Taking a 1 and 3 year old to WDW: A Story of Survival, and Maybe a Little Fun! *FINISHED 1/16

[DizMomAndWife]

Something crazy I have to mention about our stay at BLT- Thursday night, while we were all passed out asleep, William and I heard the weirdest noises coming from outside, right around 10pm. It sounded like a scrapping noise, but like something HUGE was scrapping on the concrete. I even went to the balcony to try to figure out what it was. I didn't see anything. Then just after 10, we heard some very loud and very weird music. Turns out, that was the electric water parade! I'm not 100% sure, but I'm guessing the weird scrapping noises were the floats (or whatever they are) getting into position...?
Anyway..


Epcot day was probably the day we deviated from our plan the most. The original plan was to be up and out the door by 8:15, putting us in Epcot by 9, or right at park open. With how Reagan was feeling the night before though, we wanted to wait and see how she was feeling this morning, and go from there. We let the girls wake up on their own, and apparently they were both pretty tired, because they didn't wake up until after 8! Reagan took a long time to wake up, and I remember being worried she was really getting sick. We gave her plenty of time, though, and she eventually came out of her grouch-ies and got excited about going to the parks again. It was her birthday! She didn't seem to care as much about that though, as she did going to epcot. Either way, the tradition is a cupcake for breakfast, so that's what she got!

She actually didn't care for it. The icing tasted a little funky, so I can't say I blame her. The cake was good though, so I ate it.
We got everyone dressed and headed for the monorail. We were WAAAY behind schedule, and we saw that giant golf ball in the sky around 9:30.

I love taking the monorail to Epcot, you get to see the park and get even more pumped about your day!
Our plan had ben to hit up the Seas pavilion first, so we headed that way and parked the stroller. By this point, it was close to 10. MJ was rocking her World Traveler shirt.

The wait time for The Seas with Nemo was already 25 minutes. While we tried to decide what to do, Reagan said she had to go potty. We asked a CM where the closest one was, and she told us how to get to the Seas gift shop. After potty breaks, we decided to just stay and explore the Seas Pavilion We played in the shark playground, and saw a dolphin. Reagan insist it was a shark. The wait for Turtle Talk was relatively short, so we opted to check that out. We just had to wait for the next show, but we enjoyed taking in all the fishy things to see in there.

This show is always funny, but I don't think our girls were quite old enough for it. Reagan sat still and listened, but she didn't get the jokes, and she didn't seem too impressed. I let MJ cruise on the benches in front of us, there's no way she would have sat still for that. The next time go, I'll be sure to get to the front of the line, so that we can sit in the front with the girls on the floor with the other kids. That would probably help.
Since it was already so late, we skipped Living with the Land, and just headed for the World Showcase. We made it there right before 11 and stopped in the first gift shop to grab a map and stickers to do Chip and Dale's Christmas Tree Spree. We headed to Mexico first, and parked the stroller just as they were opening the pavilion. There was a huge rush of people, so we skipped the ride and just started our scavenger hunt.
This was SO. MUCH. FUN.
Basically, you get a map and stickers. Each pavilion has a hidden Chip or Dale on a Christmas Wreath, holding a specific Christmas Ornament. You have to find him, then match the sticker, and put it on the map. The CMs were pretty helpful if we asked, and even sometime when we didn't. They never gave it away though, just told us if we were close or not.
Mexico wasn't too difficult, and we found that one pretty quickly. We got the girls back in the stroller and headed for Norway next. We looked around the shops, mostly full of Frozen merchandise, and found the ornament we needed. Next up was China. This one was super easy, as there weren't many wreaths to hide in We tried to get Reagan involved, by letting her put the sticker on the map. She was semi-interested, but was mostly just chilling.
After China, we headed to Germany. Okay, gotta swallow my pride here. We searched that pavilion for almost 30 minutes. In and out of the shops, looking at every wreath we could find, asking CMs, even asking another family we saw with a map. We came out empty handed. Seriously we couldn't find it anywhere! We finally decided to move on, and we would look again that afternoon. While we were on the hunt, Reagan fell asleep in the stroller. MJ was rocking it though. She was being so good!
We hit up Italy next, and found what we needed there. That just left America, which was our destination for lunch. We found the wreath there then had to wake Reagan up to eat. She was NOT happy. In fact, this lunch was probably the worst experience of the entire trip. No fault of Disney!
We parked the stroller and woke Reagan up. We grabbed what we needed, and the girls, and headed into Liberty Inn. I was so looking forward to a giant burger. Reagan was in a horrible mood, and refused to walk. When we got in, we looked all over for a high chair and didn't see one anywhere! I saw one in use, so I asked the mom where she found it. She pointed to a corner and said she thinks she has the only one. WHAT?? So not Disney. We tried to figure out what to do. William and I were both hangry by this point, and we were probably more snappy with each other than we should have been. We ended up going back for the stroller, so MJ would have a place to sit. We just strolled it into the restaurant and up to the table. William got a squeeze pouch baby food for MJ, and a snack for Reagan (who was refusing to get out of the stroller), while I went and ordered lunch. William and I both got burgers, and I got nuggets for the girls to share. By the time I got back, Reagan had eaten a few snacks, and was acting like a whole new kid. She sat in her chair and even gave us a quick smile.

