Well Begun is Half Done...When Plans Go Awry (UPDATE: 4/30)

[danceintherain]

This was when my controlling nature and aversion to waiting came into play. I wanted to do the Flight of the Hippogriff with G, and when I went over to it, the line was 30 minutes long! I was worried that the line would just get longer, so I went and got into it with him, even though I knew Kami was interested in riding with us.
I really should have waited, because I think it was down to 20 minutes when we came out…ooops…

G LOVED the concept of the ride, and was very excited throughout the entire line, but it was a little rough for him. I blame the restraints. They have a single lap bar for both people, so of course my long legs impeded the bar from coming all the way down to his. As soon as we hit our first hill, he slipped down in his seat, and I had to spend the rest of the ride trying to hold him up. I was rewarded with a nasty bruise on my elbow.

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After that, we decided to head over to Suessland, which was the only other area we had really been planning.

My lack of knowledge of the park, again, caused me to wait in line for longer than necessary. We went to the Suess High in the Sky Trolley train first, and got in line, even though the posted wait was 30 minutes. I thought this seemed a bit odd, but again I didn’t have secure knowledge to expect otherwise, and I knew that waiting for Ollivander’s that morning set us back, so my plan was already messed up from the beginning.

It became apparent after we had been waiting for a while, that the ride was having technical difficulties, and they were only running one train at a time.

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Soo…we waited…

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and waited…

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For almost 30 minutes.

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This ride was structured a little better. G had his own lap bar, but he still got really nervous.
I think it was the height. I tried to comfort him the best I could, but he spent most of the ride saying “out” and “done.”

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When we came out…the posted wait had changed to 5 minutes.

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After that I thought it may be fun to take him on the carousel. He’d never really been on one before, and I know most kids love them.

Well…my kid is NOT one of them. (now that I think about it, there was a mini carousel in the play area I used to take him to in Korea, and he used to freak out whenever someone turned it on.)

I tried to put him on one of the “horses” and he wanted none of it. This was the only time that he flat out started screaming over anything, the entire trip!

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Poor tortured kiddo!

 

[danceintherain]

Life has been quite eventful lately. We have a new addition to our family. A little Princess born in the middle of February. She was unexpectedly born 2 weeks early, and 45 minutes after we got to the hospital.


Right now, I'm trying to work out a way to get her to Disney during her first year of life.

 

[danceintherain]

At first I thought if I just strapped him in, he would be ok. It had worked for every other ride.

He was NOT happy though, and I found it nearly impossible to get him strapped in properly, while he was trying to dive off the “horse.”

I took him off and tried to convince him to sit on one of the chairs with me, but he didn’t want that either.

So I left Kami to ride by herself, and took him towards the exit.

He dove for his Daddy (because his Mommy tortures him) and I let Logan comfort him, while I tried to get a decent picture of Kami.

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We decided to do the Cat in the Hat ride next, because the posted wait was only 5 minutes. Logan sat it out, which is probably good, because it’s very bouncy like the Winnie the Pooh ride at Disney.
It was cute, but I’m not really a Suess girl, and I don’t think anyone has even read the Cat in the Hat to G, so he had no idea what was going on, and he was still pretty traumatized from his carousel experience, so I think he had a death grip on Kami the whole time. (Mommy was still being given the silent, no snuggles treatment)

We thought about taking him on the spokes ride similar to Dumbo, but everyone was getting hungry at this point, and I think we had already put G in the stroller for a little down time.
We headed back over to Mythos. It is conveniently located in the “Mysterious Island” portion of the park, which is the one between the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and the Suessland.
I also found that it had some of the best reviews of all our options.
I knew that I didn’t want to trek all the way out of the park for a meal, but I wanted to make sure we had a decent place to rest if we decided to tour more in the afternoon.

We checked in a bit before our 12:45 reservation time.
I had the hardest time with this reservation, because I had NO idea how our touring was going to work that day. I didn’t want it to be too late, because we may have moved on to the other side of the park by then, but I didn’t want it to be too early, because I figured it was going to act as our “break” that day.

I'm pretty sure G took this picture​

I probably should have scheduled it for closer to noon, but the service was very quick. It was a mere 30 minutes from the time we checked in until our food was sitting in front of us. Maybe we just ate there on a good day, but I was very happy with the service.

Logan ordered the Steak & Port Panini ($11.99)

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Kami order the Kid’s Pepperoni Pizza ($5.99)

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G got the Kid’s Chicken Fingers with Grapes & Apple Juice ($5.99 + $1.79)

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I had the Bistro Filet ($16.99)

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Total: $46.60

I think Kami had actually ordered the Chef’s Signature Pizza appetizer as her entrée, but the waitress knew enough to put it in as a kid’s meal to save us a few bucks. It was a bit strange to me that a kid’s drink was a separate cost, because pretty much everywhere I’ve ever dined has had the kid’s drink as an inclusion, but the meal overall was so inexpensive that it doesn’t bother me that much. I probably would not have ordered him juice if I had known though.

