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

[TheMaxRebo]

Part 40 - Recap 4: Top Overall Memories​

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Well, we have finally come to the end - but I thought I would send this trip report off with a recap of my overall top memories from this trip. There will be some repeats from previous list, but basically was just trying to capture what I will think about when I look back at this trip.

I started with the idea of doing a top 10, then it grew to 15, and now it is at a top 20 with a few honorable mentions (and I am sure I am missing some too) .... guess that is as good a sign as any that it was a great trip!

Top 20 Memories

honorable mention:
- Surprising kids with Dessert Party / getting to watch Tinker Bell basically fly over our heads and then Peter thinking every firework was Tinker Bell
- People appreciating my "prep" - magicband "tatoos" t-shirts, etc.
- Using Magicbands and FP+ for the first time (and having success with the app!)


20. Writing my first ever pre-trip report and really engaging with DISers / making first 'real" trip video as well

19. The "pass it along balloon" - Olivia being gifted a balloon by a leaving guest as we arrived and then being into the idea of "passing it along" to someone else when we left

18. Peter's meet with Buzz/attempted high five/knuckles

17. Getting to see the Rainy Day Cavalcade (for good and for bad)

16. Peter not wanting to lose contact with Anna and keeping his hand on her the entire meet

15. Seeing Illuminations/Frozen Fireworks/Wishes/Electric Water Pageant all in one night

14. Pick a Pearl with Olivia getting biggest pearl of the day

13. Ariel with Emma, caller her a "little guppy"

12. Sanaa - some 1:1 time with Olivia and enjoying the animals ... and the food!

11. Bathing Emma in the sink

10. First ever DISmeet (thanks Lauren and Aria!)

9. Olivia trying to comprehend that people eat inside the Castle - and that we were going to be some of them

8. Peter's reaction when waking up in the parking lot of the Contemporary "Whoa, this one?"

7. Olivia being tall enough to ride the big coasters: Complaining about Everest shaking her cheeks too much but then being into the ride photo at Space Mountain:

6. Mickey "shushing" so we are quiet

5. Peter and the monorail: Riding it around twice with Peter / Peter making the "Bee boo" sound the doors make when they close / Peter trying to grasp the concept of the monorail coming into the hotel / walking into the gift store and trying to walk out with a monorail set

4. Olivia twirling with Snow White

3. CM Kimberly helping out Emma and Olivia

2. Staying at the Contemporary - monorail resort / Themepark View / Drinking a beer on the balcony of our room overlooking the Magic Kingdom

1. Successfully "doing the impossible" and having a great trip with a 1 month old ... and it was kinda fun (not to mention the first trip with kids and no grandparental support)

I sincerely want to thank everyone who followed along with this report and the crazy fun my crazy & fun family had at the most magical place on earth! It has truly made this an even more enjoyable experience for me and I hope that you enjoyed it as well.

See Ya Real Soon!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Since I don't have all of your physical mail addresses I wanted to virtually share our Christmas card with all of you:

Also, we finally got our Christmas tree fully decorated - there are quite a few Disney touches on it - though the most obvious is the monorail going around the base

From our family to yours - we wish you a very wonderful holiday season, a Merry Christmas, and all the best for an amazing 2015!

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[amazingact21]

Wonderful wrap up! I love that some of your favorite moments were things you couldn't have planned or predicted. Just goes to show that you never know when a magical moment is going to occur on your WDW vacation.


I hope you and your family have a Merry Christmas! (I hope Emma enjoys her first Christmas!)

 

[KatMark]

Phil, a great wrap-up and I enjoyed reading about those highlights again. Despite a few hiccups, I think your trip was a great success.

I love the Christmas card and again wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas.

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Yeah, I think the fact that is a top 20 and probably still hard to narrow down says that it truly was a great trip.

A great list to be sure Phil and really shows that, just like life, the best things in Disney are the little moments that aren't planned.

Thank YOU for sharing your story Phil and here's hoping for many more to come.

And... Ariel featured on the Christmas card. Yeah, I'm good with that. Merry Christmas.

