My first trip to Disney - Magical? You be the judge. 12/7-12/13

[NeverBeen2DW]

My first trip to DW was not so positive. While it had its moments there are alot of things I would do over. First I would not stay at AKL with my 4 yr old. I think for older children or Adults with no kids it would be a nice place. However with my DS4 the magic of AK and the animals wore off after the first day. My review of the hotel is here: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1300815&page=2&pp=15
Traveling was DS4 and myself (40). We stayed at AKL see me review of the lodge in the resort section.

Day 1 Thurs 12/7

We awoke at 5 am to go to the airport. Left at 5:30 am for out 7:30 flight. We arrived in Orldando at 11:30a. Arrived at AKL at about 12:30. Took the ME. Travel time 1hr. We made 2 stops to other hotels ours was the last one. I come to learn that would be the theme to this trip any bus to AK would be the last one or the furthers one away it seemes at the bus stops. However the ME went smoothly. We had a very pleasant driver. We went to AK park while we waited for the room to be ready and to check in.

At AKL we were kinda disappointed. We only saw 4 - 5 rides and not a lot of animals. My initial thoughts were this it is? and decided we would not come back. There are basically ( I think 6 rides at this park that I can remember). DS4 could or/ would only do I believe 2 of them and played the carnival games (cost me $20). The other rides were either to scary or he was to short. The animals you really have to walk slow through this park to enjoy. We had an ice cream here and a water and left back to the hotel. Did not eat here the first time around. Also AKL was very crowded and it was a hot and sticky day.

Checked in at 2:30 our bags were in the room. We were told it was ready but when we went in it was not clean. I had to stand at the Concierge for 45mins to an 1hr while they looked for a new room. They said they were completely booked. Heck they could of cleaned it in this time frame. Since I was traveling alone with my son it was wearing on my patience. He watched TV in the lobby while I took care of this but it was very stressful because he would not stay right by my side and I had to keep an eye on him etc. I was also told my room was on the 2nd floor and they circled a section which had room 2427 in it. Which was the room I requested. The room they ended putting us in was room 4413. So At this point I was a little annoyed. They then moved us to room 4437. Better but not much. Again see my report under resorts for more info on my review of the hotel.

Day 1 Evening

Epcot. We missed our ADR's at the Garden Grill character dinner. DS4 fell asleep in the stroller. He had been up since 5am. So I walked around Epcot. Did the complete circle and went to all the countries. I am not a shopper and I travel regularly sooooooo with this said I am glad DS was asleep and I did not bore him with this. There was nothing here that I have not seen in my travels to other places I have been. This is best reserved for older children and adults. A 4 yr old would probably be bored. If you have been to the Pier in San Francisco, China town in Chicago, San Fran or NY, Canal street in Chicago .... you get the idea ..... you will not find much shopping wise here that you have not already seen. If you like to shop you will enjoy browsing the stores. if you like to eat you will like noshing on the various foods. I eat when I am hungry and dislike shopping. I will leave it at that. No offense meant to anyone who loves to shop and eat.

DS woke up we went to the cafe beneath the Garden Grill. I had the Salmon, with mash potatoes, green beans/carrots. It was very good. DS just wanted and apple and some gator aide. We went to the fireworks. What I saw of them they were good. It was very loud. We watched them at a point near the living seas by a gift shop. Excellent location and also closers to the front of the park. My suggestion on this is to take note of which way the wind is blowing and do not stand in the direction of the wind (blowing towards you). This is a lot of smoke and fumes from the fireworks. Based upon this other good places to watch would be in Mexico or Norway on the other side. Clear views. At any rate my son freaked out and he had to go in the gift shop. At one point there is a lot of fire and this was very scary for him and it was just to loud. He was in tears. So I waited for him to calm down a bit then I put him in his stroller and told him we would leave so we did. He was so cute as he was sitting in his stroller with his ears covered he is saying run, mommy run. That's my boy a complete chicken of fireworks. I was also thinking "boy this is gonna suck there are fireworks every night everywhere. However my son was really excited once we made it safe to the front of Epcot and ready to leave. Below is his HURRAY I made it picture. As in I made it out! After this we went back to the hotel to sleep. Went to bed. We were beat and the day was kinda taxing.

