The "Was it a Perfect trip?" Trip Report (w/pics) Updated 12/1

[momtoccc]

Let me explain the title…. The weekend before we were to leave for WDW I was telling my dh (Rob) that I was nervous that all my planning, expectations, etc… just couldn’t possibly be met and that my perfectionist tendencies would come out and I would be disappointed. He gently reminded me that no trip is ever perfect and that we would still have fun. I asked him to keep me in check if the perfectionist monster started coming out on our trip. So, the running theme of our trip was, “Is it perfect???”

You will have to keep reading to find out if it was or not...

Meanwhile if you are really interested you can check out the pre-trip report. I really wouldn’t bother – it is a lot of rambling about planning and dreaming and mainly talking to myself about our upcoming trip (mainly because DH didn’t want to hear every detail!)

I will re-introduce the cast though:

DH – (Rob) Sweetest man there ever was. We’ve been together 5+ years now and we have a beautiful daughter. He has not been to WDW since 1993 when he went with parents and younger siblings. He knew our “princess” would love to meet Sleeping Beauty and Pooh and agreed that we should take this trip. He left all planning details to me – his main contribution was to pick the Wilderness Lodge for our stay.

Me – (Kellye) I’ve been to WDW a few times but not since 2001 with my older sons and ex-husband. I just knew dd would love it all and was very excited to take her. I did all the researching, planning (ok, obsessing) about our trip for the past 6 months. I’ve always wanted to stay at WL so I was thrilled to get the chance!

DD – Camryn (turns 4 in December) is a girly girl if there ever was one. She loves dressing up, playing princess, getting her nails polished, etc… It has been so much fun for me to have a daughter after having 2 boys. (My boys are great but a daughter is so different!) She was most excited about seeing the castle, princesses and Pooh.

More to come!!

 

[momtoccc]

Day 1: Arrival Day

The day had finally arrived! After months and months of planning, changed ADRs and changed itineraries, our countdown calendar said it was time to go!! I had started packing over the weekend and did last minute things on Halloween night in-between trick-or-treaters. Bags were packed, house was somewhat cleaned, dog was fed and we were off!

We got to airport, dropped off the luggage at curbside (4 bags plus carseat!), got through security and made it to the gate with no problems at all (see, our vacation was already starting off perfectly!) Flight was on-time – we put Camryn in a window seat, me in an aisle and Rob across the aisle which left us more room for all of Camryn’s stuff. Camryn travels with her little pink suitcase which contains markers, coloring books, books to read, stuffed animals, DVDs to watch, and any other random toys she might need for the trip. Hey – anything to keep her occupied is ok with me! My job on the flight is to open and shut the pink suitcase to pull out whatever thing she thinks she needs at the time. Actually she spent some time coloring and then watched a DVD on the laptop. She was very good on the flight.

The next part is boring – we got our bags, rented a car (scored a minivan!) and headed off to our off-site hotel for the night. Now – as tempted as I was to start the Disney magic right away – the practical side of me couldn’t see spending an extra $300 or more to stay at WL an extra night when we didn’t get in until late afternoon and would not be going to the parks that day. (This might not have been the best decision – details to come…)

Anyway, we found our hotel (Comfort Suites East Maingate in Kissimmee), got some bad dinner at some local Italian place (can’t remember the name) and then headed to Downtown Disney!

 

[whogirl'smom]

Great start! We stayed at the Comfort Inn LBV our first night since we didn't arrive till after dinner time--it was very exhausting getting up at the crack of dawn the next day to check into Pop in time to get to MK for EMH! Next time we might re-think that! Can't wait to hear about your DD's reaction to her first day there!

 

[IluvXU]

Sorry your trip is over...but I can't wait to read all about it. Hope that everything was "perfect"!

 

[momtoccc]

Sorry your trip is over...but I can't wait to read all about it. Hope that everything was "perfect"!

I'm sorry our trip is over too!

Great start! We stayed at the Comfort Inn LBV our first night since we didn't arrive till after dinner time--it was very exhausting getting up at the crack of dawn the next day to check into Pop in time to get to MK for EMH! Next time we might re-think that! Can't wait to hear about your DD's reaction to her first day there!

All she wanted to see was the castle - I have a picture of her looking at it for the first time!

I will type up another installment during my lunch break today and post it.

Have a great day!

 

[Avivasmom]

Sounds like a good start..hope the offsite hotel was not to bad. Cannot wait to read more.

 

[momtoccc]

Sounds like a good start..hope the offsite hotel was not to bad. Cannot wait to read more.

The offsite hotel was fine for one night. We had a King bed for us and a fold-out couch bed for Camryn. I wouldn't have wanted to stay their our entire trip but it was certainly fine and the price was good ($100).

 

[momtoccc]

We drove over to DTD, parked in the Marketplace area and headed out. Now it felt like our Disney vacation was starting! I had 3 objectives: 1) get some matching t-shirts, 2) get an autograph book for Camryn, and 3) get some Christmas ornaments. I wasn’t sure we would be back to DTD during our trip so I wanted to get this done tonight.

