We nailed it with a newborn, why not tackle it with a toddler?!? Updated with Trip Video!!

[TheMaxRebo]

Ah the joys of a mostly empty Main St for pre-park opening ADR. Great pictures of Luke in front of the castle. Glad you had a nice breakfast as well

Great that you got on Mine Teain twice. Glad the M&G with A&E went well - really like the pictures of Luke in the curtain with Anna!

 

[vleeth]

What a great trip! I think my favorite trip of all time is when my daughter was a toddler.

It's so neat that he likes the characters.

I loved seeing how much you were able to get done at the party.

Looking forward to reading more.

 

[AlexsMom29]

So I am just now reading your trip report but I'm obsessed with it! We were there the week before you on this trip, and will be there the same time as you this October it sounds like!!! Our son has to be almost the exact same age as yours, when is his birthday?? So many similarities in our trips and it's bringing back so many great memories reading your trip report!!! ETA: I also love that our boys have so many of the same outfits and the same favorite characters it seems, mickey and pooh! Our first birthday party was mickey themed and the second was Winnie the pooh lol

 

[DisneyParkLover]

Ah the joys of a mostly empty Main St for pre-park opening ADR. Great pictures of Luke in front of the castle. Glad you had a nice breakfast as well

Great that you got on Mine Teain twice. Glad the M&G with A&E went well - really like the pictures of Luke in the curtain with Anna!

Thank you! I really love the A&E pictures too! And early ADRs are the best - breakfast food is a favorite of mine anyway, but the park without the crowds is almost priceless.

What a great trip! I think my favorite trip of all time is when my daughter was a toddler.

It's so neat that he likes the characters.

I loved seeing how much you were able to get done at the party.

Looking forward to reading more.

Thank you! I am really enjoying reliving this trip through the trip report! It is a fun age for Disney for sure! Everything is still so magical to him.

So I am just now reading your trip report but I'm obsessed with it! We were there the week before you on this trip, and will be there the same time as you this October it sounds like!!! Our son has to be almost the exact same age as yours, when is his birthday?? So many similarities in our trips and it's bringing back so many great memories reading your trip report!!! ETA: I also love that our boys have so many of the same outfits and the same favorite characters it seems, mickey and pooh! Our first birthday party was mickey themed and the second was Winnie the pooh lol

What a coincidence that we are there at the same time each year. A DISmeet may be in order! Luke's birthday is at the end of July. He had a Dumbo themed first birthday and a Mickey themed second birthday!

 

[DisneyParkLover]

Day 8 - Magical Magic Kingdom Afternoon

When we left off, I had just posted about our meet and greet with the Arendelle girls. Now, looking back, despite my trip notes listing that as the correct order of events, I realize it was not. The numbers on my photos plus Luke's clothing change indicates that this meet and greet actually occurred a little while later after Luke got wet at the splash pad and we changed his clothes. So just know that the meet and greet was wonderful and just as described, but it didn't happen until later.

I also forgot to include that we rode Haunted Mansion before the mine train. Luke fell asleep early in the ride. He was sitting between us and he just melted into my side! It was so sweet!



I think the moral of the story is that my trip notes get a little shoddy towards the end of the trip!

So now we are back on track. We were on our way to our next planned attraction when we saw that the tea cups had no wait. So we jumped in line and within a few minutes we were spinning away!





Next, we walked over to Storybook Circus. We headed over to Dumbo and Luke played in the play area while we waited for our turn.







We just stayed in the toddler area, but Luke loved this! He especially enjoyed this little truck. After a little while, a girl about his age hopped in with him and they went cruising together.

Finally, we were able to pry him away to ride Dumbo! He loved this. It was one of his absolute favorite rides of the trip! Here are a few photos:







Next up, we let Luke spend some time in the splash area. He enjoyed it so much. This was probably his favorite thing at Magic Kingdom! Please enjoy the following pictures of pure, unadulterated toddler joy:









We let Luke play here all he wanted. After nearly an hour he had thoroughly worn himself out! We got him dried off and changed. Then, this must be when we went to see Anna and Elsa. This was a lot of backtracking, since we would wind up back in Storybook Circus shortly. But I am certain from the order of the pictures and Luke's clothes that this must be how things actually happened. My guess is that we had to backtrack because of the fastpass timing.

So after the meet and greet we went to Tomorrowland. James and I rode Space Mountain, while my parents watched Luke.



Luke and my parents rode the People Mover together and then we all rode together when we got done with Space Mountain.



