1st Trip as Mommy & Daddy Nov 2011 TR- Complete!

[khertz]

I totally don't blame you for already looking for a birthday shirt for this year. I used an etsy shop called stitcheroos that has some really cute disney stuff for kids birthdays. They also have a separate web site if you'd like the link.

I'll just leave him and go do what I want to do.

grocery shopping w/o a list is dangerous for us. We have to go with a list 'cause if we don't we buy way too much! Glad to hear that DH wasn't feeling too bad and it wasn't strep! It sucks being sick at WDW with just a regular cold let alone something that needs antibiotics.

Stitcheroos is where I got both of Paxton's birthday shirts this past year!! I actually found the prices were cheaper on the website than they were on her Etsy store. I also found her shop on Facebook where she posts all of her new designs, and it is so hard not to buy some of them up! I'm having a hard time choosing between a couple of her Mickey designs for his actual birthday, and thinking of maybe getting him a Curious George one just because he loves that show and the designs are really cute. She has some cute Halloween designs too! I'd love to get Paxton the Frankenstein one!!

 

[Leger13]

Stitcheroos is where I got both of Paxton's birthday shirts this past year!! I actually found the prices were cheaper on the website than they were on her Etsy store. I also found her shop on Facebook where she posts all of her new designs, and it is so hard not to buy some of them up! I'm having a hard time choosing between a couple of her Mickey designs for his actual birthday, and thinking of maybe getting him a Curious George one just because he loves that show and the designs are really cute. She has some cute Halloween designs too! I'd love to get Paxton the Frankenstein one!!

GMTA!! I haven't seen her Halloween designs. I'll have to go look. Or maybe that might be dangerous I'm on her FB page too and I see her posts as well. It's so hard not to want to snatch up the daily deals. She had one that she did for the first time at Disney shirt a few weeks ago but it was only the girl one for the deal sadly Otherwise I would have been forced to buy it

 

[khertz]

GMTA!! I haven't seen her Halloween designs. I'll have to go look. Or maybe that might be dangerous I'm on her FB page too and I see her posts as well. It's so hard not to want to snatch up the daily deals. She had one that she did for the first time at Disney shirt a few weeks ago but it was only the girl one for the deal sadly Otherwise I would have been forced to buy it

I saw that one too & thought the same thing...I know it would be too late for a first WDW trip, but maybe I can commission a first DL trip one? Hmm...definitely worth investigating! I was excited when I saw she made Mardi Gras t-shirts, but they all look pretty girly. I know my DH would love that for DS...he LOVES Mardi Gras, and I know he hopes to pass the love on to DS.

 

[dtr_angel]

Those Haunted Mansion pictures turned out awesome! I'm sorry you lost the originals, but I'm glad you were able to recreate them. I love Paxton's personalized shirt!

 

[khertz]

Those Haunted Mansion pictures turned out awesome! I'm sorry you lost the originals, but I'm glad you were able to recreate them. I love Paxton's personalized shirt!

I was SO happy that we figured out we had lost the photos while on the trip so we could do them over. I would have been incredibly disappointed to not figure out until we got home & not be able to recreate them, especially since I sent in the form to Photopass and never heard ANYTHING from them. Not even a "sorry we were unable to locate your photos." That kind of surprised me for Disney!

I love the shirt we got him for his 1st birthday, and now I am already looking to see which ones we can get him for this 2nd!!

 

[exwdwcm]

Love his shirt. I'll have to check out that etsy shop since I always do a shirt for Will too.

So sorry the SR line was so bad, that's not the first time I have heard that about RnR SR line either. I've never tried it. We've missed RnR the last 3 trips, since DH isn't a fan and DS can't ride yet. I love it, but I totally blanked on it having an SR line, so i just skipped it since standby was too long.

Maybe next time! Uh oh, i hate that DH was feeling sick. Sorry Paxton wasn't a muppets fan. I wasn't sure Will liked it until we got home, he kept referring to the movie with the vacuum in it that he loved. Remember the vacuum cleaner sucks up the whole screen? Well he liked that part and liked Beaker! So we will see Muppets at least twice next trip. He kept asking when we could go back and see it, after we had gotten home.

 

[khertz]

Love his shirt. I'll have to check out that etsy shop since I always do a shirt for Will too.

So sorry the SR line was so bad, that's not the first time I have heard that about RnR SR line either. I've never tried it. We've missed RnR the last 3 trips, since DH isn't a fan and DS can't ride yet. I love it, but I totally blanked on it having an SR line, so i just skipped it since standby was too long.