 

[Viki]

I'm sorry you and your son didn't enjoy AK.

Did you try the following:

SHOWS:

Pocahantas and her Forest Friends
Nemo, the Musical
Festival of the Lion King
The Live shows at Harambi Village

PARADE in the afternoon

RIDES/ATTRACTIONS:

The Safari
It's a Bugs Life

Conservation Station with real, live animals

I've read that you did a lot of research for this trip, but I don't see much evidence of it.

All of the above would be activities that any young child might adore.

 

[NeverBeen2DW]

I'm sorry you and your son didn't enjoy AK.

Did you try the following:

SHOWS:

Pocahantas and her Forest Friends
Nemo, the Musical
Festival of the Lion King
The Live shows at Harambi Village

PARADE in the afternoon

RIDES/ATTRACTIONS:

The Safari
It's a Bugs Life

Conservation Station with real, live animals

I've read that you did a lot of research for this trip, but I don't see much evidence of it.
All of the above would be activities that any young child might adore.

gee that was not very nice especially for a moderator. Why don't you wait for my finished report before you take the snipes at me. We went to AK a second time. Better experience and he hated Bugs like ran out oth there screaming and crying. Loved the Safari, loved the Lion King musical. Loved the parade. Did not want to see Nemo. I followed the plans in the Passporter on all of my other days and it worked great. Just for the record I made an excel spread sheet of what I was going to do. Then the night before I took index cards and put the whole day and everything from that book on an index card and made my plan and then had back up plans ready also just in case a line was to long or it rained etc. I did my research and was very prepare otherwise this trip really would have been a disaster.

 

[Viki]

gee that was not very nice especially for a moderator. Why don't you wait for my finished report before you take the snipes at me. We went to AK a second time. Better experience and he hated Bugs like ran out oth there screaming and crying. Loved the Safari, loved the Lion King musical. Loved the parade. Did not want to see Nemo. I followed the plans in the Passporter on all of my other days and it worked great.

LOL!!! You thought those comments were snipes?

And, you'll excuse me, but the reason I didn't wait to respond (aside from the fact that no one ever does) was because I've been faithfully reading and responding to your many other posts on another (dis)board about this same trip. I'm continuing the conversation - midstream if you will.

You lead, I'll follow!

Most of all I'm very glad the trip improved for both of you!

 

[NeverBeen2DW]

Day 2 Friday 12/9

We decided to take on the Magic Kingdom specifically Fantasyland and toontown. We followed the Passporter (the book) plan and it really worked for us. I give that book a thumbs up!

DS loved Dumbo, Snow White, Peter Pan and its a small world. He thought The Winne the Poo ride was okay. We only did it once. He does not like Poo so I expected as much. The wait on each was 5 - 10 mins earlier in the day after lunch times increased to about 20 mins for Dumbo. Peter Pan was the longest so we used a fast pass. The wait was 30 mins on this day. Most other days all of these rides were in the 5-10 range. Ariel (character) had a 45 min wait. We must of rode Dumbo 30 times during the course of our trip so of course a picture was in order.

We then decided to go to ToonTown but we walked the wrong way by mistake so we decided it was time for lunch we went to Peco's Bill.

We ordered:

Double hamburger and an extra bun. I had water and DS had milk. The burgers were very dry. Not impressive. My son's milk was actually spoiled it had an expiration date of 12/23 on it and it literally had lumps in it. They replaced it with water. But unfortunately I made my son drink some of it before realizing it was rotten. When he told me it was lumpy I was not happy for 2 reasons. I made him drink it and well it was lumpy! We had the brownie for desert. The portion size however was big enough to feed both my son and I. It was just a blah meal not horrible but not delicious either.

After lunch and carefull looking at my passporter on we went to Toon town ... in the right direction..... and DS loved this also. We had fun in Minnies and Mickeys house. My son of course was the child who hopped the barriers in Mickeys house and went in to the room. There are actually alarms that go off when that happens. It is odd you can explore Minnie's house but not Mickey's. So of course I quicky retrieved him before security came. We only had to wait 5 mins to see Mickey Mouse here. This was the begining of my sons true obcesssion with chasing the mouse. Actually it really began when he had a glimpse of him the night before when we walked by Garden Grill (the ADR's we missed) and he said was that Mickey? I acted like I did not see him and said "uh I do not think so honey" Then he proclaimed "we have to find that mouse mama!" Then the search was on..... The other characters (in the gift shop) had about 10 min waits, the princess have a 30 mins wait so we skipped them.

