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

[skier_pete]

That video is super cute...except after Tigger gives him that surprise kiss, he kinda looks like "What the heck was that!"

I know i've said it before, but the characters must love having such a little one respond so well to them. It beats a crying baby, that's for sure.

We love CP, and I particularly love the breakfast frittata, which is also available at lunch (but not dinner). It is our one "tradition" as we've eaten there every trip we've ever been on. The character interaction can be very spotty, though, as we've had lots of problems with how they've come through. (One trip we sat down, and they litterally all came through in the first 5 minutes, other times its more than an hour.)

We've only done early entry breakfast once in 2009, but I guess I am not that high on the whole "empty park" because I'd still rather eat lunch there.

 

[khertz]

Too bad there weren't any photopass photographers out on your early morning! I guess we just had the good luck to catch them when we had the early CP breakfast!

Those photos of Paxton with the characters are TOO CUTE! Anyone who says that babies don't appreciate Disney World should be required to check out your photos! That will change their minds quick!

I also agree that the characters are really slow at CP, we noticed it in May, and then again when we were just there in Dec. They really need to speed it up, especially for the little ones!

I can't remember if when we saw the photographer finally out by Partners if there were any more on Main Street...I wonder if it's normal for them to not come out until 8 am? We just assumed they'd be there after our KTTK morning, but we didn't get into the park until after 8 that morning, so maybe that's why?

I totally agree! I did have someone at work say, "Oh you just went for yourselves, he's not going to remember anything." I showed her the pic of Paxton laughing with Chip & Dale and said, "He might not remember it, but you can't look at this and tell me he didn't have a great time!"

The other thing I noticed at CP was that people who were tired of waiting at their table just went up to the character while he was in between tables to get their pictures & autographs, which I don't think should be allowed. Sure we could have done the same thing to see Eeyore before leaving, but then we are just delaying him from someone else who has been waiting at their table to see him! I saw it happen at least 2 or 3 times in the time we were sitting there waiting for Eeyore and thought it was pretty rude. Especially because it was all families with older kids. If getting out of the restaurant and into the park is so important, than you miss out on the character. It should be one or the other, because why is your family's time more important than mine? Just one of the things that really annoyed me.

oooo Ok. Woot!!!! I hope you plan on doing a TR for both! I just can't get enough of your sweetie with the characters. And I agree with Candle. Anyone that says that babies won't get anything out of a trip to Disney must look at your Photopass pictures!

I do plan to do a TR for both, because they are just too fun! I look forward to writing them and reliving the trip & the memories.

Despite my desire, planning and obtaining an ADR 180+ Days out, I have still never been to CP before the park opens for breakfast.

It sure looks like you guys had a good time though. I love seeing how well Paxton and the characters all interact. I really hope he stays so interested in them for your upcoming trips.

We really enjoyed the pre park opening breakfast, so I do hope you'll get the chance to try it out. I think people who go in expecting to get a jump on the rope drop crowds will be disappointed, because it is not the fastest meal. Well, that's based on my experience, anyway. But there is something kind of magical to being in the park with so few other people!

I hope he stays into the characters too! It made for some of the best memories!!

That video is super cute...except after Tigger gives him that surprise kiss, he kinda looks like "What the heck was that!"

I know i've said it before, but the characters must love having such a little one respond so well to them. It beats a crying baby, that's for sure.

We love CP, and I particularly love the breakfast frittata, which is also available at lunch (but not dinner). It is our one "tradition" as we've eaten there every trip we've ever been on. The character interaction can be very spotty, though, as we've had lots of problems with how they've come through. (One trip we sat down, and they litterally all came through in the first 5 minutes, other times its more than an hour.)

We've only done early entry breakfast once in 2009, but I guess I am not that high on the whole "empty park" because I'd still rather eat lunch there.

You can kind of see a quick glimpse of his dimple after the Tigger kiss to let you know he was smiling, but then yeah, he was kind of like, "I don't know what just happened, but they are playing music & I love dancing!" Haha He was really cute & funny at our CP breakfast.

