It's kind of fun to do the impossible - Disney with a 1 month old *new 2/13/15*

[crewsn]

First off, that view. Wow. Really puts this location tops on my list for one day. And who knew that sink would be perfect with an infant. Added bonus.

I give it up to y'all, that it looks like you stayed positive with the whole dining experience. The wait would test my neves for sure with little ones. My children are not the best with dinig out. It's hit or miss so we are planning only breakfast or lunch table service meals other than one.

Looks like a great first day though.

 

[Laura Bell]

Hi,

Just found your trip report. You have such a beautiful family. Hope the rest of your trip was as good as the start.

Laura

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Wow!! Your pictures of Fantasmic are amazing!!! Our pics are always dark and unrecognizable, lol!!

So, maybe it's just us because SOOOOO many people have this complaint...but we have never NOT just decided "Let's go see Fantasmic" and walk right in and take a seat.

Maybe it's our timing?? We've never done the package and have seen it 5+ times and never encountered the "stampede". I will just consider us lucky, lol!!

Now, getting out??? That's a whole other story...MOOOOOOO!!!! Is definitely the thought that comes to mind. And the last time, when we were coming out of the Villains Unleashed Fantasmic, it wasn't a path out of the park, it went back in and was so much longer it seemed!

Thank you - I definitely had to go through a lot of dark/unrecognizable pictures to find the ones that came out good - but especially considering what the ones last year looked at I am quite happy with them

Maybe you did just get lucky Really only got super bad when we got to the part to walk down to the seats - but definitely our experience has been a bit of herding to get in and out!

Yeah, there are two paths out and I was glad we kinda got led to the "back" one - much less crowded and put us at a good spot for the fireworks in time to see them!

First off, that view. Wow. Really puts this location tops on my list for one day. And who knew that sink would be perfect with an infant. Added bonus.

I give it up to y'all, that it looks like you stayed positive with the whole dining experience. The wait would test my neves for sure with little ones. My children are not the best with dinig out. It's hit or miss so we are planning only breakfast or lunch table service meals other than one.

Looks like a great first day though.

Location wise it could not be beat! Ever view picture I look at again I am re-thankful that we got to experience it ... and they were pretty good bathing sinks

I think because Judi and I like eating out so much we have worked on the kids from like birth on going out. Helps that they seem to like food (especially Peter) and while we try to avoid it we aren't afraid to pull out the phones if necessary.

Definitely a great first day - other than missing a few FP+ windows I was very happy with what we got done

Hi,

Just found your trip report. You have such a beautiful family. Hope the rest of your trip was as good as the start.

Laura

Thanks for joining Laura - and thank you for the complement! We did wind up having a great trip - it was a very different touring style for us compared to past trips but I feel like everyone got at least some things that were important to them done

 

[DisMom1981]

How much do you charge to have your kids teach my kids .......and DH......how to be better at Disney touring??? Lol. We've never done Fantasmic and I can't imagine getting that AND Frozen fireworks. I was pretty disappointed to miss the Frozen fireworks!

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[TheMaxRebo]

How much do you charge to have your kids teach my kids .......and DH......how to be better at Disney touring??? Lol. We've never done Fantasmic and I can't imagine getting that AND Frozen fireworks. I was pretty disappointed to miss the Frozen fireworks!

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

Well, Ann, I am sure that my kids could teach a lot of not so good things to them too

I think we just try to figure out what are the most important things to do for each person in the family and make sure we do that - so with Fantasmic! and the Frozen Fireworks being priorities we kinda just made it work as best we could (and, to be honest, it worked out better than I thought it might)

Sorry you didn't get to see the Frozen Fireworks - they were pretty darn good ... but they are extending some of the Frozen stuff so maybe they will bring the fireworks back ... or, the way they are going, just replace Illuminations with it

 

[ElenaJane]

Theme Park View Contemporary tower!! I love it! I only did it once, in 2012 an only for 2 nights. The view is just amazing (ok, to non-Disney fans maybe not so much). But you can hear the train whistle, and the parade music. And since you are looking into Tomorrowland, it almost feels like you are actually staying in the Magic Kingdom. You guys are amazing for getting so much done with 3 kids, one which is a newborn!! Your kids are amazing for making it through a THREE hour meal. You're right, great for a date night, but with kids and Fastpasses, that seems a little over the top.

