Land and Sea with my crazy three!!-Fantasy western caribbean swdas 3/4-3/11

[TinkerKeeks]

Just back from our really great vacation and I figured I’d give a trip report a shot so I could relive all my memories and Disney magic I’m already missing lol. Please keep in a mind I’m kind of an amateur when it comes to trip reports, and have started some and never finished but I am determined to complete this one and I have over 500 amazing pictures to share, so come along with me on my Land and Sea with my crazy three extravaganza lol



First up the trip details: 4 nights in Walt Disney World and 1 week on the Disney fantasy!!! This was definitely a bucket list trip for us that we planned for over a year for. You can read about the planning phase in my little PTR I did. But basically I booked the cruise first, way back in January 2016, and added the Disney days back in august, finally adding my 4th Disney night in December when I booked our flights and got a better fare for Feb 28 versus March 1.


So here was our itinerary:

Feb 28- Pop Century

March 1-4 Polynesian Villas

March4-11 Disney Fantasy




FYI…Spoiler Alert, this is the photo that hubby and I laughed at and said absolutely sums up our vacation in one picture lol


And here is a little bit about me and my family. I am Tinkerkeeks aka Kristie, the mother and certified Disney addict. I am the planner and I am constantly convincing my husband to do Disney trips. So there is DH, and he is more of a resort, pool, beach guy so we were trying the Disney cruise thinking it would be happy medium, giving me my Disney magic and him his beaches lol (Surprise, it was!)



We were traveling with our three young children (hence the title, my crazy three). My oldest Gabriel is 5 ½ and lover of all things cars, and basically any vehicle. He is slightly obsessed with the monorail and Disney busses. His favorite ride is test track, obviously lol


And then there are my 3 year old twins. I am not a sugarcoater, and will do my best to give honest reviews of everything good or bad. There were a lot of amazing times on this trip, and there were also a lot of less than magical moments. I’m gonna be really upfront in saying that this trip was really hard on the twins and I was having some regrets about bringing them on this big of a trip. We made it through and made the best of everything, but there were definitely some stressful times.


Savannah and Matteo were preemies born at 32 weeks. Since they have been born they have had a multitude of health issues and developmental delays. About a year and a half ago they were diagnosed on the autism spectrum. In addition to ASD, they both suffer from hypotonia (low muscle tone), my daughter is more severe and did not take her first steps until a few months ago. She also has Apraxia and is mostly nonverbal with a few signs. A big reason Disney time is so precious to our family is because the twins have such a full therapy schedule at home. Right now they get services through Early Intervention in my home, and I have therapists in my house Monday-Friday basically from 10am-6pm.So vacation is a much needed break from that. In the fall they will start at a special needs pre-school and get their therapy there.


So now that we have all the basics of the trip, I can finally start talking about the trip yay! Sorry I know this post is text heavy, but I promise the following posts will have plenty of pictures and fun! So lets get this show on the road!

 

[TinkerKeeks]

Day1-Tuesday Feb 28- Travel/Arrival Day

The day started like any other day, I was sending DS(5) to school so I took him to the bus stop around 7:45. I got the twins all ready in their Disney gear and ran around packing last minute stuff. I basically spent a large part of morning downloading tv shows, movies, and games to the kids ipads.



Savannah was packing her busy books for the plane.

My early morning selfie




Around 1pm I picked up Gabriel from school early. Then we loaded up the car and it was time to go.



For those of you who are lularoe fans, I was wearing my coveted castle print leggings and super duper excited about it lol


We drove first to my in-laws to pick up FIL who would be driving us to the airport. We were flying out of Newark airport which is about a 20-30 min drive from our house in Staten Island.


We left father in law’s house at about 1:55pm and got to the airport about 2:25 which was perfect for our flight at 3:45. Security was actually a breeze, there was no one in line and we made it through and were sitting at our gate by 2:45. We kept busy by eating snacks, looking at planes, reading books and ipads.






DS(3) is newly potty trained so we made sure to take him to the bathroom a couple of times before boarding. He also drinks a lot of liquids especially when out and about and was chugging juice like it was going out of style (we’ll see how that plays out).


Finally the attendant announced it was time to board and they were now boarding anyone that needed extra assistance or time boarding to board now. Just have to say that it is such a pet peeve when everyone stands around in front of the gate blocking the boarding entrance waiting for their turn to board. It makes it so hard for people who are actually trying to board to get through L Anyways rant over, we finally made it up to board and I explained I was traveling with two autistic children who needed a little extra time boarding and they scanned our boarding passes and let us on.


We got to our seats, me, DS(5), and DD(3) in one row, and DH and DS(3) right behind us. It took a really long time to load the plane and the airport was really busy, we were 5th in line for take off( we didn’t end up actually taking off until about 4:25)


During the flight kids kept busy with their ipads and toys I had packed for them.







Unfortunately toward the end of the flight my husband tapped me and told me Matteo had a huge pee accident. It was right around the time we were descending so I opted to wait til we got off the plane to deal with it.


We landed in Orlando at around 6:30 and after grabbing our stroller at the gate headed to the nearest bathroom.


Poor Matteo, we had to do a complete outfit change he was totally soaked. I basically gave him a baby wipe bath in the airport bathroom (Not my finest parenting moment) lol After the outfit change we took the Fake-o-rail and headed down to Disney’s Magical Express.

We boarded a bus and were one of the last people on, leaving slim pickings for seats. I was shocked that they loaded even more people on the bus after us. DH and I put the twins on our laps so they didn’t have to stand.

And then finally we were off. After a quick 25 minute ride we were pulling into Art of Animation first, and then finally our stop for the night Pop Century!

 

[tltay2005]

Great start. Looking forward to more of your report.

 

[TinkerKeeks]

Day 1-February 28-Travel Day- Continued.

Before arriving at the resort, we had toyed with the idea of heading to Disney Springs for dinner. Unfortunately the kids were a little cranky and we decided we would just grab some dinner at Everything Pop Food Court instead.


First we headed to our room to drop off all our carry-ons and jackets.








