3 out of 4 isn't bad, right?!! Our family hits up WDW for the 5th time!!! UPDATE 4/22

[gray2402]

Hi everyone!!! Welcome to my FIRST trip report, though this is my 7th trip to WDW and 8th trip to Disney property (we were lucky to go to DLRP in November 2008!) It is our 6th trip with kiddos though...

Anyway, I am excited to share my trip We had a GREAT time and I took tons of notes as to not forget anything. I did take a lot of photos though I feel I could have taken more... I wish I had gotten some shots of just the property and all of the wonderful details ... ah well, something for next trip

Ok, so first of all, I did do a (very short) PTR and that can be found HERE! I have to say that many of our plans changed ... days to parks etc ... but it all worked out fine

Now to introduce our family!!!

ME... (Kellie 33 years old)

I first fell in love with WDW in 2003 when I went with a friend to Orlando for a school break (we were both teachers). My husband was deployed at the time... I am sad that we did not first go together, but our first trip together came a few months later when he came back home! We were really hoping for a WDW/redeployment baby but it did not quite work out that way LOL I always loved this commercial Anyway, I love all things Disney ... I love the planning, finding new little secrets each trip, the rides, the CMers, the magic that happens .... just EVERYTHING!

DH... (Dennis 31 years old)

DH never went to WDW as a child either, but he LOVES amusement parks... I just knew he would love it as much as I had ... so we went for a short little trip when he got back home from his deployment. We had a great time and he fell in love with it too! He loves roller coasters and thrill rides but he does enjoy most everything else too (he does like to remind me that when the kids are big enough for all the thrill rides that we will have to head to IOA and US also! Which is fine with me ... just means we need TWO weeks vacation at a time ) He was a trooper this trip, waiting in the lines for all the Princesses! Although he did say it would be his last time too....

DD... (Sammie 6 years old)

I think I am trying to embed into Sammie's brain that a Disney wedding would be the BEST.THING.EVER! Her first trip to WDW was in 2005 right before she turned one! Of course she does not remember it, but who cares? She loooooves to look at all the photos and talk about it. She has been to WDW 5 times now and DLRP once. Each trip just gets better and better LOTS of new things for her on this trip that I cannot wait to share! Both DH and I feel that since WE never got to go as kids, that we will make sure our kids get to ...

DS... (Alex 2 years, 11 months old on this trip)

Alex has never had a great trip to Disney, poor kid... well before this trip that is! His first trip was actually to DLRP at just over one year old ... well he ended up breaking out in horrible hives for some reason and it was just so sad for him His next trip was to WDW at just over two years old ... no major problems but he was not fond of any of the characters and was going through a bit of a 'scared' stage ... so he just tolerated it all. This trip, about one year later, was just SO much better in so many ways!!!

So that is us!

Up next ... TRAVEL DAY! Will we get going on time? Will traffic/weather/kiddos etc be good?? Stay tuned!

==============
LINKS TO EACH UPDATE

September 11th: It's TRAVEL day but can we get up at 6am?!

September 12th: Off to the parks we go... eventually!

September 12th continued: DHS (day one in the parks)

September 12th continued: DHS (Fantasmic!)

September 13th: Heading to the most MAGICAL place on Earth!

September 13th continued: Heading to the most MAGICAL place on Earth!

September 14th: Our one and only ADR!

September 14th continued: Our one and only ADR!

September 15th: So where are we headed?!

September 15th continued

September 15th continued

September 15th finished

September 17th: Animal Kingdom

September 17th: Animal Kingdom continued

September 17th: Animal Kingdom THE END!!!!

 

[DisneyLilly]

Joining in!
You have a beautiful family! I cannot wait to read more

 

[gray2402]

Joining in!
You have a beautiful family! I cannot wait to read more

Thank you! Off to write some more

 

[gray2402]

My plan was to wake up at 6:30am and eat a quick breakfast before heading out to get some ice for the cooler and get going by 8am... well just a side note, but we tend to always be running late. It never fails, something slows us down! Will this trip break the cycle?