We really enjoyed Minnies house too because you could touch everything and open the frig etc.

Dinner time we went to MGM to see Disney Playhouse. I did not know it was a show. We saw the show. My son enjoyed it. He was up in front and they let the kids dance in front before the show. My advice is do not sit in front. Sit in the middle. When the characters come out they are puppets controlled beneath the stage and they sit very low in the stage. If you sit in front you cannot see them and this causes the children in front to stand up. Sit in the middle or back you will see more. Sitting in the front offers now benefit. For Dinner we went to Brown Derby. It was DELICIOUS!

I had:
Mix Green Salad with a Balsamic vinegrete and spicey pecans
Salmon on a bed of polenta with a Balsamic reduction
Pineapple cake - this was on the dry side. Get something else.
Conumdrum wine. INCREDIBLE!

DS had:

Chicken Kids meal was very good. He had green beans and carrots with it, Milk and his desert was much better than mine. It was something chocolate. I can not remember what it was exactly. Sorry no food pictures were taken. I kept forgetting I was always so hungry. Brown Derby was definately worth 2TS.

The restaurant closed at 7pm this evening because the park was closing early. I was a little unhappy about this because it was not announced. It also was not on any schedule I had seen. The bus driver did not announce it and when we made reservations no one told us. So the Park closed at 7pm because the cheerleaders rented it out this evening. I have planned to see the Osborn lights but after dinner we were escorted literally out of the park. Another disappointment. So we went back to the hotel to play in the pool. It was cold so we went in the very large hot tub to relax and play. We both enjoyed this and the hot tub when we arrived was full of families and children. Upon going back to our room we could not get in. Our cards did not work. So back to the front desk in our wet bathing suits. They worked when we came back from the parks. I also was not carrying a cell phone or anything such as that. I was not happy about this. This added another 30 mins to our trip back to our room. This also became another theme of our trip we had to replace our cards almost every day. They would become demagnetized almost every day for no apparent reason and at the worst moments of course. The odd thing is they always worked when I wanted to shop or eat. I never had a problem with that. They would only not work on our hotel room or when we went to the parks.

 

[NeverBeen2DW]

LOL!!! You thought those comments were snipes?

And, you'll excuse me, but the reason I didn't wait to respond (aside from the fact that no one ever does) was because I've been faithfully reading and responding to your many other posts on another (dis)board about this same trip. I'm continuing the conversation - midstream if you will.

You lead, I'll follow!

Most of all I'm very glad the trip improved for both of you!

Sorry Viki I am very tired and senstive right now from being over tired. I just want to get this out to all the DISers. I walked for 7 days straight all day. I am still not recovered for all of that walking! I did not realize you have been following along and already had some back ground. My trip was not all bad. There was alot of good too. I will be back to write more time to walk my dogs. Day 3 coming up.................

 

[Viki]

Sorry Viki I am very tired and senstive right now from being over tired. I just want to get this out to all the DISers. I walked for 7 days straight all day. I am still not recovered for all of that walking! I did not realize you have been following along and already had some back ground. My trip was not all bad. There was alot of good too.

No problem! And, please, post about all of it, the negatives and the positives!

Your son, btw, is gorgeous!!!

 

[IwasatWDWforamonth]

We too had a bad experience at pecos bills and we love to eat there so I was quite disapointed.

Your son is adorable, thanks for sharing

 

[NeverBeen2DW]