These were some quick photos I snapped of the room. I promise my pics get better as the trip goes on. We were just super hungry and rushing to get to food court, and I remembered to snap a few pics in the mist of it all lol


This is my third time staying at Pop Century. I think it’s a good resort for a quick one or two night stay or if you don’t spend a lot of time in the room. It was fine for us for that night. I do have to say that the room was definitely not as clean as it could be. The bathroom had visible hairs and dirt on the floor, the carpets looked like they needed a little extra vacuuming etc. Since it was only one night and I’m not much of a complainer, I wiped the bathroom floor with a wet wipe and told the kids not to walk barefoot on the carpet lol


So we rounded up the kids and headed to the food court. Holy moly was it busy. It was about 8pm and of course the line with the burgers and chicken nuggets (the one we needed) was super long. The twins were crying and fussing waiting in line. These are the moments that stress me out the most on trips. Especially when dealing with the twins melting down in public places, its stressful enough dealing with the meltdown but add in the eyes of thousands of strangers staring and making assumptions and it elevates the stress to another level. After my husband decided what he wanted, he took them to a seat while I waited for the food with DS(5).


We were not on the dining plan for this one night stay so we were paying out of pocket with some Disney giftcards I had stocked up on at sams before the trip.


Btw if you like food pics, I’m your girl!! Im a foodie and love staring at delicious pictures of Disney food. (everything tastes better at Disney right!).


Also just a side bar, I used to be very overweight. In the last year I decided to make a lifestyle change and lost about 60 lbs. I am a gym rat who still loves to eat, but for the most part I try to eat clean with the occasional cheat meal. Starting January 1, I decided to go pretty hard core in preparation for the trip and all the Disney eating I wanted to do lol So I ate low carb boring meals for the last 2 months and worked out a lot . (I’m a Zumba nut).


So with that being said, I was ready to allow some carbs back into my life during this trip lol So for my first meal I got the Southwesterner burger: Angus Chuck Patty topped with Pepper Jack Cheese, Lettuce, Avocado, Vine Ripe Tomato, Jalapeno, Lime Sour Cream and Corn Tortilla Strips on a Brioche Roll with choice of two sides - $13.99


Here it is in all its glory, I opted for French fries and pasta salad for my sides.





So It may be due to the fact that I cant tell you the last time I had a cheeseburger and I also had eaten nothing but coffee and airline snacks that day, but this tasted AMAZING! It was like nachos on a burger and I devoured it lol





DH got the bacon cheeseburger, which I believe was also 13.99 and came with two sides. He got double fries to share with the kids.





He was starving, and devoured the whole thing and then realized there were toppings underneath the burger lol.


The kids shared an adult portion of chicken breast nuggets 8 pieces with choice of Pasta Salad or French Fries - $10.49 .





They also got fries on the side. I should mention that my DS(3) is an extremely picky either. We are working on it in food therapy, but unfortunately he only eats about 5 different things, French fries being a big one. So you will see this trip report. His twin sister is the opposite, she loves to eat and eats almost everything lol.


Now here’s where things got annoying, I didn’t want to buy a refillable mug for 17.99 because I knew were going to be getting a whole bunch the next day when we switched resorts and went on the dining plan. Also the twins only drink juice and milk. So I grabbed two tiny juice boxes in the fridge next to the counter, and two small nestle chocolate milks. The juice boxes were 2.49 each and the milks were 2.99 each. Ugh but whatever its Disney. So then I asked for one fountain drink for me and DH to share which was 3.49. The whole meal cost over 55 bucks and was slightly annoying and I was thinking we could’ve went to Trex and got better food and atmosphere for not much more money but whatever we had to eat lol

I found DH and sent him to go fill up our soda cup. He came back a few minutes later telling me all the soda machines were broken

Now I knew that couldn’t possibly be true so I took the paper cup back over to the machines and I realized it had a chip thing at the bottom and had to be placed on the little platform to be filled up. My dh was probably just holding the cup in his hand and pressing the button wondering why nothing was happening lol


Anyways we enjoyed our meal and the twins had calmed down now that they had food.




DH took Savannah to the little store when she started getting antsy and he bought her a little plastic Minnie toy which cheered her up. (All the kids had some money for toys/souvenirs on gift cards from their birthdays they had saved up)


So when DH came back, DS(5) immediately wanted to go to the gift shop too when he saw his sisters toy. At this point DS (3) was starting to get fussy he took the twins and headed back to the room while I took Gabriel to the store. He picked out the set of 3 disney parks busses, which we already have at home but they are missing all the wheels and beat up.


I decided to refill my cup before heading back to the room. As I started filling up my cup with diet coke, Gabriel says hes thirsty and wants lemonade. So I stop filling it up, dump it and go to fill up the lemonade instead. Big Mistake! Apparently theres a strict one refill rule on those fountain drinks, because no matter how much time I waited I could never fill up the cup again. Oh well, ya live ya learn. Back to the room drinkless we go. I decided to just hit up the vending machine for a 20 ounce soda for 3.50. When I got back to the room I saw DH also stopped for a vending machine soda. It was at this point I started regretting not caving and buying the refillable mug, I’d probably spent more than the 17.99 on beverages at this point lol


Not a very eventful night in the room. I had the foresight to pack pajamas in our carry-on in case our luggage arrived late to the room. Which it did, it came around 11pm.

We gave the kids baths and let them play on their ipads and relax til the luggage came.




Savannah had a hard time falling asleep and was very fidgety and kicking me a lot of the night. But everyone else got sleep, so it was fine I would survive on coffee and Disney magic lol


That’s a wrap on our first night, stay tuned for Hollywood Studios and Polynesian tomorrow!

 

[kittymamma]

Your children are cutie pies and I really like the girly girl pink bows in your daughters hair. Looking forward to reading about your adventure.

 

[HBasse]

Following! Doing wdw for 4 days and then a 7 day cruise next year with my 6 & 4 year old. My four year old also special needs, so interested!

 

[TinkerKeeks]

Great start. Looking forward to more of your report.

Thanks I am so excited to write it!

Following! Doing wdw for 4 days and then a 7 day cruise next year with my 6 & 4 year old. My four year old also special needs, so interested!

