Babies First Disney Trip ... And Oh How Magical It Was!

[averysn]

Welcome to my very first trip report!!! After reading through several magical vacation from other DISer's I decided I would take a shot at writing a report myself. I wasn't planning on writing this while on the trip, so some details may have slipped my mind, but I will try my very best!

Now a little bit about how this trip came to be! My whole family loves Disney, and being born in California my parents took me and my sister to Disneyland several times a year until we moved to Texas when I was 6. After we moved our trips were fewer and farther in between, but we still managed to go to Disneyland as much as possible and even made a few trips to Disney World. When I was 18 we hadn't been to Disney since I was 12, so I convinced my family and my cousin's family to all meet up in Florida for a little family reunion trip! This trip had it's ups and downs, but it re-ignited my passion for all things Disney. A few months later I was accepted in the College Program and had the blessing of working in the magical Fantasyland for a few months! My program was cut short due to some circumstances at home, but that experience made me Disney obsessed once again! Upon returning home my husband and I got married and just a few months later I convinced my family to make another trip to the world. This was our first trip to stay on-site and experience the dining program ... two things we decided we could never travel without again! About a year later my sister and I got pregnant with our first kiddos. The day I found out I was pregnant I began planning our little one's first Disney trip ... literally I have notes in my phone of tips for traveling to Disney with toddlers from before my daughter was even born. This lead to this amazing trip, easily the most magical of them all!

Now, on with the show!

Who:

Family G ~
First up is me, Stephanie! I am easily the most Disney obsessed out of everyone in my family and I LOVE planning our next magical vacation. This trip was especially special to me as my family raised me with Disney and I couldn't wait to pass on the gift to my daughter. If it were up to me I would move to Florida RIGHT NOW ... but that's another story.
My husband is Noah. He thinks I'm absolutely crazy for loving Disney so much. He also didn't travel very much growing up, so to him the concept of spending thousands of dollars for a week or two of entertainment is absolutely insane. BUT even with all his complaining he always ends up loving our trips and has a smile on his face the whole time!
And to finish our family is our baby girl, E! E was only 13 months old when we left for this trip. I have trained her to love all things Disney from 2 weeks old. We always have Disney Jr. or a Disney movie on (in fact, she is snuggling next to me watching Disney Jr. right now). She already has a collection of Disney DVD's and most of her toys are Disney themed. When we left for the World she already could recognize many characters, especially the Fab 5!

Family B ~
My sister, Kristin, was my partner in crime this trip. She helped me plan every detail and even became so obsessed she made herself and I some AMAZING planning binders! She use to not be quite as Disney crazed as me ... but I am slowly converting her
Her husband is named James. Although he loves to travel he does not understand WHY we need to go to Disney so much. He whines and complains the entire planning process and drags his feet all the way from Texas to Florida, but I know he secretly loves the world. In fact, he is a photographer and has written many times about the photo opportunities at Disney and how much he loves actually loves the World!
And completing their family is their son, I! I was 15 months when we went on this trip. He also has been trained to love Disney from a young age and could recognize lots of characters when we left. He especially loved Donald and Mickey on this trip, who he lovingly called "BA!"

The Grandparents ~
No Disney trip would be complete without my parents! Both of my parents grew up in California so they went to Disneyland their whole lives. My dad, Dana, is a little kid at heart and loves that his girls love Disney. My mom, Lori, also played a big part in helping me and my sister plan this amazing trip. Both of them couldn't wait to see their grandbabies at Disney for the first time!

When:

October 2-12, 2013. We've only ever gone to Disney World for 8 days and hit the parks HARD everyday. Since we were going with 2 little ones this time we knew the pace would be slower and we would need some "off" days, so we settled on 11 days. We also originally booked the 5-15, but when free dining came out we shuffled our schedules around so we would be eligible.

