So...as a former cast member that doesn't get back very often I was very much looking forward to taking my girls 6 & 8 on their second trip to WDW. This was a trip to celebrate their birthdays. My best friend had recently gone through a divorce and wanted to bring her 4 year old and mother along and asked me to plan. I booked the trip and asked her to discuss events, but she left it to me. I offered to book different meals because I have girls who wanted to eat with the princesses and she insisted on eating with us for every meal. Before the trip I told her that she need not feel obligated to spend the whole time with us. We can meet up for meals and she can do whatever she likes the rest of the time.
Our trip started off fine. We left on the Saturday morning following Thanksgiving and drove from Louisiana to Florida. We were checking into the Wilderness Lodge on Sunday, but since we were driving I didn't want everyone to be exhausted on our first day into the park so we stayed on hotel plaza blvd for our first night.
We made several stops for potty breaks along the way which is to be expected when traveling with young kids. We arrived at the hotel and settled in. Soon after we left to visit the Board Walk and walk over to the Beach Club for Beaches and Cream. The trip was ambitious to say the least. I had worked at WDW for 6 years during college on the college program and post grad as a manager at Downtown Disney. I was trying to show them as much of the world as I could from Sat - Saturday.
They enjoyed the Boardwalk, beach club and dinner at Beaches and Cream. After dinner I told them I was going to take the girls to downtown disney to show them the place I once worked (WOD). I offered to have them follow me back to the hotel, but they wanted to join us.
Once arriving at DTD it took us 30 minutes to park. I was not thinking that the people that were there for Thanksgiving hadn't left yet -- the marketplace was as packed as I had ever seen it and I worked there for a long while.
We hit the lego store, WOD, and once upon a toy. My friends mother started to get aggrevated because of the crowds and wanted to leave. We then headed back to the hotel for the night...which was around 10pm.
I wanted to get an early start, but held back and didn't send a message until 9. We were out of the hotel by 9:30 and at the Wilderness Lodge by 10:00 for check in. Our rooms were not ready, but we grabbed our tickets and I wanted to hit the MK for a late breakfast, we settled for a snack at the roaring forms.
On our way to the boat the kids saw the pool at the wilderness lodge and wanted to go swimming. I told my girls that we may have an opportunity to swim one day while we were there if it warmed up. It was quite chilly still at 11am. My friends son who is 4 1/2 wouldn't stop takling about swimming the whole time to the MK and the whole time we were there.
The park was busy but not so busy that we had to wait in line for hours. We hit fantasyland and that's pretty much it for our first day in the park. I suggested we return to the hotel since we had 6pm reservations at Chef Mickey's. We left the park around 3:30 to give them time to rest before heading to Dinner.
On the boat ridge back I told my friend that we were going to take the girls swimming and offered to take her son. She said no - he needed to rest. That was fine, but I mentioned that our reservations were at 6 and we needed to head out of our rooms by 5 to make sure we would get there on time.
Prior to our trip I had given her an itinerary and told her to print it up so she would know all of our dinner times. This day she said ok and to contact her when we were ready to leave.
At 4:45 I texted her and said that we were ready to walk to the boat whenever she was. She said she didn't know we had to leave at 5. She just put her son into the tub to take a bath. So.....we missed the boat and I called chef mickey's to notify that we would be late. They said there was a 15 minute buffer. We arrived at 6:20, but luckily were still seated.
After dinner we went to the studios for Extra Magic Hours. We viewed the Osbourne Family Lights, Muppets 3D, and the great movie ride. After the great movie ride I was scolded because of the gun. I wasn't aware he was afraid of gun sounds. That would have been good to know I guess and maybe my fault for not asking. I did make them aware of the alien scene and said it's pretty scary. I thought the gun shots were mild compared to Alien. We also tried to do toy story mania, but they were not interested in standing in line for 30 minutes (which is super short compared to times I have read about).
I was able to ride tower of terror with my friend and all was ok. The kids were all tired at 10, so we headed back to the hotel. All in all a pretty good day.
The plan for Monday was breakfast at 9:10 at 1900 Park Fare followed by a day in the magic kingdom. We were also to meet up with my brother who lives in naples in the afternoon at the MK. Breakfast went well and my friend told me that they were going to go back to the hotel and look around, but would meet us later in the day at the Magic Kingdom. I was actually happy about that -- I would have some alone time with my girls. By the way...1900 Park fare is my new favorite Character dining experience. We had the best time...all of us!!!
Anyway, we took some pictures after breakfast with my friend and her family. We continue to check out the grand floridian while we had the opportunity. We shopped a little while and ran into my friend at the shop in the grand floridian. She had nothing to say to me...almost like she was aggrevated I was there.
We went along our way to the Magic Kingdom for some fun. My girls wanted to stand in line to get a few autographs, so we did that and then continued to tomorrowland for Buzz Lightyears space ranger spin, the laugh floor, and a few other attractions. By this time my brother arrived and we had the best time in fantasyland and frontierland with him.
Maybe my friend was irritated that my brother was meeting us at the park. I hadn't seen him in a year and had already asked permission 6 months before the trip. She was fine with it.
At any rate we had a great time even though it rained that day at the Magic Kingdom...the girls, my husband, myself, and brother had a great time. I then received a text from my friend that they would be heading over soon and she asked where we should meet up. I recommended we meet on Main Street outside of the emporium. Well no less than 5 minutes after I mentioned that she sent another message stating her son wanted to stay in the room and color, so they weren't going to meet us for the parade and fireworks afterall..and they would see us on Tuesday.
I was shocked that she would do everything her kid wanted to do. Stay at the resort to swim when you have a pool at your house and then stay in the room to color because apparently there aren't colors in LA.