Ultimately, you can’t order what we did at Disney for such a low cost. My steak was excellent, and everyone else seemed to enjoy their meals a great deal as well. I’d say it was probably one of the better meals of our trip, second only to Ohana, and it was half the price!

 

[danceintherain]

After Mythos I asked if anyone else wanted to stay for a while or at least walk through the other areas, but Logan and G were very tired, and Kami didn’t care, so we decided to go back to Disney.
I was a little bummed that we got to less than half of the park, but I knew that I would pretty much be the only one to enjoy any of the rest of it anyways.
If we had been at Disney, or had stayed at a Universal hotel, I probably would have stayed behind by myself for a little while, but since we shared our transportation, I couldn’t do so.

I was beginning to feel as if this trip was going to be very incomplete. Thus far, we had done only half of 3 parks. I’m not opposed to skipping stuff on purpose, but there were notable things at each park that we didn’t manage to do, because we were limited on time.

We made our way to the exit…

The drive back was uneventful as well, and we had no trouble finding our way.

We took G in to put him down for his nap then decided that Logan and I would go to drop off the rental car. It was early, but we didn’t need it for anything else, and I knew once Logan was relaxed, it would be harder for him to get moving again.

Dropping the car off was a lot less complicated than picking it up had been. The lady helping us even ran out to stop the shuttle driver that was taking the man who was in line before us, when she found out that we were going to the same place (he was headed to Riverside). It was no time at all before we were on the shuttle headed back. We talked to the other guy on the shuttle a bit then chatted a bit about our plans.
Part of the reason we had wanted to take Kami with us was so we going after “date night” of sorts while she watched G. At this point, it was clear to me that Logan wasn’t going to be up for much that evening, or during the day the following day. He really needed all the time he could get to recuperate from all the extra exertion. I was a bit bummed, but I didn’t have any set plans for something for us to do, so it wasn’t that big of a deal.

Also, we discussed having a rental car in general. Logan had been about ready to pay whatever they asked and keep the car for the rest of the trip. He loved it that much. However, I knew that the bulk of our remaining time was going to be spent at the Magic Kingdom, and driving there doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
I did promise him that we would get one for the duration of our trips from now on. There were definitely a lot of perks to having a car while we were there. We spent less time waiting for transportation, and more time actually moving towards our destination. I think he also liked the control, since waiting in lines is so physically difficult for him, especially in the heat and humidity in Florida. We’ll still likely stay on property, and use the buses when it’s convenient, but having a car makes everything so much more flexible.

The driver of the shuttle was a bit confused, and ended up dropping the other guy off at Riverside first (which would make taking us back to French Quarter more difficult) so we opted to get off there and test out the walk between the two resorts.

Now…ever since we had arrived at French Quarter I had felt something off about it. Our previous on property resorts had such tranquil feels to them that I had begun to associate with Disney in general. I had thought POFQ would be a shoe in for that, since so many people recommend it for honeymooners. The smallness should have helped too.

It is small. Everything is close together. But that’s where the appeal for me ends.

Instead of the tranquil feeling I’m used to…it had more of an urban cluttered feel to it. Honestly, other than the superior landscaping, it wasn’t that different from a standard motel. Only instead of cars…there were Club Cars EVERYWHERE. I felt as if I couldn’t walk anywhere without constantly having to make way for somebody driving past.
All the chaos wrecked the ambiance. The hostel I stayed at in Paris had less hustle & bustle (which honestly was the only appeal I found in the looks of the French Quarter in the first place – the buildings reminded me of Paris, although a bit more colorful)!

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Soo…when I walked into Riverside, I was a bit anxious.
It’s amazing that two resorts can be so close together with similar themes, and have completely different feels to them. The river is built into Riverside and adds to the theming. The Alligator Bayou section blends seamlessly into the Magnolia Bend section, and the foliage is more abundant and actually acts as shade. The pathways wind around with lots of places to get “lost.”
I could see myself lingering there, which was something I never adequately accomplished while we were at the French Quarter.

Now…I can see why some people like the French Quarter. The smallness certainly is nice and the rooms are gorgeous, but we need more out of our hotel than a place to rest our heads. We actually spend quite a bit of time there, so it needs to have some appeal past convenience.
We thoroughly enjoyed the walk back, and I can see myself doing it a couple times for Biscuits & Gravy on a late start morning, whenever we stay at Riverside.

I doubt we’ll ever stay at French Quarter again.

That evening we all stayed in. I think we considered going to Downtown Disney, but all decided against it. We all filtered in and out of the food court for snacks and dinner.
I’m honestly not sure what I ate that night. Since I had finished off my lunch pretty well, I think I may have just gotten an ice cream cookie sandwich.
I think Kami got a Meatball Sub ($6.99) and Logan got a Quesadilla ($9.99) and an Ice cream cone ($3.59). I think Logan tried to share his quesadilla with G, but he probably ended up eating an uncrustable.

