Wow! What a fun, action-packed day you had together! So much fun!
It's so sweet to watch Aria become gradually more confident with the characters. How cute about her turning around and backing up to sit on the princesses! Hehee. I think Tigger is a bit big and scary too, actually, so I totally understand her hesitation there!
I can't help but giggle at the pic of Aria poking her foot through the bars when you told her not to. Doesn't that just capture the essence of toddlers testing their boundaires and rules!?
How bizarre about the squirrel that jumped on you both!! I would have laughed / screamed / both!
The dessert party sounds like fun! You and Aria did so well by the sounds of it, even if it was late and tricky to get to the snacks.
By the way, baby Leo is now obsessed with those little cereal puffs and yoghurt drops! Sometimes I think he deliberately doesn't eat his vegies so he'll get puffs and yoghurt drops instead. Hehee. But seriously, he's becoming quite a good little eater now, yay!
Thanks for another fabulous update! Can't wait for more!
Commenting as I go here...
I can't believe Aria's almost 2! How long have I been following your TRs?! Wasn't she just born? Wow. Can't wait to hear about the party.
Sounds like a great breakfast. Izzy is obsessed with scrambled eggs, so she'd approve (we actually had some with dinner tonight!)
Ah, too bad she wasn't up for Mickey and Minnie right away! At least she approved of Dug! I mean, how can you not? Ha, I love the second picture of her with Donald Duck...it looks like she's trying to protect herself!
Wow, up close and personal with a Disney squirrel! Where was Dug when you needed him? Squirrel!! Yeah, that's a bizarre character meet for sure.
So, what is this playground in Animal Kingdom? It's not part of the Boneyard? (We didn't make it there). It looks fun and I'm sad we missed out on it.
Yay for giving Pooh a bear hug!! After all the character-resistance she's shown, that's a great moment.
Ah, so cute with the goats. Sad we didn't make it over there either. I think Izzy would have enjoyed playing with them too.
Ha, I'm glad she didn't get pureed food all over everything. Izzy enjoys purposely emptying hers onto her tray sometimes. I can only imagine if she had a book or something to mess with. So, she had a regular cup and straw? Izzy kept grabbing our water cups/straws during the trip and I was terrified of her pouring the whole thing out on her or throwing it on the floor, but she was obsessed with them. We averted disaster, thankfully. She does the same thing - treating straw cups as sippies (which is why the Zoli one works for her, since it has the weight on the straw). I think the water cups were too heavy for her or she would have done the same. And your lettuce wraps look SOOO good! And the fried wontons after that? Yum!!
I'm impressed she could nap through all the carrier changes. 3 hours is great!
Wow, look at all that hair!! Izzy is so bald compared to Aria!
So cute riding the TTA! Wow, all those shows would have been a tough line-up for Izzy. We didn't even consider attempting Hall of Presidents. She was also very restless during the Tiki Room. So cute that Aria said bubbles! That's cool that she got to explore the tree house.
Ha, that's cute about backing up to the princesses.
Gosh, that would be so hard to manage a dessert party on your own with a toddler. Good for you! Between getting around and keeping her from taking and/or throwing all my food, I think it would be rough and hard to enjoy. That's cool that people stayed at their tables. We went to a dessert party a few years ago and everyone gathered at the rail (but we had a front-row table, so we grabbed a good spot at the rail before others filled in).
Sounds like a fun day!
Great updates!
BUT, I cannot get past the squirrel story. That is my worst nightmare!! So glad you guys weren't hurt! He was probably more surprised than you were...but still! EEK!
My august trip is happening! I just booked August 24-28 at BLT and 28-31 at AKV Kidani!! EEK! BLT Standard studio wasn't available, so I decided to do a split stay with lake view for 4 nights and then head to kidani to save a little $$ and also enjoy the pool & splash pad there for the last 3 nights. I'm *thinking* about just using ME & no car, focusing on EPCOT & MK while at BLT and AK & DHS while at AKV, but need to sit down and figure out what restaurants I MUST visit first in order to see if I can do without a car. Just Aria and me again! So now we are doing BLT,AKV, GFV and BCV this year! and still a DL trip just haven't begun to plan that yet. Daycare slid in the possibility of a 2nd week off sometime this year. So stay tuned, that might be another disney week
I'm excited for you! Your August trip mirrors what my family is planning for our newborn's first birthday in December! I figured what could be more fun than watching my one year old watch animals from our hotel room! I also really hate the post fireworks rush out of MK, so watching them from BLT is basically how we plan to avoid using four letter words in front of our precious innocent daughter! I read through some of your trip report while I was pregnant, but now I think I need to review since baby is here! I'll have yo home back and see when you go to GFV. I'm curious what Aria will think of that location, as it so far seems less child centered than some of the others ( though I haven't been inside it yet)
Lots of comments...you've been warned
First- I've been following your trip report on and off for quite sometime but still am shocked that Aria is almost two...absolutely crazy!
