Take Your 2-Year-Old to Disney! Aug '17 TR * COMPLETE 1/10/19

We heard some far off thunder and the sky was getting dark so we went back to the room for showers.
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It's crazy how much of the new tower is built now, and it was just a huge hole in the ground last August.
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We went back to Pepper Market for lunch. It started raining while we were walking but it wasn't the big thunderstorm we were expecting. DH and I shared the Nachos and DD said she wasn't hungry and just ate some snacks I had brought.
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I really fell in love with Coronado on this trip. It's beautiful and I loved that it was centrally located between all the parks. The short bus ride was fantastic, especially since I was used to the longer bus rides from the value resorts. I wonder if the resort will have a totally different feel once all the renovations are done.
 
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I’m so happy I was watching this report when you first started it, especially now that I have a trip booked (60 days today!). My twins are 2 1/2 and I need all the help I can get.

Super impressed that you got to watch the fireworks. I dont know how mine would handle being up so late.

It's so convenient that Disney has life jackets by the pools rather than having to waste suitcase space bringing our puddle jumper from home.

Thanks for this! This was so not on my radar to check for. Would have totally packed them.
 
The fireworks started while we were riding and it was pretty cool.
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Most of the elephants were flying empty, and when we landed the cast member made an announcement, "If you want to ride again please remain seated and keep your seatbelt fastened." We decided to stay on, as did the few other people who were riding with us. We ended up riding three times in a row and that seemed to be everyone else's limit too, as everyone cleared out after that, even though we were invited to ride again if we wanted.
(Side note: this is now a family tradition as DD insisted that we watch fireworks from Dumbo on our most recent trip and she still talks about it)
That is so cool! I saw someone's video who rode the Magic Carpets during one of the 180 degree party fireworks and it looked like a lot of fun!
 
I’m so happy I was watching this report when you first started it, especially now that I have a trip booked (60 days today!). My twins are 2 1/2 and I need all the help I can get.

Super impressed that you got to watch the fireworks. I dont know how mine would handle being up so late.



Thanks for this! This was so not on my radar to check for. Would have totally packed them.

Thanks for not abandoning hope I'd ever finish this report :rotfl:
I really hope there are some helpful tidbits in here for you. I'm sure you're going to have an amazing trip! Where are you staying?
I wasn't sure what to expect in terms of DD staying up for fireworks, but she was able to do it probably because she's not one to just fall asleep anywhere. It definitely helped on days that she napped, but she didn't always.

That is so cool! I saw someone's video who rode the Magic Carpets during one of the 180 degree party fireworks and it looked like a lot of fun!

I bet that was amazing!
 


We’ll be at Saratoga springs. I don’t think I’ve ever considered this resort before but I feel like for this trip it will be perfect. We will have a kitchen and a separate bedroom and balcony, so we won’t have to tip toe around if they go to bed at their normal time. Also, figured we would be leaving the parks early so walking around downtown Disney before bed time is an option. We took them when they were 7 months but that was a totally different experience than this one will be. I just hope I don’t regret it ;)
 
Hey stranger! Glad to see you back here.

Loving to see Ryann at Whispering Canyon. It looked like she was having so much fun. It's Casey favorite place too :-)
 
(Side note: this is now a family tradition as DD insisted that we watch fireworks from Dumbo on our most recent trip and she still talks about it)

I love that some of the traditions start like this! And I will have to try this one time.

, so DH stood with the stroller and our bags while I stood holding DD, who actually fell asleep on me. Go figure she does it on a night that I had to stand :confused3
Kids are cute like that, aren't they?!?
 


We’ll be at Saratoga springs. I don’t think I’ve ever considered this resort before but I feel like for this trip it will be perfect. We will have a kitchen and a separate bedroom and balcony, so we won’t have to tip toe around if they go to bed at their normal time. Also, figured we would be leaving the parks early so walking around downtown Disney before bed time is an option. We took them when they were 7 months but that was a totally different experience than this one will be. I just hope I don’t regret it ;)

Those are great plans for SSR. You definitely won't regret it! Are you going to write a TR?

Hey stranger! Glad to see you back here.

