A Food and Whine Festival Weekend (Our First Mini-Trip as Parents) FINAL UPDATE 11/23

[holleypie]

I made the mistake of opening a curtain HAHA.

Did you meet the super chatty CM? There was another woman in there with a toddler, and the CM asked her so many questions it started to sound like an interrogation and the woman finally snapped, "I DON'T KNOW; I'M JUST HIS NANNY." I felt bad for the CM because I know it was just her way of being friendly...but it was kind of funny.

 

[Imagineer5]

Did you meet the super chatty CM? There was another woman in there with a toddler, and the CM asked her so many questions it started to sound like an interrogation and the woman finally snapped, "I DON'T KNOW; I'M JUST HIS NANNY." I felt bad for the CM because I know it was just her way of being friendly...but it was kind of funny.

HAHA no! That's hilarious. There was never a CM inside that I saw, but they had the door wide open so I asked a friendly CM outside if I could close it since i nursed Aria right there in the little play area. She obliged and then took it upon herself to keep the door closed after about 30 people came in and out, because no one EVER thought to close the door behind them.

 

[amandaw]

Sounds like y'all were having a good day at DHS! Definitely getting in a lot of rides! I wanted to try Starring Rolls on our last trip but it didn't work out. Sorry your cupcake wasn't all that great.

And the story about the toilet in the babycare center made me

 

[holleypie]

Sounds like y'all were having a good day at DHS! Definitely getting in a lot of rides! I wanted to try Starring Rolls on our last trip but it didn't work out. Sorry your cupcake wasn't all that great.

And the story about the toilet in the babycare center made me

I'm pretty sure the cupcakes always look better than they taste, but it was worth a try!

 

[holleypie]

As I should have expected, Luke had no interest in napping after we got back to the room.

Meanwhile, I was getting hungry and stressed out about what we were going to have for lunch. What and where we're going to eat is probably my biggest concern on any trip. If I get too hungry, I get agitated. And if I get hungry enough, then I only want to eat the exact perfect thing. Of course, the hungrier I get, the harder it is to figure out what I want. I was reaching that point of no return.

Lesson #7 for Next Time: Avoid getting too hungry and turning into a psycho. Carry crackers or something.

Since Luke wasn't napping anyway, we decided to head to Magic Kingdom early with our regular tickets and have lunch there before the party.

We took the bus over to MK and of course NOW Luke wanted to sleep.

Unfortunately we'd forgotten to get our party tickets when we were at Guest Relations on Friday, so we went to pick them up outside of the park. It took a pretty long time.

While we were waiting, I saw the Avengerail go by!

When we finally entered the park, there were ALREADY people lined up waiting to enter with their party tickets. I couldn't believe it.

Brian wanted to go back to the firehouse to get more Sorcerer cards, which irritated me because (1) I was dying of hunger, and (2) I was pretty sure he was never even going to play the game. (Spoiler Alert: He didn't.)

I counted pumpkins while I waited.

I was in the mood to eat something hearty and relatively healthy, so I announced that I wanted to go to Columbia Harbor House for lunch. There were no complaints, so I led the way.

Unfortunately, we had a repeat of the Wolfgang Puck experience the night before: We couldn't take the stroller in. Tom made the totally reasonable suggestion that they could go in and get the food while I waited outside with Luke, but for some reason this wasn't acceptable to me, so I said we had to find another restaurant. Pinocchio Village Haus was out too, so we walked on to Tomorrowland and came upon Cosmic Ray's. Now, Cosmic Ray's would not have been my first choice, or even in my top ten. But we were allowed to take the stroller inside, so it would have to do.

Of course Luke woke up a minute after we got inside. I should have made everyone walk back to Columbia Harbor House, but I was so hungry I thought I would die if I waited another minute to eat. I got the vegetable burger. Brian got a regular burger. It looks like Tom had a burger too. It wasn't as bad as the $10 cranberry juice, but it was a pretty sad meal (for me, at least. I don't think the guys had any complaints).

Since Luke was awake, we headed to It's a Small World. My mother had reminded me about fifteen times to take him on It's a Small World because it was my youngest's brother's favorite when he was a baby, and she thought Luke would love it.

Well, he enjoyed the queue.

While we were on the ride, I made Brian take a picture of Luke with my cell phone so I could send it to my mom as proof that I listen when she talks, and he ended up taking his picture in front of these heart-shaped flowers. When I saw the picture, I almost cried.

When I went to Disney for the first time, I was 11 and I had my own camera and about two rolls of film for a week-long trip. I obviously had to be selective about my picture-taking, and I thought these heart-shaped flowers were so beautiful that I took a picture of them, seventeen years ago when I was a child on my first trip to Disney. And now I was a grownup--A GROWNUP--passing by those same flowers with my sweet baby boy on his first trip to Disney. I got pretty emotional for about thirty seconds or so.