Maybe next time! Uh oh, i hate that DH was feeling sick. Sorry Paxton wasn't a muppets fan. I wasn't sure Will liked it until we got home, he kept referring to the movie with the vacuum in it that he loved. Remember the vacuum cleaner sucks up the whole screen? Well he liked that part and liked Beaker! So we will see Muppets at least twice next trip. He kept asking when we could go back and see it, after we had gotten home.

I'm hoping it was just not the best time to try Muppets with him and that he will indeed be a fan! I have always loved the Muppets, and even though the original show was before my childhood, I did grow up with the movies and the Muppet Babies cartoon. Hopefully he will love it like Will does! That's so cute that the vacuum part is what he remembers the most.

 

[khertz]

DAY 7 Continued: Thursday November 10th

When I last left you all, we had just gotten back to the resort after spending a short morning at DHS. DS had eaten his lunch and had some playtime, but my mid afternoon, we were ready to head back to the parks!

We left the resort and returned to our favorite park, Magic Kingdom, arriving around 3:45 pm.

Once we got onto Main Street, we noticed it was a bit more crowded than we had seen at the beginning of the week, but we carried on. We stopped to listen to the Dapper Dans perform some Christmas carols, which was SO nice and made it feel like Christmas even though it was pretty warm out.

After listening for a few songs, we had a mini photo session on Main Street with a Photopass photographer and got some of my favorite family shots of the trip!

Once the pictures were done, it was time to hit some attractions! First up was one that DH had been pushing for since day 1, the New [Old] Enchanted Tiki Room!

We made it into line right as they were about to let the next show in, so we waited less than 5 minutes to get into the theater. I thought DS might enjoy the singing and lights and happiness of this show. And it did hold his attention for a little while, but towards the end we had to break the "no food or drink" rule to give him some puffs and keep him quiet!

The new show was much more refreshing than the Under New Management show, so I did like the show better this time around and wouldn't mind seeing it again. DH loves the original song, so he was more than happy to see it changed back. I don't think I ever saw the old show before Iago and Zazu took over...the only trip I think I would have been able to see it would have been my first trip ever, and we only had 1 day in MK with no FPs yet, so I doubt we would have spent the time to see the Tiki Room! lol

With that under our belts finally, DH was satisfied, and we headed to Fantasyland to try to ride some of DS's favorites from earlier in the week. What we found was some pretty long waits at all of the attractions! Like 30+ minutes for Small World and Snow White, 40+ for Pooh, Dumbo, and Peter Pan. The only thing without a wait was something we had never ridden before, the newly dubbed Prince Charming Regal Carrousel. We had taken DS on a carousel at the park earlier that year on Mother's Day, and he didn't have much of a reaction to it either way. This time, he definitely enjoyed himself!

Here's a video we got of him riding the Carrousel



By the time we finished riding and stood around for a little while trying to figure out what else we could do, DH and I decided since we had eaten lunch so early, we were ready for an early dinner as well. Since we were right there, we grabbed some pizzas and Pinocchio's Village Haus.

I had debated getting the chicken parmesan but thought it might be too gross at a CS place and didn't want to waste the money and not like it. However, after seeing someone else's plate who had ordered it, it actually looked decent so I might try it next time! Not authentic by any means, but passable.

Since the tables overlooking It's a Small World were occupied, I thought we might try out a tip I read in another TR and eat upstairs. GREAT idea!! I thought it might be similar to eating upstairs at CHH, but it was much much smaller, only about 10 small tables in a row along the balcony overlooking the main dining room with the outside windows looking out into Fantasyland. The best part was that we were the ONLY people up there, so we had a nice quiet dinner. Now that I'm typing this, I think DH got something with fries instead of pizza because I remember giving DS a few fries while eating up there.

After we finished eating, we still weren't keen to stand in any of the lines that had built up. We considered taking a ride on the train, but since we had the stroller we knew we'd have to make a round trip and didn't know how long DS would feel like sitting on our laps like that. So instead we headed to Tomorrowland for a sure thing, the TTA. Paxton stayed awake for this go-round and seemed to enjoy it. He was looking all over at everything we passed.

By then it was getting to be our normal dinner time, so we headed off to the Baby Care Center to feed & change DS. We came out right in time for the Castle Lighting, and got a spot up against the balcony in front of the Crystal Palace to watch. We must have been too in awe to take the camera out because I have no pictures of the show! But we got plenty in 2009 so I'll let that one slide. lol

People were already lining up for the parade, but that is not something DH or I feel the need to wait a long time for every trip, and we truthfully didn't feel like trying to have to entertain DS for that long until the parade started. He is always SO cranky between dinner and bedtime, so we decided to check out Small World. It had about a 20 minute wait, and we chose to go ahead and wait because DS seemed to enjoy it so much. This time was no different!

