The Many Adventures of...A Family With a New Baby! Jan - Dec 2016! New 11/7!

[Imagineer5]

Your pictures of the Contemporary pool are getting me more excited about our stay at BLT. I think that Rory will love having that slide as well as the BLT one, and maybe Lola might even be able to go down the small slide you mentioned.

Chef Mickey's looked like a lot of fun, and it's good to hear a positive review of the food. I feel like usually the reviews are so negative that I don't even consider eating there. We have never been.

Good to know about Garden Grill and the lack of allergy-safe breakfast food. I guess we won't be headed there any time soon! How nice that it was so empty and you got a nice welcome!

Love the ride photo of Aria on TT lol.

The pools are great!! The BLT one is really nice too, I was pretty disappointed it was unexpectedly closed!

It MAY have just been the chef, so I hope others have had much better allergy experiences there, and I bet the lunch/dinner menu would be more accommodating so I prob wouldn't totally rule it out bc it's one of my favorites and character interaction is fantastic! I'll let you know how things go in a couple weeks, as we have Maya's allergies noted on all reservations.

 

[Imagineer5]

Ugh!!! I just realized I forgot to mention a HUGE plotline in my last update!! It ended up shaping the rest of the trip.

When we were in the Seas area, Aria wanted to check out the gift shop. She saw one of those Ariel bubble wands there, and wanted one - she had about $50 in Disney gift cards from her birthday to use. But I wanted to try and teach her about $$ so I asked her to think about it and if she really wanted it after seeing what else was for sale, then she could get it in a few days...

BAD decision, mommy!! (Aria was great about it, btw).

 

[MiaBella05]

joining in

 

[khertz]

Love the pics of Aria twirling in her dress on the way to Chef Mickey's!! So cute.

Ahhhh, that glorious long stretch of sleep with an infant! I remember it well!! Especially on vacation.

Sorry GG was a bummer for you for breakfast. Sounds like the chef maybe didn't want to be bothered. That has to be so frustrating.

lol at the Test Track ride photo!! I have so so many just like that!!

 

[jvz82]

January 30th - Aria's 4th birthday!

2) I was home on "maternity leave" (in quotes, because you know, the US Government doesn't feel like paid maternity leave is necessary and thus I was given 12 weeks unpaid...).

I've been reading your report! Just had to say that I first brought my daughter to Disney when she was 8 weeks old too! And the main reason was because I was still on maternity leave, lol. So I totally know how you feel! I enjoyed bringing a tiny baby though, I found it to be easier than an older baby.

 

[Dugette]

I wanted to post an update over the long weekend but it just was pretty crazy at home. I ended up doing a huge purge of clothes (long time coming) because I had quite the deficit for the December WDW trip and I pay for the side trips out of my own "fun" money (i.e. generally not joint trip budget, if Andrew has anything to say about it lol). After my huge purge, I am only $200 away from the total, so I would call that pretty good.

Yay, good job! I think I have everything for ours covered, but might grab a few extra Disney gift cards with some sale/discount opportunities I've read about. I need to go over my numbers again, I think.

then he decided to buy a DVD case and take down a shelf of 400+ DVD's and put them all in the case, alphabetically, so that was our Friday night haha.

Geez, that's a LOT of alphabetizing!

Anyway I'll load photos once it's all cleaned up

Can't wait to see!

Phew. Back to the TR!!

I feel lazy now.

After one time down she declared it was the best thing ever and went down a good 20 times.

Good for her. Someday we will have to meet up on a summer trip and hit a waterpark - Izzy is obsessed with waterslides (we drove past WI Dells today and she wanted to stay there and do the waterslides again).

Aria was loving the twirl factor of her dress so she twirled the whole way there lol!

Cute! Izzy doesn't wear dresses as often as Aria, but she does love a good twirl when she does.

Cute, even Maya is looking at the camera while she eats.

