A Road Trip, A Tree House, and Family. What could go wrong?

[DisneyRegulars]

Ah New Years Day! Happy 2016 to us. We decided on a leisurely morning this morning, and the night before wisely changed all our FP+ to evening ones. We slept in for the first time until Tigger came in to wake us up. Unfortunately, this was still around 7am, but still we got some good sleep. More importantly the Tigger beast was well rested. Instead of hustling off to the parks we let Tigger play with his marble track we brought with us, and we leisurely made our way to Disney Springs by about 9am. We actually hopped in the car and drove to Congress Park, parked there, and walked over the bridge to Disney Springs. My brother and his friend chose to walk, and it took them a good 30 minutes or more from the tree house. We chose to get a quick bite to eat at Wolfgang Puck Express. I had the breakfast pizza, and it ended up feeding 3 people EASILY. It's my new favorite economical breakfast option. While at Wolfgang's we got to experience some great Disney service. I forget our server's name, but he kept coming out to check on us, bringing me extra coffee, and when my brother and his friend showed up he quickly brought them extra plates to help eat the pizza. When it was time to go, he offered me a cup of coffee to go, and went and got it himself. He went above and beyond what I would expect from a quick service type location. It felt like we were at a full service breakfast place. I would definitely go back here for breakfast again.

After we ate we took Tigger to the Lego store so he could build and race cars. He was looking forward to this all trip and asked everyday if we were going to the Lego store. Previous visits he easily spent hours here, and today was no different. Grizzly and I played tag team. One of us would stay and make sure Tigger didn't get stolen, and the other would wonder the shops. Have you seen that great 28th and Main store? I love some of their things. Unfortunately, the things I love the most are a bit out of my price range, like this great bag:

It would make a great work bag, and could be mine for only $300+

As I usually do, I got sick of watching Tigger make cars, so I made one too. They have eyes! I used lots of eyes:

I thought the Lego wheel master would look at me funny when I requested a set of wheels, but he very nicely gave me a set and said anybody who wants to can make a car. So Tigger and I and a bunch of other 12 and unders happily made race cars. A little before noon we were getting hungry, so we headed over to Ghiradelli for lunch. This my friends is the face of ice cream for lunch:

He's clearly smitten.

After our stint at Disney Springs we ventured back to play some more games at the hotel and swim. This was my favorite part of the afternoon. We started off by making some jewelry:

Tigger had been asking to go back and make some necklaces since he saw them the first day. We spent some time designing various wrist and neckware. Unfortunately, one of them ended up being used as a weapon, and got thrown in the trash, but that's a story for another day. At one point Grizzly made a pattern that went Purple-Red-Green-Red--Purple-Red-Green-Red... Well, Tigger has been learning about patterns in school, and he quickly translated the pattern into: ABCB-ABCB and exclaimed: "That's not a pattern!" It turns out Tigger has better than the average pattern skills, and his teacher had been restricting the patterns that he could make so his friends could understand them. We assured him multiple times that it was in fact a pattern, until he finally gave in and shouted with near tears in his eyes "WELL THEN MS. JOSEPH DOESN'T KNOW ALL THE PATTERNS IN LIFE!!" And this was the first time he realised his teacher doesn't know everything there is to know about everything. It was funny and a little heartbreaking at the same time.

After making Tigger offending patterns we switched to shuffle puck which was a huge hit. Except when we first walked over to the table, Tigger saw that there was sand all over it. He exclained "Who got this table all dirty?," and before we could react, started quickly wiping all the sand off the table. He got a good 1/4 of the table cleaned before we could stop him. He never cleans anything so quickly at home! We did our best to put the sand back on the table, but it was pretty much next to impossble. The sand falls into this almost carpet like material, so it was pretty much like trying to pick sand out of a carpet to get it back onto the table. We quickly gave up and swished the remaining sand around the table as best we could. This game was a big hit and we had lots of fun here:

Up next we played some fuseball which Tigger had also been eyeing since our first day. Another little kid, well he said he was 12, but he was still pretty small, was lurking around. We had him join us. He told us he was super excited because this year was the first year he was allowed to go to the club house by himself. I sort of felt bad for him though. He was probably super pysched to go to the clubhouse, thinking it was hopping with other kids, but there was really no-one else there except us. After fuseball we played a few games of bean bag toss (corn hole) and then finally made it back to the shuffle board courts. Does anybody know, do other resorts have shuffleboard courts? We loved this! It was even better because it was free!

