AN AP-ALOOZA with a baby! October TR turned year of Disney! NEW 2/7 AUG FINISHED!

[Imagineer5]

I actually found that site not long after I replied here! I lost about an hour of Gavin's nap time looking at houses haha. I don't need that exact house, there will only be 3 adults and a toddler. We're looking at a 3bd/3ba with a private pool for less than $800 for 8 nights plus taxes & fees I guess. I emailed the owner earlier today. Was that house you stayed in in a particular community? We've never stayed off site before and I know you said where you stayed was close to the parks. I don't know why I am so nervous about staying off site.

Haah yeah there are sooooo many houses in Florida/Disney area it is so tough. I spent hours upon hours and of course was getting feedback from everyone about not liking some place and whatnot! The community was emerald island resort - looking some of the other homes, they are much more luxurious (and higher priced) than ours - ours was fairly bare bones, but honestly we didnt need much more than that pool! http://www.vrbo.com/394754

But yes the location of the resort was very good - though as I mentioned after my August trip where I stayed at silver springs resort (for 349/week through a military website - getravelop.com ) it was SO nice not to even have to leave the Disney bubble that I much preferred that place. I never thought I'd sit here and suggest staying offsite but to me the savings = more trips to Disney and one big splurge trip a year onsite doesn't equate to 5 trips on APs staying in multiple locations.

Sometimes Bonnet Creek pops up on the government travel site, and I know khertz loves it there and it is basically on Disney property, so I am crossing my fingers that comes up for our trips next year!

 

[Imagineer5]

PHOTOPASS catch up!

Sorry, the first few days of photopass pics will be shown here! A gift to the rest of the family was getting photopass – hoping to get a few group pictures as well as give each “family” photos. The first day at EPCOT was just about the only day anyone actually took any on their own, but oh well. We enjoyed having it.

So - we first got some photos at EPCOT before everyone headed off in different directions-

One of the photopass pics Kerry & Chris did on their own

Our naughty margaritas while Aria was napping that morning -

Melissa's fam exploring the WS while we had lunch at the Biergarten -

Later on that afternoon

I don't think I have seen a great PP frame photo, but they are using them all the time now!

While Aria was napping that afternoon

Then after she woke up when we sat down with some drinks in France

The one that the IL's took

Another group photo

The next day at Hollywood studios! Melissa & fam took a number of pics

Andrew ran into a shop when we first arrived so I got a quick pic with my munchkin

Nice family pic!

Ok next up is MK DAY!!

 

[jenny105]

Great pictures!

 

[kmedina]

Your group got do e great photos. I really like the one with the frame. It is the first time I've seen the frame too.

 

[Dugette]

Very nice PP pics. The one with the ILs is cute. They look like they're having a great time.

 

[mandas08]

Great pp pics. Really enjoying following along!

 

[mandas08]

Great pp pics. Really enjoying following along!

 

[cdhale]

Hi!

I see you took a trip by yourself with just your 18 month old. I am considering going alone with my baby next May when he is 18 mos (Dbf doesn't want to go and I just got back from a trip with DDs).

Are you doing a trip report for that trip? I would love to know how it went!

Cheryl

 

[Imagineer5]

Great pictures!

Thanks!

Your group got do e great photos. I really like the one with the frame. It is the first time I've seen the frame too.

Yeah they had the frame in a number of locations - near EE in AK and near the BCC in MK are two places I can think of!

Very nice PP pics. The one with the ILs is cute. They look like they're having a great time.

Yeah! I just wish ppl had used the PP more, but we did get good pics that first day.

Great pp pics. Really enjoying following along!

Thanks!! Happy to have you here!

Hi!

I see you took a trip by yourself with just your 18 month old. I am considering going alone with my baby next May when he is 18 mos (Dbf doesn't want to go and I just got back from a trip with DDs).

Are you doing a trip report for that trip? I would love to know how it went!

Cheryl

Yeah!! I plan to, just have to finish this one first we had a BLAST! and it was a really great age, too. I want to do it again next August when daycare closes, but haven't booked the trip yet as we are trying for #2 so need to see how that goes first.

