Best trip ever with my 2 yr old & bf! Moved by disney from pop to deluxe!!!!

[ktlm]

It cracks me up that your adorable little thrill seeker who will ride BTM and Star Tours and love them, is scared of Peter Pan and Snow White! DD(5) would ride Peter Pan and Snow White in circles all day if we let her, but there is no way she will set foot anywhere near BTM or Star Tours! She is terrified of them.

Very cute trip report! You definitely know how to use the cliffhanger to keep people coming back!

 

[TinkPirateMom]

Hi Katie! I have been following along and just love your trip report! Conner is absolutely adorable! My son will turn 3 in February as well and is 39.5 inches tall too. We have big boys! I can't wait to take him to Disney but we are not going until November 2012. It will be our fist trip as a family. I have taken my daughter.

So other than everyone trying to ruin your precious stroller, what did you think of your stroller and it's performance in Disney? I'm looking at City Mini's and Elite which look similar to your Britax. Do you think Conner will fit in it for another year or so?

Also had a question regarding the cab ride. My DH can lose patience in crowds and waiting especially if the kids are acting crazy. I really want him to love Disney so I think when lines are really long we may have to take a cab for sanity's sake. Was there a car seat or booster in the cab? Don't worry I'm not the car seat police just trying to figure out how it all works.

Thanks so much for sharing your trip and great pics!

 

[luvmy2babies]

I would give just about anything to be able to sleep until 8:30. My son can stay up until 1am if he has a late enough nap, but will not sleep past 7:30am. The one Saturday I remember him sleeping past that my daughter, who on Saturdays, usually sleeps like she worked the night shift got up early and woke him.

I think my crew would be frightened by Fantasmic too so we haven't seen it and don't plan to yet. Waiting patient to hear about the move, but flying out tomorrow for a Sea World trip. I'll check back in when we get home.

 

[CJDisneyMommy]

Great trip report! Your Conner is adorable, it's fun to see him having so much fun!

Thank you!

Sounds like y'all had a nice night in DHS. Too bad Conner didn't like the dragon. It's so hard at that age to know how they'll react to things.

That's scary that the bus from DTD about got y'all into a wreck. Can't wait to hear all about MNSSHP!

Yeah, I was pretty disappointed that he didn't enjoy it, but I think I had forgotten how scary that dragon might be to a 2 yr old.

About to post our night at the party!

Ooooh does this 'good, bad and ugly' have to do with the resort change?! I can't wait to find out!

You would think that, right? But no, its something else. I had to keep you interested somehow

You have me hooked on your report. We are trying to plan a trip this Spring and it is looking like Value or no go... We haven't had good experiences at Value, but I might cave. With 5 of us it will be quite a squeeze, expecially since our last trip we were bumped to CL at BC!
Oh well...Value or No Disney- I vote Value...

Can't wait to hear where you were upgraded to, and why!

I'm glad you enjoy it! I'm not a fan of the values at all...my mom refers to herself as a "deluxe snob", and I think the trait has rubbed off on me a bit. But I'm with you, I would much rather stay at a value than not go at all!

Oh my-I would have paid extra if you could've gotten the cab driven to drive past the lady who was yelling at you so you could wave goodbye to your new 'friend'!! Some people are ridiculous!!

What a fun day at DTD!!

I totally should have!!

Oh no, sorry he didnt like the dragon in Fantasmic! Did he say anything about it after the show...or the next day?

Eh, not so much. He did ask to see a dragon a couple more times, but luckily there is ONE more dragon in Disney (that I know of), and we saw him. Can you guess who?

What a fun report ~ looking forward to hearing about your upgrade!

Thanks! I'm glad you enjoy it

It cracks me up that your adorable little thrill seeker who will ride BTM and Star Tours and love them, is scared of Peter Pan and Snow White! DD(5) would ride Peter Pan and Snow White in circles all day if we let her, but there is no way she will set foot anywhere near BTM or Star Tours! She is terrified of them.

Very cute trip report! You definitely know how to use the cliffhanger to keep people coming back!

Too funny! I'm not sure what it is about those rides, maybe the dark? But star tours is dark too...who knows. Either way, I love that he enjoys the big kid rides. It's so cool!

And thank you, I'm glad you are enjoying my TR

Hi Katie! I have been following along and just love your trip report! Conner is absolutely adorable! My son will turn 3 in February as well and is 39.5 inches tall too. We have big boys! I can't wait to take him to Disney but we are not going until November 2012. It will be our fist trip as a family. I have taken my daughter.

So other than everyone trying to ruin your precious stroller, what did you think of your stroller and it's performance in Disney? I'm looking at City Mini's and Elite which look similar to your Britax. Do you think Conner will fit in it for another year or so?

