Baby's First Trip; Child Swap Til We Drop!! Nov. 12-22nd 2016 (TRIP REPORT COMPLETED 2/28)

[allysetraskos]

Day 9 - Sunday, November 20th.​

Today was our Animal Kingdom day... We were not too pressed about waking up extremely early. To be honest Animal Kingdom is my least favorite park, we have a zoo membership at home and are no more then 20 minutes away from the zoo. I'm not a big animal person, I don't get the excitement of seeing animals in an enclosure doing things but I deal with it to make my family happy lol
Maybe my opinion will change once Avatars Pandora opens.

I don't know what it is but every time we plan an Animal Kingdom day its SO COLD... Like pants and jackets cold. Last time we were there we wanted to go on Kali River Rapids however because of the cold weather they closed it.. This time they didn't but it was freezing! I of course took out the ponchos the night before and forgot them back at the hotel, luckily as my son and I were walking up a mother and son gave us an adult and child poncho!! What Pixie Dust!! We of course after my husband and Niece went on passed them onto the next family.

My husband had his fill of going on Expedition Everest so I got to go on it extra.. The kids really lucked out they were able to ride it 4 times! - I am so thankful they do child swap!

This is what our day looked like:

Dinosaur FP+ (Mom & Niece)
Expedition Everest FP+ (Husband & Son1)
Expedition Everest (FP+ Child Swap) (Mom, Niece & Son1)
Lunch at Yak & Yeti
Kali River Rapids FP+ (Mom & Son1)
Kali River Rapids (FP+ Child Swap) (Husband & Niece).
Dinosaur (FP+ Child Swap) (Husband, Niece & Son1).
Expedition Everest FP+ (Mom & Niece)
Expedition Everest (FP+ Child Swap) (Husband, Niece & Son)
Kilimanjaro Safaris FP+

We stayed fairly late and caught part of the tree of life show on the way out.

 

[allysetraskos]

Day 10 - Monday, November 21th.​

Today was our Epcot day... Because we schedule a FP+ for Forever Ever After we were unable to schedule any other tier 1 rides. It was priority that my husband rides Soarin' he LOVED it last time and now especially because they updated it with the new film. We made it to rope drop.. Husband and the older kids booked it over to Soarin' (and got a child swap fp+ of course.) They were going to take about 25 minutes so I decided why not take the baby to meet some characters. We were second in line to meet Joy and Sadness and he absolutely loved them. They took their time to let him feel how soft they were and touch their faces. We then walked right across and there was NO line to meet Baymax, took some pictures with him. My go-pro died because I forgot to charge it I was super bummed but thankful that I got the videos of those characters. Luckily I bought my smaller camera that I could still video with. I still had more time to kill so we went to meet with Mickey, Minnie and Goofy. It went pretty quick we waited like 10 minutes to get through the line. The meet was great they took their time, played peek a boo, etc. It was really enjoyable we got great memory maker pics from it! My husband called that they were walking up so we made perfect time.

