Oh My, Jasmine just called our toddler a TIGER trip 11-29-08 to 12-5-08

[jenniferma]

This is my first ever trip report here on the boards. We orginally planned to do the deluxe dining plan and stay at the Wilderness Lodge on this trip. We downgraded to the regular Dining plan (thank goodness, it would have been way more time consuming than we could have taken with a toddler!) and later actually switched from WL to the Carribean Beach Resort because we found a code on the Dis that saved us $931. Surprisingly, we had no regrets downgrading. I can't say we LOVED CBR (it was fine) but we did love saving nearly $1000 . We stayed at CBR in Jamaica in Building number 45. We had a newly refurbished Nemo room.

(IMO, POR is a much better choice for a moderate-- but more on that later)...

We had a great trip and our itinerary included:

Sat- Shopping at DTD, Pony rides at Ft. Wilderness Campground, Carriage Ride at POR
Sun- Disney Studios with EMH
Mon- Magic Kingdom with BBB and eveing EMH
Tues- Epcot with morning EHM
Wed- Magic Kingdom-- with first haircut for our baby
Thursday- Animal Kingdom and MVMCP
Friday- fly home

We ate at the following places--
CS- Wolfgang Puck Express, Toy Story Pizza Planet, Columbia Harbor House, Sunshine Seasons, Pinocchio's, CBR take out, Cosmic Rays
TS- Chef Mickeys dinner, Spoodles, CRT breakfast, Akershus dinner, Crystal Palace breakfast, Ohana, and Donald's Tusker House Breakfast.

Now..
for the players. This includes me (35). I am a stay at home Mom and enjoying planning the trips and getting a week away from the usual routine. This is our fourth family trip to Disneyworld, and although I wasn't as OCD as usual (kinda scary for me), I did have a few feelings of "been there, done that." on this trip. Of course with the girls a bit older I was very excited to be able to go on the thrill rides with them. (or so I thought) DH (37) loves taking the kids to Disney too. We are both pretty easy going on our trips and try to roll with things. We both love to try new foods and resorts.

Here is a pic of our family:

And the kids:

DD7 is our horse lover. We tried to do everything horse related on this trip including pony rides (she was too young for horseback riding, unfortunately) and the Circle D Ranch, a carriage ride and finding the horses at MK. She is a little foodie and has a love for Minnie Mouse.

Here is a link to a thread on finding things to do for horse-loving kids:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1777703

DD5 is our Princess lover. Snow White is her current favorite. She was excited to have an appointment at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique in the Castle followed by CRT. She is an EXTREMELY picky eater and ate nothing (and I mean NOTHING) at our CRT breakfast. We actually packed most of her food and her baby sister ate her portions, which worked out well.

DD20 months is a very good little girl, but has an independent streak. She loves to sing- "Whistle While you Work" for example and loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She is a great eater, napper etc.. Usually pretty easy going kid!

NEXT-- Day one-- DTD, Pony Rides and Chef Mickeys

 

[DearDaisyinDurham]

can't wait to read more! what a beautiful family you have!!

 

[jenniferma]

SO.. it is finally here! We have everything packed.. lots of warm weather (or so I thought) matching outfits collected and sorted... tons of ideas from here on the Dis-- best ones-- pack tons of ziplocks for your own snacks (we packed quite a few boxes of snacks) and a shower curtain ($2) in case it rains to cover the stroller.

Our flight was so early-- we had to be out the door and ready to go at 6 am. Quick kisses to our cats and we were out the door. We made it and here is a picture of the kids before the flight:

They all HAD to bring their own stuffed animals because goodness knows we wouldn't be buying ANY on this trip (yeah, right!)

Our flight was only half full and we met a really nice family who invited DD5 up to watch Princess movies, which she loved. We arrived right on time and were ready for the Magical Express... until we saw the line! YIKES!

