Get a little Give a little, Pixie Dust that is - Completed

[NJlauren]

Welcome to my first Trip Report!

Some quick who what and wheres!

Where – The Contemporary 5 days with 3 park days

The Cast:

Me – Mom I am the solo planner for this trip, and I am writing this Trip report in hopes that I can stop stressing so much by getting my plans out there and maybe getting some feedback, I guess a little late for some items like ADRs and FP+ but I am just hoping this helps me with the stress of planning this trip

DH – Dad doesn't love Disney as much as I do, but loves how happy it makes me, isn't he sweet! Every time I ask his opinion he says do what I want, which is great but no help what so ever.

DD – Will be a few days shy of 10 months at date of travel, while we all know this trip is for her and at the end of the day my plans mean nothing, we will let her lead. But I really hope I can share my love of Disney with her and she will want to go back many times.

Grampie – This is my dad, I am a little worried about him for this trip, my mom passed away a few months after the last trip, almost a year now. I think this trip may be hard for him, he loves Disney and my parents stopped there on their honeymoon. I think he is very excited to go with DD, but he is still very emotional, and I know seeing my mom’s favorite rides, or doing her favorite things is going to be hard.

Aunt J – My Sister she loves her niece and is really excited to get to come for DD’s first Disney trip, she will be driving up with Grampie and only staying till the 5th

Aunt J’s BF – Not sure what to call him, but he is along for the ride, and hopefully will help make the trip great. Also driving up with Grampie and Aunt J and only staying till the 5th

Grammie – My MIL Flying down with us, but going on a cruise after, I am not sure, but I think she is very excited, and happy we invited her to join us.

Poppy – My FIL Flying down with us, but going on a cruise after, He is really easy going, so I hope he has a great time

Day 1 Part 1 - Arrival day!​

 

[NJlauren]

Day 1 Part 1 - Arrival Day

Busy morning, up early with DD last minute packing; now I remember why you should pack BEFORE the morning of the trip. I was 95% packed but still too much running around making sure we didn’t forget anything. Dropped the furbaby off at the vet, poor guy, but he does love it there, and they love him so I felt ok about it.



We left only about 10 minutes late for the airport which is really 5 minutes early. I always budget us to leave 15 minutes early. We used the yellow MDE Tags! For those who followed my PTR I was a little worried my in laws may not use theirs, or I would forget to pack something in my carry on, but all worked out! Checked in flew through security they gave us TSA precheck (score!). We got to the gate and met up with my in laws. So far we are off to a great start. We waited to board till the end. We fly JetBlue and they still preboard families and we had extra legroom (which boards first) but we have found that waiting till the end makes for a better flight for DD. We got on and she drank her bottle fast! We took off without any issues but now she wanted to play. We were able to calm her down and she slept for the next hour and 20 minutes which was great. She woke up with about 35 minutes or so left in the flight. She took her bottle for landing and another successful flight in the books!

We deplaned used the restrooms and headed to MDE. There weren’t many people in our line so we thought we may have just missed a bus. DD started to get fussy she just started to really ‘cruise’ (crawl and try to walk) and no longer wants to be held or in the stroller for long periods of time (this became a theme for the trip). I put her down and let her crawl around a little. People didn’t seem to mind and she was much happier. The bus final arrived and we boarded, DD seemed pretty happy which was good. We were headed to the resort and as we started to drive and drop off people we realized we were going to be the last resort. After some people got off the bus I moved back a row with DD and let her stand and play a little and she was content and happy.

We arrived at the resort at about 3:30, we checked in…. Kinda. My dad and sister had arrived around 1pm, my dad had gotten a text when his room was ready and my sister’s room was ready when she arrived. We had all done online check in. So we started checking in, my in laws and us were at stations (registers?) next to each other. My check in guy, Bob, was really nice we got a theme park view room (UPGRADE SCORE!) and connecting rooms with my in-laws, I am not sure how this happened, or why they did this but I wasn't exactly excited about it, but first world problems WE GOT THEME PARK VIEW! But our room wasn't ready so Bob, and the other check in person called to check and apologized but they are going to do our rooms right now and should be ready within the hour.

I was planning on heading to the pool now anyway so I stuck to this plan and went to the changing room. Frist I changed my daughter and my sister and MIL joined me. I was going to go change and my MIL went to pick up DD and slipped and almost fell. I then took DD with me to change, I know it was an accident but it was slippery in there and to be safe I just took her with me. MIL wasn’t exactly happy about it, but safety first, and I didn’t need to add to my anxiety.