So the alarm goes off at 6:30am and I go to wake the kids (they do not know where we are going at this point!) They were sleepy but they did get up pretty easily ... into the bath for them while my husband packed the car! (We brought a TON of stuff! We cooked a lot in our resort to save some money. I actually brought my crockpot, my rice cooker, a Pampered Chef casserole dish and my Keurig coffee pot I *did* use it all!!) I should have had him take a photo but the photo madness did not start until we were on the road.

So the kiddos were ready, I was ready and my hubby was getting ready... he decided we should just eat at McD's for breakfast to keep the kitchen clean and not have to deal with dishes... So we seemed to be on track to leave by 8am! We actually pulled out of the driveway at 8:10am so not too bad. We stopped at Wal Mart to get ice and a notebook for my daughter. That is when my hubby tells me that he forgot something... his BELT! So we had to run back home afterall.

I ran into Wal Mart quickly and I bought a Tinkerbell notebook for my daughter to keep a trip journal (she was missing school for this week so I wanted to make sure to do school work with her.) She had no clue still where we were going, even with the Disney themed notebook!

Out I came and home we went where he grabbed his belt, I loaded the ice in the cooler and off we went to the closest McD's. Ate a quick breakfast and on the road at 9:30am. I drove first and while I HATE to drive, I wanted to make a good dent in the trip since my hubby had school work to do (he is taking one college class while working about 50 hours a week). I am happy to say I drove over half way!

About 2 hours into the trip I realized that *I* forgot something! The stroller! We had talked about just having my son walk around (he was 2 years 10 1/2 months on this trip) and just having the stroller as backup in the van if needed... well I totally forgot to put it to be packed, so now if we needed one we'd have to rent it.

We stopped around 1:30pm for gas and food (At Wendy's somewhere right before the Florida state line, which we hit at around 2pm!) Then my hubby drove!

I made my daughter look as we drove by the sign to see if she could figure out where we were going? She saw the Florida sign and this video is what I got!

I had turned off the DVD Player after lunch because I knew my son would not fall asleep if it was on. He does not normally nap, but I knew he would if he was not distracted! He kept saying "I'm not sleepy" over and over haha! Here is Mr. Not Sleepy

I fell asleep pretty much right after and napped until about 4pm, when my hubby wakes me up to ask if our GPS is right ... it wasn't so I am glad he asked! But we are now on I-4 and ALMOST there!!!

So Alex wakes up not far after and sees all the palm trees ... here is a funny video of what he kept calling the area we were in ... too much Diego maybe? (This video is actually from the next day when I was trying to get him to say it again!)

We get off on US Hwy 192 and I see this beautiful sight!

But we head on by until we get to the Publix to shop for the frozen/cold items we will need. I go in and out quickly and then we head to the timeshare.

We check in, my hubby unpacks while I make dinner (pasta and meatballs and salad). Kiddos have a dessert (cookies and push pops) and get washed and ready for our first day at Disney tomorrow!!!

UP NEXT: What park do we go to first? Does Alex do okay without a stroller? Do we make rope drop?

 

[gray2402]

Checking themselves out in the mirror!

In the elevator ready to go!

So we are actually timeshare owners at Club Navigo so when we checked in, they offered us an owners breakfast. We have done them before … it's a decent little breakfast and then they try to upsell you on your timeshare package. Then you get some sort of gift. Well we decided to do it since we would get $50 to spend at the resort pool snack bar. We were trying to keep to a strict budget so this opened up a day for us to hang out at the pool and eat lunch... plus we would have an 8am breakfast time and hopefully get to the park by 9am!

Well all was going well but then our guy just kept talking and talking... I tried to be polite but then got frustrated and finally just said we were not interested and we had to go. It took forever! Here is my family eating though Yes we are wearing homemade Mickey Mouse head tie dye tee shirts! I had so much fun making them and they were a hit with people at the parks!

Soon we were OFF! And soon we would see this

So which park do we go to first?

We got in around 10:30am and headed to the ticket windows to get our tickets processed. The CM was very pleasant! We got anniversary buttons to wear as our 11th anniversary was the next Sunday, so we figured we'd wear them for a few days We got lots of well wishes from many people and it opened up some conversations with people while in lines! It was fun! But then we headed in the park!