Before heading back to our room for a nap Tigger and Grizzly jumped in the pool. All in all it was the perfect relaxing day at the hotel, and we hadn't even made it to a park yet. Up next we head to Magic Kingdom for some evening fun.

Can anybody tell me, do the other resorts offer these activities:
corn hole
shuffle puck
shuffle board
fuseball

I've seen ping pong and pool at several places, but hadn't noticed all these other activities before, but then again, I'd never looked for them either.

 

[DisneyRegulars]

Friday night we did our last hurah at Magic Kingdom. My brother and his friend are both teachers, and they had decided earlier in the week to go home a day early so they could spend Sunday doing lesson plans. When they looked into changing their flights, they actually found that Southwest was going to PAY them money to fly back a day early. How crazy is that?! So this was our last night together. We had a few Magic Kingdom FP+ to use, and wanted to see the early Wishes. My brother loves to get the perfect pictures of him and Tigger, but Tigger was not cooperating and my brother was becoming exasperated at some points. Now don't get me wrong, Tigger was trying his darndest to smile, but he was giving that awful fake kid smile. It was quite entertaining to watch because we have to deal with it constantly. Here are two that will not be making it into my brother's trip photo album, but were the best Tigger could muster:

Also this evening I discovered that the castle reflects perfectly off a pool next to the castle. I don't know how many times I have been to the park at night and never noticed this:

And finally this great bird:

I had zero of intentions of fighting the crowds to watch Wishes from the front of the castle, so tonight we went to Fantasyland, and stood in front of Philharmagic. If you were facing Philharmagic, the carousel would be to our left. Wishes from back here was awesome. If you've seen Wishes multiple times from the front of the castle, this is a great alternative to see a completely different show. From this position the fireworks are all around you. You have the flares zooming up around the castle, and then you have to turn quickly to see the larger fireworks behind you. It gave the impression that you were right in the middle of the show. I guess it was more than just an impression, from this position you actually were right in the middle of the show. It also kept Tigger interested for more than 30 seconds because he never knew where the fireworks were going to come from next.

My super picky brother and friend also thought Wishes was neat from back here.
The crowd was also very light and it was much more enjoyable crowdwise than in front of the castle.

After Wishes we stood to the side of the carousel while Grizzly went and tried to find the stroller. Well it turns out that we were accidentally standing in line for the Carousel, so when they turned it back on after Wishes we followed the line in and got on the first ride. We finished off our evening with Splash Mountain.

Tigger developed a new game this trip wherein every ride we had to pretend like we had never gone on it before. He LOVED this game. So for every drop in Splash Mountain it was my job to act super scared, like it was going to be the biggest drop. And Tigger would confirm, that yes indeed, this was the big drop coming. Then I pretended to be angry when it turned out it wasn't the big drop. Tigger would laugh and laugh after each time he fed me wrong information. So we spent the ride playing this game, except my brother hadn't been informed ahead of time as to what we were doing, so every time Tigger told me the big drop was coming my brother corrected him. After a couple of drops my brother broke down and asked "Haven't you ridden this before?" With a "what the heck is wrong with you?" kind of tone. It was funny to see him so confused. This game was especially entertaining on the Tower of Terror where we would pretend that we were actually checking into the hotel. I would express all kinds of concerns to Tigger, like "There seem to be a lot of cobwebs in this hotel, are you sure we should stay here?" And he would assure me it was fine. Playing these pretend games definitely added a new dimension to the ride riding this trip, and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Up next, our last full day at the parks. Tigger is finally tall enough for Rockin' Roller Coaster, but the question is: Will he like it? And also shopping! I finally bought some things I've been eyeing for years. Can't wait to show you.

 

[quandrea]

I am so enjoying your trip report. My twins are six and Tigger reminds me so much of them. I can relate so well to everything you write. Sounds like it was a great trip. We were at SSR in December. The community hall there is fabulous. It was the highlight of our trip. I'm also interested to hear about your trip given it was late December. We will need to shift our trips to that time come 2018 when my oldest is in grade nine. Right now she is homeschooled and we travel whenever we feel like it. Two weeks at Kidani starting Monday. Whoo hoo!!!!!!!

 

[a742246]

I usually don't read trip reports but when I see that the trip report is yours I have to read it! You write the best trip reports!

 

[TeeterTots]

I usually don't read trip reports but when I see that the trip report is yours I have to read it! You write the best trip reports!

