Bear Hugs & Piggy Kisses - Baby's 1st Trip ~ Updated 12/6: Aulani TR Started!!!

[Dugette]

After our fun ride on Winnie the Pooh, we collected our stroller and made our way over to the Hub to find a spot to watch the castle-lighting show from. We found an empty area to stand a few minutes before showtime. I used that few minutes to pull out the package of glow bracelets that I’d found in the dollar section at Target. It was dark and people were darting out in front of the stroller as if they couldn’t see it coming. Time to fix that and make it glow a bit (and also so we could find it in stroller parking lots):



I wrapped a couple bracelets around the handle and one around each wheel area. Much better!

Showtime:







We saw this show back in 2010 and really enjoyed seeing it again. Izzy seemed to like it fine too. And it’s always so beautiful to see the castle all done up for the holidays!

But, once it was done, we were on a mission to get over to Pirates and use our hard-won Fast Pass+ there. Oh, and the Christmas Party hadn’t officially started yet, but the park was lit up for it:



That was really nice – a little taste of the party without actually going to the party. Having gone in 2010, we knew a big part of the experience was the atmosphere and seeing the park look a bit different (well, and the shows and fireworks and parade…). We enjoyed getting a taste of the MVMCP magic.

We parked the stroller and successfully scanned our Magic Bands to get in the Fast Pass line. Glad we were able to get FP+, because the standby line was fairly long and FP was not bad. We walked through to a point that wasn’t too far back from the loading area and the line just stopped. And didn’t move at all. After a bit, the dreaded announcement came on…yes, we had broken yet another ride that day! They said the ride was down, didn’t give an ETA on when it would be back up, and said that guests could leave if they wanted to, but to go back through the queue and don’t use the “exit”s. We debated what to do, but decided to stick it out a bit longer, since we’d worked so hard for these Fast Passes. And because Pirates is awesome.

Many others decided to move on, though. Some understood the whole go-back-the-way-you-came thing (we were near the end of the line, so we could tell), but some were going through the exits that they were not supposed to. We moved up in line a fair amount, due to those that abandoned ship. I let Izzy wander around a bit while we waited. Until she made a break for one of the rule-breaking exits. There were a few stairs at the exit and there is nothing she loves more than climbing stairs. I had to hold her after that. Didn’t want to get in trouble with the Pirates!

After having waited maybe 15 minutes or so, when we were just starting to get uncomfortable with the time, the ride started back up again! We got on and had a fun ride. Izzy sat on my lap and hung on to me just a bit tighter during the drop. She otherwise spent the whole ride just looking around and taking things in. I pointed out some of the animals to her, since she loves her doggies and kitties.

At the end, as is common for Pirates it seems, the boats all got a bit backed up. This was the hardest part of the ride for me because, although it was only a brief delay, it was a delay with nothing interesting to watch and no movement – so Izzy was ready to go. Hard to hang onto her and keep her from standing up. I was thinking, “Go, boats, go!!!” Luckily, it wasn’t long before we were disembarking and making our way up the ramp.

We had to get a picture to commemorate the ride on our way out:



Also, Izzy found a Pirate Mickey display:



After we got her to relinquish her Mickeys, we made our way over to Pecos Bill’s to grab dinner before heading out of the park.

Except that the ride breakdown at Pirates pushed us back from our planned schedule. And it was now about two minutes after 7pm – so the Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party had officially started. A Cast Member was stationed outside Pecos Bill to keep out non-party-goers. I knew that they didn’t want people to hide out and stay for the party without tickets, but I was surprised they’d turn away people from eating at a non-party-related quick service. But we were turned away. Well, until we “begged.” We told the Cast Member that we had been delayed by Pirates breaking down and just needed to eat (and our baby needed to eat) and we were heading right out afterwards for a sleigh ride at Ft. Wilderness. Well, he took pity on us, I guess – or maybe just realized we weren’t MVMCP stowaways – and let us go in. Yay for another awesome Cast Member! Pretty sure he wasn’t “supposed” to do that, but we sure appreciated being able to eat dinner that night!

Dug got the ribs, which came with some cole slaw, and he also got a side of onion rings:





He was given a completely insane amount of ribs. It seemed like a double order – one serving stacked on top of another.

I got something I’d always wanted to try from Pecos Bill – the Taco Salad:



They give you a tortilla bowl with ground beef in it and you add whatever you want from the toppings bar.