And then something amazing happened. The chef came over with two bowls - a dairy free ice cream for dessert with cookies AND - mashed potatoes!! He said they didn't have anything made up, so he apologized for the wait but he had to cook the potatoes and then make up a dairy free recipe using olive oil. Let me tell you, these tasted AMAZING. I have since recreated dairy free mashed potatoes and even Andrew would agree they rival any potatoes you could find with sour cream, butter, cheese, cream cheese, etc. SO GOOD. So awesome of the chef, I wrote Disney about him when we returned home.

Glad you had such a good experience here! Potatoes sound tasty!

excuse my Tinkerbelle PJs lol

Eh, I'm in Tink jammies right now (10:40pm). Izzy makes me wear them since she has some and we can be "Tinkerbell twins".

Even better, tonight she slept 8PM-4:15AM, ate quickly and fell back asleep for another two hours (i.e. back to normal from what she was doing at home!). It felt AMAZING to sleep 8 hours straight

That sounds pretty amazing!

I'm excited to return with Dugette and family!

I'm excited to finally get there!

So there's been lots of Garden Grill talk over on the June '14 DIS meet TR @Dugette and I are working on, but now I'll finally get to post the photos and info about our experience there in February!

Funny how the dining reports have been synching up.

While I am someone who has proclaimed MANY times I'll never own a Minivan, we both agreed this one was awesome. Not pictured here (we figured this out a couple days further along), we could lift up the stroller and put it in totally unfolded! So awesome. And now that #3 is OTW, it's a high contender for a car but we're paying off the Expedition first.

What kind of minivan was it? We saw some friends this weekend while in Madison and they are now expecting their 5th kid (!! ) and have an Odyssey. They love it, but I would have to think it's pretty maxed out with that many. (and their other car is a Prius )

Since we were the only people there, Mickey, Pluto, Chip & Dale came over to welcome us so to speak!

Man, GG gets crazy with characters coming around often normally, but empty?! Good luck eating.

Cute picture!

It was...interesting. Actually to be honest, it was about the most disgusting thing I'd ever eaten at Disney World. However, my mom would probably love it as it's right up her gluten free, vegan alley (she serves food like this at her house). The breading stuff was a bean based GF bread. Inside was various veggies. I asked for hot sauce, and the tabasco just about did me in (worst hot sauce ever invented IMO).

Yeah, not so appetizing.

I have never loved this ring sling (funny enough it's called a Maya sling). I just can't figure out how to make it comfy. However I have been meaning to pull it out again for our upcoming trip because of the baby bump, a regular baby carrier won't work, although I hope not to have to carry Maya around as much as this trip! (She napped well in the stroller at DL, btw).

I wondered how that would work with the baby bump. If needed (and if she approves), I could carry and/or wear her at times too.

Aria kept getting down on the floor when characters tried to come down to her level. I think she thinks she is taller than she is lol!

Izzy has a tendency to do this too. I think maybe mirroring them?

Reminds me of @khertz's photo of Paxton! lol! Aria was there, promise.

Note to self: don't have Izzy sit on that side of the car, if possible.

Some ride pics, as I sat with Maya <3

Ha, love that her little face got in there.

BAD decision, mommy!!

Guessing she did not learn the same lesson you were intending to teach.

 

[Imagineer5]

joining in

Thank you for joining!!

Love the pics of Aria twirling in her dress on the way to Chef Mickey's!! So cute.

Ahhhh, that glorious long stretch of sleep with an infant! I remember it well!! Especially on vacation.

Sorry GG was a bummer for you for breakfast. Sounds like the chef maybe didn't want to be bothered. That has to be so frustrating.

lol at the Test Track ride photo!! I have so so many just like that!!

YES it was amazing!! Although I have to say, even with Maya's issues, both of my girls have been good sleepers, doing that 8-hour stretch regularly by 8 weeks old (I had gotten used to that, so that is why the first few nights at WDW were even tougher when she woke up at midnight!).

