The Good, The Great & A Few Times The Ugly...First WDW Trip With DD

[moose615]

Hello Everyone, Thank you for checking out my first ever trip report.

Alittle background, I am a single DisDad to be beautiful DD4. I had been to WDW a few times growing up and even lived in Orlando for a year when I was attending Full Sail but moved back to Tennessee, I know what was I thinking, when DD was born I would think about when and how her first trip would be, also making it kindof like my first trip since alot has changed since the last time I had gone. I roughly planned to take her when she was in the 4 or 5 year range so started planning her first trip around this past April, knowing she would love MNNSHP. I joined the boards for info and help planning this trip that I wanted to be special for DD, DD's grandma (who if not for her and papa this trip wouldnt of been possible) and of course special to me too. Along the way on the boards I discovered DisDads and from there I was hooked, a group of fellow dads who love WDW and anything Disney, sign me up.

So we set the dates October 7th through 10th at AoA, LM room (DDs choice of course) we decided to make it a simi short trip as kindof a trial run for DD. After alot of help from the boards and DisDads, we had our plan on what parks on what days and what ADRs to do, and then came the waiting........ and waiting until finally one day its time to go!!!!!

 

[twokids0204]

Hello Everyone, Thank you for checking out my first ever trip report.

Alittle background, I am a single DisDad to be beautiful DD4. I had been to WDW a few times growing up and even lived in Orlando for a year when I was attending Full Sail but moved back to Tennessee, I know what was I thinking, when DD was born I would think about when and how her first trip would be, also making it kindof like my first trip since alot has changed since the last time I had gone. I roughly planned to take her when she was in the 4 or 5 year range so started planning her first trip around this past April, knowing she would love MNNSHP. I joined the boards for info and help planning this trip that I wanted to be special for DD, DD's grandma (who if not for her and papa this trip wouldnt of been possible) and of course special to me too. Along the way on the boards I discovered DisDads and from there I was hooked, a group of fellow dads who love WDW and anything Disney, sign me up.

So we set the dates October 7th through 10th at AoA, LM room (DDs choice of course) we decided to make it a simi short trip as kindof a trial run for DD. After alot of help from the boards and DisDads, we had our plan on what parks on what days and what ADRs to do, and then came the waiting........ and waiting until finally one day its time to go!!!!!

Count me in...

 

[moose615]

Oct 7th starts out with a 6:30 AM flight from Nashville to Orlando we arrived around 9ish, we were so tired the time is kindof a blur right now.

First stop for DD is.....

We head down stairs and get on our Magic bus to head to the AoA, it takes alittle while before the bus gets on but I imagine thats normal when thousands of parents and kids want to go to.

We finally get to the hotel, all of us are tired, DD more so but we had planned on checking out AK after we arrived, so we get to the room and ohhh and ahhh for a few min. then we take the longgggggg walk to catch the bus to AK. First ride is KS of course, DD really enjoyed seeing animals she can't see at the local zoo

she loved the hippos

after KS we walk around checking out everything and we had 1:35 ADR at TH (Thanks Norm for the recommendation). For a buffet the food was pretty good, I am a dessert guy so wasnt thrilled with the selection but overall the food was good. DD loved meeting Mickey and Daisy

 

[moose615]

DD asked Mickey where Minnie was, and after and awesome game of charades, a cast member comes up and tells DD where she can find her. Off to CMM so DD can get her first autograph which she really enjoyed, I could tell DD was getting alittle tired and cranky but she says she wants to do ITTBAB, I wish I had taken a pic of her in her bug glasses, but ended up getting this one

she had a good time and liked getting a break from the heat, we took a break for drinks and then headed to DINOLAND. DD wanted to ride TT Spin and play in the BoneYard

After the BoneYard, We could tell DD was done, she wanted to go back and swim, we didn't get to do alot but that was ok, she had fun and it saves stuff to do on the next trip.

 

[moose615]

DD decides to pick up a toy before we leave AK, a Minnie play makeup kit. and back to AoA. We decided to get something to eat at Landscapes of Flavors, its a really busy cafeteria, but the food looked pretty good. I had a meatball sub and chocolate moose, DD has a cheese pizza and Mickey pop (im sure it has another name but its marshmellows on a straw with sprinkles all over it) now it pool time!!!!! I figured the first night would be the only time we had to swim, with all the parades and fireworks, I was so wrong.

Afterwards we head back to the lobby and do alittle pin shopping at Ink & paint, with it being my first trip report I didnt take many pictures of the cafeteria & gift shop or alot of the food either but ill have some food pics later.

