365 Days round. A toddlers first trip. May 14th-19th 2012 COMPLETE

[tehSAC]

Leaving off from the last update, we were enjoying the Festival of the Lion King, and the show was starting to wrap up. Another performer approached Lorelai and asked if she would help him out. She was hesitant at first, but he handed her a maraca, and she went along with him. They danced around the stage, and played their maraca's. At the end, it was such a blur, my wife said that Timon, chose her as the child of the show or something to that accord. I was so busy snapping photos, I tuned out this part. Although, I did get a shot of her interacting with Timon.


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The show finished up and we took our time leaving the show building. Eventually we made our way out, found our stroller, and made our way back to discovery island. We were hoping we might pass by the CM who gave us the opportunity to express our gratitude again, but sadly she was no where to be found.


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Passing near the Rainforest Cafe, they had a sign outside saying they had immediate seating. Christina asked Lorelai if she wanted to go, to which she said "of course mommy!" So off we went for a late lunch. At this point I knew that a swim/nap combo then off to the MK was out of the question. We decided during lunch that we would just head back and relax at the resort for the evening.


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279 by tehSAC_3, on Flickr

We all enjoyed our lunch/dinner, and headed out to the trams. Made it to the car, and took the short drive back to the resort for the night. By the time we found a parking spot, Lorelai was in dreamland. So I loaded her up and took her to the room to sleep for a little bit. The nap was short lived and we eventually made our way down to the Pool for a swim. It was hot, but the pool wasnt very crowded. To think back on it, the pool was hardly ever crowded. We all swam for around 2 hours, before we decided we wanted to go back to DTD just for the fun of it.

We made the short drive to DTD, and parked right behind the Lego store. We walked around the World of Disney for awhile, and let Lorelai do some browsing around the BBB, because in the morning she had an appointment in the MK. She found a postcard that she wanted to fill out and send back to her old pre-school, some pencils for all her friends, and a Tangled Playset. So she purchased those and we went out because mom wanted some Wetzel's Pretzels. While mom was waiting I went back in and purchased a Pirates of the Caribbean Vinylmation, hoping my luck hadnt run out. I was hoping that I would get a Jack Sparrow, but it wasnt to be. I ended up getting a pig, but no worries. Lorelai and I made our way over to the Pin Trading location in hopes we could find some more Orange bird pins, but she had everything they had. Eventually we all made it back to the car, and made it back to the room around 10 PM. We had an early morning for our last day, but that part of the report will have to wait.

 

[tehSAC]

updated some more to the report in the last post.

been a busy week so far, hope to wrap it up this weekend. Thanks to all that have commented, and followed so far.

 

[tehSAC]

So Friday, our last Disney day, started at 6 AM. We woke up early to give Lorelai a bath, and enough time for Mom and I to get ready too. We needed to get to the MK parking lot by 8:30, because I knew we would have to take the boat or monorail to the park entrance. Lorelai had a 9:25 AM appointment at the BBB so I was hoping to be through the turnstyles just after the opening show. Well we didnt get to the lot and on the tram until 8:45. I was starting to get a little stressed, knowing we still had to get across the lagoon. I gave Lorelai the option and she chose the boat since she hadnt rode it yet. DOH! A boat quickly showed up, we loaded and soon we were off. We made it through the turnstyles by 9:15, so we were still okay. We made it too her appointment on time, and soon it was time for her princess transformation.

Of course she chose to be Rapunzel, and after a short wait we were on our way.


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During the process, I went ahead and grabbed some fastpasses for Peter Pan. Mom was video taping, so I wouldn't miss anything. On the way back I had to jump in and grab a shot of Donald in the Gift shop.


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As I returned, they were working on the finishing touches. Eventually the princess was revealed. She was so excited to see herself. I was proud of her because she didn't fuss once. She hates having her hair brushed, but she did awesome!


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We paid and headed towards Castle Couture for her photo shoot. I found some familiar faces on the shelf while waiting for her turn.


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Mom even got in on the pixie dust action.


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Lorelai had a wonderful photoshoot, we chose our three poses, and then headed towards Lorelai's favorite ride of the trip. Its a Small World.

 

[tehSAC]

We headed out of Castle Couture, and walked back towards It’s a Small World. We were not within our time on our fastpass to ride Peter Pan, so we went on the Happiest Cruise that Ever Sailed again. I’ve not been a fan of this ride in the past, but seeing the joy it brought our daughter, it earned a special place in my heart.

