Always Let Your (Preschooler) Be Your Guide. My First Trip Report! COMPLETE

[nilla]

LOL at your daughter describing everything as "Disney"

Well, I'm in. Your TR has a lot going for it, first and foremost the fact that I got in on the ground level, so I don't have any catching up to do! Great start as well!

We stayed at POFQ twice and loved it both times. They certainly have the best maid service when it comes to towel creations and stuffed animal arrangement, compared to the other 3 we've stayed at (POR, WL, and CSR). And THAT'S important!

Keep it up! And I'll try to keep up!

 

[shan23877]

Hi there! I'm joining in the fun! I have an (almost) 2 year old, so I love reading TR written by families who also have young children.

Your daughter is so cute, and you guys look like you are off to a good start. I think you are a real trooper, if I didn't get any sleep the night before, I'm not sure I'd be up for a park right away!

Thanks for joining in! I've been following yours as well . It was a long day having gotten about 2 hours of sleep, but was well worth it in the end!

LOL at your daughter describing everything as "Disney"

Well, I'm in. Your TR has a lot going for it, first and foremost the fact that I got in on the ground level, so I don't have any catching up to do! Great start as well!

We stayed at POFQ twice and loved it both times. They certainly have the best maid service when it comes to towel creations and stuffed animal arrangement, compared to the other 3 we've stayed at (POR, WL, and CSR). And THAT'S important!

Keep it up! And I'll try to keep up!

We loved POFQ! DD was especially impressed when we got Minnie bows on the towel creatures . Thanks for joining in!

 

[shan23877]

After throwing our stuff in the room and snapping a few quick photos, it was time to eat. DH and I hadn’t eaten since dinner the night before and DD had only had some pop-tarts at 5a.m. We knew that it was unreasonable to expect Maddie to stop for lunch once we got into Magic Kingdom, so off to Sassagoula Floatworks and Food Factory we went!

Using our first quick service credits I had the chicken Caesar and DH and DD shared a chicken quesadilla and kid’s pizza meal. The food was pretty standard, nothing special, but I loved the beignets that we all had for dessert. They are of course not as good as Café Du Monde in New Orleans, but yummy all the same!

After a quick meal and a few more pictures by the “Disney Fountain!!”

we hopped on the “Disney bus!” bound for the Magic Kingdom. By this time DD was nearly jumping out of her own skin with excitement. There was only one other family on the bus with us and they were very understanding about DD’s constant chatter. Neither DH nor I will ever forget Maddie’s first few minutes inside the Magic Kingdom. I ran ahead at the top of Main Street to try to get a picture of her first glimpse of the Castle, but she turned back to her dad too quickly for me to get a good one.

“Daddy it’s Cinderella’s Castle!!!!”
“I love Disney World!!”​

It was priceless.

I had heard horror stories about the wait time for the Princess Meet and Greet, so when I saw that the posted wait time was only 15 minutes we decided to go for it. DD and I went to get in line while DH hit the emporium for an autograph book. The wait was really only about 5 minutes so DD and I stood near the Fast Pass entrance waiting for DH to catch up. Maddie was so excited to see Belle, Aurora, and Cinderella.

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She had princess jibits on her Crocs, and the Belle one had started to tear. We have photos of DD showing every princess her shoes and telling them that her Mom really needed to replace the worn Belle jibit.

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As we left City Hall DD spotted Daisy Duck and HAD to meet her. Then, as we were exiting Daisy’s line she spotted Mary Poppins outside the Chapeau so we met her too!

We’d been in the park for almost an hour and hadn’t even made it onto Main Street. It was the first of many times that we had to remind ourselves that it was ok to slow down and let Maddie be our guide.

 

[shan23877]

Having Photobucket issues tonight, sorry for the huge photos! I'll try to get them corrected

 

[baseballmickey]

Great update!

I don't think it could have been much of a better start for DD... castle, princesses, daisy and mary poppins!! who needs those other lands. Just keep hanging out on Main Street!!