Our original plan was to have DH take DD5 with him to rent the car. Well.. after standing in the line with seriously no end-- we rethought our original plan and decided that I would wait with DD5 (who was having a "I want Mommy" moment") and he would take the other two for the car. We waited for about 30 minutes and got aboard the Magical Bus for CBR. I called DH and amazingly enough-- he beat us there and had time to check in and our room was already ready (at 11:30)! So.. we met up with them at the CBR check in and headed to our room.

We had requested Jamaica Building 45 after reading the boards. I also requested to be on the ground floor away from the smoking areas. Our room directly faced the smoking area, but it turned out it was not an issue at all. I think we saw two people out there all week.

The room was nice. We were both a bit surprised that it had been newly refurbished. It didn't look "new". But it was fine, clean and the mousekeeping was great all week long.

So-- we refreshened up and we were off to DTD. I LOVE Wolfgang Puck Express-- it is my favorite CS at WDW.. so we headed there first. DTD was pretty packed, but WPE was ok-- we were able to get a table outside in the shade with no problem. I am sorry-- I did not take photos of my food like a lot of Disboarders do.. with DD1, we just had our hands too full to do it.

The kids were starving at this point so I ordered an adult pizza to split with amongst all of us, the mu shu chicken sandwich for DH and a kids' chicken nugget meal and linguini (no sauce) plus fruit cups and cookies for DDs. Oh.. I was so bummed-- they were OUT OF THE CREME BRULE! Oh.. it is so awesome to those of you who have the chance to try it-- don't miss it! The food was good (DH's sandwich AMAZINGLY good)-- and everyone was full.. so we were off to shop.

We headed directly to Once Upon a Toy because DDs were very excited to buy the special "My Little Pony" stuff a box deal. For $18 you can stuff a special box with everything that will fit-- we fit in two horses and tons of accessories plus a mirror. Very cool! They really played with these all week in the hotel-- it was WAY worth the money! Here is a picture of what we got for $18:

Here are DD7 and DD5 checking out the toy store

DD7 isn't crying here, but has a cold.

We went to the World of Disney Store and to the Pooh Corner and Pin Trader's Stores before heading to the pony rides.... here are some pics from the stores. (I love DTD for photo ops like these.) I used to scrapbook and I thought they were such great picture spots.

Yes, DD5 is POSING. She does that in photos, we aren't sure exactly why?!

Oh no.. here is the beginning of DD1 and some terrible photos. I think we said "look up" about 10 million times on this trip!!!

Next-- Day One, Part Two-- DD7 is MOST looking forward to pony rides...What do you mean there is a height restriction?!?!! That wasn't posted anywhere.....?!?!

 

[jenniferma]

Thank you Daisy in Durham.. my lone reader!

have a great night!

 

[jenniferma]

So.. we decided if we wanted to get to the ponies, we'd better start over to Fort Wilderness. I had read about these before we left, but was a bit confused about the location at Ft. Wilderness. The horseback riding begins from the front of the Campground and the ponies are in the back (towards the lake.) I knew this, but I didn't realize that the public could not drive to the back, but rather have to park and take the internal bus to the Circle D Ranch.

Well.. DD1 and DD5 both had passed out in in the car at this point, so my very nice DH suggested that I take DD7 and he would wait in the car with the little ones. We jumped on a bus and took about a 10 minute ride back to the pony rides.

I have to note here- this was my DD7 most anticipated part of this trip (can you believe it?) Given the choice between going to a farm with horses or Disneyworld.. she'd pick the farm every time. I told her that the horseback riding was for nine year olds and up so we had to do the pony rides instead.

We get off near the Circle D Ranch and stand in a sort line for the ponies when someone there asks how old she was. Well-- she's seven. And then I get the point and surprising remark-- "we have height restrictions for the pony rides." WHAT?!! I had researched and looked into prices, times etc.. never did I see that you could only be 48 inches tall! OH NO!!!!

DD7 was such a great sport about all of this. I asked if we could possibly take a photo with a Cinderella pony instead and he was very nice. Here is the pic:

We also walked through the Circle D Ranch (where they keep all the horses for WDW) and saw some gorgeous ponies and horses. I seriously think they were the cleanest horses I have ever seen.