Based on our pictures, I think that we didn’t have anything for Izzy because we’d rushed right over from Pirates and her bag was still on the stroller. So, no bib or placemat or milk or pouches or snacks. And we didn’t want to go get them, as we were afraid whoever went out would not be allowed back inside. So, we improvised and fed her from our meals. I think she munched on a little of everything, but mostly the taco shell from my salad.

We also got a couple of ice waters and she was primarily obsessed with that. She kept stealing away my water and trying to drink like a big girl:



It worked out well that they had put a stir stick in it rather than a straw, since it slowed the flow for her. But I was terrified that the lid was going to pop off and she was going to drench herself in ice water. Or that she’d drop/toss it off the table and it would explode everywhere. I just watched her like a hawk, ready to do my heavily-practiced-at-home one-handed-falling-drink-grab. Luckily, she was fine. She got fairly wet from water coming through the straw hole in the lid, but not soaked. She would take the straw out and then put it back in, getting upset if I helped her – she really wanted to be a big girl and do things herself on this trip. You could see that she was so proud that she was able to use the cup and straw. It was really cute. Oh, and she also had a good time playing with a plastic spoon.

Our food was good, though Dug got sick of the ribs at some point. Just too many. My salad was good, but I don’t think I finished the shell.

On the way out, Dug stopped into the restroom, so I amused Izzy with one of her favorite toys: a phone. You don’t see a lot of these anymore:





She enjoys holding anything phone-like up to her ear and having imaginary babbly conversations into it.

Our last stop on the way out, after picking up the stroller, was the Baby Care Center. We wanted to change Izzy’s diaper and change her into a warmer outfit for the evening. I would guess maybe we gave her some of her snacks or milk too, but I don’t really remember. At any rate, there were no Cast Members blocking the Baby Care Center entrance, so we went right in.

The evening’s outfit:



If you followed my Pre-Trip Report, you may remember seeing those pants – they have a mouse tail on them. And they came with a jacket that has mouse ears. You can see the whole outfit two pictures down in this PTR post: http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=49987604<br />&postcount=469 Well, this night wasn’t all that chilly yet, and we didn’t want her to be too warm with the jacket, so we left it off. And never did need to put it on her. So, I suppose she looked a bit silly with just a mouse tail and no mouse ears. Oh, well, she’s one – she can still pull it off and be cute!

After we were done in the Baby Care Center (I think I may have used the restroom in there), we made our way out of the park. At that time of night, with MVMCP guests lining up for the parade and Cast Members sending people away, you really feel like you’re doing some sort of walk of shame:



You just want to start declaring to the masses, “Hey, we really are just leaving! They didn’t find us trying to sneak around and kick us out! We just finished eating dinner and are heading out totally on our own! See, look, I’m smiling!” Maybe that’s just me. We also encountered a "wall of CMs" walking down Main Street, towards the castle, doing a wrist-band sweep. Pretty intimidating.

Anyway, we made it out of the park successfully and walked over to the Fort Wilderness boat launch. Neither of us can remember, but I’m thinking we may have just missed a Fort Wilderness boat. And we were already running late. We were worried about whether or not we’d be able to do our sleigh ride by the time we got there.

I remember, while waiting for our boat, a little girl from another family was fascinated by the glow bracelets on our stroller. Her mom caught her trying to remove one from the wheel, actually. I should have given her one, but wasn’t thinking fast enough. And, once I did think of it, I wasn’t sure that we’d have enough for our stroller on the other nights. It turns out that we acquired another one later, though, so it would have been fine. Oh, well. Actually, maybe it was for the best, as we have an “incident” with a faulty one on a later day of our trip…would be bad if I’d given her that one. Anyway, enough random foreshadowing.

Up next: Izzy does a lot more flirting. Horsies and sleighs and lights. And we transfer a sleeping baby again?! Don’t worry, this is actually a great night.

 

[JillianLeigh]

Woo hoo!! A nice CM! Glad you were able to get some dinner before heading out for the night. And I really need to stop reading your TR when I'm hungry. Those pictures make me want to eat!! Dreaming of the ice cream in my freezer...

What is it about Pirates always being backed up, especially at the end? I can't remember a time where I didn't have to wait and feel like I'm riding bumper boats.

Great idea of bringing your own glow sticks. Adding them to my packing list for sure.

 

[AprilRenee]

you transferred another baby?? Have you learned NOTHING??? LOL just kidding!

