5 Newbies Visit the World!! - UPDATED! - Our Last ADR and A Magical Moment

[mom2cgj]

Really enjoying reading along. Love the shirts - great job Mom!

Aww, thanks! I had a great time making them!

So excited for when you all get to Disney World! Love reading along so far!

Welcome!!

Great report! We live near Cocoa Beach. Slow and Lo is one of the more popular and respected restaurants in the area.
Looking forward to reading about the rest of your trip!

Thanks! I really wish I could remember more about Slow& Low. I even went back and looked at the menu online to see if I could remember what I ate, and nothing seems familiar. I remember Nugget had a hot dog. I only remember that because he dropped it on the floor, and the waitress was super sweet about it and replaced it for him. We may have to try it again next time!

I'm looking forward to your family's reactions with all the "firsts". First time to see all that Disney magic.
Thank you for sharing your trip.

Thank you for reading! There were a lot of firsts on this trip. Which means...I cried a LOT!

 

[mom2cgj]

It’s Disney Day!!! Woohoo!!! I was a little bit excited by this point.

We tried to sleep in that morning, since we didn’t have park tickets for the day, but the kids and I were just too excited. We knew where we were going, and wanted to get there. Turns out we could have gone earlier than we did, but I didn’t realize we could have gotten on ME earlier than our reservation. I do have to thank the good people of the Dis for teaching me about making a dummy reservation since we weren’t flying into MCO that day (we had 2 days earlier).

We decided to drive around Cocoa Beach and see what we could find for breakfast. We ended up at this cute little place called Simple & Delicious. That’s exactly what it was...simple food, but delicious! I had a peach muffin that was just PACKED with fresh peaches. OMG! Absolutely fabulous. And a side of fresh strawberries with cream. A nice light breakfast, but just perfect. The inside of the cafe was bright and cheery. And Stanley loved that there was tabasco on the table. (I’m a huge tabasco fan, but in Iowa we rarely see it on the table at restaurants!)

We went back to the hotel and packed up, and then we decided to head back to the beach for a little while. No swimming, since it was still cool and we had packed swimsuits up already. Instead we just walked in the sand and collected seashells. I now have a huge bowl of seashells on the table in the living room and the kids like to look through them and talk about our time at the beach.

Finally it was time to check out and head back to MCO to return the rental car. We decided to grab a quick lunch on the way, and stopped at Five Guys - another place we don’t have in Iowa. By this point, I was so excited I was nauseous, so I didn’t eat. The kids said the burgers were good and Mike really liked the hand cut fries. By the time we left, I felt really sick. I just hoped I would feel better by the time we got to our resort!

We dropped off the car in the Hertz parking ramp and had to find the ME counter. Am I the only one who thinks they need to do a better job with signs? We had no clue where we were going, and I was completely turned around backwards. I asked an airport security guy, and he gave me directions, but I was still confused. Eventually we found some other families with kids heading all heading in one direction and just followed them. We ended up in the right place! Of course, all of this was while we were hauling all of our luggage. Ugh.

It was time! The bus was here! I was literally shaking I was so excited and it was just for the bus! We had to wait for the driver to load our luggage since we were carrying it all with us. I felt bad for him - there were some really pushy people in front of us (well, behind us originally...) and they were just mean. They kind of got into it with another family, and the driver finally stepped in and told them they would have to wait. He loaded the other family and us first and then went back to them. Luckily, we didn’t have to sit by them on the bus!

I was sitting by Nugget, and he could barely sit still. I hadn’t told the kids about the movie, since I had seen on here that sometimes it doesn’t show. So, when it started, they were so excited! And, once again, I started tearing up. We were finally on our way! It was a dream come true. By the time the movie was over and they started showing the Donald Duck cartoons, Nugget was asleep. I think he got about a 20 minute nap. I tried to wake him up when we went through the gate to the World, but he wouldn’t budge. Oh, well. I was crying again anyway. (I tried to get a picture, but I think I was shaking, so it didn’t turn out. I decided to hand the camera to Mike.)

We stopped at two resorts before ours. First was Caribbean Beach. I was too busy trying to figure out where we were to really look at the resort. Then we were on the way to POP. As we pulled up to POP, I knew we were close to AoA, and started working on waking up Nugget. I didn’t want him to miss pulling up to the resort. Just as I finally got him awake, we saw this...

and then this...

