A weekend in a studio - A DVC trip report

[Maribel]

Pre-trip

We are doing our long week trip in July and I know at that time we will do very little in the parks since our family doesn't manage crowds and heat very well (kids are 5 and 2). We will splurge in a 2 bedroom at the Beach Club and plan on using that pool and other activities at the resort a lot.

Since I couldn't wait that long, I had the opportunity to do a Thursday-Sunday stay in a studio with the kids and my mom the weekend previous to last. We stayed in a studio@SSR. I made this reservation at the beggining of February, only three weeks away, and they had available the weekend nights but not the Thursday night which I waitlisted. One week later, that night also came through. Excellent!!!

Day One

My mom arrived @ Miami International Airport at 11 am on Thursday 26 and from there we started our drive to Orlando. After a short stop for lunch and rest, we arrived around 4 pm@ SSR.

The wait for check in was about 5 min and our room was ready in the Springs area as we had requested. Great!!!

We checked our room, left the bags and walked over to the boat dock to downtown disney. The boat got there 5 mins. later and we rode the boat when the sun was starting to go down, which made these orangy shades in the water. Beautiful!!

We headed straight to Guest services to get my and my DD5's annual passes and 2-day park ticket for my mom. I also got the tables to wonderland card. I used the points in my rewards visa and did not spend more than $500 in cash on tickets and discounted dinner for a full year. How cool is that!!!

As promised to my 5 year daughter, we wen't into world of disney to do some shopping. But, as it happens, all that she wanted was to go into BBB Boutique. We are doing that on July before going (hopefully) to CRT, and I'm not spending $60 this time around into hairstyles, so here comes the first tantrum of this trip. After she finally calms down, goes on to spend about an hour trying to choose what souvenier she wants. By then, my 2 year old had already picked a baby ariel's plush doll and was happy in her stroller. DD5 decides on a Aurora's night gown, which she puts on right on and there as if it was a costume. It actually is very pretty and much more confortable than the itchy and expensive customes that they make now.

We found a table a Reglan Road. It was a first for me. The kids were entertained by the live music and dancing, had some Mac and cheese (the best we found in all of the WDW restaurants) and my mom and me had the It's not a chowder...chowder. Yummy!!!

After that we took the boat back to SSR, which was right there waiting for us, and went to rest for the day. This is my fist time in a studio and I found the queen size bed so small!!!

I shared the bed with DD5 and DD2 was on the playpen. My mom got the pull-out sofa to herself. They don't put anything in the playpen other than a very thin matress and a fitted sheet, so I brought with me a small comforter to make a thicker matress for DD2, but forgot about a blanket for her!!! Good thing my mom was not using her blanket.

By 9:30 we are all very much sleep and ready for our first park tomorrow.

 

[Disney Princess]

Sounds like fun so far!!

 

[simba20]

I just got back myself from a "weekend in astudio" stay at SSR. Bought my annual passes at DD Guest Relations too. So funny.

We stayed in the Paddock, at the building right across from the Congress Park bus stop. I wore the wrong shoes on our walk over to DD Friday moring, so the rest of the weekend I was limping around the resort with huge blisters. Didn't stop me though, we still attended the Braves game on Friday night, and did AK on Saturday. Whenever we went to the main pool (which our 20 month old loves the little waterslide), we'd drive our car up to the Springs and park.

Like you we are going back for another "long week" in April. Cannot wait. I think though, I'm going to make a request for the Springs.

 

[Maribel]

Day 2

This is an ESPN Weekend, but I HAVE to go into Toy Story Mania. I just can't wait until July to try it if I'm here.

We are up about 7:30, had some breakfast @ Artist Palette. Weather for the day is Sunny with temps in the 58-72 range. We headed to the bus stop and waited about 15 min for the bus to HS. By the time we got to HS is 9:15 and there is a long line to get into the turnstiles. Oh no!!!

We went straight to get the fastpass to TSM and there is already a 15 min line for the fastpass!! The return time I get is 12:55pm. I heard the fastpasses are usually gone by 11am, but I'm guessing today with the park closing at 7pm they will be gone even before that.

Ok, so the kids are a little bit restless at this point. They still haven't seen anything other than lines and lots of rushing people (including their mother) around them, so of we go to Playhouse Disney. We got right in, watch the show, DD5 heads out with my mom, and while I stand up from the floor and pick all the stuff the kids are leaving behind, I no longer see DD2. She went out by herself on a different door, so I start yelling her name in panic and to my mom that was already out if she can see her. She found her and my heart rate starts to go down. I'm going to need to get one of those cute leashes for this girl!!!