We were hungry so we got a couple donuts and ate them. We decided to go on a couple rides. We then decided walk around the world, we like to go clockwise so we started in Mexico. I forgot that the world showcase opens later so coincidentally we made rope drop for that lol. We went on the FEA ride which by the way I really enjoyed I thought they did a really good job transforming Norway. It was almost time for our Akershus Banquet Hall lunch, I was really skeptical about it because I didn't think my husband would like it but I really wanted to get my niece to experience it. I had to take the baby to a bathroom to get his diaper changed so I went over to the China pavilion, specifically Nine Dragons. Once I changed him we parked the stroller and were getting everything together to go into Akershus.. I couldn't find my camera.. I started to panic. I dug through everything. We took every single thing out of the diaper bag. I was in tears and panic mode... I didn't upload the pictures from that camera. We went on FEA last so asked the cast members if anyone turned in a camera, we went up to every single cast member in Norway, I called the Epcot lost and found and nobody turned anything in. The last time I had remembered seeing the camera was when we were over near the Nemo ride. This could NOT be happening! How could this be happening! We were already 5 minutes late on our reservation check in, I was gonig to have no photos from the princesses... THIS WAS THE WORST. My last hope was going back over to Nine Dragons which just had opened up their restaurant and asked them if they found a camera, they made me wait while they asked management. The manager comes out with a camera and asks if its mine I turn on the camera and show them its me and my kids.. OMG I was SOOOO THANKFUL ... Somebody did the right thing and turned it in, I felt so blessed. They could of stolen my camera but thankfully there are some good people in the world. We made it JUST IN TIME for Akershus and were able to video & take pictures! Ahh talk about a close call. The highlight of the meal was that the baby threw a piece of cheese down Cinderellas cleavage just as I was taking the picture and her face is priceless. I was not impressed with the food to be honest it was not my favorite, however my husband LOVED it... Go figure! That was the one meal I had the worst feeling about that he would hate, NOPE!

After we ate we continued our way around the world which we did pretty briskly since we saw most of it our first day. We made our way back over to Future World West road some more rides. We really maximized on the FP+ system moble app... As soon as our 3rd pass was used I booked a 4th, as soon as we got in line for the 4th I booked a 5th!... It worked out really well for us! The wait for test track was just too long and the kids were honestly quite bored.

This is what we did at Epcot:

Soarin' (Husband, Son1 & Niece)
Meet Joy & Sadness
Meet Baymax
Meet Mickey, Goofy, & Minnie
Soarin' (FP+ Child Swap) (Mom, Son1 & Niece)
Turtle Talk With Crush FP+
Grand Fiesta Tour
Frozen Ever After FP+
Akershus Royal Banquet Hall
The Seas With Nemo FP+
Figment FP+
Space Ship Earth FP+(4th)
Living With The Land FP+(5th)

We made the decision to hop on a bus and go back over to Hollywood Studios. My niece and I still had a FP+ Tower Of Terror from the child swap to use up.. I was able to score 2 spots on the RNR as well as 2 spots on Toy Story Midway Mania, I kept refreshing the App. We made our way over to Hollywood Studios.. Seriously I love that app!
We got to meet Kylo Ren again because his line was a walk on, this time he spoke. The first time we had a meet and greet he didn't it was awesome he tried to get my older son to go to the dark side.

What we did at Hollywood Studios:

ABC Comissionary Dinner
Tower Of Terror (FP+ Child Swap)
Star Tours (FP+ Child Swap)
Meet Kylo Ren
Toy Story Midway Mania FP+(6th)(Husband and Son1)
Rock N' Roller Coaster FP+(7th)(Mom&Niece)

My Niece and I boarded Rock N Roller coaster, right as it was about to take off the ride was delayed due to some malfunction, after waiting 15 min we finally were able to go, All the lights were on though.. It was a cool experience. After we got off they were rushing people apparently something happened and they closed the ride for the rest of the night, there were tons of upset people that had been waiting. We were so lucky to get to ride it that one last time and experience it in a way not most people get to. We decided to gift our FP+ child swap to this young couple who looked so upset, we asked them if they were staying at the park still and were going to come back to the ride in the next couple days they said yes, they were so appreciative.. We also did that with the rest of our extra Star Tour FP+.

*So hers a quick little side story*
--- My husband and I saw the Disney Parks charms at Magic Kingdom and he really wanted to get me some for Christmas (as thats his go to present I always get), I told him which ones I liked. Well we never ended up going back to Magic Kingdom, he thought that was the only park he could get them at. Fast Forward to our last day, I see him when I'm getting out of the Tower Of Terror ride inside the shop buying something and since its all Tower Of Terror related items I assume hes getting me a shirt or something cute because I love the ride. He goes on for the next few weeks after the trip saying how mad he is at himself for never having time to go back to the Pandora store alone... Christmas morning comes and I am super excited to get my Tower of Terror gift I am expecting my husband hands me a Pandora bag, so of course I think he went to our local Pandora store, I take out a box and it says "DISNEY PARKS" on it... I pause for a moment and think OMG, wait how!?.. He tells me that while he was waiting for us to get off the ride the word "Pandora" caught his eye and it turns out they sold them there too.. He got me my Cinderella Castle & Sorcerer Mickey Ears which I have wanted forever!

