First Trip with 3 boys! September 10-16, 2016 Update Post#7

[Calee]

I am in major post Disney depression! I hadn't been to WDW since I was 8, which was 27 years ago. My husband and I both went one time as children and stayed in CBR and hadn't been back since.

This year we celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. We also have three boys that are 8, 6, and 4.

I started planning in Feb. and I am a researcher! I read myself to death, lol. I was up at 4am to snag free dining which was a great deal for our family of 5.

We stayed at CBR and loved it. I had originally requested on online check-in second floor and Jamaica. I also had touring plans fax those same requests. I'll let you know how that turned out!

We visited all 4 parks, Downtown Disney and played mini golf. I played with ADR's even up until the trip itself, but we ate at:
Tusker House (B)
Crystal Palace (B)
Be Our Guest (B)
Coral Reef (L)
Chef Mickey's (D)
Trails End (D)
Sci-Fi (L)
As well as counter service of course!

We left our hometown on September 9, drove a bit more than halfway, spent the night, and then drove the rest of the way on the 10th. We had 5 day park hopper tickets!

I can't wait to plan our next trip!! But for now I'll have to be content to tell you about this one!

 

[Calee]

So we were driving to Orlando from Savannah, GA on September 10th. At about 10:30 I received a text that our room wasn't ready yet. We were still a couple hours away so that was fine, and it made me really realize that TODAY WAS THE DAY!!!!!!

At about 11:30 we received a text that we had a room. It was in Aruba, furthest possible from the bridge, and first floor. I knew that our requests were just requests, but of course I had gotten my hopes up that we would be near the bridge. My husband reminded me that we were going to DISNEY and to not let it bother me. He was right!

Soon after, we arrived! We went to the Custom House first, and we very nicely asked if there was any availability in Jamaica 51. The CM was excellent and even if he hadn't been able to make it happen, he was very kind and helpful. In the end, he DID get us a room in Jamaica 51, second floor which is exactly what I had requested! It was a standard view room (which is what I had booked) with the Murphy bed.

We asked for anniversary buttons for Corey and I and "My First Visit" buttons for the boys. The CM offered to take a family picture for us, which was so kind. Another CM gave the boys swords and pirate eye patches. At this point we probably could have called it a trip and gone home-the kids were so excited about the swords and eye patches they didn't need anything else, lol.



We went to our room and were really excited about the location.


We were super close to this bridge that took us across to OPR.

We went to check things out over there.

We activated our mugs and looked around a bit. Then we went out to the bus stop and took our first Disney bus! We were headed to Downtown Disney. We hadn't really planned this day out, as we weren't sure when we would arrive. We didn't do a park this day, so just kind of explored.

The kids LOVED the bus. We didn't have any trouble with buses. The boards were working at the bus stops we used and the buss's were either on time or a couple minutes early.

Coming up next-Downtown Disney Fun!

 

[Calee]

Hmmmmmmmm when I write the report and add pictures, they show up in my writing, but then when I post only the memory maker pictures actually post, and none of my personal ones. Anyone know why?

 

[Calee]

Disney Springs

We arrived at Disney Springs and my one complaint is the bus location. I wish that it dropped you over near the Disney stuff-that's what we were there to see!

We made our way that direction. We saw a PhotoPass photographer and had our first PP pictures taken of the trip. I hadn't known there would be PP at DS.

We checked out World of Disney which was amazing! Went into the Christmas shop, walked around just checking out the sites.

My kids are really into Lego's so of course we spent a long time in that store and looking at all the amazing creations.

We went to Wolfgang Puck Express for dinner. We used 3 counter service credits for the 5 of us.

My husband got the salmon dish which was very good, I got a BBQ chicken salad, which was tasty, but other things looked better. We got the kids an adult pepperoni pizza to share. For dessert we took two cookies and a brownie that went back to the hotel with us, because we had plans for Goofy's candy company after dinner!