 

[MEK]

 

[Vernie822]

Merry Christmas! I'm just now catching up on your last few posts. It's so great that you had such a successful trip with 3 little ones. I loved your special moments, especially the 1 on 1 Sanaa lunch, and sharing the balloon. I hope you had a wonderful holiday with your family. Happy New Year, too!

 

[Dugette]

Aw, I'm sad that your report is over! Thanks for sharing the trip with us!

Great wrap-up and so many magical moments to remember!

I love that you have a monorail going around your Christmas tree!

 

[khaleesi]

So you are saying you like the song?

I actually had using that song in mind before we even made the tip - thus why I made sure I got a shot of "one cold beer"

Why yes, yes I do!!! Haha. I kind of wondered if it was planned, because I was impressed with the one cold beer shot! LOL. But from a Disney perspective, the "summer dress, favorite park" line is so perfect!!!

8. Peter's reaction when waking up in the parking lot of the Contemporary "Whoa, this one?"

7. Olivia being tall enough to ride the big coasters: Complaining about Everest shaking her cheeks too much but then being into the ride photo at Space Mountain:

Those two things are my favorite. When I was watching those Disney specials yesterday and they showed the monorail inside the Contemporary, it made me think of Peter's reaction

 

[schmass]

Great wrap up! I'm sad your report is over!

 

[jrmint427]

I just finished reading your report and I'm so sad it's over! I felt like I was right along on vacation with your family. You'll just have to take another trip soon so I can read more

I loved all the GIFs (especially the Snow White twirling video) and my favorite picture was of Peter and Snow White.

When I saw the report title I thought you were absolutely crazy to be taking a 1 month old to WDW (and still kinda do) but you made it look so easy. You and your wife must have incredible patience and energy!

 

[courtneybelle]

Hope you and the family had a great Christmas!!!

Thank YOU for a great recap and Trip Report!! I loved all the stories, pictures, and GIFs. Hope you guys get back to WDW sooner rather than later!!

 

[Leshaface]

Your wrap up was fantastic! Such awesome moments you guys had

I totally enjoyed following along and can't wait for you guys to take another trip to share with us. And also, so we can watch those precious children grow!

 

[sunnysideup3]

I hope your family had a great Christmas! It was a pleasure getting to know you all during this TR!
Can't wait to follow along on the next adventure!

 

[missangelalexis]

Love your overall memories!! Those were definitely some of my favorite moments reading along Thank you for sharing your trip with us, I really enjoyed it so much!

Your Christmas card is awesome! And your tree looks great, LOVE the monorail!!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Wonderful wrap up! I love that some of your favorite moments were things you couldn't have planned or predicted. Just goes to show that you never know when a magical moment is going to occur on your WDW vacation.

I hope you and your family have a Merry Christmas! (I hope Emma enjoys her first Christmas!)

Thank you! and that is a good point - as much planning as I do (and love doing) it is often the things that just happen that we most remember. Also good to remember if one is ever off to a rough start to a day - you never know when a really positive thing is just around the river bend!

We had a very nice Christmas and Emma was way more into unwrapping things than we thought she would be! She got a lot of nice little toys that she seems into - especially a stuffed Lamby from Doc McStuffings that she loves to cuddly with

Phil, a great wrap-up and I enjoyed reading about those highlights again. Despite a few hiccups, I think your trip was a great success.

I love the Christmas card and again wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas.

Thank you Kathy! We definitely consider this trip a success and while there were a few hiccups not as many as I expected (and not nearly as many as I feared)

Yeah, I think the fact that is a top 20 and probably still hard to narrow down says that it truly was a great trip.

A great list to be sure Phil and really shows that, just like life, the best things in Disney are the little moments that aren't planned.

Thank YOU for sharing your story Phil and here's hoping for many more to come.

And... Ariel featured on the Christmas card. Yeah, I'm good with that. Merry Christmas.

It would have been almost impossible to only list 10 memorable moments from the trip - and I agree that I think that is a good sign that it was a good trip!

Definitely agree that as much as we can try to plan out all the details and what "fun" we will have and when - there are better things out there that we can't even think up in our human brains that are just waiting for us!

