Lady and the Tramp's Disney with Food Allergies TR ~COMPLETE

[29apr00]

Ok, so I've never done a Trip Report before, or even a Pre-Trip Report, so you'll have to bear with me on this one. It's gonna be a work in progress for a while.

So let's see....how to start this???

Obviously i'm a disney fanatic, I wouldn't be here typing this PTR if I wasn't. So back in January, after it had been over 2 yrs since our last trip to WDW, i decided I needed my Disney Fix, it was time to think about going again. Now this is no easy feat, as Dh and I have 2 small children. (it had been 2 yrs since our last trip, because ds is 2 yrs old.) And after our last trip when DD was 2, and mommy was 7 1/2 mts pg, we decided it would be much better to wait until the children were older, more able to stay up late at night without having the complete meltdown all over the park. But hey, horrible disney experiences are like childbirth, you forget all the bad stuff in the planning stages for the next one!!! So here we go again, this time with DD (4) and DS ( 2 yrs 2 months), Dh and myself. We'll see how it goes.

Jennifer

 

[29apr00]

Hm....yeah, need some details now don't we.

( I told you I hadn't done this before!)

Cast of Disney Go-ers

Myself - Jennifer
DH - Joe
DD - Jackie (4)
DS - Joey (2)

When :
April 30 - May 2, 2008
Yes, I know it's a short trip, it was all we could do at this time.

Where :

Pop Century ....again

We stayed at Pop when we were there last time in 12/05 and had an absolutely wonderful time there! The resort is so lively and active it is perfect for young families! We've requested a room towards the back by Hourglass Lake. We'll see about that.....

Special things:

Well we booked that weekend for 2 reasons.
1) because I teach cake decorating 2 nights a week, and this was the 1st free week i've had all year, and the last one until August. So I needed a vacation!

2) it's our 8th anniversary. Hey, in this day and age, you've got to celebrate making it 8 weeks! Let alone 8 yrs!

So like i said, I booked this trip the end of Jan, so we had about 93 days from to plan this trip. It wasn't a lot of time for us to save for a longer trip, and since timing unfortunatley plays a big part in when we could go, 3 nights was all that we available this time.

But that's ok! I told dh it would just be a real quick, relaxing, no stress trip to Disney.


Due to the short length of time we'll be there, i think i've micro-managed every minute detail of this trip! I have about 10 days worth of activites that i wanted to cram into 3 days. But with 2 small children, that isn't going to work....so what has to be cut???

 

[29apr00]

So the lastest "discussion" about this quick trip today between Dh and myself is the topic of the waterpark the 1st day we arrive. Our flight gets into Orlando at 10:30am, really great huh! So we should have no problem making it to Pop by noon. Check in, grab some quick lunch, and we have 1/2 the day left before our ADR at 1900 Park Fare at 5:40pm, for a VERY SPECIAL DINNER.

Dh wants to head to Typhoon Lagoon for the afternoon. Now at first, i thought that was a fine idea. We were just going to hang out at DTD, but this seems more fun, relaxing way to spend the afternoon, and we'll still be able to catch the bus from TL to GF for dinner with no problem.

Here comes the micromanaging part. What if our luggage, which is coming by ME, isn't at POP by the time we leave for TL? how will we get ready for dinner at 1900 Park Fare? It's a special dinner, and I don't want us to be sitting there dripping wet with nasty suntan smelly skin and stringy chlorinated hair! Plus...i'm sure i mentioed in passing that my children are 2 and 4. Dh wants to go to TL so he can ride the big water rides. Mommy doesn't like water very much. It's the whole "water in my face" phobia thing going on. Plus, what am i supposed to do with 2 small children at a water park, while he is out whooping it up on Crushin Gusher?? I will admit that i tend to be a bit more overprotective around water than some parents would be, but even if I weren't, 2 small toddlers + 1 crazy mother + 1 very large waterpark = NOT A RELAXING TIME FOR MOMMY!!! So i suggested just hanging at the Hippy Dippy Pool at Pop instead. We'll have access to the room to clean up, and mommy doesn't have to worry about constant viligalence around the waterpark.

