~ A 21 month old, a celebrity sighting, & a whole lotta food~2 week trip~ 2/28 update

[LilAnn]

Aww! I loved this post! What great pictures you got with Mickey and Minnie! I hope we are able to get some of our own with my little girl when we go, but not to sure since she was a bit more apprehensive when we went to Sesame Place to meet Elmo. She was okay from about 6 feet, any closer and it was full on hysterics! Anyways, between your character pics and seeing his reaction on IASW, I can't wait for our trip! Can't wait to hear more! Love all the descriptions and your little one is adorable!

 

[arizonacolbys]

Great update!! Loved the story & pics of him meeting Mickey! So awesome -makes me so much more excited for Maddie to meet him!

 

[tinkgurl]

You are going to have so much fun with him. How old is he again? It is so much fun to see everything through their eyes for the first time.

He's 2 1/2..turning 3 in November. We took him to the zoo for the first time today and it was so much fun seeing everything through his eyes, so I can't imagine how the feelings will be for WDW.

 

[DreaGirl]

What a wonderful night! He did so good meeting Minnie and Mickey. That is also an awesome family picture.

You got a lot of things in while you were in MK. It amazes me how rude people get around the parade/fireworks time. Oh well, what can you do.

Sorry Kona was closed, but that is cool you got to see wishes from the monorail.

 

[xoktenox]

Awww I love reading your updates because Dylan is so darn cute and I love hearing about little kid things like all birds are ducks and how he was waving to the small world boats as you guys were eating. Too cute!

Sounds like you guys had such a great night. I can't believe that there were only 3 families in front of you to meet Mickey and Minnie! I'm glad to hear that Dylan wasn't too scared of the characters and I'm sure that he got more used to them as the vacation went on. Can't wait to read more!

 

[MaryAz]

What a fun first offical MK day. The minnie and Mickey pics are very cute. Glad you had such a fun night.

 

[Sunset Cliffs]

Aww! I loved this post! What great pictures you got with Mickey and Minnie! I hope we are able to get some of our own with my little girl when we go, but not to sure since she was a bit more apprehensive when we went to Sesame Place to meet Elmo. She was okay from about 6 feet, any closer and it was full on hysterics! Anyways, between your character pics and seeing his reaction on IASW, I can't wait for our trip! Can't wait to hear more! Love all the descriptions and your little one is adorable!

Yeah, we were concerned about Dylan too. At Easter I took him to the mall to meet the Easter Bunny as a little test and he did the same thing...wanted to high-5 him. So we knew that he wouldn't cry but after that we didn't know. We went on Small World a couple more times on this trip and he liked it every time.

Great update!! Loved the story & pics of him meeting Mickey! So awesome -makes me so much more excited for Maddie to meet him!

Your trip is getting so close! I'm sure that Maddie will do fine. We probably should have had one of us closer to him when he actually greeted them, but we both were taking pictures. But I guess he just approached them at his own pace. He seemed a little more comfortable when mom & dad came up there too.

He's 2 1/2..turning 3 in November. We took him to the zoo for the first time today and it was so much fun seeing everything through his eyes, so I can't imagine how the feelings will be for WDW.

Zoos are fun w/ kids because every animal is SO COOL to them. If he liked the zoo, he will probably like AK.

What a wonderful night! He did so good meeting Minnie and Mickey. That is also an awesome family picture.

You got a lot of things in while you were in MK. It amazes me how rude people get around the parade/fireworks time. Oh well, what can you do.

Sorry Kona was closed, but that is cool you got to see wishes from the monorail.

We were assuming that Kona might be closed since it was late. But their desserts were calling to us. We got to eat there later in the trip so we weren't too disappointed.

Awww I love reading your updates because Dylan is so darn cute and I love hearing about little kid things like all birds are ducks and how he was waving to the small world boats as you guys were eating. Too cute!

Sounds like you guys had such a great night. I can't believe that there were only 3 families in front of you to meet Mickey and Minnie! I'm glad to hear that Dylan wasn't too scared of the characters and I'm sure that he got more used to them as the vacation went on. Can't wait to read more!

Aww, thanks. We think he's cute too, but we are a little biased. He did much better the more we saw characters during the week. I wish that we could have made it back to see him again, but it just didn't work out.