After the ride, it was time for Luke to eat again, so Brian and Tom decided to get a snack.

At some point, Brian and Tom both developed an affinity for this little bird.

They both got a citrus swirl

And Tom got this orange bird cup and let me drink the orange soda inside.

Now it was nearly 5pm, so we decided to go change into our Halloween costumes!

 

[holleypie]

Because we're nerds, our Halloween costumes had a Doctor Who theme.

Brian was the eleventh doctor, I was his companion Amy Pond, Tom (who is not even a Doctor Who nerd at all, but is always happy to humor me) was the crack in the universe from series 5, and Luke was the Impossible Astronaut from series 6.

Since we were already near Pirates of the Caribbean, we decided to ride that next. I was worried that Luke might get scared, but like every other ride on this trip, he had no reaction whatsoever.

When we passed through the hub on our way back to Tomorrowland, I insisted we get our picture in front of the castle. I'm glad we did because it was the only group shot we took on the whole trip!

Lesson #8 for Next Time: Force everyone to stop for more pictures.

In Tomorrowland, I rode Space Mountain with Tom and then again with Brian. I think it was the second time, we rode with a man who seemed very intoxicated and very afraid. It was kind of hilarious.

Afterwards, I got a picture with my little spaceman. As you can see, the wait times during the Halloween party can get REALLY long.

Then we visited my first and only candy stop of the night. It was...fruit snacks.

We got on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority and Luke fell asleep. Now that it was after 7pm and the party had officially started, we went to check out New Fantasyland. The Little Mermaid ride was a walk-on...so we walked on. Well, we took a bunch of pictures of the queue, THEN we walked on. Luke slept through the whole thing.

Not sure why Tom is posing like Bigfoot here.

We stopped in Gaston's so Brian and Tom could get more LeFou's Brew. There was also popcorn involved.

We rode Haunted Mansion at some point. I didn't take a lot of pictures that night, so the sequence of events is all pretty hazy now. Luke tolerated it, but I wouldn't go so far as to say that he "liked" it.

The next time we passed through the hub, the villain show was starting and Tom and Brian wanted to see it, but I didn't feel like standing in the crowd. I hate crowds, and did I mention that the party was pretty crowded? I hadn't thought it would be, on a Sunday night, but it was and this made me pretty annoyed. Apparently when I said I didn't want to watch the show, Brian and Tom took this to mean that I didn't want THEM to watch the show either, which isn't what I meant at all. I felt really bad about that afterwards.

Luke was hungry again, so I went to the baby center to feed him. It was deserted except for the CM roaming the halls, and maybe it was just because I was in a Halloween party mindset, but I thought the place was really creepy. It had a big nursing room similar to Epcot's, but we were alone in there, and it was decorated with old-timey pictures of babies. There is nothing creepier than an old-timey picture of a baby. I fed Luke and we got out of there.

We met up with Tom and Brian near Casey's. Tom HAD wanted a hot dog but apparently not a $10 Casey's hot dog. The fireworks were getting ready to start so we stayed there to watch them. After they started, Luke got upset so I took him inside the shops and we walked around. He liked the fireworks on the fourth of July, so I think maybe these were just too loud, and he was also really tired.

I was getting really hungry again and I wanted a pretzel, so Brian looked at the map and tried to find me one. It looked like we had to go back to Tomorrowland.

After glancing at the menu, I told Brian I also wanted a cherry slushie drink. I sat down with the baby while Brian and Tom ordered. The cherry slushie wasn't frozen so Brian ordered me a Coke instead. The guy insisted on giving him a watermelon slushie and didn't charge him for any of the drinks. Then a minute later, he came running up with a cherry slushie for me. So we got four free drinks for the price of a pretzel. Not bad.

After our snack, Luke was still awake and growing more and more cranky, so I got cranky and decided I needed to take him back to the room and put him to bed. Brian and Tom wanted to know if they should come with me. I was annoyed that I really hadn't gotten to do ANYTHING party-related, so I told them that they had to stay or the whole night would have been a waste of money. Brian eyed me with the baby, stroller, tote bag, and huge soda and asked if I would be okay getting back to the room by myself. I said, "NO, but it will be fine."

Oh, it was not fine at all. That's when the night went downhill.

 

[amandaw]

Awww....I'm sorry the party wasn't going like you had planned or hoped.

That was really nice of the guy at the Lunching Pad to give all those drinks.

I'm a little scared to hear how the night got worse for you.

 

[holleypie]

Awww....I'm sorry the party wasn't going like you had planned or hoped.