After the ride, we found a restroom so I could change DS into his pajamas. We were hoping he'd cooperate so that we could at least stay to see Wishes that night even if we had to miss the parade. Once he was changed, we walked to Tomorrowland and DS started drifting off to sleep. We were hoping to get a rider switch for Space Mountain, but the standby line was still 30 minutes long so we changed our minds. Once he fell asleep in the stroller, we decided to just find somewhere to sit with him until the parade passed so we could get onto Main Street for the castle show and Wishes. We ended up at the Tomorrowland Terrace, and he seemed to be out cold for the night, so we chanced slipping his earmuffs on.

Success!!

Once the parade was over, we started making our way to Main Street, and had quite a few people see him sleeping with his earmuffs on and smile or laugh or point him out to someone else in their group. One lady laughed and said, "That's FUNNY!" as she passed us. Hey, it worked!

Eventually we made it to a good spot on Main Street and stayed put to wait for the show to begin.

Continued in next post...

 

[khertz]

DAY 7 Continued: Thursday November 10th

Before I continue I noticed after that last post that I had 2 more Photopass pictures from before DS fell asleep, but I didn't put in my notes when we took them. So here they are!

We settled in on Main Street, and soon enough, the lights dimmed for The Magic The Memories & You show. What I could see of the show looked nice, but we weren't close enough to get a good view of the pictures and stuff. Anyone know if they are still going to be doing this show through 2012? I'd like to get to see it closer up on our October trip.

Nonetheless, DH did take some pictures.

Although I couldn't see the guest pictures, it was really neat seeing the Castle take on all the different overlays, especially the holiday ones like the gingerbread, candy canes, and wrapping paper. So incredible how they do that!

Then finally, it was time for my favorite thing in a Disney trip...Wishes! Normally I am trying to see this show as many times as possible on a trip, but with DS along this time, I was just happy to be able to see it once.

Again, since we were further back, we didn't have the best view for pictures since everything was partially obstructed by the garlands across Main Street. But DH did still take a few for me.

The earmuffs did their job, and DS only shuffled and whined a couple of times during the fireworks, but never really woke up. Because we had chosen a spot towards the entrance, we were able to hustle out of the park before it bottle-necked with everyone else trying to do the same thing, and made it out to the express monorail station before that could get too crowded as well. We made it onto the 2nd train. We did get stopped on the tracks twice, which I was so afraid was going to wake DS up, but he snoozed all the way back to the car, where we successfully got him in the car and took the earmuffs off without waking him.

I wish we could say we got him right up and into bed without waking him, but when we got back to Bonnet Creek there were NO parking spots in the parking lot in front of our building. We had always lucked out and found one, even if it was a far corner of the lot, but we were also returning a lot later than usual that night. So we bit the bullet and had to park in the parking garage. Yeah, there was no way DS was staying asleep! We had to lock the car (with the loud horn beep echoing in the garage), take a rickety elevator down to ground level, which let us into the building way down the hall from the main lobby, which meant we had to pass all of the activity rooms on the way to the main elevators! Obviously he woke up, but thank goodness we shelled out the money for that rocking chair, and he was back to sleep for the night in no time. Adventures in parenting, I guess!

We didn't rush off to sleep that night since we knew we'd have a rare late morning coming up!

UP NEXT: Our first Festival of the Masters!

 

[RachelNinja]

Ugh, I hate those owner updates. Most of the time, my parents just go on their own, but there was one year when they wanted my brother and me to go too. I think we would get something for each person who attended. I figured, okay, I have my book so it'll be okay. Well, it wasn't because they overbooked or some of their workers weren't there that day or something. We got there for our appointment time, and we had to wait. And wait. And wait! My dad complained and made a big stink about it because he was saying it was cutting into our plans as we had to wait around, and there I was with my brother so it must've convinced them even more (or my dad just knows how to make a big stink!). They gave us the "gifts" (I think tickets that year), and then we were out! I still can't stand those things though!

Ahhh, I love the video of Paxton playing with the menu and having that water! Haha, and those T-Rex Arms are hilarious!

Aww, I love the pic at Crystal Palace of Paxton interacting with Tigger. THe boys at the table next to yours are watching him too! And that parade video is awesome! Love how he waited for the CM to pass so that he could give him a kiss!

Haha, I keep starting my comments with AWWWW! I love the pictures of Paxton sleeping on the TTA!

I gotta say THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for not having any pics of the buffalo head on the wall of Country Bear Jamboree! I squinted and scrolled to check just in case.

And my favorite castle family shot is the one of you two kissing and squishing Paxton's cheeks!

Hehe, I love the pjs and earmuffs pic too! I agree with you though, whatever works!

