A Very Last-Minute, Very Pregnant Trip - Feb/March 2022 - Updated 9/12

[Disney102015]

Let’s start this trip report with a question - what’s the most last-minute Disney trip you’ve ever taken?? (Doesn’t count if you’re local!) Well, I’m about to walk you through the most last minute trip this author has ever booked, 7 days out from departure. This was a major leap of faith for this type-A planner. I LOVE the planning process almost as much as the trip itself. I love making spreadsheets, coming up with ADR plans, obsessively tinkering with those ADR plans….you get the picture. I think I’m in good company here Would such a last minute trip be a disaster? Would we end up without any ADRs? Could we master Genie+ in one short week? Stay tuned to find out!

Our travel party for this trip: there’s me, the main planner, who happened to be almost 6 months pregnant for this trip. Typically I’m a big fan of the thrill rides but would be skipping those this time around, for obvious reasons! The main thing I look forward to these days is rediscovering Disney through the eyes of our 2 little ones: Little C (almost 4) and Baby G (1.5). DH and I love watching to see what they’ll enjoy on each trip and seeing how their interests change as they grow. The last member of our party is DH, my partner in crime - he had only been to Disney once before we met but I’ve had him going just about annually ever since! He pretends to roll his eyes about it but he really does love it, especially when we plan some good dining reservations and lots of pool time.

So how did we end up planning this last-minute trip? We had been tossing around the idea of taking a quick trip somewhere warm before baby #3 joined us in a few short months but were having trouble nailing down a weekend. Suddenly in mid-February, a work obligation got rescheduled, leaving us with an unexpected extended weekend at the end of the month.

We hemmed and hawed about where to go for a few days. Honestly, I was iffy about going to Disney World pregnant - I didn’t really know how many rides I could do, if the walking would be too much, etc. We looked into some other locations in Florida but found prohibitively expensive flights, or had concerns about renting a car and lugging 2 car seats, etc. Ultimately, we decided Disney was the best last-minute destination, since we know the lay of the land, the transportation options, etc. - very little research needed (other than studying up on Genie+ of course!)

Flights were up first, and this was relatively easy. Rates going to Orlando from the nearest large airport were surprisingly reasonable for such a last-minute trip and we had JetBlue points to cover most of the cost. (Baby G is still a lap baby so it was just me, DH, and Little C needing tickets.) We do prefer to fly from our small local airport when we can but that wasn’t in the cards when we first booked these flights. (Foreshadowing….)

Next up, hotel Jenga! We looked at availability and quickly realized a split stay was probably in order. We hadn’t even decided yet if we were doing park days or just lounging at the pool so we were tentatively open to staying off-site. But guys, I’m going to be honest - I wasn’t thrilled with that plan! I can’t help it, I’m a die-hard on site gal through and through. I know, I know, the on-site benefit is slowly disappearing, but I just love the Disney bubble, I can’t help myself! PLUS, we had bought into DVC a few months prior - most of our points were earmarked for a big family trip the following year but we DID have some points leftover. Of course, availability was non-existent one week out but a girl can dream / stalk the availability calendar, right? (P.S. did you know you can’t waitlist a DVC room within a certain number of days of your trip? I had no idea! So the waitlist was out but stalking was in.)

Anyway - 1 week before the trip, we initially booked 4 nights at the Gaylord Palms. Then a day or two later we found 2 nights at AKL (non-DVC) so switched to 2 nights at each. THEN we found 2 nights at POFQ and Gaylord Palms was out - we were officially staying in the bubble! Then 2 nights at the Dolphin became available for the nights we were going to stay at POFQ. We were a little hesitant about it (we loooove POFQ) but we had a Marriott gift card we had been hanging onto, so frugality won out and it was AKL/Dolphin.

Then…you guys…my DVC stalking paid off and TWO nights at the Polynesian became available! I swear I booked so fast steam was coming off my keyboard. Our very first official DVC stay as owners!! We were PUMPED. (We were decidedly less pumped when we reviewed the Dolphin’s cancelation policy AFTER the Poly stay was booked - oops! One very panicked phone call to Marriott/the Dolphin and one very sympathetic cast member later, we had the cancellation fee waived, thank goodness.)

So 3 days out from our trip and we were booked - 2 nights AKL (cash) and 2 nights Polynesian (DVC) - not too shabby for a super last minute trip. Everything was falling into place….just as the snow began to fall.