After this we headed back to Storybook Circus. We stopped in the souvenir store and finished our shopping for the trip. We were looking for a couple things for James' parents to thank them for dog sitting. We also bought Luke a watch with changeable faces (different characters) and a onesie that says "Best Day Ever". My parents bought Luke a super cute Mickey pillow pet (will have photos in my wrap up post). After our shopping, we had hoped to take the train back to the front of the park (we hadn't ridden it yet). But first it was full and then they stopped running it as the afternoon parade was about to start. We didn't want to wait another half hour or more for the parade to be over, so we just walked to the front of the park and took the monorail to back to our car.

Next up: another signature dinner and one more bucket list item to check off!

 

[AlexsMom29]

What a coincidence that we are there at the same time each year. A DISmeet may be in order! Luke's birthday is at the end of July. He had a Dumbo themed first birthday and a Mickey themed second birthday![/QUOTE]


Alex is at the beginning of June so yep super close!!! I love the dumbo theme, I'm considering that for a nursery theme if we ever have another!

 

[Gracefulskinny]

Good updates! Sounds like a fun morning at magic kingdom!

 

[DisneyParkLover]

Alex is at the beginning of June so yep super close!!! I love the dumbo theme, I'm considering that for a nursery theme if we ever have another!

I vote yes to another baby and yes to a Dumbo nursery! In all seriousness, I do love Dumbo as a nursery theme. We used "Baby Mine" lyrics on our birth announcements.

Good updates! Sounds like a fun morning at magic kingdom!

Thank you! It was an awesome morning!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

ack, I always hate when the pictures and the notes don't line up! But I think we all followed along just fine!

We just stayed in the toddler area, but Luke loved this! He especially enjoyed this little truck. After a little while, a girl about his age hopped in with him and they went cruising together.

Aw, I love that story ... so cute!

That picture just makes me smile as I am thinking of how much my kids loved all the splash areas. So great!

That's a bummer that the train stopped running during the parade. I guess there is a good reason but seems like the two wouldn't impact one another

 

[TinkLoverSam]

I vote yes to another baby and yes to a Dumbo nursery! In all seriousness, I do love Dumbo as a nursery theme. We used "Baby Mine" lyrics on our birth announcements.



Thank you! It was an awesome morning!

I have a Dumbo nursery with Baby Mine lyrics on the wall... Great minds

 

[DisMom1981]

Hi! My name is Katie and this is my second trip report. My first trip report was all about the ups and downs of taking a tiny baby to Walt Disney World. For those interested, it can be viewed at: http://www.disboards.com/threads/co...-wk-old-babys-1st-visit-to-the-world.3233352/.

So a bit of a spoiler alert for those who haven't yet read it....we had a blast! Yes, there were hot and crabby moments, but overall we had a fabulous time! So much so that we booked another trip the next year for free dining! But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's do introductions.



This is me and James, my DH. We have been married for 5 years. I'm a nurse practitioner. I first went to Disney when I was 8, but didn't become a true Disney-phile until adulthood. My favorite ride is Rock N Roller Coaster, but I also love Tower of Terror, Soarin', Space Mountain, and Haunted Mansion.

DH is a chemical engineer. He had never been to Disney until we first went together (he was 28 at the time). He fell in love right away (with Disney of course, did you think I meant me? ). He is definitely not as addicted as I am, but thoroughly enjoys all our trips. His favorite ride is Tower of Terror, which is hysterical since he used to hate it. He also loves Rock N Roller Coaster.



These are my parents. You can call them Kim and Randy or mom and dad like I do (they also answer to Gaga, but only Luke calls them that! ). They first went to Disney as teenage sweethearts on a family trip with my dad's family. My mom is probably almost as addicted to Disney as I am! My mom's favorite ride is Rock N Roller Coaster and my dad's is Tower of Terror. Soarin' and Expedition Everest are other favorites.



This is Luke. He is definitely the star of the show. He was just over 15 months on this trip. He can't tell me his favorites, but I know his favorite character is Mickey and I think Dumbo and it's a small world were his favorite rides.

Up next: trip details

I just binge read your first trip report and am about to begin this one. Woah- the difference a year makes!!! Luke is so big now but as adorable as in the first trip report. Can't wait to compare the two trips!!

 

[kastoney]

Love all your pictures from the last two updates. Especially the empty MK and Luke in the splash area. I will never understand kids love of getting wet and water but it is clearly pure unadulterated joy ; ). Add in a little dumbo and I think it really was Luke's best day ever

 

[Dugette]

Is he the cutest pirate ever, or what?

