Are you sure this is Walt Disney World- It’s cold and rainy?!? January 30th-Feb 5th

[ReneeDisney]

Are you sure this is Walt Disney World- It’s cold and rainy?!?

That’s right- the title of my trip report pretty much sums up our trip-
Cold and lots of rain in Walt Disney World!

So on to the start of my trip report... let the opening credits roll...

My husband, Anthony, myself and our daughter, Ava, 2 ½
traveled to Walt Disney World from January 30th to
February 5th this year. We were hoping to escape the
cold winter weather to the warm and friendly sunny skies in Orlando.
Here is a family photo of the three of us from a
November 2007 trip to Walt Disney World - Ava was 4 months old.



Day 1
January 30
Anthony and I woke up at 4:20 am, dressed, finished
packing then woke our little princess Ava. We dressed her
and headed downstairs with the luggage to wait for our
car service to Newark Airport.

Here is a photo of Ava waiting for the car service
with her new backpack, Tinkerbell hat and
gloves and Minnie Mouse track suit.



Right on time, the car service pulled up at 5:00 am where
the temperature was a balmy 14 degrees. We packed the
car, put Ava’s car seat in and we were off the airport. It was a
smooth car ride, not that much traffic at 5:00 am on a
Saturday. We checked our bags, headed through security
and were at the gate pretty quickly.



We enjoyed some coffee and a small snack before
boarding at 6:40 am.



The flight took off on-time and was pretty enjoyable until
our little Ava, decided to get ill all over her seat. I was so
embarrassed and the lovely Jet Blue flight attendant walked over
to me with a plastic bag and some wipes and said “don’t worry
this happens all the time”. That was so nice of her and it
actually made me laugh!

We changed Ava, cleaned up the seat and by that time
we were almost ready to land in Orlando. I was so
excited, looking forward to another wonderful
vacation with my family.






We landed at 9:41 am and headed through Orlando
Airport, onto the monorail to the Magical Express counter.




It is quite a long walk, so we were glad we brought
our own stroller for Ava to be comfortable. The check-in
line was long, but we only waited 15 minutes
in total to check-in and for our bus to arrive. Our bus was
quite crowded and was going to stopping at the Polynesian,
Grand Floridian and the Wilderness Lodge. Yeah, we were
the first stop!

The bus ride was non-eventful and we could almost see
the sun shine while on our way to the World, but wouldn’t
you know it, as we were almost to the welcome to
Walt Disney World gates, the rain started hitting the
windshield. Oh boy, I thought to myself, I’m sure it is just
a passing shower!



... Day 1 continued on the next page....

 

[reyasmommy]

The title of your TR sounds a LOT like how I felt on our trip a couple weeks ago.

Ava is absolutley adorable! Poor thing, getting sick on the plane! Does she get motion sickness, or did she have some kind of stomach virus?

I'm looking forward to more!

 

[ReneeDisney]

The title of your TR sounds a LOT like how I felt on our trip a couple weeks ago.

Ava is absolutley adorable! Poor thing, getting sick on the plane! Does she get motion sickness, or did she have some kind of stomach virus?

I'm looking forward to more!

Thanks for being the 1st one to join my trip report!!

Your so sweet to compliment my Ava. As for her getting sick, occasionally if she drinks milk too fast it doesn't sit well with her. I'm not sure if she was motion sick, but I do know she was fine on the way home!!

I'll be posting the rest of my 1st day shortly.. stay tuned!!

 

[ReneeDisney]

DAY 1
January 30th continued....

We arrived at the Polynesian and enter the Great Ceremonial House and felt at home.
The sound of the waterfall and the tropical feel was so great!






We walked right up to registration and Erica, from the University
of Wisconsin took great care of us. She handed us all beautiful leis
and welcomed us with a big Aloha. Our room was ready, we were
in Tahiti 1030 and she said we would love that room.

We headed out to bell services and hopped in a golf cart for
the journey to our room. Boy was this building far out, but it
was sure worth it. The view of the Magic Kingdom from our
room was perfect! You can see in the photo below how cold
and damp it was outside.




We quickly checked our home for the next week, unloaded
some of our carry-on bags and then headed to Captain Cooks
for a quick bite to eat but not before a quick roundtrip on the
Monorail. Ava was so excited to ride the "choo choo" throughout
our trip.









