Don't Look Back Mom. The Pandemonium is Coming!!!

[FancyNancy]

Hello and to my first ever trip report!

My name is Jessica and I hope you will come along with my DD8 and I on my fourth but her very first trip ever to Walt Disney World! And I almost forgot to mention that she would be turning 8 on our first full day there! ​

I am a hardworking single mom who works full time at an environmental consulting firm in Maine. My daughter April is a hardworking student in the second grade. She loves to learn and recently received student of the month. I'm not proud or anything. ​

Anywho, here we are two pretty laid back girls that just like to have fun and hang out together.​

Unless you are holding a place for your family of ten to jump in line in front of us. Then we look like this. ​

I'm a little (a lot) annoyed with the size of my pictures as I have been trying to resize them on photobucket for a while now so please bear with me! Hopefully by the time this trip report is over I will have it figured out!

A little Disney info about me. I am a HUGE Disney fan. My perfect life scenario would be to win the lottery and live at a Disney Resort 24/7 where everyone is paid to be super nice to you and cater to your every need. Sounds good doesn't it???
My favorite Disney characters are: Mexican Donald, Peter Pan, the Faeries of Pixie Hollow,and Snow White.
My favorite Rides are Splash Mountain and Pirates of the Carribean.
I can't pick a favorite Disney Movie. I pretty much like them all. With the exception of Hunchback of Notre Dame (too creepy for me).

A little Disney info about April. Her favorite Disney characters are all of the Disney Princesses especially Princess Tiana and The Faeries of Pixie Hollow.
Her favorite ride? Well since this is her first ever trip we will just have to wait and see.
Her favorite Disney Movies are The Princess and the Frog, Tangled, all of the Pixie Hollow movies, and The Secret of Arrietti (sp?)

My goal for the trip was to introduce my daughter to "The World" and honestly in all the planning leading up to the trip she kept saying. "I don't know why you are so excited mommy" and I would answer with a "You'll know soon enough!". April's goal for the trip was to meet Princess Tiana and give her a big hug. Would this happen? We shall see!

The dates for our trip were April 28th through May 4th. We would be staying at the All Star Sports Resort. I have stayed there before and thought it to be a nice little resort. I needed to keep resort costs down due to being a maid of honor in my best friends wedding this year soooo. We went value. I honestly think that All Star Sports gets a bit overlooked for some reason.

Our trip itinerary was as follows:
4/28: Arriving Late Resort Evening. Dinner at The End Zone Food Court.
4/29: Animal Kingdom with an ADR at Rainforest Cafe.
4/30: Epcot Center with an ADR at Princess Storybook Dining
5/1: The Magic Kingdom with an ADR at Liberty Tree Tavern.
5/2: The Magic Kingdom with an ADR at The Plaza.
5/3: Downtown Disney / Resort Day with an ADR at T-Rex.
5/4: Early flight so no time to play. (aka saddest day ever)

Oh and I know my Trip Report title is interesting but it was an actual quote from my daughter during our stay and one that given the situation (which of course I will be writing about on one of our days) I will never forget! Sooooo come along and hop on the Magical Express with us and relive my daughters Birthday/First Trip Ever to Disney!! ​

 

[Tiggeye]

Can't wait to read your report. I love to read first time trips!

 

[FancyNancy]

Can't wait to read your report. I love to read first time trips!

I'm so excited to have you read along. And I agree. I love reading first time trip reports too!

 

[disneydiva16]

Hello my friend I am here, and I was there with you (kinda). I wish we could have met at the resort, but there is always a next time.
Can't wait to hear how your trip went. I am still going to try and talk you into going on the cruise with me! I am very convincing

 

[DoomBuggy0922]

Oh, I can't wait to read all about your daughter's first time!!! SO exciting! Your plans sounded awesome.

Soooo when is her second trip??!

 

[FancyNancy]

Hello my friend I am here, and I was there with you (kinda). I wish we could have met at the resort, but there is always a next time.
Can't wait to hear how your trip went. I am still going to try and talk you into going on the cruise with me! I am very convincing

Yay Robin! So glad you are here. I know I am really bummed that we didn't get to meet up and you are very convincing you did almost have me convinced on that cruise! Darn those cheerleaders for keeping us apart!

 

[FancyNancy]

Oh, I can't wait to read all about your daughter's first time!!! SO exciting! Your plans sounded awesome.

Soooo when is her second trip??!

I'm so happy to have you along! I love that we both started our trip reports on the same day and are now following each others!
We actually are going back next September and are planning on staying in one of the new Royal Rooms at Port Orleans Riverside

 

[disneydiva16]

Soooo when is her second trip??!