We are here! And it was even more amazing than the pictures I had been drooling over for weeks! We took our time getting off the bus since we knew we had to get our bags. The driver was really nice, and even apologized for the “trouble” at the beginning of the trip, which he didn’t have to do. (That family had gotten off at a different resort - whew!) We got our bags and walked in to Animation Hall. Here are just a few of the pictures we took. (BTW - I didn't feel sick any more!)

The art was incredible, and the lights...well, the pictures just don’t do them justice! I had done online check-in, so we only waited a couple of minutes before we were at our kiosk. We had a super friendly CM who gave us our First Visit buttons right away and chatted with the kids about what they wanted to do at Disney. Then he pulled out our KTTW cards and a map. I had only made one request, building 6 (in the hopes of not seeing the parking lot). We got it! We ended up with a lake view, 3rd floor. It was perfect!

Since we had all of our luggage, we decided to get to our room right away and come back to check things out later. So we set off for the Lion King section. We walked out the back door of AH, and I had to stop. I had seen all the pictures, but I was not prepared for the reality of it all. I was completely overwhelmed. I think the bell services CM thought my bags were too heavy, because they came over and offered to take them for us. As they were walking us to our room, they told G-Bear to make sure to keep an eye out for the hyenas. She was so excited to find them, I think she missed everything else!

Finally we got to our building. This was the doorway to go in...

We got to the third floor, and...my KTTW card didn’t work. None of them did. Ugh. Thankfully, mousekeeping was just down the hall and radioed for someone to come help. A very friendly CM came and tried the cards, which still didn’t work. She verified our room number on my map and let us in with a master key, then took our cards back to get them fixed. In the meantime, we were able to go in and see our room! (She only took about 20 minutes to get them fixed and bring them back. But this was not the end of the problems we would face with those cards!) I’ll end for this post with a few pictures of our suite. From the doorway...

The kids’ beds (we had to unfold them and take pics!)...

The master...

One of the footstools...

And the kids’ bathroom. (I want this shower curtain!)

Finally, the view from the master...

Up next, a tour of AoA and DTD!!!

 

[Self_resqing_princz]

Your trip sounds fun... I've never been to KSC, but your pictures are great... now I do want to go.
Great TR so far! Can't wait to read about the first time at Disney... that's always special!

 

[SuperNEMOfan]

Yummmmm!! Five Guys and Fries, now im hungry

Didnt you fall in love with AoA?! We stayed in Nemo last year and there was only the two of us

I cant wait to read about you and your kids reactions to everything. I love reading trip reports it keeps me going

 

[beckyboo76]

Joining in! Hello!!!

 

[kate_wdw]

Love your photos of Art of Animation!

I'm sorry you weren't feeling well enough for Five Guys (which is yummy).

 

[mom2cgj]

Your trip sounds fun... I've never been to KSC, but your pictures are great... now I do want to go.
Great TR so far! Can't wait to read about the first time at Disney... that's always special!

I didn't really want to go to KSC at first, but I am so glad we did!!

Yummmmm!! Five Guys and Fries, now im hungry

Didnt you fall in love with AoA?! We stayed in Nemo last year and there was only the two of us

I cant wait to read about you and your kids reactions to everything. I love reading trip reports it keeps me going

I TOTALLY fell in love with AoA! I could have spent a lot more time exploring, but didn't plan enough! Next time I know better!

Joining in! Hello!!!

Hi!

Love your photos of Art of Animation!

I'm sorry you weren't feeling well enough for Five Guys (which is yummy).

Thanks! I'm adding even more now. I'm hoping we'll get to try Five Guys again next time. The kids are still talking about how good it was and how they wished we had one here.

 

[mom2cgj]

So, when I left off we were finally at Disney! OK, so I’ve never been to WDW before, and obviously never stayed at another resort. I’ve read so much about how people prefer the mods/deluxes over the values. So I was a little concerned - would we like AoA?