Can't wait to hear about the rest of your night!

 

[amazingact21]

Pirates seems to be breaking down a lot, lately. Guess it was good you stuck it out in line, though, since you got to ride it eventually. I think by that point I would have been too stubborn to leave. Following the mentality of, "We FINALLY got FPs, I'm going to use them!"


MK is crazy strict about kicking non-party goers out at 7pm. I was asked about 12 times to show my wristband, even to get into one section of Fantasyland. Nuts. It's as if they want to shield all regular guests from even the sights of the party.


I like the Taco Salad from Peco Bills. Mostly because you can add your own toppings. It's nice to have options in a QS restaurant.

 

[Jackiemarie21]

Looks like a great start to your evening! I love the minnow pants even without the ears!
At least you finally had some luck with a nice CM. I can't wait to hear about the sleigh ride.

 

[Dugette]

Woo hoo!! A nice CM! Glad you were able to get some dinner before heading out for the night. And I really need to stop reading your TR when I'm hungry. Those pictures make me want to eat!! Dreaming of the ice cream in my freezer...

Ha, that happens to me all the time, looking at yummy food pictures in TRs when I'm hungry! Ice cream is always a good solution.

What is it about Pirates always being backed up, especially at the end? I can't remember a time where I didn't have to wait and feel like I'm riding bumper boats.

Agreed, it's almost always bumper boats. Not sure why, but no fun with an antsy toddler to hold onto.

Great idea of bringing your own glow sticks. Adding them to my packing list for sure.

Yes, they were handy! Especially with a December trip and it getting dark early. Plus, good toys for kids too!

you transferred another baby?? Have you learned NOTHING??? LOL just kidding!

Can't wait to hear about the rest of your night!

That totally makes it sound like I transferred someone else's baby! No, that would not be okay! We had no choice on this one, unless I wanted my arms to fall off later.

Pirates seems to be breaking down a lot, lately. Guess it was good you stuck it out in line, though, since you got to ride it eventually. I think by that point I would have been too stubborn to leave. Following the mentality of, "We FINALLY got FPs, I'm going to use them!"

Yes, we had that attitude - we really wanted to use them after all the trouble we'd gone through.

MK is crazy strict about kicking non-party goers out at 7pm. I was asked about 12 times to show my wristband, even to get into one section of Fantasyland. Nuts. It's as if they want to shield all regular guests from even the sights of the party.

It seems like they've gotten a lot more serious about it since the party we went to in 2010. It's a good thing, in general, but also kind-of strange that they won't allow anyone to spend extra $ on their way out (restaurants, stores).

I like the Taco Salad from Peco Bills. Mostly because you can add your own toppings. It's nice to have options in a QS restaurant.

It was a nice option for quick service. I wish they had a few more "salad-y" toppings, but it worked.

Looks like a great start to your evening! I love the minnow pants even without the ears!
At least you finally had some luck with a nice CM. I can't wait to hear about the sleigh ride.

Minnow pants, huh? Nice autocorrect. I'm so glad we had a good CM there. I don't think we would have been able to eat dinner otherwise, at least not easily or quickly. Sleigh ride coming up!

 

[Dugette]

So, by the time we got on our boat to Fort Wilderness, we knew we were going to be late for our 8:30pm sleigh ride. The question was just exactly how late. And we didn’t want to call because we figured we had a better chance of getting a ride by just showing up and seeing what they could do. I remember thinking that there were decent odds that we would not be doing a sleigh ride that night.

Anyway, our boat ride was fun. Despite it being past her bedtime, Izzy was still in a great mood. I didn’t realize it right away, but she was having a blast flirting with a family a few rows back (rows between were empty), particularly the husband and his son. She was playing peek-a-boo with them and just generally hamming it up. The guy was just loving it and I kept hearing laughter coming from them and Izzy was dancing all around on our bench and giggling. She’s good at making friends, I guess. It was such a fun ride. I could hear them commenting and they obviously were having a blast with a cute baby entertaining them on the boat ride.

At one point, the guy mentioned to me that it was really nice seeing a happy baby this time of night. I suppose he’d mostly been seeing cranky overly-tired babies at WDW. But Izzy was a champ and could not get enough of their little games.

Once we arrived, we chatted with their family briefly before splitting up and going our separate ways. They were very nice. I really think Izzy just made that guy’s day, so the boat ride is a happy memory for me. And, of course, she had a blast without me having to entertain her, so even better! Oh, and they got a kick out of her mouse tail too.