Where:

This was quite the debate in our home. We had a budget for this trip, so we knew if we stayed on-site we would need to stay at a value or moderate resort. We had stayed at POP last time and although we really liked it, we wanted to experience somewhere new. After anticipating the opening of Art of Animation we eagerly wanted to book a Little Mermaid room, but they were selling out FAST and we weren't quite sold on it. We also debated renting a vacation club and actually had 3 rooms waiting at Old Key West, but didn't read the best reviews on going there with small children, so we crossed it off the list. Finally we considered going to Bonnet Creek since a friend owns a timeshare there so we could get it for a decent price, but after staying on-site our last trip we couldn't imagine not staying on-site again. So, after much research and debate we all agreed that All-Star Movies would be the best and most magical fit for the little ones!


For this trip we were blessed with a free quick-service dining plan, which was AMAZING! We also got to test the magic bands and FP+ program, which we loved! More on both of those to come ...

Well, that is all for this post! Up next ... Travel Day!!!



Links:
Travel Day 10/2 http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=50606402#post50606402
Magic Kingdom 10/3 http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=50626424#post50626424
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[BOG Obsessed]

Hi Stephanie,
Looking forward to reading your TR.

 

[averysn]

It was finally the day ... the day to leave for Disney! I insist on taking early flights to Disney to maximize our time at the World. So, at 4:30 I woke up and started getting ready in my Pinocchio outfit! After getting ready and packing up some last minute items, as well as most of the car, it was time to wake up E. About 5:00 Noah and I took the video camera in her room and woke up a VERY sleepy baby girl. After the initial looks of "what are you doing?" and "you guys are crazy!" E heard the word Mickey and popped out of bed. We got her ready, pulled off her last chain from the countdown and loaded in the car. Let's just say, we were SMOOSHED. We had 1 large check-on suitcase, a carry on suitcase, E's small Minnie Mouse suitcase, 2 backpacks, a diaper bag and a jogging stroller ... and that was just our 1 family.

We met up with everyone else at my parents house where we all packed into 1 truck and 1 TINY car, then we were off to the airport to catch our 7:50am flight. It was slight chaos getting checked in and through security, but we made finally made it to our gates with a little time to spare! Since we hadn't had breakfast yet we ran over to the food court and got breakfast quesadillas, which we shoved down before boarding. The trip went pretty smoothly! Of course we were in the back of the plane with all the other babies, but thankfully E slept a good portion of the way and then watched a Monster's Inc. with Noah the rest of the way. Before we knew it, we were landing in beautiful Orlando!

We all put on our Magic Bands, then we down to the Magical Express. With a swish of our wrists we were told to get in line for the All-Star resorts. We had to wait quite awhile, but the babies had a blast getting to walk around after being on a plane for the last 3 hours. Finally the bus arrived and we began loading on, but wait! Where are James, Kristin and I?! After a brief panic attack we were told they wouldn't fit on our bus and would have to take the next one. Grandpa just couldn't resist holding E on the bus, so Noah and I decided to enjoy the break and watched the welcome video while our driver took us to the resort. Sure enough just a few minutes into the drive our exhausted little muchkin fell asleep in Grampy's arms.

We arrived at All-Star Movies and got in the check-in line. Thankfully, only a few minutes later another bus arrived with the rest of our group! We got three rooms right next to each other in the Herbie building at the back of the resort. At first we were a little bummed we were SO far back, but we ended up loving our rooms because they were so quiet which was perfect for our light-sleeping children. We let the kids explore the rooms for a few minutes while we got freshened up. After a few minutes we decided to head back to the food court and get our first Disney meal! I explored the food court for a minute before settling on a mushroom burger, honest tea and by far the greatest thing at the food court, an ice cream sundae! We also grabbed our refillable mugs while we were in there. The burger wasn't very great ... I only ate part of it. But I was sharing with E and she loved burger, mushrooms and fries at the time. (PS normally our family eats SUPER healthy, but since we were on vacation we decided to give up health food and let ourselves and E indulge in sweets and fried food.)
After lunch we decided to explore the resort and knew we wanted to see the Toy Story area since the kids had watched the movies before we left. They both had a blast running around and playing around the giant blocks!

At this point Kristin decided the I needed a nap, so they took him back to the room to let him sleep. Since E had already napped twice we kept exploring and ended up at the little splash pad. I wasn't planning on letting E play in the water since she wasn't in her swimsuit and I didn't want to get her changed, but when I wasn't looking Grampy couldn't resist and let her run right through the water. She LOVED the splash pad! She was running and screaming and giggling, so of course we ended up there for awhile watching all her cuteness.