So.. we went back on the bus through Ft. Wilderness to DH and the other kids and then back to CBR to get settled before our 5:05 at Chef Mickeys.

 

[jenniferma]

Day One, final installment

We arrived at Chef Mickey right on time and waited for DD1 to meet her first character. It went really well-- she took right to Donald. The kids really enjoyed this meal and we did too. The food was good.. and the character interaction was wonderful.

Here are a few pictures of the kids here:

Oh.. DD1, just look up, please?!?!?

After visiting a few of the Contemporary gift shops we got in our car and headed to POR for our carriage ride. We have done this twice-- from POR and Wilderness Lodge. I really enjoyed the POR carriage ride. It was along the river and took us on a tour around POFQ. It sold me on that resort. I would definitely consider it after the ride.

A nice lady took our picture with the POR tree. I was sort of hoping to get a family pic, not a tree pic-- but she was nice nevertheless!

Here is photo from the carriage ride:

The funniest moment of Day one had to be right after our carriage ride. A little boy walked right up to the horse (which was HUGE) and said to his parents-- "Wow, that's a BIG mule!" We all thought that was funny.

Here is a picture of DD5 with the giant "mule"

We headed back to CBR to hit the hay. Unfortunately DD1 fell asleep in the car and when we got back we thought we'd do the right thing and try and change her clothes-- MISTAKE! I spent the next hour wishing we would have had a suite somewhere or adjoining rooms. Not fun!

Next up-- Day TWO-- Magical Timing at Disney Studios.

 

[heycher]

GREAT TRIP REPORT! I'm loving reading it!

))))

 

[OhMari]

Hey,
I'm here, I hope you come back and update.

 

[OhMari]

Bump to the front.

 

[jenniferma]

Sorry for the delays on this report. I have received a few messages, so I will continue writing as soon as my kids will allow! Coming next is Disney Studios Day. have a great night-- jen

 

[jenniferma]

Day Two-- Sunday at Disney Studios

Our day started off really well. The girls were excited and happy and everyone was up on time to get to Disney Studios before park opening. We hopped into our Jeep and arrived with about 30 minutes until opening. It was then that I realized that I had done a pretty terrible job at guessing how to dress for the weather! On our previous Xmas trip in 04 it was much warmer than this one. I looked at the weather forecasts and I am afraid I didn't think about how COLD it would be at 8 am... ! Seriously-- I should have packed clothes that would have been what my kids in Ohio were wearing to school in the winter-- just minus the parkas

Here is a picture of my kids freezing with their Dad:

Our plan at DS was to get to Toy Story Mania as quickly as possible, get a Fastpass and ride it. This worked without a hitch! We LOVED this ride-- DD7 said it was her favorite ride at WDW! It was a blast.

After riding TSM-- we hit some attractions at the right time. We went to the Little Mermaid Show and walked right in with no wait. The girls loved this show too-- and were not afraid whatsoever of the Ursula parts. After leaving Little Mermaid, we walked right across to the Playhouse Disney Show and had perfect timing again-- walked right in and the show started shortly thereafter. Again, all three LOVED this show, especially DD1! She saw the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and said, "I HAVE THAT!" It was really cute.

As soon as we finished that show, it was time to head back to Toy Story to use our fastpasses. We did that and then went over to the Muppet Movie 3-D show. Again, we had no wait and the show was about to begin. We ALL loved this show! I had never seen it, but was happy to finally enjoy it.

Believe it or not-- we did all of that and it was only 11 am! We were the first family to head into the Pizza Planet and got to eat right outside (again-no wait for food or a table!) Although we were a bit apprehensive of Pizza Planet due to a really chaotic lunch there on our 06 trip, this time we really loved it. I would recommend going there early if you decide to eat there.

It was starting to rain a bit at this point. DD1 had destroyed my sunglasses that morning, so I took her up to the baby care center for a diaper change and to look for new glasses while DH took the other girls on the Star Wars ride. As I entered the Baby Care Center I heard the CM talk about the huge storm that was approaching. When DH arrived we decided to head back to CBR and let the kids rest. DS had a three hour magic hour that night, so we figured we'd have plenty of time later to see the rest of the park.

