Sooo excited....my first trip report!!!

[tiff211]

Not to be confused, it's my first report not first trip!!!

The cast: DH (grumpy), me, DD5 (drama queen!), DD3(terrible 3's in full force) and DD 7 months.

We left RI at 9 on Wednesday night and arrived at my dad's in NC, at 7am on Thursday. We stayed at his house until Friday morning and left for WDW aorund 7am. We arrived at our hotel around 9 (we stopped for breakfast, lunch and dinner) and that's when the adventure began. I booked a room on Hotelkingdom.com at quality inn and suites across from Universal for our first night. I go up to the counter and the girl asks me to wait a minute while she counts change and then tells me to go have a seat. Um, no, I can't...see I have three very tired little ones in the car and I need to get them to bed. So, she goes and gets someone else to help me. He pulls up my ressie and quotes me a price $20 more than what it was supposed to be. So, I show him my printout of what it should be and the change counter w/o looking at the paper tells me that they have to add tax. I tell her that the price on the paper says including tax. So, she stops counting her change and looks at the paper and tells the guy they will try to fix it in the morning. The guy is looking so confused at this point and apologizes to me. I tell the change counter that I want it fixed now so I have no problems after I have already stayed. So, another guy comes out and prints out my bill correctly. So, I go back out to the car, grab the girls and we make way to the elevator. Dh is weeding through the back of the truck to find the overnight bag that I told him to make sure he made easily assessible. We go up the filthy elevator and I am praying that our room is clean enough for us to sleep in. Unfortunately, I couldn't find out because our key didn't work. So, I have to go back downstairs and the change counter blames the other guy of course. We all go back up the dirty elevator and to our room. Thank goodness it is clean, I out the girls to bed and after a shower, fall in to bed myself............

 

[tiff211]

So, now it's Saturday morning and we all get up, shower and dress. As we are leaving the room, I say to DH, "is it me or does the bathroom smell like pee?" He said he was going to ask me the same question. Oh yeah, the night before I asked for a pack and play for the baby and the change counter looked at me like I had two heads, so I said "a crib?" and she said they don't have those. So, the baby slept inbetween DH and I. My fault, I forgot to check into that when I booked.

Anyway, I go to checkout and change counter is back. I made a comment about her still being there and she said she had gone for for a couple of hours. She tells me total is now $10 over what is should have been. I show her the printout again and she says she doesn't know how they got that total but begins to input something into the system finally giving me a total $1.50 under my quote. I paid the bill and we went to eat. The food was decent for a free breakfast. Eggs, sausage, biscuits, fruit, coffee, tea, juice, milk and cereal. We ate and then left to go check into the POP.

We arrived at the POP around 8, checked in but of course our room wasn't ready so we dropped off our luggage and headed over to MGM by 9:30.

 

[jackdis]

I"m hoping things go a little better for you after checking out of the first hotel. Curious to hear your thoughts on the next one.

 

[tammy]

More More More

 

[dismom9761]

Great start. Looking forward to more.

 

[hunter.deal]

Your timing could not have been better (for me atleast). I leave this Saturday for Orlando, then check-in to POP on Sunday. So far I have a great vision of your trip, thanks for posting, cannot wait to read more.

 

[hunter.deal]

oops!

 

[tiff211]

Now, just want to warn you this is not the trip to read for the thrills and chills! No TOT or RR for us, playhouse disney all the way!!!

