NEW!!! We're Official Porkers! 12/4-12/10 with our 10month old!

[bluechic03]

Hey Fellow Disney Peeps!

Well we returned from a very different trip from what we anticipated last Friday and I thought it would be a great time to do my very first TR. I have been to Disney many times (this was DH's & mine 6th trip together) and have written a few Dining Reports, but never a TR. I am usually the type to plan, plan, plan and than go, go, go. But this trip we ended up doing things I never thought we would....like RELAX at Disney...who knew?

Now the meaning of the title of the TR will be revealed later on, but let me just say I did something very big that I never thought in a million years I would or even COULD do!

Well let's get started and get our introductions out of the way shall we????

I'm Carolyn, 29 scared1, originally from the best city in the world....CHICAGO!!!! I am currently working in finance (LOVE the hours and holidays off!) but used to be a chef. I went to culinary school in Chicago as well as the University of Illinois (Go Illini!) but currently live on the ocean in Maine. I love all things Disney and LOVE planning almost as much as I love going to WDW. I've been going to WDW since I was 5, even got to play in my high school band in Epcot. I've been a total of 10 times, and really enjoy staying at all the different resorts. My favorite Disney movies are The Lion King, Mary Poppins, and The Little Mermaid. My favorite character is Minnie and favorite princess is Ariel. My favorite rides are Splash Mountain, RnR, and Tot!

My DH Derek , 34 (birthday boy on this trip), originally from the 2nd best city in the world, Boston. He is a pastor and went to school in Chicago where we met. We've been together for 9 yrs in Feb and married for 7 in Sept! His favorite Disney charactes are Eeyore and Goofy and his favorite princess is Me LOL His favorite rides are RnR and Peter Pan.

Then there's the light of both of our lives, our son Silas, 10 months! He was born last February and is just a happy, bouncing, baby boy. His favorite pass times lately are tubby time and taking things out of wherever they are supposed to be and putting them wherever they're NOT supposed to be He LOVES to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (when we let him) and loves to ride Dumbo

We actually booked this trip while we were still in the hospital after Silas was born! This was supposed to be his first trip but DH surprised me with a B-day trip in April during the last week of my maternity leave....he knows me too well We got a 40% off pin code so we booked at the Contemporary with a Magic Kingdom View for this trip

Next up....Getting Ready and Arrival Day!

Trip Contents

Arrival Day
Day One Morning
Day One Evening
Day Two Morning
Day Two Afternoon
Day Two Evening

 

[bluechic03]

We woke up Saturday morning 12/4 with two agendas. DH had to finish packing....I had already packed Silas and myself...and I had to work a half day before our flight left at 4:30pm. I could barely contain myself at work and was pretty much telling anyone who would listen...Hey I'm Going to Disney World Today!! I don't think I was annoying at all

I left work and made a quick trip to CVS for some snacks and reading material (aka OK! and People Magazine ) and booked it home. I cleaned the entire place in an hour and than helped DH get Silas into his "disney" outfit. Here he is ready to go!

Our friend came by to take us to the airport and we were off! Portland, ME has such an easy airport its ridiculous. Growing up around O'Hare and Midway, flying out of Portland is SOOOOOOO much less stressful. We had checked in online and waited in the que to check our bags for about two minutes. We then went through security in about 10 minutes. It would have been like 2 if we didn't have all the babies' stuff to break down and liquids. We got to the gate and met a few nice families that were going for the very first time. It was nice to share some tips and see how excited the kids were
We flew JetBlue for the first time and really enjoyed the flight. It was nice and smooth and the TVs in the headrests are awesome! Not to mention they had Dunkin Donuts Coffee YUM! The flight felt super quick and we were on the ground in no time and at seeing this....

Those familiar wicker chairs! They really need to be updated....but something about them makes me feel "home"

After getting our bags we had to hoof it over to the B Side for Magical Express so I just had to get a picture with a fellow princess on our way

The line for ME was not too bad and then we made our way to the bus. I figured we would have to sit forever on the bus since it was in the evening...but we were pleasantly surprised and were off right after we boarded. Silas was OUT as soon as we got on the bus...

We stopped at GF, Poly, and WL before making it to the Contemporary. I was worried we wouldn't make Wishes since we were the last stop! We made it with about 30 minutes to spare.... We got off the bus and the first little glitch of the trip happened. The bell services guy was half asleep and was yawning the whole time he was loading up our bags...he misspelled our name on the ticket AND the number of bags so I was a little worried it would get messed up later. We fixed it and made our way to check-in.