 

[danceintherain]

The next day was set aside as a break. Since we only had 4 days of Disney park admission, I figured it would be a good time to test out taking a full break day from the parks.
G, of course, could not care less that the rest of us wanted to sleep, and I think he woke up earlier that morning than he had on any other day during our trip (probably adjusting to the time change).
I tried to stall him for a while, but eventually I decided we should get some breakfast, so we went together to the food court.
Apparently, food courts are only a little better than carousels in his estimation, so every time we went in there, he threw a mini tantrum.
I got a kid’s breakfast platter ($4.99) for us to split since the Biscuits & Gravy had gone so poorly the day before (usually he loves them) and sat us well away from the TV.
It worked well for us. I ate the mini Mickey waffle and some strawberries, and G ate the eggs and the grapes.
The only drawback was that I didn’t know enough to ask for the regular waffle instead of the multi grain…so it was a little grainier than I like.
After we finished eating, I took G to the playground to play for a while.
Then we wandered around the resort for a bit. I thought about taking him on the boat ride to Riverside, but I don’t think the boats were quite running yet, so we walked around…and dodged Club Cars for a while before we headed back to the room.

It was a little after 9am at this point, and I knew I needed to take G to the pool soon if I wanted to be back in the room for his nap time.
By the time we woke up the others, and got dressed and sunscreened, it was close to 10am.
Kami left the room to go pick up some breakfast first…and stole my flip flops in the process (I had let her borrow them the day before and apparently she thought they could be her sandals for the rest of the week – baby sisters!). I didn’t want to wear my new leather sandals to the pool, but it was either that or go barefoot.

I found some chairs to put our stuff on then took G into the pool.
G is always funny to watch around pools. He seems to like the idea in theory, but he doesn’t actually really like them. It’s kind of like me and surprises.
I took him to the steps, and got in myself, but he didn’t want to go past the first step.
So I had to start inching him further into the water.
His favorite thing to do is just sit on the steps, and I should probably be happy that he’s not more adventurous, but it makes for pretty boring pool time for me. Eventually I pulled him in with me, and tried to get him to practice “swimming.”
The only time this has ever worked was when his little friend Gavin’s Mom was trying to teach him how to swim, and G thought he could do it better, so he would kick to show his friend up.

It was a little cool out still, but not too bad, and of course the water is heated.
Shortly after we got there, they opened up the slide, so Kami and I took turns.
It’s a pretty boring slide - pretty much a straight shot into the water.

Logan came in a little later, but at that point G was already tired from his Mommy torturing him again, and I was about ready to go. We sat on chairs to dry off a bit then went back to the room to put G down for his nap.

It was a little earlier than usual, but I knew he needed rest before our Ohana reservation that evening.

 

[wendy3]

Congratulations on the new baby!! I hope you are getting some sleep. I was so happy to see your updates! Looking forward to the next series

 

[danceintherain]

Congratulations on the new baby!! I hope you are getting some sleep. I was so happy to see your updates! Looking forward to the next series

I think I'll be doubling and tripling up from now on, because our trip was almost a year ago now. Ooops!

 

[danceintherain]

I’m sure we ate lunch that day, but I have no record of it.
By the time G woke up from his nap, it was already getting close to the time we needed to leave for Ohana.
When I had first envisioned the rental car, I imagined having it for 3 days and getting it from Shades of Green across the street from the Poly, so we would still basically be able to drive it to our reservation that evening. The deals didn’t work with my plans though, so we ended up dropping it off the day before somewhere else. Although, if I had been processing things properly, I would have realized that the Car Care Center is close to the Poly too, and we probably could have taken the shuttle from there directly to the Poly. Granted, we would have had the stroller to deal with, but it would have saved us some travel time.

Every time people talk about bus transportation at Disney, Port Orleans – French Quarter comes up as the best. Now…it might be a bit better, and it is nice that you rarely have to share with another stop, but it wasn’t really THAT much better than our other experiences. Definitely not enough better that I would ever recommend someone stay there by virtue of the transportation alone.

In fact, our first experience after returning our rental car was awful.
I knew that traveling to the Poly would take some time, so my goal was to be waiting at the bus stop at 3:30 (105 minutes before our reservation).
My best laid plans were not fully accepted by the other adults in my party, so we didn’t end up getting to the bus stop until 3:45. I still figured it would be easy to get there on time, since POFQ has the “best bus transportation.” Surely we wouldn’t wait very long for a bus.

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Well…EVERY other bus came by twice before our bus showed up. As a frequent resort visitor, I know that in these situations it’s often best to just hop onto the first bus that shows up (going in the general direction you need to go) because it gets you that much closer to your destination. But we really wanted G to have an opportunity to ride the monorail, and by the time we realized that our bus wasn’t coming any time soon, it was kind of too late anyways.
I think we easily waited 30 minutes for that bus. (that's not awful, but I'm used to 20 minutes max and the rental car was an immediate, get in and go, so waiting that long was a huge departure from what we'd experienced the first few days of the trip)

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It finally showed up, and we took the 10ish minute ride to the Magic Kingdom and headed for the monorail station.

There was a monorail waiting when we arrived. I took this as a good omen.

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It wasn’t.

In fact, we waited on that monorail for at least another 5 minutes. Probably closer to 10. Before it started moving.
Then about halfway between the Magic Kingdom and the Contemporary resort, we stopped again.