We arrived at MGM and as I am getting out the tickets I realize that I forgot my license and had to transfer my annual voucher to a pass. UGH! So, I go over to guest relations and plead my case. Thankfully, he let me go but told me I better not lose it. So, we head into the park with the baby in her stroller and decided since the park wasn't that big, the girls could just walk. We walked over to Voyage to the little mermaid and grabbed fast passes, then went to the beauty and the beast show. It was great!!! DD's loved it!! I was teary eyed. It was so theatrical, very well done! A must see!!! Afterwards we had a little time before our fast passes so we decided to go see playhouse disney since they were just opening the doors for it. Ah, A/C!!! DD3 had to go potty and a woman standing nearby directed me to the exit doors on the right side (if you are facing the stage) and out those doors, restrooms right there!!! What a great tip! We were in and out in a flash!! We sat and saw the rest of the show! Cute, another do not miss for little ones. By now, it's just time for our fast passes so we decide to take in on more attraction before than. We went to the great movie ride. I thought it was the ride with the water than comes down the hill and they take you to the movie lots. WRONG!!! That attraction scrared the daylights out of dd5 and 3. DD3 hit the deck literally when the bad guy (girl) came out and ambushed our train. DD5 had a vice grip around me so tight, I still have marks. Then the alien scene, I thought DD5 would faint dead away!!! Heed my warnings, oh parental units of young'uns! Stay away!!! Especially if you have scary mary's like I do. They are scared of their own shadow! So, after calming them down with a churro to split (those things are good!) we headed over to Voyage to the little mermaid. My little siskel and Ebert gave it two thumbs up!! It was so cute and we are all Ariel fans so even better!

Then we walked over to Hollywood Blvd. and DD3 was taking pics with her camera. I didn't realize for a couple of minutes that she was taking pics of people sitting on benches. I explained to her that she had to have their permission first of course she didn't ask the next set of bench people before "click"! Then we are walking down the middle of the blvd. when she stops short and aims the camera at the ground. She begins to take picture upon picture of............a dirty band-aid!!! People are walking by laughing hysterically. Finally, I was able to pry her away and continue heading down the street. Her and DH are behind me and DD5, she comes running up to me to let me know she had taking a pic of my bum!!! Somehow I have a feeling that picture will not be developed!!!

The girls had fries and grapes and DH and I tackled the imfamous turkey legs! YUM! Then we headed back to our car because we had ressies for Chef Mickey's. I used my DDE for free valet parking and we headed in. We were a little early but still wait quite awhile. We sat in the lounge, the girls watched cartoons, I used my DDE for a couple of frozen drinks and then our table way ready. I was not impressed by the food except for the shrimp, which I ate plenty of. DH liked the ribs and mashed potatos. DD5 and DD3 were too taken in by the atmosphere to eat much of anything. They did get autographs/pics with Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Dale (where was Chip?), Goofy, Max and Pluto. They loved the whole napkin twirling thing and we actually were there for four rounds again. I give the service B- for the long wait, the atmosphere an A and the food a B, the desserts saved the day for this meal!!!

Finally we headed back to our room around 8pm, I put everything away and the girls showered and went to bed. The room was small but doable for a family our size. The pack and play was tucked in a little corner next to the amiore, never getting in the way. I did hear the occasionally flush from another room but not annoying or bothersome. I requested the 70's and we stayed in room 1609. Perfect.......for us anyway! We stayed on the first floor right by the Goofy Pop Jet Fountains. The girls prefered that to the pools. We were a hop, skip and a jump from the main building. I was able to run and refill my mug without feeling like I was making a long trek for it! We took the bus everyday except one and we always had a seat. We ate 2 dinners in the food court and a couple of breakfasts. I would definitely stay at the POP again but would get a refrigerator. Stay tuned for Day 2!

 

[hunter.deal]

Thanks for the Great Movie ride information. I had that for a possible but will now strike it from the list because my 3 and 6 year old will surely be just as scared.

 

[CanadianPaco]

I too have had many pictures of people sitting on benches, and DD's feet and my feet and the stroller wheel. Yup!

 

[poohluvrs]

Subscribing! GLad to come across a report for Mommys of little ones!

 

[RIDisneyFan]

Hi tiff211 - we're neighbors, I'm in Pawtucket, RI too! My DH and I are planning a trip in September; haven't told our DDs yet.

 

[TLinden16]

What a mess at that first hotel. Reminds we why I won't stay offsite again. But, your first day sounded lots of fun, so I bet that horrors of that hotel were quickly forgotten

Thanks for posting!