Yeah, though you would like that part of the Christmas Card - plus, red hair and green fin, she is basically made up of Christmas colors

Merry Christmas! I'm just now catching up on your last few posts. It's so great that you had such a successful trip with 3 little ones. I loved your special moments, especially the 1 on 1 Sanaa lunch, and sharing the balloon. I hope you had a wonderful holiday with your family. Happy New Year, too!

Thank you! It was funny that at the time we were kinda bummed that Peter was asleep for Sanaa as he tends to like to eat and would have liked to see the animals, etc. - but it really worked out well and it was nice to give some time to just Olivia.

I hope you had a wonderful holiday as well!

Aw, I'm sad that your report is over! Thanks for sharing the trip with us!

Great wrap-up and so many magical moments to remember!

I love that you have a monorail going around your Christmas tree!

I'm pretty sad the trip report is over too!

Thanks for reading along! Wasn't even thinking about the tree when we first got the Monorail but thought it was a fun way to bring some more Disney to the tree

Why yes, yes I do!!! Haha. I kind of wondered if it was planned, because I was impressed with the one cold beer shot! LOL. But from a Disney perspective, the "summer dress, favorite park" line is so perfect!!!

Those two things are my favorite. When I was watching those Disney specials yesterday and they showed the monorail inside the Contemporary, it made me think of Peter's reaction

The beer and then some sort of shot with grass in it was the only thing I really remembered to get video of - but great point about the line "summer dress, favorite park" - that one really worked out well by accident!

Yeah, I think now whenever I see the monorail or really train it makes me think of Peter and how happy they make him. Hoping that this love/interest keeps up for him until he is old enough to do the Steam Train Tour at the Magic Kingdom with me

Great wrap up! I'm sad your report is over!

Thank you! I am sad it is over too - especially since we don't have a next trip planned yet

 

[TheMaxRebo]

I just finished reading your report and I'm so sad it's over! I felt like I was right along on vacation with your family. You'll just have to take another trip soon so I can read more

I loved all the GIFs (especially the Snow White twirling video) and my favorite picture was of Peter and Snow White.

When I saw the report title I thought you were absolutely crazy to be taking a 1 month old to WDW (and still kinda do) but you made it look so easy. You and your wife must have incredible patience and energy!

Well, then it is settled - we will have to book another trip Actually, the fact we don't have another trip planned makes it even sadder for me to be done with this trip - but I think I dragged out the ending as long as I could.

Thank you! Those are definitely some of my favorites as well I am glad to have made those .gifs and some of them can really bring me right back to the moment and make the trip come alive a bit more to me

Don't worry, I think we are kinda crazy too! We've always taken our kids out when they were young - tell myself it is to build up their tolerances (which has worked pretty well as none of them have any allergies and have only had a few basic colds) - but also it is because Judi and I still want to be able to go places

Hope you and the family had a great Christmas!!!

Thank YOU for a great recap and Trip Report!! I loved all the stories, pictures, and GIFs. Hope you guys get back to WDW sooner rather than later!!

Thanks Courtney - I hope your family had a wonderful holiday as well!

Glad you enjoyed following along and I too hope we get back sooner rather than later, but we shall see

Your wrap up was fantastic! Such awesome moments you guys had

I totally enjoyed following along and can't wait for you guys to take another trip to share with us. And also, so we can watch those precious children grow!

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed the recap - we can't wait for the next trip either! Hopefully one comes up sooner than we are now thinking but we shall see

I hope your family had a great Christmas! It was a pleasure getting to know you all during this TR!
Can't wait to follow along on the next adventure!

Thank you! Glad you enjoyed meeting us Hope you had a wonderful Christmas as well!

Love your overall memories!! Those were definitely some of my favorite moments reading along Thank you for sharing your trip with us, I really enjoyed it so much!

Your Christmas card is awesome! And your tree looks great, LOVE the monorail!!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday

Thank you Alexis - we had so many great moments, it was fun to relive them again!

Glad you enjoyed the card and I am happy with how the tree came out! Hope you and your family had a wonderful holiday

 

[teekathepony]

Hi Phil! I *FINALLY* got caught up only to find that you'd finished!