Then we waited at the Contemporary station for a few more minutes.

I was about ready to get out at the Ticket and Transportation Center and just walk.
Even better, to walk across the street to the Car Care Center and rent a new car, because Disney transportation had finally failed me.
Thoughts of getting stuck again within a stone’s throw of the Polynesian resort and not being able to make it in time flashed through my mind.

{ For a little background, I’ve been trying to eat at Ohana for dinner for almost 4 years now. We’ve had a few entire trips that have fallen through, even after the ADRs were booked, and the last trip we actually went on was booked pretty close to the last minute, so the only ADR I could get was after 9pm. We were traveling with a 3 month old at the time, so I ended up cancelling it a few hours before. When I saw the 5pm Ohana reservation for during this trip, I snatched it up, and didn’t even care about how it was going to affect the rest of our plans. (I probably wouldn’t have even cancelled it for Be Our Guest) It even occurred to me a few weeks before that my sister probably wouldn’t like anything that was being served, but I was completely unwilling to cancel it. I told her we could get her a burger at Captain Cooks afterwards if necessary. I didn’t care that we were paying over $30 for her to eat nothing.}

Finally, we pulled into the station…and I pretty much threw myself onto the platform.
It was about 4:50 (according to my photo time stamps it took us a little over an hour to get there, so yes you probably should allow 90 minutes for transportation resort to resort for dining reservations) so we headed over to check in, were given a beeper, and joined the throng of people gathered around the entrance.

For some reason, it hadn’t occurred to me that Ohana didn’t open until 5pm, so it surprised me that there were that many people hanging around. (Note to self: If you ever take up drinking, don’t plan on doing it at the Lounge in the Polynesian at 4:45pm)

Eventually, they did their little opening announcement. (G got excited because there was clapping) and started to usher us all in.
We were seated in a matter of minutes, and our server brought us some bread.

Kami started to eat it…until she realized it had coconut in it.

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G really seemed to like it though.

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Logan was feeling sick. This was really a bummer, because his favorite thing about Disney is eating, and I don't think he enjoyed a single meal during our trip.

We were seated at a table in the back of the restaurant near a window.

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I really enjoyed this meal! I think it’s probably my favorite Disney meal ever, and I’ll probably try to schedule it for every trip from now on. The meat in particular was so savory. However, while I was chowing down, the rest of my group wasn’t eating much. Kami tried a little bit of everything, but she said it was all too sweet. Logan wasn’t feeling well at all, so while I’m sure he would have liked it, he was ready to leave after a few minutes. G ate some, but he was distracted the whole time.

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G, Kami, and I got up for the hula dance instruction.

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Then I helped G with the coconut race. He got an A for effort, but the other kids finished a few minutes before he did.
He kept leaning down to “adjust” his coconut for optimum performance. He really enjoyed it though.

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I do think the experience will be a bit more enjoyable once G is old enough to participate by himself. He wouldn’t go up there alone, and by the time we came back to the table, they had already brought the meat out, so mine was a bit cold. It was still VERY good, just a little cold.
They could probably adjust the timing a little for eating purposes (at least for the first bunch of people)
Also, G decided he was over the whole thing almost as soon as we got back to the table, and wanted me to hold him while we ate. Luckily, Logan took over, so I could eat, and I think he got G to eat a bit more.

Everyone loved the dessert portion of the meal, so that was the only part that got eaten in its entirety.

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It was close to 6:30 when we finished, and Logan was ready to be back at the hotel.

This trip back went much better. Instead of risking the monorail again, we went to the bus stop, and jumped on the first bus we saw. It was headed to Hollywood Studios. It made a “stop” at the Grand Floridian, but there was no one waiting, so we were on our way very quickly.

We hopped off the bus and went in search for the Port Orleans stop, and quickly realized that we were standing at it.
The bus we had been on was heading for POFQ next!
We let the people waiting in line finish boarding then got back on. Luckily, there was still enough space for us to sit. Ah, Disney transportation Karma evening out.
So while the trip TO the Polynesian took over an hour, the trip back took closer to 45 minutes maybe a little less. (pretty much all time spent in motion)

 

[danceintherain]

Kami and I wanted to go to Downtown Disney, but Logan and G were done for the day, so we took them to the room then we went to take the boat. It was a little after 7.

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Since it was the evening, the line for the boat was quite long and since they stop at Riverside to pick people up first, it took 3 boatloads going in our directly before we made it on. Luckily, the boats were running pretty frequently, so it wasn’t that long of a wait. I think only around 10-15 minutes.

We chatted during the ride, and I took some photos of the route.

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Downtown Disney is not my favorite part of Disney. Its ok, but I never feel much inclined to spend very much time there. Kami was looking for a present for a friend of hers, so we went in several shops. I looked at some stuff too, but didn’t buy anything. We only shopped for around an hour before we both decided we were ready to head back. We were tired, and I wanted to make sure we made it to Rope Drop at the Magic Kingdom in the morning.