We had been keeping an eye on this weather system all week but had tried not to worry about it too much because we didn’t have much flexibility to change our dates anyway, so it was just going to have to be left up to fate. We were scheduled to leave Friday afternoon and by Wednesday night things were not looking promising. We briefly looked at trying to get out Thursday night instead but everything was booked solid. I hated the idea of moving our flight to Saturday, but as we watched Saturday flights gradually book up, and the forecast for Friday get worse and worse, we realized we might be better off proactively switching our flight rather than waiting to do it with the masses once our flight was likely canceled.

On Thursday, I finally bit the bullet and called to move our Friday flight to Saturday morning. The snow was supposed to stop midday Friday and it looked like things should be pretty much cleared up by Saturday. The silver lining was that I was able to change the flight to our local airport, which we love, and was also able to change our return flight to the evening so we weren’t really losing that much time by flying out a day later. We made the right call because sure enough, not 2 hours after I made the flight change, our Friday afternoon flight was canceled by JetBlue. Whew!

Here’s another silver lining - I was packing up our suitcases Friday, feeling mildly bummed we weren’t headed to Disney that afternoon. I kept my computer open to the DVC availability calendar and refreshed every so often on the off chance we’d be able to get another night with points rather than cash. And on one magical refresh….a night at the Poly became available!!!!!!! I learned from my mistake with the Dolphin and quickly called Disney to make sure we could cancel 1 of our AKL cash nights without a penalty, booked the Poly, and we were good to go!!

Our final itinerary (I promise!!) was locked in less than 24 hours before our flight: 1 night AKL, 3 nights Poly. I spent the rest of the snowy afternoon packing and dancing around the house to Disney music with the kids. We were going to Disney World!!!!!!

 

[Disney102015]

Table of Contents
​

Introduction

Travel Day, Boma Dinner, and Exploring AKL

A Quiet AKL Morning, Pool Time at the Poly, and Narcoosee’s

Magic Kingdom Day, Part 1

Magic Kingdom Day, Part 2

AK Morning and MK Evening

Last Day and Travel Home

 

[Disney102015]

Travel Day, Boma Dinner, and Exploring AKL​

Saturday morning arrived early and cold! DH did the snow shoveling Friday night before bed, bless him, so we could hit the road around 4:30am. The airport was more crowded than we expected - I am guessing a lot of people rescheduled flights from earlier in the week due to the storm. We got all checked in and hung out by our gate with only a little time to kill. Baby G was absolutely bonkers from her super early wake up and was sprinting back and forth down the terminal laughing hysterically. I chased her back and forth (and tried to keep her out of the path of oncoming travelers) and figured I’d let her tire herself out in the hopes she’d settle down for the flight.

Spoiler: she did not! DH and I took turns holding her but she fought being in our laps the whole first half of the flight til she finally passed out. She’ll still be a lap baby for our next trip, but by the time we landed we were already debating whether it’d be worthwhile to buy her a seat regardless, considering we’ll have another lap baby by then and will seriously have our hands full! Otherwise, the flight was pretty smooth and uneventful and we landed at MCO by 10:15am.

​

It was HOT in the airport!! We quickly made our way to the baggage carousel but ended up waiting til almost 11am for our bags to show up. Not ideal! I was pretty soaked in sweat by the time we made it over to Mears Connect. Mmm, pregnancy. Luckily the air conditioning was blasting on the bus and we were moving by 11:20. We were all starving so I quickly placed a mobile order for the Mara with a pickup window between 11:50-12:20. The bus just made one stop at Coronado Springs (I’ve never stayed here but it looked really nice!) and soon we were pulling up at AKL as our home resort for the very first time as DVC members! Not going to lie, I got a bit misty eyed when the cast member said “welcome home!”

(Some A+ photography, huh?)​

We dropped our bags and headed straight to the Mara - we clicked “here” by 12:10 but didn’t get the text that our order was ready for another 15 minutes. Still not too crazy about mobile order. I didn’t write down what anyone got to eat but I do know we finished every last bite in record time and were ready to hop in the pool!