We were LUCKY we left when we did. As soon as we got back into our CBR room-- there was a MAJOR storm with tornado warnings etc.

Here is DD1 goofing off in our room. Yes, she seriously thought that was a phone!

Next up--- not one, but two lovely hairs in my food at Spoodles!

 

[Sooze]

Just stumbled on your TR! Hope you keep updating... your family is adorable and I love the pictures.

Although.... I'm hesitant to keep reading if your next update has HAIR in FOOD!! ICK!

 

[Picabo]

Yippee! You're back to finish the TR! Your girls are precious and I'm enjoying reading about your trip!

Sounds like that was a good week to go! Did you use any type of touring plan (tour guide Mike, etc?) or you just were winging it? Seems like you were able to do a lot with very minimal wait! We're going in early Dec this year and I'm pRAYING for short lines!

Can't wait to read more!

 

[jenniferma]

thanks for reading...

Sooze-- just a warning-- the hair, it was pretty gross. I have to say though-- my DH would STILL eat there after the food incident. He loved his meal there... me on the other hand.. I have no plans of going back

Picabo-- I used the advice from the Disboards, from my friend who is Disney-obsessed too, and from the Unoffical Guide (book)... oh yeah-- and Passporter Guidebook too. I definitely didn't wing it-- I love to plan!

We really didn't have long waits... we are very big on the whole "get there early" idea-- and go when it is not crowded. I think that week is great for crowds-- we have been there twice during that week and have had great crowd levels-- much better than our April and May trips. (Even though May was in value season too.)

thanks everyone-- hope to do the Spoodles/DS night ASAP...

 

[mom_of_3_70737]

Can't wait to read more

 

[jenniferma]

Day Two-- Spoodles dinner and DS extra magic hours

After the kids' nap and resting time, we headed out around 4:30 to the Boardwalk and our 5 pm ADR at Spoodles. (our in our house-- we say it like on the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse "toodles"-- oh Spoooodelllssss") Anyhow-- we arrived quite early and looked around at the gift shops nearby until Spoodles opened for dinner.

(This created our first souvenir meltdown of the trip.. DD5 REALLY wanted a toy and ended up with a Cinderella baby, but DD7 could not find the *right* toy and freaked when she got nothing-- )(DD5 four months later has not played with her Cinderella Baby once.. there's a shocker!)

Back to the trip..

This was to be our true "grown up" meal of our stay. Although we did do the dining plan, we used most of our table service credits on character meals. So, I debated back and forth between Spoodles and Cape May Cafe. Spoodles won mainly due to the calamari appetizer. (this is our DD7's favorite food).

So we were seated at Spoodles and liked the decor etc.. our waitress was Charlie and she was great. I am not sure if it is like this every night-but Spoodles was filled with tables of REALLY big parties-- like more than ten. I knew going into it that it would not be a quick meal-- but we were there for nearly an hour and thirty minutes. DD1 was in a great mood and was very good the entire time-- which was amazing in retrospect!

I am afraid my expectations for Spoodles may have been too high. First we got our calamari, which was fine. Then the bread came out. It was cold and seriously seemed like it was cooked a long time ago. And then I found a hair in it. I know-- ick. I didn't make a deal about it, didn't even really say anything to DH because I didn't want to ruin our dinner. (DH is the type of guy that doesn't like to make a stink about such things.. doesn't like it when I rattle on when I order-- so I have to cap it!) I have worked as a waitress and I know these things happen...

The kids had the usual faire- chicken noodle soup and pizza and they liked it. DH had the Oak-fired Steak Kabobs - with Multigrain Pilaf, Balsamic Red Onions and Harissa and he LOVED it. He thought his meal was amazing. I ordered the Lemon-Garlic Shrimp Linguine - with Preserved Lemons, Italian Parsley, Shaved Garlic and Butter. Here is where my expectations were too high. I was expecting better, bigger shrimp with fresh herbs etc.. and this was more like one of those sauces you would get from one of those shrimp frozen meal bags you would get at the grocery. I definitely would not order this again-- with or without -- the second hair which I found after eating about a quarter of it! DOUBLE ICK. So this time I told our waitress about the hair. Both hairs. She called over the manager and they ended up not charging us for the calamari. (it would have been extra because it was not included on the dining plan.) Hmm.. I don't know--but two hairs in ONE meal, I would have hoped for more than that. OH WELL-- again, don't want to be a pain and act like a whiner and embarrass my DH-- so I let it go....