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Kami made a stop at the food court shortly after we got back for a side of Macaroni & Cheese ($2.49) since she hadn’t eaten much at dinner.

Then we all went to bed.

 

[danceintherain]

The next morning I made sure everyone was up and moving as early as possible.
I did not want a repeat of Ollivander’s , so we were all eating breakfast a little after 7:30.
I got Biscuits & Gravy ($3.69) and Kami got French Toast ($5.59). Logan got a ham & cheese omelet ($7.99). Total = $18.40
G shared a little bit with all of us.

I really loved the Biscuits & Gravy they had there. Some places do awful things with biscuits & gravy, but while these were not the ones I learned to make from my Mammaw, they were still adequate; not too bland.
Kami & Logan much have liked what they got as well, because they both got it for breakfast pretty much every day.

After breakfast, we headed for the bus stop. Luckily, the buses cooperated much better today, and led us to be standing outside the Magic Kingdom rope promptly at 8:21am.

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Kami and Logan were kind of annoyed and since we were in a crowd of people, Logan was having a hard time with the standing (he can’t stand without moving for long length of time). I told him he should find a bench or something, but there weren’t any nearby, and I don’t think he wanted to get left behind.

Finally, the pre-show started, and even though I couldn’t see very well from where I was standing a few feet away from the rope, I could tell it wasn’t as extravagant as it used to be.

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Then we were off…I did slow down a bit for Logan, but I was set on being in the first group at Enchanted Tales with Belle, and there were TONS of people streaming in ahead of us, even though we were pretty much at the front of the pack when the Rope Dropped.

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He was pretty mad at me when we got there, because he had a hard time keeping up.

The extra effort paid off. Even though there were tons of people streaming into the park, it didn’t seem as if very many of them were headed towards Fantasyland. This was a huge change from Universal a few days before when pretty much everyone was headed towards Harry Potter World. Granted, we arrived at Enchanted Tales with Belle a good 10 minutes before we had arrived at Ollivanders.
It’s amazing the difference 10 minutes can make.
There were only 2 families ahead of us at ETwB.
We waited for a few minutes, and they ushered us into the first room at around 10:10. We were, at the very least, in the second show of the day.

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This show is so expertly designed. I love interactive things at Disney, and this show does it well. I think the CM’s running mine favored the kids a little, but I was the only adult who seemed at all interested in participating. I think the kid-centric approach kind of turned my sister off to it, because normally she loves that kind of thing. I ended up going up with G as a portrait.

At first he was not at all interested in participating, but it helped that I was with him, and his interaction with Belle was adorable.

She told him that he reminded her of her friend Chip. He gave her a kiss on the cheek, and she gave him one back. We ended up with more photos on the card than most of the other kids. I think the “Beast” was the only one who may have had more. Hopefully G can be picked for that part next time.
I accidentally took the camera up with me, instead of leaving it with Logan, so the only pictures we got were from Photopass.

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Logan agreed with me afterwards that it was worth it, but I promised to move a little more slowly for the rest of the day.

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ETA: The goal of the shirts was to get Logan chosen for the Flag Retreat later in the day (they choose a service member every day) The night before he decided that he wasn't interested, especially since it meant being in the park at 5pm, which would hurry our break the next day.

 

[danceintherain]

After Enchanted Tales with Belle, it was already 9:30. We decided to head over to the Journey of the Little Mermaid first, so we wouldn’t have to head back this way later. It was a walk on.
I wish I could have spent a bit more time in the queue, but it was very similar to the one at Finding Nemo, and I didn’t want Logan to pass out.

The ride was cute. Kind of a combination of the Nemo ride and the Peter Pan ride. It is a bit odd that they didn’t build a Little Mermaid ride until the movie had been out for 20 years, but I guess there’s still an audience for it.

Then we headed over to Peter Pan for FP. The standby wait time was 25 minutes, and the FP return time was 10:40, so we figured that would work. On to Winnie-the-Pooh. The posted standby wait was 20 minutes, so we decided to wait.
Logan hated Winnie-the-Pooh before his POTS set in, so I knew he wasn’t likely to enjoy it now. I asked if he would be willing to walk over to the new Circus area to pick up FP’s for the Great Goofini and Dumbo. (This loophole sure was nice)
He felt up to it, so he set out while we tackled the line.
The wait wasn’t close to 20 minutes, and the interactive elements of the queue made the time go by faster.

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Logan was waiting outside when we came out with our FP return times at 10:40 along with some “Surprise FPs” for Mickey’s Philharmagic. Even though I knew they were unnecessary, we decided to go there next.
G enjoyed it a great deal, even though he refused to wear his 3D glasses. He was talking and quacking every time Donald Duck appeared. It was a huge hit with him.

Even though it was already into our FP return time (and we had 3 FPs for that window) I opted to do Small World next.

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G enjoyed it, but he wasn’t all that excited about it.

Then…we were off to Neverland.

 

[danceintherain]

Whenever I have to pick a favorite attraction, I always say Peter Pan’s Flight. I LOVE it! I feel it’s exactly what Disney attraction should be: fun innovention contributing to immersing people into a fantasy story. I was very excited to introduce G to it.