 

[CandleontheWater]

The photo of Paxton in his PJs, sleeping with his earmuffs, is hilarious! I'm so happy he slept for you and you were able to catch Wishes!

You know, I didn't know there was an upstairs part of Pinocchio Village Haus. I can't remember the last time I went in there, but I learned something new today!

I'm sorry you weren't able to get a close parking space, but at least you were able to put that rocking chair to good use and get DS back to sleep!

 

[khertz]

Ugh, I hate those owner updates. Most of the time, my parents just go on their own, but there was one year when they wanted my brother and me to go too. I think we would get something for each person who attended. I figured, okay, I have my book so it'll be okay. Well, it wasn't because they overbooked or some of their workers weren't there that day or something. We got there for our appointment time, and we had to wait. And wait. And wait! My dad complained and made a big stink about it because he was saying it was cutting into our plans as we had to wait around, and there I was with my brother so it must've convinced them even more (or my dad just knows how to make a big stink!). They gave us the "gifts" (I think tickets that year), and then we were out! I still can't stand those things though!

We have had some not so pleasant experiences at these things in the past, but never this bad so it was always worth it for whatever the reimbursement was. But this time, it just ate up WAY too much of our day for no reason...We knew we would not be spending any money that day. We will definitely SKIP it until we actually are ready to upgrade. $100 was not adequate compensation for 2 hours of our time and being made to feel like idiots!!

Ahhh, I love the video of Paxton playing with the menu and having that water! Haha, and those T-Rex Arms are hilarious!

Aww, I love the pic at Crystal Palace of Paxton interacting with Tigger. THe boys at the table next to yours are watching him too! And that parade video is awesome! Love how he waited for the CM to pass so that he could give him a kiss!

I loved that part of the video too. Tigger REALLY loved him! Hopefully it will be the "same one" this year and maybe he will remember DS>

Haha, I keep starting my comments with AWWWW! I love the pictures of Paxton sleeping on the TTA!

I gotta say THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for not having any pics of the buffalo head on the wall of Country Bear Jamboree! I squinted and scrolled to check just in case.

And my favorite castle family shot is the one of you two kissing and squishing Paxton's cheeks!

One of my favs too! It was on our Christmas card this year. A lot of photographers had us do this same shot, but this one had DS's best expression.

Hehe, I love the pjs and earmuffs pic too! I agree with you though, whatever works!

The photo of Paxton in his PJs, sleeping with his earmuffs, is hilarious! I'm so happy he slept for you and you were able to catch Wishes!

You know, I didn't know there was an upstairs part of Pinocchio Village Haus. I can't remember the last time I went in there, but I learned something new today!

I'm sorry you weren't able to get a close parking space, but at least you were able to put that rocking chair to good use and get DS back to sleep!

I was SO happy to be able to see Wishes this trip. DS goes to bed pretty early at home and we tried not to mess with his schedule too much on vacation, so I was happy he cooperated for at least one night so I could see my much beloved Wishes!!

I don't think many people realize there is an upstairs at PVH, or maybe it was just because we went at a slow time of day to eat, I don't know. I didn't know about it until reading that TR and decided to try it. If you ever grab some food there, try it, it might be empty!!

SO thankful we got that rocking chair!! Thanks again to you for mentioning it in your TR, or I never would have known such a thing was available!!

 

[skier_pete]

Just gotta say - Love the video of Paxton on the Carousel and love the earmuffs! Can't believe that worked so well.

Wishes is a favorite of mine, and the new MMY show is very impressive as well. (I am almost there on my TR.)

 

[afwdwfan]

Wow, looks like it was a crowded evening in MK, but I'm glad to see you were able to make the best of it.

I really like the new old Tiki room too. I kind of enjoyed the "new management" version for the first time or 2 that I saw it, but it did get annoying after that. DS and I really enjoyed the new old show.

I'm glad you guys were able to have a nice, peaceful meal. That's something that is hard to find at Disney World.

We did the "sleeping in the stroller with earmuffs on" thing a couple of nights too. We weren't smart enough to think of taking PJ's to the park to change into though. Those things really work very well. It looks like maybe you should have put them back on when you took him out of the car in the parking garage.

That was an absolutely fantastic idea to go near the main entrance to watch Wishes so that it isn't as noisy and you can get out quickly. Only a very smart Disney planner would think to do that.

 

[Leger13]

Wow on all the line waits! Glad you got him on the carousel though. I can't wait to take Alex on that! Paxton in that video is absolutely adorable as always! WTG getting him to sleep before the fireworks. I need to really remember to put a PJ in our daily bag for Alex every day. Love the photopass pictures too! I can't wait to see the Tiki room. Did the end loud part upset Paxton at all? I'm a little worried about that for Alex.