Excited to follow along!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Theme Park View Contemporary tower!! I love it! I only did it once, in 2012 an only for 2 nights. The view is just amazing (ok, to non-Disney fans maybe not so much). But you can hear the train whistle, and the parade music. And since you are looking into Tomorrowland, it almost feels like you are actually staying in the Magic Kingdom. You guys are amazing for getting so much done with 3 kids, one which is a newborn!! Your kids are amazing for making it through a THREE hour meal. You're right, great for a date night, but with kids and Fastpasses, that seems a little over the top.

Excited to follow along!

You are 100% rigth Elena that being so close and being able to hear the parade and the train whistle - and the fact you can practially touch Space Mountain - makes it seem like the resort is just part of Tomorrowland ... I love that you can see the resort from Tomorrowland as well - while riding the Peoplemover, etc.

Thanks - the kids did do pretty well ... it was getting a bit stressful just knowing how much park time was being eaten up - but at least the food was really good!

 

[courtneybelle]

That is so strange about that family...you'd think they would have said thanks, at least!

I love the gifs!!! Great idea!

Electrical Water Pageant has been on our list of things we should do at Disney forever. I bet it was amazing being able to see it from your room!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

That is so strange about that family...you'd think they would have said thanks, at least!

I love the gifs!!! Great idea!

Electrical Water Pageant has been on our list of things we should do at Disney forever. I bet it was amazing being able to see it from your room!

So after reading this report Judi mentioned that she thinks the mom did quickly say thanks and also that it was when the father showed up a few minutes into the show that they all left ... in any event it was weird

Thank you! I am getting the hang of it and think these came out pretty good

The Electrical Water Pageant is so low tech compared to other things at Disney but is a classic. Not sure about now, but in the past watching from the Poly beach was a great place to see it

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Part 12 - Animal Kingdom part 1: Tusker House Breakfast
Tuesday, August 26th​

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Today was the first day we awoke in Disney - which means we got to awaken to this view:

It was really great to be able to see the Magic Kingdom "come alive" in the morning and buses start to roll up, etc.


This morning we were off to Animal Kingdom, where, in the parking lot, we had a much less attractive view as the construction for Avatarland was clearly moving along:

We had a pre-park opening ADR for Tusker House and as we were running a tad late pretty much went straight over.

I am a little disappointed that they no longer have Donald meet you outside, but they still do the photograph before you enter:

(they took a bunch of shots and in each one a different person had their eyes closed)


And you do still get to meet Donald - and he was the first one around. At this meal I learned an important lesson in that sometimes Peter leaves out fairly important words when he talks - words like "not" ... as often during the trip he would be saying "Me want Donald, me want Donald!" - except he really meant "Me NOT want Donald!" and he seemed to be scared of him - but would be saying that he wanted him ... so I was very confused

So long story short, that is why it is only Olivia in the below picture ... and also why during the parade Peter was running the other way

after Donald came by we had time to go get some food - which is a bit of a process to get food for all of us given the scope of offerings and the Olivia wanted to come and see every. single. option.

And she of course wound up with Mickey Waffles

I got a plate of waffles for both Olivia and Peter and then another with some eggs, sausage, donut holes, etc. for them to split:

And here is my plate which as (staring from the top, going clockwise): Carved ham with spicy sauce, plantains, sweet potato casserole, babooti, bread pudding, donut holes, strawberry turnover.

Like in the past, all of the food was quite good and I like the variety they have. And while they have switched from donuts to donut holes, we were very glad to see they are still Krispy Kreme brand!!!

Judi had a similar plate, though minus the meat. We also went back for more donuts Oh, and I went through like 6 glasses of the POG juice

As we were eating other characters came around. Last trip Peter liked the characters from a far but was very nervous up close - so this picture will show that he made great strides in the last 10 months or so:

and another with Mickey:

Then Goofy came by (Peter still not totally sure of this):

and last Daisy:

We had another really great meal at Tusker House - though we are disappointed they got rid of the picture. We've done this breakfast two trips in a row and may take a break but as we tend to like to do mornings at Animal Kingdom it does make sense to do a pre-park opening here.

after breakfast we headed towards a family safari

(continued next post)

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Part 13 - Animal Kingdom part 2: Safari ... and decent photos of the lions!
Tuesday, August 26th​

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As a general rule we try to hit up the Kilimanjaro Safari as early so we had that booked as our first FP+ of the day and headed there after breakfast.