I guess the spacing of the characters can also depend on where you are in the rotation when & where you are seated. It seemed like it would be fairly quick since Piglet, Tigger & Pooh came through pretty quickly, but Eeyore was just taking FOR. EV. ER. I guess it will be interesting to compare our experiences over the years.

For us, if we are going to do a buffet, we both prefer breakfast. I guess because we are picky so there is usually more that we eat for breakfast than lunch or dinner. And because it's cheaper. Although, we did surprise ourselves by enjoying Biergarten, so maybe we should give another lunch or dinner buffet a chance. Although we did REALLY love getting into the park early, so I think for CP, we will still choose breakfast!

 

[Leger13]

I do plan to do a TR for both, because they are just too fun! I look forward to writing them and reliving the trip & the memories.

 

[bjakmom]

I am loving every moment, picture and video of your TR!! I am currently planning a 1st B'day trip for my newest DGrD for this May. I have taken my kids, grands, niece and nephew to WDW at the ages of 5 mos to 35 years (that's my oldest now lol), but I've never taken a one year old and it's been fun to watch how much fun your precious boy is having. Makes me sooo excited - she is also a first child for DD, so their whole little family is excited to experience Disney with their own child!!
2nd benefit of your TR for me is that I just booked a Nov. 2012 trip for just me and DGrD(8) on the same dates as your trip. Looking forward to your last few days. Thanks for sharing.

 

[khertz]

I am loving every moment, picture and video of your TR!! I am currently planning a 1st B'day trip for my newest DGrD for this May. I have taken my kids, grands, niece and nephew to WDW at the ages of 5 mos to 35 years (that's my oldest now lol), but I've never taken a one year old and it's been fun to watch how much fun your precious boy is having. Makes me sooo excited - she is also a first child for DD, so their whole little family is excited to experience Disney with their own child!!
2nd benefit of your TR for me is that I just booked a Nov. 2012 trip for just me and DGrD(8) on the same dates as your trip. Looking forward to your last few days. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for commenting & I'm glad you are enjoying it so far!! I personally found 1 to be a GREAT age...young enough to adapt to just about anything, but not old enough to be scared of much. I hope you decide to do a TR for your DGD's first trip! They are so fun at that age.

I really hope your experience in November is better than ours was. It was just too busy compared to what I was expecting, but I think a lot of different factors played into that, and this year might have been a fluke! Anyway, hope you can get some good info from here to put towards your DGD's first trip. I got so many great tips from reading other people's TR's who took kids around that age!

 

[afwdwfan]

I had to wait till I got home to check out the Tigger video. That is just awesome!

 

[leshunlenese]

well it took me while but i was finally able to catch up and i love your TR. I especially love how much paxton is enjoying himself. I had crystal palace for the 1st time last month. loved the puffed toast and the chocolate waffles. I want some as i think about it!

 

[khertz]

I had to wait till I got home to check out the Tigger video. That is just awesome!

So happy we were able to get them on video! Sometimes things happen so quickly, and then you wish you had been recording to capture the moment. I'm lucky to have a husband who is on top of those kinds of things for me!!

well it took me while but i was finally able to catch up and i love your TR. I especially love how much paxton is enjoying himself. I had crystal palace for the 1st time last month. loved the puffed toast and the chocolate waffles. I want some as i think about it!

Mmm...almost forgot about the chocolate waffles!! Those were so good, but that puffed French toast was HEAVENLY! I definitely can't wait to get my fill of it in October!

 

[DDuck4Life]

So happy we were able to get them on video! Sometimes things happen so quickly, and then you wish you had been recording to capture the moment. I'm lucky to have a husband who is on top of those kinds of things for me!!

I am awesome like that!

Thanks for the info! I will definitely check out Dstreet while we are there. eBay has them but they're all $40 or more. I'll definiltely keep checking there and on the Disney store web site though. Thanks!