YES! YES! YES!! We absolutely loved it! No, it doesn’t have a waterslide. Big deal. We don’t spend that much time at the pool anyway, and the three pools there are great. No, it doesn’t have a table service restaurant. Again, doesn’t bother us - we found plenty of great places to eat in the parks, DTD, and other resorts. We never did eat at Landscapes of Flavor (planned to, but didn’t end up wanting breakfast the morning we left), but it was nice, the food looked decent, and we will try it next time. Yes, the resort is bright, garish, and over-the-top Disney themed: and we loved it!! We felt completely immersed in Disney from the moment we stepped on to ME till the moment we stepped back off at the airport. Will we stay there again? Absolutely! In fact, right now, none of the other resorts we can stay at with 5 people really appeal to me. Now, if I can convince Mike to take me for an “adults only” trip, I’d like to try either Poly or CSR.

Anyway, I showed you a few pics of our suite last time, but here’s some more:

The kids fought over who got to sleep on the table bed, so we ended up rotating. Each got to sleep there at least once. The other two shared the sofa bed. We felt there was plenty of room for the 5 of us in the suite, and having 2 bathrooms was a HUGE plus when it came to getting ready in the morning.

The master was really nice. No complaints about the bed here! Mike and I were very happy with the amount of outlets in the room. We would put the kids to bed and then spend time downloading pictures and editing before we went to sleep. There were 2 tvs in the suite, but we didn’t turn them on. We also didn’t use the mini fridge or coffee pot.

I loved all the little details! Especially the tile work in the kids’ bathroom.

I also appreciated how even the carpet was special. This is the carpet from the suite:

And next is from the hallway. With three kids this was perfect. To keep them from running in the halls, I would assign each of them a character and they had to follow the footprints. (Nugget usually got Timon since it required more looping around and he is the crazy one!)

We spent quite a bit of time that first afternoon just checking out the resort. Right between the two LK buildings is this big log with Simba, Timon, and Pumba. I had the family stand under it so that you can see how big it is.

Walking through the LK section is really like being in a jungle. The landscaping is absolutely beautiful! There are also lots of “friends” to see as you go.

And G-Bear finally found those hyenas the CM had told her to watch for! Here at the elephant “playground”. Honestly, I get that people were upset that it wasn’t a playground, but if I hadn’t read that on the Dis, I wouldn’t have known the difference. It was still cute.

Finally, a shot of the whole LK area:

Now we’ll go check out the rest of the resort before heading to DTD for dinner!

 

[SuperNEMOfan]

So, when I left off we were finally at Disney! OK, so I’ve never been to WDW before, and obviously never stayed at another resort. I’ve read so much about how people prefer the mods/deluxes over the values. So I was a little concerned - would we like AoA?

YES! YES! YES!! We absolutely loved it! No, it doesn’t have a waterslide. Big deal. We don’t spend that much time at the pool anyway, and the three pools there are great. No, it doesn’t have a table service restaurant. Again, doesn’t bother us - we found plenty of great places to eat in the parks, DTD, and other resorts. We never did eat at Landscapes of Flavor (planned to, but didn’t end up wanting breakfast the morning we left), but it was nice, the food looked decent, and we will try it next time. Yes, the resort is bright, garish, and over-the-top Disney themed: and we loved it!! We felt completely immersed in Disney from the moment we stepped on to ME till the moment we stepped back off at the airport. Will we stay there again? Absolutely! In fact, right now, none of the other resorts we can stay at with 5 people really appeal to me. Now, if I can convince Mike to take me for an “adults only” trip, I’d like to try either Poly or CSR.

Anyway, I showed you a few pics of our suite last time, but here’s some more:

The kids fought over who got to sleep on the table bed, so we ended up rotating. Each got to sleep there at least once. The other two shared the sofa bed. We felt there was plenty of room for the 5 of us in the suite, and having 2 bathrooms was a HUGE plus when it came to getting ready in the morning.

The master was really nice. No complaints about the bed here! Mike and I were very happy with the amount of outlets in the room. We would put the kids to bed and then spend time downloading pictures and editing before we went to sleep. There were 2 tvs in the suite, but we didn’t turn them on. We also didn’t use the mini fridge or coffee pot.

I loved all the little details! Especially the tile work in the kids’ bathroom.

I also appreciated how even the carpet was special. This is the carpet from the suite:

And next is from the hallway. With three kids this was perfect. To keep them from running in the halls, I would assign each of them a character and they had to follow the footprints. (Nugget usually got Timon since it required more looping around and he is the crazy one!)

We spent quite a bit of time that first afternoon just checking out the resort. Right between the two LK buildings is this big log with Simba, Timon, and Pumba. I had the family stand under it so that you can see how big it is.