 

[tiff211]

Hi tiff211 - we're neighbors, I'm in Pawtucket, RI too! My DH and I are planning a trip in September; haven't told our DDs yet.

How fun!! They'll be so excited!!!!

 

[tiff211]

I wake up before everyone, get ready, the baby gets up, get her ready, she has her bottle while I wake DD5 and DD3. DH is still sawing logs, just zzzzzzzzzz'ing away, after telling me he wanted to get an early start. I wake him up and he takes the longest to get ready. After we are all set and ready to go....oh wait, I have to digress. We went to SuperWalmart on Saturday to get the girls those fan misty things. What a great place! I could have done all my disney themed shopping right there! I grabbed some essentials and that was that. So back to the story....

Let me tell you what we brought with us to the park: tix, room keys, the girls had little backpacks with their autograph book, pen, snack, sunglasses and juice box. I had a backpack diaper back, with formula, bottle, diapers, wipes, baby snacks and jars of food, wet ones, a mini first aid kit, shout wipes, a change of clothes for the baby, sunscreen, digital camera, sunglasses, lip balm, floss (specially after a turkey leg), passprter book, pen and notepad, and my big insulated jug of water (has shoulder strap). Also brought blanket to toss over stroller when baby napped, and baby carrier for those areas strollers aren't allowed.

OK, now back to the report, we actually had enough time to eat breakfast in the food court. I had the breakfast platter (yum), DH had pancakes (he said yum), the girls had chocolate chip pancakes (yum, yum). Then we headed to the bus stop. No problem boarding the bus, plenty of room, we all had a seat. We arrived at the park before the masses!! We walked inside and the talking tree had a conversation with DD5. She loved it. DH took the baby and headed to MT. everest for fastpasses. I took DD5 and 3 and went to the stroller rental area and I got a multiday doubler stroller. The girls climbed in and off we went. We met up with DH and the fast passes were for 12:40. It was about 9:30. Not bad! We headed to dinoland first. DD5 was too excited about riding the Primeval whirl. 10 minute wait. We got a rider swap, and DH went with DD5 first. I went over the the triceratops spin with DD3 and no wait!! I rode with her and the baby. We got off and right back on again!! DD5 and DH had finished by that time so I had my turn with DD5. I am a screamer and so is DD5, I am sure the father and son who rode with us still have ringing in their ears. It was a lot of fun and I would recommend it not to roller coaster-y but enough to satisfy!!! Defintiely should go on your to-do list! Then we all rode triceratops spin. It was starting to get HOT so we gladly took a breather inside Goofy's store right outside of dinoland. DD3 had to have Lilo, DD5 had to have that sour sugar candy and DH had to have some peanut brittle. I was happy with the A/C. Then we realized we hadn't checked out the boneyard so we headed there. The girls ran around like crazy for about 20 minutes while DH and I relaxed in the shade. After that we headed to festival of the lion king but DH took a detour to get fast pass for the safari. One word.....AWESOME!!!!! Do not miss!!! It was incredible, it's inside so nice and cool. It's theatre in the round so all seats are decent. I loved the costumes, the singing, it was great. DH looked at me at one point and said don't start crying. Too late! As soon as "can you feel the love tonight" starts so does the waterworks! Make sure you see this!!!
The girls munched on the snack we had packed and we headed over to the safari area since it was almost time. No lines, no waiting, we whizzed through the FP line and right onto to a safari truck. Beautiful! Lots of animals were out and about, we even saw the new baby elephant. Another great attraction. Now it was time for Expedition Everest. DD5 decides she doesn't want to ride. I tell DH I am not going on it by myself, especially since I can ride when I go with my friends in June. He says forget it he won't ride either. I try to talk him into it but no dice. So, we head to lunch. DH wanted Flame BBQ so we headed there. DH had ribs, I had a pulled beef sandwich which I didn't like too much, DD5 had a hot dog and DD3 wanted PBJ (what else?) FLame BBQ doesn't sell PBJ, the nearest place is Pizzafari, so I make the trek with DD3 to get her beloved PBJ and while there I grab an order of bread sticks, maybe it was my taste buds that day but I didn't like those either. After lunch we walked around the animal trails and then saw the parade. It was very cute. After the parade we treked back to the bus(it was the farthest stop) and headed back to the POP. We all went in the pool for a little bit, then I took the baby back to the room, gave her a bath and took a shower, DH and DD's came back afterwards and showered and changed into pj's and we headed to the food court for dinner. The girls got temp tatoos which last all week. For dinner, DD5 had pizza, DD3 had, you guessed it PBJ, I had the fried chicken dinner (YUMMY!), Can't rememeber what DH had. For dessert, the girls split a cookie, and DH and I each had a cupcake. Then back to the room, the girls crashed and after preparing everything for the next day so did dh and I. Next stop.......EPCOT!!!