After lunch, we went back to the room to nap and freshen up.
We then headed to the monorail to EPCOT around 4pm for dinner
at San Angel Inn. It was really windy and looked like rain at
any moment. Here are some fun photos of Ava enjoying the
Mexican cuisine and culture.





After dinner and shopping we headed to the Three Cabelleros
boat ride at the Mexico Pavillion and enjoyed this so much!
What a cute addition with Donald and his nephews.

We headed outside to be welcomed by lite rain and cold weather.
We bundled up and decided to head back to the Poly, call it an
early night, since we had been up so early and start fresh tomorrow
at the Magic Kingdom. We got back to the Poly in no time --
I just love the convenience of the monorail. We had coffee and
a drink at the Tambu Lounge and then headed to our room.
Here is Ava enjoying her Tinkerbell DVD as she gets ready for bed.



Up Next:

DAY 2 - The Magic Kingdom with coats, hats and gloves??

 

[cmp1111]

Great pictures, thanks for sharing!

 

[MarriedToAPrince]

Great start to your TR!!! Your DD is adorable!!

 

[Queenofallthings]

We were there the same time as you....Jan 30 - Feb7.....your title actually caught my eye and made me think "I wonder if they were there when we were" and sure enough your were!!!

I'm looking forward to reading your trip report....your little Ava is beyond precious...just gorgeous!!

 

[tinkerbells mum]

i'm in looking forward to hearing all about your trip, Ava is adorable xx

 

[sjs314]

Looking forward to the next installment of your TR. DD is adorable.

 

[ReneeDisney]

Great start to your TR!!! Your DD is adorable!!

Thanks! I'll be posting another update shortly.

We were there the same time as you....Jan 30 - Feb7.....your title actually caught my eye and made me think "I wonder if they were there when we were" and sure enough your were!!!

I'm looking forward to reading your trip report....your little Ava is beyond precious...just gorgeous!!

Thanks! Did your write a trip report, I would love to read along! I hope you had a great!!

i'm in looking forward to hearing all about your trip, Ava is adorable xx

THANKS! Another post coming shortly....

Looking forward to the next installment of your TR. DD is adorable.

Thanks! Day 2 is on the way shortly...

 

[ReneeDisney]

Day 2
Sunday, January 31st
I woke up at 6:15 am, turned over in bed and looked out the patio
doors to see Cinderella’s castle illuminated just as the sun
was rising. It was a wonderful and quiet moment where
all the magic and wonder of Disney World seemed possible
in the real world. A nice moment I will remember
for a long time.

I quickly got dressed and headed to Captain Cooks for some much
needed morning coffee. The temperature wasn’t too cold or too hot,
it was a really nice morning with a bit of a breeze. I thought today
would be a good weather day. After a leisurely stroll to Captain Cooks
and back, I came back to room to find my daughter and husband up
and getting ready for the day.

We had breakfast reservations at Kona Café, our first breakfast
stop of every Disney trip. We sat down and enjoyed a lovely
breakfast especially Ava’s Mickey pancakes.

During breakfast the sun slowly started to hide behind the clouds
and the weather was not looking good. We headed to the Monorail
for our day at the Magic Kingdom. Monorail was not that crowded
and we arrived in no time. I have to say again, that having the
access to the monorail is very convenient, especially with a stroller
and a toddler.

We arrived at the Magic Kingdom, took some Photopass pictures
on Main Street and headed to the carousel for the first ride. It was
getting colder and colder as the morning went on. I felt so bad that
Ava had to wear her blanket, jacket and hoodie to keep warm, but
it was colder than I’ve ever experienced at Disney.

Ava and I enjoyed the carousel and then we all made our way to
ride, Dumbo, Peter Pan, Mickey’s Philharmagic, Small World,
Winnie the Pooh and finally Snow White. We accomplished
all that, plus a little shopping by 12:30 pm.
There were little to no lines and the longest
ride we waited for was Peter Pan at 10 minutes, but otherwise,
it was an enjoyable morning in Fantasyland.

We left the park for a nice lunch at the Grand Floridian Café,
took some pictures around the resort and then headed back to
the room for a nap.