My kids LOVED Goofy's. We looked around for awhile before deciding what we all wanted. Corey (my husband) and my oldest got the big Mickey head chocolate chip cookies with the ears dipped in chocolate. I got a mickey krispie dipped in chocolate, then butterfinger, then drizzled in dark chocolate. Amazing. My younger two boys got the marshmallows (3 on a Mickey straw) dipped in chocolate. One got Oreo and one got M&M's, and then both were drizzled in milk chocolate again. All of these things counted as snack credits.

After Goofy's, we headed back to the resort and to the pool! What an awesome pool. We all loved it. The splash pad was fun, the two water slides were great. I loved that towels and life jackets were right there. We swam, got free refills, then headed back to our room to sleep because the next day was an early one with a PPO breakfast at Be Our Guest!

 

[KTCK1310FanGrl]

I love reading 1st trip reports for kids. Reminds me of the 1st time we took our kids. Sounds like your trip is off to a great start.

 

[Calee]

1st Park Day! September 11th, Magic Kingdom


I can not believe it is finally here! I was teary thinking of our first time in the parks. We woke up at about 6:15 to get to the bus by 7:00. I had an 8:10 Be Our Guest breakfast scheduled, and it was a day with EMM. I didn't know how or if that would affect the morning.

We arrived at the park by 7:30 and waited for them to let in those with reservations. I of course realized I had forgotton my sunglasses so I bought some before being let into the park.

We went slowly down Main Street and it was so amazing. I can not wait to go back! My kids were so excited to walk through the castle so we did that. We came upon the sword in the stone. My kids have never seen that movie, and I hadn't made a big deal of the thing since I knew almost never did someone actually get to pull it up. My middle son who is 6 saw it first and ran up to it and pulled, and wouldn't you know???

So cool! It actually worked for my oldest too! Little guy had no such luck.

We then went to our BOG reservation and walked right it bc we had preordered. The music box room wasn't open yet but we checked out the other two. My youngest was a bit afraid of the Beasts room so we sat in the ballroom. Kids loved the effects and the snow!

We had ordered two of Gaston's feasts, an extra milk, and of course got the pastries. We split those among us. The food was fine but nothing extraordinary, and I wouldn't pay the price OOP. It was a fun experience though and I'm so glad we got to see the inside of the castle.

We left and I did not expect to be allowed to ride anything-it was about 8:35. I had PP and 7 Dwarves fast passes for later. However, as we walked around to get our bearings, I realized there was no one holding us back from going anywhere. I stood and looked at the entrance to Mine Train for a second, and then asked the CM if it was open to ride. She said yes and to come through the FP line. My oldest is not a ride guy, so my husband took our 6 year old first. Then I took our 4 year old. It was obviously a walk on and so fun! Kids liked it but also said the hills were scary and they didn't want to do it again. As we were leaving it we could see the RD crowd headed our way!

We made a beeline for PP at that point and walked through standby and onto the ride.The que was so cool! Kids all liked PP. I kept my fast pass for that for later so we could do it again. We then headed for Winnie the Pooh which was also cute.
At this point, my months of well laid plans went out the window, lol. I had planned to spend the morning in Fantasyland. However, my 6 year old had spotted the Tomorrowland Speedway on the map. I changed our Mine Train FP to the Speedway since no one wanted to do Mine Train again anyway. We headed to Tomrrowland!

Of course this ride, which I had considered skipping, ended up being my boys favorite ride of the day, lol. We did it twice, and did drivers swap so all the kids got to drive. That was very helpful! Then we headed to the People Mover, which everyone loved, and COP which Corey and I and our oldest loved, The younger two enjoyed it but wanted more RIDES. We then had a FP for Buzz, so we went to do that, which of course the boys loved that too. After Buzz we did Monsters Inc laugh floor.

By this time everyone was hot and hungry. I was wondering if WDW was for us, lol. My middle was meldting down and I felt like I had somehow failed to make it magical. This is just a reminder to myself and others with kids that it won't be perfect, and there will be bumps, but it can still be awesome!

I had, like I said, intended to still be in Fantasyland at lunch time, but that was not to be! We decided to eat at Cosmic Rays and it was great. We used 3 CS credits again, we got one plate of the half chicken and two adult orders of chicken tenders and fries. We all shared plus ate the chocolate cakes for dessert. It was plenty!