He really enjoyed it, although I think the height scared him a little.

After we were finished, Logan indicated that he was done for the day, so he headed off for some rest.
Kami and I stayed behind to use our remaining FPs. I felt bad, because I think Logan was excited about taking G on Dumbo, and he didn’t get to do it. I’m happy he took care of himself though.

Kami and I decided that she should ride with G, while I took pictures from the elephant in front. We only had to wait a rotation or 2 before we boarded. We entered the line at 11:21 and were finished with our ride at 11:28. That’s so much better than it used to be, so I think the new system works well.
Unfortunately, since I was riding in a different elephant, I didn’t get to see G’s reaction, but he wasn’t screaming, so I think it was a hit.

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Then we did the Great Goofini.
G enjoyed this one much better than he did the Hippogriff a few days prior. It was hilarious, because he was making a weird noise pretty much from the beginning, and it took me a minute to figure out what it was. He was making Goofy’s falling noise! You know the “yaaaaaaaahoohoowheee.”
I have no idea what made G think of it, but I found great amusement in the fact that he made the connection. (we watch old school Disney cartoons in our house)

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He and Kami checked out the splash area (G wouldn’t go near the water) while I went over to check on the wait times for the Pete’s Silly Sideshow characters. They were posted at 10 and 15 minutes respectively, so I figured we should wait now, instead of waiting until later in the trip.

We decided to wait for Donald and Goofy first, since their line was shorter, and G cares more about them anyways.

Even though the posted wait was 10 minutes, I think we waited around 5.

G had definitely warmed up to the characters by this point, because he ran up without qualms, right into Goofy’s arms.

​

We got some good pictures, then moved on (much to Kami’s dismay, we had left the autograph book our awesome TA sent him in the stroller).

Donald was hilarious. I told G to give him a hug, so Donald grabbed on and held him in what was close to a headlock for the duration of the meeting. G didn’t seem to mind though. After all Donald Duck is his favorite.

​

We moved on to Daisy and Minnie after that. Their line was posted as a little longer, but it wasn’t too bad. They even went on a quick break when we were between Daisy and Minnie, but they were back quickly.

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All in all, it took less than 30 minutes for us to meet all 4 characters. They could probably use an interactive queue in there, and a way to walk directly from one side to the other when there are short waits without exiting the building entirely and going around.
It was particularly enjoyable, because the building is air conditioned, so I’m glad we did it, since we got some of our best interactions in there.

Afterward, we decided to grab FPs for Buzz Lightyear (Return time: 12:50) The stand by time was posted at 20 minutes, so we figured it’d be better to eat while we waited.
We grabbed some lunch at Cosmic Rays. I honestly don’t think I’ve eaten there since I was a little kid, so it was an interesting experience.
I decided to get something from the chicken line for G and I, but Kami doesn’t like chicken so she went off to get a hot dog in a different line.

I got the Pork Sandwich entrée ($7.59) and a chicken nugget kid’s meal with fries, grapes, and chocolate milk for G ($5.99)
Kami got a hot dog with fries ($7.59).
Total $22.06
I ended up eating my entrée and the fries, and G ate his entrée and the grapes. I really enjoyed my sandwich, and almost finished the whole thing along with the fries. G will always go for a chicken nugget, so that went well too.

After we finished, it was about time for our Buzz Lightyear FPs, since the return time had only been around 30 minutes in the future anyways. Buzz Lightyear was on Kami’s list of must dos right after Soarin’ so I figured we’d get it out of the way just in case we didn’t make it back to that part of the park later in the trip (no one would do Space Mountain with me, so I opted to skip it).

It was fun, but I think Kami beat me. G had no idea what was going on.

We stopped to shop on Main Street for a bit, because Kami still wanted to get something for her friend. G fell asleep while we were shopping, so we took our time. She didn’t find anything, so she decided to head back to Downtown Disney later. As we were walking out, I mentioned to Kami that I wanted to pick up some Sorcerer’s of the Magic Kingdom cards when we came back later, so G could have a nice collection started for our next trip. She said she’d remind me.

When we got to the bus stop, there was a bus pulling up at the same time, so we were back at POFQ by 2pm. Kami set off to catch the boat to DTD, and I took G back to our room.

Since he had slept in the stroller and on his Aunt Kami on the bus, he didn’t want to sleep when we got back to the room. If only I could sleep for 30 minutes, and feel as if I slept for two hours.
Logan was well enough rested at that point that he entertained G while I rested a bit.

 

[danceintherain]

Around 3pm I mentioned that we should probably at least eat some snacks to tide us over until dinner that night, since our ADR wasn’t until 9pm.
I was thinking more along the lines of full meal size portions, and just getting dessert at Be Our Guest, but no one was particularly hungry, so Logan did a run to the food court, and brought back mostly snacks.

He didn’t really have lunch so he got a Quesadilla to share with G($9.29). Kami got a side of Mac & Cheese ($2.49) and I got an Ice Cream Cookie Sandwich ($5.29). Total = $18.18

My cookie sandwich was ok, but the cookie was a bit hard. Kami must have really liked that Mac & Cheese, because she got it about as frequently as I got Biscuits & Gravy. The same thing with Logan’s quesadilla.