I thought I might try to snap a few photos during the ride, in hopes they would turn out. Hahaha I am no Tom Bricker! I really wanted a photo of the Cactus playing the guitar, but nothing came out clear. Although, looking at it more, I kinda like how it turned out.


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We hopped off the ride, and Lorelai started to complain about her shoes rubbing against her legs. They had sequins all over them, so we stopped at the top of the exit ramp, and slid some socks onto her. It looked rather goofy, but it was comfortable for her. They eventually would come off, then back on during the day. Hahaha

It was now time to cash in our fastpass, and we were quickly soaring over Neverland. We all enjoyed our voyage, and Lorelai enjoyed the Mermaids the most. Our plan next was to go towards Dumbo again, but we ended up scratching that idea and headed towards the Haunted Mansion. Before heading onto the ride, we stopped at a food cart and purchased some drinks.

Before heading into the queue, Lorelai found some CM’s to trade pins with, and a place to sit down and eat some Cheetos. She said she didn’t want to ride the HM, but Mom and I could go alone, and she would sit there and wait. I told her that she could have one of the large lollipops sold in the candy shop if she rode, and that gave her the courage to ride. She was great waiting in the queue, but as soon as we walked into the stretching room she started to get frightened. She didn’t scream, or even cry, just held onto mom for dear life. We had her little nightlight for her, so that helped soothe her somewhat. Now my only issue at any point during our trip came up here. I was already feeling like a bad father asking/bribing her to ride, but some jerk wanted to take it to another level. I overheard him telling his wife and son that he would love to take me outside and strangle me because I brought her onto the ride. I tried to ignore it, but I turned around and gave him a smirk. He didn’t take kindly to that and told me to “eff off pal, you’re a horrible father, and you need to work on your parenting skills.” At that point the room went dark, the doors finally opened and we were off to catch our doom buggy. He stayed right near us the entire time, giving me the stink eye, but I just ignored him. Lorelai did great, she kept her ears covered, but she did good. No crying, no screaming, etc. She did say that she enjoyed the hitchhiking ghosts, but she wasn’t interested in riding again.


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Mom, was starting to feel some hunger pains after we finished with the ghouls, so we grabbed the stroller and headed out to find some lunch. Now my wife is a very picky eater, so I knew this might be a chore. We checked the menu outside of Columbia Harbor House, Liberty Tree Tavern, and Pecos Bills, before she decided on Pecos Bills. I had heard a lot about this place, so I was prepared, but I wasn’t very hungry. The heat just sucks out any “want” for my body to eat. Anyway, mom got a Taco Salad, I had Onion Rings, and Lorelai had some Fries. It was good to sit down in the air for awhile, and we all enjoyed our lunch. Lorelai and I colored in a coloring book we had while mom finished, then we started to plan out what we wanted to do next. Myself, wanted nothing more than a hole drilled into my forehead, because my sinuses were starting to act up. The inevitable started to rear his ugly head, a massive headache was starting to form. All I thought to myself, please hold off until tonight. With my headache starting to form, all I wanted was to stay in the air conditioning, so we chose to head off and see The Enchanted Tiki Room. That would turn out to be a mistake…..


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Watch out Flynn, you don’t want to upset this Rapunzel!


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Why you ask? Well Lorelai wanted to sit up front, but I guess looking back on it, it really didn’t matter. Everything was above us anywhere we sat, and looking up for what seemed an eternity, just fueled my headache. By the end of the show my head was in my hands, and I was begging for some aspirin. Why I didn’t take any when we were at lunch? Heck I don’t know, but let me tell you I was regretting it. Lorelai loved the show though, so at least someone got some joy out of it. We headed out and I took some advil, and we talked about riding Pirates of the Caribbean. This is my favorite ride, but Lorelai didn’t want to do it. I was disappointed, because that was the one ride I wanted to do with her, and disappointed in myself for scaring her on the Haunted Mansion. I felt like she just didn’t trust me anymore.

So off I went to ride Pirates, and they headed off to watch the Country Bears. I hadn’t seen pirates since they added Jack Sparrow so that was enjoyable. Plus the smell of the ride brought back many memories. Silly I know, but some things just stick with you. I debated riding again, but I figured they would be waiting for me, and I didn’t want to keep them waiting. I went ahead and grabbed Fastpasses for Jungle Cruise, then headed over to where we agreed to meet.