 

[poohluvrs]

Geez, & I thought I was an overpacker!

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoyed reading your report ~ Thanx for sharing.

 

[hunter.deal]

Waiting with anticipation on your Epcot day, love the report so far. It seems like your rough start was just a fleeting moment. I'll have to review my UG to WDW regarding the Triceratops and Prime Whirl <sp> I did not think my DS3 could go on them... Thanks again.

 

[tiff211]

We all woke up ready to hit Epcot. We stop by the POP food court for muffins to split since we had ADR's @ storybook princess breakfast for 9:50. We take the bus over and again not crowded, we all had seats. Hardly any lines to get in. DH takes the baby and heads over to get FP for soaring (this plan worked out well every day/every park). I take DD's over to stroller rental. On the way, I realize we have to take the pic on the wall in front of spaceship earth. I take a pic and then a CM comes over and takes one. I am holding their backpacks, my hot chocolate, my water bottle and their misty fans. After the pics, I try to hurry them off the wall so others can take pics. But they are having trouble jumping off the wall as they are worried about scraping the backs of their legs so I have to put everything down and help them down. A family poses right next to us and I tell them if they just wait a sec we'll be out of their way. I guess didn't want to wait so they start taking pics anyway. As I hop DD5 off the wall, she gets in the way of their pic. One of the women says in Spanish very irritated, that they have to take the pic off because DD5 was in the way. Ok, so I promised DH that I would not go Brooklyn the whole trip and it's only day 3. I say, that's why I asked you to give me a sec so I could get out of your way. I know they understood me, because they spoke english to the CM. Anyway, we go over to the stroller rental and I remember DH has the ticket. Crap! The CM gives me the stroller anyway. A little Disney magic in action. So we board up and and we head to the world showcase towards Norway to meet up with DH and baby. As I am walking by the big fountain (forgot the name of it), the classical music starts and the water shoots up in the air and back down, spraying water all over us. Ok, the morning chill was still in the air and that was COLD!!!! So, now fully awake, we continue to head towards Norway. We meet DH and we are just in time for our ressies. We have to grab new autograph books because there is no more room in the first ones. We got them the pink princess ones that you can put a pic on one side and the autograph goes on the other. We were called to eat in no time. It was set up a little different then last year. Princess Aurora was right there for pics and autographs. Then we were seated. The food was good, cinnamon rolls and fruit was sitting on the table and then eggs, potatos, sausage, and bacon was served after. We saw Mary Poppins (DD5 said she's not a princess, anyone care to explain that one), Snow white, Mulan, and Jasmine. The baby was absolutely enthralled and is looking at the princesses in each pic. Then, they came around with the package of Sleeping Beauty and the girls for I think $31.00. I took the exact same pic so we didn't get the package. We paid the bill, I used my DDE card for 20% off and we headed out. We were on our way back to Future World as we pasted Mexico, they were just dropping the rope to go in so we detoured and rode on the "El Rio Del Tiempo", which is like Mexico's version of it's a small world. DD5 kept asking "is it going to be scary". It wasn't and the attraction was liked by all! After a few pics in front of the mayan ruin, we were back on course. We headed to Soaring but first grabbed a FP for test track. I go first with DD5 and 3, we get the rider swap so DH can go afterwards. DD3 JUST made the height requirement, they measured her at the beginning of the queue and then when go to the end of it, we were stopped and the CM took her into this secret door and measured her again. She passed the test and we got ready to "board". Ohmigoodness!! Soaring is AWESOME!!! I loved it!!!! DD5 and 3 loved it. DD3 prefered to tuck her feet on the seat instead of having them hangind down though. GET TO EPCOT EARLY ENOUGH TO GET A FP!!!!!! They were out of FP's for the day by 11am!!! This is another Disney HOT attraction!!! Very impressive!!! DD3 went on again with DH but DD5 opted out. So, I took her to the Kidcot fun stop and she colored. We were next to the garden grill, the restaurant that rotates, ok how come no one told me about that one?! Anyway, made a mental note to make ADR's for that one next year! Then we walked to the exit and sat on a bench, I had little treats packed for DD's and I handed one to DD5, she played while I fed the baby a bottle. DH and DD3 joined us. DD3 was still grinning ear to ear!