She was wearing the cutest Birthday Princess shirt that morning.
I didn't take that picture until 12:15, so we were later than we wanted to be. Reagan ate pretty good this meal, but both the girls were getting so tired. We put Reagan back in the stroller and gave her the nuggets to take with her. We headed back to the monorail to go back to the hotel.
Reagan had fun showing off her map to us and everyone else on the journey back.
We got back to the room around 1:15-1:30, and the girls went right to sleep.William and I enjoyed the balcony, and I took the time to move back our first Fastpass of the day, to give the girls more time to rest.

I'll try to write about our afternoon later today!

 

[DizMomAndWife]

We were able to find a FP for Spaceship Earth just a little while after our original, so that gave us a few extra minutes to let the girls rest. We woke them up from naps probably around 3:30 and got everyone going. We were packing up their princess dresses to take with us, and Reagan insisted on wearing hers then instead of waiting. We didn't fight it, not a battle worth picking, so she was Ariel all afternoon. BTW, y'all, I ordered these dresses from Mom Approved Costumes in TX. SO affordable. And machine washable, and no glitter, and hidden seams, so no itching! We love them.
We must have made it back to Epcot around 4, our first FP window was from 3:20-4:20, and we were on Spaceship Earth at 4:21.

I sat with Reagan, while William and MJ sat behind us. We probably could have all fit in one, but it worked. Reagan enjoyed sitting like a big girl, I think. She enjoyed this ride, especially when she got to pick the future. MJ was all over the place, William said she was super wiggly. He had a hard time keeping her contained.
We went straight from here to our next FP for character spot. These are always good meets, and this one didn't disappoint. Of course, Reagan forgot to smile in the posed pictures, but I promise she enjoyed it. This was also the first time MJ had seen the fur characters up close, but she seemed to do well!
Mickey played with Reagan's Ariel toy, making her swim around...
This one of all of us makes me laugh, because we're all leaning- I have no idea why

Next up was Minnie, she loved Reagan's dress and asked her to twirl for her.

That family picture is a prime example of the challenges of taking pictures with little ones
Of course, we saw Goofy too! He gave MJ a kiss, she wasn't too sure about that. After we met all our friends, we headed back into World Showcase to finish our hunt! We started in Canada this time, and it was as difficult as Germany had been! We walked all through the two shops, up the garden paths, to the waterfall, everywhere! We made the trek back down the mountain and I waited with the stroller while William kept hunting. It was taking awhile. I sent him at text around 5:15 asking if he wanted to trade, but he came back down shortly after. He had finally found it, with help from an older couple who were doing it too. Victory!
On a side, but similar note, another reason we loved this activity is that it made us explore the countries we had never explored before! We wet in to many new shops and places we usually just skip over. It was lots of fun.
We found the one in UK next. We had planned on spending some time in the maze here, as we've never done it. However, there was a band playing, so we skipped it. Again. France was next, and pretty simple. We also got to see some of the street performers here- very cool. We did Morocco and Japan next, then just happened to make it into America as the first show of the Candlelight processional was getting out. It was crazy. We tried to find another mom with a double stroller and stick close to her, but man on man, getting through that crowd was not easy!
We made our way back around to Germany, and finally stopped to catch our breath. We went into Germany with a newfound determination, and it paid off! We finally found that dang chipmunk on a Christmas Wreath!