DH and I took DD for a swim which was a lot of fun she loved it, and the pool was really nice, DH even took a turn on the slide.

Day 1 Part 2 - Still Arriving ​

 

[KathyM2]

Yay I found you!!! Your trip seems to have started off wonderfully!! I'm glad the bag check thing all went smoothly and you made it to the pool!! Looking forward to hearing the rest!

 

[NJlauren]

Yay I found you!!! Your trip seems to have started off wonderfully!! I'm glad the bag check thing all went smoothly and you made it to the pool!! Looking forward to hearing the rest!

YEAH! Thanks for stopping by! You're quick, i am still trying to add some pictures... Working on figuring out how to load them in at the same time as my write report.

Bag check was well worth it, and the pool was such a nice way to start the trip, fun but a little relaxing.

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

Yay! You started! Lol, glad you got The in laws to use the tags! Haha!

Your DD is so cute, I can't hardly stand it. I just love babies in pools!

Looks like your trip got off to a great start and that upgrade to a Theme Park view... SO COOL! Pixie dust for sure!!

 

[NJlauren]

Yay! You started! Lol, glad you got The in laws to use the tags! Haha!

Your DD is so cute, I can't hardly stand it. I just love babies in pools!

Looks like your trip got off to a great start and that upgrade to a Theme Park view... SO COOL! Pixie dust for sure!!

So happy you found me over here!
Thanks, she loves the pool I was a little sad this was the only pool time we got in. Loved a little Pixie Dust to start us off!!!

 

[skier_pete]

Dang, your DD is too cute! Looks like a relatively good start...with that many relatives on one trip, I foresee SOME issues coming up!

 

[NJlauren]

Dang, your DD is too cute! Looks like a relatively good start...with that many relatives on one trip, I foresee SOME issues coming up!

Thanks for following me over to my TR and for the lovely comments about DD !! Definitely a good start, no complaints from me at this point!

You'll just have to wait and see on the issues front

 

[tarak]

So glad you're doing at TR! Hopefully, I'll get the email notifications now. Silly Dis.

I'm so with you on your MIL slipping and not wanting her to carry your daughter. I've gotten to the point where I just don't worry about offending someone if I have concerns about my kids. I adore my FIL, but I won't even put him down as an emergency contact for fear he'd be able to pick my kids up and drive them somewhere. It's not an age thing, either. During my very first trip ever to WDW, he nearly killed us pulling out in front of a tractor-trailer. That was in 1997.

 

[Jenna319]

Subscribing! We are heading to WDW with our 1st baby girl, who will have just turned 1. Can't wait to hear how your adventures with baby were!

 

[skier_pete]

You'll just have to wait and see on the issues front

Uh oh, spoiler alert!!

 

[BibbitybobityLu]

Following! I followed along on your PTR and I'm excited to follow your trip! Your daughter is too adorable for words.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Joining! We've done trips with an 8mo old And a 1mo old (not same trip ) - later is now 9mo old and totally cruising

You DD is super cute - love the pic of her in her pool cover-up

Sounds like a pretty good flight to me!

 

[NJlauren]

So glad you're doing at TR! Hopefully, I'll get the email notifications now. Silly Dis.

I'm so with you on your MIL slipping and not wanting her to carry your daughter. I've gotten to the point where I just don't worry about offending someone if I have concerns about my kids. I adore my FIL, but I won't even put him down as an emergency contact for fear he'd be able to pick my kids up and drive them somewhere. It's not an age thing, either. During my very first trip ever to WDW, he nearly killed us pulling out in front of a tractor-trailer. That was in 1997.

Thanks for joining me over here for the TR ! OH BOY! I am totally in the camp of its never worth the risk, better to be safe then sorry. I agree i will offend away if it means everyone especially DD is safe!

Subscribing! We are heading to WDW with our 1st baby girl, who will have just turned 1. Can't wait to hear how your adventures with baby were!

Welcome ! Thanks for following along! I am so excited for you for your trip! Yours DD is adorable (assuming she is your profile pic!) You are going to have a blast! I am sure of it

Following! I followed along on your PTR and I'm excited to follow your trip! Your daughter is too adorable for words.

Thank you, So happy you are joining me over here to and for saying HI!