 

[Imagineer5]

Moving on!! A very fun day ahead at the Magic Kingdom!
So this morning we had ADR’s at Crystal Palace and then we were going to meet up with the rest of the family. Melissa was up this morning though and asked if she could tag along. Wouldn’t you know that our ADR was actually for 4 (when making the reservation nothing popped up for 3 around 8AM but there was one for 4 even though we’d need the same size table…!) So she came along with us for breakfast! Now, If you have noticed, we hadn’t done many character meets (or any? I was too nervous for Aria’s reaction) this trip – and yes we were headed to a character breakfast! So I was a bit worried for how Aria would handle it. Last time she screamed when they came near. Melissa gave the AWESOME advice for Andrew & me to get up and take photos with the characters so that Aria could see they were okay.

But I’m getting ahead of myself – we arrived early, got a great parking spot in the first row, hopped on the monorail and then headed in the early breakfast line.

It is just one of my very favorite things to get into MK before it opens. It gave us the opportunity to get some photos including my usual pic of Aria and me walking towards the castle.

Then we checked in for breakfast. Now, I was really happy that Melissa decided to join us – if you haven’t noticed, she didn’t really feel the need to make any reservations for her family ($$ was the biggest issue) but to me, dining is half the fun of a Disney trip so I wanted her to see some of that fun for potential future trips and plan that expense in. Plus it have her some time with Aria – and she just LOVES her Aunt Melissa!

When the characters came around Andrew and I got up while Melissa took photos and we left Aria in the high chair – she did GREAT! Not a cry or anything and was pointing to them from afar. It was really great advice, and we never pushed her to meet them and she never got afraid.

After breakfast it was nearly 9 so we took some more photopass pics. The plan was to meet up with everyone else for a big family photo in front of the castle (hopefully it would be good enough to become the IL’s Christmas photo!) and then from there we’d probably split off.

Well after photos I suggested for everyone to go to the Enchanted Tales with Belle (which Andrew did NOT appreciate this suggestion but everyone else followed along. Ryan ended up volunteering to be in the show and everyone had a great time (I told you these teenage boys are amazing sports!!).

Note - this was the ONE time in the 4 or 5 times we've done the enchanted tales that a CM didn't come over and tell me I could bring up Aria to meet Belle even though she wasn't in the show. I felt weird doing so without that prompt, so she didn't get to meet her...

Then after that they headed off to ride Space Mountain along with some other things, while the IL’s, Andrew, Aria and I went off to ride some tamer ones. First we visited Pooh (which Aria really enjoyed this trip but LOVED in August…)

then Dumbo before it was time for her first nap.

While she napped (she went down without an issue in the stroller) Andrew, John and I rode BTMRR while Jenn stayed with her. Before that was about the time I was getting pretty fed up with having the IL’s stick with us without any care for what they were doing. I think I referred to them as lumps on a log. So Andrew suggested they ride the train around and then meet us in Frontierland, which gave us a little break from them on our walk over. Anyway after our ride on BTMRR (no photos, sorry) IL’s needed a break so we all went to Tortuga Tavern for a snack while she was still napping in the stroller. (And we picked up FP’s for Jungle Cruise). Aria woke up while we were sitting there so I went off to get her a snack and some cold milk and she was pretty happy after that. Since we were right there, I changed her outfit into her pirate dress and we hopped on Pirates – the lines had been pretty decent all day so we were very lucky!

NOTE: I REALLY want to take a Disney cruise in the spring, mainly bc this pirate dress would be perfect for pirate night...

Then it was time for the Jungle Cruise which is always a good time.

continued in next post

 

[Imagineer5]

After that the IL’s were pooped so they left the park to head out, and we happily went on our way to Tomorrowland where we decided to hop on the TTA. Andrew also ran to the front of the park to get FP’s to meet the princesses, and those were slightly late for her 2nd nap but they worked out ok.

^^ I like to get PP pics while andrew is running to get FP's apparently LOL

Next we decided to see if she would like playing in the splash pad – took her a bit to let loose but she did enjoy it!

Then we hit those mid-afternoon wait times and didn’t want to wait that long so instead just hopped on the carousel. She had a ball on it and was smiling and waving to daddy so I enjoyed it too.

After that we got a text from Melissa saying they were about to use their FP’s for Peter Pan so we headed over there to say hi, and handed over Aria so she could ride with them! Andrew and I got a little break to run and use our Splash FP’s together! Perfect timing!

Then it was time to meet the princesses! She had fun seeing them, surprisingly loved Cinderella the most this day!

I can't wait to check out the new Princess hall in december!