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I ran into a band doing their thing, then soon found the girls. They had been shopping, and purchased some mickey suckers and jelly beans. They said they enjoyed the show, and I told them I had fastpasses for Jungle Cruise, but we had an 45 min until we could use them. That worked out perfect, because Lorelai wanted to see the 3 PM parade, because she really wanted to see Flynn. So I suggested we go find a place to eat, and allow me to enjoy something I had been craving. What else, but the Dole Whip!


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[tehSAC]

So it was hot, and the only thing I could think of to cool us down was something nice and cold. What better than a dish of soft serve for the toddler, and a Dole Whip for daddy! It was a long line, but there was seating available right next to shop, so Mom and Lorelai waited for our treats inside there. I had a wonderful conversation with a man that had been visiting the parks since they opened in 71. We passed the time talking about all the memories he had made coming all those years. He had recently moved to Orlando, and today was his weekly visit, but today he was just picking up a Dole Whip for him and his wife. It was a wonderful way to pass the time.


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After we finished our wonderful treats, we headed towards the Jungle Cruise to cash in our Fast Passes. The clouds started to start roll in and started to look ominous. I looked at the radar on my phone, and saw there was rain on the radar, but it looked like a small shower. I was hoping it would rain before the parade, and if it did rain, it wasnt a large downpour. Lorelai was desperately wanting to see Flynn.

Anyway, we were quickly packed in like sardines on our cruise. We sat on the steps, and as soon as we were back near the camp it started to rain. We enjoyed our cruise, and headed off to see if we could find a spot in Frontierland for the parade. The rain had stopped, and so had Lorelai. She wanted to drive the small remote control boats. So we hung out there for awhile, then made our way back up near the Sunshine Tree Terrace.

We made our way out to Frontierland and saw there were plenty of spots. So we parked and started to wait. About this time it was 2:50. The rain started to come down again, but it was a light rain, so I wasn't too concerned. I was too busy snapping photos of my little princess, dancing in the walkway, in the rain, without a care in the world. The foul faces of everyone trying to find a spot to dodge the rain, but there was sunshine on that walkway in the form of a 4 Yr. Old.


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She even found time to find a hidden mickey!


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Sadly, the rain did not let up. It actually started to come down in buckets, soon after her discovery. We huddled underneath an awning, hoping the rain would pass quickly, and the parade would start. Around 3:20, the canceled the parade for the day. Lorelai was very upset, and it upset mom and I too to see her so disappointed. She decided that it was time to leave. Lorelai didnt understand why, because shortly after they announced the cancellation of the parade, the sun came out and there wasnt a drop of rain in the sky, by the time we made it to the hub. I overheard a CM telling another guest that they may go ahead and try to start the parade in 10 minutes. So we found a spot and waited. 10 minutes passed, and I asked a CM if they had heard anything. He said that since the ground was still wet, they finally decided to cancel it for the day. Oh well, life goes on.


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Since we were staying at AKL, balloons are prohibited, but you can have them held in bell services until you leave. We had told Lorelai, that she could get a balloon on the last day, so thats what we did. She of course picked out a pink Mickey balloon, and mom did some final shopping within the Magic Kingdom.

I just kept looking at main st, knowing that it would be the last time I would be standing there for a long time. It broke my heart. I had this feeling of "why didnt we just spend every day here" and "how can I get back here in the near future?" I just did not want to leave, and I think that is the feeling for all of us that visit this wonderful place. Jealousy of those that can visit on a whim, or those that come 2 or 3 times a year, kept running through my head. I wanted just one more go on Pirates, I wanted to see the smile of my child one more time on It's a Small World, I wanted to see Mom's smile on Dumbo again too!

I kept with the plan thought, and tried to not show my sadness. Lorelai was out of it. It had been a long week, and she just wanted to crash, and have one last swim. This was her trip, not mine, so I wasnt going to take that away from her. So out we went, hopped on the boat, and we were on our way. I purposely sat myself in the front of the bus, so I wouldn't look back. I didnt want that to be my final memory of the MK for this trip.


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It was a short wait for a tram, and we were back to our car and on our way. We arrived back at the resort, and Lorelai was out cold.

 

[tehSAC]

When we returned to the room, Lorelai laid down, and mom and I sat out on the Balcony. I was just trying to soak it all up and enjoy our last afternoon in our resort. Mom mentioned that she was itching for some Wetzel Pretzels again, and asked if I wanted to pick some up for her. Sure, I had already explored the resort, why not take a quick trip over to DTD one last time. I grabbed my pig vinylmation with the intention of trading it, and headed out. Lorelai was out cold, but I knew when I returned, she would want to swim.