So exciting to look forward to! Definitely get the DAS card in wdw if your 4 year old has issues with the lines. It definitely helped us be able to do a few more things.

Your children are cutie pies and I really like the girly girl pink bows in your daughters hair. Looking forward to reading about your adventure.

Thank you!, She's my only girl so i tend to go crazy with the princess stuff and she loves it lol

 

[TinkerKeeks]

Day 2-March 1- Hollywood Studios

We got up bright and early at 7 am, though truth be told I cant remember actually falling asleep and maybe I got 1-2 hours of sleep total. Rather than bring the twins to the food court and deal with lines and chaos again, I decided to just walk to the court on my own and pick up some stuff for breakfast. I stopped at bell services to let them know we needed our luggage transferred to Polynesian. DS(5) wanted mickey waffles, but the line for the only bay that served them was super long, so I got him French toast and told him they didn’t have any waffles (Bad mom points for me I know lol). I got some fruit loops for Savannah. DH requested a yogurt parfait, but they only had chobani greek yogurt so I just got him one of those. Unfortunately Matteo only eats yogurt for breakfast(Remember only eats 5 things). Not only does he only eat 5 things but hes extremely picky about those 5 things. He only likes regular yogurt, not greek, and sadly there was no regular yogurt to be found so I came back empty handed.

No pics of this breakfast, sorry we were hustling packing the room and getting ready to head to the parks.


We got to the busses, and woah the lines were huge!!! Thankfully the busses came one after the other, but it was rough on the kids waiting the 20 minutes or so with all those people. And then once we got on the bus we were packed like sardines. We had a seat thankfully but it was rough and this is where Savannah had a bad meltdown. I was holding her on my lap and she was freaking out every time the bus stopped moving. At one red light she actually clenched up and bit my shoulder really bad. It was not a great moment and people were staring which of course added to my stress. Thankfully this was our only bus ride of the trip.


We arrived at Hollywood Studios a little after 9. We were meeting up with my sister Jenn, and my niece Isabella(3) who would be joining us in Disney for the next 3 days. While we were on the bus, she checked into Poly and picked up her stroller rental from Kingdom strollers(She rented a double citi mini which is the stroller I have, so if gabriel got tired he could sit with isabella) and then took the bus to the park to meet us. She actually beat us there.


We made it into the park, and headed to guest services to get a DAS pass for the twins. Easy Peasy. The lady set up our first return time for us which ended up being in 5 minutes at the great movie ride.

By the time we made it up Hollywood Boulevard, it was time to ride.









My kids loved the ride, and DS(3) was super excited by the gangster action scene lol My niece was a little freaked out and got scared.

After the ride we decided to head over to the toy story area. Our fastpass wasn’t until 10:40 for toy story mania, and it was only a little after 10. I decided to also grab a DAS return time so we could ride it twice since DS(3) is absolutely obsessed with toy story. He has a crazy obsession with Mr. Potato head.

I decided to buy the refillable popcorn bucket which was a hit for the kids and a great value at only $10, with length of stay refills at $1.50.





I did not use any snack credits in the park, as I was hoarding them for Epcot’s flower and garden festival.


I think I also grabbed an ice coffee from the joffrey’s cart. To kill time there was a little play area in the toy story store/booth area that had some toy story toys out for kids to play. The kids were very into that.

We also met this guy.







Savannah and Isabella were wearing matching Minnie dresses my sister got them.


Then it was time for toy story mania!





My sister and I rode in one car with the girls on our laps, they one by 100 points.


DH rode with the boys. He beat Gabriel with Matteo on his lap of course.


After the ride, it was time to ride again lol DH and I rode with Matteo this time. My sister and the other kids opted out of a second ride so it was just us this time.



And DH slaughtered me lol



Obligatory shot in front of a potato. Also my poor dh, his biceps got quite a work out this trip. The twins who are both over 30 lbs wanted to be held a lot!!

While we were on the ride, my sister and the other kids were doing this…







I didn’t download my photo pass pics yet, but when I do I’ll be sure to add them.


After we left toy story land we decided to meet one of Savannah’s absolute favorites! My kids are Disney junior nuts, and in fact its one of the things that calms them down when they start to have a melt down. Sometimes when Savannah is starting to freak out, I can put on a sofia video and get her to snap out of it.







Matteo is actually giving Sofia a kiss in this pic. When you tell him to kiss someone, he bends down his head for them to kiss lol That’s his way of kissing.

Gabriel is in kindergarten and has just entered the phase where he thinks its only cool to do boy stuff and doesn’t like princesses or anything pink. So he was refusing to get in the picture or meet Sofia.


Some point between toy story and sofia we got the text that our rooms were ready. It was pretty hot out and the little ones were starting to fuss. So we decided to split up. I had decided I was done with busses after the disaster ride that morning, so my sister and I decided to take the boat to Epcot and then monorail over to Poly. Dh and Gabriel stayed behind to do their star tours fast pass.

Up next, afternoon adventures and the Polynesian!

 

[TinkerKeeks]

Its a snow day at home today, so I'm spending it by the computer doing updates lol
Day 2-March 1-Hollywood Studios/Epcot/Polynesian- Contd.



My sister and I headed out of the park, and got a boat just as it pulled up. It stopped at all the Epcot resorts before getting to the international gateway but the kids were calm and quiet and my sister and I were able to catch up with each other since we hadn’t seen each other in a couple months.



Sitting on the boat with my niece



Matteo catching up with his aunt



Savannah was content to sit in her stroller and munch on popcorn

Meanwhile, DH and Gabriel were hitting up star tours. I am not the least bit sorry I missed it since that ride makes me totally sick!



They also saw some storm troopers



My sister and I had finally made it to Epcot and stopped for a potty break



Then we made a pit stop at France



For our first cocktails of the trip! My favorite the grey goose lemonade slush and the grand marnier slush. After that we headed to the front of the park to the monorail.

Dh and Gabriel had already hopped a bus to Poly and were waiting for us, so they stopped at Pineapple lanai for one of these babies…





Looks like Gabriel picked up a car at the gift shop on the way as well.