The second glitch happened at check-in...The Contemporary doesn't really have ropes for check in like the other hotels so it makes it a bit confusing. We were in the front of the line and more people started to come and stand on the other end of the lobby. Just when it was my turn...a guy (business man obviously there for a conference) Cut Me Off!!!! I was in line for the Online Check In and he walked right up...I said Excuse Me this line is for Online Check In only and I was next. The CM looked dumbfounded and said nothing! The business man was super snotty and said "well too bad" I couldn't believe it! I wanted to DECK the guy! But I had a sleeping baby and I'm a pastor's wife so I figured I shouldn't be in the police blotter I breathed deeply and decided not to let it get me down. Just than another worker came out and took me right away so I felt a little better.

After Check in and getting some dinner at Contempo Cafe....another little glitch....The cupcake I was holding got bumped by a women in the elevator and Splattered All Over the Elevator! UGHHHHHH I was about to lose it! I know it wasn't her fault since it was super crowded...but I was still super bummed. I can only take so many un-magical moments We made our way to the room and DH called down to the desk and they said they would clean it up and bring us a new one.
This is the room we stepped into....

and look a towel animal!

We then enjoyed our dinner from the balcony while we watched Wishes...that definitely made up for all the un-magical moments thus far

I wanted to walk around the room and take pics for the DIS of the room....when I noticed the roll-in shower. I knew this wouldn't work for us since Silas LOVES tubby time and I wanted to be able to put him in the bath tub. We called down to the front desk and they moved us right away to a new room 2 floors up. Bell services sent Alex to help us with our bags and I have to say he was SOOOO Helpful. He grabbed all our bags and the pack and play. I really appreciated his great attitude and helpfulness after such a rough start to our trip! We tipped him well, unpacked, and then got to sleep around 11:30pm. We had to get up early for Breakfast with Mickey!

Here's Silas all ready for bed in our new room....

Up next...Day One in The Parks!

 

[disney<333]

Joining in! Your son is so cute! I just love the CR. Boo to the not so magical moments but it sounds like the new room and fireworks made up for it!

 

[IheartDDuck]

I'm joining in! Silas is so adorable, there are not words enough to describe!

I dislike it when cast members don't want to step in and help when something goes like the way it did for you at check in. When I worked in retail, we had similar things happen in our store, and I never tolerated one customer cutting in front of another.

I could imagine though that the fireworks helped to make things all better!

Can't wait to hear more.

 

[bluechic03]

Joining in! Your son is so cute! I just love the CR. Boo to the not so magical moments but it sounds like the new room and fireworks made up for it!

Thanks for reading! I really liked the CR too, and yes I'm SO glad we got a MK view instead of a Garden Wing Room (we were considering it to save money)

I'm joining in! Silas is so adorable, there are not words enough to describe!

I dislike it when cast members don't want to step in and help when something goes like the way it did for you at check in. When I worked in retail, we had similar things happen in our store, and I never tolerated one customer cutting in front of another.

I could imagine though that the fireworks helped to make things all better!

Can't wait to hear more.

Thanks so much for the nice compliments on Silas He always steals the show! And yes I was pretty upset the cast member did nothing, but I suppose they are supposed to make everyone have a "magical" day. I was more mad at the rude guy!

 

[disneydreamer1970]

We were on the same flight as you! I remember your adorable baby in the airport with his Mickey hat on!!

I am reading your report and hope that things got a little better for you after you got settled.

Trish

 

[bluechic03]

We were on the same flight as you! I remember your adorable baby in the airport with his Mickey hat on!!

I am reading your report and hope that things got a little better for you after you got settled.

Trish

Oh My Goodness! That is too funny! Thanks for reading my report! How was your trip??? Wasn't it FREAKING COLDDDDDDDDDDD

 

[disneydreamer1970]

Oh My Goodness! That is too funny! Thanks for reading my report! How was your trip??? Wasn't it FREAKING COLDDDDDDDDDDD

Our trip was AMAZING! We went to check in at Port Orleans Riverside and received a complimentary upgrade to The Grand Floridian because they oversold POR!!! I literally cried when the person checking us in asked if we would mind being moved over there!

It was certainly cold, but we were prepared for it!!

I'm looking forward to reading more.

Trish

 

[Disneylover79]

I am joining in......Your baby is so adorable!