Love the pirate with a paci!

Luke just isn't patient enough to wait an hour in line.

Neither am I!

So glad we did this! Especially since I don't know how many trips we will have before he is unwilling to meet princesses.

Really cute meet!

He especially enjoyed this little truck. After a little while, a girl about his age hopped in with him and they went cruising together.

Aw, how sweet!

Please enjoy the following pictures of pure, unadulterated toddler joy:

Love it! So fun to watch them just run around enjoying the simple things in the parks.

 

[DisneyParkLover]

I have a Dumbo nursery with Baby Mine lyrics on the wall... Great minds

Love a Dumbo themed nursery with Baby Mine lyrics. Super awesome!

I just binge read your first trip report and am about to begin this one. Woah- the difference a year makes!!! Luke is so big now but as adorable as in the first trip report. Can't wait to compare the two trips!!

Thanks! Glad to have you along. I am a total binge reader too! Hope you enjoy this report too!

Love all your pictures from the last two updates. Especially the empty MK and Luke in the splash area. I will never understand kids love of getting wet and water but it is clearly pure unadulterated joy ; ). Add in a little dumbo and I think it really was Luke's best day ever

Agreed! One of Luke's best days ever for sure!

Love the pirate with a paci!

Really cute meet!

Thanks! We really enjoyed it. We had some great character interaction this trip.

Love it! So fun to watch them just run around enjoying the simple things in the parks.

Absolutely! That's one of the (numerous) reasons I am glad we can take multiple Disney trips. I am glad we can just stop and let Luke enjoy the little things without feeling like we have to be commando tourists!

 

[DisMom1981]

Love a Dumbo themed nursery with Baby Mine lyrics. Super awesome!



Thanks! Glad to have you along. I am a total binge reader too! Hope you enjoy this report too!



Agreed! One of Luke's best days ever for sure!







Thanks! We really enjoyed it. We had some great character interaction this trip.



Absolutely! That's one of the (numerous) reasons I am glad we can take multiple Disney trips. I am glad we can just stop and let Luke enjoy the little things without feeling like we have to be commando tourists!

I'm all caught up! Right at the end LOL. Better late than never, right? Love the Christmas Party pictures and Luke playing in all the water activities. Character meets. Two very special teips and I hope you will write about the next ones!

 

[DisneyParkLover]

Day 8 - Signature Steaks and Holiday Happiness!

Even after a busy morning at Magic Kingdom, we had no time to rest! I had planned our last day pretty full! So instead of driving back to our resort, we drove to another resort instead - the beautiful Yacht Club. I had made us reservations at Yachtsman Steakhouse and was excited to see how it compared to our beloved Le Cellier.

We arrived at Yacht Club well before our reservation time (before the restaurant was even open), so we took some time to look around the resort. It was really nice and Luke enjoyed the area where they had cartoons playing for children!

After exploring the resort, we headed over to Yachtsman. It was not quite open yet, so we took a seat outside the restaurant. When they opened, we checked in and were seated right away - but not before checking out the meat room!



The restaurant itself was very nice. I actually prefer the atmosphere at Narcoossee's and Le Cellier, but it was definitely more spacious in here which was nice. It was elegant without being overly formal.



You can see we were quite excited to start our meal.





Our server came over rather quickly and got us started with drinks and bread. The pull apart rolls with the butter and garlic were every bit as delicious as others have said!

Unfortunately, things went downhill from here.

My mom, dad, and husband all ordered the 18-oz Kansas City Strip Steak cooked medium rare and I ordered the 8-oz Black Angus Filet Mignon cooked medium. When the steaks arrived, my dad's steak was a completely different cut than the ones my mom and husband were served. Both of theirs were a thick cut, tender, with some marbling. My dad's was a very thin cut (about half as thick as theirs), and very fatty and gristly. My dad quickly pointed out to the server that he didn't think he had received the correct cut as his did not resemble either of the other Kansas strips at the table nor the one on display. The server was extremely dismissive and basically said "It's fine. It's just a different cut of a Kansas strip." My dad tried again to tell her that this was clearly not correct, so the server left and came back and said that she had talked to someone else and yep, it was a Kansas strip, just a completely different cut of Kansas strip. My dad (very politely) said that whether it was indeed a strip or not, he did not want the cut that was served to him (and I certainly can't blame him...when you spend $60 on a steak, you want a nice cut of steak). Our server acted extremely put out, but did wind up eventually bringing him a different steak. Unfortunately, during this process, James and I realized that they had mixed up our cooking temperatures, so my filet was underdone for my taste and his strip was overdone for his taste. Maybe we should have sent them back, but after the ordeal that we had been through with my dad's steak it just didn't seem worth it.