We headed straight to TSM to ride or get fast passes ... the standby time was already 50 minutes so we grabbed FPs and headed on to Voyage of the Little Mermaid... my daughter made a little friend while waiting and we chatted with her mom until it was time to head in. I love this show so much and both my kids did too! There were some rude people who just stopped in the middle of the row when the CMers were clearly saying to keep going all the way down... I mean, really, there are not bad seats anywhere and it DOES make it easier to not have to climb over people. Let's just say that we were NOT very careful of people's toes....

We came out and headed over to Playhouse Disney Live. This was a must do for my son, but also my daughter still likes many of the shows too. There was a bit of a wait so we headed in to meet Sorcerer Mickey Mouse! Not too bad of a wait ... we did not get to see The Incredibles or Lotso though. My hubby and I do not get into every character photo, but we always do with Mickey Mouse and some others too, plus any new ones we meet that we are interested in. So we did a couple family ones and then just the kiddos.

I don't have any photos from this first visit, but my son LOVED meeting the characters this trip! He ran up, gave big hugs, talked to them, let them tickle him and just had a ball. Far cry from last trip when he was just two years old. I loved watching him interact!!!

So then we went and watched Playhouse Disney Live. I ended up have an old friend come up to me when we first sat down! She was there with her family. Hadn't seen her in about 4 years ... what a small world

Here is a video Sorry it is sideways ...

*continued in next post*

 

[Disney_Jill]

Sounds like a great trip so far! I love the pictures, your kids are sooo cute.

 

[gray2402]

So we left Playhouse Disney and saw Leo, Annie and Handy Manny so of course we had to go see them! Short lines, my son was thrilled, so it was fun

First a photo with Rocketship!

So then everyone was hungry ... well we decided to also see Beauty and the Beast show so we head that way, which also happens to be toward Tower of Terror ... before we left for the trip I sat my DD down and asked her which rides she wanted to try ... she decided yes on BTMRR and no way on ToT. So since we are headed that way, I ask her if she wants to try it ... she says YES! I was so excited! So we left the boys to get food and we head to ToT. There was no wait so we walk right in... I try and tell her what will happen ahead of time and she seems ok. She sees other little kids in line and that makes her feel better. So I tell her as long as she does it, I will buy her a ToT pin for her lanyard, even if she hates the ride! We go on it and she was so scared. But she did it! She got her pin and I think was very proud that she tried it, even if she did not love it. We took a photo with one of the CMers and then headed back for lunch.

The pin she picked out ... she liked that Mickey looked scared too

We then watched Beauty and the Beast (loved it as usual!!) We did have two official Disney looking people sitting in front of us and wondered what they were doing? Checking out the show for quality control? It mystified us! We loved Gaston and it was the same guy we saw do it last time! He was funny!

Then we headed over to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground ... finally found it after my daughter played around in the fire hydrants ...

Had to do some fun photos first!

They got one slide in and it started to rain!

We went into the little restaurant area (under cover!) and sat and had a snack and some water (gotta love the free ice cold water you can get! Forget $2.50 a bottle for dasani water LOL) I had my daughter journal a little bit too.

We head to the Backlot tour and we found a little bit of Disney magic! When we were waiting for our turn to board the trolley, a CM came up and was chatting with my son. My daughter saw his pins and asked him to trade! She chose a Minnie Mouse pin. There was a Mickey Mouse pin with him and the CMer commented that Mickey would be sad to lose Minnie. (They were two separate pins but were a set KWIM?) My daughter offers to trade two of her pins so they can stay together and the CMer says no and gives her both pics for her one! It was SO sweet of him to do that and it totally made my daughters day! So here are her new pins!

We went on the ride and it was fun I was holding a lollipop that my son had been eating and at the part with the fire/water, I kind of jumped and got the lollipop stuck in the woman's hair in front of me! (She jumped too and her long hair flew back into our row, so it was not entirely my fault ) She seemed a bit upset ... I apologized profusely and wrapped the lollipop up in paper.

We left there and it was time for TSM fast passes! It was AWESOME! I can't wait until the hype dies down a bit and we can go more than once a trip!

We headed to Indian Jones after that.

Then headed off to RnR. Took the obligatory Sorcerer's Hat photo and Sammie wanted her photo taken by the boat.

continued in next post ...