Disneystore.com has the 9" yellow on sale right now for $14.99. Not sure if yellow was a color you were considering, but just giving you a heads up that they had them available right now.
http://www.disneystore.com/create-your-own-vinylmation-figure-9/mp/1261008/1000828/

Edit: Keeps going in and out of stock.

 

[Imagineer5]

Wow, those pictures are absolutely priceless. That CP breakfast looks like a huge HIT!! So awesome. Definitely one of our must-do's too.

Have you posted your Oct dates yet? I don't remember but am thinking you're going later in the month than us?

Question for ya regarding his knowledge of characters - does he actually know who they are & if so - how? movies? books? I've been trying to think of ways to get Aria to at least recognize some of the big characters, esp Pooh & Mickey & friends. Though she'll only be 8 mo old so that might be a bit much to expect LOL, but I didn't really know how to go about doing it aside from reading Pooh stories to her and letting her watch some movies or something?

 

[exwdwcm]

Seriously, could Paxton being any cuter or have a better smile in all of those pictures? How can you even pick the best one, they are all so good. Love the ones nose to nose with Tigger and Piglet. Super cool that Tigger stopped during the parade too. This is one of our favorite meals that we do every single trip.

 

[khertz]

Wow, those pictures are absolutely priceless. That CP breakfast looks like a huge HIT!! So awesome. Definitely one of our must-do's too.

Have you posted your Oct dates yet? I don't remember but am thinking you're going later in the month than us?

Question for ya regarding his knowledge of characters - does he actually know who they are & if so - how? movies? books? I've been trying to think of ways to get Aria to at least recognize some of the big characters, esp Pooh & Mickey & friends. Though she'll only be 8 mo old so that might be a bit much to expect LOL, but I didn't really know how to go about doing it aside from reading Pooh stories to her and letting her watch some movies or something?

We still have not decided for sure on our October dates. I know for certain it will be middle-end of October, but that's about it. I originally thought it might be fun to be there over Halloween week, but after having so much fun trick-or-treating in our neighborhood with friends this year, I started rethinking that idea. I'm leaning towards the week before that, which would mean we'd be in Disney World for DS's actual 2nd birthday, which I think could be a lot of fun! I'm sure as soon as I decide, a new PTR will start.

As for the characters, I don't think he has a clue who any of the Disney characters are. Surprisingly, he had very little exposure to them...My mom got him hooked on Sesame Street, and I find PBS Kids has better daytime programming that I can leave on in the background during the day while he plays, and every once in awhile he looks up and watches for a few minutes at a time. He started loving Elmo, and despite our attempts later on, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse just didn't interest him, and still doesn't for the most part. That didn't seem to bother him though, as you can tell from the pictures. However, I think if you start with MMC instead of SS, she will love it. Pretty much everyone else I know with babies the same age as Paxton love MMC! It calms their kids the way SS does Paxton when he's cranky. My child barely sits still long enough to watch more than 10 minutes of TV at a time, so it will be a long while before we even attempt a movie with him! Which I guess is good that he's not a tv junkie already!! You could definitely do the books and toys with the characters. Even though he didn't love MMC, he has a LOT of MM stuff! Clothes, books, toys...so he is exposed to them somewhat. It's definitely possible to have her recognizing a character though...from early on, every single time he sees something with Elmo on it, he grins & giggles!

Seriously, could Paxton being any cuter or have a better smile in all of those pictures? How can you even pick the best one, they are all so good. Love the ones nose to nose with Tigger and Piglet. Super cool that Tigger stopped during the parade too. This is one of our favorite meals that we do every single trip.

It really was hard to choose the best! He was just so darn cute with them, and Tigger was a definite hit! We look forward to doing this meal for many WDW trips to come. It was a big highlight of our vacation!!

 

[leslie826]

I just found your TR and I'm loving it! I'm getting a good idea of what to expect when we take DS1 in a few weeks. I need to remember to utilize the baby care centers. They sound awesome! We are doing a lot of the same meals. I hope DS enjoys the characters at CM and CP breakfast as much as Paxton. You got some of the best pics ever! You've also got me rethinking our HS day...We're RD people but I planned to stay until our dinner at Cape May Cafe. Maybe we won't find enough to keep us busy all day? Hmmm...