I've been reading your report! Just had to say that I first brought my daughter to Disney when she was 8 weeks old too! And the main reason was because I was still on maternity leave, lol. So I totally know how you feel! I enjoyed bringing a tiny baby though, I found it to be easier than an older baby.

Thank you so much for reading along!! Yes, I had to make use of that time and plan to again lol! A normal tiny baby wouldn't have been too bad, but one who screamed unless she was in a wrap made for very long days I like it when it seems like they are enjoying themselves- DL in August when she was 9 months old was a LOT of fun, and I'm so excited for WDW in a couple weeks!!

Yay, good job! I think I have everything for ours covered, but might grab a few extra Disney gift cards with some sale/discount opportunities I've read about. I need to go over my numbers again, I think.


Geez, that's a LOT of alphabetizing!


Can't wait to see!


I feel lazy now.


Good for her. Someday we will have to meet up on a summer trip and hit a waterpark - Izzy is obsessed with waterslides (we drove past WI Dells today and she wanted to stay there and do the waterslides again).


Cute! Izzy doesn't wear dresses as often as Aria, but she does love a good twirl when she does.


Cute, even Maya is looking at the camera while she eats.


Glad you had such a good experience here! Potatoes sound tasty!


Eh, I'm in Tink jammies right now (10:40pm). Izzy makes me wear them since she has some and we can be "Tinkerbell twins".


That sounds pretty amazing!


I'm excited to finally get there!


Funny how the dining reports have been synching up.


What kind of minivan was it? We saw some friends this weekend while in Madison and they are now expecting their 5th kid (!! ) and have an Odyssey. They love it, but I would have to think it's pretty maxed out with that many. (and their other car is a Prius )


Man, GG gets crazy with characters coming around often normally, but empty?! Good luck eating.


Cute picture!


Yeah, not so appetizing.


I wondered how that would work with the baby bump. If needed (and if she approves), I could carry and/or wear her at times too.


Izzy has a tendency to do this too. I think maybe mirroring them?


Note to self: don't have Izzy sit on that side of the car, if possible.


Ha, love that her little face got in there.


Guessing she did not learn the same lesson you were intending to teach.

I think the minivan was a town and country? BUt who knows. It was the auto-doors that got me lol!

Yeah I think it's pretty funny how the dining reports have been matching up!

It was SO weird, I am really interested to see how BF is here on our next trip, I think maybe just word hadn't gotten around that it was open for BF yet????

You'll see coming up, but I learned a lesson more than she did lol!

 

[mousehappync]

All caught up after our DL trip! Their dresses are so cute! Are you going tone able to match all three girls?! I thought our matching days were over, but I brought matched outfits to DL, and instead of the protests I was expecting, I got very enthusiastic responses from my almost-10-year-old! I only have 2-3 matched outfits at this point-- I wonder if it's worth spending the money before our January WDW trip? Maybe!

Your GG breakfast looks--BAD. HOW could a chef think that would be food someone would enjoy?! And especially compared to all the other delicious-looking breakfast food there. Just--no. Hope you get to enjoy everything in a few weeks! I wish I had some "potato barrels" right now!

 

[Imagineer5]

All caught up after our DL trip! Their dresses are so cute! Are you going tone able to match all three girls?! I thought our matching days were over, but I brought matched outfits to DL, and instead of the protests I was expecting, I got very enthusiastic responses from my almost-10-year-old! I only have 2-3 matched outfits at this point-- I wonder if it's worth spending the money before our January WDW trip? Maybe!

Your GG breakfast looks--BAD. HOW could a chef think that would be food someone would enjoy?! And especially compared to all the other delicious-looking breakfast food there. Just--no. Hope you get to enjoy everything in a few weeks! I wish I had some "potato barrels" right now!

Are you going to do a TR for your DL trip?!?! Did you have a blast??? How was GCA?!?! I want to hear all about it lol!!!