 

[gray2402]

There was a 30 minute wait which I stood in while the kids snacked and ran around. Then we ride swapped. It was almost time for Fantasmic and I was SO excited! We head over there to wait and my daughter is practically begging for a glow in the dark toy ... well she did not know I had brought glow stuff with me to give her once we got inside. A very very sweet CM (Nonnie) came over to chat with her about buying things and pacing yourself on your trip. It was really sweet of her, though Sammie kept saying "But I want it" So hubby finally comes over and we head into Fantasmic. We sat way on the left hand side. It was a new vantage point for us so that was fun!

I gave the kids their glow stuff and we all shared some snacks (we brought all our own snacks into the park each day.)

It was about a 20 minute wait to the show. The stadium started doing the wave and that was fun!

I took a neat shot of the moon and ToT!

The show was AWESOME though there was a lot of lightening. We high tailed it out as fast as we could (it takes forever to clear out from that show!) Headed straight out to the trams and just as we got on the tram a HUGGGGGE! lightening bolt struck! It was CRAZY! My DD was scared! It started pouring rain as we got left off at the lot. We couldn't find the van... crazy! Found it, got on our way and made a quick stop at a gift shop so I could buy this:

Only 99 cents LOL I had brought my Keurig coffee pot with me and the resort only had glass coffee mugs, which did NOT work in my Keurig! Needless to say, that was the best money I spent on the trip and it will now be my 'vacation mug' when we go

Oh and I am SO proud to say that my 2 year 10 1/2 month old son walked the whole day! No stroller for him! I was so proud. He never complained once!!!!!

Next to come: What park next? Do we make rope drop THIS time?

 

[gray2402]

Sounds like a great trip so far! I love the pictures, your kids are sooo cute.

Thanks for reading!!

 

[gray2402]

Today we were headed to the Magic Kingdom! I really wanted to make rope drop but it just did not happen after our late return the night before... we got up, got showered and dressed and ate breakfast (cereal/oatmeal/fruit/juice). Packed up the bags and headed out!

Finally we saw it!

We had never taken the ferry over so we decided to do it this time! Before boarding, the CMs had chalk out for the kids to write their names. Sammie did her own (with decorations of course) and I added Alex...

We took some pictures before boarding and while on board too... it was a nice little ride across

We got there and got inside and headed straight for Space Mountain... my hubby rode first and got a rider swap for me. I found out my daughter was tall enough but my hubby said no way could she ride it yet, so we did not let her (she did not care!). When my hubby came out he was laughing and then told me he lost his hat on the end of the ride ... a CM had to get it for him. This was a Disney cap we got last trip in 2009... a Mickey Mouse one with all sorts of Mickey's from throughout the years on it. I told him he better be careful and he was lucky he got it back! (This is important information for later on)....

So I rode the ride (had not ridden it since summer of 2006). It was a bit bumpy for me, but still fun!

We then took the kids to Astro Orbiter. My son was SO excited! He had a blast on it and kept referring to the 'rocketships' all day long.

After that, I sent my hubby over to get FPs for BTMRR. Kiddos and I rode the People Mover. It was fun. Hubby came back and let me know he accidently got FPs for Splash Mountain, woops! It ended up working out better in the end for us!

We met hubby at Laugh Factory and watched that (so funny!!). We went and grabbed fast passes for Buzz Lightyear and went to eat at Cosmic Rays. Then went back to Buzz Lightyear where my daughter kicked butt! I don't know what she hit, but she did AWESOME!

We saw Buzz Lightyear when we came out, and we had never met him, so we went and got in line.

When we came out from meeting him, my daughter said she liked him but he was not soft and cuddly like the other characters LOL

We headed over to Frontierland at this point, and paused to watch part of Dream Along With Mickey (we had seen it before but it was the princesses part and my daughter wanted to watch Mickey and Minnie dance )

So onward we went to go to Splash Mountain. It was my daughters first time! My son was just a bit too short My hubby took my daughter and it seemed to take forever, even with FPs! But my son and I had some snacks and just people watched... We also got FPs for BTMRR. Then my hubby and daughter show up and he says he had good news and bad news ... uh oh! He says he saved Sammie but lost his hat I was a bit upset at him but laughed and told him it served him right after having lost it once already! He should have known to take it off just in case!

So I went on Splash by myself and it was fun! I just got a little wet, perfect!