That was really nice of the guy at the Lunching Pad to give all those drinks.

I'm a little scared to hear how the night got worse for you.

Yeah, the party was pretty miserable. Mostly because Luke wasn't happy and I felt like an awful mom for keeping him out so late.

 

[Reddog1134]

Brian here again with another addendum to the trip report.

As Holly said earlier, Tom wanted a hot dog but didn't want to pay the high price at Casey's. So when Holly said she wanted a pretzel, I noticed that the Lunching Pad served both pretzels AND specialty hot dogs. I figured there was a chance of them being cheaper here so I told Tom.

When I looked at the actual menu at the counter, they didn't list ANY hot dogs. When I asked, the CM said "Oh, we stop serving them earlier in the day". Then why do they list them on the Halloween party map? (See HERE)

So, that probably contributed to the reason why we got 4 free drinks.

 

[Imagineer5]

Oh no! What an ending to leave us with! I get the exact SAME WAY when I am hungry by the way. My solution is to have an ADR for practically every meal LOL. I hate CS, mainly because it leaves open the question of WHERE to eat, what to eat, etc, whereas an ADR answers that question and I rarely ever am hungry! Also, keeping some snacks in the backpack is very helpful.

We also stopped at the one candy spot, and got gummy candy things that I think we threw away. LOL.

 

[holleypie]

I didn't take anymore pictures that night, so I am going to use stock photos courtesy of a google images search to illustrate my emotional state and hopefully add some levity. I was definitely not laughing at the time, but the rest of the night was so pathetic it's pretty amusing to me now.

I started to walk off, and Brian told me I should go in the opposite direction so I wouldn't get stuck on the wrong side of the parade. I ended up walking in a HUGE CIRCLE around Tomorrowland, while Luke fussed in the stroller questioning my competence, before I figured out where I should have turned.

When I hit Main Street Luke started full-on crying, so I took him out of the stroller. It is not so easy to carry a baby AND an enormous soda AND and push a stroller, but I gave it my best effort. I really wanted to save that soda for the next day so I wouldn't have to buy another drink. Yeah, I'm cheap.

Lesson #6 for Next Time: One person does NOT try to go anywhere alone with the baby.

We came to the end of Main Street, and I thought the parade was about to start, so I stood behind a trash can and figured I would try to nurse Luke to sleep and then maybe I could at least enjoy the parade.

Didn't work.

I decided the soda had to go, so I hurled it at the trash can then lugged the baby and all our gear toward the exit. Luke was screaming and wriggling and it was still hard to push the stroller and carry my bag. I considered "losing" the stroller and "finding" it the next day at lost and found, but first I thought I would see if it would be easier to carry if I folded it up. I sat down on the curb in front of the Main Street Theater. To my surprise, Luke was content sitting on the curb, so I decided to just stay there until the parade was over, and then meet back up with Brian and Tom so they could help me. The parade started. I texted Brian with my location and asked him to meet me there afterwards.

The parade was kind of enjoyable, except toward the end when the horde of people exiting obstructed my view.

After the parade was over, I called Brian to make sure he had gotten my text.

It went straight to voicemail.

I called Tom.

It went straight to voicemail.

Neither of them had their phone on. I was so screwed. I was still stuck catching the bus by myself, and now I had to do it during the post-parade mass exodus.

Lesson #7 for Next Time: Make sure your phone is on at all times, especially when splitting up.

The walk to the bus was a nightmare. My arm was seriously fatigued from carrying Luke for so long. I could have made things easier on myself and just strapped him into the stroller, but he was content as long as I was holding him, and I didn't want to be That Mom With the Screaming Baby out so late at night.

There were two huge rows of buses, and I walked ALL THE WAY down the wrong row and had to walk ALL THE WAY back. I can't even describe how exhausting and demoralizing this was. Finally I found the SSR stop and joined an enormous line of people waiting for the bus. Luke fell asleep, thank God.

So we waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Bus after bus came for every other resort. It occurred to me that if Brian and Tom had left right after the parade, they might have actually caught a bus already and beat me back to the room. This thought made me so furious. If they were in the room when I got back, we were going to have a big problem.

Finally a bus came. I was so far back in the line that it was standing room only by the time I boarded. A woman at the front of the bus immediately stood up and gave me her seat. I was so grateful, and so happy to sit down, I pretty much cried all the way back to the resort.

Even though I had a sleeping baby on my shoulder and a stroller squeezed between my knees, I managed to dig my gift card out of my tote bag and when I got off I handed it to the woman as a thank-you. I had $20 left on there so I really hope she used it!

After I got off the bus, another woman who wasn't even walking in the same direction insisted on carrying the stroller back to the room for me. I had no partially used gift card to give her, so I thanked her a million times instead.