A photo of my mom's entree

So when it was all said and done, James and I weren't overly thrilled with our steaks, but maybe that was because they weren't how we liked them cooked? And my mom and dad liked their steaks, but were not as enamored with their steaks as they were at Le Cellier. So Le Cellier remains #1 in our book. Perhaps it would have been different under different circumstances, as the poor service and incorrect temps definitely tainted our visit here.

Had we not been on the dining plan, we likely would have left after the steaks, but since dessert was free, we did go ahead and order it. James and I both had the Chocolate-Peanut Cake - Pretzels, Salted Caramel Gelato, and Liquid Ganache.




My mom had the Creme Brulee - Vanilla Custard, Fresh Berries, and Chocolate.



Here is my dad's dessert. Sadly, I have no idea what this is. I don't have it written down, and it is not listed on the current Yachtsman menu.



I do know that everyone thought their desserts were good, but nobody had their socks knocked off.

So overall, Yachtsman will probably get a second chance down the road, but not for awhile. The food we had that was the correct cut and correct temperature was very good, however 3 out of 4 of us were served incorrect food and the attitude of the waitress left a lot to be desired.

But nothing was going to put a damper on our Disney vacation, so we headed out to the dock to catch a boat to Hollywood Studios.










We arrived at Hollywood Studios not long before closing time and headed straight for our intended destination.....the Osborne Lights! We have never had the opportunity to see these before, and they were definitely on my Disney bucket list. So when I found out they would be displayed the last two days of our trip, I had to find a way to see them. Since we couldn't go the night before because of the Christmas party, I added it to the end of our (very full) last day.

So what did we think? We loved it!



























This was the perfect end to a perfect trip. One of those moments where you stand there with your family feeling like your heart may burst because you are so filled with happiness. Your own happiness, plus the happiness at seeing your child's and husband's and parents' happiness. SO. MANY. LAYERS. OF. HAPPY.

Full of joy, we boated back to the Yacht Club and drove back to our resort. We stopped briefly at the food court to use up our last snack credits to get a fruit and cheese plate and a muffin for breakfast. We enjoyed seeing that Mickey had had a fun day while we were gone...



And within minutes of our return to our room, this was Luke...



Tired out from his awesome trip to Disney! The rest of us followed suit shortly thereafter.

Next up: Don't leave this trip report yet! Still have a wrap up and trip video!!!

 

[Dugette]

We haven't made it to Yachtsman yet, but I've generally heard pretty good things about it. Sounds like you had a really lousy experience with the service and food errors, though. Sorry you had to deal with that. Your dessert looks tasty. Hope it's a better experience whenever you decide to give it another shot.

Love all the HAPPY afterwards, though. So glad you ended on a high note with the Osborne Lights!

 

[DisMom1981]

I hope to get to Osbourne lights one day. We ate at Le Celier about 10 years ago and just loved it- the meh Disnoard reviews make me sad so I'm glad to read you have had such good experiences there. I am excited to hear about your Beach Club stay- a dream resort of mine. We always stay value.

 

[DisneyParkLover]

I'm all caught up! Right at the end LOL. Better late than never, right? Love the Christmas Party pictures and Luke playing in all the water activities. Character meets. Two very special teips and I hope you will write about the next ones!

Better late than never for sure! Glad you are enjoying it. Hope to write about our two short trips, but not sure how it will go time wise. I will definitely write a trip report about this fall's trip.

We haven't made it to Yachtsman yet, but I've generally heard pretty good things about it. Sounds like you had a really lousy experience with the service and food errors, though. Sorry you had to deal with that. Your dessert looks tasty. Hope it's a better experience whenever you decide to give it another shot.

Love all the HAPPY afterwards, though. So glad you ended on a high note with the Osborne Lights!

It wasn't a great experience, but we would be willing to try it again. And it didn't affect our overall trip, which was awesome! I just felt it wasn't as good as our other signature experiences. The trip was great overall, and definitely ended on a high note.

I hope to get to Osbourne lights one day. We ate at Le Celier about 10 years ago and just loved it- the meh Disnoard reviews make me sad so I'm glad to read you have had such good experiences there. I am excited to hear about your Beach Club stay- a dream resort of mine. We always stay value.