Afterwards it was nap time for a baby and so we just enjoyed a nice walk around going in and out of stores for the AC – we spent a good amount of time in the Circus tent store. We were waiting around for DINNER time! We were meeting up with Kerry & Chris and heading to BOG! I was so happy to get those ressies as we had had a great meal there back in December and Kerry was excited to check it out too. This was really the only time we had one on one with them, too.

Wouldn’t you know it, Aria was still sleeping when it was time to head over for our ADR LOL but of course once we were ready to bring her in with the stroller and all, she woke up. I was very impressed with how accommodating ALL the restaurants were with allowing us the bring in the stroller with a sleeping baby, though it never ended up being necessary.

Dinner was fantastic – it was nice to see Kerry and chris let loose a little bit (they are VERY frugal, even though they have plenty of money…haha) and we enjoyed some wine and beer, some really great food (I had the salmon which was delicious) and dessert. Aria was pretty good throughout the meal, too.

After dinner we met with the Beast, who she did NOT like at all…

Then we decided to call it a night and head back to the house. Shortly after getting back we put Aria to bed, had a nighttime swim and then headed to bed too.

Andrew and I had an early morning the next day – Keys to the Kingdom tour!! His parents were going to be watching Aria and the rest were heading off to different parks (I have no idea what melissa’s family did, but Kerry & Chris went to Busch gardens this day). Then we had Ohana – the big family meal planned with everyone, and then the Grand 1 Yacht PLANNED for that night

 

[jenny105]

That Belle looks like a Kardashian. WTH? Are they taking over Disney too?

How'd you like BoG? I didn't get to eat there during my AEP but we were able to tour it. I thought it was beautiful but I don't think I'd like eating in the West Wing. It was so dark in there!

 

[wiigirl]

Great update!

 

[Imagineer5]

That Belle looks like a Kardashian. WTH? Are they taking over Disney too?

How'd you like BoG? I didn't get to eat there during my AEP but we were able to tour it. I thought it was beautiful but I don't think I'd like eating in the West Wing. It was so dark in there!

Lol the belles are always terrible - ESP bc she is my favorite so that makes them even worse. I do love seeing her in the yellow gown outside of akershus though!

BoG I LOVE. We have had two great meals there and I wish we were going back in dec! My salmon (remember I am a fish wimp and very rarely order it) was amazing and perfectly cooked (I asked for well done) and the flavor was fantastic with I believe a leek sauce. Chris, my BIL also ordered it and he is a salmon aficionado lol and loved it. I don't even remember my app but it was great. We haven't eaten in the west wing, but it is dark - however, the main room is SO MASSIVE - that might be my only complaint is that it sort of takes away from the theming. I mean, if it was one long table in a ball room that size that'd be pretty cool. But the number of tables in that huge room is astonishing. So that being said I would like to try out the rose room. And I thought I heard they opened the 3rd room for dinner?! I that's the case would love to do that one.

Great update!

Thanks!

 

[kmedina]

I love eating there too and plan my trip around the meals. Good thing that his sister was able to tag along to your ADR. Hopefully, that gave her an idea of how awesome they are, so she plans more in the future. My Dad is also frugal with his money, so we did not do a lot if TS growing up.

It is weird that the restaurant was booked for 3 but open for 4, but I am glad it parked out. The tip about the adults seeing the characters first is a good one.

Aria really did have a great time getting wet. I love the pirate dress. You will have a great time cruising (and she will look adorable wearing that on pirate night).

I am dragging us into Enchanted Tales with Belle later this month. Crap is not happy about it either. Too bad Aria did not get to see Belle this time, but I love the picture she got with Cinderella.

 

[jenny105]

Lol the belles are always terrible - ESP bc she is my favorite so that makes them even worse. I do love seeing her in the yellow gown outside of akershus though!

BoG I LOVE. We have had two great meals there and I wish we were going back in dec! My salmon (remember I am a fish wimp and very rarely order it) was amazing and perfectly cooked (I asked for well done) and the flavor was fantastic with I believe a leek sauce. Chris, my BIL also ordered it and he is a salmon aficionado lol and loved it. I don't even remember my app but it was great. We haven't eaten in the west wing, but it is dark - however, the main room is SO MASSIVE - that might be my only complaint is that it sort of takes away from the theming. I mean, if it was one long table in a ball room that size that'd be pretty cool. But the number of tables in that huge room is astonishing. So that being said I would like to try out the rose room. And I thought I heard they opened the 3rd room for dinner?! I that's the case would love to do that one.