We headed to Haunted Mansion ... this was going to be our first time on it--- ALL of us! I was excited! My daughter was a bit scared and held me tight in the stretching room... I loved it! After the doors opened from the stretching room, my son yells "Run people run!" It was the funniest thing and we were all laughing! Sammie was a bit scared at first but she ended up loving it. My son kept saying "Hi ghosts!"

We then went back to BTMRR and Sammie and I rode it together. It was the first time for both of us and we both loved it!

We jumped on the train and rode it all the way around once and then jumped off at Toon Town. It was time to meet the main Mouse!

*continued next post*

 

[gray2402]

We were all exhausted at this point and knew we'd be back for one more day at the MK, so we took the train back to Main Street to leave. Then we saw Pluto and HAD to wait in line for him!!!

That was the end of the day for us and we headed back to the car ... tomorrow would be our only character meal of the trip and it was a BIG surprise!

 

[LaDonna]

Love reading about your trip

 

[gray2402]

Love reading about your trip

Thanks LaDonna! Are you going to write one?

 

[LaDonna]

I started to, but I'm fuzzy on details, I have such a terrible memory

 

[gray2402]

I started to, but I'm fuzzy on details, I have such a terrible memory

Yeah I usually am too ... I kept a little trip journal this time It helped a lot!

 

[LaDonna]

yeah I actually wanted to keep a journal too, but didn't feel like carrying it in the parks and knew I wouldn't stop and write in it lol Plus Tyler is SUCH a handful I knew I wouldn't have time. But I thought I'd do it after each day, but I was just too busy getting things set out for the next day and crashing on the bed lol

 

[gray2402]

I am resurrecting this poor Trip Report from the dead! Once I finish it, I will start a new PTR because we are headed back to see the Main Mouse in July WOOHOO!

Last left off with you all wondering which Character Meal we were headed to....

I was so excited to check out the Grand Floridian again (we had been once back in November 2006 to see all the holiday decorations!)

Anyway, we were up early and headed out to drive to the GF ... we had the kiddos wear birthday buttons today to celebrate their birthdays!

Got there early and walked around a bunch and went upstairs this time... saw the little shop and did some Christmas shopping.

The flowers were BEAUTIFUL! I wish I had had my macro lens with me LOL

We went and stood in the (really long) line to check in and met a father and adult daughter. Started chatting with them and she had had a Disney wedding! I talked her ear off!! I am definitely hoping my DD will want a Disney wedding someday! And I hope to have a vow renewal of our own someday too! Probably 20 or 25 years (so we can save up haha!)

We finally got into the room and the kids still did not really know what was going on. We got our food (OMG the strawberry soup and lobster eggs benedict were SO yummy! DD liked the soup a lot too!)

This was the only food photo I took... guess I was too busy eating haha!

The characters, once the kids figured it out, were a BIG hit! First was Tigger...

Then Pooh...

Then came Mary Poppins and she was AWESOME! We asked her to say supercalifragilisticexpialidocious backwards and she did it AMAZINGLY! It was so cool!

(continued next post)

 

[gray2402]

Then came Alice and we did some tea cup posing

And last but certainly not least, was Mad Hatter! He was GREAT!

The kiddos had birthday buttons on so they brought them each a cupcake (HUGE!) and sang to them. They also gave them each a neat laminated placemat with all the characters signatures!

We headed back to the resort to nap and then woke up to go swim! We were there for 4 hours! It was awesome! We met another neat family and had a big waterfight with the splash bomb toys we had. All the adults got into it too haha.

We ate at the pool bar and then finally headed back to the room ... they got in jammies and decorated daddy with stickers

Up next ... we revisit a park ... any ideas which one!?

 

[bluechic03]

Subbing! I LOVED your tie-dye shirts! How did you do that????I also really liked Sammie's dress that looked like Minnine, super cute! Did you make that one too? If I had a little girl I would dress her just like that

 

[gray2402]

Hey thanks for reading

This tutorial is how I made the shirts! It was kind of a mess LOL But they came out cute!

The Minnie dress I ordered from someone on Etsy ... I cannot sew at all The seller does not have a shop anymore sadly

Hope to update again tomorrow night, once the kiddos are in bed!