We came in by McDonalds and the Lego store. First stop was the (you guessed it…) the slide! We let Camryn run off some steam (after sitting most of the day).

She also played some legos with her Daddy. We skipped the Lego store and headed for THE store, the one and only World of Disney.

Camryn with Sleeping Beauty (her favorite)

Immediately Camryn started seeing all things princess and found many things she just had to have. I was beginning to see how this shopping might be a problem.. Luckily Rob came up with a great plan. She would get one special treat a day IF she was not whiney, took her naps and behaved like she was supposed to. This solved our problem of wanting a souvenir every time she saw something. Also – she had to decide what thing she wanted most each day and that would be it!

So… she picked out a Sleeping Beauty doll set with several little dresses and pieces (but NOT the scary witch Malificent – more on that later). I found matching shirts for us all, another shirt for me, a photo album for all my pics, and the princess autograph book for Camryn. I think some princess Jibbitz made their way in our purchase as well…

We headed to Christmas store and found some ornaments (Sleeping Beauty, ballerina Minnie and a Mickey). While I stood in the incredibly slow line (not getting upset though… we were in Disney!!), Rob and Camryn checked out the Pooh store. Somehow her limit of one toy a day didn’t apply and she came out with Rabbit and Owl to add to her pooh stuffed animal collection. She has the small stuffed animals and I guess they don’t make the same size/kind anymore. These are a little bigger than the ones she has now. (Actually, I don’t think we came up with the 1 toy per day rule until the next day)

Next stop……. Ice Cream at Ghiradelli!! YUMMMMM!! I haven’t had a good ice cream sundae in ages… so good! We headed back out with another stop at the slide. Back to the hotel so we could get a good night sleep. WL and MK coming the next day!!

Would we be able to get into our room early? Did Camryn like MK? Was she scared of Pooh??

 

[momtoccc]

Rob and I didn’t get to sleep too early (still on Mountain time) and I figured this would happen. I had planned for us to wake up whenever, eat continental breakfast at hotel, pack up and head over to WL to check in and get park tickets. I think Camryn and I were just too excited so we woke up earlier than I thought. I took her down to eat breakfast and let Rob sleep some more. However when we got back to the room he was already up and showered so we got out of there earlier than I thought we would. I think we were at WL by 10am. Check in was easy but the room was not ready yet (bummer). We just kept all our luggage in the car and took bus over to MK.

Camryn was so excited – she just kept bouncing up and down! I was so excited too… would she like it? Would she feel the magic? We had our own stroller so we wheeled her in, rounded the corner and looked up Main Street. There it was! There was Cinderella’s castle!

Here she is looking at it for the first time.

Rob pushing Camryn up to castle

We headed up Main Street and they were doing the show in front of the castle. Rob put Camryn on his shoulders so she could see. They were enjoying the show when all of the sudden Camryn wanted down – NOW! What happened??? Maleficent appeared on the stage and Camryn did NOT want to look at her. She got down and hid her eyes for a few minutes. Once Maleficent was gone she watched the rest of the show. This further reinforced my belief that she would not be doing PoTC or HM this trip!

So.. where should we go first? Well… Camryn decided she was hungry (it was 11am) and I decided I could use a snack as well since the continental breakfast wasn’t too much and I wasn’t going to last until our 3:50 ADR at Crystal Palace. Time to try the DDP! Thanks to all my DISboard reading, we headed to CHH. Since we didn’t want a large meal to spoil our dinner we opted to just split 1 CS credit on chicken strips, fries and apple dessert. This was just what we needed! Now we were ready to do some rides!!

 

[KimAshton]

awwwww camyrn is so adorable. Cannot wait to read more.

 

[momtoccc]

awwwww camyrn is so adorable. Cannot wait to read more.

Thanks for reading!!

 

[momtoccc]

Day 2: Afternoon at MK

So.. what should the first ride for our princess be? We walked into FantasyLand and checked things out. First order of business was a FP for Peter Pan. (I think stand-by time was about 30min). We turned around and there it was… It’s a Small World – perfect! Camryn wasn’t too sure since she couldn’t really see it but once she got going it was fine. She even got the song stuck in her head because I heard her humming it later

Next we did Carousel and then Mickey’s Philharmonic. This was new for me and I loved it! It was so fun to hear Camryn laughing through it. She wasn’t sure about wearing the glasses but she did. Very cute! By now it was time for Peter Pan so we all rode on that together. So far, so good. She was not having any problems with any of the rides. We headed for Pooh and got FP. We saw Pooh and Tigger out for character meeting and briefly got in line. The line was long and we were going to see Pooh and Tigger for dinner so I convinced Rob and Camryn to bail out of the line. While waiting for FP time Camryn played in Pooh’s thoughtful spot and we then we went to ride the teacups. Camryn loves this ride! She didn’t like it when Daddy spun us too hard though!

Teacup Ride

It was time to visit Pooh so we rode that… no Lumpy though. Camryn loves Pooh Heffalump movie and the Tigger & Pooh show on Disney channel.

Camryn was getting tired so we called WL to see if our room was ready – no dice. Hmmm… what are we going to do??