Yes it's open for dinner now. We toured that room and I thought it was so cute. Apparently they call that the gallery because there are so many pictures of the different characters from BaTB.

I was on My Disney Experience yesterday picking my character. They have every princess EXCEPT Belle. WTH?? She's my favorite princess too!

 

[Dugette]

Great updates! I'm glad it went so well at Crystal Palace and that she was okay with the characters! Love her Rapunzel dress. Be Our Guest looks great!

 

[Imagineer5]

I love eating there too and plan my trip around the meals. Good thing that his sister was able to tag along to your ADR. Hopefully, that gave her an idea of how awesome they are, so she plans more in the future. My Dad is also frugal with his money, so we did not do a lot if TS growing up.

It is weird that the restaurant was booked for 3 but open for 4, but I am glad it parked out. The tip about the adults seeing the characters first is a good one.

Aria really did have a great time getting wet. I love the pirate dress. You will have a great time cruising (and she will look adorable wearing that on pirate night).

I am dragging us into Enchanted Tales with Belle later this month. Crap is not happy about it either. Too bad Aria did not get to see Belle this time, but I love the picture she got with Cinderella.

Yes she really did have a great time and was so glad she went. It worked out great! I am keeping watch for cheap cruise prices, but it looks like it will have to be more of a last minute thing - Oct/Nov disney cruises are over 1000 less than the other ones just trying to fill up space. That's fine with me - I miss getting to plan everything far in advance of course but I won't be able to convince DH without getting a great deal haha.

I love enchanted tales, andrew even apologized afterwards about being silly about it. Hopefully your DH doesn't mind it.

Yes it's open for dinner now. We toured that room and I thought it was so cute. Apparently they call that the gallery because there are so many pictures of the different characters from BaTB.

I was on My Disney Experience yesterday picking my character. They have every princess EXCEPT Belle. WTH?? She's my favorite princess too!

Yeah! I think I picked Ariel? IDK why, but I did notice no Belle.

I haven't even seen that room, so glad to hear it is open for a meal - if nothing else we will plan to eat there one night next Oct when we go!

Great updates! I'm glad it went so well at Crystal Palace and that she was okay with the characters! Love her Rapunzel dress. Be Our Guest looks great!

Thank you!! Yes it was wonderful and such a fun day. I want to get Aria the Sofia dress, I love her in purple! Love that Rapunzel dress, need to get next size up lol.

 

[Imagineer5]

On to one of my most anticipated days of the trip!! We had booked the Keys to the Kingdom tour, while Aria was staying home with the IL’s. Then we had a group dinner (with everyone!, IL’s paying) at Ohana, and then we planned to treat everyone to a fireworks cruise on the Grand 1 Yacht at the grand Floridian (it was everyone’s Christmas present last year).

Well we had an 8:30 AM tour so we arrived before the park opened and we got in early and took some photos while waiting for the tour to start. They also had coffee waiting for us so we each had a cup.

Our tour guide was a funny older lady who seemed very authentic in her absolute love of Disney, and she was great throughout the tour.

We started off going up Main St – stopping to the side a few times since Rope Drop occurred during this time and it was a mad house. We got quite a few dirty looks from those trying to run to wherever their destination was. I really enjoyed this part of the tour, and did learn some new things though a lot of it I had learned in the few books I’ve read about Disney or about Imagineering or the history of the parks. But it was a nice refresher anyway, and Andrew really enjoyed it.

After Main Street we headed over to Adventureland spotting the many lightning rods along the way, to the Jungle cruise. This is one classic attraction I do love, so it was fun to get on and get an inside view of the ride – though we did get a typical schpiel too which I could have done without (since we’ve heard those jokes many times!).

After this we went backstage – near the bridge to Splash. It was so neat to see how they hid the backstage area and there was literally a line on the ground way back there that denoted where guests could not see you anymore – that is when cast members could finally relax and not be in character anymore.

Of course, no photos for the rest of the tour – and I don’t want to give it all away either. But we were able to see the parade floats up close, then see Splash from behind and see the water tanks and pumps and all that, and learn about the “amazing” trash system they have (it is pretty amazing). After this part we walked back on stage for a bit before heading to the Utilidors. Now, I thought I had read some people being disappointed in the amount of time you spend down there – I had it in my head we only got to be down there for 5 minutes or so and had mentally prepared myself for having to leave. Well, whatever I read was wrong because we were down there for nearly an hour. It was really awesome – and not as “utilitarian” as I had envisioned either. I loved the maps they had to tell you where you are and point you to where you want to go – I want a copy to frame!