Loving to see Ryann at Whispering Canyon. It looked like she was having so much fun. It's Casey favorite place too :-)

:wave: Thanks! Glad to be back. I can't wait to go back to WCC. I hope it's not too different since they "quieted down." Have you been recently?

I love that some of the traditions start like this! And I will have to try this one time.


Kids are cute like that, aren't they?!?

Ha, they sure are.

What a fun night at MK! And I'm also happy you're continuing!

Thank you!
 
Chapter 26
In Which We Finally Go to a Park

At 3:10 we were at the bus stop at the front of the resort and it was raining again. Every bus came except the one we were waiting for. But on the bright side, we weren't really in a rush to get anywhere at that moment so the wait was fine.
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Eventually we made it to our destination.
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We went right to Character Spot to use a fastpass and someone couldn't wait to see Mickey.
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I love how she's so pleased with herself after she kisses Mickey's nose.
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I never noticed this until making this TR... but watch the CM in the background right before DD runs into the frame :rotfl2: I have no idea if that was on purpose or by accident. It seems like it was on purpose but either way, it's hilarious!

Showing Minnie that they're both wearing polka dots
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Next we did Turtle Talk with Crush. DD was so excited at first. But then...
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I think it's safe to say she was a little tired. And maybe a little bored :rotfl:

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Next we decided to check out the Disney Visa Meet and Greet to see if there was any wait. Last time we did this a few years ago (when it was located at Innoventions) we had to wait about 5-10 minutes. This time there was exactly one family in front of us and they were already taking pictures with Minnie and Pluto.

They invited us to join in their family photo, which would have been weird except...

 
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It was our friends M, S, and A!
And completely by coincidence! :eek:
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We knew they were in Epcot because we had an ADR together at Garden Grill that evening, but had no idea either of us were going to the Visa Meet and Greet.

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After this the kids played with the bouncing water outside for a while. A nearby photopass photographer must have been pretty bored because he took about 20 pictures of the girls playing. None of them came out particularly well though :laughing:

We split up from our friends for a little bit and decided to do Living With the Land before dinner. It was 5:45pm and it was a walk-on. Then we went upstairs for dinner. Garden Grill was a new restaurant for me and I was excited to eat here. We were seated on the inside of the restaurant which was a bit of a bummer because we missed out on some of the view as the restaurant rotated. But the real problem with being seated on the inside (as I discovered not long after being seated) is that there is absolutely no room to meet characters and take pictures. We were so squished and any time we were with a character we were blocking the aisle for the servers to pass through so they would just be standing and waiting for us, sometimes holding trays of food, which made me feel like we needed to hurry up and get out of their way.
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The food was delicious but this was our worst restaurant experience for DD's allergies. Our server was reluctant when I asked to speak to the chef. She insisted we just use the allergy menu, but she wasn't able to answer my questions about the menu. The chef did eventually come, but we didn't see him again. Our server brought everyone's food and the allergy items all together and the table was so full that the items were all touching on the table which is not okay for us when it comes to cross-contamination of allergens. This part of the meal was so stressful for me, that it was hard to enjoy my food even though it was delicious. We also felt very rushed, like all these plates just kept getting thrown at us rapid fire. Overall, I was disappointed but I do think that we could go here again and have a totally different experience, so I haven't written it off forever.

Our salad:
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DD's platter
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Our Mac n Cheese
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Our dessert:
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DD's Dessert:
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After dinner we took some pictures outside The Land before going our separate ways again.
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How cute are these two!? This was a totally candid moment.
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We had a FP for FEA but first headed to Norway to see Anna & Elsa. It was misting as we walked over and by the time we got to the entrance to WS it was full on raining. We should have stopped to put on ponchos but we didn't. Oops. While we waited in line for the princesses I attempted to dry DD's hair with a dry wipe.
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After the meet, we made one of the best purchases of our trip. DD used a gift card from her birthday to buy these bath toys, which she still plays with all the time. Kristoff, Marshmallow, and Sven are also in there.
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It was still raining and the FP return line for FEA was backed up outside :scared:
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Eventually we were inside but the line was moving ridiculously slowly. A CM said that the ride was down earlier so everyone was now using their FP from earlier, but we eventually stopped moving completely. At 8:58 there was an announcement that the ride was closed but we could have our FP back. For what!? The park was closing in 2 minutes!! :headache:
It was a pretty frustrating way to end the night, and especially since it was our last night in Disney.

