Our first trip with brand new princess

[Alysa]

Me: Disney addict/planner
DH: Wonderful husband and beloved Daddy to:
Our little baby girl: 14 months

What a wonderful trip we had. So different from any other trip we have taken now that we have a little on of our own, so magical and such a learning experience.
Things we learned:
1. Let DD guide us – don’t stay at the parks too long because we want to show her everything – let her go at her own pace. Maybe a half-day at the parks is good with the rest of the day just napping and lazing around the pool. Perhaps we skip fireworks for the next little while too.
2. Stay in a DVC resort for the kitchen – eating out for every meal plus managing small snacks and lots of bottled water and milk for DD without a fridge or a place to wash out sippy cups is not for us.
3. Take less luggage. Instead of a purse, a diaper bag, a knapsack, a video camera bag, 2 carry-on suitcases and a large suitcase, next time we take 2 medium suitcases and a diaper bag large enough for toys and snacks and the digital camera which takes video footage anyway.
4. Things we are glad we took: her board books (great for a familiar way to unwind at the end of the day), a home-made autograph book which the characters loved and really made for some special and memorable character interactions, her crib bedding and a rental car (the transportation at AKL is the only thing wrong with that beautiful and wonderful hotel).
5. Things we wish we had not brought: beach towels, sand toys and a life jacket – all are available at the Vero Beach hotel.
6. Things we would have liked to have had with us – a jumbo marker for characters to sign the autograph book with, running shoes for me instead of stylish sandals.

Week one: Vero Beach – beautiful hotel, wonderful weather, charming CMs, great pool, plus the sea and the most exquisite sunrises. I had always heard people say “You aren’t really going for DD, you are going for yourself because she won’t ever remember.” Rubbish – our girl blossomed on this trip – she adored the sea and the pool and all the things to see and all the people to watch and all the new children to play with and all the attention she got (people have a habit of falling in love with her on sight – we certainly did!) She had such a good time and said so many new words and laughed almost all day long. We love WDW at Christmas time but are debating whether to make our annual trips in May now so we can get time in at Vero too.
Week two: Animal Kingdom Lodge: Gorgeous hotel, giraffes right outside our window! So glad we had a car though – not returning until they get a monorail.
We relaxed on the first day, I went and had a haircut at Grand Floridian for Mother’s day with Vickie – very nice. Next day we went to MK: rode the carrousel first (DD didn’t know quite what to make of it), Peter Pan and Pooh’s Hunny Pots (the dark scared her on both), Mickey’s Philharmagic (this scared her a little), Dumbo and Aladdin’s Magic Carpet’s (quite liked both), Enchanted Tikki Room (loved this) and we returned for the fireworks which fascinated her but were a little on the loud side. Next day at Epcot we took it slower and rode Spaceship Earth (my favourite) and Journey into Imagination (dark parts scared DD a little), did a baby swap for Mission Space (I forgot the gravol at home so took a whole infant one an hour in advance – how my Grandmother would have loved this ride – there was an empty seat beside me and I know she was there with me), barffy but I adored every thrilling moment, and then went on the River of time in Mexico to make up for Small World being closed (DD LOVED this!)

Where we ate:
Shutters (Vero Beach): Wonderful wonderful service, such friendly CMs! I recommend it to anyone.
Grand Floridian Café: Wonderful service, very pretty décor. Just had tea, egg and toast – perfect. Even though it is a poshy sort of place we felt very welcome with our young DD.
California Grill: Very nice, had rather an overworked CM but loved watching Wishes from our table. On our whole trip we never did manage to see Wishes properly though – make sure you get to see it in front of the castle. I had a very spicy vegetarian entrée but with DD’s carrots on the side (which she wouldn’t touch, too exciting for her to eat there) to subdue it a little it was quite nice. DH loved the sushi.
Crystal Palace: This was charming – we had heard so many so-so reviews and we are not buffet fans so we almost canceled but DD loves Pooh and we were soooo glad we went. It was a bit of a wait in the beginning but worth every moment. The CMs were wonderful, the food was very nice (I don’t usually have sweets for breakfast but they had this deep fried French toast – heavenly!) and the characters were perfect – everything I could have hoped for – Tigger especially – he got down on the floor and rolled around with DD, they hugged each other about 7 times and I think if she could have brought him home with her she would have. She ran to him as soon as he came to our table (no fear whatsoever) and she latched onto his legs when he left. My suggestion about characters – if you discover that your child likes them and they like her or him, schedule a character meal once a day! I think the characters really love the little ones who are loving and gentle with them and so completely into the wonder of it – it brought tears to my eyes… Disney magic.
Boma’s: Despite some negative reviews we were seated very quickly and found the menu and the cider and beer very much to our liking. The service was excellent and our only problem was that the sudden switch from her usual menu turned our good eater into a grapes/mac and cheese girl. The grapes were available but she wouldn’t touch anything else in front of her – not the restaurants fault – they even made up a plate especially for her of cooked carrots and celery – “no thank you Mummy”. Again – we would always pick a DVC resort room with a kitchen from now on. A great place for a vegetarian, wonderful couscous, vegetables and soup as well as a very nice banana bread pudding! We also ate here for breakfast and found it delicious but we are not used to so much food and rather wished there were a non-buffet option. The house juice was lovely.
Living Seas: Great atmosphere, very pleasant CM even though he didn’t know which James bond bad guy lived in the underwater lair (not the volcano – I say that was Dr. No, I still have to look that up unless some helpful DIS board member knows). They tried very hard here and my vegetable dish was not bad but a bit expensive. A very nice place for lunch. DD loved going up and down the stairs – not as interested in the fish as I would have thought. She also discovered a love of lemons… wouldn’t eat melon but was not happy when I took away a lemon piece that fell on the floor.
Rose and Crown: Skipped our reservation at Marrakesh because we didn’t think DD would find anything on the children’s menu – mistake. Waited for ages for Rose and Crown, overworked (very friendly) CMs, pub was closed so no Pimm’s cup, nice cider instead but very slap daub meal, also sticky table and dirty floor. DH did enjoy his fish and chips but DD was too tired and hungry to eat properly and didn’t enjoy the fireworks. Our fault really, we should have just taken her back to the room for some fruit and milk when we cancelled Marrakesh. Live and learn. We only have four more restaurants (Marrakesh, Citricos, the Luau and Le Cellier (DH won’t eat here – says it would be absurd), I want to try before we can return to our favourites; Cinderella’s Table for dinner, Chefs de France and Victoria and Albert’s. We also loved the character breakfast at Artist’s Point but that is unhappily gone and the Pizza at Tony’s is just wonderful.