It felt so good to get into the warm room away from the cold
and wind. The weather said it was a high of 49 that day, so we
knew we’d have to prepare for a cold night. Our plans called for
dinner at JIKO followed by a night at Downtown Disney. Ava napped,
and we all got ready for dinner. We took the monorail to the Magic
Kingdom and then hopped on an Animal Kingdom Lodge bus. It was a
nice ride to the resort and we were able to see the new Vacation Club
at the AKL and the buildings look so nice. Although the theming of the
resort is not what I enjoy, I have to say it is very beautiful and the
lobby is just amazing.

We headed downstairs to enjoy a wonderful dinner. Our server was
Amaka from South Africa and she was just lovely. We really enjoyed
our meal and took our time to relax and go over what fun we had
during the day and of course, talk about how cold it was.

By the time we were done with dinner, Ava fell asleep and was
in her stroller just as were finishing dessert. Since she fell asleep
we decided to forgo Downtown Disney and just walk around the
lodge, so some shopping at the resort store and then head back to
the Poly. We decided to take a cab, since it was the fastest and
easiest way with a sleeping child. We go back to the Poly, enjoyed
a nice drink at the Tambu Lounge and were sleeping by 10pm. We
did happen to catch the Electric Water Pageant from our window.
It is just so cute!

Tomorrow—Minnie’s not home and RAIN!!??

 

[LuvEeyore]

Loving the trip report!! Ava is sooooooooo cute!! I have been to WDW in June and July (hottttttttt!!) and in October, December and January...some trips cold others nice.

 

[dellasgirl]

subbing
The am view from your room sounds simply beautiful.
Love the pics of Ava in her hoodie and jacket.

 

[Queenofallthings]

I am doing a TR.....it's in my siggie....hope you enjoy it!!!

The evening you were having dinner at Mexico we were next door having dinner in Norway....and we were in MK on the 31st...same as you It was the coldest day we have ever experienced at WDW....we ended up back at the hotel too and then DTD in the evening!!!

I'm interested to see where you were on Feb 1

 

[ReneeDisney]

Loving the trip report!! Ava is sooooooooo cute!! I have been to WDW in June and July (hottttttttt!!) and in October, December and January...some trips cold others nice.

Thank you! You are so sweet! I'm having fun writing the trip report and sharing our trip with my fellow Dis'ers. I agree, we've been to WDW in many of the same months as you and we really love the end of October or early November as our favorite time to visit the world. Those dates just didn't work out for us this year.

subbing
The am view from your room sounds simply beautiful.
Love the pics of Ava in her hoodie and jacket.

Thank you! I felt so bad for my daughter that she was so bundled up with hoodie, blanket but she still had a good time. I'm glad I packed alot of warmer clothes, because we used them all. The view from our room was great, I've got some more pictures that I will share as the trip report moves along.

I am doing a TR.....it's in my siggie....hope you enjoy it!!!

The evening you were having dinner at Mexico we were next door having dinner in Norway....and we were in MK on the 31st...same as you It was the coldest day we have ever experienced at WDW....we ended up back at the hotel too and then DTD in the evening!!!

I'm interested to see where you were on Feb 1

Great! I'll be subbing to your trip report shortly! How funny that you were in EPCOT that night as well. I'm sure we passed each other at some point during our trip! If we would of known in advacne we could have had a mini Dis meet! Thanks for following along!!

 

[ReneeDisney]

Day 3
Monday, February 1st

Of course, I woke up before everyone else. I just can’t seem to sleep well when I’m at Disney World,
the excitement is too overwhelming and I’d
rather sleep when I get home and not miss anything on vacation.

Ava put on her new Minnie Mouse shirt, as I knew
we'd be going to Minnie's house today. Here are some
pictures right outside our room with the Magic Kingdom
in the background.

We were all dressed and out the door by 8:15 am for breakfast again at Kona Café.

We really enjoy the service and food selection and it is
so convenient to hop right on the monorail afterwards and
head to the Magic Kingdom. That was our destination today;
we were hoping that the weathermen were wrong when they
predicted rain for most of the day. Before we left the room,
I packed our rain coats and made sure we had enough layers
of clothes to keep us dry and warm.

Here we are waiting for the monorial....

After breakfast, we headed to the Grand Floridian to use
the business center, as my husband had to do about
½ hours work. While he was busy on a conference call,
Ava enjoyed running around the empty halls of the Convention
Center. It really is beautifully decorated and very serene.
I’m sorry I didn’t take any photos, but we were having so much fun.