Day 3 Saturday: Epcot - Coral Reef and MK Whispering Canons

Back to Epcot to day to see the Living Seas and Nemo. On the way to Epcot the bus broke down on the freeway. My son and I for some odd reason were the only people on the bus. It was an off time when we boarded the bus cause we were running a bit late that morning. I think it was 9:20 am. So delay, delay, delay. The driver though was a real gem. Nice guy. My son played running back and forth on the bus and the driver let him sit behind the wheel and pretend to drive (bus was off and keys were in his pocket so no danger here) and we waited for someone to come get us. The driver decided to try to start the bus and HURRAY it started. We sat for about 15 mins so we were not as behind and I thought we would be. We arrive at the park as the Passport book suggested we got a fast pass for the Test Track. Good thing as wait times were an hr. Today the park was PACKED and PACKED with chanting cheerleaders. UGH! Okay over to the Living Seas. My son hated the aquarium. I am not sure why as he likes the Shed Aquarium here in Chicago. But he was afraid of it. Soooo we leave. On to ride Nemo. wait time was only about 5 mins and there was only a few people on the ride with us. Nemo started out good and ended is disaster. The ride broked down with us on it. We were stuck at a point where it was pitch black and there was only light glistening on what was suppose to be a rock wall so it looked like we were underwater. My sons panic was growing because of course he thought we were under the sea with Nemo! We sat for 10 mins. My son actually tried to climb out and leave several times. Soon I was going to start yelling for someone to come get us and I had given some thought to getting out and walking back myself. I had thought maybe they thought no one was on the ride. I could not see anyone with us in either direction. They were not making any announcements so I was getting nervous. Just when my panic started setting it the ride started again. Whew! The weird thing is when we got off there was no CM greeting us. Made me wonder who was working there if anyone at all as there was not a CM when we got on either. It was just running. Came up to us so we hoped on and off we went. Needless to say we did not ride Nemo again and it was Lunch time at Coral Reef.

Coral Reef at lunch was good. We had to wait about 20 mins for our ADR's They sat us right by the tank. So the wait was worth it to me. Not so for my son. The waitress comes to take our orders and my son all of a sudden hits the floor and was under the table. I look up at the tank and see a shark right above us. The waitress replies "Boy I have see a lot of reactions from children but I have never seen one hit the floor like that. Usually it is surprise and excitement." Nope not my son terror was more like it. Here is my friend the shark who would not go away. I also think it is time to mention that the movie Jaws has seriously affected my love of the ocean as I am also terrified of sharks.

A family across the way from us in big circular booth us said to me "hey lady if you are not going to appreciate that table mind if we switch." Since I wanted to actually eat my lunch I kindly took them up on there offer to switch tables and they crammed onto the 4 top we were sat at. Their kids loved it and my son came up from under the table stopped sweating. By the time we left though he seems to enjoy the tank a little more.

Okay lunch:

I had the salad of baby greens with feta cheese it was wonderful. Also Mahi Mahi it was awesome. The bed of taboli it was on thought was bland. It was also loaded with onions so I could not eat it as I am allergic. They did ask me about my food allergies but obviously either missed it or did not care as my salad also had cameralized onions on it. I just picked them off. The Taboli had to many in it so I just did not eat it. I did taste a few of the grains though and it was the bland. My desert a double chocolate cake was wonderful. I had Ice tea to drink. My son had the Salmon on a bed of wild rice. It was very good. I would of rather had the rice than the taboli to be honest. He had a sour apple soda. The waitress said it was the favorite of children so we ordered it. Of course my son hated it and wanted good old milk instead. His desert I can not recall what it was but I do recall tasting it and thinking it was good and he did eat all of it. I want to say it was some sort of hot apple "something" with vanilla ice cream. His food was all from the "new menu". The waitress said it just started this week. That they revised the menu agian because there were so many complaints about the other "new menu". I have no complaints about the new kids menu it was pretty good. Also both portion sizes were very large. You could easily split both. My son could have shared my lunch and to be honest we could have split his. We did not need to order both.

With lunch being over we were off to ride test track. My little guy did not freak out. Hurray! But he also did not want to ride it again so we checked out Soaring. The fast pass wait time was 7:45pm and it was only 1pm. So we decided to skip it and went on some type of boat ride that shows how they grow food. The name slips my mind. It was all about the environment. After that we saw a band signing and honestly this was the highlight of my sons fun at Epcot. They let him join the band. He had so much fun dancing with them and playing instruments.

After joining the band my son quickly changed back to my darling little boy and had to see Mickey again. So we checked them out at Epcot. The wait again was only 5 mins. We saw Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy and Chip N Dale. My son is in love with Minnie at this point. Here he is just lovingly looking at her from afar. He laid on the floor for the longest time just watching her.

At this point he was really happy and we we off to Magic Kingdom for the afternoon and then off to dinner at Whispering Canons. It was a nice end to out day at Epcot. and my son picked a flower just for mommy.... awwww!