Also had a question regarding the cab ride. My DH can lose patience in crowds and waiting especially if the kids are acting crazy. I really want him to love Disney so I think when lines are really long we may have to take a cab for sanity's sake. Was there a car seat or booster in the cab? Don't worry I'm not the car seat police just trying to figure out how it all works.

Thanks so much for sharing your trip and great pics!

Thank you! I'm so glad you like it! Will you be there for the special lights in MGM? You will have to look into the gingerbread houses at the deluxe resorts as well. I'm not sure when they are put up, but I would imagine they start sometime in November.

As for my stroller, I absolutely love it. I went to babies r us with plans to buy their brand jogging stroller, which was somewhat similar to the city mini (the stroller I really wanted). But the babies R Us brand turned out to be super heavy, and was huge when it folded up. Everything I like about the city mini is in my britax. There are only a couple of differences that I can remember. I think the storage area under the city mini might be bigger, and I like the rubber on the handle better than my handle. But that being said, my stroller has a safety button that has to be pushed to fold it up, which I wanted for obvious reasons. And the canopy was better quality. I thought the Britax was better quality in general, and I drove Conner around the store in both strollers for probably a good half hour.

I would buy it again. But it's probably also about personal preference. Go to a babies R Us and push your DS around the store in both strollers. Either one of them is well worth the splurge. Oh and Conner will absolutely fit in it for another couple of years. That's part of the reason I picked my stroller. It has a bigger seating area for the longer kids, but it isn't heavy, and it folds up extra compact.

The Cab Rides...no carseat. But we were in a mini van and Conner had a seatbelt on. Our ride wasn't any longer than 5 minutes from MGM to POP. Honestly, I didn't have any major issues with the lines for the buses, other than that one night. That being said, I did get packed on to numerous other buses that had no sitting room. But being in Disney, someone ALWAYS offered their seat to Conner and I. That's the beauty of Disney World. So many people that go there either have kids, or have been there done that. I didn't stand once with him.

I have to get to my TR now before lunch is over, but let me know if I missed anything!

I would give just about anything to be able to sleep until 8:30. My son can stay up until 1am if he has a late enough nap, but will not sleep past 7:30am. The one Saturday I remember him sleeping past that my daughter, who on Saturdays, usually sleeps like she worked the night shift got up early and woke him.

I think my crew would be frightened by Fantasmic too so we haven't seen it and don't plan to yet. Waiting patient to hear about the move, but flying out tomorrow for a Sea World trip. I'll check back in when we get home.

OMG I would die. More power to you! Luckily, Conner needs more sleep than that, so he usually gets at least 8 hours or more each night.

Have fun in Sea World! That part of my trip will be up when you get back

 

[CJDisneyMommy]

The wonderful thing about Tiggers
Is Tiggers are wonderful things
Their tops are made out of rubber
Their bottoms are made out of springs
They're bouncy, trouncy, flouncy, pouncy
Fun, fun, fun, fun, FUN!
But the most wonderful thing about Tiggers
Is I'm the only one​

My little Tigger

So the story behind Conner's 'costume' is that I didn't buy him one before we left for our trip. I had come to the sad conclusion that we just couldn't really afford the extra $120 worth of MNSSHP tickets this trip. BUT! At like 9pm the night before we left, my mom offered to buy them because she knew how badly I wanted to go. If you read this, thanks again Mom

I couldn't bring myself to spend $60 plus on a costume in DTD, so I went with a $20 pair of jammies that could be worn again...and again...and again!

We got to the park and picked our tickets up at will call with no problem. The second we got into the park, Conner said "CHOO CHOOOOOOOOO", so of course, we had to take him to his choo choo.

The nice man that worked at BTMRR remembered us from our million other rides, and offered to take our picture.

I so desperately wanted Conner to take some NICE pictures in front of the ride he loved so much, but my little bouncing boy was just too excited.

After BTMMRR we made our way over to JR's favorite ride of all time...Pirates of the Carribbean of course!!! Aye mateys!

Conner did ok with this one too. He was not a fan of the part where the cannons are shooting from the pirate ship. Too loud, and we were in the second row where you get splashed. He was fine with the rest of the ride.

JR was starving at this point, and just HAD to eat at his new found favorite quick service restaurant. So we made our way over to Pecos Bills. After a very quick dinner, we had to get our seats for the parade.

One word for you...MISERABLE.

I personally think Disney should be ashamed of themselves for letting so many people into the MK on this night. I later found out that the party was sold out, and Friday night is a bad night to go because the locals bring their kids. Next time, I will go on a week night.

There was zero room for parade seating. Jr had to put Conner on his shoulders, which was totally fine. When he got Conner up, he was able to see everything. But, of course, 1/3 of the way through the parade, the RUDE lady sitting in front of us, who had to be 6 FOOT TALL might I add, decided to stand up. REALLY!? Ugh, I was so irritated.