Anthony finished up his work and we quickly headed to the
monorail to our destination – The Magic Kingdom. Today was
going to be a fun day. I planned that we would spend some time in Toontown, so Ava could meet Mickey and some of the princesses.
I am sad to hear that Toontown will be taken down, but excited
to see the new land and rides that are coming, especially Pixie Hollow. Anyway, back to our day.

We got to the Magic Kingdom fairly quickly and headed right
for the train. As luck would have it, the train was boarding and
we hopped on for a ride to Toontown. We all enjoyed the
train ride. Thankfully, it hadn’t started raining yet, so we
headed through Toontown for a quick ride on Pooh and
then Dumbo.

After Dumbo we went straight to Mickey’s House for a tour,
then some photos with the big cheese himself. After that,
we headed to Minnie’s house and Ava was very confused why
Minnie wasn’t home. We made a joke that she was shopping
at the mall for Mickey. Even now that we are home, whenever
she looks at the pictures, she shrugs her shoulders and says,
“Minnie wasn’t home!” It really is too cute!

When we were finished with Minnie’s house, it was raining
so hard, luckily we had parked our stroller on Minnie’ front porch,
which was covered and the stroller was dry. We debated
what to do next – after some discussion, we decided to head
back to the judges tent and visit with the princesses. It was a
great way to see the princesses and stay dry from the rain.
The line was about 15 minutes long, we go to see Aurora,
Cinderella and Belle. They really spend a lot of time with the
guests, take as many pictures as you’d like and we found
them to be just lovely.

.... Day 3 continued on next page....

 

[ReneeDisney]

... Day 3 continued...

We exited the princess area to find the judges tent shopping area
packed with people, it was raining so hard, you couldn’t even see
across the street to the Donald’s playground. My husband went
out to get our stroller and make sure that it hadn’t been moved
in the rain or gotten wet. He came back with the stroller and
it was dry! We waited out the rain a bit and decided we couldn’t
spend the whole day in Toontown so we put on our rain gear,
hooked up the stroller’s rain cover and went on our way. We took
two rides on the Wedway People Mover (I know that is the old name for this ride, but I still call it that), waited in line for 5 minutes
for Buzz, enjoyed a wonderful show at the Laugh Floor and then
headed to Casey’s for a great lunch of hot dogs and fries. By
this time, it was still raining and we decided to head back to the
monorail, go back to the room, give Ava a nap and ee what the
evening weather would bring.

Ava napped, I went to the Gym at the Grand Floridian and
Anthony did some work on his laptop. We all showered and
changed, and it was still raining. The original plan was to have
dinner at the 50’s Prime Time Café, but it was raining too hard,
and we really didn’t feel like eating dinner soaking wet. So we
were lucky enough to get a reservation at Ohana. We only needed
to brave the walk from our room to the great ceremonial house to
get to dinner. It was a plan. We left the room early and took a
few rides around on the monorail and Ava had such a good time.

You could see how hard the rain was coming down on the
monorail windows...

After our monorail trip, we had some time before dinner,
so we relaxed on the comfy couches of the Tambu Lounge.

We enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Ohana including a serenade
from the wonderful performer. You can see as Ava looks on.

And of course... the famous bread pudding dessert... YUMMY!!

After dinner we took the monorail to the Contemporary
where were we walked through the shops and enjoyed
a leisurely night.

We headed back to the Poly and ended our day with one
last monorail ride before bed. Even though the weather
was not great, we had a wonderful day and made some
great memories! Isn't that what Disney is really about??

Tomorrow- will the sun shine in EPCOT??

 

[dellasgirl]

sounds like you didn't let the rain get in your way of having fun-what a great attitude you have about a vacation-making memories and having fun!!!
Love Ava's smile so big and bright
looking forward to Epcot day

 

[tinkerbells mum]

glad the rain didn't stop you having fun xx

 

[ReneeDisney]

sounds like you didn't let the rain get in your way of having fun-what a great attitude you have about a vacation-making memories and having fun!!!
Love Ava's smile so big and bright
looking forward to Epcot day

Thanks for reading along! I certainly was disapointed at the weather, but I did try to make the best of it! Your so sweet to compliment my little Ava...

glad the rain didn't stop you having fun xx

THANKS for reading along! The weather wasn't the best, but we still had fun!

Another update tomorrow....