More tomorrow about Whispering Canons.....

 

[NeverBeen2DW]

We too had a bad experience at pecos bills and we love to eat there so I was quite disapointed.

Your son is adorable, thanks for sharing

Thank you both for the compliments on my son! Get ready to see more of him as it was just he and I. I had no one else to take pictures of!

 

[Lauralee131]

I'm looking forward to hearing more about your trip...Sadly it doesn't sound like it was all that magical for you...here's hoping it gets better and that you focus on and remember the happy things!


Those room keys sure can be temperamental...if I put them anywhere near other credit cards or cell phones, it seems to happen to me as well...anywhere though, not just at Disney.

Waiting for more!!

 

[DisneyDotty]

On my last trip to WDW, my tickets/keys gave me lots of trouble, too. I guess we just have magnetic personalities!

 

[KirstenB]

I'm sorry your trip wasn't as good as you had hoped. Usually our whole family goes together, but one time I took dd1 who was about 3 or 4 then. OMG, the hardest trip of my life!! With a small child in any new environment, you're just constantly "on". Especially if the kiddo is high-strung, the way dd1 is. It's Tough to be a Bug would have scared her too. She doesn't like loud noises, so when she was younger, a lot of the rides/shows did scare her.

I promise you, if you go when your son is a little older, it'll be a MUCH better trip. Really. Traveling with little kids is just harder than I thought it would be at the time. Dd1 is now 8, and she's been great at WDW since she was about 6. At that age she really branched out in trying new rides like Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, even Goofy's Barnstormer. I know I know....a lot of kids go on these when they're younger...just not our daughter. Also, they're better able to handle all the walking and pace at WDW. Now that dd's older, it's more like going with a friend...we share a similar pace, get hungry at the same time, no need for a stroller.

Of course we have a 15 mth old, so it looks like we'll be on little kid pace again for a few years, but a girl can dream....

 

[NeverBeen2DW]

OMG, the hardest trip of my life!! With a small child in any new environment, you're just constantly "on". Especially if the kiddo is high-strung, the way dd1 is. :

My son is Mr High Energy. Believe me when I say he was a trooper. He was ready to go and on the go. But then agian he is on the hyper side. My biggest problem was trying to solve all this "problems" and keep an eye on him - keep him safe. When you are talking to a CM because you have a problem (like my card) you have to wait in line 15 mins, talk to them another 15 mins etc etc. It is hard for them to stand in line to wait to get up to talk to a CM Conciere. At least when they are waiting in line at MK they had a wonderful reward at the end. I swear I wanted to have a tantrum and throw myself on the floor and cry more then he did! I am as we speak planning 2 more vacation for us this winter so I best get use to traveling alone with my son.

 

[disneybound31]

Whispering Canyon. Lovin' your report so far-- but it's 'canyon' baby! And I agree with the others-- your son is cute. Cool hair.

 

[NeverBeen2DW]

Whispering Canyon. Lovin' your report so far-- but it's 'canyon' baby! And I agree with the others-- your son is cute. Cool hair.

Opps typo. Sorry my typing sucks and I am not really spell checking. So typo psychos skip my report! I think my typing canon was a freudian splip. Read on and you will see why. It is probably because I wanted to fire a canon at them by the time I left!

My son does have awesome hair. Thank you. He will not let me cut it. I would like to cut it just for the record.

 

[catherines_mama]

I am a single mom and traveled on my 1st trip w/out someone else (friend, family) to WDW when my DD (now almost 6) was just 2 1/2. It was an amazing trip. You just have to wipe out all expectations and flow with it.

I learned that the little surprise moments, like street bands or actors are always the highlight for them. It was always a great way to sit down, enjoy, laugh and recharge.

Don't worry. My DD (remember she's almost 6) STILL hates fireworks.

At 2 1/2 she LOVED illuminations, but last week, she HATED them. She got a fear this summer of close fireworks. At the baseball game on July 4 they shot them off from behind the field and she freaked out! Did great out in the parking lot, but not in the stands. She LOVES Wishes, LOVES Fantasmic, but cannot do Illuminations, its just too close.