Wow 3 minutes to Animal Kingdom...cant beat that.
I totally do not think it is silly that you were all excited about her first interaction with a character. A few weeks ago my lo hugged a character at an indoor waterpark and I got all excited that when we visit wdw at the end of the month he might actually like them.
Oh my goodness I can't believe it was already 90 degrees. That is absolutely crazy but after our 2 days this week with a high in the teens and a below 0 wind chill it sounds pretty good
Wow, Your squirrel story just sounds crazy. Knowing me I likely would have screamed or something in shock and looked like a crazy person. I'm surprised there wasn't a melt down but I assume it was more shock than fear lol.
I'm very excited to visit all the playgrounds. I just know he is going to love them. I just fear the moment when we need to leave them.
So beyond the goats do you feel going back to the rafiki place is worth it. (sorry cant remember the right name). We have a petting area at the zoo with goats and whatnot so I dont want to make the trip back there unless there was some other wow facter for a 2 year old. Although I know he would love the train ride.
I just love county bears. Zavier clapped there for the first time so it will always be a little special for me. And I love the off the wall lyrics. haha
How awesome about the first time saying bubble
The wishes desert party sounds really nice. We've never done it but maybe someday.
Aww so you guys are doing the same split stay then!?! That is going to be SO MUCH FUN!! Congrats on your newborn, going to be so great at 1 for her birthday. Hope you guys are doing great!! Must be so nice having a little baby around!! We don't go to GFV until October...soo you have a while to wait!! Pretty soon I'm going to start a new TR thread with this years AP's (including the december trip we just took). GF has an AMAZING water play area for kids, so that's what I am most excited about for Aria there LOL. Well, that and the location. I don't *love* the theming as some do, so I really only expect to go that one time in October. I KNOW it is ridiculous. 1st birthdays seem so different from 2nd. Now she's a little kid, before she was still a baby Aww that is so sweet!! It's been a sloowwwww journey working towards these character interactions, hoping that as she learns the characters more then she will "get" the meets with them - like Minnie in December. The August temps were crazy. In the midst of it I honestly don't remember minding though I was worried about Aria staying cool really, not myself. Looking back at all the photos though I feel like we both looked extremely hot and sweaty and gross...ugh! Just have something else to entice him to leave!! I don't think it was ever that bad because I'd just say we are going to ride this or get a snack or whatever... Ummm that's a hard one. Aria loves it, and it is a nice way to relax for a bit on the train ride. Inside, nothing really is all that exciting IMO - meet Rafiki, see a vet visit (kinda neat to me, not so much for Aria). But I'd hate to miss it? IDK just because it's so out of the norm AT disney to go and pet the animals and Aria enjoyed it so much...and it isn't like it took away from doing something else we wanted to do at AK? Not much help, I know... It was fun!! Amazing now how much she is saying that new words aren't as exciting since they are happening all the time, but it was pretty neat to rememeber that one specifically. That is special about the Country Bears! Maybe we were just having an off day...
Oh wow! How exciting!! Trips galore for you, lucky girl!!
My sister and her three kids are in Disneyland at the moment, having lots of fun. We've never been but it looks ace!
Man, I want your life! All those trips lined up...pretty awesome!
I can't remember - how are you staying at the DVC properties? Do you rent points? Just curious, since we had our first experience doing that (for Aulani) and would consider it for AKV, if not others (but they have the "value" category, which is hard to beat).
For Disneyland, one report that comes to mind is this one (I had to go look it up in my old subscriptions): http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2306487
It's a few years old and unfinished, but I love her TRs and her son was just over 2 when they took this trip, so pretty close to Aria's age when you go. I don't know when we'll get back to Disneyland, but we really want to sometime. We were there for one day - back in 2006 - so there was no Cars Land or anything back then. So many cool things to do! Oh, have you eaten at the Blue Bayou before? If not, I would - that's on our list for sure! Dug's sister and her husband had dinner there a while back, along the water, and really enjoyed it.