I'm so happy to have you along! I love that we both started our trip reports on the same day and are now following each others!
We actually are going back next September and are planning on staying in one of the new Royal Rooms at Port Orleans Riverside

What Jessica meant to say is that she is going to go on a cruise with me in December of 2013. She sometimes get her facts mixed up. It's OK, I am here to keep it straight

 

[FancyNancy]

What Jessica meant to say is that she is going to go on a cruise with me in December of 2013. She sometimes get her facts mixed up. It's OK, I am here to keep it straight

Oh my god Robin you crack me up.

 

[FancyNancy]

Day 1: Who Forgot The Dramamine?!?

After months of planning, our Disney Day finally arrived! Honestly, I don't think I slept more than 4 hours the night before. That is how excited I was. We had a 12:45pm flight through Delta so we were able to wake up and take our time which was nice. I basically kept walking around making sure there wasn't anything we were forgetting and packing little things here and there.

Finally it was time to get in the car and make the one hour drive to the Jetport. Traffic was smooth sailing and before we new it we were checking in with Delta, going through security, and boarding the plane! April had requested the window seat so I took the aisle. Our plane taking us to our connection in Laguardia was a Canadian Airbus and those are the two seat per row jobbies. Once we were settled in I took a moment to take the first picture of our trip.

I'm going to Disney World!!​

It was a pretty smooth flight and soon the pilot came over the intercom saying that we would be landing in New York. April chose the window seat specifically so she could maybe see the Statue of Liberty and The Empire State Building. This is when I realized that after all that pacing back and forth trying to think of anything I might have forgotten while we were getting ready at home that I had made a big mistake. I forgot the Dramamine. April and I both get motion sickness so whenever we fly Dramamine is just necessary. Soooo long story short instead of catching a glimpse of NYC's famous landmarks we were trying to hold down our lunches. I was successful but unfortunately April was not. Lesson learned. As soon as we landed I basically went to the closest convenience stand at the airport and bought the much needed medicine.

Our plane bound for Orlando boarded before we knew it and the second flight was much more enjoyable. I attribute it to a bigger plane and our much needed motion sickness medicine. Please tell me we are not the only family that has to load up on the Dramamine before a simple flight! We pretty much chilled out and tried to rest on our flight to Orlando and soon we heard the announcement we had been waiting for! Our plane was getting ready to land and soon we would be at the happiest place on earth!!!

We could not wait to skeedaddle off that plane and make our way to the Magic Express We hopped on the mini monorail which April thought was really cool.​

I almost tried to find the Magic Express terminal on my own but I had to ask for directions. Before long we were checking in and in line for the All Star Resort bus. We were the only ones in line but there was an almost full bus heading that way outside so we ended up being the last to make the bus what luck! The bus made a quick stop at Coronado Springs and then we were on our way to the All Star Sports Resort. We were the only ones getting off at this particular resort and there was absolutely no line at check in. April went and watched the tv in the lobby while I checked us in. We were in a Surf's Up preffered room assigned to the building just left of the pool. Our room was at the back of the building nice and quiet! I should mention that while checking in I made sure that April's Birthday Celebration was noted on our reservation and indeed it was. She got her birthday button and we got our KTTW cards. The CM checking us in asked me if I would mind waiting a moment while she grabbed something important in the back and when she returned she had a really cute Sorcerer Mickey Plush for April's birthday present from AsSports! I though this was a really nice touch.

Borrowed from the Disney Store website:

Let me just say April was in awe of this resort. Everything was larger than life and it really blew her away! We made our way to our room and I snapped a couple of pics.​

And here is April checking out her towel Mickey.​

Mousekeeping was excellent our whole stay. The room was always very clean and well kept! Everything was replenished as needed and we were always given plenty of towels so we would have extras for the pool. We ate a late dinner at The End Zone Food Court. I had pot roast which was very good and April was not very hungry so she had a bagel and cream cheese from the grab and go. (Sorry no pics) We also grabbed our resort mugs. After dinner we hit the pool and then headed to bed to rest up for our first park day!
Next Up: April's Birthday at Animal Kingdom!​

 

[nat1234]

Joining in. That first trip is so special and lucky you to get to see it all new through your daughter's eyes.

 

[DoomBuggy0922]

-I’m jealous! I desperately want to stay in a Royal Room, but Hubs isn’t too keen on it. I’ll convince him one of these days, even if it’s just for a night.
-Oh, I never sleep before a Disney trip. I always regret it, but I can’t help it.
-Love that first picture of April. She is adorable.
-Poor little girl! I’m sorry she got a bit sick.
-I love that the hotel gave April a free plush! That’s so sweet of them. I’ll bet it made her day.
-Eeeek I can’t wait for more.

 

[FancyNancy]

Joining in. That first trip is so special and lucky you to get to see it all new through your daughter's eyes.