 

[khertz]

I just found your TR and I'm loving it! I'm getting a good idea of what to expect when we take DS1 in a few weeks. I need to remember to utilize the baby care centers. They sound awesome! We are doing a lot of the same meals. I hope DS enjoys the characters at CM and CP breakfast as much as Paxton. You got some of the best pics ever! You've also got me rethinking our HS day...We're RD people but I planned to stay until our dinner at Cape May Cafe. Maybe we won't find enough to keep us busy all day? Hmmm...

The baby care centers were GREAT for getting out of the craziness of the park and letting DS practice walking. He was still so new at it that we were afraid of him tripping and busting his face on the sidewalk outside, and when he's inside he wants to run up to every stranger he can find! So the baby care centers were a nice safe place to let him do his walking, and he was able to eat lunch or dinner in an environment free of distractions. Plus it was nice for us parents because we could change him on the HUGE changing tables together (since he's a bit of a wiggle worm when getting his diaper changed!).

Hopefully your DS does enjoy the characters, it makes for such a great experience when they have those beautiful smiles on their little faces and just look like they are having the time of their lives!

All I can do with DHS is share our experience with our child. He doesn't like sitting still for long periods of time, and shows have to be bright, colorful, lots of singing, etc. to hold his attention. Not many of the shows in DHS fit that mold for us, so we skipped a lot. Plus, shows we thought he might do ok for like Little Mermaid were just SO much longer than we remembered, so we figured between waiting to get into the show and the actual show, that was just too long for us to expect him to behave and sit still. Other children who are much more mild mannered and calm would probably do fine at the shows and would be able to enjoy a lot more of DHS. Do you have park hoppers? Maybe you could plan to RD at DHS that morning and head somewhere else in the afternoon? I guess I would say stick with your plan as it is and see how it goes, but have a back up plan ready. If there's one thing I learned traveling to WDW with a 1 year old, it's that you have to be flexible!!

 

[Leger13]

As for the characters, I don't think he has a clue who any of the Disney characters are. Surprisingly, he had very little exposure to them...My mom got him hooked on Sesame Street, and I find PBS Kids has better daytime programming that I can leave on in the background during the day while he plays, and every once in awhile he looks up and watches for a few minutes at a time. He started loving Elmo, and despite our attempts later on, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse just didn't interest him, and still doesn't for the most part. That didn't seem to bother him though, as you can tell from the pictures. However, I think if you start with MMC instead of SS, she will love it. Pretty much everyone else I know with babies the same age as Paxton love MMC! It calms their kids the way SS does Paxton when he's cranky. My child barely sits still long enough to watch more than 10 minutes of TV at a time, so it will be a long while before we even attempt a movie with him! Which I guess is good that he's not a tv junkie already!! You could definitely do the books and toys with the characters. Even though he didn't love MMC, he has a LOT of MM stuff! Clothes, books, toys...so he is exposed to them somewhat. It's definitely possible to have her recognizing a character though...from early on, every single time he sees something with Elmo on it, he grins & giggles!

I agree totally! Alex has been watching MMCH since he was an infant and now he has a little smile on his face every time the show comes on. And every time he sees a Mickey Mouse plush he smiles and laughs. He LOVES him some Mickey Mouse. He also recognizes Elmo and likes him but not nearly as much as Mickey Mouse. It's all a matter of what you expose your LO to from early on really.

 

[khertz]

DAY 6 Continued: Wednesday November 9th

After finishing our very memorable breakfast with Winnie the Pooh & friends at The Crystal Palace, we headed out into Magic Kingdom without much of a plan. We had already done the major things we wanted to do with DS, so the idea was just to walk around and do whatever struck our fancy at the moment.

They were singing on Main Street as we walked out! Always love those little impromptu morning singing performances on the trolley. It feels so quintessential Main Street.