We finally made it to Poly, after switching to the resort monorail at ticket and transportation center and taking a mini tour around the Magic Kingdom resorts.

The kids were pretty hungry so we met up with DH at captain cooks. My sister went off to the rooms (Our request for connecting rooms was granted) and called for our luggage while DH and I stayed with the kids.

I used two quick service credits and got the pulled pork nachos- topped with Onions, Cheese, Spicy Mayo, Tomatoes, and Pineapple Salsa - $9.29



These were just okay for me. I didn’t really care for the pineapple salsa on I, it was a little cold, but the pork had good flavor. This was kind of a pattern during our WDW stay, none of the food was served very hot, just kind of warm.


I also got an order of the nuggets for the kids.




We weren’t planning on filling up on a lot of food at this point since it was already about 1:45 and we had dinner reservations for chef mickeys at 5:20.


I also picked up the refillable mugs. And since the quick service meals come with a drink I was able to get apple juice for the twins as my drinks.



Not a surprise at what this kid was eating



It was also at this time that Matteo became obsessed with the ducks and got a kick out of dropping French fries for them. We tried to stop him but he thought it was hilarious



So I ended up having to take his fries away.

Unfortunately Right around this time, Matteo had a big poop situation completely ruining his outfit again. So for the second time in 24 hours I ended up in a public bathroom stripping my kid down and giving him a complete baby wipe bath

While I was doing this, Dh had the kids doing an impromptu photo session on the lawn.





We joined him, refilled our mugs, and headed to our room. Which was the last building Moorea, last two rooms on the third floor.

We got to our room and everything looked so nice and amazing…until we went in the second bathroom with the stand up shower. DS(5) opens the door the shower and goes “Ew it smells like pee in there” I look in the shower and sure enough it reeks of urine and there are droplets in the shower. I call my husband and sister over and they confirm the smell as well. So I called the “front desk” and informed them of the situation. I know I probably should’ve actually went to the front desk instead of calling the front desk which is actually a call center. But I was pretty beat and it was a far walk so I just called and hoped for the best.They apologized and told me they are sending housekeeping and someone to talk to me. In the mean time I tried to keep the kids all in my sisters room while we waited. I also snapped some room pics.









We were staying in DVC studios. We were very fortunate that my sisters mother in law generously gave us her dvc points for the stay. I tried not to let the disgusting bathroom situation ruin the excitement at finally staying in at one of my bucket list resorts.

Our plan had been to change into our bathing suits and head to the pool, but we were stuck waiting around for housekeeping. After 20 min passed we called again and then finally someone came. This one woman came and was cleaning the shower with Fantastic spray. Now I’m a mom and I know a lot about cleaning, especially bodily fluids and nasty stuff like that. I know that fantastic is not good enough to clean pee, I’m sorry. So my husband, tells her this, and she leaves and says she will be back. We decide to just leave and head to the pool, since we only have about an hour of pool time before we have to get ready for dinner. I don’t want to spend my vacation waiting around for housekeeping and stuff.

So we headed to the volcano pool and swam, the kids had a blast. Unfortunately no pictures we forgot to bring the gopro. I should add the pics in the report are a mix of DH and my cellphone pics, my point and shoot cannon, and the go pro hero 5.


Anyways we returned to the room about 3:50, and there were a whole bunch of housekeepers in our room. They were bleaching the whole bathroom. It did stink up the room but I knew it was necessary so I just opened the balcony up and aired the room out a bit.

I just want to add besides the whole pee situation, the resort was really lovely lolThe staff was extremely helpful and friendly, everyone saying Aloha as you passed them. The grounds are also beautiful, and the rooms very spacious and nice. I would definitely not hesitate to stay there again.

Anyways back to our regularly scheduled report...

My DD(3) has really curly hair when its warm and humid, so her natural curls were really coming out after the pool lol



The twins usually nap from 2-4 at home. Matteo was doing really good without a nap that day as well as the day before, unfortunately Savannah was beat and passed out right when we got back at about 3:55.





We tried to see if she would wake up but at 4:45 we decided to head to the monorail and leave her and DH behind. Dh volunteered to stay back with her, he knew it wasn’t worth waking her up and having her be a crank at dinner.


So my sister and I rounded up the other kids and headed to great ceremonial house, we took the resort monorail to the contemporary which actually took quite a bit as it had to go all the way around to the other stops first.



Me and ds(3) on the monorail.

I have to end here cause I have too many pictures hehe cont'd in next post.

 

[TinkerKeeks]

Day 2-March 1- Chef Mickeys (Cont'd)

We checked in to chef mickeys and there was a bit of a wait. While we were waiting DH texted me that Savannah was up and hungry. So I went back to clerk and asked her to re-add them to our table. We were seated shortly after, while DH and DD were on their way.



First up was Goofy



Followed by Donald


We used the Disney junior encyclopedia of characters for autograohs and of course Donald needed to let us know he was #1.

Next up was Pluto



Of course Matteo was enamoured by his whiskers



I even got in on the photo fun



Yes I’m wearing a pineapple fanny pack, don’t judge lol

I didn’t get too many food pics, but here’s a pic of Gabe’s plate, looks like some bread, chicken strips, watermelon, and mac and cheese.





My sister got a pimm’s punch cocktail



No surprise here



the pierogis were super yummy



and one blurry pic of some desserts



Sleeping beauty and my hubby finally showed up and they were able to grab some food.


All in all a successful meal, we paid with our table service credits and were able to charge the tip to our room.

Next up, Magic Kingdom!

 

[lovingeire]

Awesome TR so far! Really enjoying hearing your experiences. And I love all the photos! Your kiddos are super cute! Can't wait to hear more! (And thank you for all the snow day updates! Because it has made my snow day go by faster!)

 

[lizzyb]

Great start! Thanks for sharing!

 

[TinkerKeeks]

I finally downloaded my photopass pics yesterday, so I just wanted to share the ones that were missing from the report from our morning at Hollywood Studios up until this point. I will add the rest into the report as we go along.