Be back later with the remainder of our first day!

 

[cinderaimee]

Following along! We are heading to WDW next month (it's October so now I get to say next month!!) with our 4 and 2 year old boys for the first time. I can't wait to hear about what your boys liked!

 

[Calee]

First Day Continued

So after eating at Cosmic Rays, I had gotten a FP for Little Mermaid. We made our way back over to Fantasyland.

Little Mermaid was my favorite movie as a little girl, so I loved it! The rest of my family liked it too but it was a 1 and done. Then we went back to the circus area of fantasyland. At this point Tate, my 6 year old is whining and complaining that he just wants to go back to the pool and swim. I probably should have planned afternoon breaks. I didn't on this day bc it was a party night so we were planning to leave and head back for an early night anyway.

My younger two and I rode Dumbo (sure wish I could get my oldest to not be afraid of everything high, fast, or scary!) Then my middle and my husband did the Barnstormer while I took the other two to the splash pad. After that my youngest, Levi, expressed interest in meeting Goofy and Donald. I had no idea that any of them would be into meeting characters, but my oldest and my youngest both were! It was a fun and unexpected surprise for me! I took those two toward the circus tent to wait, and on the way there I noticed that Chip and Dale were meeting in a little area to the right of the circus tent meet area. We hopped in their very short line and soon enough were hugging two chipmunks!

We then waited about 10 minutes to meet circus Donald and Goofy, which was also fun.

When we exited those meets into the giftshop, Corey was waiting with a still pouting but slightly more on board Tate. We ran right into a CM (in the gift shop) that had set up a little bean bag toss game and was giving out stickers as prizes. This little, simple game was such a joy to all three of my kids. It was such a reminder to not rush past the little spontaneous moments on the way to the "next big thing".
PS. Corey is wet from holding my wet-from-the splash pad 4 year old, NOT from sweat, lol!

It was also here that my younger two picked out their plush Mickey (Tate) and plush Pluto (Levi). They are big stuffed animal guys so I wasn't at all surprised by their choices!

We needed a cool sit down spot so we went to Mickey's Philharmagic. Everyone LOVED it and it was a good pick me up to get through the rest of the afternoon! We decided that we needed ice cream, so we headed over to the Plaza. Using snack credits, the kids all got HUGE adult ice cream sundaes that they barely put a dent in. Corey got a root bear float. When we walked out I realized that the Festival of Fantasy parade was coming up soon. We grabbed a spot on the curb near the Plaza. I walked down and got a (venti) Starbucks again using a snack credit. They also gave me 4 nice big (free) ice waters. It was hot and we were sitting in the sun so those were very nice.

The parade was amazing. I loved it and wish we had seen it again later in the trip!

After this we were in decision mode. I had scheduled an ADR for Trails End for 6:30, thinking we would boat over from Magic Kingdom. Everyone was hot and tired though, so I wasn't sure we would make it that long. I hopped on the app and was able to change it to 5:15. Next, we rode the train from the main street stop all the way around. It was a nice break in the shade, and we got to see the whole perimeter of the park.

After that we took the boat over to Fort Wilderness.

It was a nice ride and fun to see some of the resorts from that perspective. My kids also love all kind of transportation, so it was good to get a train AND a boat ride in at the end of the day.

We arrived at Fort Wilderness a little early for our ADR and looked around a bit before being seated. The meal was good, we just were all hot and tired so didn't eat nearly what we could have under other circumstances, ha. The offerings were good and my kids LOVED getting to order coke and have dessert. We have those things at home but not with near the frequency they had them at WDW so that alone was magical, ha.

After Trails End we took the boat back to Magic Kingdom, and then caught a bus back to our resort. We took everyone to the pool, and then went to bed early-it had been a super long day!!

Up next-Epcot! I almost didn't even plan to go to this park because I didn't think there would be enough that my kids would like. Did they? Did we?

 

[frostymojo]

Following along

 

[dmea10]

Following along! Your kids are adorable!