It was almost midnight when I got back to the room, and fortunately the guys weren't there so I didn't have to go all psycho on them.

I put Luke down in the pack and play, and I dramatically started throwing things in my suitcase so that when Brian got back he would know that I was SO OVER this vacation and couldn't wait to go home.

The problem with this, though, is that we were leaving the next day so I had to pack anyway. Packing that night instead of in the morning was actually pragmatic. Haha. But I was so mad. SO VERY MAD.

Luke woke up a few minutes later, as expected, so I changed him and let him roam around while I packed. Brian and Tom got back about 15-20 minutes after I did. At some point I had remembered that this vacation had been MY idea and that it had also been MY idea to leave alone, so I tried really hard not to explode and blame Brian for my awful night, because it wasn't his fault. Even though he should have made sure his phone was on! I asked what they did and Brian said they had watched the parade then looked in some stores. Oh, and Brian got hungry and bought a $10 hot dog, though Tom still abstained Also, Tom let it slip the next day that they rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad without me!

Day 3 Summary:
This day started off great (I finally got on some rides!) and ended badly. I shouldn't have tried to leave the Magic Kingdom alone. And also, now that I think about it, I probably wouldn't have been so cranky and stressed out if I'd eaten a little better that day. My initial reaction was, "No more hard ticket parties until Luke is twelve!" but we already have tickets to the Christmas party, for my whole family, on my birthday. Now I'm worried about how that is going to play out. I think we'll definitely have to leave early (together!) unless Luke does a better job sleeping in the more comfortable jogging stroller we'll be bringing in December.

 

[Reddog1134]

I would just like to point out that I did not turn my phone off intentionally. It has a very sensitive power button and tends to turn on and off at will.

So I ask any moms reading this trip report to take that into consideration before tearing me a new one.

 

[holleypie]

I would just like to point out that I did not turn my phone off intentionally. It has a very sensitive power button and tends to turn on and off at will.

So I ask any moms reading this trip report to take that into consideration before tearing me a new one.

Oh, did I forget to mention that part?

 

[SAT887]

When I took my jogger to WDW I noticed that Olive slept better when I had her in a "bubble" We were still using the travel system so it was easy for me to put both hoods/sun guards up... Maybe a receiving blanket or something like that could make it easier for Luke to sleep in the stroller?

 

[meggiebeth]

I'm in! Can't wait to read more and catch up!

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[Imagineer5]

LOL! Your last post was hilarious. I can totally see that being me!! Oh man I would be so mad about that phone incident, you are nicer than I am though and look back and can partially blame yourself, while IMO it's still somehow 100% Dh's fault. It may have been your idea to go home alone, but HE should never have let you do that...

I hope he sleeps better in the stroller. Aria sleeps fantastic in the stroller, but DH won't stay out late enough to make it worth it.

 

[holleypie]

When I took my jogger to WDW I noticed that Olive slept better when I had her in a "bubble" We were still using the travel system so it was easy for me to put both hoods/sun guards up... Maybe a receiving blanket or something like that could make it easier for Luke to sleep in the stroller?

Yeah, hopefully I'll be able to make him more comfortable in the jogging stroller. I'm also wondering if I should bring the Moby. He slept in my arms for over an hour during the party and it would have been a LOT easier with a wrap!

I'm in! Can't wait to read more and catch up!

Hi there! Thanks for reading!

LOL! Your last post was hilarious. I can totally see that being me!! Oh man I would be so mad about that phone incident, you are nicer than I am though and look back and can partially blame yourself, while IMO it's still somehow 100% Dh's fault. It may have been your idea to go home alone, but HE should never have let you do that...

Haha. During the bus ride back to the resort I was so mad I vowed NEVER EVER EVER to go back to Disney World EVER again. Then I remembered we already had our birthday trip planned, and my family was coming, and it would be a lot of trouble to cancel it, so I had to talk myself down. Otherwise Luke would have grown up to know Disney World as "That Place We Can't Visit Because Mommy Tried to Kill Daddy There in 2012."

 

[Reddog1134]

I would like to take this opportunity to point out that "Lesson #6" (posted above) was my idea.

I'm not a complete jerk.

 

[holleypie]

I'm not a complete jerk.

I know, honey. That's why I married you.

 

[amandaw]

Awww.....sorry to hear you had a rough ending to the night. Though I'm glad you had at least a couple of people help you out. The late nights and hard ticket parties will get easier as Luke gets older. On my son's 1st trip he was 2. We took him to MVMCP. He was asleep before the fireworks. Here we are two years later and at 4 years old, he was able to stay up until 2 am the night of the ToT race and midnight the night of MNSSHP.