I am starting to get matching outfits for baby (or actually, saving Maya's outfits for her, and getting Maya bigger ones - Aria should fit in hers for a while still thankfully).

I have not started buying three of things during Matilda Jane releases LOL but that's mainly bc I don't know how big this one will be, plus I only keep my absolute favorites, so by next fall/winter I'll have some fave outfits that I'll need to size up in for Maya and down in for baby lol. I see a lot of coordinating though vs. matching, Aria loves to point out when she coordinates but doesn't match, but she also still loves to match. You can see I have actually given this a lot of thought LOL!

Anyway back to Disney...

Yes GG was SO bad, and made even worse by how tempting Andrew's food was. I look forward to the do-over (and thankfully Maya isn't old enough to be disappointed in what she can't eat haha).

 

[mousehappync]

Yes! Here's a link.
http://www.disboards.com/threads/ea...-wdw-trip-report-were-back-from-cali.3555042/
I did some pre-trip reporting, mostly about what we will eat (priorities!) but I'm just starting the Cali portion of the actual trip! We leave for WDW in 47 days, so hoping to do that one, too! GC was EXACTLY like you told me it would be-- I felt ripped off by the price (and service was just not that great) for what I got, but I loved the convenience. I could see us trying Paradise Pier if we go back-- it was only a block longer walk if you use the GC entrance, but half the cost. I'm glad we stayed on property, though-- even though there was no bubble, it felt very comfortable to be in a Disney property. I have lots of thoughts about WDW vs. DL, but overall, if I had to pick, I would definitely choose WDW.

I have to admit, dressing three girls sounds both super-fun and SUPER financially exhausting I would go SO overboard! Mine are at the point now where all they want is Underarmour stuff-- it's just not as much fun to shop for as the cute stuff I used to buy. They will still wear miniBoden on trips, so we do a lot of baggies with matched tees. I love your girls clothes!

 

[Imagineer5]

I last left off heading out of EPCOT and then a later post about a plotline I forgot all about, regarding a bubble wand and trying to teach Aria a lesson about really wanting something before buying it :-D

When we returned from the park, we headed to the pool! Had to make use of the warmest part of the day, as we were lucking out with getting up to about 80's during this part of the trip (this drops off significantly soon!).

I also fed Maya back at the room while Andrew got Aria ready.

I was on baby duty for a bit while Andrew & Aria went off to check out the pools. She was being pretty good

But getting sleepy!

I had a fairly loose "schedule" of trying to get her to nap after being awake 2 hours (I learned this worked well with Aria at this age) so put her down for a nap in the stroller, and miraculously she took a 40 minute nap in there without fuss <3 (see in the photo below, I did not put her in the car seat, but instead laid back Aria's seat - which lays flat - and she napped well!). This is why I would forego the car seat next time with an infant and instead just lay back a seat.

After rocking the stroller a bit and confirming she was out, we switched spots and Andrew went on baby duty while I got to go swimming!

Or rather watch Aria go down the slide a gazillion times. It's one of those that kills your back, but didn't bug her since she had the life vest on.

She loved circling around though and doing it herself.

We played in the water spray a bit

Then we checked out the neat pool that is over the lake, or built right next to it? It's circular and fairly shallow, but we wanted to check it out anyway.

She loved jumping into my arms, so did that about 5,000 times.

Andrew decided to start walking back to the room so he could get a jump start on showering and all that. By about 3:30 we did so too, knowing Maya would be waking soon and needing to eat.

When we got back, I fed Maya then showered Aria and myself, and got ready! We had some time before our ADR at the California Grill, but no other plans for the evening (this is my ideal type of trip - where we have a long enough stay to just spend the mornings at a park, then a more relaxing afternoon and a nice dinner). So got the girls dressed, and relaxed with some wine.

I fed Maya once more (in the evenings she only went maybe 1.5 hours without eating before getting fussy and pumped, then we headed out.

