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

[Leshaface]

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Thank you, that's very nice! So many bad things were happening that I even forgot to mention another old friend who's mom died unexpectedly at 60 recently too. And (major Debbie Downer alert!) the 5-year-old made it to 6 and passed away on her birthday. The funeral took place while we were gone, so I was very glad to have this trip and not have to think about sad things like that for a few days. It was really fun and great memories made. (Side note: though Dug doesn't know this person well - really just acquaintances at best - it appears, looking at their photos, that they must have taken their daughter to Disney at least 3 times and made some great memories there, so this was maybe a fitting place to be - making our own memories - in honor of their daughter).

Oh my gosh. Prayers for that family that's awful. And you're right. Probably the best place to be.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day, celebrating with the dads in your life! We had a nice afternoon at the winery with Dug's parents. Will be celebrating with my dad sometime soon also. Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's day to Dug! I love the picture you gave him!

 

[Dugette]

Oh my gosh. Prayers for that family that's awful. And you're right. Probably the best place to be.

Yes, so sad and unfair. I am way too empathetic and just can't let myself think about it too much - thank goodness for a fun WDW trip to reminisce about instead.

Happy Father's day to Dug! I love the picture you gave him!

Thank you!

 

[Dugette]

After our semi-magical carpet ride , we went next door to the Tiki Room. We figured the combination of birdies and music/singing/dancing would be right up Izzy’s alley. Pre-show area:



Well, as with all WDW shows, Izzy kind-of enjoyed it for a short while, but mostly didn’t care. She was far more interested in finding ways to play and escape our row. So, once more, I spent a show just hoping for the end so I could stop wrangling a toddler and trying not to disturb anyone else. Here she is early on:



And the show:





After we escaped the Tiki torture (ha ha), we paid a quick visit to these guys:



And then we were off to enjoy the Jingle Jungle Cruise:





There were some nice holiday touches to the décor and narration, but it wasn’t incredibly different than normal. And there was still the backside of water (or is that the front side? I can’t tell!):



A few more pics:







Izzy enjoyed the ride. She was (and still is) a big fan of all rides.

We apparently ended up in a gift shop next. I think we were waiting for Country Bears to start letting people in. Izzy made some friends:





She also found a nice mirror:



Where she could try on her stylish Minnie Ear necklace :


Doggie!



What does the fox say?



Soon enough, it was time to drag her away from the gift shop and go to a Jamboree!

Up next: Bears, more birds, and a Pirate Adventure (oh, and a nap! And a runaway mine train!)

 

[amazingact21]

I was curious how an older baby would do with a show like the Tiki Room. I always feel like if you could just straight into the room and the show would start immediately then the kids would do all right. Maybe not...


Izzy and her stuffed animals....she must have them all!

 

[disneygirl2785]

Hello! I've been a lurker on your TR, but much more chatty on Lauren's! I hope y'all had an awesome little girls trip! We are on our way to Indiana as I type! We sure wish it was going to be longer, but a long weekend away is just what we need right now! Anyway, were you able to wear Izzy through security? I'm like 99% sure I was when I flew alone, but that's when she was 5 months old!

 

[disneygirl2785]

Double post! Blame the hills of Missouri!

 

[Dugette]

I was curious how an older baby would do with a show like the Tiki Room. I always feel like if you could just straight into the room and the show would start immediately then the kids would do all right. Maybe not...

You know, it probably depends somewhat on the baby. I do think that we got in and had the show start fairly promptly, but Izzy just had no attention span for shows at the time. For what it's worth, she didn't watch TV at home either and had no interest in it. I think her newfound walking and climbing skills were just too distracting for her and that's what she wanted to be doing. Now, however, she LOVES TV (well, Frozen) and she tends to sit and watch for much longer periods. My guess is she'd be much better at WDW shows now (at 21 months), but I'm not sure, since we didn't take her to any on this past trip. Of course, back in December, we just kept trying show after show. Not sure what we were thinking.