So Dh is all bent out of shape because i'm "throwing out the only thing i was looking forward to!" You mean to tell me, i'm spending all this money, and all you care about is the water park?!?!?!

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Breakdown of itinerary:

4/30 - land at 10:30am, Magical Express to Pop Centruy.
lunch at Everything Pop
Afternoon at Typhoon Lagoon or Resort Pool
Special Anniversary Celebration Dinner at 1900 Park Fare with Cinderella and Friends.

5/1 - Breakfast at resort, grab bus to MK at 7:30am, be there for EMH rope drop
DD has 8:15am appt at BBB (I am also trying to get an appt for myself too )
Lunch at Pinnochio Haus
Dinner at Crystal Palace with Pooh and Friends at 6:10pm.
probably not stay for SpectroMagic and Wishes, but judge on children's tired meter.

5/2 - Breakfast at 8:15am at Hollywood and Vine with Little Einsteines.
Lunch at Pizza Planet
depending on time/mood , leave DHS for nap at resort after lunch.
Dinner at Pop Century, then to MK for P&PP!!! 7pm-12am! Thus the reason we need the NAP!!!

5/3 - Check out of resort, check bags with airline check in
Breakfast at resort, be at AK for rope drop at 9am
lunch at ???
Dinner at ???
Magical Express back to airport at 5:45pm.

next up.....list of MUST SEE things to do!!!
Dinner at ??

 

[29apr00]

one more post before the end of the night, i promise!

Here are the shirts, and envelopes, letter, and invitations i've got made up for the kids.

These are for Dh

Family Shirts

Joey's shirts

Jackie's shirts

Our special anniverary shirt for Dh and I

DD and my matching shirt

DH and DS matching shirts

Bag

Mousekeeping envelopes

Invitation to DH for our special dinner

And the letter to let the kids know we are going to WDW. (it's a suprise now)

I also have an invite for them for each TS meal, and the P&PP and Jackie's BBB appt. And ones for the front desk agent to give to them when we arrive, one from Mickey and one from Tinker Bell.

 

[29apr00]

So dd decided that today would be a good time to perfect her vomiting skills, so i should be home from work tomorrow, and have plenty of time to complete my planning for the trip!

Need to do:

BEGIN PACKING!!!

 

[BrittBritt]

Oh no, vomit! It seems like every good PTR has a little vomit in it!
I second the vote for hanging at the Pop pool rather than TL. I think rushing from the resort to TL, then to get cleaned up, then to make the ADR sounds so stressful. DH and I would have a hard time making that schedule, and we don't have young children!

 

[stagemomx3]

Plus, what am i supposed to do with 2 small children at a water park, while he is out whooping it up on Crushin Gusher?? I will admit that i tend to be a bit more overprotective around water than some parents would be, but even if I weren't, 2 small toddlers + 1 crazy mother + 1 very large waterpark = NOT A RELAXING TIME FOR MOMMY!!!

Right by Crushin Gusher- which is awesome by the way- there is a nice sandy beach seating area, and a wading swimming area. So you and the kiddos could hang out there, just as easily as at the Hippy Dippy pool and DH could go do Crushin Gusher.

I packed our swim stuff and our first night dinner wear in our carry on bags so we would for sure have those our first night. I think I'd still plan on leaving Typhoon Lagoon early enough to get ready for dinner though. How are you getting from Pop to GF? Bus to MK, then monorail? What time is your ADR?

Sorry your dd is sick!

Love all your t-shirts and stuff. Aren't Natalie's letters great! My kids loved getting theirs on our trip.

I have a Joey too, he's 11.

 

[Native NYer]

Love your tshirts!

 

[29apr00]

I've got responses!!! I was begining to think i was doing this wrong!!

