeer is a boy or girl.

Our house is an older home (which is what we love). But because of that we were making a few changes to make it right for us. We are adding a walk in closet (we don't have a ton of clothes, but the tiny closet in the master wasn't going to work! Also, we are adding another bathroom. Originally, the master bath was shared with guests (also connected to hall). We really wanted a private master bath, so we closed that off and are adding a separate hall bath.

All that to say, we are moved in, but still super busy with renovations!

 

[schmass]

Congrats on the new baby, and what a cool and crazy house story!

 

[khertz]

Wow, that is some kind of crazy pixie dust on the houses!! So glad it worked out for y'all!

 

[crepemyrtle]

I love your trip reports, so I'm in - again. Congratulations on your new little bundle of joy!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

So glad things worked out with the house - what a neat story! Funny how sometimes with prayers things work out like you never would have expected!

 

[DisneyParkLover]

Congrats on the new baby, and what a cool and crazy house story!

Thank you! It really was crazy how it all worked out!

Wow, that is some kind of crazy pixie dust on the houses!! So glad it worked out for y'all!

Thank you! We still can't really believe how it all came together!

I love your trip reports, so I'm in - again. Congratulations on your new little bundle of joy!

Thank you! I'm so glad to know that people read and enjoy them! I love reading other people's trip reports! It gives me ideas on things to do (or not do!), places to eat, etc. And I feel like I've learned so much about taking kids to Disney from the many people who have kids just a little older than Luke whose reports I follow.

So glad things worked out with the house - what a neat story! Funny how sometimes with prayers things work out like you never would have expected!

Thanks! We really feel like our prayers were answered. We asked for guidance and were given the perfect solution. Found an amazing house and sold ours. We have kept in touch with the lady who bought our house, so it is neat to see how it all worked out for her too!

 

[Dugette]

That is a pretty awesome house story! What are the odds? So glad it worked out so well for you!

 

[DisneyParkLover]

That is a pretty awesome house story! What are the odds? So glad it worked out so well for you!

We think it is a pretty awesome story. I don't know what the odds are, but I do know my realtor had never heard of two strangers happening upon each others homes and falling in love with them...on the same day no less!

 

[DisneyParkLover]

Animal hugs and braving the Yeti really works up an appetite!

Luke loved the safari so much we thought we would check out some more animals. And what better combination than animals AND a train? Toddler boy paradise. So we decided to hop the train over to Rafiki's Planet Watch. But not before grabbing a quick snack.



Alcoholic Dole whips! Yum!! These are so good and very refreshing since Animal Kingdom is so hot. After finishing our delicious snack, we got on the train.










First stop was the petting area. Luke loved meeting the animals. He kept brushing them and giving them hugs! (Only recently did Luke start giving animals hugs using his arms. Prior to that hugs were all given like this - leaning in and rubbing his face against the animal! )













Believe it or not, Luke still wasn't tired of animals at this point, so we decided to head inside for an animal character. But on the way in, we got sidetracked by the gift shop.




Luke was really interested in the stuffed animals and my parents offered to buy him one as his souvenir for the trip. Luke chose a super cute safari Duffy (photo borrowed from the internet).




Purchase completed, we headed inside. We jumped in line for Rafiki. (Well, the adults waited in line while Luke ran in circles around the fake rock formation, hugged cutouts, and took pictures with Gompa! There was almost no one in the building, so we let him burn off some energy.)






Shortly after getting in line, the cast member let us know that another character would be switching out with Rafiki. We had already met Rafiki, so that was fine with us. So who did we get?










Thumper! I was very excited as we had not seen Thumper before. Luke was very excited, especially considering he had no idea who Thumper was! But what kid doesn't like bunnies?

After a successful meet and greet, we took the train back to Africa. We had a date with a Yeti to keep! But there's always time for a quick photo in front of the Tree of Life.




We used our fastpasses and took turns riding. The ride was awesome as always! We had really worked up an appetite after all that touring, so we went in search of food. Our favorite counter service (Flame Tree BBQ) was currently under refurbishment, but they were selling some of their dishes at Beastly Kiosk. That's what my parents wanted, so we took them by the kiosk to grab a couple plates.