 

[momtoccc]

Now Camryn was needing a nap and our room wasn't ready.....
She hadn’t ridden in our umbrella stroller much before the trip. I didn’t realize she was too tall to recline back and rest her head very well. (Her head was over the top of the chair). I knew if she could get comfortable she would fall asleep in the stroller. I had read that TTA is a good naptime ride so we decided to try that. We told her to lie down and close her eyes which was fine until we went into the dark areas (Space Mtn) and she couldn’t see us! We rode twice without getting off – she was getting relaxed and probably would have fallen asleep eventually but Rob and I decided there was no way we could sit on that ride for an hour and listen to the same spiel over and over. We decided to put her back in the stroller and try walking around.

Since we were still waiting to get into our room and give Camryn a nap, we walked over to Crystal Palace to see if we could get a later ADR. Rob walked Camryn while I got in line. Nope, we can’t change it… now what?? By this time Camryn did fall asleep in the stroller so we parked in a quiet spot on the bridge to Adventureland. Rob went to get a snack (Funnel cake and lemonade). I totally blew it and forgot to mention a Dole Whip to him (we were close by). Oh well… we had a short rest and let Camryn sleep. She woke up shortly before 3pm so that meant Parade time!! We found a good spot at top of Main Street and Camryn went out in the street to play red light/green light with CMs and other kids

Now what is it with this girl and putting her hands in the back of her pants?? This is something new she started doing recently....

A few parade Pics...

Parade was fun and it gave Camryn a chance to see more characters. Of course she hid when the villain float passed by.

Did I mention the weather??? It was like a switch came on… the clouds were gone, the humidity was down and the temps were around 80. Gorgeous!!! We were so lucky! We never saw another cloud until the day we left. We wore shorts and short sleeve shirts during the day and light jacket and pants in the evenings. But then, since this was our perfect trip, it couldn’t have been anything else, right????

 

[snowwhite325]

I love your TR...it is getting me excited for my upcoming trip!!

 

[momtoccc]

I love your TR...it is getting me excited for my upcoming trip!!

I'm sure you are going to have a great time! I hope the great weather we had holds up for you!

 

[momtoccc]

By now we were hungry and it was almost time for ADR. I did the check-in and we were called within 5-10 minutes. Camryn was beyond herself with excitement. “Look there’s Pooh”, “There’s Tigger!”.. We were seated on the outer ring and immediately, Tigger, Eyeore and Piglet came to see us. Camryn ran up to each one of them and gave them big hugs. She told Piglet that really likes him because pink is her favorite color!

After that excitement we started on the buffet. Everything here was really good! Pooh made his way to us and shortly after that was the marching parade. Camryn got up and went which I wasn’t sure if she would or not. For all audience participation activities she would go up and do them but hang back a little bit. Usually a CM would help bring her up and get her involved.

Speaking of CMs, we met some really great ones from the gift stores to photo pass photographers to ride operators. Most of them would call Camryn a princess (which she loved), she was given extra stickers and attention which was really nice.

After dinner we finally got into our room at WL – 6th floor overlooking the pool, close to elevators – perfect!

Views from our room:

Would you believe there is still more to this day? We haven't even started MNSSHP yet!!!

Stay tuned for more...

 

[blue_eyes5212]

Looking forward to more!!! Did you take any pictures of the inside of the room?? I'm still undecided as to where we are going to stay next trip!

 

[IluvXU]

So enjoying it. The Crystal Palace is such a great place to dine. Your WL room view is great, almost a mirror of ours. Can't wait for more.

 

[momtoccc]

Looking forward to more!!! Did you take any pictures of the inside of the room?? I'm still undecided as to where we are going to stay next trip!

I do have a few pics of inside with the towel animal creations mousekeeping left for us. I will post them soon! I loved the WL. I've also stayed at POly, Boardwalk and POR. They have all been great.

So enjoying it. The Crystal Palace is such a great place to dine. Your WL room view is great, almost a mirror of ours. Can't wait for more.

Thanks! Camryn loved playing on that same bridge your daughters played on. One of her new favorite things to do was to toss pennies in the fountains.

I will try to do more tomorrow!

 

[momtoccc]

We tried unsuccessfully to get Camryn to nap more (I guess the stroller nap was enough for her) We relaxed on the balcony with drinks and cards while she rested. Finally we gave up on the nap, got her in her Cinderella costume and headed to MK.

WOW! MK looked great! Main street looked so cool with the lights and flying ghosts. We walked up main street and headed to TomorrowLand. We tried for Monsters Inc but it wasn’t open so we headed to Buzz. It was neat to see people dressed up – you could tell it was a real party atmosphere. We had decided to skip the parade since I was worried Camryn wouldn’t like it. We rode Buzz (fun!) and then Rob and I did rider switch for Space Mountain. Space Mtn will always be one of my favorite rides. While Rob was riding, Camryn and I hit the candy handouts that were close by.

Next we headed to Toontown. We rode Goofy’s Barnstormer – this was Camryn’s first roller coaster and she had been talking about riding a roller coaster for months. I think she was a little nervous but she loved it.

We weren’t sure what to do next but what we decided to do ended up being Camryn’s favorite thing of the whole trip… What was it???