 

[exwdwcm]

I'm hoping it was just not the best time to try Muppets with him and that he will indeed be a fan! I have always loved the Muppets, and even though the original show was before my childhood, I did grow up with the movies and the Muppet Babies cartoon. Hopefully he will love it like Will does! That's so cute that the vacuum part is what he remembers the most.

I am sure he will love them someday!

Looks like another great day! I love the earmuffs too. So glad you guys got to see WISHES!!! I have yet to see the castle projection show. I keep missing it! I am making a point to see it in NOvember. Hopefully they still have it then. I LOL at the pink birthday cake one. That is how the cake looked when I worked there back in 1996. I hated it! I have this cute college program pic they took of all of us in the rose garden and there is that awful pink castle in the background.

 

[Imagineer5]

The SR line had worked out SO well the first time that I just wasn't expecting that huge delay the second time. And it did seem like the CM was just kind of ignoring the fact that the SR line even existed for awhile, so that all added to the suckiness of the whole experience.

Yep I think the CM at the top makes all the difference in whether that line is decent or not.

I am getting SO excited about visiting DL!! I had always said that I'd like to take just 2 or 3 weeks to travel all over California because there is just SO much I want to see & do in so many different cities. But I guess if DH is offering even a quick trip to DL, I'll take him up on it. I'm excited to try all of the rides that don't exist in WDW and to compare the ones that are on both coasts. I'm excited to try Indiana Jones and Space Mountain!! Matterhorn being closed is a minor disappointment, even though DH said he didn't enjoy it that much just because it is something new. I have to say though, I really haven't been stressed about the planning too much like I do over WDW trips...I think since we are on such short time, we will probably skip any sit down meals. And the crowd calendar has most of our days a 2, so I'm just plain not worried about having a touring plan. So I'm feeling really laid back about the whole thing, which is so odd to me when planning a Disney trip!! We have a strategy for World of Color, and I think that's the most important step!!

DL is so much more laid back. I just love it! No touring plan needed at all really, though the WoC sounds like it needs it (I've never seen it, can't wait to someday!!).

I'd love to take my DH on a trip of CA. I used to live in Monterey and just loved it there. I'm not really a fan of SoCal besides DL, but North is sooo amazing and beautiful. Can't wait to hear more of your plans though! You'll have to do a little TR for it !!!

Aww, love that he loved the pictures!! I did the same thing when we were talking about taking this trip, showed DH all the pictures of kids having a great time in WDW. Not that he needed much convincing, but it was a good way to bolster the argument for not waiting until he was older. Vinylmation trading was SO fun on our Babymoon trip, mostly because we didn't have many at home. It is probably always the most fun that initial time when everything is so new. I think if DH had not traded so much online at home and gotten SO into the trading all the time, it would have been more fun this last trip. But now that he has most of the ones he wants, the ones for trade in the parks were less appealing. I say go for it & have fun!!

I'm going to have to show my DH the most recent pics you posted. Love them! I don't understand why ppl have to argue to wait to take the kids. I guess it depends on whether you view WDW as a "once in a lifetime" trip, which we don't (DH doesn't even!). He's pretty excited about this trip, bc he is just looking forward to doing EVERYTHING with her, like museums, zoos, etc and has never said that we should wait til she's older at least. He's definitely not a homebody - just not too crazy about Disney either.

DAY 7 Continued: Thursday November 10th

When I last left you all, we had just gotten back to the resort after spending a short morning at DHS. DS had eaten his lunch and had some playtime, but my mid afternoon, we were ready to head back to the parks!

We left the resort and returned to our favorite park, Magic Kingdom, arriving around 3:45 pm.

Once we got onto Main Street, we noticed it was a bit more crowded than we had seen at the beginning of the week, but we carried on. We stopped to listen to the Dapper Dans perform some Christmas carols, which was SO nice and made it feel like Christmas even though it was pretty warm out.

After listening for a few songs, we had a mini photo session on Main Street with a Photopass photographer and got some of my favorite family shots of the trip!

Once the pictures were done, it was time to hit some attractions! First up was one that DH had been pushing for since day 1, the New [Old] Enchanted Tiki Room!

We made it into line right as they were about to let the next show in, so we waited less than 5 minutes to get into the theater. I thought DS might enjoy the singing and lights and happiness of this show. And it did hold his attention for a little while, but towards the end we had to break the "no food or drink" rule to give him some puffs and keep him quiet!