Meeting Sofia










and


Meeting Buzz and Woody

 

[TinkerKeeks]

Day 2-March 1-Magic Kingdom

Just as we were about to board the monorail, I glanced at DS(5)’s wrist and realized he was missing a magic band. Ugh, so we split up again. I took the twins and headed to MK with my sister and niece. DH and Gabriel headed back to the room for his magic band.

During this time Savannah went into melt down mode again. She did not want to be in the stroller at all. I grabbed a DAS return time to meet Mickey. There wasn’t much I could do because I really couldn’t handle her and Matteo out of stroller at the same time by myself. So I just pushed the stroller in circles around main street by town hall, while people stared at me and tried not to lose my mind lol Dh finally showed up and picked her up, and that was the end of it, he was forced to carry her for most of the week.

Now that we were all together, we headed in to meet mickey.











This was a great character interaction and the kids were really excited. Mickey asked the kids to touch their noses, and I got teary eyed when Savannah actually spontaneously reached up and touched her nose. I know this doesn’t seem like a big deal, but Savannah is tough and you don’t always know if she’s understanding whats going on because she’s non-verbal. But this moment with mickey was really special.



Also just to give you all some perspective on my weight loss, here’s a picture of me and the family at our last meet with Mickey in September 2015.



It sure feels good to actually want to be in family photos and not cringe when I see myself in them.

After meeting Mickey we headed up main street, we did a quick stop in the emporium where the kids picked out some goodies. Matteo picked out a Mickey toy, Savannah got the little mermaid bath toy squeezie set, and I believe my sister got my niece and gabe a mickey and the roadster racer set.


Since we didn’t use all our fastpasses at Hollywood Studios, I was able to make a fastpass for us for the little mermaid ride.


As we were heading to fantasyland, wishes started. It was bit of challenge to get through the crowd and my poor niece was freaking out from the fireworks. We eventually made it to Ariel and turns out we didn’t need the fastpass at all as there was absolutely no one in line.



Here’s a blurry pic of DH in his clam shell with DD(3) and DS(5). Savannah loved this ride, Ariel is one of her faves and she loves music so this was a hit for her and she cried when it was done.


We decided to head out at this point. DH let us know that we had been taking the wrong monorail this whole time. He told us on his way back to Magic Kingdom he discovered that there was pathway from our building right to ticket and transportation center. I vaguely remembered reading about this online. So we took the express monorail to the ticket and transportation center and sure enough it was a 5 minute walk to our room from there. Super easy!

Once we got back to the room, all the kids got baths and pjs. They hung out and played with their new toys.





It was really nice having the connecting rooms so the kids could go back and forth, and also Gabriel decided to have a sleepover with his aunt and cousin in the next room.


That’s a wrap on day 2, stay tuned for more fun at the Magic Kingdom on day 3!

 

[TinkerKeeks]

Day 3-March 2-Magic Kingdom

Well I went for round 2 of sleeping for Savannah, and as you may have guessed, I was running on coffee and Disney magic fumes again L This morning I was up bright and early, or maybe I never slept? Got the kids up and ready and headed for Captain Cooks for some breakfast.

I was so exciting to finally try something I had been dreaming about for years! Finally the tonga toast at last!





I opted to share this one with my sister as it seemed a tad overindulgent for one person. I have to say I was slightly disappointed in this one. Maybe I overhyped It in my mind, but it just didn’t live up to the expectations. Maybe it needed the sauce they serve it with at kona. Gabriel finally got his mickey waffles that he shared with his sister. Forgot to snap a pic on that one sorry, but I’m sure you can imagine what they look like lol


Hubby got an egg sandwich thing, he said it wasn’t that good but he was hungry. I didn’t get a pic because my dad who lives a few hours away at Disney had driven up to spend the day with us and I was busy getting him a park pass and room key at the front desk. Oh well, some cute kid pics for your enjoyment.





After this we boarded the monorail and headed for that magical kingdom we all love.

While my sister to my niece to meet Alice, since she was dressed as her today.






My little family headed over to mickeys philharmagic for some musical entertainment. The kids really loved this one, as music is one of their favorite things.


We met back up for our first fast pass of the day at Peter Pan’s flight. This ride is definitely nostalgic and quintessential Disney for me.


We took a little potty break at the tangled pottys.



My boys were twinning as Buzz lightyear today.



Isabella was disneybounding as Alice today.

I got a return time on DAS for dumbo. We bought another popcorn bucket because we forgot the one we bought the day before. Oops. Gabriel had and olaf ice cream. And Isabella got a blue cotton candy. It was awfully hot so we let the kids run around the splash area a bit while we waited.



Savannah loved it!



So another one of the 5 things that Matteo eats is potato chips, I basically lump it all in one category as a general potato category of French fries/mashed potatoes/potato chips.

This proved to be extremely annoying for the Disney world part of our trip as potato chips are not exactly easy to come by around the world, not to mention they are basically a rip off at $3 for a pretty small bag. But when you have a kid who only eats 5 things, you do what ya gotta do. So I went on a quest and got some chips and he was a happy camper.





Isabella took a break from splashing to eat her blue stuff.

We took our ride on Dumbo. My sister and Isabella decided not to go and instead went to grab a DAS return time for Tiana and Rapunzel. We met up with her and headed in for our fast pass for Cinderella and Elena. This line was a little long even though its fastpass and the kids were definitely getting restless. My poor husband was holding Savannah the whole wait, and the way she was eating snacks she was getting heavier by the day lol


The boys wanted no part in this meet so that was disappointing. Matteo kept saying he had to go potty and that’s all he cared about.
















So after we finished DH took him to the potty and promptly disappeared. During that time Savannah was melting down because I put her the stroller and her daddy was no longer carrying her. This was the low point of the day for me. Savannah was screaming at the top of her lungs, I tried picking her up that wasn’t helping. People were staring and I was losing it. I pulled up to storybook treats with her screaming and ordered an ice cream. It was really awful but I knew ice cream might calm her down, but standing there in line with a screaming kid is not easy, especially when you feel everyone is watching and thinking u get out of there. The reality is, if I left the park or restaurant or wherever we were everytime one of the twins freaked out or melted down, I’d never go anywhere or leave my house. Part of dealing with autism is teaching them how to adapt and handle situations that make them freak out, and we work on that every day in ABA. It’s particularly hard for Savannah because she is non-verbal, she cant express what she wants or whats bothering her, and that comes out as screaming frustration and I’m left scrambling around trying to guess what she wants.

