Mooooooooove! An Irma-centric first Disney trip - COMPLETED

[missangelalexis]

Oh my gosh what a cute family photo!

 

[MouseFan88]

That is such a lovely lovely picture. I'm really enjoying reading this and seeing how much you're enjoying E's experience.

Thank you! It was so great to experience Disney in a whole new way!

I just found your trip report. E is adorable and it looks like you are having a wonderful time. I did want to mention that you inadvertently used her full name in the post about meeting Rapunzel. I'm not sure if that's a concern for you or not. I look forward to reading about the rest of your Disney vacation.

Thank you for noticing - I'm OK with it - I mostly just shortened it for convenience. You can see her name on her embroidered shirt in some of the pictures anyway

Oh my gosh what a cute family photo!

Thank you! The Photopass guy was so excited about it, he showed it to me right away.

Jeff had some eye surgery done today, so it may be a couple of days before I'm able to update again. Stick with me though, I'll definitely be back on Monday!

 

[mamamelody2]

You guys are all so cute and look like you were having such a great time!

 

[BellaBaby]

Joining in!!

This TR is bringing back memories of when we took oldest DD16 for her first trip way back in '03. Except we weren't as savvy as you and your DH! But we loved it and have been going back ever since!!

 

[DisneyMichael]

Really fun trip it sounds like!

 

[NYCgrrl]

Following along since it's so precious.

 

[MouseFan88]

You guys are all so cute and look like you were having such a great time!

Thank you! The matching red hair does help with cute family photos

Joining in!!

This TR is bringing back memories of when we took oldest DD16 for her first trip way back in '03. Except we weren't as savvy as you and your DH! But we loved it and have been going back ever since!!

Aw, isn't Disney the best for making memories?!

Really fun trip it sounds like!

Following along since it's so precious.

Thank you both for joining in - I'm so glad I can share our experience!

 

[MouseFan88]

Day Two, Part Three: "BOOM"

When we last chatted (I like to think we're having a conversation here ), E was gearing up for debuting her radically new hairdo. We walked her pixie dust over to meet Mickey Mouse! I may not have emphasized earlier, but we were incredibly spoiled with remarkably low wait-times this trip. We never waited 20 minutes for a ride. Granted, some of that was due to FP+ and not needing to hit some of the headliners this trip, but overall crowd levels were low - probably a combination of typical low season and Irma scaring folks away. That being said, Mickey had a 180-minute wait at 4:15 pm! Thankfully, we had a FP+ and hopped in that relatively short line. Of course, E chose this moment to poop, so she and Jeff hopped back out of line to visit a bathroom and get cleaned up. I saved our spot, and very quickly after they re-joined me we were ushered into our room.

Hands down, this was another top moment for our trip. I hadn't told Jeff that this Mickey could talk, and the surprise was so much fun! The two families in front of us were from Japan and Brazil, and when Mickey started talking in their language, Jeff was floored. We walked up, and E was slightly hesitant. She loves Mickey, and is very familiar with him, as evidenced by this picture from almost a year before our trip:

So once Mickey saw that she was a little shy, he asked if she wanted to play "choo choo train" with him. We played choo choo train all around the room, and that girl smiled the biggest smile I've ever seen. She had a blast. After that we got together for a family photo, the photographer asked us to say cheese. E said in her loudest voice, "CHEESE!" and when anyone asks her about meeting Mickey, she still exclaims Cheese

After our time with Mickey, we headed to an extra FP+ that I was able to grab for "Bzzz". E really loved this one because she likes saying his name, she got a sticker, and she figured out how to spin the vehicle using the little lever. Trifecta!

At this point, our early lunch was starting to wear off. We had originally wanted to head to Columbia Harbor House, but the app was saying it had closed at 5 pm (I'm not sure that was true), and Jeff remembered when we had gone to Sleepy Hollow on a previous trip and gotten waffle sandwiches. My wonderful husband is obsessed with waffles, so he requested that we head that way. I'm a big fan of the view from Sleepy Hollow, so I went along with the spontaneous decision and shared one of my favorites spots in MK with E.

Dinner was delicious - I would never hesitate to suggest getting both waffle sandwiches and splitting them between two adults. It makes a filling and decently nutritious meal for a good price. After dinner, we let our waffles digest by circling around the park on the train. It was a good respite from the heat of the pavement, but otherwise not incredibly exciting. I think I'd rather spend time on the PeopleMover, honestly.

We exited the train and hopped on the teacups - I had grabbed another bonus FP+ for this, but it was totally unnecessary. E loves playing "Dizzy" at home and spinning around in circles until she falls down, so I figured this would be a hit. And it was! This ride was the only one all day that E immediately demanded to re-ride, and since it was a walk-on, we literally walked right back to the entrance and hopped on for the very next spin. Can you tell that humid-prone hair runs in the family?