 

[mya1k9]

I'm in!! Love reading your report my DH, twin DD (5) and I leave in a little over a week and your TR is outstanding!!! Love the bigger pics, too, leave em" be. Your DD is adorable and I love how she showed the princesses her shoes, to funny!!!

 

[gallmcduck]

Hi, I'm joining, great start to your TR, your dd is adorable and all those expressions are just too cute, love all the character meet pics would bring a tear to your eye.

 

[kmedina]

I love the pic with Belle. It looks like she is literally touching her heart.

 

[LilAnn]

Joining in! We let our little girl be our guide as well on our Disney trips. And you can totally see the excitement in her expressions.

Just one more TR to add to my reading list when I am burning the midnight oil at work.

 

[CandleontheWater]

Awww, the photos of your DD with the characters are priceless! You guys really timed it well and hit the character jackpot on your very first day!

Your DD's reaction to the Castle was so sweet. I can't wait to take my DS when he really "gets" it!

 

[dismagiclover]

Your DD is the cutest thing ever! I just love that age with the characters. For a 4 year old the characters are the best thing about Disney World! I'm so glad you guys slowed down and just enjoyed that.

 

[reelmom]

You hit the character jackpot. What a great first hour for her first trip. Heck, it would be a great first hour for any trip.

 

[shan23877]

Great update!

I don't think it could have been much of a better start for DD... castle, princesses, daisy and mary poppins!! who needs those other lands. Just keep hanging out on Main Street!!

I'm pretty sure she could have hung out there for the duration! I guess that's the beauty of being 4!

I'm in!! Love reading your report my DH, twin DD (5) and I leave in a little over a week and your TR is outstanding!!! Love the bigger pics, too, leave em" be. Your DD is adorable and I love how she showed the princesses her shoes, to funny!!!

Thank you! I am so jealous that you'll be going in a week Twin 5 year old girls? I'm tired just thinking about that! Thank you for the compliment. She showed ALL of them the shoes. Shoes are very important to her Have a great trip, I hope we'll hear about it when you get back!

Hi, I'm joining, great start to your TR, your dd is adorable and all those expressions are just too cute, love all the character meet pics would bring a tear to your eye.

And Thank You! The characters were all great and it was really special to watch her meet everyone

I love the pic with Belle. It looks like she is literally touching her heart.

Thanks! She was leaning in for a kiss, but I love the way the picture turned out!

Joining in! We let our little girl be our guide as well on our Disney trips. And you can totally see the excitement in her expressions.

Isn't it fun to experience everything the way the little ones want to? We were still pretty go-go-go but we slowed down to meet LOTS of characters

Just one more TR to add to my reading list when I am burning the midnight oil at work.

Glad to offer another distraction!

Awww, the photos of your DD with the characters are priceless! You guys really timed it well and hit the character jackpot on your very first day!

Your DD's reaction to the Castle was so sweet. I can't wait to take my DS when he really "gets" it!

Thank you! We got really lucky with all those characters right off the bat. It was sooo much fun to take her. I am sure it won't be long befor your DS know all about it Time sure flies with the little ones.

Your DD is the cutest thing ever! I just love that age with the characters. For a 4 year old the characters are the best thing about Disney World! I'm so glad you guys slowed down and just enjoyed that.

Thank you! The characters were definately her favorite part. It was fun to watch.

You hit the character jackpot. What a great first hour for her first trip. Heck, it would be a great first hour for any trip.

It was great! I can't believe our good luck with that. So glad her trip started the way it did!

 

[katt789]

I'm here to join in!!
Looks like quite the awesome trip so far!! I can't wait for the walk down main street again!

 

[nilla]

LOVE Maddie's entuhsiam! It bugs me when people say, "they'll never remember it at that age", because YOU will remember it! And not that it helps you now, but if the lines for the Princess or Mickey M&Gs in Exposition Hall are long, you can always get FPs. This was very useful to us.

Also love Sassagoula, especially since they had fountain Vanilla Coke back when we couldn't get Vanilla Coke anywhere around here. I wonder if they still have it? You're making me miss POFQ

Great TR so far! Can't wait to read more.

 

[Plaid Sheep]

What an amazing first hour! You hit the jackpot.