What a fun first offical MK day. The minnie and Mickey pics are very cute. Glad you had such a fun night.

It was a lot of fun, and we are glad we decided to go even though we only got 3 hours in the park. It was a good "starter" day.

 

[Sunset Cliffs]

Monday, June 15, 2009

Dylan woke up at 2:30 am crying. I was half way down the hall to his room before I knew I was standing up & walking. Todd said I almost vaulted myself over the end of the bed. LOL. I don’t remember that at all. I’m not sure why he woke up, but I changed his diaper and rocked him for about 15 minutes. He went right back down to sleep, so maybe it was a bad dream. I kept waking up the rest of the night listening for him but he slept until 8:30. We had breakfast in the room and we were slow to get going (you will see this a lot during our trip). We left our condo at about 11:15 and we drove to Animal Kingdom.

When we got there, we noticed that there were a lot of cars in the lot. This park was extremely crowded today. A lot more people than were at MK the night before. We parked in Peacock which is near the front, so we just skipped the tram and walked to the front. We got in pretty quickly and headed to the Flame Tree BBQ for lunch.

Now let me just say, IT WAS HOT today. Looking back, I think this felt like the hottest day of our trip. When we left the park in the afternoon it was 96 degrees and very high humidity. I realized how much a person can sweat on this day (because it was happening to me!) and it was just gross! Standing in line at Flame Tree in the shade, it was very uncomfortable and it seemed to only get worse from there. In that moment I realized… there will be no cute family pictures from the parks because we will all be sweaty & greasy looking! It figures that would be the first thing that comes to my mind. So you have been warned! Greasy family photos ahead.

Back to lunch. Todd loves the BBQ sauce at the Flame Tree so this was a must-do for him. He has even looked up the recipe online and has made it at home (he said it is not perfect, but pretty close). Today he got the ½ slab of ribs and I got the BBQ chicken salad. The food here is very good and the sitting areas are so pretty. My favorite spot is down by the water, but today we sat over to the left side where there were only a few other families. I only took a picture of my salad because Todd’s ribs were half gone before I could get the camera out!

Dylan was being a little fussy at lunch and pretty much refused to eat anything but tomatoes (dipped in ketchup). I’m pretty sure it was the heat, so I couldn’t blame him. We kept trying to get him to drink fluids all day long but the beginning of this day was a little tough for him.

Just a side note. You can see the tattoo that we put on his arm in this picture. I read about these on the Dis and bought them online. They say, “If lost, please call…” and it gives you spaces to put 2 phone numbers. They come pre-printed so you just have to apply them like any other temporary tattoo. We were not planning on ever letting him out of our sight, but this still made me feel better.

After lunch we decided to head over to the Nemo show since it was close by and starting soon. We went to use the restrooms on our way over, and as we were walking this drum band started to play. When I came out of the restroom to switch off with Todd, Dylan was out of his stroller dancing. Of course I grabbed my camera and took a ton of pictures. They gave all of the kids these sticks that they could bang together to the music. At first Dylan just watched all of the other kids to see how it was done. Then he was dancing, banging the sticks, skipping around. It brought tears to my eyes because he was so happy and it showed all over his face. Here are a few pictures. Believe me, there are a lot more but I will spare you.

This was still one of my absolute favorite moments from the whole trip. It’s hard to put into words how it feels to see your “baby” growing into a toddler, but this was one of those times. He was independent from us and playing with the kids, but he kept coming back to show us how cool he was. Magical moment for sure.

We stayed until the band finished playing and then hustled it over to the Nemo show. We stood in line outside for 5 minutes and then we started moving inside. Thank goodness, because we were quickly melting in the sun. Most of the audience had been seated already so we were filling in the back. We were seated on the front row of the bleachers, but right before the show started they opened up the wheelchair seating area and moved us to a little bench that held just the 3 of us.

This was the first time we had seen this show and we were really impressed. It would be nice to sit closer the next time we see it, but I’m not complaining considering we pretty much walked right in. My camera did not do well in the lighting so I didn’t get any good pictures. It was cool how they transitioned from one scene to the next. The whole thing seemed to flow really well.