We got our room ready text as soon as we got to the pool but decided to go ahead with our swim since we were all dressed for it. It wasn’t too crowded and the water was soooo refreshing after a sweaty morning. Little C surprised us by being totally amped to go down the slide - last trip he was a little hesitant about slides but he’s growing up so fast!! He went down the slide approximately 30 times, no exaggeration, and was happy as a clam. DH and I pretty much took turns with one of us playing in the water with Baby G and the other herding C up the stairs to the slide for the whole pool visit. Baby G had outgrown the little baby float we got for our last trip but wasn’t quiiite big enough for a life jacket yet so she was a little tough to wrangle in the pool at this stage, since she couldn’t understand why we weren’t just letting her go do her thing like her big brother. But, she seemed to enjoy the swim regardless.

We dried off and headed toward our room around 2:20. We had a bit of trouble finding it at first but there were no complaints because Little C was SO EXCITED to check out the view from every single window we passed. “C’mon, mama! Let’s go see more animals!” he kept shouting after checking out each window. In that moment I knew our last-minute totally haphazard trip was totally 100% worth it.

We had booked standard view but I had sent a room request via Touring Plans for a room with at least a partial view and man, did we luck out. We were on the 4th floor of the Zebra Trail, room 4528. We got to the room and unlocked the door using my phone. Little C hopped in front of us and saw the view from the slider from the hotel room door - and proceeded to run straight ahead face first into the glass, falling flat on his back. It was a little scary…and also one of the funniest things I have ever seen. He was just SO excited and didn’t even realize there was glass there!! Once we made sure the poor kid wasn’t concussed, we opened up the slider and headed out to the balcony for a while to watch the animals.

I will take this "standard view" any day.​

Before too long, our early morning was catching up with us and DH and I were ready for naps. I wasn’t sure if C and G would settle given all the excitement but as soon as we shut the curtains and turned on our white noise, they were out cold as well.

After a nice nap, we freshened up for dinner down at Boma. We were all still feeling a bit tired so I was glad we had decided to eat nearby that evening. I had never been to Boma before so I was pretty psyched. I used one of those dining reservation finder apps to get some reservations for the trip and was pleasantly surprised by how well it worked out! The kids were a little grouchy when we first got to dinner, still shaking off their naps, but everyone perked up once we got some food. If you haven’t been before, there’s a really good variety of dishes so there should be something for just about everyone.

After dinner we headed outside where there was a fire with s’mores. Little C wasn’t interested in doing marshmallows but we did find a CM to chat with about the animals for a bit, which was cool. The night vision goggles haven’t returned yet, presumably due to Covid.

​

We wandered around to the various lookout points to watch the animals til it was too dark to see anything, then headed inside to the gift shop to get a few snacks and drinks for the room. Little C spotted a puzzle he really loved so we let him get it - I was a little skeptical about a puzzle as a souvenir. I was sure he’d end up needing a ton of help doing the puzzle and especially with a split stay, I was sure he’d end up losing pieces. Well, I was completely wrong because that puzzle brought us hours of peace and quiet over the next few days as my little man was totally focused and capable of completing the whole thing “by myself, mama.” And we even made it home with all the pieces! Amazing. Soon we were all ready for an early bed time after a relaxing first day!

 

[Disney102015]

A Quiet AKL Morning, Pool Time at the Poly, and Narcoosee’s​

After our early bedtime the night before, we were all awake by 7am and feeling refreshed. After saying good morning to all the animals, Little C settled in to do his puzzle yet again. DH and I made some coffee and settled in on the balcony for a peaceful morning. We planned on the Mara for breakfast and the next mobile order window was almost an hour away! We decided I’d go pick up breakfast and bring it back to the room so we could enjoy our balcony as long as possible before checkout. I headed downstairs way too early and ended up grabbing a water from the gift shop and sitting in the lobby for a few while I waited for our pickup window. Not the worst way to kill some time! I arrived at the Mara right as our window opened, clicked “here,” and was on my way back upstairs in just a few minutes.