Coming up - CA Grill Dinner!

 

[Imagineer5]

Once again, another 2 hours had passed since Maya had woken up from her nap, so I put her in the wrap in hopes she would sleep through part of our dinner vs. being miss crabby. So we didn't bring the stroller, and Aria walked. I let her bring her new Ariel playset to dinner.

We enjoyed the beautiful walk over to the Contemporary

I was clashing horribly between the teal dress and orange wrap. LOL!

We were given a really nice semi circle booth though, I generally always get a table it seems, but this was very nice to have and more private too. Our view of the sunset was beautiful, too.

They don't have crayons at the California Grill. They do have a kid's menu, with a grilled chicken breast dish Aria usually gets, but this is why I let her bring the little Ariel play set. When we went in May on our mother/daughter trip (coming up, this was a BLAST) - they offered a game set which was nice, but also awkward? If I wanted her to not be present during the meal, I'd have brought her ipad? IDK, I would prefer crayons or a toy that I can be a part of too, I guess.

Anyway...

Andrew oddly enough ordered some wine, and I ordered my Washington Apple Martini (blurry in bottom of pic above). That was NOT a Washington apple martini - which is made with Crown Royal, Cranberry Juice and a little Sour Apple Pucker's. I had my first during our honeymoon trip in 2007 and like to get a new bottle of Crown Royal each year to make them at home. They are a brown color. This was a sour apple martini, but still good so I didn't complain lol.

Oh this was cute, Andrew ordered some sushi, so they also brought over kid's chopsticks for Aria.

Andrew started enjoying Sushi recently, and I won't touch it, so unfortunately Aria really hasn't been exposed to it. I do like her to eat everything we do, but alas she wouldn't touch the sushi. She enjoyed the chopsticks though!

Oh here I am with little Miss Maya strapped to me. She was sound asleep

A female chef, I did catch her name and it was Amy, came out to discuss the allergy options with me. She first asked me whether anything from the regular menu stood out (which was a first, I think) and I mentioned the fish tacos and the chicken dish. She said she can work with both of those and make them safe!! I commented that I love flavor and would appreciate some sort of spicy sauce for the tacos, since I think it was some sort of chipotle crema originally, and she said no problem.

Those may not look like much, but OMG. (Side note, Aria recently said O M G out of the blue and we all cracked up). These were amazing little flavor bombs. Top left was a chipotle sauce of some sort, and it was just delicious. Up top you can also see they brought out olive oil so I could have the bread and dip in that vs. butter.

SO amazing, I think at this point I did NOT have California Grill booked for May, and after dinner this evening I went into MDE and promptly made a reservation to return. And I also looked to swap out Yachtsman later on in this trip, for another visit here to take the IL's, but no reservations for 6 ever popped up.

Meanwhile, Andrew declared his sushi the best he had ever had, and also enjoyed the lobster bisque. The timing was a bit off as they brought out both at the same time, when they should have done the sushi with my main dish (or at least asked) but that was a small complaint.

This is Andrew's main dish. If you recognize the meat, feel free to chime in. Haha (again, I don't eat meat so I don't even know?). But he loved it. He also got Aria to eat a little.

My chicken dish which was good (although I won't touch the leg, but I think I cut it up for Aria to eat some of it). I may have also mentioned I loved potatoes and Chef Amy did something delicious with them!

Aria ordered a Shirley Temple, and ate some of our meals. At this point, we had already grown tired of buying her a meal (in a couple weeks I'll prob get the chicken dish for her and Maya to share, though).

When it was time for dessert, the Chef came out again and started discussing their sorbet options. Ugh. I don't do non ice cream ice cream (granted, they make their sorbet in house and yadda yadda) I asked if she by chance had anything else (I was still SUPER into desserts at this point) and she said she would come up with something.

Excitedly anticipating what was too come, I patiently awaited dessert and played with Aria. Maya woke up right around this time, too.

