baby threw up and pooped in Coral reef! We still had fun!

[Overexcited]

Hi everyone! We just got back from an awesome trip for 8 days in WDW! Well 10 days including travel!
The cast of players:
Me- Kerri, my son describes me as a Disney psycho!
DH- Phil- loves every moment of our trips but leaves it to me to plan
DS- Aaron age 7 1/2
DS - Craig 16 months
DM - Kathy spent the first 6 days with us
DF- Don also 6 days


We left on Wednesday 9/23 for the world. We had booked at POP century, my DH and my fav, my parents have not stayed on site since 1980!
Our flight left at 6:50 am and my parents left at 6:05 am! Early morning for the kids but they were troopers!

All travel finished with arriving at the hotel at 2pm ish. We had some time to wander and swim before our 7:15 ADR at the hoop de doo. We saw this show last visit and really enjoyed starting our trip this way. My parents had never seen it.
My father could not believe it really takes almost an hour to travel there from our hotel, he quickly understood after we started our journey.

Loved the show as usual, food was good. Ribs not very good but the rest was great. Bus was waiting when show finished but it was all very chaotic.
Not enough buses for all resorts and then not enough room for handicap needs. They made us get off our bus to load scooters that other buses had no space for. Then we ended up standing because now there was no room. Normally no big deal but we stood with a infant and a 7yo sleeping in our arms. Observation: many people do not offer a seat to a person standing on a moving bus holding a young child. Older children can stand but with a 16 month old? This happened ALOT!

So that was the jist of the first day in the world! We were all tired and had an early day at MK the next day, so we crashed!

Next up: EMH at MK and MNSSHP!

 

[Overexcited]

Ok some pics of our travel day and cast of characters!

The boys at the airport, notice the curls on the baby, that will change very soon!

My parents

Me and my family!

 

[Overexcited]

Forgot a little info here. We requested a first floor room, joining rooms with my parents and poolside. I also stated I would need a pack and play. My parents arrived earlier than we did, they found out we got NONE of the requests. My mother told them the most important was the joining rooms. They switched rooms and told her they would move her the next morning to different rooms if she wanted. When we arrived we found out we were in building 4 in 1960's. I was so happy because it was basically an upgrade. After one night my parents agreed and wanted to stay put, we had joining rooms and they delivered the pack n play. So free upgrade! Yes!!!!!

 

[skier_pete]

Joining in...sounds good so far...glad to hear the HDDR food was good - my one concern on using 2 TS credits for it. We have the early show, and I am considering instead of the direct busses to go through DTD. How long did it take from the end of the show until you got back to the hotel!

SkierPete

PS>I would have given you my seat!

 

[Overexcited]

The ride was made much longer because it stopped at the Poly, Caribbean Beach and then POP, poor planning on Disney's part. The boats were not running any longer so this was the only way out, if you have an earlier show it would leave more choices. We stopped to use the bathroom on the way out but you would think they would account for the time to do that.
All told 1/2 hour bus trip.

Disney is always so good about people with disabilities but after awhile it grates on you, some people really abuse the scooter thing. It makes trips possible for people who could not otherwise do it, but we saw whole families on scooters. We were really inconvenienced to let this one scooter one the bus, but I guess they would not have had a way back to their hotel otherwise.

 

[Overexcited]

Day 2: We had planned EMH at MK and the MNSSHP this day as well.
After an early rise we all met for breakfast at POP classic hall dining area. On the bus by 745 am.
As we entered the MK I could not help but wonder about value season being so mobbed! It was very crowded, even for EMH. Tough to get a good pic of the castle but here is the whole gang on mainstreet.

We started out in Adventure Land. Caught Jungle cruise, Aladdin's magic carpet, Tiki room and Pirates. Also stopped for a frozen slushy to cool off. It was very hot and muggy all week.

Next on to Frontier land. My 7yo who is a huge chicken with rides, finally tried Splash Mountain. He LOVED it, went on 8 times on this trip!

While in Frontier land my parents, DH and 7 yo went over to Tom Sawyer's Island. I did not want to carry the baby the whole time so we found a shady bench and waited for them to get back.
Here is my DH and DS at the island

After that my DS wanted to try Splash Mountain again. We headed over while my DM sat with the baby. When we got off she was sitting with a shirtless baby in the shade. She got a mickey ice cream and shared it with him. He promptly threw it up all over his shirt (white one by the way).
We began looking for a store to buy a new shirt for him. Lesson learned to pack extra shirts for baby!