I had planned on a slightly longer break this day, since we had such a late ADR, but since G didn’t nap we still were headed back to the park around 6pm.

This was the only time during our trip that we shared a bus with Riverside on the way to the parks, so the trip took at least twice as long as usual. It was nice to see a little more of that resort though, we weren’t in any hurry, and we had seats, so the time passed quickly.

Along the way, Kami reminded me about the Sorcerer’s cards, and Logan asked me what they were. I gave him a brief run down, and he became very enthusiastic about it, so my trip to “pick up cards” ended up becoming our start at playing the game.

I wasn’t opposed to playing, especially since it was the first thing Logan had been excited about all week, and it was something we could all do together. We had gotten much more done that morning than I had expected, and the remaining things on my list could easily be done while we played the Sorcerer’s game if we cared enough about them at all.

We picked up our cards, got a tutorial for playing the game, and were sent to Frontierland/Liberty Square for our first “battle.”

It’s a cute game, and I liked it much better than I liked the Kim Possible (now Agent P) Adventure at Epcot. You could drop the game and pick it up as you liked, and there were usually only a person or two in front of us at the portals.

The cards are very fun each with a picture of a Disney character on it with a specific “power.”
Now…I’m not sure it really matters which card you play at any given time, but some “villains” require 2 or more cards to be defeated, so we got stopped up a couple times when we didn’t put up a powerful enough card, or the cards weren’t read properly.
Some of the other people who were playing had whole books of cards, and would just walk up and hold an entire page up during their battle.

Even G had a lot of fun participating, so I definitely think it was a good use of our time.

When we got to our first portal, Logan decided he needed some water, so I went to a kiosk a got a couple bottles. Somehow we only ended up bringing G’s water bottle with us.

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Then we played through Frontierland/Liberty Square then got sent to Fantasyland.

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People kept stopping to watch us, and asked us what we were doing, so it was kind of fun to bestow Disney knowledge on people who actually wanted it, for once.
At this point, we kind of reached an impasse, because they sent us to Main Street. It was sometime between 8 & 9. So I knew Main Street would be packed with people waiting for the parade.
We walked over to Tomorrowland, thinking we might go see the Monster’s Inc show, but when we got there one show had just let out, and I knew the next show wouldn’t be starting for several minutes, and waiting for it would likely make us late for our reservation. So we headed back and wandered around New Fantasyland for a few minutes before heading to Be Our Guest to wait.

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We were still around 20 minutes early, so I wasn’t even sure they’d check us in…

​

 

[wendy3]

Great updates! I can't believe how much you got done with a little one in tow. I also can't believe all the writing you are getting done with a toddler and a new baby. Do you ever sleep? Looking forward to BOG and more pictures!

 

[danceintherain]

Great updates! I can't believe how much you got done with a little one in tow. I also can't believe all the writing you are getting done with a toddler and a new baby. Do you ever sleep? Looking forward to BOG and more pictures!

The question you should be asking is "why didn't you finish this TR months ago?"
I actually typed out most of the report in my word processor within a few weeks after we got back last year. I knew that if I wanted to finish the report, I would need a fresh memory. Then...I just failed to post what I wrote.
Now I just have to add the photos and do minimal editing/proofreading before posting. Also, Logan doesn't really have a "job" right now. He's still considered active duty in the military (=paycheck) but they don't have anything for him to do, so they send him home.
I don't think I did pre-writing for the whole trip though, so at the end there will probably be a lot of "I think we did this, but I don't remember how we felt about it."

As for getting a lot done, G is one of the easiest going kids I've ever met, and he LOVES Disney World. He mostly just went with the flow, and rode in the stroller when he got tired. The Rope Drop-Break way of touring Disney works really well for us. He woke up and took his nap every day around the same time as usual. The only times I remember him being really cranky was when he was on that carousel, and the late dinner ADR that I will be addressing shortly.
Mostly, he just loves getting out and experiencing things. As long as he's well fed and well rested, he behaves awesome, and internalizes my opinions about things.

Honestly, the question you should be asking is "how did you get so much done with 2 adults in tow?"

As for your final inquiry, I lucked out with a sleeping baby. G didn't sleep as an infant, but this one does. Last night, she had her last feeding around 9:30pm, and didn't start fussing until around 6am. She doesn't always sleep quite that well, but she bulks her sleeping at night (when G's sleeping) so even when she wakes up a couple times, I'm less of a zombie than most new mommies, and G is still consistently napping in the afternoons.
If Logan wasn't starting his training in 2 weeks, I'd probably be planning a trip to Disney for next month to continue our "tradition" of taking our kids for their first trips at 3 months old. I have a feeling it would be much less stressful than the two weddings we're attending this month (my brother's a week and a half ago, and his brother's this weekend). Afternoon/Evening weddings are not accommodating for cluster feeding babies.