Izzy and her stuffed animals....she must have them all!

That's another thing that seems to have changed now. She still likes to play with them, but is much more agreeable about putting them back and not hoarding them.

Hello! I've been a lurker on your TR, but much more chatty on Lauren's! I hope y'all had an awesome little girls trip! We are on our way to Indiana as I type! We sure wish it was going to be longer, but a long weekend away is just what we need right now! Anyway, were you able to wear Izzy through security? I'm like 99% sure I was when I flew alone, but that's when she was 5 months old!

Hi, nice to see you here too! We did have an awesome trip - very fun! Hope your Indiana trip goes well. Sometimes it is really nice just to get away for a short time.

As far as security, funny story: I asked the TSA person at the beginning of the line and he said no. I asked the TSA person just before the put-your-stuff-on-the-belt area and she said no. I took her out of the carrier and put the Ergo on the belt, as the previous person had told me. The next TSA person was like, "You know, you could have worn her through." I told her that her co-workers apparently didn't think so. That was on the way there. The way back, I don't remember. I think I may have had her in the stroller and just popped her out and back in?

Double post! Blame the hills of Missouri!

Darn you, Missouri hills!

 

[Denovagirl]

I'm pretty sure finding and rearranging stuffies is Izzys fave thing at disney, lol... Too cute!

 

[Imagineer5]

Aww the Tiki Room wasn't as bad as I thought when you said you had an awful experience there! LOL! Not magical though, that's for sure! Love the stuffed animal pics!

 

[IheartDDuck]

I could imagine the Tiki Room with a toddler might be somewhat interesting to contend with.

Gotta love Izzy with the stuffed animals. I get the inkling that's what I was like.

 

[Dugette]

I'm pretty sure finding and rearranging stuffies is Izzys fave thing at disney, lol... Too cute!

Yes, she was a big fan of gift shops for a while - even still when we were in NYC in April (Disney Store). She seems to be less obsessed now. I mean, she still enjoys a good stuffed animal or two (as Imagineer5 saw recently), but she doesn't feel the need to clear the whole shelf anymore.

Aww the Tiki Room wasn't as bad as I thought when you said you had an awful experience there! LOL! Not magical though, that's for sure! Love the stuffed animal pics!

No, the Tiki Room wasn't terrible, but it was just difficult to enjoy. Looking back, I really don't know what we were thinking by continuing to take Izzy to shows on this trip. Guess we kept thinking, "THIS is the one she'll really enjoy!" She was just too restless and didn't have the attention span. I think she might be better now, but still glad we didn't do shows, as she was not very into Turtle Talk. Not that I'm complaining, as she loves all rides.

I could imagine the Tiki Room with a toddler might be somewhat interesting to contend with.

Gotta love Izzy with the stuffed animals. I get the inkling that's what I was like.

They need like a fenced-in play area in the middle of that theater. Let the toddlers run and play under the birds. Otherwise, who can sit still that long?

I think I was probably like that with stuffed animals too. I've seen a picture of myself as a toddler sitting in the middle of a mountain of stuffed animals.

 

[Dugette]

They had just opened the doors to let guests into the Country Bear Jamboree, so we headed over:



The last time we saw this show was 4 years earlier, on our 2009 trip. It wasn’t anything we were clamoring to go back to (clearly, since we hadn’t), but we thought Izzy would get a kick out of singing teddy bears.

We were seated and waited for the show to start:



Soon enough, the stage was filled with animatronic bears spewing out strange things (that’s a legit way to describe this attraction, yes? ):









Out of all the shows we went to, this was probably the one that Izzy was calmest for. Not to say that she necessarily enjoyed it, but she was probably tired out from her Tiki Room escape attempts and getting ready for a nap. She did like looking around, though.

From what I caught of the show, I was actually kind-of surprised this was in Disney. I don’t remember specifics, but just remember thinking that there were some really odd things happening.