Well this time I guessed right, and the ice cream did calm her down for a bit until my husband came back. I was a little annoyed with him, he went all the way to main street to get Matteo a balloon and he was like why didn’t you just go meet the other princesses. I had to explain to him that the DAS card was under Matteo’s name. Even though both the twins need the DAS pass, they only issue one card if your not going to separate your family into small groups. So because Matteo was the person listed as having the disability, he needed to scan his band first at every ride when we used the pass.


Anyways after meltdowns and balloons, we headed back into fairytale hall to meet princess tiana and rapnuzel. I was happy my boys agreed to be in the pictures this time.
They did not have a photo pass photographer for Rapunzel, only Tiana.














Savannah was finally happy after her princess fix, Matteo was being shy but also in good spirits because he finally had his balloon. He is going through a bit of a balloon obsession so when he saw these balloons in the park he really wanted one. $12 well spent to make one kid very happy lol


Dh hung out with the twins while my sister and I took Gabriel and Isabella on the Tomorrowland speedway, one of Gabriel’s other favorite rides.







After the speedway we were all feeling a little hungry, it was only a few minutes after 1:00 and our be our guest lunch reservation wasn’t until 1:30. We decided to head over there anyways and see if they would let us in early.

There was a line to check in, and when I got up there it was 1:05, and the woman doing the check in said I couldn’t check in for another 5 minutes lol

So we sat on the bench and then I saw the line getting long again, so I jumped back in line and by the time I got up there it was okay to check in lol


We got in line, we did not pre-order, so we made our selections on a kiosk. Then we found a seat and waited for our food.


I have eaten lunch and dinner a few times now at BOG, and I am a fan of the food, especially dinner. Unfortunately, when I made our reservations at 180 days there were only lunch options available. Lunch is good too, and I think it’s a good value for a quick service credit when using the dining plan.




For matteo I ordered a side of pommes frittes(French fries) for 2.09 out of pocket, not pictured sorry.




I got my favorite Braised Pork(Coq Au Vin Style) Eight Hour Slow-cooked Pork with Mushrooms, Onions, Carrots and Bacon served with Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans Jardiniere. 16.99( I used one qickservice credit on this)

This was very good and I devoured my plate, despite it being a little cold. As I mentioned before, that seemed to be a theme of the wdw food this trip, nothing was really hot, everything was just warm or sometimes a little cold.




Hubby got the carved turkey sandwich - Carved Turkey Sandwich served warm on a Baguette with Dijon Mayonnaise and Pommes Frites. 15.99 (used one quick service credit)

I’ve ordered this myself before, and I took a bite and it was also really yummy.





Croque Monsier Grilled Sandwich of Carved Ham and Gruyere Cheese and Bechamel with Pommes Frites. 13.99 Both my sister and the kids got this, I had a bite it was also very delicious.


We also got a masters cupcake (Not pictured). They grey stuff was delicious as usual.


After lunch, it was hot and crowded and the kids were getting cranky so we headed back to the resort.

 

[TinkerKeeks]

Day 3-March 2-Polynesian/Epcot Cont’d.



This next entry is a little hard for me to write, because it wasn’t the best night of our trip. After we got back to the resort, it was clear the twins were a little overwhelmed and needed a break. I put them down for a nap in our room and they both fell fast asleep at about 2:30.

We started talking about our plans for tonight which was tentatively to just walk around Epcot and enjoy some Flower and Garden booths. I wasn’t sure how much the kids would enjoy it, so we decided to look into some of the babysitting options offered at the Polynesian.

First I called in room babysitting, unfortunately the person on the phone said that all their sitters were already booked for the night and they would call some sitters and see if they wanted to come in. I was pretty disappointed as it was only 2:30 in the afternoon at that point. I’m guessing if you want to book this service, you probably have to book well in advance of your trip. Its definitely not a spur of the moment service you can book the day of.


Anyways after that failure, hubby and I decided to take a walk and check out Lilo’s Playhouse, the kids club offered at the Polynesian Resort. Unfortunately this was also a bust since they do not take kids who aren’t fully potty trained, Savannah wouldn’t be able to go.


Also just a side note about Matteo’s potty training, besides the two issues the first two days he did great the rest of the trip. Even though he wears regular underwear at home, we kept pull ups on him the entire trip just to be safe after the airplane accident. His pull ups were dry the rest of the trip and he told us whenever he needed to use the potty, which was frequently lol.

I was one proud mama!


Anyways back to the trip report, so with Lilo’s playhouse being a bust and the inroom babysitting being a bust, we resolved to just suck it up and take the kids to Epcot. They were taking a nap now, how bad could it be? Lol

We stopped for a pool bar for a margarita, and enjoyed it on our walk back to the room.




My sister headed over to Epcot first that night with Gabriel and Isabella since they were not napping. Hubby and I waited for the twins to get up.


My sister took the kids to meet the Inside Out characters and baymax.Gabriel was being a crank and didn’t want to be in any pictures, but here are a few of my niece, Isabella.







Once the twins got up we walked to ticket and transportation center and took the monorail to Epcot.




Unfortunately something happened on the way and we were stuck on the monorail for about 25 minutes. This did not bode well for happy twins. So already agitated when we got to Epcot, they became unruly during the extremely long bag check/entrance line.


I thought I might help the situation by getting them something to eat. We headed to electric umbrella with them screaming, and even though the place was completely empty, they had one person taking orders and he was with one customer when I got there, the whole wait to order took 20 minutes. Im not sure what took so long, it seemed like the guy kept voiding things off and changing things. I sent DH outside to get a table for the kids. It was nervewracking standing there waiting knowing the kids were outside freaking out. I ordered a kids mac and cheese meal with a fries and juice. I finally got the food, and met DH outside only to find that twins were refusing to eat. Ugh, so all that waiting for the food for nothing.