I really wanted to try something somewhere else, so I had the brilliant idea for them to take their plates and all of us walk over to Restaurantosaurus together. Spoiler alert: this wound up being a terrible idea!

We stopped on the way to get a quick photo.




Restaurantosaurus wound up being insanely packed! But with my parents food getting cold it didn't make sense to try to find anywhere else. So my parents went in search of somewhere to sit while the rest of us got in line. But they had very little luck. They walked back and forth several times unable to find a seat. It was too packed for the stroller in line, so James wound up taking the stroller to try to help secure a table. And then of course, what are the odds... they both found a table! But cell service was terrible in the building and it was too loud to hear anything. So neither knew the other was seated. By the time we found each other, my parents were settled and eating at one table and Luke was already set up in a highchair at another table. Everyone was tired, crabby, and hungry at this point, and no one wanted to relocate. So my parents decided to finish eating their (probably cold) food and then join us after. NEVER again!

The food was fine, but definitely tainted by the hour it took to wait in line, find a seat, and get our food. My parents had the ribs and chicken combo. I had the mac and cheese hot dog. James had the bacon cheeseburger. We got Luke the corn dog nuggets in the sand bucket. I appear to only have a picture of mine.



The hot dog and the sand bucket for Luke were my main reasons for trying this place out, but I will probably stick with Flame Tree or table service from now on.

Next up: we will go use the bucket I worked so hard to procure and we explore Dinoland

 

[TheMaxRebo]

That's pretty funny with how Luke "hugged" the animals - though seeing him meet Thumper it kind of makes sense ... like his little arms won't really reach around a character so he just leans in and lets them hug him

Bummer about the issues with lunch - hate when places are that crowded (one of the main reasons we've never returned to Peco's Bill (though may try the new menu at some point))

I do think serving the kids meals in the buckets is a cute idea, especially knowing they can use them at the dig site!

 

[Shimmyb812]

DisneyParkLover's mom, joining in! Love to read these reports of our trips; both as a fun way to remember them, and to think about things to repeat (or not! I.e. Restaurantosaurus! LOL!). Glad that Flame Tree is back open in it's old location, as it's offerings at Beastly Kiosk this trip were quite a letdown (smaller portions and not nearly as tasty).

 

[Dugette]

Alcoholic Dole whips! Yum!!

Yummy.

First stop was the petting area. Luke loved meeting the animals. He kept brushing them and giving them hugs! (Only recently did Luke start giving animals hugs using his arms. Prior to that hugs were all given like this - leaning in and rubbing his face against the animal! )

Very cute.

Thumper! I was very excited as we had not seen Thumper before.

That's awesome, we've never met Thumper. Didn't even realize it was a possibility. Very cool!

I really wanted to try something somewhere else, so I had the brilliant idea for them to take their plates and all of us walk over to Restaurantosaurus together. Spoiler alert: this wound up being a terrible idea!

Sounded like a good idea, sorry it didn't work out so well. I hate it when parties get separated, especially when it's hard to get in touch. Ugh.

 

[DisneyParkLover]

That's pretty funny with how Luke "hugged" the animals - though seeing him meet Thumper it kind of makes sense ... like his little arms won't really reach around a character so he just leans in and lets them hug him

Haha! That's a good point! Now that he wraps his arms around animals I wonder if he will change the way he hugs characters too?

Bummer about the issues with lunch - hate when places are that crowded (one of the main reasons we've never returned to Peco's Bill (though may try the new menu at some point))

We didn't have a problem at Pecos Bill. I have never seen a restaurant at Disney as crowded as Restaurantosaurus was!

I do think serving the kids meals in the buckets is a cute idea, especially knowing they can use them at the dig site!

It was a cute idea, and I'm glad he had it for the Dino area, but next time I'll just pack one!

DisneyParkLover's mom, joining in! Love to read these reports of our trips; both as a fun way to remember them, and to think about things to repeat (or not! I.e. Restaurantosaurus! LOL!). Glad that Flame Tree is back open in it's old location, as it's offerings at Beastly Kiosk this trip were quite a letdown (smaller portions and not nearly as tasty).

Yay! Glad to have you along! And glad to have you here to share your memories. I didn't realize that the quantity/quality were not as good from the kiosk.

Yummy.

Alcoholic dole whips are awesome! Sad I won't be able to have one on our April trip!