DH and I have done split stays in the past and really enjoy them - we like getting to experience two resorts and especially two different areas in a single trip. I usually do our packing and I am obsessively organized, so we usually have no trouble re-packing when it’s time to switch resorts. Wellllllllll, let me tell you, it’s a bit of a different ball game with small children. A split stay was inevitable on this trip, since we booked so last minute, but it wasn’t really ideal. Much as I tried to minimize what we had to unpack for our one night at AKL, little kids just need so much STUFF that we ended up taking a lot more out of the suitcase than we planned. It made repacking take a lot longer than I expected, which wasn’t the end of the world, but then we had trouble reaching bell services to have them come help with our luggage, and I was getting stressed out as our checkout time approached. Ultimately bell services came just in time and it all worked out fine (I’m pretty sure the door clicked shut behind us at 10:59:59) but I’ll leave us a lot more wiggle room on our next trip. (Our next trip was booked way before this one and will also be a split stay but 4-5 nights at each resort so a bit more tolerable!)

From there the world was our oyster! We spent some time exploring the lodge and Little C got a kick out of viewing the lobby from the big bridge up above. Then we decided to check out Simba’s Clubhouse! This was one of the nice things about a spontaneous, non-park-focused trip - Simba’s Clubhouse is not something we’d typically think to check out but we had the time and it looked like something C would like, so why not?

​

Our travel day must’ve still been wearing on Baby G because she fell asleep for an uncharacteristic morning nap in the stroller while Little C settled in for an art project. Lots of the activities were free but he had his eye on painting a ceramic hippo so we purchased it, figuring it’d make a cute souvenir. He took his time painting very seriously and when he was done, the CM offered to have it put in the fire so it would be glazed. We explained that we were heading to a different resort that afternoon but she said that was no problem and it’d be delivered to the Poly once it was finished. Perfect!

​

Next we stopped at the playground for a little bit before deciding it was time to head to the Poly for a swim. Little C was a little disappointed not to be swimming at AKL again but it didn’t really make sense to swim there and have to drag all our wet stuff over to the Poly, so we promised him there would be a new slide to check out at our next hotel. We had bell services transfer our luggage and just brought our backpacks and swim bag and stroller on the bus to Magic Kingdom. We had to go through security to get to the monorail once we got there and the security guard remarked that we must be switching resorts that day. We asked how he knew and he said most people don’t come through Magic Kingdom security with 2 laptops. Ha! He had a good point. Before we knew it we were pulling into the Poly right around 1:00.

As promised to Little C, we got right into our swim gear and hit the pool! The weather was perfect - just hot enough for a swim to be refreshing! We had a nice long swim and got some lunch to go from Captain Cook’s. I also stopped by the front desk to confirm that we wouldn’t have to switch rooms during our stay (since we had 2 nights booked with points and 1 night with cash). I also found out we’d be on the first floor of Tokelau, room 1909 - while not what we had requested, we ended up loving this location. It was a nice halfway point between the GCH and TTC, and our room was super close to the quiet pool, which would come in handy later in the trip.

It was a nice relaxing afternoon, and soon it was time to head to the monorail for our dinner reservation at Narcoosee’s. This is sort of a tradition for us - I think we have eaten there just about every trip (although that’ll change this year as it’s under refurbishment during our next trip). But, this time around I made no notes from dinner because the kids were being real handfuls! They usually do pretty well eating out but they definitely had us on our toes this evening. I do know I got the filet which I enjoyed as always but that’s about all I recall, other than scrambling to pick up crayons under the table every 30 seconds or so Dinner was followed by an early bedtime for everyone because tomorrow was our first park day!

 

[Disney102015]

Magic Kingdom Day, Part 1​

We were up bright and early for our first park visit of the trip! We made some coffee in the room and I settled in to tackle Genie+ for the first time. I didn’t find it especially intuitive but managed to get Jungle Cruise booked for late morning and purchased SDMT for mid-morning as well. I had a small snafu where Genie froze on me while I tried to purchase SDMT and by the time it got moving again, there were no times showing for SDMT. This resulted in a panicked post on Disboards asking for suggestions, and luckily someone responded quickly telling me to keep refreshing - within minutes, a time slot showed up and we were good to go with a SDMT booking! Thank you Disboards!

We were in line at the monorail by 7:35. There was just a small line and we were cruising away on the monorail ten minutes later. Security was uneventful and I made sure our first stop was a Photopass photo on Main Street (as one of my only regrets from our last trip was forgetting to do this!!) We weren’t sure what to expect for weather since we’ve never traveled this time of year - it was a little cool but also humid! We had everyone in shorts plus long sleeved shirts.