She ended up making a super rich, amazingly delicious dark chocolate creation of some sort. It was kind of like pudding but with crispy parts too? It was so good.

I enjoyed it (and shared, it was super rich!) Andrew fed maya her bottle. She wasn't that happy though

I think Andrew ordered us glasses of champagne, although that isn't very like him so maybe they brought us them? I don't know. But Maya was happy back in my arms, and Aria started taking photos.

(there are approximately 10 variations of each photo, but I'll spare you 90% of them :-D)

Hey look, Daddy paying the bill (thank you TiW for the 20% discount!!).

After the amazing dinner, which considering we were there with a 9 week old and a 4 yo lasted a good amount of time, we walked back to the room. For once we were awake enough to stay up for Wishes!! So we got everyone in PJs, put the sound on the TV after a little finagling trying to find the right channel, and sat outside.

Maya fell asleep on Andrew

Afterwards we put the girls to bed without fuss and headed to bed too.

Unfortunately Maya only slept 6 hours, waking at 2 but she did fall back asleep until 5:15, when she was up for the day!

Coming up - BoG breakfast, MK, A special treat for just Aria & me, and an up in the air evening!


I hope you all have wonderful Thanksgiving's. I'll see you on the flip side after 2 nights at the Cape then on to full blown Christmas decorating!!

 

[mousehappync]

I last left off heading out of EPCOT and then a later post about a plotline I forgot all about, regarding a bubble wand and trying to teach Aria a lesson about really wanting something before buying it :-D

I'm assuming this means you never made it back to the wand.... But good firvtryingbto instill values! I'm the sucker in our family on vacation--I'm pretty restrained at home, but I tend to buy everything my kids/I think is cute on vacation....oops.

so put her down for a nap in the stroller, and miraculously she took a 40 minute nap in there without fuss <3 (see in the photo below, I did not put her in the car seat, but instead laid back Aria's seat - which lays flat - and she napped well!). This is why I would forego the car seat next time with an infant and

My kids NEVER.EVER.DID.THIS. They were both terrible nappers-- glad you got to relax!

Andrew started enjoying Sushi recently, and I won't touch it, so unfortunately Aria really hasn't been exposed to it. I do like her to eat everything we do, but alas she wouldn't touch the sushi. She enjoyed the chopsticks though!

Grady asks for sashimi (no rice, just fish!) which even I don't eat! JH is a bento box kind of guy at sushi restaurants-- straight up chicken, rice and broccoli. I love the specialty rolls, which are sometimes raw and sometimes cooked, but generally have some version of siracha mayo on them.

Oh here I am with little Miss Maya strapped to me. She was sound asleep

I ate many a meal that way! JH loved the wrap so much!

Those may not look like much, but OMG. (Side note, Aria recently said O M G out of the blue and we all cracked up). These were amazing little flavor bombs. Top left was a chipotle sauce of some sort, and it was just delicious. Up top you can also see they brought out olive oil so I could have the bread and dip in that vs. butter.

SO amazing, I think at this point I did NOT have California Grill booked for May, and after dinner this evening I went into MDE and promptly made a reservation to return. And I also looked to swap out Yachtsman later on in this trip, for another visit here to take the IL's, but no reservations for 6 ever popped up.

Meanwhile, Andrew declared his sushi the best he had ever had, and also enjoyed the lobster bisque. The timing was a bit off as they brought out both at the same time, when they should have done the sushi with my main dish (or at least asked) but that was a small complaint.

This is Andrew's main dish. If you recognize the meat, feel free to chime in. Haha (again, I don't eat meat so I don't even know?). But he loved it. He also got Aria to eat a little.

I think his is the pork three ways? I had something similar at CG in 2012. We did NOT have a good experience then-- we have never gone back! Your review is making me rethink this... I need to extend our trip to fit in extra meals!