We saw some characters in the Animation area, watch the Little Mermaid show and DD5 and I did Star Wars and then the we all went to the Muppets Show.

We had ADRs for the Little Einsteins lunch, but the girls were not behaving at that point. DD5 is becoming a shopaholic and all she wanted to do was buy something. She didn't even know what, she just wanted to check each and every store to see if she could find something she wanted, and when told no, a tantrum started. DD2 on the other hand was showing signs of tiredness, which for her meant crying for just about everything. I had never met a kid that cries so much as DD2 does. I am so used to it that it doesn't bother me so much any more, but my mom was already starting to develop a headache of just listening to her.

I decided to cancel the ADR and go for the HISTK playground before a quick lunch at studio catering. I knew the kids needed to let go of some steam. I tried to put DD2 in her stroller, but she didn't want to. I didn't want her walking by herself to the playground since she already got away from me once that day, so I had to force her in and buckled her up, which made her even more upset.

On the way to the playground, DD2 still screaming, I noticed some lady watching her and then me pushing the stroller like saying what is this woman doing to this poor child!!! I was about to tell her this is the way this kid is, not to worry, but I decided to check on DD2 first, and yes, the girl in her tantrum has just threw up part of the mickey ears she had before and her mouth and dress were all covered in puked chocolate

I cleaned her up and try to explain to her that we were headed to a playground and she will walk around all that she wanted there. She won't listen to me and won't actually stop crying until she is the playground.

Going there was the right thing to do. Although for me was a little bit nervebreaking since there are so many little spaces were you can't go to watch your children, but they both were happy. I even went up and down the spider web with them. It was fun.

Our window for TSM had opened up. We had a snack and juice so that we could hold on a few more minutes before lunch, and headed over there. This is the type of line were the fastpass line and the regular line meet at some point before the actual boarding area, which means that even with fastpass you still have to wait 10 to 15 min to get it, but we all loved this attraction. DD2 had a 0 score, but she talked about TSM for the rest of the weekend as her favorite. It was worth the wait, although I don't think I would ever do the 80 min posted wait time for the regular line.

After that we had lunch at Studio Catering, nothing to write about it, it was just fuel from a fast food place. From there we got a glance of HSM3. DD5 is not that much into the movies, she just loves the cheerleaders performing.

After lunch, we dediced to go home. We were just not enjoying HS that much and I was tired of cranky kids. On the way out we saw the new Block Party Bash with only Pixar characters. I think I like the motorcade parade better. We also did some shopping on our way out while DD2 took a quick nap as I had promised DD5 she could have one toy if she behaved. I noticed there were lots of sales going on in the park stores. DD5 got herself a nice minnie mouse mini-doll with plastic dresses (the type that looks like polly pockets) for 7.99 which had a listed price of 15.99. All plush dolls had a 30% discount too. Are these signs of the slow economy?

That night we warmed some food we had brought for dinner. I read here in the boards somewhere that there was an issue with the paper plates at the studios. To me it was not the paper plates, but the lack of silverware!! We had two packages with plastic fork, knife and spoon, but there were four of us... not good. The good thing about staying at the Springs area is that you are very close to the artist palette, so off I go to get what I needed that should be in the studio but it's not. Is this DVC way to get you to their restaurants?

That night, after we were all tucked in our beds, I prayed out loud, thanking god for giving us the opportunity to be in such a magical place with Abu (this is how the kids call their grandma) and asking for a better day tomorrow, with less crying, less tantrums, less buying and more enjoyment and magical moments. After thinking about it for a moment, DD5 agreed that she also was grateful for being there and she was going to enjoy the moment more and be the best behaved girl in the land... to which DD2 reply as many times she does... me too.

 

[spiceycat]

well did it work - were the kids better?

 

[DisDaydreamer]

Nice reports. Thanks

Just wondering what they do in the Guess dept... Keep you guessing?

Sorry, I had to do it

Glad you all had a good time.

 

[Cyndibear]

TSM is my most favorite ride !!!! I just love it!!! It's crazy how popular this ride still is. We had to use FP's everytime!! Hope God answered your prayers! As great as He is, I'm sure everything went well today!!

Have a fun!

Cyndi

 

[Maribel]

Day 3

Today we are going to the MK. It would be DD2 first time here. She came to WDW in 2007 when she was 7 months, but we only did AK and Epcot that trip.

Last year she was 1 1/2 and we used our points to stay at Disneyland Paris, which has Sleeping Beauty castle.