Next we headed to the living seas. Ok, what is that tall thing will all the seaweed supposed to be? Anywho, we went inside and got in little for turtle talk with Crush, DH decided he wants to brave Mission Space so he dashed off to get a FP, just for him though, no one else is that brave. He has the baby in the carrier, and I have DD5 and DD3 with me. Of course, DD3 has to go potty, we are right nearby it and we are almost through the line. SHe starts the potty dance and I am trying to figure out what to do, can I leave DD5 in line while I dash to the nearby restroom, do I wait for DH to come back, of course I left my phone in the stroller so I can't call him. Then a CM gets on the microphone and tells all the kids to come and sit in front of the diving tank and diver is going to show them how she dives. DD5 and DD3 go running. Ah, saved!! Nope, I see DD3 still dancing. Finally, I asked the lady in back of me if she will save our space ( I didn't ask before because her DH was have a fit about waiting in line after line and saying he wanted to go back to the hotel), I ask DD5 if she is comfortable sitting there watching the show while I take DD3 to the bathroom. She says she is and I make the mad dash. We hurry up and get back just in time to start heading in, the dive show is over and here comes DH. I tell him he can't leave me in line again, because I am now a sweaty stressed mess! The girls ran to sit down front for talk turtle with Crush and he even "talked" to DD3. I laughed through the whole show. Well worth the wait.....and the stress!!! When we were walking out the guy in front of me tell a person waiting in line it was not worth the wait. Brooklyn Tiff wanted to smack him in the back of the head, but i refrained!!! Next we headed through the aquarium, with the exception of the "Bruce" room which the girls would have no part of. We stopped at Kidcot fun stop before heading out. That tall thingy was sitting there again until DD5 screamed at him "DO SOMETHING" and she is still regretting that she ever said anything. Although I laughed so hard my belly ached.

After that we had a snack from the ice cream cart and headed out to walk World showcase. We didn't stop too much, just here and there. In morroco, I had a tangerine daquari and baklava. It was so good! We saw a few characters and that was it. After that it was time for our test track FP. I went again with DD5 and DD3. Whoa, that one is crazy!!!! Gave me little headache from all the jerkiness, but i had advil with me so I popped 2 and kept treking. DH went next with DD5 and 3 and I stayed with the baby. After that, the girls had popcorn and I sat by the Electric Umbrella and waited until DH rode MS. He said it was intense and the woman got sick behind him. But he said it was great. After MS, we headed back to the resort, had dinner and went to bed.

 

[hunter.deal]

Another great installment tiff211. For me it is like reading a dry run of my trip that starts in 3 days. I'm guessing you are using TGM's tours for kids itinerary based on previous messages, but can you confirm that? Thanks again (and again) for posting. I'm also guessing you are headed to MK next...