DD and Grandma decide to call it an early night, I have a longtime friend who lives in Orlando so we met up and her and I went to DTD, walked around and had some drinks at House of Blues, Had my first Sam Adams Octoberfest of the season, it was a good night.

Next up is relax day,alittle shopping,more swimming,and of course MNSSHP!!!!!

 

[moose615]

Day 2:

We decide to take it easy, DD was still tired and became cranky when we went to Landscapes for breakfest. She threw a fit about going to DTD, so we went back to the room for quiet time. after a few hours DD decides she wants to go shopping and check out DTD.

Our first stop is Goofy's Candy Co. (wish I had pics) DD picked out a Jack Skellington candy apple, because she knows hes my fave, shes so sweet. I had chocolate covered pineapple (thank you again Norm) Both we sooooo good. We move on to the carousel

On to some shopping at World of Disney- DD picked out a stuffed Minnie in her halloween witch outfit & a LM beauty kit, she also wanted a little Minne house playset but we decided on one toy a day (I know I know she got 2) but this house playset comes back into play later in this TR. I picked up a stuffed Mickey dressed as Jack Skellington I have had my eye on for a few months.

DD decides she wants to build a race car to race at the Lego Store, she placed 2nd!!!, I still think 1st place had some illigal mods, but there wasnt an official review.

We decided to head back and go swimming (see how wrong I was) as we walk out DD decides she wants to ride the train.

back to AoA, for swimming and we order pizza to the room before getting ready for MNSSHP. The pizza there was really good, I recommend it!

 

[moose615]

Now time for the party!!!!, I ruined a perfectly good pic of my DD by being in it, i know I know, but I was very excited because it was the first time I have dressed up with DD for halloween

DD has a 6:35 appt at BBB to get her hair,nails and makeup done for trick or treating.

This was huge, DD does not like anyone touching or messing with her hair, BBB is good!!

It was tough for me to see DD with makeup for the first time, I almost started to cry because shes growing up on me

Introducing Princess Minnie!!!!

A fellow DisDad (AirGoofy aka Norm) and I planned to meet up sometime during the party, we had been in contact through out the night but everytime we got ahold of each other we seemed to always be at different ends of the park, Ill get back to that in a min.

After DD's, I mean Princess Minnies BBB, she wanted to do POTC (she makes me so proud)

We did alittle trick or treating and when it was time for the 1st parade we headed over to HM, look who we ran into!! DD loved her and said "those people let her out of her cage" when it was time for her break, DD had me rolling!

After HM we took the cool photopass pic by the hearse, havent yet seen it but hopefully it turned out good. headed over to IASW, DD sang the whole time!!! we headed over to Winnie the Pooh and ended up in the middle for the fireworks, it was awesome!!! after the fireworks we rode Winnie the pooh, which DD loved also.

Back to DisDads meet, We plan on meeting up at Liberty Tree Tavern to watch the parade, Norm and his family is already there, with a great spot.
DD is starting to get really tired but says she wants to watch the parade. We meet up and meet him and his family, they are all really nice, and his DDs did a great job with my DD, she started to liven up when the parade started and was waving to everyone who came by, for pics of the parade ill transfer to Norms live trip report because theres a little known fact the Jack Skellingtons slacks did not have pockets for an IPhone. but I do have a pic of some country folk

I look forward to hanging out with Norm and his family again in their neck of the woods or mine.

after the parade they went after some more rides, DD was exhausted and ready to leave so we waited out the rush and I had a Dole Whip before carrying DD all the way out and all the way to the buses and then all the way to the room, I have a new respect for my dad doing that with 2 kids years ago. we did pick up some party exclusive pins also on the way out.

Thats it for day 2, next up is HS

 

[moose615]

Thats all for today, im so exhausted, I hope everyone enjoy what ive managed to get done so far.

 

[mm1971]

I'm following. Looks like 2 pretty good days so far. You'll need to get back to work so you can rest!

 

[FreezinRafiki]

Holy cow, you're on a tear! Nice job so far. Love the Jack Skellington costume!

 

[moose615]

I'm following. Looks like 2 pretty good days so far. You'll need to get back to work so you can rest!

Holy cow, you're on a tear! Nice job so far. Love the Jack Skellington costume!