This is the first time she will see Cinderella's castle, and of course, I'm more excited that she is. She will turn 3 when we come back in July and I'm trying to figure out if lunch with the princesses will be a good fit for her. When DD5 was that age, she got a little scared when we took her to the princesses breakfast at epcot.

Anyway, we had cereal, yogurt and fruit in our studio with the "stolen" spoons from yesterday and head out to the bus stop. It took about 15 min for the bus to get there.

We entered the MK at about 9:20 and, after stopping in front of the castle for the girls to OHHH and AHHH, went to fantasyland. We did almost everything in fantasyland by 11am.

We sat by the pooh playground to have some snacks and headed over to the mickey toontown. It was time to see some princesses. The wait for them was 30 min, but it tooks us only 20 min to get to the front of the line. Now, this is the first time I do a line to see characters. I prefer to go to the character meals and have the characters come to us instead of having to wait in line, but I have to say the way they set up everything in the fair is worth it. It is a very calmed relaxed way to meet the princess. Everything is very quiet, there is no rush. DD5 was dressed as Belle and she was in her element, talking with the princesses, lots of hugs and kisses. DD2 was dressed as Cinderella, and she would not go near any of the princesses without me. I wonder if I should do CRT on her actuall birthday or before. It looks like DD5 will enjoy more this experience than her, but then again, in 5 months she may have another reaction to them. I just can't decide what to do.

After the pricesses, the wait for the fairies was down to also 30 min. We thought that if it was the same that with the princesses, we could do it. But stood for 15 min and the line didn't move a bit, other than for the people that were leaving the line. It was close to our ADR at Crystal Palace and my mom didn't want to wait anymore, so we left without seeing our pixies :-(

We were having a good time. It was nothing like yesterday. There was a lot of people in the park, but so far we didn't do much waiting in line. Thanks to the disboards, I had made myself a good touring plan. We headed to the crystal palace for our 12:50 ADR, and waited for about 20 min for our names to be called. We got a table as far from the buffet as you can get, and the characters had left that section of the restaurant just minutes ago.

I went to get the kids their food, then got mine and then my mom went for hers. We were almost finished eating and tiger was the only character in our section and still 2 tables behind us. We had to wait about 10 min more for eoyere and then 10 more for piglet. We had seconds, dessert and still no sign of Pooh. Our server came with the check, but I said we were not leaving without seeing pooh. Anyway, she forgot to get me my Tables to Wonderland discount, redid that, I paid and then came Pooh. It was worth the wait as it was the only character that DD2 will go close to. We spent 1 hour in there just waiting for characters!!! Oh well, at least it was air conditioned and we were sitting.

Now, here is the thing, most people in the boards always say the best strategy is to go back to the hotel after lunch, rest and then go back, but to me going back was going to be a hassle. You see, we had two strollers, and to get into the bus, my mom would go first with the girls while I close and get the strollers in, one of them being a big, heavy graco. For me is better to have DD2 have her nap in the stroller (that is the convenience of th graco, that it is much more comfortable that an umbrella one) and go back early to the hotel.

So, after lunch, we went to get fastpasses for Jungle cruise and to ride Aladdin’s magic carpet. We all enjoy the ride and then went to cool off a bit in the tiki room and then the Country bear jamboree. I have not seeing this show before but it was good in that DD2 was asleep 2 min into it!!

DD5 wanted to ride Splash mountain for the very first time, soI left DD2 napping with Abu and took DD5. Posted wait time was 30 min but it was more like 40min. DD5 really enjoyed this ride, and is now her favorite one.

When we came out, DD2 was awake so we had a snack and went to Jungle Cruise. Neither girl (and at points not even me) could understand what the captain was saying. She spoke really fast and the audio system is not really very good. Anyway, we all enjoyed the animals and the soft ride.

The kids wanted to go to a playground so we went first to Pooh's playful spot and then to the one in Mickey’s toontown, after checking out Mickey and Minnie's houses. They went on to run, climb, slide and run some more for 45 min. I was exhausted just by seeing them, but I was happy and they were happy. Before we knew it, it was 7pm, I could see my mom was really tired as she was also pushing a stroller all day long. As we were coming out of the park, a sea of people was coming in. The park closed at 11 pm that night and the parade and fireworks were about to begin. We waved goodbye to the illuminated castled and head back to our studio.

The ride in the bus back was not good, as DD2 wanted to go up in the bus by herself and with me at her side, but I had to take care of the two strollers are her legs were to short for her to go up alone. As my mom was lifting her to get her up the bus, another huge tantrum started, the kind where the kid is arching her back and wailing so loudly everyone will stare at you. She eventually calm down. Once in SSR, I rapidly got them into the tub with my mom watching them while I went to get some flatbreads and chicken nuggets at Artist Palette. We ate at our small table at the studio, watch some TV and went to sleep.