Walking through the LK section is really like being in a jungle. The landscaping is absolutely beautiful! There are also lots of “friends” to see as you go.

And G-Bear finally found those hyenas the CM had told her to watch for! Here at the elephant “playground”. Honestly, I get that people were upset that it wasn’t a playground, but if I hadn’t read that on the Dis, I wouldn’t have known the difference. It was still cute.

Finally, a shot of the whole LK area:

Now we’ll go check out the rest of the resort before heading to DTD for dinner!

When we go down next month I'm hoping to go back to AoA to see the lion king and the little mermaid. They weren't open last July!

I loved the bright colors it felt like Disney to me and that's where I wanted to be

 

[mom2cgj]

Alright, here is the rest of the AoA review! The kids were so excited to explore every inch of the resort. This really is a perfect resort for kids (of all ages!).

First we took off for the Little Mermaid section - G-Bear is a huge Ariel fan. She can NOT wait for the movie to be rereleased this fall! (OK, neither can I!)

There are lots of little treasures to explore and take your picture with. The details were incredible.

And then we were standing in front of Ariel herself! This was a really nice pool area. We didn’t ever end up swimming here, but it was nice. I will say, though, that as much as we liked the LM section, it was my least favorite of the 4. Maybe it was because of the outside walkways on the buildings or something, but I just thought they looked more “motel-ish” than the suite buildings. Still really cute, but just not as awesome.

Then we turned around and headed back through the LK section and headed into the Finding Nemo area.

I have to take a moment to comment on the sea gulls. My kids LOVE the Nemo movie, and Nugget has always loved the sea gulls. He even ended up buying a stuffed sea gull as one of his souvenirs. Every. Single. Time. we walked past these sea gulls, he would say “mine, mine, mine, mine”. I think it was about the 4th time we went past when THEY SAID IT BACK. Seriously. I hadn’t seen anything about this on the Dis, so I was completely surprised. It was hilarious!

Then we got to the Big Blue Pool. This pool is ENORMOUS. Very cool theming, and you can hear songs, etc. under the water. The kids were begging to go swimming, but we had an ADR for a little later in DTD, and I didn’t want to be late. So for now, we were just exploring.

Crush and Dory and Mr. Ray watch over the people swimming.

There was this little playground at one end, but it was closed the whole time we were there. Not sure why. It didn’t look like anything was broken, or being fixed. Oh well. We had plenty of other things to do!

Finally on to the Cars section. This was by far the best themed section, in my opinion. The kids have already decided this is where we are staying next time!

It was a great place to see all of the cars. We stopped and took pictures with every one of them. I’ll spare you, and only post a couple.

Finally, it was time to grab a bus to DTD. I had no clue how long we might have to wait, or how long it would take to get to DTD, so I wanted to make sure we were plenty early. We had a 5:30 ADR, so I made sure we got to the bus by 4:00. To get to the buses, we headed back through Animation Hall.

Up next..DTD!

 

[mom2cgj]

As it turned out, we got to DTD in plenty of time. We only waited about 5 minutes for the bus. So, we had about an hour to wander around. I didnt want to do any actual shopping this time. We wanted to wait and see what we wanted and then would come back later in the trip to shop. But there were a few places I wanted to check out. First, though, we had to find the place to exchange our Photopass+ voucher.

As we were waiting, Nugget announced he had to go to the bathroom. I should probably mention that he was just barely toilet trained, so I spent a lot of time worrying about accidents. But, no worries! He was great! Anyway, Mike took Nugget to find a bathroom. This was literally the only time the whole trip I got nervous being alone with the kids. I had no idea where he went, and it seemed to take forever. We got our voucher exchanged, picked up Times Guides for all of the parks, and explored part of a shop before they got back to us.

Next we headed over and explored the World of Disney. I had shown the kids a bunch of Disney movies leading up to the trip. I tried to think of everything they might run into at the parks and made sure they had seen it. Except POTC, Star Wars, and Indiana Jones - Cubby had seen the first POTC and all the Star Wars, but Nugget and G-Bear are too young. Anyway, I hadnt even thought about Lilo and Stitch. Of course, there is the big spitting Stitch on WoD! Jesse thought it was the funniest thing ever. I really wish I had taken a picture!