So, after walking as quickly as we could, we still showed up pretty late for our sleigh ride. I think it was at least 8:45pm and we’d been scheduled for 8:30pm. There were no Cast Members there, as they were all probably out driving sleighs. We went and sat on a bench to wait. There was an older couple sitting on the next bench over. We got to talking with them while we waited. It turned out that they were behind the sparkly Minnie Ears ladies in line after us for the monorail earlier that afternoon. They recognized us (well, Izzy).

We chatted quite a bit about various Disney experiences. The husband had suffered from some sort of medical emergency early on in their trip and they had spent a night in the hospital, I think. But he was fine now. I believe they were also staying at the Poly. I remember sharing stories with them about our past trips. Illnesses during a trip and getting upgraded to Club Level at the Poly and getting the best deal on a WDW resort rate, etc. The couple was very friendly and really nice to talk to. I missed a lot of the conversation, though, because Izzy was roaming around and I had to keep running off after her, since it was technically a roadway and it was dark. She was also having a good time carrying one of our empty water cups (with straw) everywhere with her. She loved that thing.

After a 15-minute-or-so wait, some horses/sleighs/Cast Members made it back. I think the other couple had a 9pm reservation, so they were on time (but had been waiting for a while). We told the CM that we’d gotten delayed for our 8:30pm reservation and wanted to see what could be done. I figured we would be out of luck, as we’d completely missed our whole time frame and should have been done with our ride by this time. And I didn’t want to delay someone else’s ride. However, circumstances must have been just right, because they got us boarded right away and without hesitation (and got the other couple on the other sleigh). Yay! The view from our sleigh:



Izzy liked the horsie:



Our driver was super nice and offered to take a family picture for us before we got going:



Love it!

Izzy had fun, especially continuing to play with her empty cup. I had to be careful that she didn’t drop it overboard. I’ve gotten pretty good at catching cups.

Most of our ride was something like this:



Yes, me in focus and Izzy a blur of motion. Sums it up well. For the most part, the lights didn’t particularly interest her, but some things would catch her eye. We learned on our 2010 ride that pictures of the lights are very hard to get in focus, so we didn’t take many. Here’s one, though:



In general, we felt like the displays weren’t as impressive as they’d been 3 years prior. It was still fun, but there was a lot more non-decorated darkness than we remembered. Plus, it was harder for me to really take everything in because I always had an eye (and both hands) on Izzy.

Our driver stopped for a few minutes at the coolest display. This castle had its own Wishes soundtrack and choreographed fireworks show:



It was very impressive. The guy who made it was hanging around chatting with people and he brought over a glow bracelet for Izzy. Very nice! I lit it up and made it round and she loved playing with it (and dropping it, of course). It later got added to our stroller handle.

When we got back, we asked to take a picture of our horse (can’t remember his name anymore, though):



Izzy liked him:



After our ride, we had one more thing to deal with. We had pre-paid for the sleigh ride with a credit card. When Dug had called to switch the payment to our Disney Gift Cards instead, they told him he would have to do that at the time of the ride because otherwise we may lose our reservation in the process of cancelling and re-booking that they would have had to do to change the payment method. So, we brought along the Disney Gift Cards and asked about moving our payment to them and refunding the credit card. The Cast Member had the supervisor come out and he was extremely friendly and went to work on it. We also were hoping to put a tip for our driver on the cards, but they only accept cash and we didn’t have any, so that was too bad. We just paid her lots of compliments instead, since she was very good. At any rate, the supervisor told us that it would take maybe 15-20 minutes for him to take care of this and seemed very apologetic about it. We told him that wasn’t a problem and we’d go down to the dock to watch the fireworks (Holiday Wishes was about to start), then I’d come back up to meet him.

We enjoyed Wishes, then I snuck away when Izzy wasn’t looking (she was Mommy-obsessed at the time of this trip). I cruised back up to the sleigh ride area, taking a picture on the way:



Waited on the bench for a few minutes and used the time to play on my iPhone. The supervisor came out after a few minutes and gave me all of the credit card refund paperwork and receipts for the Gift Card usage. He was extremely nice. It was good to interact with Disney-like Cast Members again.

I made my way back down to the dock, snapping a picture of the cool lit-up bikes on the way:



We actually saw people riding around on lit-up bikes like this when we arrived, by the way. Pretty neat.