Up next: Our evening at Epcot- including dinner at Akershus!

 

[YAYA2Oaken]

I am really enjoying your trip report.

I started it because we are going to try a trip with my 9 month old grandson and I am curious how things work with a young one. We did not take our girls for the first time until they were in school.

I think it's great how you adjusted your plans according to how the girls were doing each day and still finding fun ways to enjoy the vacation. The sticker search in EPCOT is a great way to see different parts of the countries.

 

[Stasieki]

Enjoying your TR!

 

[DizMomAndWife]

I am really enjoying your trip report.

I started it because we are going to try a trip with my 9 month old grandson and I am curious how things work with a young one. We did not take our girls for the first time until they were in school.

I think it's great how you adjusted your plans according to how the girls were doing each day and still finding fun ways to enjoy the vacation. The sticker search in EPCOT is a great way to see different parts of the countries.

You'll have a blast with your grandson, I hope you get some tips from here and other TRs! The sticker search was so fun! I think they have other versions at the different festivals throughout the year.

Enjoying your TR!

and welcome!

 

[DizMomAndWife]

After we finally conquered Chip and Dale's Christmas Tree Spree, we headed back to Norway. We had Fastpasses for Frozen Ever After! This was our first time riding it, so even William and I were excited. Prior to our trip, Reagan had seen Frozen, but it wasn't a favorite. The line for this ride is so fun. I wouldn't want to wait 3 hours in it, but still, pretty cool. We were on in probably 20 minutes. Reagan absolutely loved this, y'all. She was naming the characters, dancing along, looking all around. It was so fun! Even MJ seemed to enjoy all the music!
The best part though is our on ride photo. We're in the back row. Hilarious!

Bless her She still talks about how much fun this ride was. When we came off of it, she suddenly wanted every piece of Frozen merchandise she saw. Now she's obsessed with all things Frozen
We got done there around 6:30, and went to get MJ changed for dinner. We had bought her a Belle dress from the same place we got Reagan's. Since they were both in their dresses, I took the opportunity to get a fun picture of William with them.

He's in for many years of princess protecting!
We tried to check in early for our reservations at Akershus, but they wouldn't let us. So we decided to walk around the corner to see what the wait was to meet Anna and Elsa. It said, 15 minutes, which would make us cut it really close, but we went for it anyway. Surprisingly, it was less than a 5 minute wait! We were in and meeting Anna before we knew it!

Both the girls crack me up in that last one
We had fun meeting Elsa too, she talked to Reagan about being a big sister and asked if she had ice powers too.

Very fun meet, and a short wait was a bonus.
We got done with time still to kill before we could check in for dinner. We walked through the viking exhibit, and I redid Reagan's hair, then we went to check in. We had to wait in line for awhile before our name was called. Of course, Reagan said she had to go potty, and our name was called right after. William had taken her, so I just told the hostess. She said it was fine, and he was able to meet us inside.
At Akershus, you meet Belle as soon as you walk in. This is the only time you'll see her, but there is a photo pass photographer available.

After we met Belle, we were taken to our table. I took Reagan to the buffet with me, to pick out some meats and cheeses for her and MJ. She was in a moooood this night. It was rough. We got back to the table, and all she wanted to eat was a nutrigrain bar. Whatever. MJ got some meat and cheese and bread. Reagan said she had to go potty, again, so I took her. When we were coming out, they were starting a Princess Parade though the restaurant. I so wished I had my phone with me to take pictures, but I had left it at the table. She joined up with Aurora and went on her parade. She stayed with her the whole time and never even wondered where I was. Maybe we should remind her about stranger danger She looked like such a big girl though.
After, we went back to the table, and waited on the princesses to come visit. We didn't have to wait long. I loved where our table was, towards the back by the cast member door to the back. We could see the princesses coming and had plenty of time to prepare before they got to us.
First up was Snow White. She was sweet, and Reagan was happy to see her. She had just gotten into Snow White right before the trip.