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It was a short ride over to DTD, and to my surprise it was like a ghost town, compared to the other two times we had been there during the week. I parked in a front row spot near Planet Hollywood, and headed over to purchase the coveted Wetzel Pretzels. I don’t know what it is about them, but my wife loves them. I think they are mediocre at best. I had to wait a few until they came out of the oven, so I walked over to D-Street to possibly do a bit of trading. There was a large crowd outside, and a janitor. I quickly realized what everyone was gawking at. It was a mop painting of mickey. I have seen photos of them on the boards, but never thought I would see one. I snapped a photo and headed inside.


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I browsed for a bit, contemplated purchasing another vinylmation to test my luck, but eventually left empty handed. Trading the little pig wasn’t in the cards, and I was okay with that. I grabbed our pretzels, and headed back to the resort. Lorelai was still asleep when I arrived, but she soon woke up and started asking about her post card she purchased earlier in the week. She wanted to send the post card to her friends at pre-school About two weeks before our trip she finished pre-school/daycare, but she was still missing her friends. They had a party for her final day, and all the kids wrote letters to her in a journal. She said she wanted to repay the favor. I thought it was a sweet thing to do. So she finished her card, and we walked down to the lobby to mail it off.


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After mailing her card, we walked out to the viewing grounds, because neither mom or her had been out there yet. About 2 minutes into our walk, the skies opened up. We didn’t get far along, but we did sit and watch the Pelicans, catch the rain with their beaks.


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We headed back to the room, and we had a beautiful sight out off the balcony. The rain had passed, but it left a rainbow that looked like it was shooting out the back side of Everest. What a sight it was! It seemed like everyone was out looking at it and snapping photos. It was awesome!


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You can see a little bit of the Swan and Dolphin in the photo above.


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Double Rainbow! What does it mean?!

After looking at the rainbow, Lorelai and I got dressed to swim, and mom started to pack up what she could. Mom eventually made it down to swim and we ended up swimming until 10:00 that night. I took a break to grab a bite to eat from the Mara, but it wasn’t much to write home about. We played in the arcade a bit, before heading back up to the room. We all crashed pretty quickly, with the intention of getting up around 9:00 AM. In the morning, we had one last special thing planned, but it wasn’t Disney related. You will have to wait until the next post to see what it was.

 

[tehSAC]

So our last morning, we woke up early and all sat out on the Balcony and watched the animals. Today was our travel home day, but we had one last thing to do in Florida before our 1000 + mile drive back home.

A few months before our trip, I was messing around on the internet and found something that would be the icing on the cake for our trip. As I have mentioned, Lorelai LOVES flamingos, and I found the ultimate experience for her. In Sarasota, there is a sanctuary that allows you to get up close and personal with these birds. As soon as I found it, I knew we had to do it.

Lorelai was very excited about meeting “her” flamingo’s, and was eager to head out. The bell services guy showed up and I helped him load up the cart. I took one last look out at Everest and the Savanna, and headed down to get the car. We loaded up the car, and headed out of the resort towards 192. We grabbed some breakfast, and jumped onto I-4 towards Tampa. It was a quick 2 hour drive to Sarasota, and Lorelai was jumping with excitement.

Sarasota Jungle Gardens has reptiles, various species of birds, and walking trails around their site. It was a beautiful site, and we took a few minutes to check out the birds at the front of the park. There had to be around 20-25 perches outside the gift shop with all kinds of birds.


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They were beautiful, but our destination was of course the Flamingos.


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[tehSAC]

The experience was awesome. We have an annual pass to the Indianapolis Zoo, and we visit 2-3 times a month. Most of the time we just go to visit “her” flamingos. So this was an amazing experience for all of us. To get that close to them, and feed them was a dream come true for Lorelai.


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They even had a black swan, that wanted to meet Lorelai.


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We spent around an hour and a half at the jungle gardens, and it was worth the 2 hour drive out of the way. Lorelai has already asked when we could go again. We headed out of Sarasota around 2:30, and started the trek home.