Luckily, I had something to cheer me up. One of my favorite things in any Disney park:
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One of my earliest Disney memories is being amazed by the lights in the ground. They make me happy in a way I just can't describe. We had given up trying to keep DD dry at this point, and she was very happy jumping around in the rain.

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She fell asleep on me again on the bus ride back to CSR, but at least I had a seat this time.
 
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It sounds like you had a good evening! Well, except for the rushed/unsafe dinner and FEA! And what a great attitude in regards to the rain!
 
We sat back down at our table and lo and behold the waitress brings out an enormous soda and casually puts it in front of DH.

I'm glad she brought one even though she told you she couldn't! We're planning to eat at Whispering Canyon Café for the first time next year, I will have to remember this.

Once all the men were lined up, this amazing CM led them all in a rousing rendition of "I'm a Little Teapot" complete with interpretive dance.

This is hilarious!! It looks like a really fun restaurant, I'm excited to give it a try.

so DH stood with the stroller and our bags while I stood holding DD, who actually fell asleep on me. Go figure she does it on a night that I had to stand

Ugh, I wish someone would have offered their seat to you. I've had good luck with people giving up seats when I've been holding a sleeping baby.

But the real problem with being seated on the inside (as I discovered not long after being seated) is that there is absolutely no room to meet characters and take pictures. We were so squished and any time we were with a character we were blocking the aisle for the servers to pass through so they would just be standing and waiting for us, sometimes holding trays of food, which made me feel like we needed to hurry up and get out of their way.

We had the same experience sitting on the inside of Garden Grill. I couldn't tell if being on the outside would have been better or if this was just a crowded restaurant. it definitely felt cramped though.

Overall, I was disappointed but I do think that we could go here again and have a totally different experience, so I haven't written it off forever.

We really liked our breakfast at Garden Grill, but we weren't dealing with any allergies. We had a pre-park opening reservation and while they definitely rush you by bringing food out quickly, the restaurant wasn't packed the first half hour or so we were there and I felt like we got more attention from both our server and the characters because of that.
 
It sounds like you had a good evening! Well, except for the rushed/unsafe dinner and FEA! And what a great attitude in regards to the rain!

Yup, it still was a good evening :goodvibes

Too cute!


That is too funny!


Also, so cute. I love it.

Sorry that they weren't so great with the allergies this time around.

Thanks :goodvibes

I'm glad she brought one even though she told you she couldn't! We're planning to eat at Whispering Canyon Café for the first time next year, I will have to remember this.
This is hilarious!! It looks like a really fun restaurant, I'm excited to give it a try.
Ugh, I wish someone would have offered their seat to you. I've had good luck with people giving up seats when I've been holding a sleeping baby.
We had the same experience sitting on the inside of Garden Grill. I couldn't tell if being on the outside would have been better or if this was just a crowded restaurant. it definitely felt cramped though.
We really liked our breakfast at Garden Grill, but we weren't dealing with any allergies. We had a pre-park opening reservation and while they definitely rush you by bringing food out quickly, the restaurant wasn't packed the first half hour or so we were there and I felt like we got more attention from both our server and the characters because of that.

Supposedly Whispering Canyon Cafe is a little quieter now but it seems they're still doing all the fun stuff, just at a quieter volume. I hope so because I can't wait to go back!
I didn't even really carefully look to see if there was more room on the outside of the restaurant. The food was really good and I'd be willing to go back and try again. Maybe not on the next trip, but eventually!
 
We went right to Character Spot to use a fastpass and someone couldn't wait to see Mickey.
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I love how she's so pleased with herself after she kisses Mickey's nose.
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OMG soooo adorable!