After letting E run around for a bit we decided to go get her dried off and relax in the room for a bit. Upon entering the room I could hear I laughing in the room next door. Turns out he was too excited to sleep, so he had just been playing in the room. We got E all dry and changed and then we decided to head Downtown. The first stop Downtown was World of Disney, naturally! Oh my goodness, if I could only explain how cute this experience was. Both kids were AMAZED at this magical store. E was riding on Grampy's shoulder and the entire time kept looking around declaring "OOOO" and "WOW" as loud as she could

We let the kids explore the store until we decided we were ready for dinner. Kristin and James had eaten at Wolfgang Puck Express on our last trip and had raved to us how good it was, so we headed straight there. I got a veggie pizza, cookie and tea since E and I both love veggies and pizza! Oh my goodness ... can I even express how good this pizza was?! If you've never had a pizza there you need to experience the amazing deliciousness! By this time we were getting tired since we had gotten up so early, so we headed towards the bus, but on the way Grammy and Grampy couldn't resist taking the kids on the carousel

We finally crawled back on the bus and headed back to the resort. We were exhausted, but before we could head to bed we had to stop at the desk to get a bed rail delivered to our rooms as well as figure out where our Amazon package we had mailed was. There was some confusion where our package was and a rather rude CM told us they would deliver it when they got it, so if it wasn't in our room when we got back then Amazon hadn't delivered it. Sure enough, it wasn't in our room so I logged online and saw that it had been delivered several days earlier. I called the front desk and sure enough it had been sent to All-Star Music on accident They promised us they would deliver it soon, so we got E ready for bed and waited. When the packages finally arrived we tried putting E in the pack-n-play they had provided, but of course she FREAKED out. So we attached the bed rail and I crawled in bed with her. We all were asleep by about 8:00, which was perfect since we had a full day at the Magic Kingdom in the morning!​

 

[averysn]

Thank you! So excited to have someone following

 

[mygirlsmm32]

Great start! What a fun time to visit the world with the two little ones

 

[Jerzetta]

Look forward to reading more.

 

[JulieODC]

Joining in!!

Great first day! We took our DD for her first trip at 14 months, and had such a good time, we went back a year later. So much fun to see them take it all in, and to see what a difference a year makes in what they love.

 

[wiigirl]

Following along!

 

[averysn]

First and foremost welcome to all the followers!!! So excited to have you all following along!
Second ... from now on my nephew will be referred to as IB. A single 'I' alone was just getting WAY too confusing!
Now on with the show!!!

That first night went pretty smoothly. E woke up once or twice which I expected since she was sleeping in a new place, but she quickly went back to sleep. We all agreed before leaving for this trip that we would let the kids sleep in as long as they needed in an attempt to prevent any meltdowns. Of course, I woke up before everyone in excitement and anticipation for the day to come! I was awake about 7:30 and decided to start getting ready since I knew that once E woke up I would need to get her ready as well. About 20 minutes later E woke up all excited and chipper, which of course meant Noah was forced to wake up as well. I was pretty much ready by now, so while Noah got ready I texted the rest of the family and got E ready for the day. I had read on these boards that the easiest way to pack for kids was to create a bag for each day and fill it with a complete outfit, from hair bow to shoes! Oh my gosh I can't even begin to explain how much I LOVED this idea!!! It helped every morning going quickly and smoothly! Everyone agreed to meet down at the food court about 8:30 so we could get our morning coffee before catching the bus. Since our meal plan didn't include breakfast, Noah and I ate a Larabar while E slurped down 2 squeezable fruit pouches.