 

[bluechic03]

We woke up on Sunday morning at 7am, we had an ADR for Chef Mickey's at 7:15am. As soon as I opened the door to our room I could smell Mickey Waffles!!!!!! We were on the 8th floor on the Chef Mickey's side, so this was a smell I enjoyed every morning

We made it downstairs around 7:30am and were taken in right away. We really enjoyed our meal here, the best part was of course meeting the characters! It was well worth the hefty price tag to get our pics with the characters without standing in line with Silas. Silas met Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Donald, and Goofy. He gave them all very suspicious looks when they came close....but I consider it a win since he didn't scream his head off Here's a few of his suspicious looks...

But Here's the Best One!

You can almost here him saying "Get the *&&#*% Outta My Face!

I think we will be looking at that pic for years to come! hehe

After Breakfast we decided to walk off our meal and hoof it over to the MK. It was a really pleasant walk...I was surprised at how quick it was. I highly recommend walking over the Monorail if you can, it saved us probably 20 minutes on average. I was hoping to make rope drop, as I had never seen MK rope drop, but we were about 5 minutes late. Bummer! It was ok though, the crowds weren't that bad and we walked right on through Main Street USA. We decided to see how Fantasyland was looking for wait times. We headed through the Castle and looked up at the sky...."hmmmm it looks a little dark up there", I said, just as it started to POUR! We were totally not prepared so we ducked under the overhang at Mickey's Philharmagic. Derek suggested we just go in and watch the show, but I didn't want our very first "ride" this trip to be Philharmagic! I needed some action! The rain started to let up so I sent Derek to get FPs for Peter Pan and we started to walk over to Dumbo....just as we got up to Dumbo it started to pour again. We decided to run into Winnie the Pooh instead.

When we got up to the Pooh que I was looking forward to checking out all the new stuff, but as luck would have it the FP line guy just let us in! He said Happy Birthday to my hubby (he had his button on) and told us to tell the other CM he let us through. Score! I have never had that happen before! We literally walked right on. We really enjoyed the ride this time, pointing out all the characters to Silas and watching him "take it all in". This turned into a common practice of mine, watching Silas look at everything. It's just so wonderful to watch him learn and have fun!

After the ride we browsed the shop a little and then ducked into Snow White to stay out of the rain. I was worried Silas would get scared, but nope he was a tough guy and didn't let the Evil Queen scare him! When we got off Snow White the sun was peeking out, so we walked over to Dumbo. There was no line! We walked right on, Silas and Derek rode in one Dumbo and I rode in front of them so I could get a pic like this

We had a great time, and Derek said Silas was playing with the controls and making Dumbo go up and down! He's such a genius

After Dumbo we watched Philharmagic and then went on Peter Pan since it was our FP time. We always love this one, there's just something about "flying". I hear they are making the Little Mermaid ride like Peter Pan, meaning the ride vehicle will hang from the ceiling. I really hope so, I think another ride like that would be fun!

Here's a pic of Fantasyland as we were leaving, notice the low crowds

We decided to move on from Fantasyland and make our way over to BTMR and Splash Mountain. On our way I noticed this sign with Brer Rabbit on it. I thought it was so cute. This is something I love about Disney, no matter how many times you go, you will always find something new!

We were planning on doing rider swap for BTMR but it was closed! This became a theme throughout this trip too...rides being broken. NOT fun...so I decided to ride Splash Mountain (although it was only like 50F out!)

DH said no thanks...so I walked right on and was seated in the front of the boat. We made our way up the mountain and just as we were climbing the final hill the ride shut down! We waited, and waited, and waited....I was beginning to wonder if we were gonna have to get out of the boats! We were stuck for 10 minutes on that incline I was relieved when we finally got going, but than of course I got DRENCHED! I was beginning to get a little crabby....

DH decided to cheer me up and knew what would make me happy, Food! So we decided to share a little snack of popcorn and a diet coke. The popcorn smelled sooooooooo good. It was a little stale, but I actually like it like that sometimes so we didn't take it back. We then walked over to Adventureland and rode the flying carpets and pirates. When we came out of pirates we saw these guys...

They were so good! They had wonderful "Pirate" accents and really got into character.

We were getting seriously hungry now and wanted to try something new. We decided to take the monorail over to a resort for lunch. I suggested the Poly for QS but Derek insisted we go to the GF to check out the Gingerbread House. I had read on here that the GF doesn't have a decent QS place so I thought MAYBE we could get into the GF Cafe...

continued in next post....

 

[bluechic03]

Our trip was AMAZING! We went to check in at Port Orleans Riverside and received a complimentary upgrade to The Grand Floridian because they oversold POR!!! I literally cried when the person checking us in asked if we would mind being moved over there!

It was certainly cold, but we were prepared for it!!

I'm looking forward to reading more.