 

[DizMomAndWife]

MJ was happy to see her too.

As you can see, MJ was more interested in her food. In fact, we didn't even bother getting pictures of her with the rest of the princesses. They all said hello to her, but she just kept eating.
Next, we saw Cinderella.

Then Aurora. Aurora talked about how Reagan had taken control of the parade earlier. Yep, that's my kid.

You can see the CMs in the background, waiting to take Aurora away for a break. We never felt rushed though. Each princess talked to Reagan and took as many pictures as we needed. Reagan loved it.
Last, who Reagan had been waiting for all night- Ariel.

She was so sweet with her, and noticed that she was wearing her dress. She said, "I know this dress! It's what I wore on my first date!" Reagan was so star struck.

Since then, Ariel is definitely her new favorite. Just yesterday she told me she was going to marry Eric, because she's Ariel. Sure, kid
The meets here were great, and we loved them. In between each princess, though, Reagan and MJ were both super fussy and cranky. We finished our meal and could have had the dessert, but we opted to leave early. When I found our waitress on the way back from the bathroom (again!) and told her we were ready to go, she looked shocked that we didn't want dessert. But we needed to get out of there before meltdown city was upon us. I'm not sure what it was, if they were just overwhelmed, over stimulated, or over tired. We did eat dinner later than normal, so I'm betting that had something to do with it. We scanned our bands, quickly excited, loaded the girls in the stroller, and headed for the monorail.
On the walk, I remember talking to William about how stressful that was, and how glad I was that this was our last night. We talked about how if we were staying any longer, we would want a few down days in between park days. Days to just rest, swim, etc. I feel like the girls could have benefited from that greatly, as could we! We've decided to include down days on our next trip. Of course, we get to the monorail platform and see this:

Sweet, tiny little princesses, passed out asleep. They slept the whole way back, even on the super crowded and loud monorails, even through switching at the TTC. That moment made the stressful night worth it.
We got back to the room, changed their clothes, and put them both back in their beds.

Up next: our last morning- spent at Magic Kingdom!

 

[mekay1012]

Enjoying your report! We took our 3 year old last summer and she was a bit off the whole time. I think all the excitement, long days, etc are tough on that age. We carried lollipops and smarties and pulled them out anytime we saw a melt down coming on.

 

[DizMomAndWife]

Enjoying your report! We took our 3 year old last summer and she was a bit off the whole time. I think all the excitement, long days, etc are tough on that age. We carried lollipops and smarties and pulled them out anytime we saw a melt down coming on.

Thank you! That's smart! We definitely want to work in more downtime on longer trips. We all need it!

 

[DizMomAndWife]

We had big plans for this morning, and wanted to get a lot done. After we got the girls in bed the night before though, we decided it wasn't that important after all Magic Kingdom opened at 8, so the original plan was to be there at 7:45, see the welcome show, then ride Jungle Cruise and Pirates before the waits got too long. We were so tired and worn out, though, we opted for sleep instead. The girls didn't know anything about the jungle or pirates anyway, so they wouldn't be missing it. We let them slowly wake up as we packed up the room. William took loads down while I got the girls dressed and fed. We finally loaded them up around 8:45.

We dropped the last few things off at the car and headed to MK. There wasn't a too terribly long line for castle pictures (it had been so long the other times we had passed by!) so we stopped and got one really quickly. Definite not our best castle picture


We had FPs for Haunted Mansion, so we headed there next. I snapped this picture of MJ giving her daddy some snuggles while we waited in line, around 9:30

I was a little worried about how the girls would do on this ride. Reagan had ridden it last time, but she fell asleep They did well though, MJ didn't really understand or care about the ghost, and we told Reagan they were silly, so she laughed.