We grabbed our coffee and loaded a fairly empty Magic Kingdom bus about 9:00 ... a good hint to the crowds for the day. We got to Magic Kingdom by 9:20, went through bag check and quickly scanned our bands to get into the park. After walking under the train station we saw several characters with lines already formed as well as a sign to meet Mickey inside. Since Mickey's line was only about 10 minutes long we decided this would be the perfect way to start the day! The kids couldn't understand why in the world we were standing in a line so they got slightly bored, but we managed to entertain them with the various Mickey pictures on the wall. Finally, it was our turn to meet the mouse himself! We walked into the room with Mickey who quickly came over to greet our little ones. At first both kids were both extremely confused what was going on! They had seen Mickey a million times on TV, but all of a sudden he was standing right in front of them and interacting with them! E was pretty shy and timid the entire greet, while IB quickly warmed up and yelled out "BA!" (his word for Mickey) several times and trying to grab his nose! After getting autographs and some quick pictures, we grabbed our strollers and went to take some pictures in front of the castle.

It was time for our FP to Enchanted Tales with Belle, so we walked through the new Fantasyland to Maurice's Cottage. We were all SO excited to see this new part of the park since it wasn't open the last time we had visited the World! These FP's came in super handy since the line for the attraction was already quite long! We waited for about 10 minutes before being led into the little cottage. Oh my goodness, can I just say how amazing how a door magically appears in the wall leading straight to the castle?!?! In my excitement I was crying at how magical the whole experience was! Both of the kids enjoyed listening to Belle retell her story, although once again they were slightly confused. They'd never been somewhere like Disney before, so they were trying to take in all the magic and entertainment around them!

After leaving Belle we decided the kids needed to go on their first official ride, so we headed over to Winnie the Pooh since E loves the Pooh characters. Tigger and Pooh were out front meeting the guests and the line was rather short, so we decided to jump in! This greet went much better then Mickey! Precious little Tigger got down on his knees and coaxed E to come say hi to him, which she cautiously agreed to. After getting their signatures we decided to take a big family photo. PS because of this picture I am convinced kids even a year old can remember their trip to Disney World! This picture in up in my parent's house and every time the kids see it they still squeal with excitement!

The line for the ride was only about a 10 minute wait, so into the queue we went! Disney has done a great time updating this queue and both kids had a great time playing with all the bees and the honey screens. Finally it was our time to board our honey pot and we were off on our adventure through the Hundred Acre Woods! Both kids really enjoyed seeing all the characters throughout the ride, although the Huffalump and Woozles part made E slightly nervous.

By this time our FP for the new Little Mermaid ride was ready, so we made our way over to it. With the FP the ride was literally a walk-on, although I wouldn't have mind waiting since the queue looked really detailed! The Little Mermaid was one Disney movie E had never seen before, but she instantly adored all the characters! She especially loved the "Under the Sea" part of the ride and happily danced along with all the fish and Ariel! When we were done with our journey under the sea we were beginning to get a little hungry. We were only about 20 minutes away from our FP to Be Our Guest, so we decided to make our way to the Beast's castle. Oh my gosh can I just say how grateful I am for this FP! The line for the restaurant was already wrapping through Fantasyland and about a 2 hour wait Since we were early we decided to park the stroller and just let the kids run around for a little bit, which they were more then thrilled to do!

Finally it was our turn to enter the castle. We were led down the left hand side of the bridge and greeted into the castle where we merged with the people who had been waiting in the normal line. I'm sure they were thrilled to have us butt in and were wondering why the heck we were getting special attention. While in line E started getting pretty fussy, so I began to rock her and within just a few minutes she fell asleep in my arms. This would become quite the trend with my little girl who ended up sleeping through most of our meals. I ordered the slow cooked roast with green beans and mashed potatoes, a tea and the amazing master's cupcake for dessert. I knew I just HAD to try the infamous "grey stuff" while on this trip! My entire meal was DELICIOUS and this became one of our favorite restaurants during the trip!

Since E was sleeping and IB was getting tired, we decided to start heading towards Tomorrowland with Space Mountain in mind. Of course before we even got out of Fantasyland though E decided to wake up. (Actually a little kid nearby decided to start their meltdown and scream, which startled my poor girl awake ) Anyway ... we were right next to the Tea Cups which was basically walk-on, so we decided to go for a spin. We crammed into 2 cups and away we went. Of course, we didn't add any extra spinning with the little ones in tow, but E absolutely LOVED this ride and giggled everytime she would see her cousin and Grammy spin by her.