Dylan was refusing to sit still before it started and was cranky in general. I pulled out some Raisinettes and he became a perfect angel. Shocking!

The show started and he kept switching between my lap & Todd’s. He would sit still for part of the show and then not pay attention at all. About 10 minutes into the show he fell asleep. That’s probably what he needed all along! We were able to actually watch the rest of the show and enjoyed it a lot.

We waited until the place cleared out and we carried him back to his stroller. As soon as we laid him down in it, he popped right up and was much perkier. By now it was 1:30 and we stopped to get an ice cream sandwich on our way to the Safari. It was nice & cold and it definitely was gone too fast.

We got to the Safari and it was a 70 minute wait and the FP return time was for 5:30. We went ahead and got the FP but we weren’t sure we would still be in the park by then. We headed to the Pangani Forest Trail to see the animals. Dylan was hot & tired and not into it at all until we got to the bird & fish area. We let him walk around the area and he watched the fish for a long time.

Then we went to see the hippos but they were sleeping. Not that Dylan noticed. He kept chasing the fish back & forth in front of the glass.

On to the meercats and deer, only there were no meercats. Not one popped up the entire time we stood there. It was a bummer because they are my favorite part of that trail. The deer were doing something cool. They all decided to eat out of a tree at the same time, so they all got up on their hind legs for a long time. There are 3 of them in the picture below.

Finally we got to the gorillas and there were 3 out in great position for photographs. Every time that they would move, Dylan would say “woah”.

I have to say that this trip down the trail was a little disappointing. There were barely any animals out, although I don’t blame them. It was so hot out, so they were all the smart ones in the shade while we were all the dummies standing in the sun waiting for them to do something. We have had great experiences here in the past, so we know how good it can be. One very positive thing was a CM named Daniel that we talked to for a while. He kept popping up and giving Dylan these little cards that had Timon & Pumba on them with little tips like “wear your sunscreen”, etc. He was very sweet & eager to answer questions. I meant to go put in a good comment for him and I forgot. I wonder if there is a way to email something like that in…

We still had 2 ½ hours until our FP on the Safari but we checked the wait time and it said 40 minutes so we decided to go for it. It really only took us 15 minutes to get on. Not sure why the sign was so off, but we were glad we got in line when we did.

Waiting to get on

I know that this next sentence sounds very critical, but it is the easiest way to describe our Safari this time : We had an older, grumpy driver and he drove way too fast. I told you it sounded bad! Let me explain... He did not tell any jokes or try to be upbeat at all. He also sped through the entire ride. Dylan was very into the whole experience but when we drove by the animals so fast, he would start to recognize them and then we were past them. The silly thing is that we would rush through all of the animal areas, and then get backed up and sit at a standstill in the middle of a bunch of trees. As a result, I did not get any good pictures worth posting. We knew we would be going back on this again during our visit, so I was not worried about it. I just felt bad for anyone who only got to go on this one time, and this was the experience that they had. Afterward we were talking about it and Todd said that maybe the drivers had been told to speed up to help make the line move faster.

We decided to leave since we had ridden the Safari and it was so incredibly hot that we all were drained. We started to walk to the front of the park but the parade had just started and we had to wait for it to finish. We hadn’t planned on seeing this parade so this was a nice little bonus to the day. We followed it to the front of the park, along with a mass of other people, walking VERY slowly. The parade itself was very cute, but by that time we were all a sweaty, hot mess and we were just done.

We got home at 4:45 and we all bathed and then Dylan took a nap. Todd walked around the property to find the closest pool and I checked my email. Our condo had free wireless internet, so that was very convenient to be able to check weather, movie times, etc. My parent’s plane was supposed to land at 7:15 but I checked online and it was 20 minutes late. By 7:00 Dylan was still sleeping and we needed to go so we put him in his car seat in his pajamas and off we went.

Once we got there, it took a while to make contact with them. We sat in the cell phone parking lot and waited for them to call. They never did, so I called them. My dad finally answered his phone and said that my mom had forgotten her phone at home , and that he didn’t have our numbers in his phone. So we drove over and had them in the car by 8:15.

At the airport. You can sort of see our rental car in these 2 pictures. We thought it was black but it was actually a very dark blue with sparkly paint. Very pretty, but very hot in this weather.