I don't have a picture, but after teacups I had another bonus FP+ for "Bzzzz", so we did that again. I'm avoiding reporting our scores, because I did miserably both times It's because I was enjoying E enjoying the ride too much! After that, it was a few minutes past 8, so we decided to grab a spot for fireworks. I was hoping that we could keep E entertained and happy for a little under an hour even though it was already past her normal bedtime, she had woken up early, had a busy day, and a shorter nap that usual. She LOVED the fireworks on July 4th in our hometown, so I knew she'd be a happy camper if we could keep her up just until they started.

We managed to nab a REALLY great spot, in front of where the dessert party garden view folks go. We were right behind the curb and managed to have quite a bit of space to ourselves thanks to the stroller.

Pro Tip: if you need a time killer, go with snacks! That's what always worked for us.

I set E up with some cheese crackers, Jeff went to go grab us an ice cream, and when that ran out, we let her annihilate a bag of mini marshmallows. She doesn't get many cheese crackers or marshmallows at home, so she was happy and distracted until just a few minutes before showtime. At that point, I whipped out the bubble wand that her Nana bought for her when she went to Disney in May. I'm almost 100% it annoyed those around us, and it's not something I would've purchased for her on my own, but E had a blast with it and it saved those last few crucial moments for us, so I would call it a win.

I don't have any pictures from the rest of the night. Happily Ever After was awesome, and E watched the whole thing with wonder. One of those Disney moments that I won't forget. The mass exit from the park wasn't too bad since they opened up the overflows behind Main Street, and because there were EMH for a few more hours. E didn't want to ride in her stroller, so I sucked it up and carried her, hoping she would get comfy and drift off on the way back to the lodge, and Jeff pushed the stroller.

This was our only bad bus experience of the trip - we got to the bus line pretty quickly, and were about 20 people back in line for AKL. It took over 20 minutes for any bus to get to us, despite OKW being 3 buses deep right next to us. Eventually our chariot arrived, and it was packed! E and I shared a seat, and she eventually drifted off.

It was a great and successful day! So many new family memories. Couldn't really have asked for anything better, honestly. That being said, when we got back to the room the real world caught up to us a little. We had messages from both sets of our parents saying models were shifting Irma our way and that we should pay attention and stay safe. The next morning, things would certainly accelerate ... but we'll get to that in due time

 

[missangelalexis]

SOunds like a wonderful meet with Mickey! Glad to hear E enjoyed Buzz and the Tea cups!

Seeing the fireworks I am sure was a great end to such a great day!

 

[DisneyMichael]

Did you get to meet Alice by the Tea Cups? (Note: In case ya'll didn't know, Mad Hatter and White Rabbit no longer meet here)

 

[BellaBaby]

Aww..what a wonderful ending to a wonderful day!

One of my favorite memories is watching middle DD as she watched the night time parade and lighting up when her favorite; the Little Mermaid passed. She would yell "Ariel". So cute and magical!!

 

[MouseFan88]

Did you get to meet Alice by the Tea Cups? (Note: In case ya'll didn't know, Mad Hatter and White Rabbit no longer meet here)

We did not - honestly, we didn't spend much time seeking out character interactions other than ones E specifically asked for. She's a little young for real interactions yet, so we opted for rides since she seemed happier on those.

Aww..what a wonderful ending to a wonderful day!

One of my favorite memories is watching middle DD as she watched the night time parade and lighting up when her favorite; the Little Mermaid passed. She would yell "Ariel". So cute and magical!!

Isn't it so great to see Disney through their little eyes? Totally new and awesome experience.

 

[MouseFan88]

Day Three, Part One: "Mittey"

This morning was definitely all about our pal Mickey. We met him twice and ate his delicious waffles!

Our plan today was to wander EPCOT and have a slower pace so that E could recover from our long day in the Magic Kingdom. EPCOT had morning EMH this day, but we knew we weren't going to try to take much advantage of those. Instead, we let E sleep until 8, got her up and dressed, and let her eat a banana on the bus. We were headed straight to breakfast anyway!

We ended up getting a bus by 8:15 and were inside EPCOT past security by 8:40 - crazy fast that morning. Since it was still EMH, the park was pretty deserted, and we decided we had enough time to enjoy Spaceship Earth as a walk-on. I'm actually glad this is the way the timing worked out - I had hoped that E's first EPCOT ride would be SE

I guess the facial recognition piece of SE only recognizes 2 faces. For some reason, E and I got priority, and poor Jeff was cut out of our future! As a side note, I've never been a big fan of the touchscreen interaction on this ride, but E loved it. She was so happy that she could push the screen and make things happen - she determined our whole future for us.