There was a mom with some older kids near us. She was chatting with me after the show about how she started taking her kids when they were babies. She was very in favor of taking them young. I loved that I kept running into people who said things along those lines on this trip! (Of course, who knows how many people there were watching us pass by and muttering to each other that kids shouldn’t go to WDW until they are [fill-in-the-blank] age? )

Anyway, after a reasonably successful show experience, we headed out to find the Birds of Adventureland grazing:







Can you spot the bird?

So, I mentioned the possibility of Izzy getting tired, right? Well, yep:



Guess it was time for a stroller nap!

Just to review our plans this day vs. how things actually panned out:

We had planned to go right from Crystal Palace to use our 9-10am FP+ for the Jingle Jungle Cruise. However, we had time to spare and there was no wait for the Magic Carpets or the Tiki Room (which we’d planned to do later that morning), so we just knocked those off right away.

We were going to ride Pirates after Jungle Cruise (hence, Izzy’s pirate shirt at breakfast – well, and Dug’s), but we had already done that with our kiosk FP+ another day. Instead, we just waited for the next Country Bears show, which was next on our plans.

Our original plans had us with one FP+ for Splash and one for Big Thunder from 11am-Noon, with plans to Rider Swap each. However, we’d dropped both of them in order to get Enchanted Tales with Belle FP+, due to our earlier incident of not getting to that attraction.

And we thought we’d have some lunch, meet some princesses, and head back to the Poly for naptime. Ha ha, naptime now!

It actually worked out well, though. Dug took the stroller with sleeping Izzy and did the Pirate Adventure. I took off for Big Thunder’s standby line, as I’d missed my late MK night and we were trying to give me chances to make up for that.

I see that I sent Dug a text saying that the wait time was posted at 40 minutes when I got in line at 11:57am. And there was a line. And our Enchanted Tales FP+ was from 11:55am-12:55pm.

I decided to stick it out in the line and passed the time by typing up a little post for the DISboards on my PTR. Before posting, I took a quick picture of the queue or something on Big Thunder (clearly something not even worthwhile enough to put in the TR). When I went back to my post, it was all gone. So, with more line to wait in, I re-typed it. Here’s the link:

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=50246270&postcount=546

Here’s the actual text of it, posted at 12:16pm:

Well, I just lost my post when I took a picture, but I'll try again quick. Thank you all for stopping in with well wishes. Sorry I didn't have time to post before leaving. I'm in line solo for Big Thunder while Dug has sleeping Dug Baby, so I actually have time to post.

Good trip so far. Some thoughts:

Plans=hahahahahaha!!!!

Characters are a big hit with Dug Baby!

Best baby things: snack container and paci clip.

Great weather.

All of the friendly strangers come out when you bring a baby! Lots of random conversations.

2 rides and a show per half day is pretty good.

Dug Baby loves ice cream.

Well, that's probably good for now. Sure makes the Big Thunder queue go faster!

I think the line was less than 40 minutes, but it still did take a while.

Meanwhile, Dug was having a good ol’ time on his Pirate Adventure. I won’t pretend to know what any of this is, but he said that he documented it pretty well – finding clues and all, so here you go:



























Continued in next post…

 

[Dugette]

Continued from previous post….





























I think he had a good time doing this!

Looks like Izzy was still out and he went to get some waters for us:



This is where he got the ice waters from:





Meanwhile, I finally made it on to Big Thunder. And I’m fairly certain I took this picture to remember some sort of funny story, but I sure don’t have a clue now! So, feel free to make up a funny story:



I do see that both of the items that it says to “hold on to” are shown here – hats and glasses – not sure if that was related, though.

At any rate, it was a good ride. Always a favorite. Headed back to find them:



And when I went to meet up with Dug, look who was awake:



Perfect timing to use our Enchanted Tales with Belle FP+!

We headed over that way. I completely forgot to check out the Tangled restrooms on this trip (did in June, though):



Izzy enjoyed being a big girl with one of the waters:





We’ve arrived:



And right on time (just barely):



Up next: Magical experience that everyone loves or just another “boring” show?