Then it was off to the Lego Store. The boys were in absolute heaven here. I wasnt sure Id be able to pull them out to get to dinner!

Finally, we had to head over to our first Disney dinner...T-Rex! (Yes, I know its not owned by Disney. But it fits.) The restaurant was really fun. Wed done Rainforest Cafe in Chicago, but I really preferred T-Rex for both food and atmosphere. We sat in the aquarium area.

Before our food came, Cubby, Nugget, and I decided to take a walk to see the other areas. Cubby really wants to try to sit in the ice cave area next time we go back (assuming T-Rex is still there and not gone in the Disney Springs remodel?).

As for food...Mike insists this was the best meal we had all trip. I cant say I disagree with him on food quality. It was really good. We were on the DxDDP (I know, I know...its a LOT of food. But the way we travel, it worked well for us. I figured costs before we went, and we pretty much broke even on cost. The convenience was well worth it for us, plus we got to try a bunch of new foods!) which meant appetizers, entrees, and dessert. I made the assumption that we would just get appetizers for Mike & I, as the kids were eating on the childrens menu. WRONG! We got 5 appetizer credits AND 5 dessert credits! THATs a lot of food!

We ended up getting the Supersaurus Sampler (For an appetite as big as T-REX! Spinach and pepper jack queso with tortilla chips, Brachiosaurus Bruschetta, T-Rexadillas and Onion Rings, enough for four) and the Megalosaurus Mozzarella (Seared Mozzarella with creamy marinara and mozzarella fingers) for apps. We really enjoyed the queso and the mozzarella. Mike liked the onion rings - I didnt try them as Im not a huge o-ring fan.

For entrees, Mike got the Age of Salmon (Fillet of Atlantic salmon, glazed with orange basil reduction and served with Raptor rice and roasted vegetables). He STILL raves about this meal. He was never much of a rice eater before this trip, and now he orders rice more often than potatoes!

I had the Layers of Earth Lasagna (Fresh pasta layered with homemade tomato and meat sauce, Ricotta, Mozzarella and Parmesan cheese, baked to perfection). It was really good. I think I ate maybe 1/3 of it - it was way too big. I think they give you T-Rex sized portions! The cheese was all really creamy, and the pasta was al-dente, just the way I like it. The little chunk of bread that came with it was hard and dry, so I just had a small nibble.

(I wont really talk about the kids meals, since I cant remember what they ordered most of the time. Kids meals are the same most places anyway.)

Dessert: As I said, we had 5 credits. So, we decided to order the Chocolate Extinction (A gigantic portion of chocolate fudge cake served with ice cream, fresh whipped cream drizzled with fudge and caramel sauces and sprinkled with Butterfinger crumbs. Enough for two or more.) for 4 credits and the Cosmic Key Lime Pie (freshly baked key lime pie in a graham cracker crust, served with raspberry sauce and fresh whipped cream). The pie was decent, but the Chocolate Extinction? OMG. The kids loved the liquid nitrogen volcano. And the dessert was yummy. Of course, I never complain about chocolate! The cake was a little dry, but once you mixed it in with the ice cream, it was delicious.

So after dinner, we caught a bus back to AoA went back to our room. At this point, we discovered the outdoor staircase on the end of the building, which was much closer to our room. So we didnt use the elevator and central entrance much for the rest of our trip. The kids really wanted to swim in the BBP, even though it was getting a little chilly. Id eaten enough that I wasnt feeling like wearing a swimsuit, so I took the camera. After about 30 minutes in the cool water, everyone was ready for bed.

The next morning would be our first day at a Disney park! Where do you think we went?

 

[courtneybelle]

Hello! I LOVE your pics of AoA. I hope to stay in a Nemo or a Lion King room at some point...they just look like so much fun! My mom and sister stayed in a LM room on one of their trips and really liked it.

T-Rex looks really good, and your family is adorable! Subscribed And for first park...hmm, I'm going to guess DHS!

 

[SuperNEMOfan]

The reason the LM rooms look different is because they are normal value rooms. They aren't suites.

I've never eaten at T-Rex. Your descriptions make me hungry! I have a feeling that's going to be a common theme.

Hmmm you're first Disney park ever? I'd want to go with MK but that seems to easy so ill go with Epcot!