Haha thanks guys, I knew I'd be staying up to watch the titans / steelers game so figured I'd start working on it, DD helped with my makeup, she really enjoyed that

 

[moose615]

Day 3: Hollywood Studios

We get up around 8am and kindof take it easy since the night before we got back in pretty late. My DD is talking to her Grandma and says "Grandma I want to get the Minnie Mouse House today for my one toy" I told ya'll I'd come back to that house, I instantly wished I had went ahead and got it because I wasnt sure if we would see it again on the trip. So being the "Father of the Year" that I am haha. I decided i would hop a bus to DTD and get it and come back so later we didnt have to worry about finding it somewhere. That takes about an hour due to a bus driver change and inspection. DD is happy and loves the MM house.

Around 1PM, we get to HS, I knew fast passes for TSM were and would be gone before we arrived so we planned to check out wait times to see if it became "reasonable" throughout the day to wait in line. First thing we do is head over to ST and watch the Jedi Training after getting a FP, afterwards while we wait for our return we hit up MuppetVision 3D, we all really liked it, it had been awhile since I had seen it. Afterwards it was time to ride ST, DD wanted to ride it because her Uncle Eric, loves Star Wars, and she was happy everytime see saw RDD2 (thats what DD calls him) I really liked the new version of course I wasnt picked to be the Rebel Spy, but I guess I cant blame them.

After ST we had to rush to Mama Melrose for our Fantasmic ADR,at this point we had not really eaten anything so we were starving. I had heard good things about it. I had the Fresh Mozzarella and Vine-ripened Tomatoes, Charred Strip Steak and they had a sampler for dessert, which was awesome. Grandma had the mixed greens salad & spagetti and meatballs, she said it was really good.DD had the cheese pizza and I gave her some of my 4 cheese macaroni that came with my steak, I wish I had taken a pic of it, but DD got a spagetti and meatball cupcake, it looked really cool & DD said it was Yummy. When we were leaving MM, I hear DD say "hey daddy look!!!" so I turn around and this is what she is doing:

She is def my DD!!

 

[moose615]

After MM, we looked around at a few shops and then headed over to Honey I shrunk the kids so DD could play alittle, I was happy to see it open because a month before they said it would be closed for refurb during our trip. I loved playing in there as a kid so it made me very happy to see DD having fun in it too.

Next up we pass by TSM and as expected the wait if i remember at that time was 120 min, if not more, so we move on. Next up was Disney Junior Live, before we left on this trip, DD and I would look at attractions to kindof get an idea of what she wanted to do, she usually gave me an "ohh i wanna do that" but for DJL she would say "whoa that is so cool, i def wanna do that" (not the greatest pic)

 

[moose615]

Next up is Voyage of The Little Mermaid, we see that the next show is in 30 min so we decided to check out Animation Gallery, I could spend soooo much money in that store!!!, while looking around I spot this and had to have it.

They were $35 each and the ones at AoA were $65 and didnt have the Disney stamp in the paper, I am sure there is a reason why the AoA ones were more but these were great so DD had to pick between a LM one and Minnie one so which did she pick?

I had them sent to the front of the park so we didnt have to carry them around, I was very excited about these finds.

DD loved VOTLM and we enjoyed it as well. we ended up having quite a bit of time before Fantasmic so we had to make up our minds if we were going to do TSM or ToT, DD had said she really wanted to do ToT before the trip and I felt like she should wait till our next trip so we checked out TSM wait time and it was at 55 min (lowest it had been since we arrived) so we made the call to wait in TSM and knew we wouldnt be able to do ToT since we had reserved tickets for Fantasmic so waiting it is. DD was so happy she beat grandma at TSM

The wait took alittle longer then expected so we had to rush over to Fantasmic to make sure we got in.

It was an awesome show, everyone loved it,I forgot to take more pics because I was so into the show, Everyone was rushing out to leave so we kindof took it easy and looked in some shops and of course what do I see? the Minnie Mouse house that i went to DTD earlier for (of course!!) and I love old cars especially old gangster cars

and of course I had to get a nighttime pic of this:

Back to AoA for some photo ops and swimming (again so wrong about how much DD would want to swim)

DD is so smart, she noticed that all the fish were swimming away from Ursela and swimming toward Ariel, she said "Ursela doesnt have very many friends, everyone should have friends" I love her so much

Well thats it for Day 3, it was another really great day, we all had fun, picked up a few cool things and most of all we went swimming haha

Next up Day 4: Magic Kingdom & Last day

 

[moose615]

Day 4: MK and our last day at WDW

We woke up and decided to eat some snacks and head out to MK so we could make the most of our last day.