 

[allysetraskos]

Day 11 - Tuesday, November 22th.​

Today is the day we traveled home... Leaving is the worst!

The baby was so used to waking up and getting in the stroller that he literally figured out how to climb in it and just sat there looking at us like "COMMON GUYS ITS TIME TO GO TO THE PARKS"... It was so cute.
We packed up everything, went and bought a few last minute souvenirs.. Usually we let my older son pick out a ear hat every year however he really wanted a special trading pin so we let him and my niece each pick one out. Because our flight wasn't until the afternoon we let the kids do some pin trading around the resort with the cast members, we then walked over to The Art Of Animation and took some photos with different statues. I was so bummed that we had to go home I wish we could just live in Orlando!
We boarded the Tragic Express and made our way to the airport. We boarded the plan and had a safe return home. My mom & Stepdad picked us up from the airport an helped take all of our stuff home. It was nice to be back home in our big comfy bed, but after having so many days of stuff to do it was a bit of a let down the next morning!

​

Overall the trip with a baby was amazing, beyond what my expectations were. I thought it was going to be so stressful and difficult, we had originally planned on using a babysitting service. Honestly it was fantastic, we had more fuss and difficulty from the older 2 kids. The only time the baby didn't like to cooperate was when we were on the bus and we had to switch him from the stroller to the baby carrier. He napped perfectly in the stroller and was such a people person. We took him in shows where he had to be quiet like PhilharMagic, Muppet Vision & The Starwars Movie... He was great!
For those people who say wait until their child is older I say DON'T!!! They are free admittance at this age, they can eat off your plate or for free at restaurant, the pictures you get are priceless its just an all around great experience. I am so glad it worked out in our favor!

I can officially say that my husband fell in love with Disney, before it was like pulling teeth to get him to want to go and now he is bugging me to go non-stop. I cannot wait until we can officially start planning our next trip!
​

Here is a little video montage mostly of character meets at Disney

 

[allysetraskos]

This trip report is completed Moderators please move

 

[ravenanne]

We took DD last October when she was just barely 1 and had a blast, too! A lot of people tried to tell me it wasn't worth it because of her age but I'm so glad I didn't listen! We also had a mini emergency when DD had a febrile seizure and we actually ended up at the ER on our last night I'm so glad to hear your son did better! I can't wait to go back!

 

[allysetraskos]

We took DD last October when she was just barely 1 and had a blast, too! A lot of people tried to tell me it wasn't worth it because of her age but I'm so glad I didn't listen! We also had a mini emergency when DD had a febrile seizure and we actually ended up at the ER on our last night I'm so glad to hear your son did better! I can't wait to go back!

Oh no I hope everything is all okay with your little one now! - Yes I cannot wait to go back too.. Hopefully terrible twos wont be too bad haha!

 

[ADLFAN]

Loved your Trip Report! I'm glad your hubby fell in love with Disney!!

 

[ravenanne]

Oh no I hope everything is all okay with your little one now! - Yes I cannot wait to go back too.. Hopefully terrible twos wont be too bad haha!

She was fine after some Tyenol and Motrin, and some good rest. We did have a great time, even that little hiccup didn't seem too bad since Disney really took care of us.

Next time we go, DD will be 3(and no longer free booo) and baby #2 will be 1. It's sure to be an interesting experience lol

 

[lynnirene]

Great report! I'm going with my 16month-old next month, so it was great to see a trip report with one about the same age as him. You definitely convinced me to bring our ergobaby carrier!