​

By 8:15, we were lined up to head toward Fantasyland, and the mass of humanity started shuffling forward slowly around 8:26. Most people headed toward SDMT but we were headed for Small World, which was a walk on despite posting a 5 minute wait. The kids LOVED this ride - baby G was clapping along and waving to the dolls, and little C had all kinds of funny questions about the different countries.

We were off the ride by 8:54, and headed over to Dumbo, which had a 5 minute wait posted at 9:00. We actually waited a little bit longer than that, and were off the ride by 9:17. Next up was Under the Sea, which had a 5 minute wait posted which turned out to be accurate. We were getting a little hungry and ended up placing an order for Friar’s Nook around 9:36 for a 9:45 return time (in comparison to Pinnocchio’s, which didn’t have a return time for over an hour!) We got a mix of things to split then DH and Little C headed off to their SDMT LL. I was still feeling hungry (hi, 6 months pregnant!) so I stopped to grab a popcorn with what I THOUGHT was a sleeping baby, only to find her grinning up at me when I pulled back the stroller canopy to peek at her. Fresh!

We all met back up in Adventureland around 10:30. Little C got spit on by the camel and was NOT amused! Next it was time for our Jungle Cruise LL - the LL line looked pretty long but it was moving right along quickly and we were on in about 5 minutes. After that we were ready for a break so we headed out and were on the monorail by 11:30. Baby C finally gave in and dozed off in the stroller on the ride back to the Poly. Gotta love not needing to break down the stroller for the monorail!! I have to say, most of the walking did not bother me much while 6 months pregnant, but that ramp up to the monorail felt a LOT steeper than usual! I had to let DH push the stroller and go ahead of me, and met everyone at the top.

We stopped at both stores at the Poly looking for a few small items we had forgotten, and Little C talked us into another puzzle, which we were more than happy to get after seeing how much he liked the first one (and how long it kept him busy!) We headed back to the room for some relaxation and I picked up LLs for that evening for Big Thunder and Pirates as we were able. The kids and I dozed off, resting up for a fun evening back at Magic Kingdom!

 

[Disney102015]

Magic Kingdom Day, Part 2​

We planned to be back at MK earlier, but the kids were still sleeping so I tried to push back our next LL for Big Thunder around 2:30 - not realizing that by canceling, I wouldn’t be able to rebook it immediately for a later time. (Cue another panicked Disboards post - what would I do without these boards??) After enough time passed I was able to pick up another selection and got Magic Carpets for DS, as not a whole lot else was left at that point. Ugh.

We ultimately left the room at 3:35 and were stepping off the platform at MK by 4:00. I have to say, this really seals the deal for me on the Poly when traveling with small kids. Just so convenient, especially for those who still really need the midday break. A cavalcade was passing just as we entered the park which was so exciting - the kids got really into it, dancing to the music and waving to the characters. I stopped at the Guest Relations umbrella to see if anything could be done about the Big Thunder LL I had canceled but the CM was totally unsympathetic and couldn’t do anything to restore it. I was frustrated with myself for not understanding the rules better before canceling, but lesson learned I guess. Definitely won’t make that mistake again!

We got to Pirates and saw a HUGE LL line but just like that morning, it was moving right along and we were off the ride by 4:40. The person in front of us was on their phone the entire ride which was pretty annoying - the light was distracting (but I could tell she was messing around with Genie selections so I almost forgave her - almost, haha.)

Next up was Magic Carpets with Little C, which was uneventful except for him keeping a suspicious eye on the camel that had wronged him that morning, haha. We had a little time to kill before dinner so next we stopped to get Baby G’s silhouette done - a family tradition we hadn’t managed to accomplish on our last trip.

I don’t typically post pics of my kids online but I think I can make an exception for a silhouette!​

Meanwhile an absolute downpour started and we were very glad to be headed inside to eat! We caught the rainy day cavalcade for the very first time before heading inside, which was so fun! They started singing “Singing in the Rain” and baby G started ROCKING out and doing all these cute hand motions along with the lyrics. I am assuming she must know the song from daycare because she definitely recognized it and had a little dance to go along with it. She had the biggest grin and DH and I could not stop laughing - it honestly might be my favorite memory from the whole trip.