The food was delicious but this was our worst restaurant experience for DD's allergies. Our server was reluctant when I asked to speak to the chef. She insisted we just use the allergy menu, but she wasn't able to answer my questions about the menu. The chef did eventually come, but we didn't see him again. Our server brought everyone's food and the allergy items all together and the table was so full that the items were all touching on the table which is not okay for us when it comes to cross-contamination of allergens. This part of the meal was so stressful for me, that it was hard to enjoy my food even though it was delicious. We also felt very rushed, like all these plates just kept getting thrown at us rapid fire. Overall, I was disappointed but I do think that we could go here again and have a totally different experience, so I haven't written it off forever.
Ugh, that is not cool! Just really not what you typically hear about for Disney allergy issues!
 
Chapter 27
In Which It's Our Last Morning

I woke up at 5:30 am feeling so sad that it was our last day. We left our room at 7:10 to check our bags for the flight and miraculously made it to the bus stop a minute before a bus at 7:30. We had a PPO breakfast at Be Our Guest (again).

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Looking behind us toward the entrance.
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Be Our Guest really is a great value on the dining plan because it's ridiculously expensive for what it is. Not such a great value out of pocket though.

My quiche was delicious. It's just not a lot of food for $20+
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DH's meal
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DD's allergy meal. $14 worth of waffles? C'mon.
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DD's fruit and safe baked goods
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Continued in the next post
 
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Regular pastries
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It's Halloween in August!
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I love that I caught this picture
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After breakfast we were ready to get the morning started and accomplish as much as possible before we had to leave for the Tragical Express. At 9 on the dot we bolted for Peter Pan's Flight and we were off by 9:06. We were walking over to meet Merida when M texted me that Merida isn't coming until 10, even though she was supposed to have an earlier meet. So we changed course and headed to Tomorrowland Speedway. DD had been back and forth on whether she wanted to ride it or not, and finally decided yes, so I had booked a FP for it. Even with FP, we had to wait 15 minutes first thing in the morning. I felt like we were wasting precious early-morning time (I'm a little crazy) but we stuck it out. You can see the line behind us, it just moves so slowly.
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I hadn't done this in forever. The views were nice and DD really enjoyed it.
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I originally had a FP scheduled for POTC but I cancelled it for Dumbo at 9:20 since we were right nearby. We got off the Speedway at 9:38 and were on Dumbo at 9:42. Did I mention I'm a little crazy?

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DD was becoming a bit spoiled, because when the ride ended she refused to get off saying, "more more more." We had to explain that you can't always just ride Dumbo as many times as you want lik
e we did the other night:rotfl2:

Next I booked a FP for Winnie the Pooh that was available to use by the time we got off Dumbo. After that we walked to Merida's meet since it was just about 10 o'clock now.
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And one of the most memorable parts of the trip happened: Merida remembered DD from earlier in the week! It was so magical.
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Chapter 28
In Which I Attempt to Set a Fastpass World Record

Okay, maybe not a *World*Record. But a personal record? Probably.

Sidenote: I realize now how much I don't miss the days of having to run back and forth across the park to collect fastpasses, although there was something very satisfying about holding a stack of them in my wallet knowing I could use them all whenever it was convenient.

Anyway, after meeting Merida we used the FP for Winnie the Pooh that I had reserved while we were on Dumbo.
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While walking through the queue I booked our next FP for It's a Small World. That window would open just 7 minutes in the future. After Pooh we went to Storybook Circus to meet Minnie and Daisy.
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Goofy & Donald had no line on the other side of course. Minnie and Daisy had a 15 minute posted wait which was very accurate.
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While we were in line I kept refreshing MDE and after a few minutes found a Meet Ariel at Her Grotto FP for 10:50 so I cancelled the IASW one since that had a posted wait of 5 minutes anyway. It was currently 10:24 (I'm laughing at my nerdy self as I write this for taking such detailed notes )

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DD looked at this picture with me a few days ago and demanded to know what Daisy was saying to her :laughing: It does look like something important...
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The Photopass photographer with Minnie took literally 70 pictures of this meet. He/she must have held down the shutter button or something because going through the pictures is like a flip book :rotfl:
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We still had a few minutes before the Ariel FP so we rode Under the Sea which was posted as 5 minutes and was a walk on. We were off that just 2 minutes before our FP window opened to meet Ariel so we scanned our bands early. We walked right in and it was as though Ariel had been waiting for us.
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Fairly empty walkway
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The prettiest bathrooms, maybe in the whole world
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Continued in the Next Post
 
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