She ended up making a super rich, amazingly delicious dark chocolate creation of some sort. It was kind of like pudding but with crispy parts too? It was so good.

Y.U.M.

After the amazing dinner, which considering we were there with a 9 week old and a 4 yo lasted a good amount of time, we walked back to the room. For once we were awake enough to stay up for Wishes!! So we got everyone in PJs, put the sound on the TV after a little finagling trying to find the right channel, and sat outside.

We may have to try this in January! I was going to see about getting into the lounge one night, although since Wishes is at 8 every evening of our stay, we might end up just going over and watching in the park. There is something so cozy about watching a show in your pj's though!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

California Grill is always one of our favorites so glad to hear it worked out well for you this time. I don't think we have ever sat at a booth - but does look a bit more private and that you had a bit more room to move around

Their sushi is really good - definitely something we always get. Most of my kids really like Sushi though so I would probably have to just order the spicy Kazaan roll so they would leave some for me

That was great the chef asked you what caught your eye and then worked with that to make you your meal - I really like that approach as it still feels like you are getting the regular/full California Grill experience

Oh, and Adrew got the pork dish. The left side is the pork loin with pollenta and the right is the lacquered pork belly. Before the refurb it only came with the pork loin (but 3 pieces instead of 2) and to be honest I preferred it that way - still a good dish though. We love their sushi and apps and flatbreads so we tend to just share some of those and maybe one entree or something now.

Sounds like a nice evening getting to watch Wishes from the room - and nice that Maya fell asleep during it

I feel like we are so different from everyone else as we don't really put up many Christmas decorations - really just the tree and that we never get before at least the mid-point of December. I put some lights on outside though - might do that this weekend. I think Judi is just not really into decorating (not worth the effort to her) and I got tired of asking about it

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

You really did have a great view of the fireworks from your room. Another perk of staying so close to Magic Kingdom.

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

[Imagineer5]

I'm assuming this means you never made it back to the wand.... But good firvtryingbto instill values! I'm the sucker in our family on vacation--I'm pretty restrained at home, but I tend to buy everything my kids/I think is cute on vacation....oops.


My kids NEVER.EVER.DID.THIS. They were both terrible nappers-- glad you got to relax!


Grady asks for sashimi (no rice, just fish!) which even I don't eat! JH is a bento box kind of guy at sushi restaurants-- straight up chicken, rice and broccoli. I love the specialty rolls, which are sometimes raw and sometimes cooked, but generally have some version of siracha mayo on them.


I ate many a meal that way! JH loved the wrap so much!



I think his is the pork three ways? I had something similar at CG in 2012. We did NOT have a good experience then-- we have never gone back! Your review is making me rethink this... I need to extend our trip to fit in extra meals!


Y.U.M.


We may have to try this in January! I was going to see about getting into the lounge one night, although since Wishes is at 8 every evening of our stay, we might end up just going over and watching in the park. There is something so cozy about watching a show in your pj's though!

I am the worst at buying stuff when Aria is napping (though those days are over I guess). I love to surprise her with new goodies lol! But if she begs for something I don't like to give in. This trip was the first she had her own $$ and she still doesn't understand the concept really, but I was trying to teach her a lesson. You'll see about the stupid bubble wand lol.

I was definitely spoiled with Aria, who was an easy baby, great napper, and def no allergies or anything. So it was a learning curve with Maya. For most of the vacation she hated the stroller/car seat so it was a LOT of holding her. She was probably only 9 lbs at the time, but that gets old quickly!

California Grill and Crystal Palace PPO are my two MUST DOs every trip. Like, a trip isn't complete without those. I love CG and have maybe had 1 bad experience there, but then we went back after the reno and it's been great since.