One night last week we stayed for Illuminations, I parked the stroller, we waited and YAY they began at 9:30. By 9:35 we were out the gates and at the bus stop. From there you could see the high fireworks... and she LOVED it! Kids are just crazy, so instead of jumping on that bus, we sat down and enjoyed the fireworks and caught the next one, all about going with the flow.

Can't wait to hear more.

 

[NeverBeen2DW]

Day 3 Cont. back to MK and then off to dinner at Whispering Canyons.

After lunch we decided to head back to Magic Kingdom to finish off our day. Today we went to Futureland or is it Tommorwland???
My son loved the Buzz light year ride, he loved the little car ride - he drove.

He loved the silly train ride that went through space mountain.
He thought that was WAY cool.
We met Buzz Light year and Stitch the wait was
very short again about 5 mins.

Lots for little ones to do and enjoy here. It ended up being one of our favorite parts of MK. Orbit made me sick to my stomach. We promptly removed that from our list of rides. We pretty much stayed in this area until our ADR's at Whispering Canyon. We took the ferry to WKL for dinner. Check in. They take us in right away and walk us all the way through the dinning room and we just kept going and going. Hey wait we are leaving the dining room ...... she seats us on a balcony type area in the lobby by ourselves???? I was not happy with this and told her I wanted to be in the dining room. I let her know that I wanted my son to be involved in all the activity, the pony ride etc and all of the fun of the main dining room. I asked her 3 times to reseat us and that we would wait until a table was available. She refused she said they were to busy there was no room and that this is where they seat the 2 tops. Okay so this goes back to my theory of making my reservations for 3 instead of 2. Because when you are a 2 top you get the crappy table by the kitchen, or stuck in the corner or ...... arrrrggggggggg! ......stuck in the freaking lobby behind the resturaunt! She told us that our waitress would let us know when the pony race was and that we would be able to hear it. So feeling defeated and tired I gave up. Our waitress came. She sat down at our table and took out order. Ummm okay....... sure I will go along with this. I thought okay at least she is fun. She promised me she would let us know when the pony race was etc. So we ordered. I asked the waitress what she recommend. She said the steak it is her favorite.... so I ordered the steak.

I had the
salad
steak MR and yes it was MR.
mash potatoes
broccoli
coffee

everything was okay. everything was also luke warm to cold. Guess the long hike from the kitchen made our food cold. DS had the pasta (baked pasta with sauce/cheese on it) It was bland and dry. The steak was very large so DS ate off my plate. We could have shared this easily. His portion of pasta was also very large. 2 kids could share this. If you order it ask for extra sauce. The deserts were delicious. Again something chocolate and heavenly.

As we are enjoying our meal in the lobby, in the quite ... not even piped in music was playing with hotel guest walking by ...... we hear cheers and laughter coming from the other room. They were having a blast in there twirling their napkins and playing games across the room. How do I know this? ....... well every time we would hear a cheer DS would get up from out table and run back to the dining room to see what was going on. Then protest that he wanted to be a part of the party. I ask to be moved again. I am told no again even though I see empty tables. We go back to our table. We get company someone else was seated next to us. They ask our waitress what she recommends she says the pasta. It is her favorite! HUH?

So all through dinner I had to deal with my son getting up to see what was going on in the dining room. I could see him the whole time as he was in view. He would stop and talk to a table etc walk back. Finally, I had enough of that when he started coming back with food. Yes I said food. Specifically corn on the cob. Apparently he was mooching from a table on the way back. Oh I was so embarrassed. Now in hindsight I would have rather of gotten the family style meal they serve it is a big pan with grilled meats and corn on the cob. I think we both would have been happier with that. But our waitress said it would be way to much food. So I felt bad ordering it because of the emphasis she put on that we would just be wasting it. Oh well. Next time. I told my son no more getting up. The waitress promised us she could would come get him for the pony race. We hear cheers again. I told my son to eat and ignore it. Then I see a frickens stick pony go by %#$@&! worse yet so did my son. He had a fit. He runs into the main dining room and stands on a chair and yells STOP! at the top of his little lungs. Oh boy I thought. My son is quite out going and verbal. So of course our waitress comes up to him with a mic and he starts telling her how she broke her promise and went on and on, then he started crying standing on a chair on mic in the main dining room and everyone could hear it. So of course this made me cry. My poor little guy was sooooooo disappointed. This is our waitress and my son doing his solo pony race .... do not sit at her table!