 

[Alysa]

Look at that cute smile when she woke up!

 

[AprilRenee]

That pirate thing looks cool. I'm putting it on the list to check out if our stroller naps work out

I remember that post on your ptr! Lol

Can't wait to hear how enchanted tales with belle goes!

 

[Denovagirl]

Cracking me up with your explanation of the Country Bear show...so true!

The pirate thing looks like fun! And he was able to do it all in the 40 minutes or so you were riding!?! That seems reasonable! Maybe we will give it a go this trip, as we will have lots of MK time!

Whooooo for stroller naps! That is definitely prime mommy & daddy time!!

 

[amazingact21]

I've never done the Country Bears show before, and I think that's because it seems like it'd be exactly like you said...odd I just don't get it


I couldn't help but giggle when I read the planned activities versus what actually ended up happening. It's kind of hilarious how off-scheduled babies get you. Just one big learning experience.


I had no idea the pirate adventure was that detailed. Interesting. Looks like the kind of perfect thing to do to kill time.


Can't wait to see Izzy's reaction to the princesses.

 

[Dugette]

Look at that cute smile when she woke up!

Aw, thanks! She was pretty happy to see me walking towards her.

That pirate thing looks cool. I'm putting it on the list to check out if our stroller naps work out

I remember that post on your ptr! Lol

Can't wait to hear how enchanted tales with belle goes!

Yes, the pirate adventure would be a good way to spend stroller nap time!

Good memory with that post!

Cracking me up with your explanation of the Country Bear show...so true!

Thanks, it just seemed so bizarre!

The pirate thing looks like fun! And he was able to do it all in the 40 minutes or so you were riding!?! That seems reasonable! Maybe we will give it a go this trip, as we will have lots of MK time!

Whooooo for stroller naps! That is definitely prime mommy & daddy time!!

Yeah, it was under an hour with me waiting and riding Big Thunder. He told me he liked it better than the Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom because it was easier to do, especially while manning a stroller.

I've never done the Country Bears show before, and I think that's because it seems like it'd be exactly like you said...odd I just don't get it

It is. It really is.

I couldn't help but giggle when I read the planned activities versus what actually ended up happening. It's kind of hilarious how off-scheduled babies get you. Just one big learning experience.

Absolutely. And this day was probably closer to being on plan than some of our other days!

I had no idea the pirate adventure was that detailed. Interesting. Looks like the kind of perfect thing to do to kill time.

Yeah, Dug really enjoyed it!

Can't wait to see Izzy's reaction to the princesses.

You really can't top Landon's reaction to them, though!

 

[Imagineer5]

Oh Andrew would LOVE the pirate adventure, and now I have something to check out during stroller naps for aria! Yay! Looks so cool and really well done.

Country Bears - glad Izzy did fine in it, but yes it doesn't seem very disney to me either. I have no interest to go back, ever, but I'm sure we will.

Glad you got to ride BTMRR even despite the wait. You didn't want to grab a rider swap for Dug?

I know how your Enchanted Tales with Belle went!! lol!

 

[Dugette]

Oh Andrew would LOVE the pirate adventure, and now I have something to check out during stroller naps for aria! Yay! Looks so cool and really well done.

Oh, good idea! I forgot how much Andrew likes Pirates. Maybe you can get him to do that while walking napping Aria around and you can do some rides!

Country Bears - glad Izzy did fine in it, but yes it doesn't seem very disney to me either. I have no interest to go back, ever, but I'm sure we will.

Maybe I will start an "every 4 years" program on that one.

Glad you got to ride BTMRR even despite the wait. You didn't want to grab a rider swap for Dug?

Good point. It actually didn't even occur to us, as Dug had already ridden it during his solo time and we were focused on giving me the chance to do things I'd missed out on. But, if I'd gotten one, I suppose I could have pulled the ol' "Barnstormer Bathroom" trick and skipped the line!

I know how your Enchanted Tales with Belle went!! lol!

Ha ha, yeah, fun times!