As I approached, the Electrical Water Pageant was floating by:





Turns out that this was a very welcome sight for Dug. He told me later that, a few moments after I snuck away, Izzy noticed I was gone and started booking it after me. He was super sore, but had to get up and chase her down. She was really upset at that point and the saving grace was that she was fascinated by the Electrical Water Pageant. She was pretty excited when I came back.

We chose to get in line for the boat to the Contemporary, then take the monorail back to the Polynesian from there. Our boat arrived and we hopped on, me still holding Izzy (we had to fold the stroller on this boat, I think). Soon, this is what I was holding:



Ha ha, poor tired baby! Her first full Disney day wiped her right out! (all 4 rides, ha! Two of which were broken down! )

Near the Contemporary, look what we saw again:





Oh, and here’s the Contemporary:



We were nervous about what was coming up. I was still holding sleeping Izzy and I would need to put her down eventually. So, we got off the boat and Dug set up the stroller and got it reclined. I carefully transferred Izzy into it and she started to cry and we immediately started walking, pushing the stroller, which put her right back out. We learned that a transfer will make her stir, but movement will lull her back down. This same thing applied to reclining her if she fell asleep sitting upright also.

On our way to the Contemporary:



Walking the grounds:





We decided to go take a look at the Gingerbread Christmas Tree while we were there. Note the peek-a-boo gingerbread man difference between these two pictures:





Since we had a stroller with a sleeping baby, the escalators to the monorail platform weren’t going to cut it for us. We managed to find our way to the elevator. Love how they have to explain the buttons here:



We pressed “M” for “monorail” and were soon where we needed to be and getting on board a train. The view from our monorail car:



Once we got back, I was getting a little bit of a sweet tooth and suggested that I go to Captain Cook’s to pick up some desserts for us. Dug asked for a Dole Whip, then headed back to the room with sleeping Izzy. He was in a lot of pain by that time and wanted to lie down. We were smart this night and left Izzy in the stroller until her middle-of-the-night wake-up.

I stood at the dessert case at Captain Cook’s for far too long. Just couldn’t decide. For some reason, even though I’m not generally a huge cupcake fan, they sounded really good that night. The gingerbread one was good-looking, but I didn’t know that I’d like the flavor. So, I ended up going with the Red Velvet one, which turned out to be a great choice. I brought them back to the room and took a very quick dimly-lit picture before digging in:



Dug enjoyed his Dole Whip. I thought my cupcake was delicious and it really satisfied the sweet tooth. Dug tried a bite too and was impressed. Very tasty. After that, I think I washed out Izzy’s cups and bibs and headed to bed. We were wiped out after a 20,000+ step day (according to our Fitbits). The nice thing is that I use my Fitbit to track sleep, so I can tell you that we went to sleep around 11pm and Izzy woke up around 2am. I changed her diaper and put her in jammies, then nursed her and put her into the Pack ‘n’ Play. She went back to sleep, thankfully. It looks like she slept through the rest of the night after that and we weren’t up again until around 7am the next morning. Not bad at all!

Up next: A morning in Future World. And the slowest monorail ride over Epcot ever (even slower than our accidental one!)

 

[LuvEeyore]

Dugette,
Izzy is so cute!! Looking forward to hearing more about Izzy's first trip.

 

[AprilRenee]

Your transfer story wasn't as scary as I feared!
I'm so glad she was chill and happy even though she was up past bedtime! Sounds like you guys had a really nice end to your day!

 

[Leshaface]

The lady at GS was getting me so furious for you! I'm so shocked that you held your composure and fought on to ask those 3 questions

Okay, sorry, but I laughed at Dugs photo Not really at Dug, but more because DH makes faces when he has a cold and i'm like, "Really?! You have a stuffy nose!"

I made it to that waffle kiosk for the first time this trip! Delicious!

Way to stick it out for Pirates!

Aw love the family photo on the sleigh. Very precious!

Great idea about keeping Izzy in the stroller until she woke up again. Smart!

So I have a non-TR question. I use the same pacifiers (pretty sure because you told me about them ) but have Izzy's teeth been affected? It looks like his front two teeth are shorter than the teeth next to them, giving them like a half circle look. So his fangs are longer than his two front teeth. He only uses his paci for naps and to go to sleep at night. Maybe it's just the structure of his teeth and not the paci at all! Just thought i'd ask.