Being Florida sun and the baby a red head, I stayed with him in the shade while my parents went looking for a shirt. They went into the Briar Patch store. Having trouble finding a shirt smaller than 3T, they asked the CM if they had anything smaller. She advised them that on mainstreet they would have a larger selection of childrens sizes. My DM then told her about the baby getting sick and not wanting him to burn. The CM went in the back to look but did not find a smaller shirt. She then told my parents that she would not want our day to be ruined so she gave them the shirt at no charge and told them to have a magical day!!!!
Disney service at its finest! I was touched, the shirt was actually fine on him as well (It had all the characters and said "MY first visit").
About this time we had some lunch and headed for DS fav ride ever....Haunted Mansion. After a ride on this I decided I needed to go back to the hotel with the baby and let him take a nap, my parents needed to go to Epcot for LeCelliar ADR, and my DH and DS decided to stay in the park and have fun.
On the way out I decided to try to ask about the first haircuts at the barber shop. I was in luck they had time to do it right away! I had let his hair grow until this trip, everyone kept calling him "little lady" and my DH was really getting annoyed. His red curls were SO CUTE!
Here are some first hair cut pics

The barber was awesome with kids, I am sure he does a ton of these moments. Yes I cried with the hair cut, but he does look much more boyish now!

Off I went for nap time, we were going to have a late night.

Next up Liberty Tree and MNSSHP pics cont from Day 2.

Good night all!

 

[skier_pete]

Your little one is a cutie! He looked a lot better with the haircut. Awesome about the shirt, too. A great example of an "only a Disney" moment. (Can you imagine going to Darien Lake and them doing that...not a chance!)

 

[Simba22]

I'm here! Going to catch up!

 

[Overexcited]

I'm here! Going to catch up!

Your trip is so close!

 

[Overexcited]

Ok so baby napped but I realized that I had the family tickets to MNSSHP, and Phil and Aaron were still in the park. I sent a text Phil to meet me at the gate instead of Liberty Tree where our ADR was.
I gathered the costumes and got ready. Our ADR was for 605pm, I planned to meet up with the boys at 550 at the gate.
5pm I am standing at the bus stop, baby, costumes, and stroller in hand. The lady in front of me starts telling me that she has been waiting 15 mins already for the bus, I think that the bus should be soon then......
535pm bus is still not there. Something is not working right with transportation!! Shortly after the bus arrives to a line full of cheers. Standing room only, this was a fun balancing act on the bus.

So I arrive at MK 555pm and the boys are waiting, we show our tickets and on to Liberty Tree.


Liberty Tree was our fav from the last trip. I know the characters are gone but we wanted to do it again. We waited about 10 min and then was seated. I changed the baby into his costume while waiting, Aaron changed in the bathroom between dinner and dessert.
Food was good and plenty but it just was not the same as when the characters were there.
We bought 2 glasses for souvenirs $5.00 each, not bad.

Just as we finished my mother sent a text that they were back from Lecelliar and waiting on a bench outside of Hall of Presidents.
Here are the boys in their costumes.

Costumes were made by the boys aunt, she is awesome! I realized that I left the red bandanna at the hotel, I think people could still tell what they were.
We caught a few rides on haunted mansion with Aaron and then lined up for the parade. I know the later one is less crowded but I was afraid the baby may fall asleep and miss the late one.
Here is the headless horseman!

Observation: I enjoy having a larger travel group but we move a whole lot slower as a group!!! We conquered more last time in 2007 in shorter time


My parents went with us trick or treating and then watched fireworks. (they shipped their candy to my nephews) They were tired so they left and brought the baby back with them.
We caught Splash mountain again, then a few other rides. (really disappointed that jungle cruise was closed during the party) and then went back to POP. We got a seat on the bus this time because we left before park closing, a bonus for Aaron.
Disney magic for the day: Shirt for Craig after he threw up chocolate ice cream bar all over his white shirt! Awesome parade! Very cool fireworks.
Not so magical: Stressing over ADR times when bus issues happen, standing with baby, stroller and large bag on bus.
Up next Epcot and Ohana.......

 

[MylilTink]

Your boys are so cute! Especially the lil one, I love red heads.