When our spin was over it we were ready for a "big kid" ride, and luckily enough it was time for our FP on Space Mountain. We walked over to Tomorrowland where both grandparents and hubby's went for their ride while I fed E and Kristin got IB asleep. Before we knew it the first group was back and Kristin and I went for our journey into deep space. Grampy decided he wanted to tag along, but since we had already used his FP they wouldn't let him on with us. The stand-by line was only about 5 minutes, so we decided to forgo our FP and ride with him ... which ended up being walk-on anyway! Space Mountain was as fun as always and we laughed through the entire thing! When we got off IB was still asleep, so Grampy, Kristin, Noah, E and I decided to take a spin on the rockets. I warned Noah beforehand that it was quite a bit more intense then Dumbo and E prob wouldn't like it, but he insisted. Sure enough E HATED it! She was terrified through the whole thing and whined the entire elevator ride back down. When we got off of this ride IB was finally awake, so we decided to take a spin on Buzz Lightyear. Thankfully both kids enjoyed this ride, which got E back in good spirits. After Buzz we decided to go on the People Mover before heading back towards Fantasyland. We went over to try out a favorite of all children, It's A Small World! This was easily a favorite for both kids throughout the entire trip. I wish I could describe how incredibly precious it was to see both of their faces looking around in wonder trying to take everything in! Makes your heart melt!!!

At this point we headed over towards Dumbo. E had recently fallen in love with elephants and learned how to make an elephant sound, so we were excited to see her on this ride. Of course the minute she saw the flying elephant she began doing the noise as loud and as much as she could! She was EXCITED! The line said it was about a 10 minute wait, which we were ok with since we were excited to let the kids play in the waiting area. Sure enough after entering the big top tent the had us pass right by the new play area and right onto the ride. We were pretty bummed the kids didn't get to play ... but there's always the next trip! I'm pretty sure the Rockets had ruined E because what should have been a favorite terrified her

Next we headed over to the other big top to meet some characters. Noah, Grampy, E and I got in line for Daisy and Minnie while Grammy, Kristin, James and IB got in line for Donald and Goofy. E absolutely LOVED Daisy and Minnie! Such a girl already! We got their autographs and some pictures, then headed outside to let the kids cool off and get some energy out at the new splash pad area. Both kids adored this area and couldn't stop smiling and giggling and they ran around and explored! We spent a good 30-45 minutes getting soaked before drying the kids off and getting them changed into dry clothes.

Within a few minutes of putting E in her stroller she passed out and by this time we were all getting tired. It was about 4:30 and we knew we would be needing dinner soon, so we started heading towards the exit while stopping at a few stores on Main Street along the way so E could sleep a little longer. We loaded on the bus and headed back to the resort where we freshened up before meeting at the food court for dinner. I got a salmon plate with mashed potatoes and chips, an honest tea and another sundae. After dinner we decided to relax in the rooms for a little bit before calling it another early night.

Whew ... that was quite the day! Up next: Hollywood Studios and Disney Jr!​

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[sms]

I'm hooked already! My cousin was a little worried about taking her DD2 but I am trying to talk her into it! I will have to show her your trip report. Maybe that will change her mind!

 

[averysn]

I'm hooked already! My cousin was a little worried about taking her DD2 but I am trying to talk her into it! I will have to show her your trip report. Maybe that will change her mind!

Oh my goodness tell her not to worry one little bit! So many people told us we were crazy to take our kids so young and that we should wait a few years, but we were determined to prove them wrong. It is definitely a different Disney trip ... we never made rope drop and didn't see a single fireworks show (most days we left the parks by about 4 or 5). We also spent a majority of our time on "kid friendly" attractions, but we planned on this before we even left so it wasn't a disappointment when we got there. We knew that letting the kids sleep in and putting them to bed at a decent hour would help prevent meltdowns and I am happy to say neither kid had a meltdown the entire 11 days we were there! Both of them were as happy as could be and acted like little angels We all agree that it was by far our favorite trip we've taken to the World and easily the most magical. In fact, my sister and I are both pregnant again and we are already planning our next trip for next year when the new kids will be 13 months and our older ones will be 3

 

[JulieODC]

Congrats on your pregnancy!!

Fun update...the kids are adorable. You guys got a lot accomplished at MK!