I second that! It inspired me to write my first and I'm slowly chugging along.....

 

[DisneyRegulars]

I usually don't read trip reports but when I see that the trip report is yours I have to read it! You write the best trip reports!

I second that! It inspired me to write my first and I'm slowly chugging along.....

Aw! You guys made my night! Thank you!

 

[a742246]

You are such a "great" writer, you bring me back 30 years when my son was your son's age. and my thoughts were like yours. Thank you for that!

 

[DVCjj]

I also enjoy your trip reports very much. They are not only well written and entertaining, they are very honest.....especially about your (cute) son.

My children are grown but it always bothered me when some of the other parents thought their child could do no wrong EVER. I like that you say it like it is.
Your honesty puts a human spin on your adventures.

Thanks for letting me tag along.

 

[DisneyRegulars]

I also enjoy your trip reports very much. They are not only well written and entertaining, they are very honest.....especially about your (cute) son.

My children are grown but it always bothered me when some of the other parents thought their child could do no wrong EVER. I like that you say it like it is.
Your honesty puts a human spin on your adventures.

Thanks for letting me tag along.

Thank you. I like to imagine that other people too have had trying times with their kids. People don't usually write about those moments, so I try to include everything, hoping that somebody out there is going "Thank goodness I'm not the only one!"

 

[DisneyRegulars]

We are one day from Armageddon, thank goodness this day went pretty well, or I would be a complete mess right now. (Yes even three weeks later) Today we were back to being a party of three, and it was our last full day in the parks. The big plan for this morning was taking Tigger on Rockin' Roller Coaster for the first time, and boy was it a hit. We let Tigger choose who to sit next to, and I'm sure Grizzly and I were both thinking "Pick me! Pick me!" I certainly know I was, and I could see in Grizzly's eyes he was too. Because really, is there anything better than sitting next to someone on their first time on a ride? Well, sure I can name lots of things better, but we both desperately wanted the job. Like any brilliant boy should, he chose his mom to accompany him on this new adventure. He was looking at little scared as we were waiting to take off (in the very first row), but by the end of the ride he was all smiles. He thought it was awesome. The delight on his face was infectious, and it made me immediately want to recreate the moment for Grizzly, which turned out to be a foolish foolish mistake, but that's a lesson for tomorrow. We finished up our quick morning in Hollywood Studios, and Tigger requested to go on more Agent P missions. We slowly walked over to Epcot, stopping leisurely at the Boardwalk Bakery for some breakfast. They had the most delicious cinnamon roll I have ever had the pleasure of devouring. I don't usually spend too much time describing food, but this cinnamon roll was pure heaven. It was like a fluffy croissant mated with a cinnamon roll.

We arrived in Epcot just as they were opening the Agent P kiosks. The Great Britain mission did not disappoint! Way better than the Mexico side, so if you have a choice, choose the Great Britain mission. We then did the Japan mission and after that is was all downhill, well at least as far as my wallet was concerned because the Mitsukoshi store is just amazing. Especially if you like crustaceans and need new dishwear. I'm sure there is a large demographic that fits this category judging by the number of crustacean laden bowls and plates. I myself happen to be one of them, and walked out with my first purchase of the day. Except I didn't walk out with my 8 lobster and crab bowls, I had them sent to the front of the park where they would arrive promptly by 5:00pm. Unfortunately, it was currently only 2pm, and when I got out of the store Grizzly and Tigger had decided it was time to swim. Guess who got to spend 3 hours in Epcot by herself????? Me!!!

Top view of my lobster bowls:

I did so many things and nobody wined at me, or asked to go pee at inopportune times, or pouted, or complained that they couldn't see. It was wonderful. I started things off right with a beer, then watched Circle Vision China because we are planning a three week trip to China next summer to visit my parents. Not sure how we will fit in those amazing dragon tooth mountains, but we do have plans for Shanghai Disney, Hong Kong Disney and Tokyo Disney while we are over there. So after amping up my China trip excitement I watched the Chinese acrobats for a bit, looked in every single shop there was to look in, and found a tucked away gourmet grilled cheese food truck over by Test Track.

I was happily eating my blistering hot grilled cheese on an empty bench when a giant spanish speaking family came and swarmed around me. They asked if they could share the bench. I said of course, but I didn't really know what I was getting into! There were so many! Suddenly there were six people on my bench made for a max of four, and kids all plunked down by my feet, and I couldn't communicate with any of them! Well, at least not well. I could have counted for them, and sang them Jingle Bells in Spanish, but I don't think that's what they were looking for. Suddenly I felt very much alone.