While we were eating were realizing really fast that there was no way we were going to get over to DS in time to make it to honor DD7's request of meeting the characters of Bolt by 6:15. (this is when they were done). At that point we were just hoping to get over there in time to see the Incredibles by 7! After waiting what seemed like an eternity-- we were finally free from Spoodles and headed out to Disney Studios!

Here is a picture of me and DD7 from our hairy Spoodle adventure!

First things first at Disney Studios-- we needed to get to the Incredibles! We have a house full of Incredibles lovers and they were so excited to get to meet Dash, Violet or the Mr. and Mrs. The Animation Building at DS has sort of a hidden character greet. And we didn't know this until this evening--but you don't have to see the Mushu movie to get to them-- you can go through the gift shop (sort of backwards) to just meet the characters. (I personally LOVE the mushu movie, but we were in a rush!)

So.. we get back there in time and there was .....
.....

FROZONE! Ha! I had to laugh! Luckily for us, the girls didn't mind and they lined up to see him. He was rather entertaining with high kicks and all sorts of fancy Frozone moves!

Here is a pic:

We also had their picture taken with Mickey too-- with just a teeny line (always a plus)

After playing around on the Animation games, we bought DD7 her necessary stuffed animal to keep up with the Cinderella Baby. (we have to be fair!) As we were heading out the door, a nice family walked up to us and handed us fastpasses for Toy Story Mania. Wow-- random acts of kindness!

Then we decided to walk across to the Playhouse Disney Dance Party. I had heard about this on the Disboards and it was really cool. They had all the main characters out dancing around with the kids. Unfortunately the music at this was SO loud that we didn't stay very long. I know, that makes me sound really old, but it was seriously mind numbing loud, which I didn't get since it was obviously geared toward little kids! Here is a picture:

It was time at that point to do Toy Story Mania again.. and the kids again loved it! After TSM-- it really started raining-- so we wrapped up in our ponchos and covered the stroller in our shower curtain and were off to our "mandatory" visit to The Great Movie Ride. Side note-- if you have stroller-- this was one of my best tips from the Disboards! I spent $2 on a clear shower curtain and it kept the stroller bone dry!

My DH made us go on the Great Movie Ride so he could film the Aliens segment. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) from 06 to 08 they moved the scary Alien from the ceiling to the side-- so it wasn't as scary this time around. I can't say I was unhappy about this. This is a bit of a corny ride-- but the actors this trip made it much more enjoyable than in 06.

The rain let up some and we went over to the Osbourne Lights. Here is a picture:

Here is a picture of the girls near Pizza Planet:

and of course we had to get our Star Wars pic:

We did not do Fantasmic at DS because DD7 hates fireworks. So.. we decided to call it a night and get ready for the Magic Kingdom! Next up-- DD5's visit to the BBB and our breakfast at CRT...

 

[Picabo]

Sounds likea fun day!!! The girls really seem to be enjoying everything! Now tell me more about the Disney Playhouse Dance Party!!! I've never heard of this but my girls would be estatic!

 

[MagicShell]

I am enjoying your report. Your girls are so cute. I can't wait to read more.

 

[Picabo]

More More!!

 

[jenniferma]

thanks picaboo-- I have two dozen horse cookies to make for star student week and then a two week recipe plan (I've been trying to budget)... then I will post! sorry for the delay-- busy few days here thanks again for reading!!! jen

ps-- here is a link to more info on the dance party. Looks like it is EMH hours only-- I think it was open at 8 pm when we were there. Very fun!


http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=27245382#post27245382&highlight=playhouse+dance+party