The new show was much more refreshing than the Under New Management show, so I did like the show better this time around and wouldn't mind seeing it again. DH loves the original song, so he was more than happy to see it changed back. I don't think I ever saw the old show before Iago and Zazu took over...the only trip I think I would have been able to see it would have been my first trip ever, and we only had 1 day in MK with no FPs yet, so I doubt we would have spent the time to see the Tiki Room! lol

With that under our belts finally, DH was satisfied, and we headed to Fantasyland to try to ride some of DS's favorites from earlier in the week. What we found was some pretty long waits at all of the attractions! Like 30+ minutes for Small World and Snow White, 40+ for Pooh, Dumbo, and Peter Pan. The only thing without a wait was something we had never ridden before, the newly dubbed Prince Charming Regal Carrousel. We had taken DS on a carousel at the park earlier that year on Mother's Day, and he didn't have much of a reaction to it either way. This time, he definitely enjoyed himself!

Here's a video we got of him riding the Carrousel

By the time we finished riding and stood around for a little while trying to figure out what else we could do, DH and I decided since we had eaten lunch so early, we were ready for an early dinner as well. Since we were right there, we grabbed some pizzas and Pinocchio's Village Haus.

I had debated getting the chicken parmesan but thought it might be too gross at a CS place and didn't want to waste the money and not like it. However, after seeing someone else's plate who had ordered it, it actually looked decent so I might try it next time! Not authentic by any means, but passable.

Since the tables overlooking It's a Small World were occupied, I thought we might try out a tip I read in another TR and eat upstairs. GREAT idea!! I thought it might be similar to eating upstairs at CHH, but it was much much smaller, only about 10 small tables in a row along the balcony overlooking the main dining room with the outside windows looking out into Fantasyland. The best part was that we were the ONLY people up there, so we had a nice quiet dinner. Now that I'm typing this, I think DH got something with fries instead of pizza because I remember giving DS a few fries while eating up there.

After we finished eating, we still weren't keen to stand in any of the lines that had built up. We considered taking a ride on the train, but since we had the stroller we knew we'd have to make a round trip and didn't know how long DS would feel like sitting on our laps like that. So instead we headed to Tomorrowland for a sure thing, the TTA. Paxton stayed awake for this go-round and seemed to enjoy it. He was looking all over at everything we passed.

By then it was getting to be our normal dinner time, so we headed off to the Baby Care Center to feed & change DS. We came out right in time for the Castle Lighting, and got a spot up against the balcony in front of the Crystal Palace to watch. We must have been too in awe to take the camera out because I have no pictures of the show! But we got plenty in 2009 so I'll let that one slide. lol

People were already lining up for the parade, but that is not something DH or I feel the need to wait a long time for every trip, and we truthfully didn't feel like trying to have to entertain DS for that long until the parade started. He is always SO cranky between dinner and bedtime, so we decided to check out Small World. It had about a 20 minute wait, and we chose to go ahead and wait because DS seemed to enjoy it so much. This time was no different!

After the ride, we found a restroom so I could change DS into his pajamas. We were hoping he'd cooperate so that we could at least stay to see Wishes that night even if we had to miss the parade. Once he was changed, we walked to Tomorrowland and DS started drifting off to sleep. We were hoping to get a rider switch for Space Mountain, but the standby line was still 30 minutes long so we changed our minds. Once he fell asleep in the stroller, we decided to just find somewhere to sit with him until the parade passed so we could get onto Main Street for the castle show and Wishes. We ended up at the Tomorrowland Terrace, and he seemed to be out cold for the night, so we chanced slipping his earmuffs on.

Success!!

Once the parade was over, we started making our way to Main Street, and had quite a few people see him sleeping with his earmuffs on and smile or laugh or point him out to someone else in their group. One lady laughed and said, "That's FUNNY!" as she passed us. Hey, it worked!

Eventually we made it to a good spot on Main Street and stayed put to wait for the show to begin.

Continued in next post...

Sorry, I was THAT person quoting your whole post, pictures included. Just because they are SO FRIGGIN CUTE! First, awesome to see those earmuffs in action. We got our pink ones in the mail, and we're also going to have to remember to pack the PJ's like you did.

Thanks for the reminder about Pinocchio's Village Haus - the upstairs sounds like a wonderful respite.

Glad to hear you liked the new (old) Tiki show better. I look forward to seeing that too.

LOVE the PP pics from main street. Your family pictures have definitely solidified my need to prepurchase the PP CD!

DAY 7 Continued: Thursday November 10th

Before I continue I noticed after that last post that I had 2 more Photopass pictures from before DS fell asleep, but I didn't put in my notes when we took them. So here they are!

We settled in on Main Street, and soon enough, the lights dimmed for The Magic The Memories & You show. What I could see of the show looked nice, but we weren't close enough to get a good view of the pictures and stuff. Anyone know if they are still going to be doing this show through 2012? I'd like to get to see it closer up on our October trip.