Joining! We've done trips with an 8mo old And a 1mo old (not same trip ) - later is now 9mo old and totally cruising

You DD is super cute - love the pic of her in her pool cover-up

Sounds like a pretty good flight to me!

Thanks for joining us on this adventure. . I read your trip report with your 1 month old (back before I was active and mostly just a lurker!), you gave me hope a trip with a 10 month old was totally do able! Thank you for your kind words about DD, so far 3 round trips in the books and no complaints from this Mama!

 

[cinderkelly]

Following along! I haven't fully read your first chapter yet but wanted you to know I'm here !

 

[Glittercat]

What a cutie your little one is! Oooh the Contemporary is on our list of resorts to stay at!

 

[NJlauren]

Following along! I haven't fully read your first chapter yet but wanted you to know I'm here !

So happy to have you here!

What a cutie your little one is! Oooh the Contemporary is on our list of resorts to stay at!

Thanks for joining in! It is a really great resort, hope you get the chance to stay there too!

 

[NJlauren]

Day 1 Part 2 – Still Arriving

After about 45 minutes of swimming no one had any texts that rooms were ready. So DH went to check, he was gone about 15 minutes and then my Dad decided to go check on him. So now it was about 5pm. About 10 minutes later my cell phone rang it was my Dad, but when I picked up it was DH. He explained to me that our rooms still aren’t ready and they would give us another room to use in the meantime and I should come to the front desk.

I arrived at the front desk with DD and all of our stuff, and everyone else. I asked if they could explain to me what was going on. Basically I was told my room SHOULD be ready after dinner. How within an hour turned in to after dinner I had no idea. We had a 6:45 reservation at The Wave. I wanted to know why I couldn’t just get the temporary room, it’s in the garden wing and you paid for tower, I didn’t really want to down grade, but I didn’t want to wait till after dinner either. So I then explained that this is really unacceptable, and check in is at 3pm, and your telling me my room SHOULD be ready by 9pm! I purposely booked The Wave so I could have a place to go if DD got fussy during dinner since it was the first night. The lady at the front desk said I could go to the room in the garden wing till my room was ready. Just what I wanted, to be in a room for a few hours with DD on the first night and moving later, I don’t think so. She asked if I would like to speak to a manger, you bet I did!

Anthony came out, about 5 minutes later, which felt a lot longer standing in a cover-up, with an infant in a wet bathing suit and towels, in the middle of the lobby. Anthony explained that the hotel is 40 years old (44 I should have told him) and that 10 rooms a day are being selected to be deep cleaned, and checked with an engineer for any issues so the hotel can be around another 40 years. So usually this is completed by 7-8pm every night but sometimes earlier, sometimes later, and our rooms were selected. I appreciated finally understanding what was really going on. Anthony apologized and said he would like to take care of us. He also said that another room was available now and we could have it, just 4 doors down but we wouldn’t have connecting rooms, well that would be wonderful! Connecting room issue solved and we got our room before dinner. My in-laws would still need to wait as another room was not ready yet. He also then told us he would like to comp us each 1 night in the hotel, dinner that night, and 3 additional FP+ each for the next day (the four guest in these two rooms that was 12 FP for the MK the next day!!)! We were told the FP were good for everything except parade and Wishes viewing. As far as I was concerned this was a win-win for everyone.

Also by my count I am going with pixie dust twice for us! Upgrade and amazing compensation for the issues with check in. If my room was ready at 5, or even 6 I wouldn't have been that annoyed but nothing till sometime between 7-9 was a little annoying. I think they went above and beyond and really showed the Disney customer service!

Day 1 Part 3 - Dinner!​

 

[JoshAndEvsMom]

Oh wow! You were right to stand your ground! No room until 9:00 pm is crazy! I can only imaging standing there, wet from the pool not knowing what was going on, tired from a day of travel. You're awesome because if that had been me, I would have cried!

If your DD is anything like mine was at that age, putting her down in a temporary room just to have to wake her up and move to another room would be a nightmare. No fun for anyone involved!

I'm glad they really made up for it though! That is AMAZING customer service! They turned a potentially horrible experience into one where you felt "pixie dusted". So, so cool! We had an issue with the Magical Express (one that was actually MY fault) and they totally went above and beyond. That is why we keep going back! Right?!

And Happy Mother's Day to you!!

 

[KathyM2]

Wow...I would have been super annoyed too!! Glad it finally all worked out ok!! And wow...what fun to have so many FP's!!! I can't imagine!!!