We decided to just venture on since the twins seemed to be okay as long as the stroller was moving and only freak out when we stopped.



We made it to mexico thinking things were okay, and got an order of these while we waited for my sister.



From the Jardin de Fiestas booth, the Hibiscus Margarita and the Elderflower Pineapple Margarita. These were both nice and refreshing.

We also got..



Brocheta de Pollo con Salsa Morita: Grilled Chicken with Red and Green Bell Pepper served with Salsa Chile Morita and Garnished with Micro-Cilantro and Edible Flowers – $6.00 (Used one snack credit)

This was not good for me at all, the chicken was tough, it wasn’t very warm, and I took one bite and I was done. DH agreed.

This on the other hand was amazing. My favorite item from the festival, I only wish I had ordered another one the next day,DH and I were fighting for the last bite.



Chile Relleno de Picadillo: Battered Poblano Pepper filled with Ground Beef covered with Tomato Sauce and Garnished with Queso Fresco and Toasted Almonds – $6.00


After we finished our treats, the twins were started to whine so he decided to keep it moving walking all the way to Germany where we met up with my sister.

I grabbed this snack at the Bauernmakt…



Potato Pancake with Caramelized Ham, Onions, and Herb Sour Cream 4.25 (1 snack credit)

This was also really tasty. At this point the kids were starting to scream, and I figured the night was a bust and we should just head back to the resort and rest up for tomorrow.

We took the monorail back to TTC and walked to our room.

Just as I was walking up to our floor, wishes started and I stopped to take in this view right outside the door to our building which was right next to our room since we were on the end.





My pics aren’t the best but it was a little magical moment that made the stressful night better.

The kids got baths and were happy to hang out with my dad a little bit while my sister, DH and I decided to take a walk to get some snacks.





We walked into trader sams but we all had just our magic bands and no ids on us so they wouldn’t seat us. We were all too tired to walk all the way back to the room for them, so we just grabbed some food at captain cooks. Sorry no pics, but I will tell you it wasn’t that good, and at this point we were all kind of done with the food at Captain cooks and didn’t want to eat there for the rest of trip lol



The kids were happy though. And that’s all I cared about! Any moment free of someone crying, whining, melting down, or fighting was a good moment on this trip.






That’s a wrap on day 3, stay tuned for Epcot Adventures tomorrow!

 

[lovingeire]

I'm so sorry you had a hard day. I've gotten to the point, maybe because I'm older, but I have decided that everyone is perfect parents when it's someone else's child. No one seems to think for a minute that there could be challenges or extenuating circumstances that are behind a child's behavior. And they don't think about how a child's behavior can be stressful and/or embarrassing to the parent. I just think as parents we need to offer each other more grace. I hope the next day was better and you were able to enjoy it more!

 

[TinkerKeeks]

I'm so sorry you had a hard day. I've gotten to the point, maybe because I'm older, but I have decided that everyone is perfect parents when it's someone else's child. No one seems to think for a minute that there could be challenges or extenuating circumstances that are behind a child's behavior. And they don't think about how a child's behavior can be stressful and/or embarrassing to the parent. I just think as parents we need to offer each other more grace. I hope the next day was better and you were able to enjoy it more!

Definitely agree with this!! I also have that mom problem where everytime I hear I a child crying, my head automatically turns and I think its my kid lol So anytime I heard a kid cry throughout the trip I would turn quickly in panic, and then breath in relief when I realized it wasn't my kid this time lol I definitely have a lot of empathy for other parents when I'm out in public because I know how hard it can be.
The next day was definitely so much better!!!

Awesome TR so far! Really enjoying hearing your experiences. And I love all the photos! Your kiddos are super cute! Can't wait to hear more! (And thank you for all the snow day updates! Because it has made my snow day go by faster!)

Thank you! I'm glad you are enjoying

 

[TinkerKeeks]

Day 4-March 3-Epcot

This ended up being our best, most enjoyable park day so I am excited to share it with you

We decided to take it easy and sleep in today. My husband slept with Savannah last night so I could actually get some sleep! My kids did not want to get up. We finally were up and out of the room by 10ish. It was much milder weather today in the low 70’s with a lot of breezes. That may have had a lot to do with why the kids were a lot less cranky, that and the extra sleep. We said goodbye to my dad and headed to the great ceremonial house in search of something to eat. As I said in my last post we were over captain cooks, so I tried to see if I could get a walk up to Kona or Ohana but both were packed. So we just walked to ttc and took the monorail over to Epcot.



We headed into the land and Dh went over to garden grill to see if we could get in. It was 11:05 at this point, and the lady said to come back at 11:30 and she would sit us. Yay!

So we headed to Living with the Land where we had a fastpass.



After the ride, we headed back up to Garden Grill and waited to be seated. I was definitely excited since I had never eaten there before and it was on my list of places to try.

It definitely did not disappoint! Our server was amazing, the food was delicious, and the character interactions were wonderful.

Here’s some character pic spam…




















And some food pics, this salad was delicious





citrus freeze cocktail…nice and refreshing like a frozen mimosa



This potato salad was also sooo good!



The meat platter was probably my least favorite thing, the stars were really the star of the meal. The mac and cheese and corn on the cob were favorites. The stuffing was my favorite thing on the plate and one of the best things I ate this trip!

I didn’t care for the sausage, I’m pretty picky about sausage and really only like it Italian style in red sauce.

The turkey and pot roast were decent, but really I would’ve been happy with a whole plate of sides lol

The serve little goldfish on top of the mac and cheese, which is surprisingly delicious. My daughter saw them and immediately went for them, goldfish are one of her favorite snacks. So I asked the waiter if we could possibly have a little more for her and he brought her out her own giant bowl!!! That’s some Disney magic right there and Savannah was very happy!



Mickey came around for a second time during dessert. The dessert was some sort of Berry cake thing, it was good but we were super stuffed so only tried a little.








Overall this was one of our favorite meals of the trip and I will definitely be sure to make a reservation next time.