LOVE the video!! Great song choices, what a sweet memory. It makes me want to go back into my previous trips and make a video!

I like your top 5 food lists. I also liked how you broke down the meals into good food, and good overall.

"So what are some of your "top 5" food related experiences at Disney World?"

Good question. That would require some thought. I'd have to say that Boma for breakfast ranks up there, maybe Via Napoli's pizza for DH. Honestly, I even love T-Rex! Seems my tastes are relatively simple.

Great top 5 lists that don't include food too. Glad you included some positive notes about the CMs. I have never had a negative experience with a Disney CM, and it's nice to highlight the really special ones.

Great recaps!

Loved following along with your story, thank you for sharing everything with us!

 

[MarieLightning]

Sooo, so late to the parade, but I'm glad I joined in this late because I really enjoyed your TR!

I didn't make notes for everything because, well, it would probably be as long as an update, but I loved the whole of the TR.

It was really great too reading about experience with kids, seeing as Amber and I are yet to find out what that's like, and it'll be a bit of preparation for next November when we bring our little cousins (who will be 9, 8 and 3 by then, so not exactly so young as yours, but still different than our usual adults only trips).

You got some great character interactions in there, it must be so nice to meet them when there's children and it's still so so real and magical to them - which, I mean, it's still real and magical to me, but unfortunately not quite to the same level anymore Though one of the many, many reasons why I love Disney is that character meetings are great no matter the age. I mean, I'm sure they probably make it that much more special for the little ones, but we've had our share of fantastic meets with characters that made the moment very special for us. That's just so much of what Disney is about after all.

I also really like the thank you cards idea. We tried that in October 2013 but we unfortunately didn't think to give as many as we could have. We do try to make it a point to stop by Guest Relations whenever we encounter someone who's especially great, though. I was really glad you sent that email for Kimberly because she did seem to be an above and beyond Cast Member! Even if she hadn't spent that time cheering up Olivia, the fact that she took the time to notice Judi's situation and help her out in any way she could was so great, but then to take that extra time is just awesome.

You had some great food experiences too that I really hope to convince Amber to try someday! We're not much for fancy food, both of us are very picky so restaurants like Hollywood Brown Derby would be somewhat problematic, but I'm hopeful someday we'll fit it in (we do have it on our Bucket List to eat at every restaurant. It'll take us a while, obviously, especially seeing as we can't seem to pass up Teppan Edo ever!). And then I've gotta convince the non breakfast eater to splurge on Cinderella's Royal Table for breakfast. The food seemed fantastic at many of the restaurants you went for, though! I may just have to take tips from Olivia for food picks because I've never found anything that caught my eye at Sunshine Seasons, but that pizza panini looked really good

Finally, I have to commend one of my favorite pictures - if just for the fact that I loved, loved it the first moment I saw it, and thought about mentioning it upon commenting, but then I realized how many more pictures I would come across after that and so it would probably be silly to just comment on one specifically. But I have to, because although there are many, many great pictures all through this TR, this one is just so, so sweet.

But yeah, all in all, great trip! Hopefully there'll be another coming soon (in spite of those previous home owners wanting to support a house structure with hope and dreams) so you can write another report!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

Hi Phil! I *FINALLY* got caught up only to find that you'd finished!

LOVE the video!! Great song choices, what a sweet memory. It makes me want to go back into my previous trips and make a video!

I like your top 5 food lists. I also liked how you broke down the meals into good food, and good overall.

"So what are some of your "top 5" food related experiences at Disney World?"

Good question. That would require some thought. I'd have to say that Boma for breakfast ranks up there, maybe Via Napoli's pizza for DH. Honestly, I even love T-Rex! Seems my tastes are relatively simple.

Great top 5 lists that don't include food too. Glad you included some positive notes about the CMs. I have never had a negative experience with a Disney CM, and it's nice to highlight the really special ones.

Great recaps!

Loved following along with your story, thank you for sharing everything with us!

Thanks for sticking with it Wendy! Glad you enjoyed the video - I am very much hoping it is something we will enjoy watching 5, 10, 20 years from now and looking back!