Off to dinner - I know Tony’s gets a bad rap but we don’t mind it. We especially like that it tends to be a bit loud so no one bats an eye at our loud kiddos We waited about ten minutes past our reservation time which was fine except baby G was running around like a crazy person while we waited. Luckily she settled down by the time we got seated. The meal was good and our server was great - super attentive and understanding when the kids started to go off the rails and we needed to get the check in a hurry!

Back outside we went, where the rain had cooled things down considerably. We FaceTimed my mom before heading down Main Street and she was surprised to see we all had sweatshirts on - we just automatically associate Florida with the heat! Little C kept asking about riding Thunder Mountain and I was really kicking myself for my error in canceling the LL earlier when trying to modify it. I hated to be That Person but I decided we’d try visiting a blue umbrella one more time to see if they could help. Lo and behold, this CM was much more understanding and was kind enough to load a BTMRR LL onto DH and Little C’s Magic Bands. What a lifesaver!!! We were very grateful and headed straight to Big Thunder.

Little C was PUMPED to be riding Big Thunder for the first time but we almost hit a snafu - after he and DH passed the first tap point, DH texted me that C had just barely measured up to the height limit and the CM wasn’t sure they’d let him ride once they got to the top. I crossed my fingers for him and waited to see how it turned out. When they came back down the ramp, Little C was grinning from ear to ear and DH was still laughing. Apparently when they got to the second measuring point, the CM told C to stand up extra tall, which C interpreted to mean on his tippy toes. The CM guided him back down to flat feet but every time he took his hand off C’s head to put the measuring stick in place, C would spring back up on his tiptoes again. DH said the whole line behind him was laughing and the CM finally just let them board - which was so awesome because C ended up loving it! We have a little adrenaline junkie on our hands and I am so glad I’ll have a roller coaster buddy once I’m not pregnant anymore!

Next up we headed to the People Mover, which was a must-do for me. The posted wait was 20 minutes but we walked right on! We got off the ride right at 7:55, just in time to scope out a spot in Tomorrowland to watch the fireworks. I wasn’t sure how either kiddo would react to fireworks but they both were mesmerized! Tomorrowland is not a bad spot to watch if you don’t mind missing the projections. As the fireworks were wrapping up we headed over to Buzz Lightyear to use our Lightning Lane, then headed toward the park exit around 8:30. We stopped for a quick baby bump pic in front of the castle - hard to believe we’ll be a family of 5 the next time we return to Disney!!

The monorail line was SO LONG but the line for the resort boat launch was nice and short - it seemed too good to be true but it wasn’t! We were back in our hotel room by 9:20 and it was lights out for everyone.

Next up – Animal Kingdom!

 

[SleeplessInTO]

Loving your trip report. I’m also a big fan of puzzles! Always eyeing the Disney ones when I’m at the shops haha.

 

[Cupcakesmum]

Enjoying your report! It’s so much fun with the little ones!

 

[LifeTheDisneyWay14]

Great trip report! How did you find it overall with the 1.5 year old? We took my daughter right when she turned 1 and it felt too young to me in retrospect… we’re going again right when she turns 2 and I’m hoping this time she’ll be old enough! There’s so much change between 1 and 2.

 

[footballmouse]

 

[Disney102015]

Loving your trip report. I’m also a big fan of puzzles! Always eyeing the Disney ones when I’m at the shops haha.

Thanks for following! I’m hoping there will be some new ones for him to choose from on our next trip!

Enjoying your report! It’s so much fun with the little ones!

Thanks!! It really is a totally different experience watching them see everything for the first time.

Great trip report! How did you find it overall with the 1.5 year old? We took my daughter right when she turned 1 and it felt too young to me in retrospect… we’re going again right when she turns 2 and I’m hoping this time she’ll be old enough! There’s so much change between 1 and 2.

Thanks!! I’ve found babies are relatively easy to bring since they’re just along for the ride, but it’s a bit of a different challenge once they can walk. I loved watching G toddle around Magic Kingdom but she was more resistant to standing in lines once she was mobile. We are going back soon the week before her second birthday and she’s changed SO much since our last trip. I think the most fun part is seeing what interests them at different ages - it always manages to surprise me. C loved all the shows or anything with music when he was about 2 years old, I’m hoping G will be the same. Have fun planning and I hope your trip goes well!