Conclusion:

This trip was all that I imagined and more. We had an idea of what we wanted to do, and knew we needed to be in certain parks for our ADR and BBB appointment, but everything else was taken at a toddlers pace. There isn’t anything I would have changed. The way we did things, was perfect for our family. We received some pixie dust that wasn’t expected, so that made it even more special. We were lucky to only wait 25 minutes to ride TSM, without a fastpass. Lorelai by trading pins, earned us some VIP seating for The Festival of the Lion King. Wait times were low, and the temperature was perfect. I can’t count on one hand, any problems we had. Of course we had the rude guy at HM, and one rain storm canceled a parade Lorelai wanted to see, but those are minimal complaints and things we had no control over. My only con had to be The Mara at AKL. I wasn’t impressed with the selection, and the prices were insane. I get that though, you’re in a theme park, it’s going to happen. I remember the Food Court at Riverside being much larger and also having a larger selection. Considering that was my only complaint, either I am easy to please, or I just not experienced enough with other resorts. Again, it was a great trip, and I long for another chance to step on property with my family again. The memories we made, the joy on my daughters face, and laughs we shared, is worth every hour I worked to make this trip come true. Although the year of planning and anticipation before our trip has put me in a bit of depression to this day. I have a feeling of nothing to look forward too, but sharing our trip with all of you has helped with easing that pain.

I hope all of you that have followed along have enjoyed my report. I don’t claim to be the best writer or photographer, but I hope it brought you a little bit of joy in your daily lives. To all those that have responded to my report, I truly appreciate it. Thank you, and hopefully one day I can share another trip with you all again. Also to all of those that have answered one of my ignorant questions in the past, or sharing your thoughts in a report or in a post that I read, I appreciate that too. It helped pass the time over this past year, and helped me plan out some things I wanted to make sure we did.

Thanks again!
Paul

 

[tehSAC]

Moderators, if you want to move this to the completed reports, feel free. I wish I had more to ad, but I dont.

Again, thanks to all that have followed along!

 

[clynngibson]

I loved your trip report!! Especailly all the pictures! It seems like your trip was really magical!

 

[tehSAC]

I loved your trip report!! Especailly all the pictures! It seems like your trip was really magical!

Thank you! Yes it was magical.

 

[AnnaMariaGirl]

Loved your trip report Paul! Lorelai is a cutie! My favorite part was her being picked to teach the crowd how to sound like a giraffe! Especially after receiving the VIP seating!!! I got a little teared up over you looking back at Main Street for the last time (this trip anyway!) Don't even give that jerk at the HM another thought! Some people just have to be a fun sponge! Thanks for all the pictures too. They were awesome! I'm sure you will be planning another trip before too long! This makes me so excited for our December trip!

 

[tehSAC]

Loved your trip report Paul! Lorelai is a cutie! My favorite part was her being picked to teach the crowd how to sound like a giraffe! Especially after receiving the VIP seating!!! I got a little teared up over you looking back at Main Street for the last time (this trip anyway!) Don't even give that jerk at the HM another thought! Some people just have to be a fun sponge! Thanks for all the pictures too. They were awesome! I'm sure you will be planning another trip before too long! This makes me so excited for our December trip!

Thank you for reading! I'm glad you enjoyed, and I hope your December trip is magical.

 

[tehSAC]

Small little update with another moment of pixie dust.

When we returned home, I wrote to Disney expressing my pleasure with the CM's we encountered, especially the CM who helped us become VIP's for "The Festival of the Lion King", but I did not know her name. I did not expect to hear anything back, but I wanted to express my pleasure.

Well on Wedensday I received a call from Florida while I was at work, and it happened to be a representative from Disney. We spoke about my message, and about our experience, and my desire to send my thanks to the CM without a name. We needed up talking for almost a half hour before we moved on in our conversation. He asked me if I had any other special experiences with anyone else employed by Disney. I mentioned our special meeting with Rapunzel and how it was special to us. We ended our conversation after 45 minutes with the promise from him he would find out our CM without a name and make sure how grateful we were to her.

Well tonight, we get home and there is a large package in the mailbox from Disney. It has a hand written address located on the envelope and I'm puzzled to what it might be. We all sat down at the table and opened it up. To our surprise and of course Lorelai's, within the envelope, there was a 8x10 photo of Rapunzel and Flynn. On the photo was a small message to Lorelai. It said "Lorelai, Live Your Dream! Rapunzel and Flynn Rider.". She was so excited, and mom was wondering how I did it. I shrugged my shoulders, but quickly remembered the conversation I had on Wedensday. Of course I didn't let the cat out of the bag.

So now it's framed and above Lorelai's bed. I am so shocked and happy that they even took the time to send that to Lorelai. The Icing on the cake IMO.

 

[tehSAC]

I finally got around to take a photo of her surprise. Decide I might just go ahead and show it to you all.

Disney Magic at its finest.