 

[mom2cgj]

So, did you guess where we would spend our first day?

Well, deciding was quite a process! We had 4 days in Disney. Originally Id thought we would spend one day at each park, but there was so much we wanted to do at MK, that I knew we needed 2 full days there. So, which park to cut? We decided on EPCOT. The kids were more interested in the other 2 (especially Cubby who was excited about DHS) and we decided EPCOT could wait until they were older and might appreciate WS a little more. In the end, Im glad we made this decision. Its just another reason to go back, right?

So, we knew MK had to be our last day. I wanted to end with Wishes! And I knew I wanted to split the two MK days. Since Cubby was so excited about DHS, I decided we would save that for later in the week as well. That meant day 1 had to be either MK or AK. How did we decide? Based on when I could get the best ADR for Cinderellas Royal Table, of course! That turned out to be day 2. So day 1 would be spent at...yep! Animal Kingdom!

Here are the kids in their AK shirts that I made...

We hopped on the bus around 7:00 to get to the park for an 8:00 ADR. The ride from AoA to AK (on a practically empty bus) was only about 15 minutes, so we got there in plenty of time to get an early morning photo.

Finally they started to let the ADR line in. We were going in to our first Disney park!! We got to the turnstile...and G-Bears KTTW card didnt work. It turned out the barcode had only half printed. The CM at the turnstile was really nice and let her in. She told us just to make sure we had a new card printed at the resort when we got back so we wouldnt have problems the rest of our trip. If only it were that easy! But thats a story for day 2. Now that I know more, I wonder what would have happened if we had tried to use fastpasses that day. We didnt (no lines to use them on!), so I dont know. But Im guessing we would have had problems.

So, after an initial hiccup, we were walking through the Oasis toward the Tree of Life! And the streets were practically empty. I am totally sold on pre-park ADRs! So, where were we headed?

Tusker House! This was the ADR I had really had to work for. Everything else I got right away, but TH I had to keep checking for. Id heard so many good things about it, I wanted to make sure we got in! This was our first Disney dining, and the first use of our photopass+. Heres our pic with Donald:

The photopass+ was so slick! They took about a bigillion pictures (OK, maybe not that many). Then when they came around to sell the pictures they just handed it to us and said enjoy! Definitely worth paying for and pre-ordering.

The kids were so excited when we sat down!

Theyd met Donald already, and more characters were already making the rounds. We made a quick run through the buffet and got some food. Sorry, no pics, but the food was good. I was so nervous to get back and not miss the characters, that I didnt eat as much as I would have normally. Thats OK. A few less calories, right? A couple of friends stopped by to say hi.

Then the waitstaff came around with shakers and asked the kids if they want to be in a parade. As this was our first character meal, I didnt know what was going to happen. But Nugget will do anything to make noise, so he was all over that shaker! Daisy came out and led all the kids in a parade through the restaurant. It was so cute!

When we finished eating, it was right at 9:00. I knew we were just ahead of the rope drop crowd, so we headed straight to Kilamanjaro Safaris. We were basically able to walk right on. It was a really great ride. Since it was early, a lot of the animals were out. Im particularly fond of the giraffes.

After riding the safari, I knew I wanted to head over to catch a particular show - I had mapped out our touring plan ahead of time and kept the basic flow in my head. I wasnt dedicated to sticking to it, but had an idea of at least what direction to go. We had some time, though, so we decided to do the animal walk near the safari. Cubby picked up a bird watching sheet, and managed to get some credit for cub scouts. Hey, who says Disney cant be educational!

After the walk, we headed to Camp Minnie-Mickey. A super sweet CM from Australia we met there took some time to explain to G-Bear why it was Camp Minnie-Mickey, not Camp Mickey-Minnie. It was such a cute little story, and now she tells everyone that story!

We got there in time to stand in a very long line for Festival of the Lion King. I was so excited to see this show after all the great reviews here on the Dis, and it didnt disappoint! We were in the warthog section. Pictures just didnt turn out well. Partly because it was dark, and partly because Nugget insisted on sitting on my lap and kept bouncing.

We got out of the show, and noticed a few people standing around on one of the trails. We figured out they were waiting for Pocahontas, so we joined the line. G-Bear was so excited to meet her first princess.