We made a stop at Walgreens and then went through a Wendy’s drive through that was next to the Sheraton Vistana. Dylan was excited to see them and went into hyper mode again. He started doing this thing where he would stand on the bench at the bottom of our bed w/ his arms spread wide. He would yell “Go, go” over & over until I said Go. Then he would jump backwards and land flat on his back on the bed. He wouldn’t stop yelling “go” until I said it. He wound down around 11 pm, thank goodness.

We had our Wendy’s food in the condo and talked to my mom about her retirement. A bit of back story – my mom has taught 8th grade English for a very long time and with how bad the budget in the state of California, she realized that now was a good time to retire. Her last day of work was 3 days before she flew out on this trip, so she had not even begun to feel like she was “retired” yet. We talked about her last graduation as a teacher and some of the outgoing parties that her school district had for her. I did a load of laundry and we finally went to bed at 11:45.

 

[SunnieRN]

How nice that you were able to pick up your parents. Please tell her congratulations on her retirement. Where in CA did she teach? I grew up in a suburb near San Francisco and lived in several other areas of CA as an adult.

LOVED Dylans pictures with Mickey and Minnie and the drummer kids. What fantastic memories.

The picture of the two of you on small world is precious! Looking forward to more!

 

[cjackearl]

Boomwackers! We've got a set of those and they're extra fun, as musical instruments AND as weapons. I love that memory of Dylan dancing and just enjoying being exactly where he was. So sweet.

Dylan's tomatoes dipped in ketchup made me What a lunch! Someone else posted the recipe for Flame Tree's bbq sauce. I may have to try it, because we liked it also.

Yea, your parents made it! I think your mom was smart to retire when she did. I won't pretend to understand California's budget crisis, but my BIL is an actuary working on Calpers (California's pension program) and he's had to take quite a pay cut with the mandatory furlough days. Ugh.

Can't wait to hear how you spent the first day with your parents.

 

[SleepingBeautyOH]

Your trip sounds wonderful! I love your touring style, just going with the flow make for a relaxing, stress-free trip with many magical moments built in. Dylan was too cute with the sticks and drummers!
Can't wait to read more!

 

[jordanyosh]

Heat and humidity are magnified at AK. Not many indoor attractions and the plethora of plant life just adds to the mugginess.

BBQ sauce at Flame Tree. MMMMMMM....

Finding Nemo...my favorite stage show at WDW.

The CM at the Safari was most likely just cranky and not very nice.

That was a loooong day.

oh and the dancing with the sticks part......that's the magic of Disney...moments like that just pop up all the time there.....

 

[Sunset Cliffs]

How nice that you were able to pick up your parents. Please tell her congratulations on her retirement. Where in CA did she teach? I grew up in a suburb near San Francisco and lived in several other areas of CA as an adult.

LOVED Dylans pictures with Mickey and Minnie and the drummer kids. What fantastic memories.

The picture of the two of you on small world is precious! Looking forward to more!

My parents started out in San Mateo but then moved to Oroville (about an hour north of Sac)when I was pretty young. She has done most of her teaching there. How did you like living in the Bay Area? That has always sounded difficult to me due to traffic/commuting, etc.

Boomwackers! We've got a set of those and they're extra fun, as musical instruments AND as weapons. I love that memory of Dylan dancing and just enjoying being exactly where he was. So sweet.

Dylan's tomatoes dipped in ketchup made me What a lunch! Someone else posted the recipe for Flame Tree's bbq sauce. I may have to try it, because we liked it also.

Yea, your parents made it! I think your mom was smart to retire when she did. I won't pretend to understand California's budget crisis, but my BIL is an actuary working on Calpers (California's pension program) and he's had to take quite a pay cut with the mandatory furlough days. Ugh.

Can't wait to hear how you spent the first day with your parents.

Is that what those are called? Boomwackers? All I know is that he was having himself a good time. That last picture where he is making a funny face is my favorite. That was the face he kept making all week, like he was getting away with something.