It's true.. I loved telling people to see a park thru a preschoolers eyes. You slow down and just LOOK at everything!

 

[shan23877]

I'm here to join in!!
Looks like quite the awesome trip so far!! I can't wait for the walk down main street again!

glad to have you join in the fun! 4 days? You'll be there before you know it!

LOVE Maddie's entuhsiam! It bugs me when people say, "they'll never remember it at that age", because YOU will remember it! And not that it helps you now, but if the lines for the Princess or Mickey M&Gs in Exposition Hall are long, you can always get FPs. This was very useful to us.

Also love Sassagoula, especially since they had fountain Vanilla Coke back when we couldn't get Vanilla Coke anywhere around here. I wonder if they still have it? You're making me miss POFQ

Great TR so far! Can't wait to read more.

I heard a lot of that before we went, but you are right. We will never forget how much fun we had. We had considered FP for Town Hall, but luckily never had to get them. The wait times were really minimal . I am not sure about he Vanilla Coke, but we loved POFQ. We'll be staying there again for sure. More coming right up!

What an amazing first hour! You hit the jackpot.

It's true.. I loved telling people to see a park thru a preschoolers eyes. You slow down and just LOOK at everything!

We sure did get lucky! It was so much fun to experience it with her. She was so excited about EVERYTHING!

 

[shan23877]

Well, we finally made it onto Main Street proper! Or first stop? For Photo Pass of course!

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I had pre-purchased the photo CD, and was determined to get my money’s worth. I can almost hear DH’s eyes rolling. By the end of this trip his 2 least favorite expressions were most likely “Ok guys, lets be sure to get lots of Photo Pass today” and “I think we should go see some princesses”

We made it all the way to the castle before stopping again.

In our former lives DH and I would have headed straight for Space Mountain, but today we stopped to watch the Dream Along With Mickey show (“A Disney Show!” “With Princesses!!”)

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And then, more Photo Pass! I believe that it was during this photo shoot that DD stopped saying “Cheese” and started saying “Disney!” OY.

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By now DH and I were more than ready to introduce DD to some rides. She had ridden a junior coaster at Sesame Place last summer and loved it, so we felt pretty good about BTMRR. We headed to Frontierland stopping off at Splash to grab some FP. The standby time for BTMRR was 30 minutes and in spite of the heat we joined it.

Maddie started to get a little cranky while we waited, but considering the lack of sleep and the heat she was a trooper. As we approached the front of the line a CM overheard DD chattering about this being her first roller coaster. He asked if she wanted to ride in front or in back. After she answered he pulled us out from behind the 15 or so people waiting and put DD, DH, and I in the back car on the very next train. “At Disney we don’t have to wait our turn!!” Awesome. Can’t wait until her teachers catch wind of that one. Maddie quickly made friends with some twenty-somethings who were in front of us and was soon instructing all of us when to raise our arms and to yell “Disney!” as we went down the hills. She loved the ride and had lots of fun with her new friends. They asked if they could join us for the rest of the day. DD said sure, we’d be watching the parade and meeting some characters. They decided that we should part ways and headed off to Haunted Mansion.

Some pictures from the walk.

The parade would start in 20 minutes so we grabbed a spot to watch right on the edge of Liberty Square. By now DD’s mood was starting to plummet, so we did what any good parents would do. We handed her a Coke and some popcorn and hoped the parade would come quickly.

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We had to get this one for Uncle Cory

After the parade we wandered over to Adventureland to kill some time before our FP time for Splash. Lightning had been spotted so the rides were down. We grabbed a snack and waited it out. After only 15 minutes or so we noticed that Magic Carpets of Aladdin was up and running with no line, so we decided to go for a spin. DD had a great time yelling “Watch out they spit” every time we passed the camels.

Our FP time for Splash was approaching, so it was back to Frontierland!

 

[shan23877]

Again with the huge pictures. I swear I'm resizing them all to the same size. Anyone know a fool proof way to make the pics all a manageable size?

 

[kmedina]

I love the pic on the Magic Carpets. She's shining!