Off to the grocery store for pop and medicine for dd. Maybe i'll get some travel size toiletres for our box to ship down.

Jennifer

 

[29apr00]

Oh no, vomit! It seems like every good PTR has a little vomit in it!
I second the vote for hanging at the Pop pool rather than TL. I think rushing from the resort to TL, then to get cleaned up, then to make the ADR sounds so stressful. DH and I would have a hard time making that schedule, and we don't have young children!

Yeah, you got to love when the kid vomit all over the place! At least it was dh who dealt with it, not me! I agree, too stressful for the 1st day!

Right by Crushin Gusher- which is awesome by the way- there is a nice sandy beach seating area, and a wading swimming area. So you and the kiddos could hang out there, just as easily as at the Hippy Dippy pool and DH could go do Crushin Gusher.

I packed our swim stuff and our first night dinner wear in our carry on bags so we would for sure have those our first night. I think I'd still plan on leaving Typhoon Lagoon early enough to get ready for dinner though. How are you getting from Pop to GF? Bus to MK, then monorail? What time is your ADR?

Sorry your dd is sick!

Love all your t-shirts and stuff. Aren't Natalie's letters great! My kids loved getting theirs on our trip.

I have a Joey too, he's 11.

Yeah Natalies stuff is excellent! She is so talented, i wish i could do some of that stuff! I'm still trying to figure out how to work the stroller tags! OUr original plan was to go to DTD for shopping, then take the bus to GF for dinner. Once we decided to go to TL, we were still going to be able to take the bus from there to GF. Now i assume we'll probably just take a cab, so much easier than going to a park and transferring.

Love your tshirts!

Thanks! I put a lot of work into those and I think it's going to make the trip extra special!

 

[29apr00]

wow look at that, i figured out how to multi quote!

DD must have just eaten something that didn't agree with her, because she was fine all night, and is just fine now. Strange how that happens.

I think i did mention earlier that this trip is a suprise for the kids. I don't know why i decided to make it a suprise, less time for her to bother us about when is it time to go! But i had to tell someone, i was just too excited! So i told ds, who is only 2. He is very excited about it, and now every night at bedtime he talks about the airplane and going to see Mickey Mouse and Goofy! He's so cute! It's very hard keeping the secret from DD, espically since Dh and I tend to talk about it so much! And of course, all the t-shirts, journals, activity books, and autograph books all over the house aren't helping any. She knows we will eventually be going, just not too sure when. Right now the plan is to get up in teh morning just like normal (except it will be a whole lot earlier ) and get ready to go just like we do for school. I'm hopeing that since it will be so early, they will both fall back asleep. Once they wake up, or we arrive at the airport, whichever is first, I'll give them the "going to WDW" letter and envelope from Natalie. She's going to flip out! She'll be so excited. Then upon arrival at the resort, i'm going to have the CM call her over and give her the Tink arrival letter, and we'll have another one from the princesses in our room. DS will have ones also. I plan on keeping all these for the scrapbook, if i ever get around to making one!

Oh yeah, still fighting with Dh about Typhoon Lagoon vs Resort pool,.

Jennifer

 

[29apr00]

So recently my son was diagnosed as being Lactose Intolerant. In the grand scheme of food allergies, lactose intolerant is minor. I have friends whose children seem to be allergic to every food available! Life Threatening Allergies too! My ds just gets a nasty upset tummy, cranky dispositation, and of course, the ever wonderful EXPLOSIVE DIAHAREA! (gotta love this PRT, vomit and diaharea!) So we're doing the usual things you need to do, like cut out all the triggers. Except dairy is used in practically ALL foods! did you know that McDonald french fries are made with milk?? And right now, we really aren't sure what his triggers are, or how severe it could get. Right now we've switched from Cow's milk, to Soy milk, he eats soy yoghurt, and we've cut down seriously on the amount of cheese he eats. It has helped a lot, but he still isn't 100% better. So now we need to dig deeper and determine what foods MADE with milk are bad. It's a long confusing process.