After the utilidors, I believe it was time for lunch at CHH. Oh, we did make our meal selections earlier. I don’t think there was one chicken item, so I had the vegetarian one with hummus that I had heard rave reviews for – it was just ok, and Andrew had a Cuban I believe which he enjoyed. I’m not much of a sandwich person (this is why I have TS for almost every meal) and I left still hungry as the sandwich was small, and the soda included was watery…overall disappointing, though I did enjoy the private meal spot. Andrew and I had our own table, which was kind of nice just to relax for a bit and not have to converse with the other people on the tour (yes, I was being anti social but was just tired!). It also gave us a chance to check my cell phone and we got to see updates from Andrew’s parents with photos of Aria at the playground, so that was fun.

After lunch we went to the Haunted Mansion. Now, I like the ride. But if I don’t ride it, I don’t feel sad about it. So to stand outside the ride for nearly an HOUR going over every scene in it (and we hadn’t ridden it in months or even years – thinking maybe since 2010?) I was thoroughly bored. Now, I get that some parts are so fun to hear the background behind – such as the place settings on the large table being moved/changed every night and then changing back. BUT I think a few fun tidbits and then riding the ride would have been sufficient.

All in all, the tour was FANTASTIC and I would love to do another (still want to do a dolphins in depth maybe, definitely one of the ones at the AK) and it was nice knowing Aria was having a great time. But the last hour was a bit of a disappointment. Anyway we were ready to go home and play with aria a bit before she had to go down for her second nap (yes, we missed her!). We spent some time this afternoon in the pool before the whole family taking showers and getting all dolled up for the fun evening out!

Dinner was for 6:30, and we arrived at the Polynesian right around 6, parked, and headed inside – we started to take some photos when we were ushered to stand back, and a Polynesian dancer/ fire thrower came out! Everyone thanked me for setting up such a nice start to the evening – LOL! It was really cool. Couldn’t have asked for a neater start!

Since we got there a little early we walked to the beach and just showed them the resort. We have never stayed here, but now with the DVC resort coming we most certainly will in the future! We got some cute family photos

 

[Imagineer5]

Then we headed upstairs to check in for dinner and then we just stood around and waited for a short while – we were given a large table (I was a little worried as I was told we should expect to be seated at two different ones) right next to the chef’s area and in the center of the room. Great spot – but notice we had no view out the window which comes into play later on.

Shortly after sitting down and ordering drinks, “Auntie” (I think that’s right) came out and got all the “kids” up dancing. I went up with Aria, and Ryan and Nick came up too (seriously, these boys are awesome – I mainly just went up because Aria was NOT happy this evening) and we danced, then did the coconut roll thing, with the boys helping out a girl who was maybe 6 and crying because she couldn’t roll her coconut…and we had a great time! Afterwards we brought leis back to the table (what I wouldn’t give for a fresh flower lei!) and then most of us went up to dance. Fun times!

(then i got to eat while Aria was passed around)

Everyone really enjoyed all the food. It’s not my favorite (I only eat the chicken, though I did ask for the vegetarian dish this time and did get the hummus plate which was great!) but I knew everyone would really enjoy the food. And of course, the banana bread pudding was a hit – I love that dessert!

5 months later...she still does this at dinner LOL

Around 8 or so we were all full and it was time to head over to the monorail to GF for our Grand 1 Yacht.

Well…what we didn’t realize was that it had started DOWNPOURING. Like monsoon rain! We got to the GF and Andrew and I headed out to find the boat captains while everyone else stayed in the lobby area – we wanted to see if they would still go out/if we could cancel/what we should do. The captains ended up finding us and we talked for a moment, then they sent up some concierge person who told us that yes, they would still go out, that the fireworks would still go off at SOME point but probably not on time due to the rain (but they were already set up earlier in the day, so they had to go off), that there IS a covered area inside the yacht, BUT that we are also more that welcome to cancel the cruise with no fee. We considered it for a while, and then went back to talk with the family about it and as a group decided not to go out. It was still monsooning out, just walking to the yacht we’d have all been drenched, and sitting inside just didn’t seem like a $600 evening. It was a tough decision to make though. And we felt terrible about it. It was the start to quite a bit of rain for the rest of the time, too.

Sorry this was a very wordy update but overall a great day - with some (major) hiccups! Oh well. Next up - AK!