California Grill is always one of our favorites so glad to hear it worked out well for you this time. I don't think we have ever sat at a booth - but does look a bit more private and that you had a bit more room to move around

Their sushi is really good - definitely something we always get. Most of my kids really like Sushi though so I would probably have to just order the spicy Kazaan roll so they would leave some for me

That was great the chef asked you what caught your eye and then worked with that to make you your meal - I really like that approach as it still feels like you are getting the regular/full California Grill experience

Oh, and Adrew got the pork dish. The left side is the pork loin with pollenta and the right is the lacquered pork belly. Before the refurb it only came with the pork loin (but 3 pieces instead of 2) and to be honest I preferred it that way - still a good dish though. We love their sushi and apps and flatbreads so we tend to just share some of those and maybe one entree or something now.

Sounds like a nice evening getting to watch Wishes from the room - and nice that Maya fell asleep during it

I feel like we are so different from everyone else as we don't really put up many Christmas decorations - really just the tree and that we never get before at least the mid-point of December. I put some lights on outside though - might do that this weekend. I think Judi is just not really into decorating (not worth the effort to her) and I got tired of asking about it

I definitely found allergies were best handled at signature restaurants - they were just able to handle it well, with flavor, and with class. It was really nice!

Well, if it wasn't for Andrew, we wouldn't do anything outside either. I am not one to go outside in 30 degrees and put up lights, but with a little direction from Aria and me (this year she has requested rainbow lights...) he puts up lights on a few trees, a garland or two, and spotlights on the house. We have a huge holiday party each year so the inside also needs to be super decorated too!

We also have a tradition now of going to a huge tree farm type of place nearby, spending the requisite 3 hours searching for the perfect tree, then waiting with some hot chocolate and popcorn while they go cut it down and deliver it to the car. It's fun! We did that last year when poor Maya was just two weeks old haha.

You really did have a great view of the fireworks from your room. Another perk of staying so close to Magic Kingdom.

Happy Thanksgiving!

It was a great view despite being down low, and with the music on from the TV it was perfect!!

Thanks!!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

We also have a tradition now of going to a huge tree farm type of place nearby, spending the requisite 3 hours searching for the perfect tree, then waiting with some hot chocolate and popcorn while they go cut it down and deliver it to the car. It's fun! We did that last year when poor Maya was just two weeks old haha.

We do that too ... although we have to cut it down ourselves and carry it back to the car ourselves ... nothing like lying on the cold (sometimes snowy) ground and cutting down a tree with a handsaw! :|

We've avoided having the real little babies - but we went just before Peter was born (He's Dec 13th) so Judi was like full on 9 months pregnant at the time

 

[amazingact21]

All caught up!
Sorry to hear Maya had so many issues with dairy/soy and that she was fussy a lot of the time. My oldest was the same, so it was such a shock when I had my daughter and she was easy going. It's amazing how different each child is. I hope for your sake Baby #3 is super relaxed and mellow.

Your dinner at CA Grill sounded like a great experience. That dark chocolate dessert looked delicious. I could substitute that for a dairy dessert any day of the week.

Those 1 bedrooms at BLT seem perfect for a family. So much space! And very smart thinking putting the pack and play in the master bath. It was like everyone had their own room, which I'm sure made it that much cozier.

How great that you were able to catch Wishes from the balcony after your dinner. The joys of newborns...you tend to pass out when they do and have to sacrifice some Disney activities.

 

[khertz]

What a nice afternoon/evening! It's a good thing you got that pool time in, because I think we are about to show up on our trip and bring the freezing cold weather with us! lol

I'm glad the kids were cooperative during dinner and that you had a good experience with the chef and had a great meal even with your restrictions. And what better way to cap off a night than with Wishes on your balcony in your pj's?!

 

[ariane37]

I was so incredibly far behind sorry! All caught up now. Hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving, we were in Disney so yes, we enjoyed ours!
I love the pictures from SE and how you got Maya's little head in there
I may have said this earlier in your report, but I really commend your usage of those baby wraps/carriers. I could never use them; between my kids not liking them and/or me not finding them comfortable, they just never worked for me!