I'll end this post for now and will start again tomorrow with our 2nd full day in the park at Disney Studios and EPCOT. Nothing has happened yet.......we are all in pretty good spirits.
Oh I did forget to mention an important detail....I received a call from work that my employees husband died in a motorcycle accident. That threw me for a loop and pretty down for a few hours that morning...then dealing with issues at work.
Our trip started off fine. We left on the Saturday morning following Thanksgiving and drove from Louisiana to Florida. We were checking into the Wilderness Lodge on Sunday, but since we were driving I didn't want everyone to be exhausted on our first day into the park so we stayed on hotel plaza blvd for our first night.
We made several stops for potty breaks along the way which is to be expected when traveling with young kids. We arrived at the hotel and settled in. Soon after we left to visit the Board Walk and walk over to the Beach Club for Beaches and Cream. The trip was ambitious to say the least. I had worked at WDW for 6 years during college on the college program and post grad as a manager at Downtown Disney. I was trying to show them as much of the world as I could from Sat - Saturday.
They enjoyed the Boardwalk, beach club and dinner at Beaches and Cream. After dinner I told them I was going to take the girls to downtown disney to show them the place I once worked (WOD). I offered to have them follow me back to the hotel, but they wanted to join us.
Once arriving at DTD it took us 30 minutes to park. I was not thinking that the people that were there for Thanksgiving hadn't left yet -- the marketplace was as packed as I had ever seen it and I worked there for a long while.
We hit the lego store, WOD, and once upon a toy. My friends mother started to get aggrevated because of the crowds and wanted to leave. We then headed back to the hotel for the night...which was around 10pm.
I wanted to get an early start, but held back and didn't send a message until 9. We were out of the hotel by 9:30 and at the Wilderness Lodge by 10:00 for check in. Our rooms were not ready, but we grabbed our tickets and I wanted to hit the MK for a late breakfast, we settled for a snack at the roaring forms.
On our way to the boat the kids saw the pool at the wilderness lodge and wanted to go swimming. I told my girls that we may have an opportunity to swim one day while we were there if it warmed up. It was quite chilly still at 11am. My friends son who is 4 1/2 wouldn't stop takling about swimming the whole time to the MK and the whole time we were there.
The park was busy but not so busy that we had to wait in line for hours. We hit fantasyland and that's pretty much it for our first day in the park. I suggested we return to the hotel since we had 6pm reservations at Chef Mickey's. We left the park around 3:30 to give them time to rest before heading to Dinner.
On the boat ridge back I told my friend that we were going to take the girls swimming and offered to take her son. She said no - he needed to rest. That was fine, but I mentioned that our reservations were at 6 and we needed to head out of our rooms by 5 to make sure we would get there on time.
Prior to our trip I had given her an itinerary and told her to print it up so she would know all of our dinner times. This day she said ok and to contact her when we were ready to leave.
At 4:45 I texted her and said that we were ready to walk to the boat whenever she was. She said she didn't know we had to leave at 5. She just put her son into the tub to take a bath. So.....we missed the boat and I called chef mickey's to notify that we would be late. They said there was a 15 minute buffer. We arrived at 6:20, but luckily were still seated.
After dinner we went to the studios for Extra Magic Hours. We viewed the Osbourne Family Lights, Muppets 3D, and the great movie ride. After the great movie ride I was scolded because of the gun. I wasn't aware he was afraid of gun sounds. That would have been good to know I guess and maybe my fault for not asking. I did make them aware of the alien scene and said it's pretty scary. I thought the gun shots were mild compared to Alien. We also tried to do toy story mania, but they were not interested in standing in line for 30 minutes (which is super short compared to times I have read about).
I was able to ride tower of terror with my friend and all was ok. The kids were all tired at 10, so we headed back to the hotel. All in all a pretty good day.
The plan for Monday was breakfast at 9:10 at 1900 Park Fare followed by a day in the magic kingdom. We were also to meet up with my brother who lives in naples in the afternoon at the MK. Breakfast went well and my friend told me that they were going to go back to the hotel and look around, but would meet us later in the day at the Magic Kingdom. I was actually happy about that -- I would have some alone time with my girls. By the way...1900 Park fare is my new favorite Character dining experience. We had the best time...all of us!!!
Anyway, we took some pictures after breakfast with my friend and her family. We continue to check out the grand floridian while we had the opportunity. We shopped a little while and ran into my friend at the shop in the grand floridian. She had nothing to say to me...almost like she was aggrevated I was there.
We went along our way to the Magic Kingdom for some fun. My girls wanted to stand in line to get a few autographs, so we did that and then continued to tomorrowland for Buzz Lightyears space ranger spin, the laugh floor, and a few other attractions. By this time my brother arrived and we had the best time in fantasyland and frontierland with him.
Maybe my friend was irritated that my brother was meeting us at the park. I hadn't seen him in a year and had already asked permission 6 months before the trip. She was fine with it.
At any rate we had a great time even though it rained that day at the Magic Kingdom...the girls, my husband, myself, and brother had a great time. I then received a text from my friend that they would be heading over soon and she asked where we should meet up. I recommended we meet on Main Street outside of the emporium. Well no less than 5 minutes after I mentioned that she sent another message stating her son wanted to stay in the room and color, so they weren't going to meet us for the parade and fireworks afterall..and they would see us on Tuesday.
I was shocked that she would do everything her kid wanted to do. Stay at the resort to swim when you have a pool at your house and then stay in the room to color because apparently there aren't colors in LA.
I'll end this post for now and will start again tomorrow with our 2nd full day in the park at Disney Studios and EPCOT. Nothing has happened yet.......we are all in pretty good spirits.
Oh I did forget to mention an important detail....I received a call from work that my employees husband died in a motorcycle accident. That threw me for a loop and pretty down for a few hours that morning...then dealing with issues at work.