Trish

OMG! YOUR KIDDING! Thats Amazing!!!!!! How was the GF?????? I probably would have cried too!

 

[bluechic03]

I am joining in......Your baby is so adorable!

Awwwwwww Thank You! And Welcome!

 

[bluechic03]

We left the MK and took the monorail over to the GF. I had actually never been inside the GF before so I was really excited to see the lobby I had heard so much about! We walked in and I swear I gasped because it was so pretty! Here's a picture of what we first saw

Oh my goodness I was excited! We made our way down the stairs since the elevator line was super long. When we got downstairs it was a bit crowded around the Gingerbread House so we didn't actually get to buy anything. I did however get some good pics...so enjoy!

MMMMM don't you just want to take a bite! I wonder if you would get kicked out if you did?????

We walked over to the GF Cafe and asked how long the wait was for a table with no ADR....they said 90 minutes We said NO WAY! and decided to take the monorail back to CR. We had lunch at the Contempo Cafe and really enjoyed our leisurely lunch. It was really nice to listen to the monorail overhead and enjoy the sun shining into the Atrium.

After lunch we took a nap. I was SOOOOO close to getting in the hot tub, and boy do I wish I had! It ended up being the warmest day of the whole trip....

After our nap we took the monorail over to Epcot.

I wanted to do Test Track as soon as we got there. The Single Rider line was only 10 minutes so I hopped right on. I love Test Track and I got to ride next to a little girl who loved it too! We both decided we would scream as loud as we could when we got to the fast part After TT, we walked over to WS and immediately over to China. We had dinner at Nine Dragons, a new one for both of us.

I really liked the decor and the food, but the service was terrible. The table that got sat next to us, and after us, was greeted by their server while we still waited for another 5 minutes. We split an appetizer and an entree and our server seemed less than thrilled. I think she was disappointed we weren't on the DDP and not getting a three course meal. We both had beers though, so it wasn't like we were a cheap table. We enjoyed our meal anyway, but towards the end I said to Derek, "Ummmm do you smell that?". Silas grinned and we knew we were in trouble I said NOT IT and so Derek took Silas into the bathroom for a change. He came back out with Silas and said we have to go NOW...I noticed Silas didn't have any pants on! UH OH!!!!!!!! We walked outside and Derek explained "the situation" Without going into details, lets just say it wasn't pretty and Derek ended up throwing Silas' pants out!!!! Oh well, I was well prepared and had an extra pair of pants in the diaper bag. I wanted to see the Candle Light Processional so thank god I had them

We got in line at about 7:30pm for the 8:15pm show. We only had to wait about 20 minutes until we were let it, but BOY it was getting cold. BRRRRRRRR we snuggled up to keep Silas warm as he of course had fallen asleep by then. We were given the option to sit towards the side up closer of the middle section but near the back. We opted for the middle section since the view was a lot better and not blocked by anything. Here's an idea of our view...

Zoomed in....

Carolers filing in...

Susan Lucci was the reader that night and she came out in a slinky little dress with spaghetti straps. All I kept thinking was how cold I was in a long sleeve shirt and sweater! The show was really beautiful and I'm glad we saw it. It was so nice to listen to the carols and snuggle up to Derek and Silas. I think I could skip the sitting part next time though and just listen to it from WS. It really is more of a concert with not much going on onstage after everyone files in. We decided to head out after the show and beat the Illuminations crowd. We took the monorail back and actually got to see Illuminations from the monorail! We got back around 10:30pm and immediately headed up to the room to get some more shut eye. We hit the pillow hard and got some rest for our next full day at WDW!

 

[SwansLoveDisney]

Joining in!

I am so excited to read about your trip! I have an 8 month old and I am hoping that we'll go to Disney World in March, so she'll be just a little bit older than Silas. We have traveled with her, but not to Disney World, so I am curious to see how a Disney trip with a 10 month old went.

Silas is adorable in his Mickey outfit! And just adorable in general!

 

[bluechic03]

Joining in!

I am so excited to read about your trip! I have an 8 month old and I am hoping that we'll go to Disney World in March, so she'll be just a little bit older than Silas. We have traveled with her, but not to Disney World, so I am curious to see how a Disney trip with a 10 month old went.

Silas is adorable in his Mickey outfit! And just adorable in general!

Hi There! Thanks so much for the compliments Silas had a great trip and it was so great to watch him having so much fun! It was truly magical to share so much fun and have lots of quality family time together I bet you guys will have a BLAST in March

 

[IheartDDuck]

Oh my goodness, how lucky were you that you got to wake up every morning to the smell of Chef Mickey's!