Very cute.

Thanks!

That's awesome, we've never met Thumper. Didn't even realize it was a possibility. Very cool!

We were excited to see a less common character!

Sounded like a good idea, sorry it didn't work out so well. I hate it when parties get separated, especially when it's hard to get in touch. Ugh.

It was definitely frustrating. The food there wasn't bad, but just not worth the hassle.

 

[DisneyParkLover]

An Afternoon of Dino Fun!

So, after waiting in the longest line we would experience all trip and finally eating, we were ready to move on. We headed over to Dinosaur and got a rider swap pass and then my parents jumped in line. DH and I took Luke over to the Boneyard to play with his new pail and shovel. We had never been in here before and thought this was a really neat play area for kids. We did have some difficulty locating the sand area and had to get directions. (We didn't realize you have to go up and over the bridge to find it!) But we were pleasantly surprised when we arrived to find it was well shaded and therefore nice and cool!

Luke had a great time playing with his sand toys, so the time wasn't all wasted. (Although, I did get a little defensive then when bigger kids came and tried to grab it from him thinking it was a community toy. No way kids, this bucket just cost me one hour of my life!) Photographic evidence of a happy boy:









He actually doesn't look all that excited in the last one, but trust me, he was having a good time! I texted my parents directions so they hopefully wouldn't have any trouble finding the sand area, and it wasn't too long before they were done with the ride and made their way back to us.

James and I took the rider swap pass to go ride Dinosaur only to find the ride was down. So we regrouped and all decided we would head over to Kali River Rapids and DH and I would ride that instead. We arrived only to find that it was also shut down! Ugh!

But no worries, Luke had found something to do that he deemed far more exciting anyway...




Turns out the bucket is also good for water collection! I swear, I think this fountain area at Animal Kingdom is Luke's favorite thing at Disney. He even seems to like it better than the much grander splash area at Magic Kingdom. So a few more photos of Luke livin' it up:


















Okay, so that was more than a few! I promise, this is just a small portion of the photos I took. He was just so cute and having such a good time!

After playing for a while, Kali was still closed, but fortunately our next fastpass time was opening up. So we headed over to ride Expedition Everest! We experienced some broken track and had a close encounter of the Yeti variety! After our thrilling ride, we decided to see if Dinosaur had reopened. On the way, we stopped for a photo in front of Everest.




Dinosaur had opened back up, so James and I used our rider swap to ride while my parents took Luke on Triceratops Spin. I believe they rode twice while we were gone, but when we returned, Luke still hadn't had his fill. So we decided to go around a couple more times! Luke LOVED this ride. He just kept asking to go again and again. Here are a collection of photos from our four rides:










After the fourth ride, Luke was satisfied. We had accomplished the majority of what we wanted to do at Animal Kingdom. We never got back to Kali River Rapids, but we didn't want to trek back across the park, especially since it may still have been closed. So we decided to head out. We wanted to get some rest before our late dinner reservation!

We headed back to the resort and spent some time napping and swimming. The resort had a really nice pool area with a splash pad and a huge zero entry pool. Luke really enjoyed playing here! (I will have to see if have photos from a later date of the resort. Or maybe my mom has some? If not, I will try to Google some for you guys.)

After a refreshing nap/swim, we were headed back on Disney property for a favorite of ours - 'Ohana! The first time we ate here was around fireworks time because it was all I could get. But we were so pleased with the view and the fireworks experience that we now often try to book around the time of fireworks. That was the case with this night. And we got a table with a fantastic view!



Being this late, Luke did not have much appetite, but I had expected that. I don't think there is much he would have eaten here anyway. Dinner was delicious as always! Here our some photos of the group (and you can spy the delicious pineapple bread on the table!).






We thoroughly enjoyed our food! No photos, sorry - it was kind of dimly lit. But I'm sure everyone has seen these offerings. The meats were perfectly done, but my favorites are always the pot stickers and the bread pudding! Luke got a bit sleepy and crabby, but some Gaga-snuggles fixed him right up! Before long, it was time for the fireworks!









A perfect end to a perfect Disney day! Unfortunately, tomorrow will not go as smoothly (foreshadowing)...

 

[dglilbit]

Enjoying your trip report and following along!