Today was a good day, although we still had some "hair raising moments". I loved to see my DDs dressed like princesses in front of the castle. I loved seeing my DD5's face after the big plummet in Splash mountain, and the little smile in DD2 as she went through the Fantasyland attractions for the first time. I enjoyed immensely the opportunity of spending this time with my mother.

I missed the 1 bd villa with its big fully equipped kitchen, king size bed and big tub. I missed the Epcot resorts and to be able to walk or take the boat to the parks without having to deal with strollers. But most of all, I missed DH sharing the little magic we had with us.

Day 4

In our last day the forecast was rain, wind and cold weather, so we slept in and head home after breakfast at artist palette.

Our July trip will be different from this one as I will have DH and DStepson to help with the heavy lifting and it will not be as park-intense. I just hope and pray the terrible twos have come to pass on DD2 for us to have a less stressful vacation and more enjoyable time. BTW, if you have any tips on how you handled your kids meltdowns in the parks, share them please as it may help in future trips.

Thanks for reading!!!

 

[Maribel]

Nice reports. Thanks

Just wondering what they do in the Guess dept... Keep you guessing?

Sorry, I had to do it

Glad you all had a good time.

Upps, sorry about that. It's the kind of thing the speller won't pick up. It's edited and corrected.

 

[starbox]

BTW, if you have any tips on how you handled your kids meltdowns in the parks, share them please as it may help in future trips.

Thanks for reading!!!

Glad you had a fun trip - our first family trip was with an almost 3 year old and 5 year old. Now the kids are 10 and 12 It seems like just yesterday that they were little.

We were grateful to experience very few meltdowns over the years - a few things that helped:

1. We used a rented double stroller for years - kids without tired legs and hurting feet are so much happier.
2. Pin trading instead of shopping. Early on, the kids got lanyards and when they would get in the "I want something" mood, we could re-direct them to a cast member for a pin trade. This always made them feel like they "got something" new.
3. Speaking of which - we avoided shops. My excuse -we'll go to WOD later in the trip
4 Early on, we adopted the ONE stuffed animal per trip rule.
5. Popcorn instead of ice cream.
6. Regularly scheduled potty breaks whether they needed to go or not.
7. DRINK LOTS OF WATER
8. As they got older - we adopted a top 5 policy. Each kid (and adult) gets to name 5 things they want to do each trip and nobody complains about doing them. I always want to do the obscure "lame stuff" and now the kids indulge me with good attitudes. (Ironically - the three times we won dream fastpasses during YOAMD 1&2 were doing "lame stuff" for different family members!)
9. When the kids were little, our sit-down meal was always lunch - it got us out of the heat and provided a welcome break (and plenty of water refills to re-hydrate us). The relative cool of the evenings was always a good time for us to be in the parks and grab a CS meal.

 

[Maribel]

Glad you had a fun trip - our first family trip was with an almost 3 year old and 5 year old. Now the kids are 10 and 12 It seems like just yesterday that they were little.

We were grateful to experience very few meltdowns over the years - a few things that helped:

1. We used a rented double stroller for years - kids without tired legs and hurting feet are so much happier.
2. Pin trading instead of shopping. Early on, the kids got lanyards and when they would get in the "I want something" mood, we could re-direct them to a cast member for a pin trade. This always made them feel like they "got something" new.
3. Speaking of which - we avoided shops. My excuse -we'll go to WOD later in the trip
4 Early on, we adopted the ONE stuffed animal per trip rule.
5. Popcorn instead of ice cream.
6. Regularly scheduled potty breaks whether they needed to go or not.
7. DRINK LOTS OF WATER
8. As they got older - we adopted a top 5 policy. Each kid (and adult) gets to name 5 things they want to do each trip and nobody complains about doing them. I always want to do the obscure "lame stuff" and now the kids indulge me with good attitudes. (Ironically - the three times we won dream fastpasses during YOAMD 1&2 were doing "lame stuff" for different family members!)
9. When the kids were little, our sit-down meal was always lunch - it got us out of the heat and provided a welcome break (and plenty of water refills to re-hydrate us). The relative cool of the evenings was always a good time for us to be in the parks and grab a CS meal.

Thanks starbox. I will give pin trading a try. I have not started that yet, although I do have some pins that I have won during the year of million dreams. The thing is, I don't know where they are