Now don't come back until you've booked another trip!
This will be our first on property stay, so it's a big deal for us. I forgot that play area was there. After getting all the mailers of how beautiful GFV is, I would LOVE to stay there by myself! I love that you and other moms with babies do trip reports. It's an inspiration and great help to first time moms like me,
YES we rent points!! We have an awesome points rental guy who has like 3000 points or something ridiculous and 6 home resorts. The price per night (to give you an idea) for BLT studio is about $200. And for AKV something like $180. So is that what you're doing for Aulani? Can you tell me how that is working out cost wise if you don't mind? Hawaii is on our short list for places to go with Aria; I grew up in Seattle so our family vacations were to Hawaii each year, but DH has never been.
Great updates!
3000 points...WOW! Imagine his yearly maintenance fees...yikes!
That seems reasonable for those places. We found an Aulani owner to rent from at $12/point and each night is 19 points at the time we're going, so I believe it was $228/night for a Standard View Studio. The regular rate through Disney is over $500/night for either this or a regular hotel room. So, over 1/2 off! Plus, we get free parking doing this vs. the $35/night if not going through DVC. Our person also owns at AKV and I'd consider the value studios there in the future since a whole week is 69 points and many of the value studios actually have savanna views (value because they're slightly smaller, but have decent views). Can't beat that - AKL studio for the price of Pop Century.
Yeah, in the 200's, at least. I just saw that Tikiman posted about a rate increase and the rack rate for the cheapest rooms is now $480 minimum/night. Crazy! However, the way we get it into the 200's is: go during low-rate season and get room-only discount through Disney (30% last time, more in 2010 w/AP's...40%, I think) + pay with WDW gift cards purchased at Target with all my discounts (last time was 10% team member, 10% rewards for completing Healthy Pregnancy Program through insurance, and 5% RedCard discount...normally won't have that second 10% and would use 5% Pharmacy Rewards instead, which couldn't be combined with that bonus 10%). Anyway, with likely future discounts, we could only get it down to $273/night, which is really pushing it. Once they finish putting in DVC at the Poly, I'll be interested to see how much I could manage to rent a studio for. Maybe it would be comparable to the room with discounts.IDK how you get the Poly for around 200! That's awesome ( I think you mentioned that on my comment on your TR).
Are the values just at Jambo? If renting DVC at Jambo, can the Kidani water play area be used?AKV is totally worth it! Love it there. I got a standard bc the values were sold out (they usually sell out right at 11m) but I also wanted to try out Kidani this trip.
Yeah, in the 200's, at least. I just saw that Tikiman posted about a rate increase and the rack rate for the cheapest rooms is now $480 minimum/night. Crazy! However, the way we get it into the 200's is: go during low-rate season and get room-only discount through Disney (30% last time, more in 2010 w/AP's...40%, I think) + pay with WDW gift cards purchased at Target with all my discounts (last time was 10% team member, 10% rewards for completing Healthy Pregnancy Program through insurance, and 5% RedCard discount...normally won't have that second 10% and would use 5% Pharmacy Rewards instead, which couldn't be combined with that bonus 10%). Anyway, with likely future discounts, we could only get it down to $273/night, which is really pushing it. Once they finish putting in DVC at the Poly, I'll be interested to see how much I could manage to rent a studio for. Maybe it would be comparable to the room with discounts. Are the values just at Jambo? If renting DVC at Jambo, can the Kidani water play area be used?
Less than $200/night for the Poly would be awesome! I'm expecting it to be something like the GFV, though, and I think that would be low $200's or so (can't remember exactly what I calculated on that).I bet you could get a studio at the poly for 180-200/night with renting points. I forgot about your awesome target gc adventures. Hahah if you ever can get more than you plan to use feel free to let me know lol!
Yeah values are only at Jambo. But staying on DVC points you will be able to pool hop almost anywhere on property (not at BC) so yes can def go to Kidani. Also you should be able to get dvc discounts at the marinas for boat rentals
Okay, good to know about AKV. So, do people who are staying on rented points get all of the perks of a DVC member? (I'm not sure what all there are, but discounts or something).
Thanks for the info!I am a DVC member, and you have to show your member card for many of the perks, but I can not speak to what you can and can not get!