Le Cellier is on point every time we have eaten there. Even those of us who got a good temp and cut at Yachtsman agreed that Le Cellier was better. We are going to try Shula's this trip so we will be able to compare all the Disney steak places. I am excited to try Beach Club! We are like you and usually stay value, but since we had the annual passes that had already paid for themselves the last few trips, we had a little extra money for the hotel. And with renting DVC points, it was around the same price we paid for a moderate (Port Orleans Riverside). Can't beat that!

 

[DisneyParkLover]

Wrap Up and Trip Video

First, the promised pictures of Luke with his beloved Mickey pillow pet:





Resort:

This was our first on site value and we were very pleased. We originally chose All Stars Music because we had read that it was the second best All Stars after Movies (which was not available in the free dining promo). After booking, we received a letter in the mail to notify us that the food court would be being refurbished during our stay. We considered changing resorts, but we pretty much only use the food court for drinks, so we stayed with our resort thinking that it may be less busy due to the food court closure. I don't think it actually was any less busy, but the closure did not cause us any problems. They did have an area set up with drinks and snack items so that worked well for mug refills. We also went over to All Stars Movies once for breakfast, but since we would have driven to breakfast either way (our room was pretty far from the lobby), it was just as convenient to go over to Movies.

We only took the buses to/from the resort once (coming home from the Christmas Party), but it was very convenient. I only wish our room hadn't been quite so far away from the main building as it was quite a hike at 1 a.m. I also wish our room had been a little closer to the parking lot, since that was our only request. However, it was quite a bit closer than when we stayed at Port Orleans Riverside the previous year. All in all, I wouldn't hesitate to stay here again. We stayed at Sports for our July trip and find the All Stars to be very nice for the price!

Dining:

We had the regular dining plan this trip. We had free quick service dining with the free dining promotion and paid the extra to upgrade to the regular plan. We wanted to try some new signatures plus repeat Le Cellier, so we wound up going over our allotted table service credits by 3 per person (6 per couple), so my mom and I wound up paying for our Le Cellier dinners out of pocket and we paid for Crystal Palace and Biergarten out of pocket.

We upgraded our package tickets to annual passes on this trip and went ahead and purchased Tables in Wonderland at the same time, so we were able to use that for the out of pocket meals. We have used it for two trips since and will use it again for our fall trip, so we have gotten our money's worth MANY times over.

I did not keep notes regarding all the meal costs, but I think that we would have saved money with the dining plan if we had purchased it. However, we would have eaten differently without it. Now that they have made changes to the plan I believe it would work better for us, but at that time we had too few snack credits and too many counter service credits. Because of Food & Wine, we used several snack credits as meals, and then had to "waste" some counter service credits on breakfast. In addition, we rarely have both a soda and dessert with every meal. So for those reasons, I probably wouldn't buy the dining plan but I love getting it free!

Favorite signature was unanimously Le Cellier. It has been consistently awesome for us. Narcoossee's and Yachtsman just didn't stack up.

Favorite non-signature table service was probably a tie between Biergarten and 'Ohana. 'Ohana was even better than on our last trip and I just love their pot stickers and bread pudding! And my family definitely enjoys endless meat. And Biergarten is consistently delicious. Great food and authentic - just ask my hubby who was born and lived in Germany for awhile.

Favorite character meal was Crystal Palace. Can't beat Pooh and the gang, empty Magic Kingdom, and omelet bar/puffed French toast! We were also really impressed by Garden Grill, though, and it has made it onto the frequently (but not every trip) list.

Favorite counter service: Flame Tree for great food and huge servings. Be Our Guest for good food and great atmosphere.

Favorite Food & Wine item: the Farm Fresh Pepper Bacon Hash. Yummy! I hope it returns this year! Food & Wine is a favorite of ours and we will be returning this year. And I am hoping that by staying at Beach Club, we will go to Epcot even more!

Christmas festivities:

We loved the Osborne lights, and while they may not be worth scheduling a trip around, they are definitely worth checking out if you are going while they are displayed.

The Christmas Party was a blast! Loved the park decorated for Christmas, loved the characters, loved the parade, loved the short ride lines, loved the fireworks! We will be attending the Halloween Party this year and am excited to see how it compares. It has big shoes to fill as the Christmas Party was awesome!

Trip Video:

Without further ado, please enjoy our trip video. I'm an amateur at these, so don't expect professional work, but I think it's definitely worth 10 minutes of your time! Thanks to those who have read along and been patient with me. Like Aerosmith would say, you know how I feel about my fans!

Disney 2014 Trip Video​