I agree it was so special and something I will never forget experiencing with her There are actually some really cute pictures coming up. I am going to try on bridesmaid dresses tonight after work but will be doing another update tomorrow night! Also, it was nice to take this relaxing trip together. We all know how hectic life can get so getting away from it all just the two of us was really nice

 

[FancyNancy]

-I’m jealous! I desperately want to stay in a Royal Room, but Hubs isn’t too keen on it. I’ll convince him one of these days, even if it’s just for a night.
-Oh, I never sleep before a Disney trip. I always regret it, but I can’t help it.
-Love that first picture of April. She is adorable.
-Poor little girl! I’m sorry she got a bit sick.
-I love that the hotel gave April a free plush! That’s so sweet of them. I’ll bet it made her day.
-Eeeek I can’t wait for more.

-Oh I hope you can convince him! I want to try all of the moderates but decided on POR first because April's fave princess is Tiana and so the Royal Rooms just make sense Besides have you seen how pretty the new refurb pics are?
-Thank you for the compliment on April I actually just really could have kicked myself for forgetting the dramamine!
-It really did make her day. She can be a little shy but when the CM handed it to her she gave a shy smile and and a hushed little thank you which made the CM's day I think.

 

[mommytominnie]

I'm in!! We took our DD who was 8 as well on her first visit to Disney World last December. Well, actually, it was all of our first time Can't wait to hear more about yours

 

[FancyNancy]

I'm in!! We took our DD who was 8 as well on her first visit to Disney World last December. Well, actually, it was all of our first time Can't wait to hear more about yours

We had so much fun! I am going to go read your trip report so I can check out your families first time visit. Those are so much fun!

 

[FancyNancy]

Day 2: April's Birthday at Animal Kingdom

We were both pretty excited for our Animal Kingdom Day. I had left it up to April to pick the park that she wanted to go to on her birthday and her choice was AK! We got ready, ate a quick breakfast of Mickey Waffles and Bacon at the End Zone Food Court, and stopped to get a quick picture in front of the giant shark fin by Surfboard Bay.

April was already receiving plenty of special birthday attention from the CMs at AsSports. Everyone that she passed wished her a very enthusiastic "Happy Birthday Princess April" she was also given lots of Mickey stickers. We hopped in the bus line for AK and within 5 minutes a bus pulled up. There was only one other couple getting on the bus with us. April loved standing and using the hand rails on the bus regardless of whether they were crowded or not.

Since the All Star Resorts and Coranado Springs are all in the AK area it didn't take us long to get there at all. We had our bag checked and went through the ticket line. April was in awe from the very start. She just stood at the entrance to Animal Kingdom processing it all. I think her first sentence was a very hushed Woooooow it's beautiful mom.

I pretty much knew that we would be heading toward Africa to get the Kilamanjaro Safari out of the way. I had seen on the boards here that the animals are most active in the morning and evening.

On the way we snapped a pic of some pretty flamingos. Flamingos are kind of an inside joke in my family. My mother loves them and even has those plastic flamingos in her gardens. We put them in different positions every once in a while just to see if she will notice.

We made our was to Africa and ther were many Happy Birthday greetings from CMs along the way. April made sure to thank them all. The line for Kilamanjaro Safaris was only a 10 minute wait and the queue was really cool. We hopped into a vehicle and saw lots of animals. I won't bore you with all the pics but here are a few good ones.

Nile Crocodiles

Giraffes (yes I am Captain Obvious)

Muddy Rhinos

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Awww. Warthogs are so cute when they are sleeping.

I wish I could have centered this pic better.

We had a fabulous time seeing all of the animals on the safari. We really don't have any major zoos or anything in Maine (although we do have our share of wildlife ) so this was really cool. On our way out we went on one of the jungle paths and say these cute little naked mole rats.

Surprise!We put on our birthday suits just for you April!

April loved the Cichlids. We have always wanted these in our fishtanks at home but they are too aggressive for the other fish.

I love this pic of the Gorillas in the sunlight.

After veering off the beaten path in Africa we ran into this wonderful man who sang Happy Birthday to April. He had a lovely voice and she was smiling from ear to ear. He is by far our favorite AK CM.

I can't remember exactly where this was but we were able to get a pic together in front of the Tree of Life. Here is a tip for single people doing Disney with children. If you see other solo parents with their children offer to take their picture with their camera and then ask if they will take yours with your camera.

Up Next: More AK and Lunch at Rainforest Cafe​

 

[disneydiva16]

Lovin' the report Jessica How cute April looks all dressed up. I am glad she is having a nice birthday

 

[Windsor Princesses]

Subbing better late than never. Motion sickness, how do you guys do on the simulators or do you not even bother with them at all? I always intend on riding them but spend most of the time with my eyes closed, I also have slight motion sickness.

 

[MelMel11]

Count me in!!!