You don't hear much about breakfast at Boma but good to know you enjoyed it. We did dinner there a while ago and I liked it but didn't love it. May have to give it another shot though. I hear nothing but good about Via Napoli so that is definitely on the short list for next new restaurant to try

You are very welcome - and thank you for following!

Sooo, so late to the parade, but I'm glad I joined in this late because I really enjoyed your TR!

I didn't make notes for everything because, well, it would probably be as long as an update, but I loved the whole of the TR.

It was really great too reading about experience with kids, seeing as Amber and I are yet to find out what that's like, and it'll be a bit of preparation for next November when we bring our little cousins (who will be 9, 8 and 3 by then, so not exactly so young as yours, but still different than our usual adults only trips).

You got some great character interactions in there, it must be so nice to meet them when there's children and it's still so so real and magical to them - which, I mean, it's still real and magical to me, but unfortunately not quite to the same level anymore Though one of the many, many reasons why I love Disney is that character meetings are great no matter the age. I mean, I'm sure they probably make it that much more special for the little ones, but we've had our share of fantastic meets with characters that made the moment very special for us. That's just so much of what Disney is about after all.

I also really like the thank you cards idea. We tried that in October 2013 but we unfortunately didn't think to give as many as we could have. We do try to make it a point to stop by Guest Relations whenever we encounter someone who's especially great, though. I was really glad you sent that email for Kimberly because she did seem to be an above and beyond Cast Member! Even if she hadn't spent that time cheering up Olivia, the fact that she took the time to notice Judi's situation and help her out in any way she could was so great, but then to take that extra time is just awesome.

You had some great food experiences too that I really hope to convince Amber to try someday! We're not much for fancy food, both of us are very picky so restaurants like Hollywood Brown Derby would be somewhat problematic, but I'm hopeful someday we'll fit it in (we do have it on our Bucket List to eat at every restaurant. It'll take us a while, obviously, especially seeing as we can't seem to pass up Teppan Edo ever!). And then I've gotta convince the non breakfast eater to splurge on Cinderella's Royal Table for breakfast. The food seemed fantastic at many of the restaurants you went for, though! I may just have to take tips from Olivia for food picks because I've never found anything that caught my eye at Sunshine Seasons, but that pizza panini looked really good

Finally, I have to commend one of my favorite pictures - if just for the fact that I loved, loved it the first moment I saw it, and thought about mentioning it upon commenting, but then I realized how many more pictures I would come across after that and so it would probably be silly to just comment on one specifically. But I have to, because although there are many, many great pictures all through this TR, this one is just so, so sweet.

But yeah, all in all, great trip! Hopefully there'll be another coming soon (in spite of those previous home owners wanting to support a house structure with hope and dreams) so you can write another report!

Thank you so much for joining Marie and congrats on getting through it all! Hope reading this will provide some thought for you and Amber for you trip with you cousins. It is definitely different traveling with kids and I do think you have be open to having some flexibility as you need to go with their flow at times and now when they need a break, etc.

One thing I love about Disney is that it really is something that all people can enjoy - even character meets. They are great with adults and also great with kids. Hope you enjoy them on that trip and just kinda take in the moments when their faces light up because oh my gosh I am meeting the actual Mickey Mouse!!!!!!

One thing about Disney restaurants is the vast majority of them have items for all kinds of tastes - and also try to remember that even if the description sounds super fancy it very often is just some sort of meat with sauce Maybe on your next trip with just the two of you, you can try one restaurant that is maybe stretching a bit for you and see how it goes. The pizza panini was pretty good (I had to of course to a bit of a taste test to ensure it was safe) - definitely tasted fresh which was good.

I loved that picture too - so much in fact we used it to make our 2014 Christmas Ornament (which we also gave to the kids grandmothers/great grandmother):


and then on the back we put a slightly different version where Olivia and Peter were making faces at Emma:


Oh, and nothing is definite yet (we are trying to investigate a few things and fully commit) but there should be a new pre-trip report coming very soon ... for a trip that will be quite a bit different than others we have taken to date.