I work for a high school where I live, so I know about CalPers. I'm not a teacher, but I do the accounting for the student ASB accounts on campus. I won't pretend to understand the budget situation either, just that it seems like our state always tries to fix their problems with school money. A couple of my friends just got laid off due to our budget cuts. It's a pretty scary time right now in California, and it doesn't seem like the people making the decisions know what they are doing.

Your trip sounds wonderful! I love your touring style, just going with the flow make for a relaxing, stress-free trip with many magical moments built in. Dylan was too cute with the sticks and drummers!
Can't wait to read more!

In the past we have definitely done the "commando touring" route, but that was just the 2 of us. We knew that we would have to be totally different on this trip with him if we didn't want him to melt down. A lot of magical moments were things we didn't plan for.

 

[ladybugmom]

What a GREAT update!! Dylan is adorable playing and dancing! Sooo sweet!! We LOVED the Nemo show, too! And I know what you mean about food making him happy--Claire is the SAME way! Glad you go to do the safari but sad that is was so rushed--that's a shame! Congrats to your mom on her retirement--what a GREAT way to celebrate!

 

[Sunset Cliffs]

Heat and humidity are magnified at AK. Not many indoor attractions and the plethora of plant life just adds to the mugginess.

BBQ sauce at Flame Tree. MMMMMMM....

Finding Nemo...my favorite stage show at WDW.

The CM at the Safari was most likely just cranky and not very nice.

That was a loooong day.

oh and the dancing with the sticks part......that's the magic of Disney...moments like that just pop up all the time there.....

It was definitely the humidity that was getting to all of us. It gets over 100 degrees every day where we live in the summer, but there is barely any humidity. I told Todd that you didn't know if you were sweating or just wet because of the humidity.

Finding Nemo was a lot of fun. It was so creative and I just wonder how people come up with these ideas.

 

[Sunset Cliffs]

What a GREAT update!! Dylan is adorable playing and dancing! Sooo sweet!! We LOVED the Nemo show, too! And I know what you mean about food making him happy--Claire is the SAME way! Glad you go to do the safari but sad that is was so rushed--that's a shame! Congrats to your mom on her retirement--what a GREAT way to celebrate!

Didn't you say that Claire really liked the Nemo show? I thought for sure that Dylan would be too, but it looks like he just wanted a nap instead. Hopefully the next time he sees it, he will enjoy it more. Poor little guy was just drained. The safari was definitely a bummer, but I'm glad we didn't have to wait too long for it!

 

[jordanyosh]

It was so creative and I just wonder how people come up with these ideas.

I don't know if I want to know how...

 

[ladybugmom]

Didn't you say that Claire really liked the Nemo show? I thought for sure that Dylan would be too, but it looks like he just wanted a nap instead. Hopefully the next time he sees it, he will enjoy it more. Poor little guy was just drained. The safari was definitely a bummer, but I'm glad we didn't have to wait too long for it!

Yes, Claire LOVED this show--she sat very still the entire time! But she LOVES singing, dancing, etc. She was the same way when we saw Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King. Claire is not one to nap in my lap. She rarely fell asleep in her stroller but there were a few times! She's stubborn and doesn't want to miss anything no matter how tired she is!

 

[Sunset Cliffs]

Yes, Claire LOVED this show--she sat very still the entire time! But she LOVES singing, dancing, etc. She was the same way when we saw Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King. Claire is not one to nap in my lap. She rarely fell asleep in her stroller but there were a few times! She's stubborn and doesn't want to miss anything no matter how tired she is!

Dylan doesn't usually fall asleep on us either. That's why we were so suprised when he did it this time. It was kind of like one of those times where you thump yourself on the head and go, "Duh! He was tired."

 

[Porturican]

We have seen Travis Barker there too! It was quite a few years ago at DCA and he was with a cute blonde (who I think is his wife (or ex?) now). He was walking around saying hi to people but they had a couple of security people with them so they weren't bothered too much. He seemed like a pretty nice guy. I wonder if he goes there a lot because I've heard of other people seeing him there too. I will give you warning that my celebrity sighting happens later in my trip, so it might be a while to you find out who it is. Sorry for the suspense.

Yeah that sounds like his baby mama! I think he takes the kids there a lot. I wish my son would have went up to him but oh well. I'll be sticking around reading your report, it takes me back to when my son was a lil guy.