Nonetheless, DH did take some pictures.

Although I couldn't see the guest pictures, it was really neat seeing the Castle take on all the different overlays, especially the holiday ones like the gingerbread, candy canes, and wrapping paper. So incredible how they do that!

Then finally, it was time for my favorite thing in a Disney trip...Wishes! Normally I am trying to see this show as many times as possible on a trip, but with DS along this time, I was just happy to be able to see it once.

Again, since we were further back, we didn't have the best view for pictures since everything was partially obstructed by the garlands across Main Street. But DH did still take a few for me.

The earmuffs did their job, and DS only shuffled and whined a couple of times during the fireworks, but never really woke up. Because we had chosen a spot towards the entrance, we were able to hustle out of the park before it bottle-necked with everyone else trying to do the same thing, and made it out to the express monorail station before that could get too crowded as well. We made it onto the 2nd train. We did get stopped on the tracks twice, which I was so afraid was going to wake DS up, but he snoozed all the way back to the car, where we successfully got him in the car and took the earmuffs off without waking him.

I wish we could say we got him right up and into bed without waking him, but when we got back to Bonnet Creek there were NO parking spots in the parking lot in front of our building. We had always lucked out and found one, even if it was a far corner of the lot, but we were also returning a lot later than usual that night. So we bit the bullet and had to park in the parking garage. Yeah, there was no way DS was staying asleep! We had to lock the car (with the loud horn beep echoing in the garage), take a rickety elevator down to ground level, which let us into the building way down the hall from the main lobby, which meant we had to pass all of the activity rooms on the way to the main elevators! Obviously he woke up, but thank goodness we shelled out the money for that rocking chair, and he was back to sleep for the night in no time. Adventures in parenting, I guess!

We didn't rush off to sleep that night since we knew we'd have a rare late morning coming up!

UP NEXT: Our first Festival of the Masters!

That really stinks about your parking situation. Could you guys have split up, you heading up to the room w/ Paxton while your DH parked the car? Maybe there was just too much stuff, IDK. Anyway glad the rocking chair came in handy!!

 

[leshunlenese]

of course i loved the family photos at mk and paxton who is all smiles. He really enjoyed himself!

 

[khertz]

I am sure he will love them someday!

Looks like another great day! I love the earmuffs too. So glad you guys got to see WISHES!!! I have yet to see the castle projection show. I keep missing it! I am making a point to see it in NOvember. Hopefully they still have it then. I LOL at the pink birthday cake one. That is how the cake looked when I worked there back in 1996. I hated it! I have this cute college program pic they took of all of us in the rose garden and there is that awful pink castle in the background.

I did think it was funny that they included the pink cake castle in the projection show! Seems like that is the one thing Disney did in history that is universally loathed. I never did get to see it in person, so it gave me a little chuckle to see it in the show. The music was great and I love the idea of it. Hopefully we will be able to see it closer up, and hopefully you will be able to see it on your next trip!

Yep I think the CM at the top makes all the difference in whether that line is decent or not.



DL is so much more laid back. I just love it! No touring plan needed at all really, though the WoC sounds like it needs it (I've never seen it, can't wait to someday!!).

I'd love to take my DH on a trip of CA. I used to live in Monterey and just loved it there. I'm not really a fan of SoCal besides DL, but North is sooo amazing and beautiful. Can't wait to hear more of your plans though! You'll have to do a little TR for it !!!

I have a friend that lives in Monterey and she has always encouraged me to try a trip out to DL. I went ahead and subscribed to the Disneyland side of Touring Plans, and the days we are there are mostly 1's, 2's, and 3's on the crowd calendar, so I'm not really worried about having a plan. Honestly, it's a little frustrating as a WDW planner that they don't have any of their park hours & ADR's until 60 days out!! Since we are only there for a few days, we are skipping sit down meals, so I feel like there is nothing to plan, which just makes my Disney planning loving heart break!



I'm going to have to show my DH the most recent pics you posted. Love them! I don't understand why ppl have to argue to wait to take the kids. I guess it depends on whether you view WDW as a "once in a lifetime" trip, which we don't (DH doesn't even!). He's pretty excited about this trip, bc he is just looking forward to doing EVERYTHING with her, like museums, zoos, etc and has never said that we should wait til she's older at least. He's definitely not a homebody - just not too crazy about Disney either.

I agree, on a once in a lifetime trip, I'd wait until DS was older. I guess (shockingly! ) that is what many people consider a Disney trip to be! So of course they think I'm crazy for bringing a baby. They probably think we will never be back! If only they knew I'm planning out our next 3 Disney trips over 2 years. We were very excited about taking DS to New Orleans for the first time to let him experience the Audubon Zoo, the Aquarium, etc. that were such a big part of our childhoods. So I know exactly how your DH feels! It's exciting to share the stuff you love with your little one.