We watched Dream-Along With Mickey show, which DD really liked.

Then DD said she wanted to ride POTC again and ride the Magic Carpets

We checked the time and it was getting close to our 11:45 ADR at CRT so we headed over to the castle.

 

[moose615]

DD was really excited to be in the castle again, DD had her picture taken with Cinderella and then headed up the stairs to our table

We ended up getting a great table with a great view of Beast Castle

And Finally some food pics!! For starters DD had chesse and grapes (she ate it all) and I for some reason didnt get my Chef's Tasting Plate (didnt realize till later that night) But I had a really good salad so that helped.

For Entree DD picked the chicken nuggets.

and I had the grilled pork chop with Apple Chutney, Sweet Potato Purée,
and Swiss Chard. Not sure what swiss chard is but it was hands down the best food I had the whole trip.

And now time for the Princesses!!!!, DD got soo excited everytime they announced the arrival of the princesses.
DD didnt brush her hair and didnt want me to so I reluctantly let her go without since it was our last day and I didnt want any issues. First princess was Ariel, DDs fave, when she came up to the table she looked at DD and said "I see you used a Dinglehopper too this morning" I almost fell out of my seat laughing!

Next up was Aurora, personally she freaked me out, but don't tell DD.

and then came DDs 2nd fave, Belle

and last but not least, Jasmine

DD was very happy meeting them and getting their autographs.
It then was time to order dessert. DD ordered the decorate your own ice cream and did the wishing ceremony.

I ordered the pumpkin cheesecake, words cannot describe that cheese cake, a few nights before I had the tye dye cheesecake and the pumpkin cheesecake blew it away.

DD had a great time during CRT and I would highly recommend it.

 

[moose615]

Next up, we decided to get fast passes for Peter Pans Flight since it had a 50 min wait, we rode the Tea Cups

and then headed over to ride Dumbo, but by that time the wait was 40 min so we headed over to get fast passes for that too. And we got a really nice surprise with our fast passes, surprise fast passes for Mickey's PhilharMagic, which was awesome since we figured we wouldnt have time to see it so I give props to Disney for that.

While we are waiting for our 3 fast pass times, we head over to Pete's Silly Sideshow which opened up only a week prior, for alittle Daisy and Minnie meet and greet, DD loved Minnies area because she loves pink poodles.

After the meet and greet, we kindof had to do alittle back and forth because the PhilharMagic fast pass time was before the Dumbo so we went back to do PhilharMagic, Everyone loved it, It was def in my top 5 of things we did, and it almost didn't happen. Next we went back to ride Dumbo

And then back to Peter Pan's Flight, but our Fast Passes we not for another 25 min, so DD wanted to ride IASW again while we waited, it had a wait so they must of used more boats because 3 times during the ride we bumped into the boats in front of us and had to wait a few times to keep moving.
Finally, we get to ride PPF and DD loved it so did I.
After PPF, we could tell DD was starting to get tired and ready to go back to the room, so we headed out but not before DD wanted the stuffed "Poochie" from POTC that she saw during MNSSHP. also on the way out I saw a new Jack Skellington ear hat that I didnt see when I was in Orlando in January so I picked one up to go with my other one.

 

[twokids0204]

Looks like things are really going great...

DD is adorable.

 

[moose615]

Looks like things are really going great...

DD is adorable.

Thank you, I already have 2 more trips in the future in mind already haha

 

[moose615]

That was pretty much it for Day 4 aka last day at WDW
When we got back to AoA, we ate and then went swimming (again I was so wrong about the swimming) The only issue I had with AoA was the long walk from our room to the buses and lobby, but I kindof expected that from the map beforehand so I cant really complain much.

We had to get up early to hop on our flight back to Nashville but I took a few more pics of the LM area before we left.

And the Official End of Vacation Pic!

I thought about making the last pic the long security line we waited in at 5am but I wanted to end it on a happy note and long security lines are not happy.

Thats it for my 1st TR, I would like to thank all the Disney resources, The Disboards and Disdads for all the help and advice given to help me plan DDs first trip to WDW.All in all it was a great trip, we didnt get to ride all the rides and they soft opened New Fantasyland 2 days after we left but its ok because that just means another future trip

I am more hooked now then I was before, next up I am thinking of planning a Fall 2013 trip to Disneyland to check out their Halloween offerings and then possibly a trip back to WDW around Christmas 2014 for DDs 7th Birthday.
Thank you again for checking out my trip report, hopefully you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing it.