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

[KirstenB]

Wow, you guys definitely had some frustrating roadblocks. I can't imagine losing power on the ferry ride!! OTOH, isn't Buzz Lightyear great? I'm glad your cutie pie had fun on that!

 

[NeverBeen2DW]

Day 4 Sunday 12/10 Animal Kingdom finally a good day!

Today we went to Animal Kingdom Park to give it another try. The crowds were low today so this was a relief. Following the passport books reccomendation we went right to the Safari to get a fast pass as the wait was 30 mins. We then headed to Rikki's Planet . Riding the train there my son had a blast he loves trains, petting the animals was also a hit. We finished up there and went back to the Safari. The Safari was a big hit we ended up riding it several times. We had luch at Tusker house it was wonderful.

We had: The Roasted Chicken, Mash potatoes and a chocolate cake like desert. Everything here was delicious and I would order agian. The Portions sizes are large and you could very well share with a child. Diser's were right on in reccomending this for CS.

After lunch we hit Dinoland. DS played some more carnival games, rode a few rides, refused to do the Dinasuar ride. We made it to the movie part and then he freaked out so we left. I would not let him play in the playground area. It is so large and so many kids were in there I did not feel like chasing him around or losing him so we went and found a place to the parade. On the way we past some street musicians. My son once agian joined the band. The musicians were thrilled to have him. Once my son joined the band other kids were more comfortable with dancing in front of them so slowly they trickled in and danced. The musicians thanked my son and son usually the kids just watch and do not dance. They felt my so being so relaxed with them made the difference to it was really fun.

The streets were fairly empty so we found a spot for the parade, grabbed another Safari fast past as this seemed to be pretty much the only ride with a wait. Even Eversat was suprisingly emplty. At one point it said wait 10 mins! So I do reccomend using the Fast Past option for the Safari if the wait is 20-30 mins and everything else seems empty. If you time it right yu can grab a pass go do something come back ride the safari and by then your time is up and you can grab another Fast Pass to do it agian. My son also loved the Lion King show. I highly reccomend this. He did not like its a bugs life. He went running out of there in the first 10 mins when the wasp came out. I wanted to see the Birds of Flight show but we ran out of time. He absolutely loved the parade which surprised me. I was certain he was going to run out and try to join the parade to but surprisingly he did not. After the parade he had parade fever. All we wanted to do was find Mickey in a parade. He loved seeing all the characters and was waving and saying "HI, Happy Holidays" like a crazed 4 yr old to all the characters. After the parade we rode the Safari agian and stayed until the park closed. This was our favortie attraction of the park. On the way out of the park of my son ran off and joined another band - of course. They let him play the instruments and he had a blast. My point in telling you about his band obcession is so you let your kids go up to them. They are super child friendly and they will let you child plan an instrument or give them a drum stick to hit a cow bell or the drums. This truly was a high point of our trip.

and then for his last performance he decided to put on his own drum show and had a crowd cheering him on it. It really was a good day.

Our 2nd visit to the park was wonderful and this was one of my favorite places. I would love to go back without my son and walk through it slowly looking at all the animals. I could not get him to go into the exhibit with the lions he thought it was to scary so maybe next time we will try to see more of the animals. I would definately go back to this park but my son also really limited my seeing all the attractions. Which is okay. We plan to come back to DW.

After this we headed back to the hotel for dinner at Boma's and to play in the pool despite the cool temps. It was in the low 70's today.

Next.... My adventure at Boma's

 

[lookingforward]

First of all, you son is so adorable! I have two teenage sons and my opinion is that there is NOTHING sweeter in the world than a four year old boy. Great pictures..thanks for sharing!

Your trip reports are very informative and honest. Every year I go to WDW with my now 8 year old daughter for a mommy-daughter weekend and it truly exhausts me. She is a great little girl and very easy to be on the go with but being alone with a child at WdW is truly numbing. I can relax much more when I am with another adult or group, but I also cherish our times alone so we do it for three days. A week would be tough on me, I think.

Your comment about going with the flow is so important. I have been to WDW many times and the best times are the ones where we just take things easy. Yes we have reservations for dining, etc. but we try to slow down and take one moment at a time. Just having that mentality is important. WDW can be so overwhelming and confusing. Most people start out with about 1/100th of the knowledge that you had by buying the passporter and surfing the disboards. I actually stood behind a group of women (two moms and college age daughters) who actually said that the boatride across the lake at Epcot was the only ride in the park. And they paid $60 for that? Scary.

Hopefully you will have future trips that are a bit easier and smoother. Now that my daughter is 8 she can get on rides that she loves like rock and roll rollercoaster and tower of terror.