So you can imagine that the thought of going to Disney and haveing no control over the food made and packaged is a bit scary! TS meals will be ok, as the chef will come and go over what is safe to eat and what isn't. But the CS meals are a bit more challenging. Apparently, there is a big "binder" full of the nutrition and ingreadient information for each item on the menu board. We are supposed to go to the queue, and ask to see the binder, look it over and determine what is safe to eat. All this while standing in line in front of everyone else trying to eat a meal. I sure they will be just fine waiting for me to decide what is safe and what isn't! So i'm doing as much research as i can on the CS meals and trying to figure out what is definately off limits (Pizza Planet ) and what may be safe.

 

[29apr00]

So i've been doing a lot more reading and planning meals since DS allergy was found. After further review from the WDW Special Diets dept, Pizza Planet is still an option, as they make their own pizza fresh! Pinnachio Village Haus is out, as their pizza's are brought already made. But that's ok, their new menu didn't look to kid friendly. Actually, this allergy seems to be opening up a few restaurants we haven't tried before. Normally, we're pretty set on the restaurnts we go to. But I think we may try Plaza Restaurant, Yak and Yeti or Tusker House, and Flatbread Grill in DHS as new places.


I was looking into doing the Wonderland Tea Party for dd on our arrival day, you know, since we won't be going to the water park. But the price for that is now $40! for a tea party!! But i guess since Disney is now charging $31 for a stroller rental, $40 for Tea is normal.

 

[iluv2go2disney]

I just found your PTR and I completely understand about the food allergy thing. We first thought my son was lactose intolerant, but after testing we found he's allergic to peanuts, corn, shellfish, all types of beans, carrots, most fruit. He was tested a year later and the list got longer. We've now added potatoes to the list. Luckily he takes vitamins because the poor kid is allergic to most fruits and veggies. The trial and error process in the beginning is so frustrating, but it really does get better. We went last year and things went pretty well. This year though I'm paying the extra money for my DS to be on the adult DDP (he's already 9 so it's not too big of a deal). I'm doing this because he can't hardly anything on the kids menu. Anyway, good luck with all your son's allergies.

 

[29apr00]

So since i last posted we've had just a great week!

First, my oh so great day care decided to think that Pizza was OK for my dairy free son! (where is the "Shoot the moron" smilie!????) So after having been Dairy Free for over a month, now a little bit of pizza makes him puke. All over the Day Care Worker. Score one for DS!!! yes, we've dealt with them, and are in the process of finding a new center.

Then, mommy gets STREP THROAT!!! No no no! Mommy can't get sick, the entire house falls apart! Plus that just guarantees that someone else is going to get sick. Which they did.

DS, my poor little baby. Another ear infection. Ds had tubes put in exactly 1 year ago yesterday. And yesterday morning, we were back at the Pediatricians office getting drops for his 5th infection since tubes were put in. I don't know what to do about this. We thougth at first the dairy might be the cause, thus how de figured out he was Lactose Intolerant. But obviously that isn't helping. So it looks like we may be in for another ENT appt.

But on the bright side, if you can find one, is that 2 of the 4 of us are on Antiboitics! Hopefully we'll keep the other 2 healthy by osmosis!!


I did finally hear back from WDW Special Diets and now have all the info I need to determine which restaurants we will be eating at. It kind of sucks that we will have vertually NO flexibility when it comes to meals, as most restaurants will need advance notice do accomodate ds's allergies, but at the same time, it's kind of nice to know that we won't be dealing with the typical "where do we go for food, what are we going to eat this time" fiasco that can drain about 2-3 hrs a day from your schedule!! So that's a plus. Plus we forcing ourselves to try different places.


Started packing finally. I know we don't leave for 16 days but i've actually been throwing stuff in the suitcase for about 2 weeks already. I'll just find stuff laying around the house and throw it in, like sunglasses, bathing suits. I need to finalize the box to ship down, as i want to get that shipped no later than next tuesday so i'll have plenty of time to get from IN to FL.