 

[yankees23]

Do you need to also have a fast pass for the rides you were getting child swap passes for if you are group 2?

 

[mum of two pirates]

No, you can do the regular line and ask for a baby swap

 

[yankees23]

But if my husband has fp already do I need it to. My travel agent booked our fp. She did 5 of us for space mtn. I know my 5 yo won’t /can’t ride. I asked her if it made sense for me to book fp at the same time for her and I for say barnstormer and first get child swap so I can ride space mtn w the older two after. She said they won’t give us a child swap pass unless we all have fp for space mtn? Is that true?

 

[SCSteve]

Excellent report! Good job of using FP+ and Child swap to the max! Thanks for taking us along on your very successful and magical trip.

 

[Leinzlove]

WOW! What a trip! I'm sorry your sweet little guy got sick. That had to have been a rough day getting him to the Dr. I'm glad you found your camera and it was one wonderful magical trip. And thats so sweet of your hubby to spoil you at Christmas! What a fun time!

We are taking 4 children in June. 7,5,3,1. It was so nice to see how you went with your baby. I will wear my daughter in a carrier as well. Did you ever use a stroller at all? And maybe my husband will to, he hasn't done so before.

I have some of the same character ADRs as you did. I can't wait to Dine with the Beast at BOG. I also am making my own ears. And have quickly became obsessed with all things Disney.

 

[PopArtGal]

Day 10 - Monday, November 21th.​

Today was our Epcot day... Because we schedule a FP+ for Forever Ever After we were unable to schedule any other tier 1 rides. It was priority that my husband rides Soarin' he LOVED it last time and now especially because they updated it with the new film. We made it to rope drop.. Husband and the older kids booked it over to Soarin' (and got a child swap fp+ of course.) They were going to take about 25 minutes so I decided why not take the baby to meet some characters. We were second in line to meet Joy and Sadness and he absolutely loved them. They took their time to let him feel how soft they were and touch their faces. We then walked right across and there was NO line to meet Baymax, took some pictures with him. My go-pro died because I forgot to charge it I was super bummed but thankful that I got the videos of those characters. Luckily I bought my smaller camera that I could still video with. I still had more time to kill so we went to meet with Mickey, Minnie and Goofy. It went pretty quick we waited like 10 minutes to get through the line. The meet was great they took their time, played peek a boo, etc. It was really enjoyable we got great memory maker pics from it! My husband called that they were walking up so we made perfect time.

We were hungry so we got a couple donuts and ate them. We decided to go on a couple rides. We then decided walk around the world, we like to go clockwise so we started in Mexico. I forgot that the world showcase opens later so coincidentally we made rope drop for that lol. We went on the FEA ride which by the way I really enjoyed I thought they did a really good job transforming Norway. It was almost time for our Akershus Banquet Hall lunch, I was really skeptical about it because I didn't think my husband would like it but I really wanted to get my niece to experience it. I had to take the baby to a bathroom to get his diaper changed so I went over to the China pavilion, specifically Nine Dragons. Once I changed him we parked the stroller and were getting everything together to go into Akershus.. I couldn't find my camera.. I started to panic. I dug through everything. We took every single thing out of the diaper bag. I was in tears and panic mode... I didn't upload the pictures from that camera. We went on FEA last so asked the cast members if anyone turned in a camera, we went up to every single cast member in Norway, I called the Epcot lost and found and nobody turned anything in. The last time I had remembered seeing the camera was when we were over near the Nemo ride. This could NOT be happening! How could this be happening! We were already 5 minutes late on our reservation check in, I was gonig to have no photos from the princesses... THIS WAS THE WORST. My last hope was going back over to Nine Dragons which just had opened up their restaurant and asked them if they found a camera, they made me wait while they asked management. The manager comes out with a camera and asks if its mine I turn on the camera and show them its me and my kids.. OMG I was SOOOO THANKFUL ... Somebody did the right thing and turned it in, I felt so blessed. They could of stolen my camera but thankfully there are some good people in the world. We made it JUST IN TIME for Akershus and were able to video & take pictures! Ahh talk about a close call. The highlight of the meal was that the baby threw a piece of cheese down Cinderellas cleavage just as I was taking the picture and her face is priceless. I was not impressed with the food to be honest it was not my favorite, however my husband LOVED it... Go figure! That was the one meal I had the worst feeling about that he would hate, NOPE!