At this point, we discovered how much the kids loved meeting the characters. So we decided to make our way through CMM and meet some more friends! Nugget had a particularly good time with Baloo and King Louie. Louie really seemed to like his hat, and kept peeking under the brim.

For our last stop in CMM, we went to meet Chip & Dale. G-Bear asked me if they were brothers, and I said I didnt know. I tried to get her to ask them, but she got shy, so I did. Chip took one of my index cards (the kids were getting them signed to put in a photo album) and wrote NO! We are best friends! Then Cubby worked up the nerve to ask which one was the smart one. That led to some arguing, but we finally decided it must be Chip!

Up next, G-Bear gets her first pin!

 

[sue_88]

Nice update, but, I really need to hear that story about why it is camp Minnie mickey and not the other way! I never even thought about it and now I am very interested!

Lovely photos! I booked the Tusker breakfast for my trip!

 

[mom2cgj]

Nice update, but, I really need to hear that story about why it is camp Minnie mickey and not the other way! I never even thought about it and now I am very interested!

Lovely photos! I booked the Tusker breakfast for my trip!

Really? I figured everyone knew and I was the only one who hadn't heard it!

The CM had a longer drawn out version, but the short version is that Mickey is a gentleman. "They" wanted to name it Camp Mickey-Minnie, but being the gentleman he is, he insisted on ladies first, so it became Camp Minnie-Mickey. (I'm sure it's completely made up, but it was really cute!)

We really enjoyed Tusker House! Definitely some of the best character interaction we had!

 

[rndmr2]

Joining in! Enjoying the report so far!!

I am just finishing the first page but I wanted to comment before I forgot what I wanted to comment on.

Sorry your 1st hotel wasn't what you expected, I have stayed in some "interesting" places over the years, we did a lot of car trips when I was growing up and you never knew where we would be each night sometimes.

I have been to KSC a couple times on our earlier WDW trips, it is cool there, I would like to go back someday, My DH would probably love it!! I used to LOVE getting that Astronaut Ice Cream! It's weird but I like it... (FYI unless you later found this out but they have it at the little store by Space Mountain at MK and Mission Space at Epcot, too)

Going back to finish reading...

 

[court9008]

I'm really enjoying your trip report. I can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip.

 

[mom2cgj]

Joining in! Enjoying the report so far!!

Sorry your 1st hotel wasn't what you expected...

I have been to KSC a couple times on our earlier WDW trips, it is cool there, I would like to go back someday, My DH would probably love it!! I used to LOVE getting that Astronaut Ice Cream! It's weird but I like it... (FYI unless you later found this out but they have it at the little store by Space Mountain at MK and Mission Space at Epcot, too)

Welcome! Glad you are here!

Yeah, that hotel was an experience for sure! I guess you live and learn right? Next time, I'll just ask on the Dis for a good hotel in Cocoa Beach before I book!

I hadn't realized they sell the ice cream at WDW! I'll have to see if I can get the kids to eat it again next time. Maybe by then they will have forgotten. I didn't think it was bad (except the vanilla), but it was pretty chalky.

I'm really enjoying your trip report. I can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip.

Thanks! Welcome aboard!

Hello! I LOVE your pics of AoA. I hope to stay in a Nemo or a Lion King room at some point...they just look like so much fun! My mom and sister stayed in a LM room on one of their trips and really liked it.

T-Rex looks really good, and your family is adorable! Subscribed And for first park...hmm, I'm going to guess DHS!

Welcome!!! T-Rex was a lot better than I expected! I thought it would just be cute, but blah food...you know, concentrating on the theme, so the food suffers? But really it was great. The kids and Mike have already said we have to go back! I'd like to try Raglan Road, so we may end up having to do 2 dinners at DTD! (Oh, darn...more time in Disney!)

 

[mom2cgj]

OK, when I left off we were leaving CMM...or rather, trying to. Dale had taken a liking to Mike and we had a hard time getting him to let go.

It was getting close to lunch time, but still a little early, so rather than head to another section of the park, we decided to explore the Tree of Life area. And ended up going to see...

Big Mistake!!! G-Bear was not a fan. At all. Period. Never Again. Personally, I loved it. All the little effects were awesome. And all the boys thought it was great. Mike says we have to do it again next time so that he can actually pay attention since he had a little girl on his lap the whole time. Well have to see.