When we got done here, we could see that the crowds were already quickly building! Christmas crowds were moving in! We headed towards adventureland and parked the stroller by Country Bears. We saw that Jasmine and Aladdin we out meeting and went to jump in line for that. The CM at the front of the line said they were about to take a break, so if we wanted to come back in 20 minutes that would be better. We took his advice and went to the Enchanted Tiki Room instead. We walked up right as the doors were opening, so good timing! Reagan seemed to really like this, but MJ was so wiggly. William and I kept having to switch off holding her, she just wanted to move!



After enduring that, we headed back to meet Jasmine and Aladdin. We waited awhile before they came back out, maybe 10 minutes. Once they started meeting again, though, it went fairly quickly. Reagan had her grump face on the whole time of course.



After this unplanned meet, we had some time to kill, so we started walking towards Fantasyland. We also kinda hoped MJ would pass out in the stroller. William grabbed a Mickey bar on the walk, and surprisingly never had to share! As we walked towards the carousel, we realized what kind of day it was going to be, crowd wise. The line was completely full, and a CM was starting the extended queue. MJ still wasn't asleep, so I decided to get myself (and Reagan) a snack too! We had to wait for the place to open at 11, but we were quickly chowing down on this magical concoction:

Cookie Sundae, you were delicious.
After this, we decided MJ wasn't sleeping, so we might as well meet our first round of princesses. As soon as we got her out of the stroller she perked up. She just wanted out, I guess! We had FPs for both sides of Princess Fairytale Hall, the first set was for Rapunzel and Tiana. Two of Reagan's favorites! We had never done the meets here, so this was fun! Reagan loved seeing Cinderella's shoe on the way in!
First up was Rapunzel. She was sweet, and got Reagan to smile!



Mckinley kept petting her hair

......

 

[AllthingsDisMom]

SO cute, thank you for sharing!

 

[DizMomAndWife]

Next we met Tiana. Reagan was born in New Orleans, and even though we moved 2 weeks later, we still claim it! Tiana was so sweet, and said Reagan needed to come to NOLA to cook with her (Reagan would faint from excitement).


After we got our princess fix, we now had almost an hour to kill before our next FPs opened. We jumped in line for the carousel, just deciding to wait it out. before we got far, though, Reagan said she didn't want to ride that, she wanted to ride the choo-choo. Fine with us! We grabbed the stroller and headed to the Fantasyland Station, by Barnstormer.
We waited a few minutes for the next train to come, and hopped aboard!



As you can see, MJ was such a huge fan of the train!
Not.
She wouldn't sit still for even a second! I let her stand in the seat, and that still wasn't good enough. It was a struggle.
I was also a little worried towards the end that we were going to be running behind. We still had 2 princesses to meet before our lunch reservations! When we got done riding, we headed back towards the princesses, and straight into the FP line.
First up was Elena. Reagan had just gotten into Elena, but only the youtube version, not the cartoon Also, MJ was done, and wanted nothing to do with princesses this time, so she missed the pictures.


After Elena, we got to see Cinderella one last time.



We grabbed quick goodbye hugs, and ran back to the stroller. We were pushing it to make it back to the Contemporary on time. We hustled to the front of the park and down the walkway. We made it just in time. William went to check in while I took Reagan to the potty. We met him inside, before they had seated him. We waited a few more minutes, which was actually nice, because it gave MJ a change to move. I just let her cruise around the seating area.
Once we were seated, William got the table set up while I took Reagan to make her and MJ's plate. A constant conversation William and I had throughout the trip was about the buffet prices. Since Reagan was two when we checked in, she "stayed 2" the whole trip, so we never paid for her meals. We were so thankful for that, especially here at Chef Mickey's. I think she ate a piece of bacon and some strawberries. If we had paid for her, I would have been so mad! MJ, on the other hand, made up for it. She probably ate 2 pancakes, a waffle, bacon, mac and cheese, plus some. I wouldn't have minded paying for her, I guess
I snapped this at 1pm, just as we were getting settled.


Prior to the trip, I had been stalking instagram photos of people at character meals, trying to see what worked and what didn't. I had seen parents put the kids on the outside, closer to the characters, so we tried that. I loved it. We never had to get up for pictures, it was fantastic. We were in a big room, behind the buffet. The characters started on one end and circled around, with us almost last, so we had time to prep for them coming.
First up was Pluto!