It was time to move on, so I headed to ride The Land. I have avoided this ride ever since they got rid of the real person narrator, but I actually enjoyed it this time. Maybe rides like this are better when you don't have to worry about keeping a toddler quiet. And finally it was time to leave. I decided to try my luck at package claim thirty minutes early and my bag was there, expertly packed. The CM took the opportunity to dis China which I thought was hilarious. He said "This is from Japan isn't it? Yup. They know how to wrap stuff in Japan. China does a terrible job. You're lucky if they even put it in a bag." I thought it was funny how the real life stereotypes carried right over into the Epcot countries. It was back to SSR for me where I had time to relax in the room for a bit before Tigger and Grizzly returned from swimming.

Our final night we headed over to Disney Springs. We let Tigger race cars again while Grizzly and I took turns shopping.

Here is Tigger showing off his car. He built a windmill to make it go faster. More importantly here, look at those tired tired eyes. Why didn't we see this?!

We hemmed and hawed all trip, but I finally caved and bought myself some Disney plates. I bought the white ones with a black Mickey in the center. They are gorgeous. These replaced our 30 year old plates that we inherited from Grizzly's mom. The same chipped and scratched plates that my mom looked at with disdain every time she visited. My mom likes fancy dishes and even fancy plates that go under fancy dishes (chargers I believe they are called), but me, I like my dishes to hold food, so my ugly scratched chipped dishes worked just fine, but I suppose if any dishes ever needed replacing it was ours. At least that's what I told myself. I bought 12 dinner and 12 dessert plates and promptly put four of each in the basement when we got home. Judging by how long we kept the last set of dishes and Grizzly's endless klutziness these spares will come in handy down the road.

If you, like me, have been eying these dishes, you should know they are fantastic. They look glorious. Subtly remind me of my happy place every meal, and they have a nice weight and sturdy feel to them. After a few weeks of use I am still in love and have no regrets. I didn't get the matching bowls because they seemed too little, but my crustacean ones go quite nicely and suit my eclectic taste.

We made our way back to our tree house for the last time and proceeded to pack. Tomorrow morning we wanted to head to Hollywood Studios to let Tigger ride Rockin one last time before our long drive home. Unfortunately, the day was destined to fall apart before it even got a chance to start. It was so powerfully awful that it has taken me three weeks to work up the courage and perspective to write about it. So up next, our very worst moment at Disney to date, and I'm beginning to feel like the queen of bad moments. Remember that time we stormed off to the airport 12 hours early because Tigger threw a shovel? This day beats the pants off that day on the awful scale. Please stay tuned, misery loves company and I could use a lot of company for this next part.

Our view from our bedroom window in the tree house, too bad I didn't spend much time standing in my bedroom looking at this very relaxing view:

 

[TeeterTots]

Oh girl, you are NOT alone! I have a 5 yo and I often wonder if she saves the most inappropriate behavior for Disney?! I can't figure it out. She's a go with the flow kinda girl, but is it being off routine, overstimulation or just plain spoiled? Ugh! I hope we grow out of it soon bc her 2yo brother watches very closely!

 

[TeeterTots]

I forgot to say I LOVE the dishes!!!

 

[kirstenb1]

I've loved your TR and your funny comments about your son. The foggy MK castle picture was surreal---it looked like a hologram, not even real. Also, my dh always wants to try the Treehouses, but I don't like how isolated they are from everything. Thanks for your candid review of them. Our older dd who is 17 was/is a very picky eater like Tigger---when she was younger I remember what a challenge that was on vacation.

 

[cabloom]

Every day I anxiously look for your next post - the suspense is killing me. I even came out of lurkdom to post this. Please please please update!

 

[DaisyDuck001]

Staying in one of the treehouses had also been on my bucket list ever since I first heard of them, and I was surprised that they disappointed you. I understand they are remote, and that you would have preferred for the great view to be from the deck or living room instead of the bedroom.

Other than that, was the treehouse still enjoyable in other ways? Or mainly disappointing all around? I can see how being far from everything would be awkward, but is it a fun place to hang out? Or not bucket-list worthy?

 

[DisneyRegulars]

Every day I anxiously look for your next post - the suspense is killing me. I even came out of lurkdom to post this. Please please please update!