We have stayed at the AKL many times and love the resort but it is not for everyone. Some of our friends hated the longish bus ride and decor. I don't think I would stay there alone with my daughter because of the longer commute to the parks. Maybe next time you can try one of the monorail resorts.

Lookingforward to reading more

 

[NeverBeen2DW]

Wow, you guys definitely had some frustrating roadblocks. I can't imagine losing power on the ferry ride!! OTOH, isn't Buzz Lightyear great? I'm glad your cutie pie had fun on that!

Buzzlight year the ride was great and so was Buzz the character when we saw him. That smile just draws the kids in. Everytime we rode that ride I noticed something different. My son must of rode it it 10 times and each time his mouth was hanging opening looking at everything. He did not eve fire the gun!

 

[NeverBeen2DW]

First of all, you son is so adorable! I have two teenage sons and my opinion is that there is NOTHING sweeter in the world than a four year old boy.

firt thank you! and yes nothing is sweeter than a 4 yr old boy. Let me tell you he was my rock, my saving grace there. His being unphased about all the bad experiences really set me straight and gave me new perspective. He loved that we were stuck on a ferry in the middle of the lake. He thought playing with the captian was a treat. Wearing his hat etc. The caption was a very nice man and loved children thankfully. I was disappointed because I knew my son would also just love the water/light parade. I have no idea what it is called.... spectromagic????? Someone help me out here. When we did get to shore he was bummed to see the last float go by but i told him we would see it another day he quickly forgot about it and moved on while I was sulking inside

In hind sight my next trip will be during the week. I will try to stay away from the weekend or spend the weekend at the hotel. I think 7 days with a 4 yr old at DW is to much especially doing it alone. I learned alot from this trip and my intend is to allow others to learn from my mistakes.

 

[susieq76]

Thanks for giving us your report! I have 2 four year olds and boy can they just keep going! We do stay longer (this trip 9 days ) but I have to let them do the playgrounds, the activities etc otherwise I'd be . We're going to WCC this trip- thanks for the advice- I'll be sure to avoid that waitress as well as put up a huge fuss if they seat us in "guam". My boys would be nuts if they couldn't see, let alone join in the activities. Can't wait to hear about Boma- I don't think my family is adventurous enough to try that place.

 

[mikelan6]

Thanks for the report! I hope your trip gets better. Your son is really cute.

 

[disneyworldluvr349]

WOW! It seems like you have had an exhasting trip! Just spending two hours with my 4 yr old brother drives me nuts! You are a true inspiration for holding it together that long. "Kids are the only true teachers of unconditional love" I think that describes what you were saying earlier about how un fazed he was with the bad experiences, little kids are amazing. i think without them we would forget how to have fun. I can't wait to hear more!

 

[NeverBeen2DW]

Thanks for giving us your report! I have 2 four year olds and boy can they just keep going! We do stay longer (this trip 9 days ) but I have to let them do the playgrounds, the activities etc otherwise I'd be . We're going to WCC this trip- thanks for the advice- I'll be sure to avoid that waitress as well as put up a huge fuss if they seat us in "guam". My boys would be nuts if they couldn't see, let alone join in the activities. Can't wait to hear about Boma- I don't think my family is adventurous enough to try that place.

my son did play in one playground at toon town. I liked this one because I could see him at all times and it is shaded overhead. It has benches so you can sit and relax while watching. Take time to plan on sitting here and relaxing a bit. The other ones in parks were just to big and I could not see where he went. Another suggestion in Frontierland there is a treehouse you can climb up in. Lot os stairs, lots to look and and my son really liked it and wanted to do it over and over agian. Do not over look the simplicist of this. It is listed on the maps. Also there is a great view of MK once you get to the park. I wanted to climb up there during the fireworks to see what you can see but my son freaked out during the fireworks. You can see the palace perfectly and you would see Tinkerbells flight perfectly. Just a thought. If anyone does this during the fireworks please PM and and let me know what it was like.

 

[NeverBeen2DW]

I also wanted to mention I saw 2 DISers at AK park. the 2nd time I went. One was a husband and wife and he noticed my lime green mikey head dangling from my purse on a lime green polka dotten ribbon. I had two one on my stroller too anyhow so we chatted bit. It was his wifes birthday so I gave her the mickey on my purse since she did not have one. Small gift I know. But I felt she should have one Very nice people! The 2nd one was a female. I saw her at Tusker House. I went up to her and said Hey your a DISer and she looked at me coldly and kinda said yeah ah hu and then turned her back to me. Okaaaaaaayyyyy. I also so one at GF but could not catch up with them. It was a man carrying a dark blue or maybe gray back pack. I really thought I would see more to be honest.

 

[OhMari]

Hey, Jacqueline, come back and tell us how Boma went.