Sorry, I was THAT person quoting your whole post, pictures included. Just because they are SO FRIGGIN CUTE! First, awesome to see those earmuffs in action. We got our pink ones in the mail, and we're also going to have to remember to pack the PJ's like you did.

The packing the pj's idea was from Candleonthewater. I learned SO much from reading her TRs!!

Thanks for the reminder about Pinocchio's Village Haus - the upstairs sounds like a wonderful respite.

Glad to hear you liked the new (old) Tiki show better. I look forward to seeing that too.

LOVE the PP pics from main street. Your family pictures have definitely solidified my need to prepurchase the PP CD!

The CD was a great purchase for us. He was so good for the pictures!

That really stinks about your parking situation. Could you guys have split up, you heading up to the room w/ Paxton while your DH parked the car? Maybe there was just too much stuff, IDK. Anyway glad the rocking chair came in handy!!

We were clearly not thinking it would be that bad walking through the parking garage. Otherwise, we probably would have left the earmuffs on him! We thought about DH dropping us off at the front entrance, but I am not usually the best at taking him out of the carseat and walking around with him and keeping him asleep. Maybe it is because his daddy has bigger arms to wrap around him so it helps him stay asleep?

of course i loved the family photos at mk and paxton who is all smiles. He really enjoyed himself!

Thanks!! He definitely had a blast. I hope he keeps up that happy attitude in DL in a few months!

 

[khertz]

Just gotta say - Love the video of Paxton on the Carousel and love the earmuffs! Can't believe that worked so well.

Wishes is a favorite of mine, and the new MMY show is very impressive as well. (I am almost there on my TR.)

And to think, we almost skipped the Carrousel! I think we will be visiting it on every trip until he outgrows it. He just seemed to love it! And it never has a line, so that's always a plus.

Wow, looks like it was a crowded evening in MK, but I'm glad to see you were able to make the best of it.

I really like the new old Tiki room too. I kind of enjoyed the "new management" version for the first time or 2 that I saw it, but it did get annoying after that. DS and I really enjoyed the new old show.

I'm glad you guys were able to have a nice, peaceful meal. That's something that is hard to find at Disney World.

We did the "sleeping in the stroller with earmuffs on" thing a couple of nights too. We weren't smart enough to think of taking PJ's to the park to change into though. Those things really work very well. It looks like maybe you should have put them back on when you took him out of the car in the parking garage.

That was an absolutely fantastic idea to go near the main entrance to watch Wishes so that it isn't as noisy and you can get out quickly. Only a very smart Disney planner would think to do that.

DH has always loved the Tiki Room music to the point of annoying the crap out of me with it (hmm...maybe that is the only reason he likes it so much to begin with? ). So he always wanted to do the Tiki Room, even though he hated the Under New Management setup. I think he was the most excited to see it returned to it's original state.

Re: the bolded, DH and I said the exact same thing the second his eyes popped open while we were walking into the building. You live & learn. Now we will know for next time! The earmuffs are NOT just for fireworks!!

Wow on all the line waits! Glad you got him on the carousel though. I can't wait to take Alex on that! Paxton in that video is absolutely adorable as always! WTG getting him to sleep before the fireworks. I need to really remember to put a PJ in our daily bag for Alex every day. Love the photopass pictures too! I can't wait to see the Tiki room. Did the end loud part upset Paxton at all? I'm a little worried about that for Alex.

I know, it was ridiculous!! I wasn't expecting everything to be walk-on, but I wasn't at all prepared for the crowds and the long wait times we consistently ran into towards the end of the week. It made it hard to park hop because by the time we got to our afternoon park, the wait times were atrocious. And usually the FP return time was too late for us since we had DS with us. I think the whole week would have been fine & doable had it just been myself & DH. DS threw a little wrench in our old approach to the parks at night!

He was not bothered at all by anything in the Tiki Room. If anything, he was a little bored by the whole experience! Hopefully Alex will do fine. DS is only now at 15 months being bothered by any loud noises. The weekend of the last Saints playoff game, I started jumping up & down screaming my head off when Jimmy Graham made a touchdown in the last 2 minutes giving us the lead (even though we eventually lost ) and when I finally stopped yelling, DH said, "Look at Paxton!" My poor child was standing frozen in the kitchen staring at me, and when I turned to look at him and said, "Aww, sorry I scared you," he kind of yelped a little and ran to me to pick him up. It was kind of funny...he has never heard me yell like that! Definitely shocked him! So we will see in a few months if any of the things that didn't bother him in WDW will now get to him in DL!