I'm so sorry! School started back up, and those first few weeks are so totally overwhelming to me. Anyways, I had a few minutes this afternoon. Give me five minutes to proof read!

 

[DisneyRegulars]

Time to finish up this trip report. We decided the night before leaving that we would sneak out to Hollywood Studios in the morning for one last ride on Rockin' Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror before the long drive back to New York. Grizzly and I were super excited. Tigger had LOVED Rockin' Roller Coaster the day before, and we wanted to repeat the experience. Grizzly was also super excited to get to sit next to Tigger on the ride.

Prior to heading to the park we had to say fairwell to our trusty stroller. This stroller had served us so well, from it's very first trip to Ireland when my son was 9 months old to this last trip to Disney when Tigger was nearly 6. It seems super silly, but of all the baby things of my son's that I've gotten rid of, this mangy old stroller was the hardest one. So many memories! Here are a few, a brief ode to my stroller:

The stroller's debut, Ireland 2010:

Rope Drop, our first Disney trip with his namesake Tigger hat, 14 months:

Toy Maximization Age 3:

The Last Morning, Age almost 6, Tree House in the Middle of Nowhere:

Despite being woken up from a sound sleep very early in the morning, Tigger kindly posed for one last photo. The stroller wouldn't fit in our car, so we left it next to the bus stop with a sign that said he was free to a good home. I'm sure the cleaning staff scooped him up and threw him away because there are all of three whole families out by those darn tree houses, but I like to imagine that he's being used and loved by another family.

So off we went to HS. We were there early, and the weather had gotten cooler, so it was back to sweatshirts and pants on this last day.

We had quite a long wait in line, and without a stroller to sit in, and being quite tired, Tigger just didn't know what to do with himself.

The calm before the storm:

Earlier in the week we had made bracelets at the community room. That day Tigger had also designed a little clippy thing, which I had clipped onto my jeans. He came over and started trying to take it off my belt loop and I didn't want him to because I knew it would be instantly lost, and he was quite fond of this silly little clippy thing. You know the expression "pick your battles"? Well for some reason, some very stupid reason, I decided that this, out of all battles, was THE battle that needed picking. Tigger was not going to get this clip. I told him to stop, he wouldn't stop. We both became agitated. I came to my senses, and thought to myself, this is a silly battle, I'll just let him have the clip. So I took the clip off, and clipped it to his pants, just like it had been clipped to mine, that way he wouldn't lose it. "Yeah for compromise. I'm the best mom ever!," I thought, quite satisfied with myself for releasing the stupid battle. Problem solved right? Nope. He whined about the clip on his pants, and so, enraged, I angrily took the clip back and put it back on my pants. He wanted the clip, I gave it to him, and then he had the audacity to whine about it. Now I was super angry. So much for taking the high road! Apparently Tigger was equally angry because he took a giant swing at me with all his six year old might. And that was the end of our glorious vacation finale. We hadn't even made it into the park.

I wish we could just fast forward to the ride home, but unfortunately, getting a screaming, crying, kicking, hitting kid back to the car is not an easy task. This was probably the worst 15 minutes I've every spent in Disney. Grizzly and I literally had no idea what we should do or how to proceed. Here's the situation. Beastly child just hit his mom, so there's no way he is going into the park. Beastly child flops to the ground and starts wailing, and sounds pretty much like someone is hurting him, slowly killing him with a red hot poker. 100's of people staring. Child is too big to easily scoop up. Child seems to big to be throwing this kind of a fit. Ugh. We figured we couldn't let him stay where he was, in the middle of the lines to get into the park, so we picked him up and moved him to the side so he could scream over there. But he was really carrying on, and we kind of felt like he was going to ruin the Disney experience for everyone, so we decided to carry him back to the car. Except this kid is strong, and he started pelting Grizzly with his necklace he had made, so I pried the necklace from the little gremlin's hands and threw it in the trash. This just made things worse. It was so terrible. So bad.

After moving him about 100 feet farther from the park entrance, we finally gave up, and sat him on a bench where he curled up and continued to wail, while we went three or four benches down so we didn't have to hear it. Except now it appeared as though a kid was all alone crying on a bench. You can't imagine the number of people who stopped to look for his parents. Lots of good people out there, which was nice to know. Maybe one of them would just take him we sarcastically thought. Every parent who stopped we would say softly to each other "you can have him if you want" while waving at the parents with the "it's okay, he's ours" wave of shame. After what seemed like forever, with no signals that the screaming would end any time soon, and an 8 hour car ride ahead of us, we finally picked him up, Grizzly with his arms, me with his feet, and brought him to the car. He cried the whole way there, and we eventually put him down and he walked bawling back to the car. We got him in his car seat, and before we were even out of the parking lot he was asleep. I'm not sure if it was the trauma of being hauled out of an amusement park by your parents, or pure exhaustion, but he slept for three hours.