 

[StarWarsMomofGirls!]

chased it, figuring it’d make a cute souvenir. He took his time painting very seriously and when he was done, the CM offered to have it put in the fire so it would be glazed. We explained that we were heading to a different resort that afternoon but she said that was no problem and it’d be delivered to the Poly once it was finished. Perfect!

That is nice!

e and the security guard remarked that we must be switching resorts that day. We asked how he knew and he said most people don’t come through Magic Kingdom security with 2 laptops. Ha! He had a good point.

ha! He just knows!

re headed for Small World, which was a walk on despite posting a 5 minute wait. The kids LOVED this ride - baby G was clapping along and waving to the dolls, and little C had all kinds of funny questions about the different countries.

It's a small world is such a great ride for little kids and then it becomes nastalgic as they grow up! I have such fond memories riding with my girls when they were little.

he person in front of us was on their phone the entire ride which was pretty annoying - the light was distracting (but I could tell she was messing around with Genie selections so I almost forgave her - almost, haha.)

This makes me sad though. You should enjoy the ride while you are on it!!!

Sounds like a great day so far.

 

[Disney102015]

Last Park Day - AK Morning and MK Evening​

We meant to sleep in a bit today but the kids were up by 6:30. It didn’t really matter since I was planning to be awake by 7am to tackle Genie+ anyway. We still had a relatively slow start and didn’t leave the room til 8. During that time I grabbed a Lightning Lane for the Safari for mid-morning. At the bus stop, the wait time first said 8:17, then at 8:20 the time jumped to 8:40. Argh! Of course, 2 buses arrived at the same time right at 8:40.

We got to the park and decided to head to Dinoland since it wasn’t time for the Safari yet and Dinosaur had a 5 minute wait posted. By the time we walked over there, the wait time had jumped to 20 minutes but we decided to still have DH and Little C ride since we were in the area. Unfortunately there was really nothing for G and I to do while we waited - all the snack booths and stores in Dinoland were still closed for the morning, which was kind of annoying. Other than Triceratops Spin, the area is pretty dead so we just found a bench to sit and relax. DH was texting me from the line - we weren’t 100% certain Little C would meet the height requirement and weirdly, there was no one measuring heights at the start of the line, so they had to wait in the whole line before finding out if C measured up. Luckily he did - he had never ridden this before but he LOVED it and still talks about how he saved the iguanodon! He also found a dinosaur toy in the gift shop at the ride exit, which saved us a trip to Disney Springs later in the day - we had promised a trip to TRex but C was happier with what he found at the gift shop! Around 10:00, I picked up our first Lightning Lane for our evening at MK (Jungle Cruise). In retrospect I wish I had grabbed an LL for the Lion King show instead but at the time I thought stacking for the evening would be more advantageous.

We hit the Boneyard after that - it was pretty crowded and we actually lost sight of C for about 3 terrifying minutes. G also kept taking her shoes off for some reason so we didn’t last too long at the Boneyard! Our next stop was coffee, and I grabbed a table outside Starbucks to wait and enjoy my caffeine while C and DH went to do their Safari LL. I felt like the Safari would be too bumpy to ride while pregnant. G was taking another uncharacteristic stroller nap so it was a peaceful half hour or so! C asked if he could get ice cream after the ride and we said yes even though it was early - it’s vacation! After that we realized we were all pretty hungry so we grabbed lunch at Flame Tree BBQ. I have to say, this is usually one of my favorite restaurants and it was pretty terrible today! The pulled pork in my sandwich was very dry and tough. Really hoping this was a fluke - I plan to try it again on our next trip to see.

Next we headed to the Gorilla Falls Trail. While we were watching the fish tank a huge hippo appeared under water and lumbered toward us - it was so cool! Next we tried to get in line for the Lion King show around 12:40 but we should’ve lined up earlier because we didn’t make it into the next show. None of us felt like waiting another hour so we decided it was time to head back to the hotel, where we all promptly fell asleep. (Of course, I had to set an alarm for every 2 hours to stack LLs for that night - man, I miss regular Fast Pass!) We woke up a little later than we meant to, given that we still hoped to take a swim before heading to MK, but decided to squeeze in a quick swim at the quiet pool anyway. It was pretty convenient to walk out our door at Tokelau and basically be at the pool!