 

[Overexcited]

Your boys are so cute! Especially the lil one, I love red heads.

thanks! He is the first of the grandchildren to have red hair. I have it and my dad and his whole side was red. Holds a special place in my heart, which is why I cried when he got his curls cut off, it was time though!

 

[Simba22]

Sorry, I've kind of been lurking and falling behind these last few days!


You have a beautiful family!

Observation: many people do not offer a seat to a person standing on a moving bus holding a young child. Older children can stand but with a 16 month old? This happened ALOT!
[/COLOR

sadly, this is the norm for all of the buses to and from POP. I'm reading another DISer's TR, she also stayed at POP (over Labor Day weekend though) and dealt with the same things as you. She was telling us about holding her sleeping child, bags, and a stroller and no one offered her their seat on the bus. I thought this was common courtesy we ALWAYS give up our seats for kids or the elderly. The buses are the main reason I will never return to Pop Century. I have never had bus complaints in 7 previous trips...even staying at ASMo.

Your trip is so close!

I know! I only have 13 more days and only 8 days of work left!

Yay for a free shirt! That was nice of the CM!

I like the view of HM from Tom Sawyer Island! We've never gone over there, but maybe I will give it a try this year for some photo ops lol

 

[Overexcited]

Tom Sawyer's island was never my fav but the boys in the fam love it! I was perfectly happy to wait with the baby. (I had a popcorn that no one knew about )

 

[Simba22]

Tom Sawyer's island was never my fav but the boys in the fam love it! I was perfectly happy to wait with the baby. (I had a popcorn that no one knew about )

sneaky, sneaky!

 

[Overexcited]

Not able to post an update just yet. I typed it out one night but lost it somehow! Life update....
Monday night we are sitting and watching TV at 10pm. I smell burning smell in basement and go down to see. My DH comes down and we discover it is the dryer vent, no worries it was ok, just needed cleaning out. While standing there he hears something and runs upstairs and outside and brings in 2 kittens that were in our basement window well!! It was cold and rainy out, so we brought them in to warm up. SO>>>>now we have a cat, dog, rabbit and 2 kittens. They are 3 weeks old and boys, cute but not staying!
I called a shelter and was told they are all overwhelmed. They said bring them in but most likely will be put down I have been able to find homes for both now on my own. I have them for 2 more weeks and then they will go to new homes when off being bottle fed. (OK Ali I know you are reading this going oh how cute I want them!)

 

[Dancegrl624]

We were at EMH that same morning at MK and I didn't think it was crowded at all!! We were at MK by 7:30am though. My DH and DD went staight to Space Mtn and rode it within minutes and then we did every single ride in Fantasyland except for the Carrousel. It was awesome!!!

 

[Overexcited]

We were at EMH that same morning at MK and I didn't think it was crowded at all!! We were at MK by 7:30am though. My DH and DD went staight to Space Mtn and rode it within minutes and then we did every single ride in Fantasyland except for the Carrousel. It was awesome!!!

Sorry I have to clarify! I did not think wait times were bad, just streets crowded. Especially mainstreet when we arrived. I was surprised how busy it was for value season. Free dining is popular. A few years back we went in value season but not free dining and I do not remember it being so busy. POP was 95% capacity!

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

Subbing.

Your boys are cuties!

Great pictures

I'm a cat lover and so happy that you were able to find homes for the two kittens. I just lost one of my furbabies this week.

 

[Dancegrl624]

Sorry I have to clarify! I did not think wait times were bad, just streets crowded. Especially mainstreet when we arrived. I was surprised how busy it was for value season. Free dining is popular. A few years back we went in value season but not free dining and I do not remember it being so busy. POP was 95% capacity!

I had no idea Pop was that full...we stayed there too!!! We were in the 50's section and we hardly saw anyone over there at all. I feel like we didn't even have neighbors. My DH was the one who went and got us food from the food court on some days. Most days, he was there before 7am and it was a ghost town he said. He went there one day around 9am and it was a zoo! I guess we just really missed the crowds everywhere we went.

We were some of the first people on Main Street that morning, so that's why it probably wasn't crowded for us. I was actually in the town square area for quite some time and it was lovely. We left MK around 10 or so to eat at Chef Mickey's and on the way out Main Street wasn't bad at all. As far as free dining goes, I almost forgot about it! Everytime we ate we got seated pretty much right away (except once) and I feel like the restaurants were pretty empty. Sorry you experienced the crowds!