After we ate we continued our way around the world which we did pretty briskly since we saw most of it our first day. We made our way back over to Future World West road some more rides. We really maximized on the FP+ system moble app... As soon as our 3rd pass was used I booked a 4th, as soon as we got in line for the 4th I booked a 5th!... It worked out really well for us! The wait for test track was just too long and the kids were honestly quite bored.

This is what we did at Epcot:

Soarin' (Husband, Son1 & Niece)
Meet Joy & Sadness
Meet Baymax
Meet Mickey, Goofy, & Minnie
Soarin' (FP+ Child Swap) (Mom, Son1 & Niece)
Turtle Talk With Crush FP+
Grand Fiesta Tour
Frozen Ever After FP+
Akershus Royal Banquet Hall
The Seas With Nemo FP+
Figment FP+
Space Ship Earth FP+(4th)
Living With The Land FP+(5th)

We made the decision to hop on a bus and go back over to Hollywood Studios. My niece and I still had a FP+ Tower Of Terror from the child swap to use up.. I was able to score 2 spots on the RNR as well as 2 spots on Toy Story Midway Mania, I kept refreshing the App. We made our way over to Hollywood Studios.. Seriously I love that app!
We got to meet Kylo Ren again because his line was a walk on, this time he spoke. The first time we had a meet and greet he didn't it was awesome he tried to get my older son to go to the dark side.

What we did at Hollywood Studios:

ABC Comissionary Dinner
Tower Of Terror (FP+ Child Swap)
Star Tours (FP+ Child Swap)
Meet Kylo Ren
Toy Story Midway Mania FP+(6th)(Husband and Son1)
Rock N' Roller Coaster FP+(7th)(Mom&Niece)

My Niece and I boarded Rock N Roller coaster, right as it was about to take off the ride was delayed due to some malfunction, after waiting 15 min we finally were able to go, All the lights were on though.. It was a cool experience. After we got off they were rushing people apparently something happened and they closed the ride for the rest of the night, there were tons of upset people that had been waiting. We were so lucky to get to ride it that one last time and experience it in a way not most people get to. We decided to gift our FP+ child swap to this young couple who looked so upset, we asked them if they were staying at the park still and were going to come back to the ride in the next couple days they said yes, they were so appreciative.. We also did that with the rest of our extra Star Tour FP+.

*So hers a quick little side story*
--- My husband and I saw the Disney Parks charms at Magic Kingdom and he really wanted to get me some for Christmas (as thats his go to present I always get), I told him which ones I liked. Well we never ended up going back to Magic Kingdom, he thought that was the only park he could get them at. Fast Forward to our last day, I see him when I'm getting out of the Tower Of Terror ride inside the shop buying something and since its all Tower Of Terror related items I assume hes getting me a shirt or something cute because I love the ride. He goes on for the next few weeks after the trip saying how mad he is at himself for never having time to go back to the Pandora store alone... Christmas morning comes and I am super excited to get my Tower of Terror gift I am expecting my husband hands me a Pandora bag, so of course I think he went to our local Pandora store, I take out a box and it says "DISNEY PARKS" on it... I pause for a moment and think OMG, wait how!?.. He tells me that while he was waiting for us to get off the ride the word "Pandora" caught his eye and it turns out they sold them there too.. He got me my Cinderella Castle & Sorcerer Mickey Ears which I have wanted forever!

Awe such a cute trip. I can’t wait to bring my baby.