It was a little chilly for a swim! I am not used to Orlando in February/March. But of course the kids didn’t mind so in we went. We decided to grab some food at the Oasis pool bar as well, so we wouldn’t have to eat at MK that night. The food was fine and the bartender was really friendly. After that we quickly changed out of our swim gear and headed out for the evening. We were at the monorail by 5:20 and in the park by 5:35 - can’t beat that!

We stopped to watch a cavalcade on our way back to Haunted Mansion - it had a 65 minute wait posted so we were glad we had booked a LL earlier in the day! The LL line looked HUGE but moved along very quickly and we were on the ride in under 10 minutes. Again, wasn’t sure how the kids would react to this but we told them everything was silly and not really scary and they both did great! Next up was our Winnie the Pooh LL (bypassing a 45 minute wait).

I had also purchased a LL for SDMT since Little C had enjoyed it so much the prior day - unfortunately I accidentally booked it for myself and Little C, so DH's band didn't work when they went to ride. I said we could just switch Magic Bands and they could go back - DH was a little nervous about doing this but I was pretty sure it would be fine especially given that I was pregnant and obviously couldn't ride. He went back with my band and they rode no problem. Little C really enjoyed riding it at night!

Then we walked on Small World, which the kids loved as much as the first time. We had a Jungle Cruise LL booked between Winnie the Pooh and Small World but ended up skipping it - we were tight on timing and none of us felt like cross crossing the park. We also planned to hit Peter Pan but Little C was insisting it was too scary and we kind of wanted to beat the crowds out of the park anyway, so we decided Small World was a good note to end on and bolted for the exit. We were on the monorail just as the first fireworks went off and got to watch the finale as we were leaving the Great Ceremonial House. It was a nice ending to a fun last night!

At the time I kind of regretted purchasing Genie+ on this day since I didn't feel like we made very good use of it, but I guess even with bypassing the lines for Safari, Haunted Mansion, and Winnie the Pooh, we saved several hours in line, so it probably was still worthwhile. I just really wish you had control over the times when booking each selection so you could plan a bit better and avoid criss-crossing the park. I'm hoping I'll get a bit of a better handle on it for our next trip!

 

[Disney102015]

Last Day and Travel Home​

We were up and moving on the early end today as I had snagged a last-minute reservation for breakfast at Steakhouse 71 and we had to check out first. We quickly packed up and called bell services, although we again ran into issues getting someone to come help with our luggage - the bell services button on our phone kept defaulting to spa services instead. We finally got someone on the phone who was able to transfer us to the Poly desk and reach bell services, but we wound up leaving the room much later than I would’ve liked. Luckily we quickly hopped on the monorail over to the Contemporary and were only about 5 minutes late for breakfast.

We LOVED Steakhouse 71 and it’s definitely on our “must do” list for our next trip! My only complaint was we were seated right before it turned over to lunch, and when we asked to order more of something for the kids, they said breakfast had already been all packed up so we couldn’t get anything else. That was a bit of a bummer - a heads up would’ve been good, but it was not a big deal.

After a delicious breakfast we took one last monorail ride back to the Poly and changed our clothes for an afternoon at the pool. Little C enjoyed playing freeze dance and other games with the lifeguards and we generally just relaxed and enjoyed the beautiful day. I am always so amazed that he'll get up and join the games all by himself - I was much more reserved/shy as a kid and never would have gotten up to join a game of freeze dance with a bunch of strangers! I love watching him have fun and be so outgoing.

We cleaned up a bit early to grab food at Captain Cook’s and do a little last minute souvenir shopping before heading out to the curb for our 6:50pm Mears pickup. I was kind of dreading this late travel evening but it actually was pretty painless and the kids slept through most of it. We only had 1 other stop on the shuttle ride to the airport which was good because the line for security was huge. Lucky for the double stroller, both kids took naps while we waited and only woke up briefly for the security check, and when we boarded the plane. Baby G was a lot easier to wrangle on this flight!

All in all it was a peaceful end to a very relaxing, very last minute trip. And I didn’t even share the best part - while we were there our 7 month window opened up to book our next DVC trip! We'll be back with another Animal Kingdom Lodge/Polynesian split stay before we know it (this time with 3 kids, including a 3 month old!). Stay tuned and thanks for following along!!

 

[Foxen]

Wow, what a trip! I also did a one-week-in-advance trip around the same time as you! Not pregnant or with kids, though! Congrats on pulling it off - it looks like you had a great time.