Oh man, Silas and the poopy pants!

When I visited Disney with my 2 year old nephew last year, he had those incidents three times in one day! Fortunately, I had brought two extra outfits, but we still had to go and buy another one!

 

[bluechic03]

Oh my goodness, how lucky were you that you got to wake up every morning to the smell of Chef Mickey's!

Oh man, Silas and the poopy pants!

When I visited Disney with my 2 year old nephew last year, he had those incidents three times in one day! Fortunately, I had brought two extra outfits, but we still had to go and buy another one!

I know! It was AWESOME Chef Mickey's...not the poopy pants! I can't imagine 3 times in one day in the parks!!!!!

 

[IheartDDuck]

I know! It was AWESOME Chef Mickey's...not the poopy pants! I can't imagine 3 times in one day in the parks!!!!!

Yup, it wasn't pretty. Let's just say that we did it to ourselves though. He had been having some trouble being regular, so my brother gave him prune juice. Guess we all know what happened after that!

 

[bluechic03]

We woke up Monday morning (when I say we I mean Silas & I) and wanted to make it to AK for the 8am magic hours. Derek was NOT getting up as he informed me when I tried singing Rise and SHiiiiiiiiiine and Give God your Glory Glory around 6:45am....anyone know that one???? Anywayzzzz he was completely annoyed and pulled the covers right back over his head! I got up and showered and got Silas ready without him and told him he could meet up with us later. We were all ready and went down to refill our mug with coffee flavored water (a la Nescafe) and I gave Silas his bottle...we stepped outside and I could have SWORN I was back home in Maine! It was SOOOOOOOOOO COLD. Later I found out it was like 27F that morning...not uncommon in Maine for December but I think it felt MUCH MUCH colder since I was in Florida and wanted to be laying by the pool working on my tan

Silas was super happy that morning and was singing away making friends with everyone at the bus stop. I suddenly realized I had to break the stroller down, carry Silas, the diaper bag, my coffee flavored water, and haul us onto the bus. I decided I should probably break down the stroller and get in line since it was getting crowded and I didn't want to be the one holding up the line. I got all ready just as the bus pulled up...we were loading the bus when it hit me. Derek had taken our APs last night and put them in his wallet.....ummmmmm did I take mine back NO! I was NOT happy and called Derek's cell phone about 50 times with no luck. The bus pulled away and I was about to give up completely and go back up to the room! Derek called me back just as I was packing Silas back into the stroller...he said he would get ready and meet us down at the bus stop in 5 minutes with the APs

Well let's just say 5 minutes turned into about 30....and by the time Derek got down to the bus stop I was beyond cold....but at least Silas was still a happy boy!

Here he is right after I put him back in the stroller He wouldn't keep the blanket on so thank goodness a bus pulled up quickly. Although by this time the bus stop was SUPER crowded and since I was so cold and the bus that showed up was for DHS, plus we had now missed almost all of AK EMH!, we decided to just hop on and get out of the cold! It ended up being a good decision since AK doesn't have too many indoor places to get warm.

When we got to DHS it was about 9:30am (our bus stopped at Poly and GF) and I needed some action after having a rough morning getting started. We headed to the board with the wait times and our favorite....RnR said it was not open yet so we headed over to TSM for FPs. Our FPs weren't until 2:30pm so we headed back down Sunset Blvd and did the rider swap at ToT twice while Silas napped. It was really nice since the coffee and pastry stand was right outside....so I got a Hot Chocolate and Muffin for us to share and we were able to hang out and stay warm in the shop and lobby of ToT.
Here's a shot of Sunset Blvd with some Xmas decorations

Also ToT had some scaffolding up for rehab....I'm so glad it wasn't shut down! I kept seeing men working up high on the scaffolding and kept thinking about the people screaming all day and what if one of the guys got caught off guard After ToT we made our way into a few shops to stay warm. I always love the Villain Shop at DHS...something to look at besides princess' (no offense Cindi! )

Silas had woken up from his nap by this point and we decided to do something fun for him and go see Playhouse Disney Live! The line was not that long and we got there about 10 minutes early for the show...we got in line and they started letting people in. We got to sit on the right side of the stage pretty close up. Silas got SO excited when the show started. It was so adorable to watch him watching the show He would start clapping and bouncing up and down when he got excited....it was SO cute!

cont....

 

[bluechic03]

Yup, it wasn't pretty. Let's just say that we did it to ourselves though. He had been having some trouble being regular, so my brother gave him prune juice. Guess we all know what happened after that!

PRUNE JUICE???? OMG!