By that time, the park had been open for a bit, but we decided to go and check the wait at Dumbo. The Castle wasn't blocked off yet, so we went through to get to Fantasyland, one of my favorite things to do on MK mornings! We stopped to let DS try to pull the Sword from the Stone, but no luck.

We got to Dumbo, and it was already more than 20 minutes, and we knew we'd be back for another rope drop morning later on in the trip, so we moved on to something else. Snow White didn't have a wait, so we rode that first.

Next, we headed to DH's favorite, the Mad Tea Party. I think this was the morning that we were standing in line and people were walking across the plant wall trying to hop in the line towards the front, but luckily the CM's were on top of it and told them to get down and go to the back. It was a woman and her kids...seriously?! I could kind of understand older kids or teens thinking that was a good idea, but a mom? Anyway...we got into our teacup after I made DH swear not to spin the cup anymore than it would spin on its own, and I think the only reason he agreed was because DS was with us! lol

After riding, we headed over to Space Mountain to grab some FP's that we could use when DS fell asleep, and while we were over there, saw some old friends in a new getup that we just had to stop for a picture with!

They were going in for a snack just as we got in line, but we decided to wait anyway because DS was actually tame at the moment, and it wasn't too long before they came back out. The two families in front of us went, then it was our turn!

After taking our posed picture, we started comparing teeth! lol The handler pointed out to Chip that DS had two teeth on the bottom like Chip has two teeth on top, and C&D got a kick out of that.

DS was starting to get a little cranky, so we decided to try something calm & soothing. What better than the nearby TTA? This was our first of many rides on the TTA this trip! Just as we got on, DS spit up right on DH's shirt again...he always seemed to get it whenever DS spit up!

Before the offending spit up incident.

Enjoying the view

Uh oh, someone's getting sleepy!

OUT!

Still sleeping as we disembarked.

We transferred DS to his stroller and found a shaded area to sit with him so we could switch off riding Space Mountain using our Fast Passes. I got to do the little wait time card! I don't know why I find this so exciting, but I do. lol

We were on and off in just a little time each, so since DS was still passed out sleeping, we crossed the park to Frontierland to check the wait time on Big Thunder Mountain.

The standby line was only 20 minutes, so we got a rider switch pass, and DH rode first since I had ridden Space first. I found a spot against the railing to sit with DS in the shade hoping he'd stay snoozing. That wasn't to be, and he started stirring as soon as I got settled in to check my email on my phone. So we got up and I took him over to the Splash Mountain store to look around. I love my Splash t-shirt I got on our December trip so I was hoping to find something like that, but it was slim pickins in that store, so we weren't in there long.

Here's some pictures DH took while on his BTMRR ride.

When DS and I got out of the shop but before DH was finished riding, I noticed a lot of people had stopped to watch the famous skywriter writing something in the sky right above us.

I took this picture because I thought this was the message.

But then he kept going, and people were really intrigued at this point, stopping and videoing, saying, "Love what?" and saying their guesses. I kind of figured what it would be, and snapped a picture when the second word was done.

Well, he still wasn't done, but by then DH was off the ride, and I wasn't sticking around to find out what else he was going to write. DH asked if I wanted to go use the rider switch pass to ride BTMRR, but since DS was awake, I said I'd ride later so we could do more stuff with him now.

DH had a suggestion, but I wasn't too crazy about it...

Continued in next post...

 

[khertz]

DAY 6 Continued: Wednesday November 9th

Since we were in Frontierland, DH suggested we try the Country Bears...UGH! I absolutely HATE this attraction, but he likes it and thought DS would enjoy it. I grudgingly agreed, since DH had already suffered through Small World for DS's enjoyment.

So...on to the Country Bear Jamboree, I guess?

Of course, DS LOVED it, and spent most of the show standing on my lap clapping and dancing. Guess we will be getting to know the Country Bears a little better on our upcoming trips. Yay me!

Grand finale.

The CM working the show was sitting on the steps right next to us and singing every song word for word. I didn't know whether I should feel bad for her or not, because she actually seemed to enjoy her job. lol I think I'd had to really REALLY want to work for Disney to stay working the Country Bear show!!