 

[danceintherain]

Here's one of my little princess' newborn photos. I lucked out the day she was born when the photographer I was planning on hiring, but kept forgetting to contact, posted about needing a baby girl model for a bunch of vendor props she agreed to photograph, so I got a free session.

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I wish family, or at least sibling, photos would have been an option, but since it was free, I didn't push the issue, and now I'm pretty excited about the pumpkin patch family photo session concept I have in my brain for this year.

 

[wendy3]

Honestly, the question you should be asking is "how did you get so much done with 2 adults in tow?"

Well, your kids are adorable. And, thank you and your lucky husband for his service to our country (and your sacrifices as a military spouse).

Looking forward to hearing about BOG, when you have time!

 

[danceintherain]

Well, your kids are adorable. And, thank you and your lucky husband for his service to our country (and your sacrifices as a military spouse).

Looking forward to hearing about BOG, when you have time!

Thanks!

 

[danceintherain]

They had to call up to the entrance to check on “early check-ins” as they called it, but they told us we could be checked in as long as our whole party committed to waiting on the bridge.
We didn’t have anything else to do, so we waited. In hindsight, we probably should have walked down and done the Little Mermaid ride again or tried our luck with the Little Mermaid M&G, but the view of all the castles was quite beautiful at night.
It was 9:58 when our buzzer went off, so we were seated about 5 minutes “early.”

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The restaurant is quite beautiful. The late ADR was definitely worth it. We probably waited just as long as we would have at lunch, but it was significantly cooler at 9pm than it would have been during the day.
Our server seemed a little cranky, but otherwise the service was adequate.

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I ordered the Strip Steak to share with G($32.99). Logan got the Rotisserie Hen ($17.99). Kami got the Garden Salad appetizer ($4.99).
My steak was good, but I preferred the one I paid half the price for at Universal earlier in the week. Also, I don’t particularly like fries with steak. I’d rather have mashed potatoes. I didn’t bother to check on a substitution, because I thought G might eat my fries.
Logan didn’t care for his chicken much, but it was ok.
Kami’s salad was awful. I suppose you can’t expect much from a salad you only pay $5 for at Disney, but you would think they could do a slightly better job. I don’t like salad, but there’s no way I would have eaten what they brought her.

It didn’t take very long for our food to come, but by that point G was over being out for the evening. It was already passed even his bed time in Kansas, and he was cranky. He decided that he needed to sit on my lap to eat, which of course made it difficult for me to do so. He finally did calm down a bit and eat some steak though.

For dessert, I ordered the Passion Fruit Cream Puff, Kami got the Double Chocolate Cupcake, and Logan got the Strawberry Cupcake (each $3.99). Total = $76.82+tip
I liked both of the other desserts better than I liked mine. I probably should have gone with the Lemon cupcake, but I wanted to try something a little different. Passion Fruit was the wrong choice for me. It was ok, but not really my kind of dessert.
G was very cranky at this point, but I didn’t want to skip our photo op with the Beast. As soon as we walked in the room, they announced that he was “going to check on dessert,” and asked us to wait.
Well…Beast does this thing where he walks through all the dining rooms, so his “breaks” end up being longer than most of the continuous characters. The whole thing was made worse by my cranky child.
The photopass CM chatted with us and tried to get G to cheer up, but he was having none of it.
When the Beast finally returned, G got a bit scared. The Beast was really great, and tried to cheer him up too. Eventually, he was a little more compliant, so we took our group photo (the only photo we got with all of us in our matching shirts)

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When we got outside the building…it was immediately apparent that the fireworks had started. G perked up immediately at the sounds and lights (I guess living his whole life within a few miles from military bases has desensitized him to loud noises). Luckily, that meant he wasn’t too cranky as we rushed out of the park. I kind of felt bad that I didn’t plan on staying for the fireworks at all during our trip. He was quite fascinated.

I wish they would somehow create an alternate exit route for during parades and fireworks, because it’s truly quite frustrating to be trying to get out of the park during those events. They try to keep a path clear, but it’s nearly impossible with that many people all clustered together. We got out about a minute before the last fireworks blasted, and made it to the bus stop before too many people had gotten there. A bus came up immediately, but the driver sat and waited until it filled up.

I think G stayed awake for the ride, but he was definitely tired and crashed out as soon as we got back to our room.

 

[wendy3]

Hurray for an update! Sounds like you had a frustrating night. We snagged a FP+ for BOG lunch, but I don't think I will go. Our group is big (8 of us) as it is a graduation trip for my son and his 3 best friends, my daughter and her boyfriend, and my oldest son, Cameron. Cam and I are picky eaters so we prob won't eat at BOG. Nothing on the menu that looks good. However, everyone else is looking forward to eating there. I would like to see the restaurant and see the Beast (oooooh, scary!), and eat a cupcake. But don't want to waste a counter service meal if all I will eat is a cupcake.

Cam sounds a lot like your sister (is she married? My son is 23 and single ) Sounds like G hung in there as long as he could, but when children are done, they are done. I remember those days!

Thanks again for taking the time to post an update with all you have to do! Looking forward to the next one