The manager comes up to me and asks me what is going on .... sobbing I tell her what happened and she is very apologetic. She said they should have reseated us when we asked the first time that us their policy. She seats us in the main dining room and lets my son do a pony race all by himself with everyone cheering him on. Okay he is again happy but what a road we had to travel to get there. I should have stopped being polite and been more demanding in the beginning. The manage tells me she is not going to charge us for the meal and sends me a glass of wine. Just what I need is 2 more TS. oh well.

Dinner is over we go back to the MK for the light show/parade on the water. We get on the ferry to go back to MK. It was empty. My son & I, the captain and 2 other people. So we are putt, putting along the water excited to see the light show. Then all of a sudden in the middle of the water in the darkest part the ferry loses power and just STOPS. I wanted to go postal but I reminded myself my son is watching and I am after all a "lady." We are stuck out there for 30 - 45 mins. No one could get to use because all of the boats were on the other side of the water parade! The parade we wanted to see. We had to wait until it was over AND we could not see it where we were at. I was about to throw myself on the floor of that boat and just cry as this was the only day this parade of lights was happening when we were there!

When we finally get back to shore we see the last float go by waving goodbye. I think it was a green Octupus smiling and waving. I wanted to twist its head off at that point. My son is crying again because we missed it so we just went home calling it quits for the day. I think we both cried in frustration one to many times today. Back at the hotel we decide to go in the hot tub because it was cold outside. As I am walking up I see a child floating in it. I am not kidding. I yank him out as his family is sitting on the other end chatting. They were french and drunk. I am making sure he is okay, breathing, he looks about 2 yrs old and is spitting up water. He starts crying which is a good thing at this point. Then the french people start yelling at me as if I am trying to hurt their kid. They did not speak English so I just left because now my son was scared and crying. I told the front deck what happened. They said they have it all on film so not to worry the area is on video monitor and being taped. Back to the pool we jump in .... it is to chilly so we decide to go to bed. Back to the room and my key does not work. It just worked for us when we changed. I was not a happy camper. Wet and cold I have to go to the lobby to get a new one. GRRRRR! So I went to bed hopeful for a better day tomorrow. Heck it could not get any worse right? It did get better though sitting on our bed was a tray of milk and cookies from the manager of Whispering Canons. She left a note with her card saying to call her and she will get us into any restaurant we wanted in DW. That was a nice ending to a very tough day.

To be continued Day 4 : Return to Animal Kingdom, Tusker for Lunch Boma for Dinner.

 

[NeverBeen2DW]

I am a single mom and traveled on my 1st trip w/out someone else (friend, family) to WDW when my DD (now almost 6) was just 2 1/2. It was an amazing trip. You just have to wipe out all expectations and flow with it.

Oh believe me I went with the flow. I adjusted the days, missed ADR's, had back up ideas and just flooooowwed! I would be bald right now if I did not. and yes the best moments were the unexpected unplanned one. My son loved these little bands that came out of nowhere and played. He loved the parades. I was so happy to see him so excited about them and at the same time bummed I did not take him to one sooner. We did not see our first parade until day 4. But then we saw one every day or twice a day after that. I had to share with everyone that it is best to be prepared, have ideas, get a book such as passporter etc. If I had not read these boards and 2 books this trip would have been a complete disaster. I would have been overwhelmed and called it quits at this point (day 3). I really would have had no idea what to do or where to go. I really think despite all that went wrong I was really prepared once I hit those parks and though the only think I saw was a map I knew where to head and what to look for. I did follow the passporters reccomendation on what rides to do and what to see etc and when. I really does work and yes you can adjust it to "go with the flow". Every day I carried that book in my stroller basket and the night before I wrote my plan on an index card and put it my pocket. On the back side of the index card I put alternate ideas. I really think this helped. I kept all of my cards and brought them home with me for next time. Yes I did say next time.

 

[jensen]

Jacquelyn I'm completely astounded by all the roadblocks you met on your vaction. In three trips to the world, I've never experienced even one thing similar to what you encountered on a daily basis. Hopefully now that you've been able to blow off some steam, you'll forget all the bad and remember only the magic.