 

[Jackiemarie21]

Whew, so glad the transfer went well!
Yup that auto correct was pretty bad! I really should stop replying on my phone. I type faster the the phone works and I get some crazy auto corrects!

Hooray for another Disney level CM! I was starting to get worried there at the beginning of your TR!

 

[amazingact21]

I'm glad you were able to go on the sleigh ride. I'm always optimistic that CMs will take into account ride stops, long monorail waits, etc and be lenient on missed reservations.


Oh no, I got worried for a second there when you said you had to have a supervisor come out and handle the gift card transfer. I just thought, "Not another bad Cast Member interaction!"
Thank goodness that wasn't the case!


I skipped seeing the Contemporary in December, but it looks like the gingerbread tree was really neat. Love the display behind it, too.


Good to hear Izzy slept decently that night. Touring Disney wiped her out!

 

[Majordis]

What a beautiful family photo! Absolutely beautiful!

 

[Dugette]

Dugette,
Izzy is so cute!! Looking forward to hearing more about Izzy's first trip.

Thank you so much! Good to have you here!

Your transfer story wasn't as scary as I feared!
I'm so glad she was chill and happy even though she was up past bedtime! Sounds like you guys had a really nice end to your day!

It was a really nice end to the day! We were nervous about that transfer, but luckily the movement of the stroller was enough to put her right back out. It was fun that she was in such a good mood earlier and it was fun to wander while she slept later on.

The lady at GS was getting me so furious for you! I'm so shocked that you held your composure and fought on to ask those 3 questions

I really, really didn't want to wait in line again! But, yeah, the look she gave me when I went into that third question was a very clear, "Why are you still talking to me?" look. It was awkward. But I did eventually get what I needed.

Okay, sorry, but I laughed at Dugs photo Not really at Dug, but more because DH makes faces when he has a cold and i'm like, "Really?! You have a stuffy nose!"

It's nice to know Dug's not the only one that makes dramatic faces.

I made it to that waffle kiosk for the first time this trip! Delicious!

I'm so glad we made it there! Always nice to try a new, good snack at WDW.

Way to stick it out for Pirates!

We were bound and determined to get use out of our Fast Pass!

Aw love the family photo on the sleigh. Very precious!

Thanks, it turned out pretty cute! It took a few tries for her to get one where Izzy wasn't a blur, though.

Great idea about keeping Izzy in the stroller until she woke up again. Smart!

Yeah, we didn't dare disturb her peaceful stroller slumber after that nap incident. I felt kinda neglectful going to bed myself while she was still fully dressed and in her stroller, though. But, it was for the best and she was comfortable and reclined and all. And she was right next to the Pack 'n' Play...so, close enough?

So I have a non-TR question. I use the same pacifiers (pretty sure because you told me about them ) but have Izzy's teeth been affected? It looks like his front two teeth are shorter than the teeth next to them, giving them like a half circle look. So his fangs are longer than his two front teeth. He only uses his paci for naps and to go to sleep at night. Maybe it's just the structure of his teeth and not the paci at all! Just thought i'd ask.

Yep, same pacifiers. However, I don't see anything like that going on with her teeth. I tried to get a good look tonight (as much as she would let me) and they all look about the same length, more or less. Might just be the way they're coming in? Hers all seem a bit scattered right now (like gaps between the front ones), but her doctor didn't seem concerned, so I'm assuming all sorts of things are normal at this point. Maybe mention it to your doctor next check-up, just to ease your mind? It sounds like he's not using it terribly often either, so I doubt it's an issue.

Whew, so glad the transfer went well!
Yup that auto correct was pretty bad! I really should stop replying on my phone. I type faster the the phone works and I get some crazy auto corrects!

Ha ha, that was pretty funny! Gotta love the things phones come up with for us sometimes.

Hooray for another Disney level CM! I was starting to get worried there at the beginning of your TR!

Yeah, we had a really bad streak at the beginning of the trip, but it didn't last the whole time. This was getting back to the more Disney-like service we've come to expect. This guy was pretty much the opposite of the guest service person from earlier. His kindness was much appreciated!

I'm glad you were able to go on the sleigh ride. I'm always optimistic that CMs will take into account ride stops, long monorail waits, etc and be lenient on missed reservations.

I always hope for the best, but man did we show up late for a lot of stuff that week! Granted, it wasn't all our fault (what? monorails are down and we need to get back to our resort?), but we were not very on time for things. Oops.