Well, I exacted my revenge after enduring the Country Bears to suggest we ride DS's other favorite attraction, It's a Small World.

As we headed back to Fantasyland, we passed through the Christmas store, but didn't find anything we wanted to buy. When we came out, we stopped to watch the marching band performance a little.

Then, we made it to our destination!

It only had a 15 minute wait, and I think we waited less than that to actually board the boat. Since we had already taken pictures last time, we decided to put the camera away and just enjoy the attraction with DS. He had a great time once again!

After that, we went back over to Frontierland so I could use my BTMRR rider switch pass, which was pretty fun & uneventful. As I was exiting the ride, the lady in front of me gave me her FP that she wasn't going to use, which was so nice! We intended to use it, but never did.

We had some lunch at Pecos Bill's, and fed DS while we were there. He made great friends with the older kids at the table next to us who had fun playing with him.

After lunch, we took a ride on the Haunted Mansion, thinking DS might fall asleep since it's so dark and he was getting a little cranky, but he didn't. We debated trying to find a spot for the parade, but ultimately decided we didn't care enough to see it to stake out a spot and have to entertain DS while waiting for it to start. So while the parade was going on, we went to see my favorite Disney 3-D show, Philharmagic!

He actually enjoyed that show too! I think it was all of the music, definitely kept him entertained. We always made sure at every show to pick a row with no one or not too many people in it so we could be at the end towards the exit in case we needed to make a quick escape, but luckily we never needed to!

On the way out, we stopped in the gift shop to look for souvenirs for DH since they have so much Donald merchandise, and found this cute t-shirt for him that he bought.

It was getting late in the afternoon, and we were about done for the day, so we decided to do a little more shopping on the way out of the park. We came down the side of the Castle, one of my favorite little passageways.

We stopped in the Emporium to buy some things we had had our eyes on that trip since we were headed back to the resort anyway. Might as well stock up, right?! While we were wandering through the store, DS fell asleep in the stroller.

For myself, I found a cuuuuute Mickey Mouse hoodie that I just had to have! I had to get a CM to check in the back for my size, and luckily they had one!

We found a 1st Visit t-shirt for DS.

We bought 3 of these frames for each set of DS's grandparents, thinking it would be a cute way to give them a picture of DS from each of our Disney trips that they can put in there.

This is the frame I mentioned in the CP update that we got for DS's room and put the picture of him & Tigger in. We figured it would be a great use for a frame that's cute, but we probably wouldn't have bought & displayed in our living room.

And the Santa milk & cookies plate I had wanted!

Loaded down with our purchases, we took the monorail back to the TTC and walked out to our car parked on the 1st row. DH got DS into the carseat without waking him up!

We got back to the resort by late afternoon, and let DS play around the resort room before his dinner & bath. DH and I warmed up the leftover Pizza Hut pizza in the oven and took our showers early so that we could relax and watch a movie that evening with some popcorn. DH had brought a few DVD's, and we ended up watching The Change Up, which was SO funny! I love Ryan Reynolds.

DS was in his bed by 7:45 passed out, and we were in bed and sleeping by 9. No drama that night, thank goodness! Because the next morning, we had another rope drop date with DHS!

UP NEXT: Giving DHS another chance

 

[disneybarbie]

Sounded like a great day at the Magic Kingdom!


Emma x

 

[skier_pete]

Just want to say you really have figured out the "go with the flow" vibe needed for touring with a toddler.

 

[afwdwfan]

I love the atmosphere on Main Street in the morning. So welcoming and inviting.

It looks like it was a good morning and Paxton made some more good impressions on the characters. I wish our experience on the TTA had been as good as yours was with Paxton.

There's just something about being a little kid and loving the Country Bears and It's a Small World. There's nothing that will ever change that. My mom tells me that when I was 3 and we went, once I saw the Country Bears, that's all I talked about and all I wanted to do. So good luck with your next few trips!

I really like the first trip shirt you found. We didn't see those. We definitely would have bought one of them if we'd seen those shirts anywhere.