Grizzly and I sat silently stunned for the first 45 minutes of the drive. We were both so ANGRY. We both sat silently questioning our parenting skills, moping about our lost perfect morning, until we did the only thing we could think to do that would make us feel better. We spitefully planned a trip to Disney without our son. We booked 3 nights at Wilderness Lodge for July, for a relaxing trip where our son won't be able to ruin it. Then we sulked in silence until Tigger woke up. Now on the way down, we handed Tigger the ipad and he was good for 18 hours. This day he lost the ipad, and he sat silently in the back without anything at all to entertain him for 8 hours. 8 HOURS! You know your kid realizes they have done something wrong when they sit silently in a car for 8 hours. Grizzly did make him listen to a few chapters of Harry Potter, but for the most part, he just sat there.

His horrible behavior that morning made our surprise stop to Great Wolf Lodge a little bit bitter sweet. We didn't want to stop, we wanted to drive all the way back to New York, but we had already paid for the room, so we figured we should probably make the stop. In the end I'm so glad we did. It turned our horrible day around for the better. When we walked in Tigger looked around and said "I think we've been here before Mom." (We've been to the one in Niagara Falls) Then before we went to get our bags he said "I just need to make sure we've been here before, if there is an arcade at the bottom of those stairs, then we have definitely been here before." I thought this was hilarious because not only is there an arcade at the bottom of the stairs, but a giant indoor water park as well, but the defining characteristic of this hotel to Tigger was whether or not it had an arcade. It made me smile. I should have just got a hotel room near a Chuck E Cheese!

We enjoyed the water park, and then headed out to the grocery store to get some food for dinner and the next day. While at the grocery store we stocked up on ice cream including little single serving containers of chocolate and vanilla for Tigger and Klondike bars, figuring the 5 dollars spent at the grocery store was way cheaper than anything at the lodge. Unfortunately, when we got back to the room, we opened up the giant mini fridge only to find, much to our shock, that it didn't have a freezer section!!! Guess what Tigger? We are having ice cream for dinner! So we all ate as much ice cream as we wanted. Eventually, Tigger got chilly and asked to eat ice cream in the tub, and so he did. And so our horrible horrible horrible day ended with an emergency ice cream eating session in the tub. I hope that Tigger remembers this day as "the day that mom and dad bought so much ice cream and then there was no freezer so we had to eat it all for dinner, and I ate it in the tub" and not "the day my mom and dad carried me screaming back to the car."

One kid, no freezer, a tub, and tons of ice cream:

And so that concludes our most recent trip to see the mouse. I learned a few things this trip including:
-Don't get over tired. You or your kid. Nap. Sleep late.
-If you have to wake up Tigger, you are going to regret it at some point later in the day.
-The tree houses have a great layout, but are too far if you have a little kid that doesn't like walking.
-Pick your battles wisely. Or better yet, just don't pick any battles. It's Disney, nothing could possibly be worth the carnage we went through today.
-Sometimes even the seemingly worst days can end sweetly.


Epilogue: We have since planned another family trip down to Disney. December 27-January 1st we will be staying in a AKV Value Studio (wish us luck) followed by a week in 2 bedroom at SSR with my husband's friend and maybe 4 year old daughter. We will have 12 nights at Disney. Our longest trip yet. Can't wait to go back. Funny how bad memories fade quickly, and the good ones stick around.

Thank you all for following along, and all your kind comments.

 

[DisneyRegulars]

Staying in one of the treehouses had also been on my bucket list ever since I first heard of them, and I was surprised that they disappointed you. I understand they are remote, and that you would have preferred for the great view to be from the deck or living room instead of the bedroom.

Other than that, was the treehouse still enjoyable in other ways? Or mainly disappointing all around? I can see how being far from everything would be awkward, but is it a fun place to hang out? Or not bucket-list worthy?