Oh no, I got worried for a second there when you said you had to have a supervisor come out and handle the gift card transfer. I just thought, "Not another bad Cast Member interaction!"
Thank goodness that wasn't the case!

Oh, gosh, that would have been awful. I'm glad we got someone good to deal with a money issue like that. I would have been really bothered if they just refused to do it or something. Luckily, it was no problem.

I skipped seeing the Contemporary in December, but it looks like the gingerbread tree was really neat. Love the display behind it, too.

It was neat, but not one of the most impressive displays at WDW. I'm sad we never made it to the Grand Floridian this year, since that display is so much better. But this was something. Nice to be able to take it in while Izzy was sleeping peacefully too.

Good to hear Izzy slept decently that night. Touring Disney wiped her out!

It sure did wipe her out! I love that she just passed out in my arms on the boat...at that age, passing out in mom or dad's arms doesn't happen much anymore!

What a beautiful family photo! Absolutely beautiful!

Aw, thank you! It turned out pretty nice. If it was a little clearer, it could have been a Christmas card photo (we used the one in the intros, instead).

 

[JillianLeigh]

I love how Fort Wilderness Campground is like its own little Disney community, especially during the holidays. If our trips to WDW were longer I think it'd be a great place to stay and relax.

Izzy was such a trooper on your first day! Love that she just passed out in your arms at the end of the night.

 

[jc040404]

I love all of Izzy's flirting stories. She sounds like such a fun little girl. She seemed to do great this evening, too. I was really wondering how the carriage ride would work out for her. Awesome that were still able to accommodate you with the late arrival! Love the pic of her sleeping in your arms. Glad that transfer was more successful!

You really have some bad luck with rides breaking down though, don't you?

 

[Dugette]

I love how Fort Wilderness Campground is like its own little Disney community, especially during the holidays. If our trips to WDW were longer I think it'd be a great place to stay and relax.

It really is its own little world. Especially around the holidays when some people bring their campers and stay for weeks at a time and really set up decorations extensively. Pretty cool. I think it might be fun to stay in a cabin there sometime. But visiting is good too.

Izzy was such a trooper on your first day! Love that she just passed out in your arms at the end of the night.

She was a trooper, indeed. I think she had a great time, especially considering her lack of nap. Passing out in my arms was so unexpected, but so adorable and sweet.

I love all of Izzy's flirting stories. She sounds like such a fun little girl. She seemed to do great this evening, too.

I couldn't believe what a little flirt she was! Constantly charming people behind us in lines. She is a ton of fun, we are very lucky. And she really did great for a late evening on a lack of sleep. She was actually in a great mood for the vast majority of the trip.

I was really wondering how the carriage ride would work out for her. Awesome that were still able to accommodate you with the late arrival! Love the pic of her sleeping in your arms. Glad that transfer was more successful!

I love that picture of her sleeping in my arms too! It was so funny, all evening she was like, "Having fun, having fun, such a good time, wheee...." then all of a sudden, "Hey, I'm on a relaxing boat, fun.....zzzzzzzzz...."

You really have some bad luck with rides breaking down though, don't you?

We really do! Actually, I was thinking about it and realized that Dug's first ride at WDW (our 2009 trip) started with a broken ride too...we had to get off Winnie the Pooh mid-ride. And, if I recall correctly, we started with a broken ride in 3 of the 4 parks that trip.

 

[Denovagirl]

Sleigh ride looks like fun! I would like to go explore Ft Wilderness some more one day, they had so many fun things to do there! I loved all the watercraft rentals and trails and things!

Izzy did so good staying up through the sleigh ride too! Nice that she got to enjoy it!

Cant wait to read more!

 

[OasterP]

Ok I think I caught up on most of your trip reports in the last day!! Love them! I didn't realize until I messaged you that this one was still ongoing, so I'm definitely joining in!

I'm home recovering from neck surgery and live in PA, so yeah....snow snow snow and lots of time to read!

Joining in!

 

[dtr_angel]

I'm finally caught up!

What a mess you had to deal with and I'm sorry you did not get any friendly CMs for quite some time. I'm glad you finally got to use your FP on Pirates! Yay for a CM that let you get something to eat too. I'm glad everything worked out with your sleigh ride, it sounds like the magical end to a MK night. I'm glad you didn't have issues transferring Izzy that night!