By the end of the show we were all hungry, so we headed over to Flame Tree BBQ. I picked this place because I figured Mike would like it. This is as close as I came to a food pic...

Obviously, Cubby had a hot dog. I think all 3 kids did actually. They are hot dog nuts. It worked out well for them, since mom doesnt like hot dogs and we dont eat them much at home. They were in processed meat heaven.

Mike had the Pork Sandwich with Coleslaw. He said it was good. We smoke our own pulled pork, so hes a little picky about it. He didnt like the coleslaw much, but I thought it was nice. I had the 1/2 chicken with coleslaw and baked beans. Im not a baked beans fan, so I gave those to Mike. He thought they were OK, but nothing special. I thought the chicken was a little dry, but smothered it in BBQ sauce and it was fine. For dessert I had the chocolate mousse, and he had the key lime. They were good, but the same thing you find everywhere in the parks. Overall, it was OK. I think next time well try Yak and Yeti. I did like the big outdoor seating area, though. Except we had some overly friendly dining companions...

This might be a good time to mention that I hate birds. Hate them. I have been bombed by birds too many times...sitting on the front porch waiting for my big sister to get home from school, at the zoo in Toronto, and lets not even talk about the crows on the Iowa State University campus. So, when the egret jumped up on the table next to us and took a ladys hot dog, I about flipped out. I know people rave about the Flights of Wonder show, but we were not going there. In fact, we skipped Asia all together, since the little ones were too small for Everest and Kali was closed when we were there. Next time.

Instead, we headed over to Dinoland USA. Since wed just eaten, we thought it would be a good time to relax a little and let the kids explore the Boneyard. It was a really nice play area, and Nugget had a great time burying my feet in the sand.

After wed all had some time to rest, we headed over to Triceratops Spin. Since I dont really count the safari as a ride so much as an experience, I guess this was our first Disney ride. It was cute. Nugget had a good time. Personally I think there are too many of these spinner rides and they are all the same. Mike tried to get Cubby on Primeval Whirl, but no go.

Goofy and Pluto were out, so we stopped to see them. Mike and Goofy had fun comparing shoe sizes. The little girl in front of us had a stuffed Goofy with her, so Plutos feelings were hurt. G-Bear gave him a big hug and cheered him up. By this time, Nugget had pretty much stopped cooperating for pictures. And I dont mean for the day. For the rest of the trip. We got some great candids from some of the photopass photographers as the trip went on!

Then it was time for...DINOSAUR!

I offered to do child swap on this one since I didnt think G-Bear or Nugget either one would like it, but both of them insisted they wanted to do it. Another mistake. Nugget did fine. You can see from the ride pic that he wasnt scared at all. Cubby insists that he wasnt scared, just covering his ears. G-Bear, however, was TERRIFIED. She screamed and cried, and I thought she was going to throw up she was so scared when we got off. Mike took her to calm her down while I went to get the pics added to our PP+ card. A CM working in the area saw how scared she was and told her that Mickey doesnt like little girls crying in Disney and she thought she could help her feel better. Then she gave her a Mickey Mouse pin. We didnt do pin trading, so it was the first pin G-Bear had gotten. She was so happy to have something pretty that she stopped crying and forgot about being scared. Thank goodness for those awesome CMs!!

It was about 3:00 by this point, so we decided to grab a snack and see if we could find a good place to watch our first Disney parade. On the way past the Tree of Life, we found a really awesome PP photographer who took these:

Notice the growl like a lion pose? It shows up again...and again...and again. In a lot of our pictures. And not when asked for. Oh, Nugget.

Mike decided he needed a better hat. He burns really easy, so he wanted something with a wide brim. He found one in one of the little shops between Discovery Island and the Oasis. At first he was disappointed that it was plain, but we decided he could buy pins to add to it, and now he loves it. Nugget loved that it looked kind of like his hat, so he would wear that hat every day for the rest of the trip, even though I had carefully coordinated his hats with his outfits and brought several. Oh, well.

We headed back toward Africa to watch the parade. On the way, we stopped and picked up Mickey Ice Creams for everyone! Then we settled in right in front of Tamu Tamu to eat our ice cream. A CM came along and offered to take our picture. I told him thank you, and his response was Anytime. We dont get asked often enough! Have I mentioned how much we loved the CMs?

Up next...a parade, Rafiki, and some ketchup!