I barely got any pictures of the parade because I was more concerned with Conner being able to see things. Here you can kind of see the headless horseman riding down Frontierland

And...the end.

Pathetic, right?


At the end of the parade, people pass out candy. I was so overjoyed for Conner to get some goodies, and they skipped right over him. Not once, not twice, but THREE times. By this point, I was fuming. Horrible parade seats, no candy, and we couldn't see anything. Overall, not a pleasant experience whatsoever.

I didn't want this to ruin our night, so we decided to move on, and get Conner on some more rides before he needed to go night night.

So, we rode BTMRR again...and again....and again...and again. Four times this night! lol He just couldn't get enough. After BTMRR, I really wanted this poor kid to trick or treat, so we made our way to one of the stations. The line must have had 200 people. NO JOKE. So, we decided to try a different station, 150 people. NO JOKE. It was unforgivable how many people had to wait in line for candy. Needless to say, we didn't trick or treat that night.

Conner fell asleep in the middle of our attempt to trick or treat, so we decided to call it a night and head to the front of the park. We spent some time playing in the stores with breakables, that we wouldn't usually be able to go into because of Conner, so that was nice.

Check out what I found in one of the stores...notice the price tag?

I also took some pictures of the pretty fall decorations around Main Street

While I took some pictures, JR told me to wait a minute, that he had something to do. Five minutes later, he came out of town hall with a bag full of candy. Full to the brim too. He told one of the cast members at guest services what a disappointing experience we had, so they filled up the bag of candy, and told JR to give Conner a message when he woke up...that his candy bag was from Mickey Mouse himself, and it had special treats set aside just for Conner.

I hate to be the debbie downer, but I'm happy JR said something. They "limit" the number of people they allow into these special events, so they don't offer fastpasses. Well guess what Disney, YOU NEED TO LIMIT MORE!

Remember how I said this night should be called the good, the bad, and the ugly? Well, I just about covered the bad and ugly, don't you think?

I still haven't covered the good! But my lunch break is just about over, so you will have to stay tuned for the good. I have a pleasant surprise to end our MNSSHP night!!! It really did make the night SO much better. I can't wait to tell you guys.

Stay tuned!!!

 

[lledman]

loving your trip report. So glad your son made the height requirement for the bigger rides but sorry he didn't enjoy fantasmic like you had thought he would.

 

[amandaw]

Conner is so cute in his Tigger outfit!

Can't wait to hear about the good ending to the night. Sorry to hear that the party sounds like a big disappointment. We've never done MNSSHP & I would love to do it. We're supposed to go next October but now I'm stressing on whether or not it's worth it. I've heard a few people on the DIS talk about how crowded & miserable it is. We would probably go on like the Tuesday night party, but I just don't know what to do.

 

[misspickle]

really enjoying your trip report.

 

[leshunlenese]

That was very sweet of your mom to buy your tickets. I love MNSSHP too and hope to go back the year after next. I am sry you had some bad moments. I will have to remember to go on a weekday.

 

[disnut1149]

Hi
I love your trip report. Connor is so cute. Can't wait to read more!!

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

Hi, I just found your trip report and of course I'll be here to find out the "good" that happened to you guys. So sorry you had to deal with the bad and ugly.

Conner is such a cutie and his Tigger PJ's were adorable. He fit right in without the expensive costume.

 

[CJDisneyMommy]

loving your trip report. So glad your son made the height requirement for the bigger rides but sorry he didn't enjoy fantasmic like you had thought he would.

Thank you Maybe Fantasmic will be a bigger hit next time

Conner is so cute in his Tigger outfit!

Can't wait to hear about the good ending to the night. Sorry to hear that the party sounds like a big disappointment. We've never done MNSSHP & I would love to do it. We're supposed to go next October but now I'm stressing on whether or not it's worth it. I've heard a few people on the DIS talk about how crowded & miserable it is. We would probably go on like the Tuesday night party, but I just don't know what to do.

Thank you! I hate to down the party because this is the third time I've gone, and the other trips were perfectly fine. I really think it had a lot to do with the party being sold out, and being on Friday.

really enjoying your trip report.

Thank you, I'm glad you are enjoying it

That was very sweet of your mom to buy your tickets. I love MNSSHP too and hope to go back the year after next. I am sry you had some bad moments. I will have to remember to go on a weekday.

I know DEFINITELY go on a weekday

Hi
I love your trip report. Connor is so cute. Can't wait to read more!!

Thank you! I'm glad you are enjoying it

Hi, I just found your trip report and of course I'll be here to find out the "good" that happened to you guys. So sorry you had to deal with the bad and ugly.

Conner is such a cutie and his Tigger PJ's were adorable. He fit right in without the expensive costume.

Thank you! Time to start on my good part of the story

 

[glennbo123]

Are you kidding? I find this trip report right at a mega-cliffhanger moment?