Highlights: Watching the sun rise at Vero, seeing DD run and laugh in the surf, watching her jump into her Daddy’s arms in the pool, and jump around in the Epcot splash pads, the character interaction, especially Tigger, all DD’s new words, getting to spend so much time with my favourite people in the world. Disney magic.

Thanks for listening and for all the helpful advice from everyone here wich helped make our trip just that much more wonderful.

 

[Minniespal]

Great report ~ Thanx for sharing.

 

[Annie&Hallie'sMom]

Great report.

And you're thinking of Stromberg who was the "bad guy" in the James Bond movie "The Spy Who Loved Me." He had an underwater lair that could rise out of the see (kind of like a giant spider). When people made him angry, he dropped the bottom of the elevator and the person would fall into the shark tank. Remember at the end of the film it was Jaws vs "jaws".

 

[Alysa]

Thanks Annie&Hallie'sMom!
Stromberg - Can't believe I forgot - DH and I are both big Bond fans but DH despairs over my favourite – "Her Majesty's Secret Service"
Cheers!

 

[Annie&Hallie'sMom]

Hey, what's wrong with HMSS? It's a great film! (This Never Happened To The Other Fella").

 

[kaekae]

Wow you guys sure had fun. I have been keeping a close eye on diffrent opinions about how little ones react to Disney World at a younger age. We are takeing ds for his first visit, he will be 2 and a half. A little older than your little princess, but I have been assured through every ones posts that we will have an awesome time. Especially because all the magic will be so real for ds( he'll believe) I thought it was really neat about your homade autograph book. Can you tell us more about how you made it. What a prized keepsake for little one to have of first Disney trip.

 

[akghutton]

Alysa,
I completely agree with you about the homemade autograph books. I made one for my DS when we took him at age 2, and the characters really gave him some extra attention. I am in the middle of making 2 homemade autograph books, as for our next trip, we will have my DS(4) and DS (14 months). We too will be staying at AKL for 3 nights before heading "home" to BWV for 9 nights. We can't wait!!!

 

[Alysa]

Re: How to make an autograph book - only true Disney nuts need read!

What you will need:
1. A mini photo album (Disney themed is good) with sheets for holding photos
2. A sheaf of white card stock paper
3. A metal ruler, cutting board and exacto knife (or scissors but this takes a lot longer)
4. Hole punch
5. A fat marker for signatures (again, Disney themed is good!) and a box of crayons

Steps:
1. Measure the pages in the photo album and use a document maker on your computer to create the pages - mine were 4x5 and I used quark express.
2. Find a list online of all the characters avalable to meet in the park - email me and I can send you one if you like.
3. Search for colouring pages of each of the charcters and place one on each page with their name in small below. Email me if you are unable to find anyone and I can email you these as well. This may take some time
4. Be sure to leave enough room beside each character for the character to sign their name. Try to fit two autograph pages to a sheet of paper - you should end up with about 100 plus characters so 60 sheets should do. You may want to leave some blank sheets for other characters you forgot - we missed a page for Penguin from Mary Poppins.
5. Cut out sheets and hole punch and place in book - alphabetically is good so you can find each one quickly when you are there. Place a photo page holder between every two pages so you can put pics of your little prince or princess with each character.
6. Attach fat marker with ribbon and Bob's your uncle!
7. Present on way down to Florida to your favourite Disney prince(es) or princess(es) on plane ride with lovely box of new crayons and you may get half an hour of peace from "Are we there yet?" as they colour in their favourite characters.
8. The characters you meet will LOVE this book - it really makes for some wonderful character interaction and wonderful signatures. The two mice from cinderella had a little playful quarrel because Suzy took up all of Perla's room. I wanted my girl to have this for her first trip so that she could watch herself grow with the characters - we should have everyone by the time she is ten! This year we got Tigger, Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, Timon, Raffiki, Queen of Hearts, Genie, Penguin, Suzy, Perla and Goofy. It was a lot of work but worth every moment and so fun! Caution - this might make some disney addicts drive themselves right into the ground in a tizzy of anticipation!
Have fun!

 

[Cailin'sMom]

Alysa,

Thanks for the autograph book instructions.

I have printed them out. I think that I will go ahead and get started on it now, so that we will have it in December.

It was also reassuring to hear that your DD had a good time. My DD will be 2 1/2 in December when we go.