1st trip, 3small kids, offsite,12/28-1/3, (day 2)

[dougsmom98]

I woke up at 4:30, showered, and made the coffee. I packed all the bags and then called for room service. They were suppose to be open by 6:30 but there was no answer so while my husband was showering and getting the kids ready, I walked over to the restaurant. They didn't do specific take out meals, but they had a buffet with eggs, pancakes, cereal, meats, potatoes... They said I could take out from that. They gave me a big styrofoam container and also a smaller one for pasteries. I filled both containers to the brim and for $6.99 I had enough food for my husband and myself and even the kids but they weren't interested. We ate that and then I called the rest of the group. Even though they had said they weren't going with us because we were leaving so early, they were pretty much ready and so we all went together. We were on the road by 7:10. The Holiday Inn Nikki Bird is so close to World Drive. We took a right out of the entrance onto 192 and took our first right. It was so easy. We parked in MGM's parking lot and took the tram to the entrance. Security was easy to get through. I was the only one with a backpack and also a soft sided cooler in the group and only a few others had fanny packs that needed to be checked. The park opened at 8 am so by the time we got through with parking, security, and the main gate, the park was open. This was our first time ever at MGM so we were a little confused by the set up of the park despite having previewed the maps. We went to Beauty and the Beast first. We loved it. My boys had watched that movie quite a bit the month prior to the trip so finally being at Disney and seeing the show live was incredible for us all. It gave me goose bumps. Our two year old twins are pretty active and we were worried about them sitting still during the show. While waiting 15 minutes for the show to start they were antsy but once it started they sat perfectly still. I highly recommend this show especially if you know the story. We left there and went to Muppets 3D which was cute, and then to the Back Lot Tour. The tour was disappointing to me because I thought we would see more action but it was still ok. My kids loved the action part of it. It was nice to sit down for a while on the tram. After the tour, we went to Playhouse Disney. We had to wait quite a while for this and again waiting is a hard thing for the two year old twins to do. It was hard for us too because we had to hold them a lot so they wouldn't take off on us. My mother who spent most of this day with us, can't hold the twins because they are too heavy so she entertained our 4 year old. On more than one occasion on every day of the trip, one if not both of the twins melted down in line so if you were there and saw and heard these melt downs, sorry. I had read so many people on these boards criticize parents for pushing their kids so hard that they melted down and I was so paranoid that people would think that of us. That was not the case, the twins are active and unfortunately not very verbal, so they act out when they are bored and mad. The Playhouse Disney show was good but also disappointing. Earlier we had seen Beauty and the Beast and the seats were tiered bleacher seats and the outdoor theater was rather large. Then, we went to the Playhouse Disney show and after waiting in line for 40 minutes you get hearded into the room and you have to sit on the floor. That would have been fine except we were in the back and couldn't see very well. Also people in front of us had their kids up high so we really couldn't see. I just felt like Disney has a lot of money and could make a better theater for that show. One of my friends reminded me that it allows the kids to get up and dance, but I think they could do that on bleacher seats too, especially if they made them like the Beauty and the Beast seats. Oh well, it was still good. By now it was getting close to 1 pm and the park was getting crowded. We met up with my teenage nephews, BIL and sister and decided to stake out a place for the parade. They had a nice morning and did TOT, RNR, Indiana Jones and a few other things. They finally admitted that they realized that it was imperative to get to the park when it opened because by 11 am it was getting crowded and more difficult to do things. We sat on the curb right at the beginning of the parade route. It was nice and shady. My husband bought us popcorn, a soda and some ice cream bars to eat while we waited. The food kept the kids occupied while we waited for the 45 minutes before the parade started. Up until this point, with the exception of Beauty and the Beast, I had not felt much magic. When the parade started that all changed. We loved it. The kids were absolutely amazed. I thought this parade had the most characters compared to all of the other parades, so this was very exciting for us. Many of them came over and shook our 4 year old's hands. The twins were bopping around in their strollers and they just had this look of amazement on their faces. At one point my mother looked over with a huge grin and said, "This is the best Christmas present anyone could have given me." That was the best Disney moment for me. How lucky I was to get to share my kids' first trip and Disney excitement with my mother, sister, BIL and nephews. After the parade, we decided to go to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground with the twins and Douglas wanted to do the back lot tour again so he went with his Aunt. The playground was very busy and I was a nervous wreck because we thought we lost a kid. Mark went down the slide and we were up at the top and we had to book it down the stairs and we when got there he was gone. After 2-3 minutes I found him way on the other side of the playground. We stayed away from the big slides after that. The twins could have played in there for hours. We finally got them out of there and spent some time sitting and relaxing and then we walked around a bit. We had wanted to see The Legend of the Little Mermaid but it was too busy and now I know to do that first thing next time I go, but that is really the only thing that I didn't see that I was disappointed in. We got our picture with Miss Piggy once and tried with Goofy twice but they would always cut it off before we got up front. I think they ought to allow a certain number of people to see the character and when the line exceeds that point, go to the end of the line and tell new people that they won't be able to get their picture taken. I hated being the third person from the front and then having them tell us no more pictures. We had hot dogs and soda for dinner and then waited 20 minutes or so for the Osbourn Lights. These were absolutely amazing. We took out time walking through them and really enjoyed it. The "snow" down the main area in the park was cool too. It was a wonderful day. We got home, put the kids to bed and then packed the bags and planned our attack for the next day which was going to be the Magic Kingdom. I had been planning for months and my husband always made fun of me, but that night he said he wanted to help plan and look at the maps so we would be sure to see everything.
Stayed tuned for day 3.

 

[pumba]

we thought we lost our grandson one year there.....he was a little over two and we had to laugh .....here he came down the piece of grass slide.....and this big goofy grin on his face....but the place is good as far as knowing they had to be in there someplace.....thanks so much for your report........I love it all......

 

[vald1977]

Just wanted to say I am enjoying your report! I agree with you about the character lines. I too feel that someone should tell people BEFORE they get in the line that they won't make it to the front. Little kids don't understand that sort of thing and it would be so much better to know before you waste time waiting that you won't get to visit with the characters. Can't wait to read more.

 

[BrerMom]

ditto on waiting in lines with little kids. We didn't have to deal with that, thank goodness, but I saw parents that did.

I had read so many people on these boards criticize parents for pushing their kids so hard that they melted down and I was so paranoid that people would think that of us. That was not the case, the twins are active and unfortunately not very verbal, so they act out when they are bored and mad.

That was our son at two, also. Once he was crying and I felt like telling all the disapproving glances, "He's not tired! We just got here! He's just over-whelmed; give him a minute to calm down and he'll be fine."

 

[Deb8821]

sorry my kids are the melt down variety - It happens to everyone at some point. I try to head it off and since we do disney often I never feel the urge to push mine to do more but sometimes something will set one of them off. I try to ignore the nasty looks and instead deal with the situation and am thankful for the sympathtic looks from the understanding parents of other small children. I skip the MGM play area after I couldn't find my son once. Its too easy to have a child get hidden in there. Glad you liked the parade we also thought it was one of the best. Hope you enjoyed the rest of your trip!!