Reagan was excited to see her old friends. She's loved Mickey and friends since she was little bitty. MJ on the other hand, hasn't ever been still long enough to watch tv, so she's less familiar...and it showed.

Bless her. She was okay until he went in for the hug bye. Maybe she thought he was going to steal her food

.....

 

[DizMomAndWife]

SO cute, thank you for sharing!

 

[DizMomAndWife]

After Pluto, we saw Donald. I love this picture of MJ, seeing him coming

She still didn't like him up close though.

He must have sensed he was unloved, because he didn't stay long.
We had a slight break next, so I ran to get myself (and MJ) some more food. I really liked the food here. Maybe it was because I was just exhausted and anything would have tasted fine, but I really did like it!
After our short break, Minnie showed up.

MJ didn't seem to mind her as much, she just stared at her. Maybe because she was better than Donald? Or maybe because we have lots of Minnie things at our house? Who knows?
We saw Mickey next. Reagan was so excited.

He stopped over by MJ to sign our book. She didn't cry, immediately, but she did look at him with suspicion.

She lost it right after this.

Lastly, we saw Goofy. Reagan had been seeing him walking around and was anxiously awaiting his arrival! He as great. He came and immediately helped reagan get out of her chair so he could dance with her.


So sweet, then they shares some sweet hugs.

He went to sign the book by MJ as well, but she was too busy eating bacon to care. Or even notice, honestly.

That kid

We had heard mixed reviews of Chef Mickey's but we really did love it. It was a great way to see all the Fab 5 without waiting in lines! I think we'll do it again. It went fairly quickly, the last picture with Goofy was taken at 1:30. We finished up, paid, and took potty breaks on our way out. We got MJ changed, and loaded the girls in the stroller.
Now for the sad part, leaving. We headed back to the car, and loaded up to leave.
Took this picture just before 2, as we hit the road!


We got back around 6ish, and William grabbed a pizza for us for dinner. Everyone slept so good that night. There's just something about being in your own bed!

Thanks for following along! I hope you enjoyed it!

 

[Mskia]

What a wonderful report. Thank you for sharing all the tips!

 

[FencerGirl]

Loved your report! You have a great writing style. The girls are so cute!

 

[DisneyDaddy17]

My whole family & I are taking my son for his 1st birthday on Valentine's this year!

Needless to say we are beyond excited & hoping everything goes according to our plans! There are several 1st time guests in our family group!

Thank you!! I found your post to be very detailed & insightful! I will try and use some of the tips you provided to make our lives easier at WDW!

I did notice on your posts the kiddos stopped for Restroom breaks quite often. I can tell by the WDW Map on the ME app, there are plenty of bathrooms around the parks! Lol

Our son Gabriel however isn't potty trained yet and is still breast feeding! So I hope they have plenty of changing stations/private areas in the parks for him!

 

[lolomarie]

Thanks so much for your trip report! I enjoyed reading the whole thing. We will be heading to the world next September with a 4 year old and a 10 month old, so fairly close to your girls ages.

One thing I'm contemplating is the character meals. DS4 is such a light eater, so like you stated, if he ate a couple bites of things for $20 I'll not be impressed. We never order him his own meal when we go out, he just shares with us. But, I'd hate to miss out on character meals. Oh what to do? Maybe we'll do one as a splurge.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Loved your report. Thanks so much for taking the time to do it!

One specific question - what was that you used as an autograph book?

One thing I'm contemplating is the character meals. DS4 is such a light eater, so like you stated, if he ate a couple bites of things for $20 I'll not be impressed. We never order him his own meal when we go out, he just shares with us. But, I'd hate to miss out on character meals. Oh what to do? Maybe we'll do one as a splurge.

Just think of your charges as the cost of the food, and his as "buying park time" - essentially, you're paying to not wait in line for the characters you see at the meal, so you can be doing other things instead.

 

[lolomarie]

That is an excellent way to look at it!!!! Thanks!