Enjoying your report.

 

[CJDisneyMommy]

Just when I thought our MNSSHP night was a bust, I realized we were at the front of the park, the second parade was about to start, and NO ONE was there. What did we do next, you ask?

We got the best seat in the house for the parade! No ropes were out to block us from moving, Not too sure why But I liked it. Within five minutes, my awesome, amazing parade was finally coming!

Not the best picture ever, but there is the headless horseman! And where am I? Front and center!!

And there ya have it, are those pictures and close ups not a GAGILLION times better than what we had seen a couple of hours prior?!?!

There was a group of four girls sitting next to us, and they were so fun to watch. They were all around my age, and had the cutest costumes on. One was a flapper, one was Cruela, and I honestly can't remember the other two, but they were super cute. They were giving the men in the parade googly eyes (sp?), and yelling at them all. They LOVED the cowboys, and it was so fun to watch the parade people interact with them. Barbosa came right up to a couple of us, and so did some of the cowboys. I think everyone was able to have more fun with it because there was NO ONE there! It was SO awesome.

I'm a little sad that Conner slept through the second parade, but he was so sleepy. It was still a really pleasant way to end the night.

After the parade ended, we made our way to the bus stop. It wasn't too crowded, and we were all out the second we hit the sheets.



Saturday, October 1st. Happy anniversary Magic Kingdom!!!

And happy moving day to us!!! Yep, you read it right. This is the day we moved!

When I first booked our trip, I honestly had not one clue that we would be there on the 40th anniversary of the Magic Kingdom, so it was a nice perk. We decided to enjoy the festivities later that night, and start off our day in MGM.

We had a quick breakfast in our room, and took a bus to the park.

Our first ride was the backlot tour!

SMILE GOOBER!

 

[CJDisneyMommy]

Conner enjoyed the backlot tour for the most part. I think he was a little startled by the fire and water park, but he did fine.

JR and I really enjoyed the end of the ride, when you can walk through more of the props.

JR's FAVORITE part of the day...POTC props of course!

Next up? The Muppets!!! Conner loved this show! He was grabbing stuff, and laughing. Oh, it was sooooo cute

After Muppets, we started to notice the park was getting REALLY crowded. The lines were outrageous. So we decided to take the boat over to Epcot, and try our luck there. On our way, we stopped off at the Yacht & Beach club. This is one of my favorite resorts. And I just love love love the pool. So of course I had to take pictures..

I want to put this over my bed. Is that weird? lol

After I got my taste of the yacht and beach club, we walked over to Epcot. The moment we got to the turn stiles, I realized we had messed up. It was the first weekend of the food and wine festival, and it was Saturday. Can you say STUPID!! It took us 10 minutes just to get into the park, and you could barely walk. Don't forget, the entrance from the yacht and beach club puts you in right at the countries.

So instead of going to the right, where France is, we decided to make our way over to Future World. On the big bridge that brings you into future world, was the OCEANSPRAY MEN!!!!!!!!!!! So freaking cool!!!

I was way over excited, and just had to have my picture taken of course!

After I "ooed and ahhed" over the ocean spray set-up, we brought Conner over to Nemo. He hadn't really been able to ride anything so far, so I wanted to get him on something. He really enjoys this ride, and I love the part when you are on the EAC. It feels so cool!

When the ride was over, I tried to take Conner through the aquarium, but he was exhausted. So needless to say, we started to head for the bus stop.

It was another quick ride back to POP, and we were in our room in no time. I was pulling the sheets back to get Conner in bed for his nap, and the next thing I know, there is a HUGE centipede...in the bed. UGH, can you say disgusting?! I wasn't a happy camper, but I didn't see anymore, so I made Conner get in for his nap.

After Conner had fallen asleep, JR came out of the bathroom with ANOTHER huge bug.

Ok...I told myself it was no big deal. This is Florida, and that is to be expected.


So, off to bed I went for naptime. I had to get SOME sleep in, afterall, we needed to wake up in a couple of short hours to enjoy the 40th anniversary festivities at the Magic Kingdom.



And that's when it all started....the moment we woke up from nap time and Conner was........












































TOMORROW folks!! My precious lunch break is almost over, and I need a good amount of time to tell you this story!! Hang tight

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

Talk about a cliffhanger! I hope Conner was ok.

 

[jojo0612]

I've been dying to see why you were moved to SSR and from what I can tell.....it's the same reason we were too...but I'll just have to wait until tommorrow to find out for sure!!!

 

[MyHappilyEverAfter]

Ahhhh... another cliffhanger!! However, this time I think I am going to have to read with caution - - I'm afraid to know what you found!!!

 

[vickxo]

DARN THE CLIFF HANGER! I was getting so into it haha guess i'll just have to learn some patience.

 

[Tinkh]

Looking forward to reading the rest. Thanks for sharing.