Next update should hopefully be the finalized touring plan!!

 

[29apr00]

I just found your PTR and I completely understand about the food allergy thing. We first thought my son was lactose intolerant, but after testing we found he's allergic to peanuts, corn, shellfish, all types of beans, carrots, most fruit. He was tested a year later and the list got longer. We've now added potatoes to the list. Luckily he takes vitamins because the poor kid is allergic to most fruits and veggies. The trial and error process in the beginning is so frustrating, but it really does get better. We went last year and things went pretty well. This year though I'm paying the extra money for my DS to be on the adult DDP (he's already 9 so it's not too big of a deal). I'm doing this because he can't hardly anything on the kids menu. Anyway, good luck with all your son's allergies.

Ohmygosh your poor son!! that sounds so horrible! Luckily my ds loves his fruit so that does help alot with our options. I just wish he would eat more meat! I think he's going to be a vegetrian!

 

[29apr00]

Oh Oh oh!! We added another park!! Originally our plane was to land in MCO at 12:30pm, and we have ADR at1900 Park Fare at 5:40pm, so we were just going to head to DTD for some shopping. Well now our flight gets in at 10:30am, so we are heading to Epcot for 1/2 a day!!! I'm excited to be able to see Nemo and Crush, and the Living Seas, and hopefully a ride on Maelstrom!! Yeah another park!!

Gosh, now i need another touring plan!!!

 

[kaysmommie]

Hi Jennifer,
I'm here finally. Glad your doing a trip report. Your plans sound great. Definately try to get a nap on your P&PP day trust me you will need it. Your DD is going to love BBB and 1900 Park fare. Your Tshirts, letters and envelopes are great too . Your report is great so far . Hope you have and amazing trip and a Happy Anniversary to you and your DH.

 

[29apr00]

Thanks!! I sure hope everything goes ok!! I feel like i'm tryng to cram too much stuff into such a short trip.

I hope this TR comes out good, because i have to start my PJ for our DFTVR next year too!!

 

[29apr00]

Lets see...things left on to do list...........

- ship box of supplies down (shipping tomorrow)
- reconfirm cake order for anniversary dinner at 1900 Park Fare (did that today)
- reconfirm chocolate strawberries at POP for P&PP night
- Take all of dh's dirty old t-shirts out of luggage that he thinks he will be wearing
- change 3 day to 4 day park hopper (yeah, i really need to get that done )
- get $$ for tip envelopes
- arrange for mail to be stopped ( I hate to do this for such a short time)


So let's see.....i was finally able to get all the menu's and dining arranged. I have arranged for Pizza Planet to be able to provide a dairy free pizza for DS when we are there. 1900 Park Fare and Crystal Palace are supposed to have Dairy free rolls and butter available. POP is supposed to have dairy free pancakes available on a daily basis with no notice, so we'll see how that goes.

Other than unpacking all of dh's clothes, i'm completely packed!! Well, except for toilitres and stuff. Most of the little things, like shampoo and body wash, toothbrushes and paste, medicines, all that stuff I just bought extra of and am shipping down in teh box. I hate that rush the morning of departure to get everything packed up. So all i have to do in the mornign is pack my make up and curling iron.

Instead of doing index cards with all my park info, i just decided to leave it in a binder and carry that around. I figure, i'll have a big bag anyway, for the kids autograph books. SO i might as well just do that. It'll be less work for me, with all teh extra info i needed for ds's food allergy. Seriously, i don't know how people go without all this planning we have to do!

I'm so excited to go on this trip, and actually, i'm so excited to get back too! Because once we get back, i can start working on our DFTVR for 12/2009!! Our anniverary is actually 4/2010, but prices are a lot cheaper in dec, so we are doing teh land and sea package, with the Vow Renewal on DCL at CC. I'm so excited to get this booked and start working on all the details!!