Having had a few weeks to decompress from my somewhat unperfect trip, I can now look back a little more clearly. There were definitely some things I really liked about the tree house. The layout is actually really great for two adult couples and two kids. We didn't quite have this arrangement, as my brother's friend bunked up with Tigger, but the layout is perfect for that type of situation, or two adults and four kids. I wouldn't hesitate for a second to book a tree house again if I was traveling with all able bodied people. I LOVE walking, so the remoteness wouldn't bother me a bit if I didn't have Tigger with me. It's really only a ten minute walk max to the Grand Stands pool, and the walk is shaded and pretty. This past trip we didn't grocery shop at all, so we needed to leave the house more for meals and such. I would not make this mistake again. Even a small shopping trip to get some lunch items for Tigger would have made a huge difference in my frustration level with the tree house.

Tree House Pros:

• The layout is great, like getting a 3 bedroom without the points cost.
• They are quiet, and shaded, and feel like you are in the wilderness.
• If you are with all adults or only have older children (10+) they could provide a nice change of pace after busy loud days in the parks.
• The pool was never busy.
• Small touches, like self closing drawers, were a neat surprise.
• Using the Grand Stand bus stop helped avoid the two bus situation.

Tree House Cons / Reasons to Avoid a Tree House:

• The decor and room are really nice, but they aren't over the top tree housy, or even a little tree housy. The inside of the room could have been at any resort on Disney property.
• The walk to the feature pools and Disney buses can be long for little legs. REALLY LONG.
  
• If you don't buy groceries, you will wish you had.
  
• If you only like to swim in the feature pools, this is not the place to be.
• Parking was aggravating at times. Several times we needed to get a spot significantly far away from our Tree House. This required us to traipse through the woods and walk under other people's tree houses to get back to our tree house. I'm sure that annoyed the other tree house occupants, but we were so annoyed that someone had taken up more than their allotted one car spot that we didn't care. The 30 seconds we spent under their tree house was saving us a ten minute walk.

Bottom line, would I stay here again? Absolutely, but only with adults or when Tigger is a teenager, and I would request a Tree house nearer to the Grand Stand section, and I would buy some groceries. I think with those small changes, it would be a great vacation. So don't give up on your bucket list, but if you have a small child, maybe wait a few years.

 

[DisneyRegulars]

A Consumer Warning!

In case you have been eying the cool ride glasses like we had been, I thought I should share this. About a year ago we bought a set of four ride glasses. They held up well, so we decided to buy eight more glasses this past trip, and replace all our existing glasses. Unfortunately, this second batch has had miserable quality. After only a month, 2 of the 8 glasses have their paint peeling off in large chunks. I'm very disappointed in our new additions, and wouldn't want someone else to feel the same way. It seems to be a quality control issue though, because all of the glasses we've had for over a year are fine.

Here they are:

With close ups of the two on the right that are falling apart:

Does anybody know? If I write to Disney Merchandising or something, would they maybe replace these glasses?

We do put them in the dishwasher, but they all came with stickers that said dishwasher safe, and I don't have time to be hand washing a bunch of glasses everyday if we have a perfectly fine dishwasher that can handle the job. Anyways, stay away from these. At least for a few months until maybe they get in a new batch in.

 

[3 Hobbits 2 Disney]

A Consumer Warning!

In case you have been eying the cool ride glasses like we had been, I thought I should share this. About a year ago we bought a set of four ride glasses. They held up well, so we decided to buy eight more glasses this past trip, and replace all our existing glasses. Unfortunately, this second batch has had miserable quality. After only a month, 2 of the 8 glasses have their paint peeling off in large chunks. I'm very disappointed in our new additions, and wouldn't want someone else to feel the same way. It seems to be a quality control issue though, because all of the glasses we've had for over a year are fine.

Here they are:

With close ups of the two on the right that are falling apart:

Does anybody know? If I write to Disney Merchandising or something, would they maybe replace these glasses?

We do put them in the dishwasher, but they all came with stickers that said dishwasher safe, and I don't have time to be hand washing a bunch of glasses everyday if we have a perfectly fine dishwasher that can handle the job. Anyways, stay away from these. At least for a few months until maybe they get in a new batch in.

Oh how disappointing. I think it's worth taking what you posted and sending it to Park Merchandise. They should take care of it.

There are two options available to contact them: by telephone at 877-560-6477 or by email at
Merchandise.Guest.Services@DisneyParks.com Please note that applicable sales tax plus shipping and handling fees will apply; and availability of select items may change.

Thanks for the trip report. A good read as always. And have faith -- it's a miracle my now 15 yr old DD made it from 4 to 6 -- they were tough years.