We had planned on using our table service credits on our Ohana breakfast the next day, but I figured this one out to be the more expensive meal so I opted to use them here. We were able to charge our drinks and tips to our room.


I actually didn’t use cash at all in any of the parks. I used my magic band for everything, charged to the room, and paid the bill off with Disney giftcards on the last night.


Up next, more Epcot adventures!

 

[TinkerKeeks]

Day 4-March 3-Epcot Cont’d.


So after our delicious meal, DH and I had fastpasses to take Gabriel on Soarin’. I was really excited since this is my first time riding it since the update. It definitely didn’t disappoint. Soarin’ over the world was great and I definitely enjoyed flying through the new scenes. I also enjoyed the new smells. It was funny when we were soarin’ over the Savannah, it was a very nice smell like fresh cut grass and flowers and DH turns to me and is like I don’t think this is what the savannah really smells like lol I giggled and I was like well it probably would’ve been offensive to shoot everyone the manure aroma lol


Riding Soarin’ even with a fastpass took a little while. Probably took about 45 minutes total from getting in line to exiting the attraction. I did get a rider swap but my sister didn’t want to ride so we didn’t use it. We headed out of the land and called my sister to see where her and the little kids were. They were all the way in Mexico, so we headed there to meet up with them.


Once we got to mexico, Mexican Donald was out and the line wasn’t too long so we decided to wait to see him. We had tried all the things I wanted to try from the Mexico booths the night before so I didn’t get anything. I believe my sister got a margarita while waiting for us (no pic sorry).

Some Donald pics…




Donald is probably one of Matteo’s favorite characters so he made a bee line for him!









So after meeting Donald, the twins were starting to fuss a bit unless the stroller was moving. They were good when we let them out of the stroller and let them sit on benches and stuff. So that became our strategy since the plan was to walk around the world showcase and visit the flower and garden booths.

We stopped on the outskirts of Norway first, where DH got some beer from Switzerland that was really good. I totally forgot the name, but it was very light and crisp.



Matteo got chips cause that’s all he eats for snack, and Gabriel was mad that I refused to spend another $3 on a bag for him. (Don’t worry he got plenty of other snacks!)

After that our next stop was Italy!



Meatball Parmigiana: Hand-made Beef and Veal Meatballs, Tomato Sauce, Mozzarella, Parmigiana and Fresh Basil – $7.00

These were actually pretty good, and this is coming from and Italian mama who makes her own sauce and meatballs on Sundays. The sauce was a bit on the ragu/jar sauce side, but the meat was tender and soft. And I was really happy that Gabriel ate two of them. (See my mean momness paid off, he probably wouldn’t have went for them if he stuffed his face with chips lol)



Antipasto Misto: Cerignola Olives, Sweet Soppressata and Salami, Ovolini, Mozzarella, Sweet Roasted Peppers and Ciabatta Bread – $6.00

This was also pretty good, I love olives and roasted peppers so I gobbled those up. Savannah ate the bread dipped in sauce. Dh and my sister ate the meats.

These were a great value on dining plan, I used two snack credits.

My sister and I also got these…



Frozen Italian Margarita with Limoncello and Tequila-$10.00

DH had a Moretti La Rossa 5.50 (no picture sorry)















We had a nice time just hanging out enjoying the views and the food and taking some pictures. The kids were happy, we were happy, it was a great moment in the day. And I was able to capture one of my favorite pics of the trip…




I had to take a picture in front of one of my favorite topiaries. I’m a big lady and the tramp fan.



Also in case you are wondering what that nasty purple/green bruise on my shoulder is, remember when Savannah bit me on the bus two days before that? Yeah not fun, and it was still pretty painful and tender to touch 2 days later.

Next we headed to the Smokehouse in America! I was probably most excited for this booth since it one of my faves last time I was here for the festival in 2015.

The biggest downer for me is that basically everything that came out of this booth was really cold. It was very windy and shady in the pavilion, so it was probably lukewarm when handed to me, but then the wind just made it even colder. That definitely made the food less enjoyable but we ate anyway.



Beef Brisket Burnt Ends Hash with White Cheddar Fondue and Pickled Jalapeños – $6.25 I used one snack credit.

This was my all time favorite item from the festival two years ago, and I was sadly disspointed. The flavor was there but it just wasn’t as good as the cheddar fondue was ice cold.




Pulled Pig Slider with Coleslaw and Crispy Onions – $6.00, I used one snack credit.

This was also not that good. Even if it was hot, it was very dry and definitely needed some kind of sauce to make it more appealing.


My sister also got the smoked pork ribs but I didn’t get a picture. It was probably the best tasting item, but also cold.




We also got the beer flight ($9.50) to share, which was also very disappointing. The three beers were Shipyard Maple Bacon Stout, Orange Blosson Pilsner, and 3 daughters phantasmas IPA.

The maple bacon stout tasted like drinking bitter maple syrup, bleh gross.

The orange blossom pilsner was good and the only one we liked.

I’m not big on IPAS to begin with, so I knew I wouldn’t like that one, DH and my sister didn’t like it either.


2 years ago I had gotten the frozen lemonade with some sort of bourbon in it, and it was so delicious. So I was really looking forward to try the new lemonade.



Frozen Lemonade with Firefly Blackberry Moonshine-11.75

This was gross and I could only manage two sips. The lemonade was fine, that blackberry moonshine tasted like straight up robotussin!!!! Ick, Ick, Ick, just threw 12 bucks in the trash lol

Oh well, moving on.

The kids had fun hanging out and playing with spoons.



Looks like my sister grabbed a bud light to make up for the crappy beer flight we didn’t drink lol





Next stop Japan! There was some sort of drum show going on in the pavilion so we stopped to watch. Dh loves the frozen beer here so he had to stop and get one. He also got some shaved ice for Gabriel.



Looks like Matteo got some more chips too.

There was a little playground in Morocco so we lets the kids play in there. My sister got Isabella a slushie at the slush booth. I got the falafel and forgot to take a picture. It was pretty good.

After this we headed back to future world to ride Gabriel’s favorite ride!