I still get confused about the whole stroller process here as you take your stroller part of the way through the line and then they valet park it for you - but we eventually got it figured out and Judi strapped Emma in.

We had to wait a few minutes but before long were all in Simba 1 and ready for a good ride!

(you can kinda make out tow of Emma's fingers sticking out of the wrap)

Now, as required by Disney law, I took a ton of pictures of the safari (Cinderella's castle and the fountains in EPCOT full under the same law ... with a sub-paragraph covering the Punzel Potties) - but I tried to limit it to just the ones I thought came out best. Now as fauna is not really my expertise (not that flora is either), apologies in advance if I mislabeled any creature.

So, first off, we have the Black Rhinoceros:

Along with some Nile Crocodiles (I swear, I have some pictures of animals actually awake!):

Then a shot of one of the Baobab trees:

Sable Antelope:

Then my favorite animal on the Safari - the Giraffes! These, I belive are the Reticulated Giraffes. You can also see in the back the area where those on the tours have lunch - definitely would like to do one of those one day:

I guess Emma was getting nervous as she wanted to hold Judi's hand:

Baby African Elephant - How can you tell it is an African Elephant? Because we are in Africa!

Another Baobab tree:

A pretty decent picture of the male lion:

I also thought I got a pretty good shot of the female lions ....

... until we went around the bend and I was able to get an even beter one:

The Addax:

White Rhinocerous:

and closing it out with the Zebra (I mean, the name starts with 'Z', probably used to going last):

Overall, this was a fun sarafi ride and probably got to see the lions better than on any previous trip - though we didn't get quite the fun with the giraffes like we had gotten last trip.

Anyone had an eventful safari story?

TTFN

 

[geckodani]

What a fantastic view to wake up to! I'm so torn on AK. It kills my feet, but my favorite show on property is there (Nemo) so I at least have to go for that. Looks like a great safari!

 

[missangelalexis]

Cute character pics at Tusker House! Funny about Peter forgetting to include the word NOT

Awesome safari pictures, especially of the lions, super impressive!!

 

[MEK]

Wowsa!!!!! 3 lions on the same safari! You pretty much rocked that safari. I got that same picture of the male last October, but boy are those females amazing. I have never seen two females sitting side by side. I seriously didn't even know that could happen! You are my new hero!

 

[Dugette]

Looks like you had a good breakfast at Tusker (food and character-wise).

Nice safari! I guess you wore the lions out before I got there - did not see one lion on two safaris!

 

[horse11]

I really enjoyed your picture outside the Tusker House. I had to laugh because that seemed to be many of our family pictures taken at the Poly and even our meet and greet with Elsa and Anna. Only at A&E it was Elsa that had her eyes closed.
What a life that male lion lives. He was relaxing when we were there as well. In fact many of the animals were either eating or sleeping.
Very intresting to see that they have started the Avatar work. Hoping to get back to Disney when it is completed.
Looking forward to reading more about your AK day!

 

[courtneybelle]

That breakfast looks delicious and I am a huge fan of POG juice. They have it at my college but it's not quite the same as drinking it in WDW...

HA I love Peter's face in the picture with Goofy. He looks very suspicious.

That lion picture is majestic!!! Also thank you for giving the name for the "twirly horned deer" as my mother and I call it

 

[amazingact21]

I didn't know Donald doesn't greet you at the front of Tusker House anymore. Huh...that's a bit of a bummer. The food looks delicious, though. I'm amazed you were able to eat at all, between the characters walking up for pictures and trying to serve two kids. Won't lie, that sounds like a daunting task for me.



Not too bad with animal sightings on the safari. It's rare you see all 3 lions out and about. But I can see where you're coming with the giraffes; it's always fun when they are up close!

 

[annie170]

Indeed that is a goregeous view to wake up to!

We love Tusker House! If you think breakfast is good, you should try lunch sometime.

Too early for some of the animals?! I'm impressed by your knowledge of the correct names.

Out of curiousity, how did Emma sleep at night while you were there? Did waking at night to eat wake the other two? Did the kids have mornings where they just didn't want to get up?

 

[shan23877]

GREAT safari pictures!

We love TH breakfast. Donald was inside in May too. Disappointing isn't it? It was nice to have one character picture everyone could be in at a meal.

Poor Peter. Why can't you read his mind? NOT Donald should have been implied