The ride slowed to a crawl a couple of times during our ride, so we got off with about 5 minutes until our breakfast reservation at Garden Grill. Oops! Thankfully, we are really fast walkers, so we booked it on over there, parked the stroller, and made it in with about a minute to spare. I knew I wanted to have one character meal for E, and this was definitely a reasonably priced option with some characters I thought she would most like to meet. Plus, our plan for the rest of the day was to browse F+W booths whenever we got hungry, so a big breakfast to start off the day sounded like a good plan. Overall, I would highly recommend this breakfast, especially to families with small children. It's so easy to just sit there and have the food and the characters all come to you!

Unfortunately, our server greeted us by asking when our flight out of Orlando was supposed to be. When we said "Sunday afternoon", she gave us a funny look and suggested we call our airline because she had been told that the airport was shutting down on Saturday afternoon. NO! That effectively burst our Disney bubble. So, during breakfast I started formulating a plan for how I could take care of things with the least disruption to our day. More on that later ...

Before the food or characters come, E demonstrates why today would definitely need to be a slower pace!

Thankfully, things started picking up once we got some food in her. She saw Mickey coming from a few tables away and remembered her interaction with him from the day before, so she said lots of "Cheese!"

After Mickey stopped by, our server dropped off our main skillet, and E happily tucked into her first ever Mickey waffle. I can safely say that she is now addicted to them, and is trying to convert others to the Religion of Mickey Waffles as well. Exhibit A: trying to feed Pluto a Mickey waffle.

Next came Chip, followed by Dale. E is a huge fan of chocolate chips, so meeting Chip was especially exciting to her. She kept saying "Bip! Bip!" as he came close. But by the time he made it to us, she was back in full waffle-adoration mode.

After breakfast, E was still chattering non-stop about "Mittey". Thankfully, I had a FP+ for the Character Spot immediately following breakfast, so we paid our bill and headed that way. Even with FP+, there was about 10 minute wait, so my silly family burned off some of their breakfast sugar.

It was finally time to meet our best friend (Mickey number 3 in less than 20 hours ...), and E had finally warmed up enough to him that when we got close, she just leaned forward and kissed him on the nose! Ah!

We then moved on to Goofy. E has a stuffed Goofy, but she was not feeling his meet today. She kept asking to leave - no idea why. But, after that was Minnie and she was back to her happy little self.

That's a lot of characters, and a pretty good place to take a break, I think. Next up, we go under the sea and let it go - the highlight of the trip for our daughter that watches Frozen at least 3 times a week.

 

[missangelalexis]

What a great morning! So nice that you could squeeze in SE before breakfast! Garden Grill sounds like it was a success! So cute that E kissed Mickey when she met him at Character Spot

 

[DisneyMichael]

Did you get to meet Donald and Daisy in the parks?

 

[MouseFan88]

What a great morning! So nice that you could squeeze in SE before breakfast! Garden Grill sounds like it was a success! So cute that E kissed Mickey when she met him at Character Spot

I know!! Jeff thought I had whispered the suggestion to E, but it was totally spontaneous (and therefore totally cute).

Did you get to meet Donald and Daisy in the parks?

We didn't. We had the option multiple times, but E is less familiar with them, so we prioritized our limited park time elsewhere.

 

[BellaBaby]

Love the kiss on Mickey's nose!!

 

[paradesintherain]

Hello from the opposite side of Missouri!

E is SOOO cute and bright! Loving the trip report, can't wait to read more

 

[thumper*]

Hello I'm enjoying your adorable TR. E just melts a persons heart.

What a cute family.


Important note: we never had any bus trouble at all this trip. I know people complain about bus wait times at the deluxe resorts, and especially at AKL, but we never waited more than 6 minutes for a bus to arrive at the lodge, and all of our transit times were 20 minutes or less. Even on the way back to the resort, there was almost always an AKL bus waiting at the gate for us and departing quickly after we boarded. I'm think we got some transportation pixie dust this trip!

Lucky you we syed at AKL on our last stay and had NO bus magic. Very long waits and many hot and tired nights standing on the way back to the resort.

This picture actually made me yawn LOL

 

[MouseFan88]

Love the kiss on Mickey's nose!!

It was such a magical moment!

Hello from the opposite side of Missouri!

E is SOOO cute and bright! Loving the trip report, can't wait to read more

Yay! Happy to have a fellow Missourian following along

Hello I'm enjoying your adorable TR. E just melts a persons heart.

What a cute family.

Lucky you we syed at AKL on our last stay and had NO bus magic. Very long waits and many hot and tired nights standing on the way back to the resort.

This picture actually made me yawn LOL

Thank you so much for the compliments - I know I'm biased, but I love our little redhead clan!

I know bus service can be so hit or miss. And I feel like with MagicBands, it could easily be improved by Disney. Have people scan in when they get in line for a bus at a park, then you immediately know how many people are waiting for each resort and for how long ... and couldn't they at least do the expected wait-time boards in the lines at the parks like they do at the resort? For me, the biggest problems I have are when I have no idea what to expect. At least tell me the bus is 20 minutes away and I'll deal with it. I'll get off of my soap box now